Chris Neild was the big story among former Mountaineers playing in the NFL last week. He burst on the scene in Week 1 against the N.Y. Giants recording 4 tackles, 2 sacks, and 1 forced fumble. For a rookie NT to play like that in any game was a surprise to Redskins head coach, Mike Shanahan. Did Neild have the same impact in Week 2?
I told you in my Week 2 preview that, with Arian Foster returning to action, that Steve Slaton would likely be inactive for the Texans. The Texans have one of the best groups of running backs in the league with Foster as the starter. Ben Tate and Derrick Ward would split the rest of the carries, leaving Slaton as the odd man out. Derrick Ward suffered an ankle injury last week, and he was the RB that was inactive. He didn't make the trip to Miami. When Slaton was active last week in a blowout win against the Indianapolis Colts, he barely touched the ball. He had two carries for 12 yards and one catch for 6. I'll tell you below if Slaton made any contributions for the Texans this past weekend.
Rookie safety for the Bengals, Robert Sands, was inactive last week, and that trend continued this past weekend. Sands was on the Inactives list again.
Arizona Cardinals 21
Washington Redskins 22
Chris Neild did not play as much this week as he did last week. The Arizona offense only ran 48 plays, and forced the Redskins' defense into more nickel and dime packages, limiting the amount of time Neild saw the field. He did not record any tackles or sacks. The Redskins play at Dallas next Monday night.
Oakland Raiders 35
Buffalo Bills 38
In what may have been the most thrilling game of the day, Corey McIntyre provided some key blocks but did not break on to the stat sheet.
Kansas City Chiefs 3
Detroit Lions 48
In what may have been the least thrilling game of the day, Anthony Becht made his regular season debut with the Chiefs after being re-signed late last week. He did not show up in the stat column. Becht may not make a dent in the stat sheet for the Chiefs as they are going to rely on his blocking prowess when he is in the game. Becht did cause a bit of an outrage on Twitter and the message boards when he appeared wearing jersey #88, which is Tony Gonzalez's old number.
Cleveland Browns 27
Indianapolis Colts 19
Pat McAfee had on tackle on punt coverage when he shoved Cleveland punt returner, Josh Cribbs, out of bounds. He also had 4 punts for a 52 yard average. He is currently 6th in the AFC in punting after two weeks.
Seattle Seahawks 0
Pittsburgh Steelers 24
Ryan Mundy did not record any stats for the Steelers.
Houston Texans 23
Miami Dolphins 13
Arian Foster re-aggravated the hamstring injury that kept him out of action in Week 1. Foster did not return to play after halftime after the hamstring stiffened up while the Texans were in the locker room. The Texans did not experience a drop off in productivity from the RB position as Ben Tate rushed for 103 yards on 23 carries. With Foster out, Steve Slaton did get on the field. He had one carry for no gain.
Philadelphia Eagles 31
Atlanta Falcons 35
Owen Schmitt had no carries or receptions in Mike Vick's return to Atlanta, but Schmitt did keep Vick from getting sacked on a key blitz pickup early in the game. Schmitt played on special teams and recorded one tackle.