Doling out awards for what was a riveting Week 5 in the National Football League.
Casual fans weren’t exactly excited about Week 5 of the 2015 NFL season. The schedule did not feature a single game pitting two teams with winning records against one another, and as such, expectations were tempered.
However, the league (as it always does) produced a number of intriguing performances, and gave up plenty of ammunition to use for weekly awards. Here are the players that stood out above the rest during a wild Week5.
Offensive Rookie of the Week
Thomas Rawls, RB Seattle Seahawks
No one would confuse Rawls and Marshawn Lynch when spotting them in the street, though Rawls looked a lot like Lynch on Sunday afternoon. The first-year back from Central Michigan rushed for 169 yards on just 23 carries (7.3 yards per carry) while scoring a touchdown in the loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
In the long-term, the absence of Lynch will almost certainly be an issue for Seattle. But on Sunday the Seahawks’ ground game hardly skipped a beat. Rawls is a talented back that Seattle really likes (as evidenced by the team moving on from Christine Michael) and he looked the part of a starting running back in Week 5.
Runner-up: Todd Gurley, RB St. Louis Rams
Defensive Rookie of the Week
Quinten Rollins, CB Green Bay Packers
The Packers are well known for nurturing talent in-house, and Rollins is the most recent example. Green Bay selected the former Miami (Ohio) defensive back in the second round of the 2015 draft, and Rollins made his biggest statement of the season on Sunday with two interceptions in a 24-10 victory over the St. Louis Rams. To be fair, Rams quarterback Nick Foles did his part in providing Rollins with a day he’ll never forget. Still, though, it takes two to tango, and Rollins made the plays that were needed to secure Green Bay’s victory.
Runner-up: Stephone Anthony, LB New Orleans Saints
Next: Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week