NFL Dawgs: Sample Gets His Shot

For the second week in a row, week 2 of NFL action saw another recent Husky get his shot at breaking out for their team. This week Drew Sample got his shot in prime time on Thursday Night Football against Nick Harris’ Cleveland Browns. With starter CJ Uzomah’s early exit due to injury, Sample stepped up in Cincinnati’s TE-centric game plan finishing the day with 45 receiving yards, a team leading 7 receptions, and 9 targets (second only to AJ Green), including this fantastic snag.

Cincinnati’s offense has historically been reliant on strong TE play, and despite a plethora of other talented targets, Sample has seemingly developed a rapport with Joe Burrow that should keep him in the mix moving forward. Hopefully he’ll be able to capitalize on this oppportunity.

Other Huskies in Thursday’s game did not post stats with Nick Harris again dressing as the back up center without seeing any action, and John Ross finishing with 0 receptions on 2 targets.

Week 1’s breakout NFL Husky, Myles Gaskin, followed up his 9 carry, 4 reception, and 66 yard performance with a robust 7 carries, 6 reception, 82 yard performance versus the Buffalo Bills. Yet again, Gaskin led Miami’s running backs in rushing yards, tied for the lead in carries, and was the only running back with more than 1 reception (his 6 were good for 4th overall). His continued opportunities and production over more recent acquisitions Jordan Howard and Matt Breida should be a good sign for Gaskin’s long-term future in the NFL.

UWDP’s NFL Game of the Week, the Detroit Lions vs. the Green Bay Packers, ended up being a pretty lopsided 42-21 win for the Packers, and many of our Huskies being inactive. Hunter Bryant and Desmond Trufant were both inactive for the Lions, with Trufant being ruled out due to a hamstring injury.

For the Huskies that were active, they made quite an impact. Marvin Hall caught his only reception of the game on this 24-yard touchdown strike late in the game to break up a Packers scoring tear:

Danny Shelton also got into the mix with 5 tackles (T-3rd for the Lions), and Kevin King recorded another 4 tackles as well (T-2nd for the Packers).

This week, our Arizona Huskies hosted the Washington Football Team (still kind of strange to type that out) in a pretty straight forward 30-15 win. Budda Baker logged 5 tackles, Byron Murphy chipped in 1 more, and Darrell Daniels got into the action with 1 target on the day. Ezekiel Turner was active for the game and continued to fill his role as a special teams ace.

The Rams versus Eagles also had a significant Husky presence with Taylor Rapp, Greg Gaines, and Coleman Shelton all active for the game. Rapp was the only Husky to record any stats with 4 tackles, but Gaines and Shelton again manned their back up roles with limited action on special teams.

On the 49ers, Dante Pettis received 0 targets this week in a game that saw many of San Francisco’s stars go down with injuries. It will be interesting to see if this continued injury bug and new QB (Garroppolo looks to be out for a few weeks) will be to Dante’s benefit.

Our Seahawks hosted the Patriots on Sunday Night football with Myles Bryant being promoted to the 53-man roster just this week. Unfortunately, he was inactive for the game, and both Will Dissly and Ben Burr-Kirven had quite games with Dissly posting 1 reception for 9 yards as the only stats between the two.

The Panthers vs. Buccaneers game was another quiet game for our alums. Vita Vea logged only 1 tackle from his NT spot, and Shaq Thompson logged 3 for the Panthers. Jaydon Mickens continues to start as Tampa Bay’s punt returner with 1 punt return for 0 yards.

Other notable Husky news from around the league:

Games Left to Play:

New Orleans Saints at Las Vegas Raiders, Monday @ 5:15 PM

New Orleans: RB Dwayne Washington

Las Vegas: LB Cory Littleton