NFL Week 4 awards: The Todd Gurley era begins in earnest
By Brad Rowland
Handing out NFL awards after a wild Week 4.
Week 4 of the 2015 NFL season certainly lived up to the bill and more. Coming into the week, there was a severe lack of “prime” match-ups on the slate, but that didn’t stop the league from producing all kinds of drama – including some incredibly high-level performances from various individuals.
Each week, we hand out awards for various categories concerning singular performances. These aren’t always the best players in the league by any stretch, but for one day and one game, these athletes were the best of the best in their respective categories.
Let’s take a glance at what transpired, beginning with the rookies and moving on from there.
Offensive Rookie of the Week
Todd Gurley, RB St. Louis Rams
Coming into the 2015 NFL Draft, there was no doubt that a healthy Todd Gurley would be a monster at the NFL level. It appears that Todd Gurley is now healthy. The former Georgia Bulldog rushed for 146 yards on just 19 carries in an upset victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, where he did the great majority of that damage after halftime. Gurley was the key to everything that St. Louis did in the second half against one of the best defenses in the NFL, and he looked to be every bit of the player that the Rams expected when investing a first round pick in the spring.
Runner-up: Duke Johnson, RB Cleveland Browns
Defensive Rookie of the Week
Za’Darius Smith, LB Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore was in desperate need of a win on Thursday night, and while it wasn’t pretty, the Ravens managed to avoid an 0-4 start with a three-point win in Pittsburgh. Smith, who arrived in Baltimore as a fourth-round pick from Kentucky, contributed in a big way to the victory, notching two sacks and four tackles. His performance came as something of a surprise given that he had only played sparingly to this point in the season, but it is tough to ignore the impact that he made on the game against the Steelers.
Runner-up: Damien Wilson, LB Dallas Cowboys
Next: Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week