Steven Hauschka wins MMQB's Special Teams Player of the Week

THE AWARD SECTION

Offensive Players of the Week

Philip Rivers, QB, San Diego. Maybe its Rivers’ turn. Maybe in his 10th year he’s seen his fellow 2004 draftees, Ben Roethlisberger and Eli Manning, with their shiny Super Bowl rings, and now he’s saying enough. The Chargers beat NFC East frontrunner Dallas to go 2-2 Sunday (and they’re still two games behind two teams in the AFC West), and Rivers completed 35 of 42 passes for 401 yards and three touchdowns.

Reggie Bush, RB, Detroit. There is no doubt about it: The difference between this year’s Lions and every other year of the Stafford Era is Reggie Bush. In the first 28 minutes of Sunday’s division match against Chicago, the Lions roared to a 30-13 lead—and Bush jetted around the field for 136 yards on 14 touches. Great signing by GM Martin Mayhew.

Frank Gore, RB, San Francisco. After slumping through the season’s first three games, Gore, 30, played like Gore, 23. “A-plus-plus,’’ is how coach Jim Harbaugh graded Gore’s 20-carry, 153-yard performance in the surprising rout of the Rams Thursday night. “Very Frank Gore-like. Pure attitude.”

Defensive Players of the Week

Kiko Alonso, MLB, Buffalo. The second-round rookie is proving his worth as a rangy sideline-to-sideline playmaker in his first month on the job. He picked off two Joe Flacco passes and knocked two more away from their targets Sunday as the Bills stunned Baltimore.

Aqib Talib, CB, New England. He didn’t win every battle with Falcons wideouts Sunday night. He actually lost one. He gave up one completion, for one yard, and was huge in the Patriots’ fourth win of the young season. Talib, invaluable, is tied for the league lead with four interceptions.

Alterraun Verner, CB, Tennessee. Co-leads the league with four picks (with Talib and Alonso), and he had two of them against Geno Smith of the Jets on Sunday, along with recovering a fumble. Verner has become one of the most instinctive corners in football, and no player has accounted for as many takeaways this early in the season as Verner’s six (four picks, two fumble recoveries).

NaVorro Bowman, ILB, San Francisco. Memo to Niners defensive coordinator Vic Fangio: Blitz Bowman more. Bowman had two sacks, two quarterback hits and three quarterback pressures in the 35-11 rout of the Rams. He deflected a pass and forced a fumble too, and had six tackles. I’ve always thought Bowman to be the equal of Patrick Willis, which is not an insult to either man if you’ve watched the 49ers much. Two great, great players.

Special Teams Player of the Week

Dexter McCluster, KR/RB, Kansas City. The Giants trailed 10-7 late in the third quarter and were making a great game of it until punter Steve Weatherford booted it to McCluster, standing at his 11-yard line. McCluster never was touched, and he juked two Giants so badly that they fell to the turf at Arrowhead. McCluster’s return was the vital play of the game.

Steven Hauschka, K, Seattle. His 48- and 39-yard field goals in regulation helped push the game to overtime on a day Seattle’s offense moved in fits and starts. And with 3:19 left in overtime, he nailed a 45-yard game-winner that would have been good from 65 to win it, 23-20.

Coach of the Week

Rob Chudzinski, head coach, Cleveland. “You’re 2-0 since you gave up on the season,’’ I told Chudzinski Sunday night. He said: “Good thing nobody told that to our players.” Chudzinski may have some guys on his team looking at the brass cross-eyed for trading Trent Richardson after two weeks, but it’s a tribute to Chudzinski that the players are playing as hard as any group in the league. The defense held Cincinnati to 266 yards Sunday in a 17-6 win. “Winning reinforces the good things,’’ he said, “and these guys have worked hard. They don’t care about what the perception is on the outside.’’ Speaking of hard work, the Browns have the Thursday night game this weekend, and Chudzinski was in tape-studying mode by 6:45 Sunday night.

Goat of the Week
Joe Flacco, QB, Baltimore. He threw five interceptions at Buffalo, leading to 13 Buffalo points, and the Ravens lost by three. Not good.

Caledonia native Karl Klug Scores First NFL TD in Titans Win

Caledonia's Karl Klug stripping the ball from Jets QB Geno Smith for his first NFL TD

By Dave Polzin

September 29, 2013

Tennessee Titans Linebacker and Caledonia High School alum Karl Klug scored his first NFL touchdown in Sunday's 38-13 win over the New York Jets.

