NFL Week 14 awards: Khalil Mack decimates Denver

Passing out awards for Week 14 of the NFL season.

Professional football is suddenly a sparse commodity, as the 2015 NFL season begins to wind to a close. The league put forth an interesting product in Week 14, with the great majority of action taking place all in the 1:00 pm ET window, but on the bright side, the football was of a high quality, and that is all we can ask for here.

In this space, we break down the best individual efforts from the week that was, and in doing so, we hand out awards for the standout performances. Let’s get to the specifics, beginning with the offensive and defensive rookie of the week.

Offensive Rookie of the Week

Todd Gurley, RB St. Louis Rams

It is nice to have Todd Gurley back.

The rookie running back from Georgia exploded on to the NFL scene with four consecutive games with 125 yards or more from Week 4 through Week 8, but since that time has been virtually absent from the consciousness. That comes with the territory when failing to crack 90 yards in five straight games (with three games notching fewer than 50 yards), but on Sunday Gurley looked like the player that was ravaging the league earlier in the 2015 campaign.

In a 21-14 win over the Lions, Gurley rushed for 140 yards on just 16 carries (8.8 yards per rush) and he crossed the goal line for two touchdowns in the game. Much of the “worry” surrounding Gurley should have been tempered with the fact that the rest of the St. Louis offense was so bad that it allowed the opposition to gang up against the run. Yet even with that in full effect on Sunday, the powerful rookie managed to beat Detroit’s defense on a regular basis.

Todd Gurley has the tools to be the best running back in the NFL eventually, and after a few unspectacular performances, he reminded the league of that talent on Sunday.

Runner-up: Tyler Lockett, WR Seattle Seahawks

Defensive Rookie of the Week

Mario Edwards, DE Oakland Raiders

Edwards wasn’t the best defensive player on his own team (as we will discuss later), but the Florida State product was still quite impressive. He pressured Denver’s Brock Osweiler on three separate occasions, generating a batted pass and speeding up the quarterback’s thought process, and Edwards was also a quality threat in the running game to the point where he earned the second-best rating of any edge player by Pro Football Focus.

To be fair, it is (much) easier to perform with an All-Pro player on the other side of the field, but Edwards is taking full advantage of his one-on-one match-ups right now. He looks like a full-blown stud and a steal as a second-round pick.

Runner-up: Ronald Darby, CB Buffalo Bills

Next: Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week