On the other side of the shield, C.J. Stroud breaks the NFL rookie pass record with assistance from Noah Brown, and Joey Bosa rules Monday night football.
Without a doubt, Stroud had the best game of any NFL rookie quarterback and any former Ohio State quarterback in NFL history.
He completed 30 of 42 passes for 470 yards or five touchdowns toward the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Sunday, breaking the NFL’s record for most passing yards in a single game and tying the record for most passing touchdowns in a single game by a rookie.
When the game was close, Stroud played his best. When the Texans took the ball back down 37–33, there had just 46 seconds remained on the clock.
But Stroud led Houston to win by completing five straight passes for a total of 75 yards, including a 15-yard score pass to Tank Dell.
After tearing his Achilles tendon in 2021, J.K. Dobbins scored his initial two scores of the season in only his second game back. Chris Olave scored his first touchdown in the NFL.
This was Nick Bosa’s second game this season with more than one sack. He now leads the league in sacks. It had only been a week since Denzel Ward scored a defensive touchdown. This was his first pick-off of the season.
But to start this week’s Across the Shield, we have Vonn Bell. He had his first two interceptions for the season on Thursday Night Football, which helped the Cincinnati Bengals win.
First, Bell picked off Tua Tagovailoa near the end of the first quarter. In the late fourth quarter, shortly after Tagovailoa went to the hospital via a head injury that has brought up new concerns about the NFL’s handling of concussions, Bell made his second interception for the match against Teddy Bridgewater. This kept the Bengals’ 20–15 lead in the game, which they would go on to win by 12.
The Bengals beat Ohio State 27–15, and Bell had four tackles. For these two reasons, he won our top performer award among former Ohio Street players this week.
But he wasn’t the only Ohio State alum who played well for the Bengals’ defense when they faced the Dolphins.
Sam Hubbard got the best grade from Pro Football Focus (81.2) of all Bengals defenders in Week 4. He dominated his matchup alongside Dolphins right tackle him Little, forcing the quarterback nine times and hitting him three times. He also had two tackles for loss and four total tackles.
Three wide receivers via Ohio State’s 2014 recruiting class were on the field in Indianapolis. All three of their teammates made big plays.
Curtis Samuel caught three passes for 50 yards and ran four times for 29 yards. He also made a big play for the Commanders by catching a pass for 18 yards on a 4th-and-6 in the fourth quarter, which set up an offensive goal that was also important to their comeback win.
If not for Stroud’s amazing play, Joey Bosa would be considered a deserving Pro Buck of the Week winner for his outstanding play in the Los Angeles Chargers’ win over the New York Jets on Monday night.
At the beginning of the game, Bosa made one of the best plays of the night when he blocked New York Jets defensive end Billy Turner and swatted the ball out of the hands of Jets player Zach Wilson. He then dove on his very own forced fumble to collect it.
That was the first of Bosa’s 2.5 sacks on the night. His other solo sack was just as impressive—he held on to Wilson while the QB tried to spin out and pulled Wilson to the ground while Jets left guard Laken Tomlinson blocked him.