Early in the 4th Quarter, Klug sacked Jets Quarterback Geno Smith and stripped him of the ball for a TD as the Titans turned Smith's four turnovers into 28 points.

It's was Klug's 11.5 sack since joining Tennessee, the most on the team during that time period.

Guard Marshal Yanda A Perfect Fit For Ravens And Baltimore

By Joe Platania

September 26, 2013

OWINGS MILLS -- Marshal Yanda comes from Iowa, a long way from Baltimore's more urban setting and busier lifestyle.

But Yanda, a bearded, seventh-year right guard, has a no-nonsense-oriented work ethic, which has fit in well with a town and a team that doesn't believe in doing things pretty, only in doing them well.

Yanda has managed to shrug off and overcome obstacles placed in his way, including being drafted in relative third-round obscurity (86th overall) in 2007 and fighting through knee, ankle, chest, leg and shoulder injuries. His shoulder injury required offseason surgery and kept him off the field for most of this year's preseason period.

Despite those ailments, Yanda -- one of a league-high three rookies to start along the Ravens' offensive line in 2007 -- has put together consecutive-game streaks of 21 and 45 games during his career, the latter ending in December 2012, when he didn't take the field against Denver (ankle).

The second of those streaks could have ended earlier thanks to the chest and leg injuries, but Yanda fought through those to help the team clinch the 2011 AFC North Division title with a season-ending win at Cincinnati.

But it's no big deal to Yanda, for no matter how the Ravens may look during any given game, it's a given that Yanda -- who switched to right tackle in a pinch in 2010 because of Jared Gaither's training camp back injury -- won't have much of an extreme reaction either way. Check out these postgame quotes:

Following his 2013 preseason debut against Carolina Aug. 22: "I just try to go out there and do my part and help the team."

After the Ravens' sputtering win against Cleveland Sept. 15: "We said, just take it one play at a time."

Following the team's 30-9 victory against previously unbeaten Houston Sept. 22: "We did what we needed to do to win the game."

But it must be said that Yanda's blunt characterization of the team's offensive line play through three games is spot-on: rough.

Despite the 6-foot-3, 315-pound Yanda's presence, the Ravens are averaging 2.6 yards per carry, and only winless Jacksonville's 2.4-yard rate is worse. To be fair, the team has gone up against top 10 rush defense teams in top-ranked Denver, seventh-ranked Cleveland and ninth-ranked Houston.

But a reprieve may be in the offing Sept. 29, for the same can't be said for Buffalo, a squad tied for third worst in the league by virtue of allowing more than 150 rush yards per game.

"We're going to be able to run the ball here," head coach John Harbaugh said. "It is a part of our DNA. We have the people to do it. We've got some big, strong, tough offensive linemen, and we have really good backs. Our fullback, Vonta Leach, is the best blocking fullback in the league. The run game is something that has to happen for us."

Even though second-year left guard Kelechi Osemele has impressed leaguewide observers to the point that some consider the Osemele-Yanda tandem one of the NFL's best, the integration of Osemele and new center Gino Gradkowski could be part of the reason things have yet to mesh so far this year.

"He's still a young player," Yanda said of Osemele. "But he's a tough, nasty guy. … All five of us have to improve as a group. We want to excel together."

That's where Yanda's leadership, experience and effectiveness come in.

Yanda has not been charged with a penalty in 215 offensive snaps this year. Also, during six previous campaigns, he has been hit with seven total accepted holding calls and 14 false-start violations.

On top of that, in the world of the trenches, where post-whistle altercations can lead to even more penalties, Yanda has been tagged with just one 15-yard penalty during his career.

Such controlled effectiveness led to Yanda being one of the first Ravens guards to ever make the Pro Bowl in 2011. He repeated the feat last year, but naturally had to decline the invitation because he and his teammates were busy preparing for the Super Bowl.

For Yanda, preparation merely means reinforcing those qualities that have made him one of the league's best.

"It's a combination of speed and power, quickness, the ability to stop bull rushes," Yanda said of his technique.

Given the laid-back way he acts off the field -- not to mention his no-frills way on it -- stopping bull is something at which Yanda excels.

And fans in Baltimore can't help but love him for it.