BuckeyeGrove.com - In the league: week seven

October 20, 2008

Ari Wasserman
Staff Writer

There always seems to be one former Buckeye that steals the show for his team every week in the NFL. This week, however, there weren't any standouts in terms of scoring points, but some ex-Buckeyes surely made some huge plays.

This week, the standout performances came from ex-Buckeye receivers. While none of the former wideouts made it to the end zone, their impressive numbers surely gave their perspective teams a boost.

Perhaps the most impressive performance of the day came from Pittsburgh's Santonio Holmes. Holmes, who many thought was in place to take Hines Ward's spot as the Steelers' top receiver, showed in Sunday's win over the Bengals why one would have that notion.

While the Bengals aren't far from the worst team in the NFL, Holmes caught five passes for a team-high 89 yards, including a 32-yard reception. The Steelers cruised to a 38-10 win over winless Cincinnati despite struggling some in the first half.

Also coming up big in the passing game was Indianapolis' Anthony Gonzalez. The former Ohio State flanker, who became well known for making big catches when the Buckeyes needed them the most, caught five passes for 72 yards. Despite Gonzalez's best efforts, Indianapolis was torn to shreds by Green Bay, as the Colts fell 34-14 at Lambeau Field.

Ted Ginn Jr. didn't necessarily set the world on fire in Miami's game against Baltimore, but considering how Ginn has struggled this season, the former Buckeye speedster made some strides. Despite Miami's 27-13 home loss to the Ravens, Ginn brought down four catches for 48 yards.

Atlanta's Michael Jenkins, who was an instrumental part of his team's victory last weekend with a big catch late in the game, didn't play with the Falcons on a bye week.

Duos producing

With as many former Buckeyes as there are in the NFL, some were bound to end up on the same team. In the case of Carolina, former linebacker Na'il Diggs and former cornerback Chris Gamble found themselves on the same defense.

How thankful the Panthers must be.

In Carolina's 30-7 thrashing of New Orleans Sunday, the Panthers defense was relentless. That being said, it was Gamble who led the way for Caronlia, as he registered a team-high eight tackles. Diggs, on the other hand, registered three tackles in the defensive onslaught.

In terms of the Buffalo Bills, the nabbed two former Buckeye defensive backs ? Ashton Youboty and Donte Whitner ? in the same draft. While the duo wasn't particularly effective on Sunday ? Whitner posted a tackle ? the two have been clutch in Buffalo's unexpected run to 5-1 to start the season. The Bills knocked off the Chargers 23-14 Sunday en route to the explosive performance.

Packer Performances

In Green Bay's win over the Colts, defensive tackle Ryan Pickett got into the action, as he recorded a tackle ? his seventh of the season ? and also was in on breaking up a pass. Pickett has started all of Green Bay's seven games this season.

In order to compensate for the Colts' hurry-up offense, the Packers were forced to leave linebacker A.J. Hawk out of the game plan. Packers' defensive coordinator Bob Sanders uses two linebackers in the nickel defense, but because of a groin injury, Hawk wasn't one of them.

During Hawk's tenure with the team he hasn't had many breaks, but Hawk just didn't fit into the Packers' defensive game plan. While Hawk told the Green Bay Press-Gazette that he wasn't told he was lacking on pass protection skills, the linebacker wasn't overly concerned with the missed time.

"You can never be (upset) when you win a game like this," Hawk said. "But they knew when they drafted me I wanted to play, that's no secret. If I didn't want to play ? if you have a guy on the team that doesn't want to be on the field, as a coach you don't want him on your team. They know I want to play, but that's how it works. With how we matched up today it didn't happen."

Because the Packers won't play an offense like the Colts ? a scheme that includes dynamic tight end Dallas Clark ? the defensive adjustments are most likely a one-game thing.

"We had some packages with Brady and some packages with A.J.," Sanders said. "They didn't get as many reps because (the Colts) didn't play (other personnel)."

Ari Wasserman is a staff writer for BuckeyeGrove.com. He can be reached at AriWasserman@gmail.com.

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