Scarlet Knights in the NFL- Week 10: Britt and J. McCourty lead way again

If you played your college football in Piscataway, New Jersey and you were drafted by the Tennessee Titans you had a good week ... again. Let’s get the full recap though:

Thursday Night Football, More than the Ravens hideous uniforms or the Browns continued ineptitude, Rutgers fans will find solace in the performance for the second straight week of Jeremy Zuttah. Zuttah started at center and helped the Ravens take sole possession of first place in the AFC North. As a team, they only surrendered 2 sacks (neither attributed to Zuttah) despite the number of exotic blitzes the desperate Browns brought against Audubon High School product Joe Flacco. With Anthony Davis’s status uncertain, Zuttah is the lone former Scarlet Knight starting on the offensive line in the NFL, and helped the Ravens more than double their rushing output from the previous week.

Sunday Early games: Kenny Britt was a star in the first half (98 yards) in his home state (NEW JERSEY!) against future Hall of Fame cornerback Darrelle Revis and the Jets. Britt finished with 7 catches for 109 yards including a 46 yarder and accounted for almost exactly two-thirds of the Rams passing offense (109/165). He now has 693 yards receiving on the year.

Jason McCourty followed his 9 tackle game a week ago with 5 more solos today giving him a three week total of 25 (with a pass defended) as the Titans walloped Green Bay 47-25.

Mohamed Sanu had a quiet day catching both his targets for 14 yards. It was a strange game, but Scarlet Knights fans who also root for the Eagles will take the win 24-15! Andrew DePaola snapped on two out of two successful field goal attempts and the Bucs converted all four extra points attempted. In perhaps the best game of the day, the Saints fell 25-23 on a bizarre blocked extra point that was run back for two. Brandon Coleman made a key contribution with a 19 yard reception along the sideline on a 3rd down and 5 on his lone target.

Sunday late games had two former Knights in action. Marcus Cooper had 6 tackles (5 solo) as the Cardinals evened their record with a win against San Francisco. The 49ers managed less than 200 net passing yardage. Leonte Carroo was active but not targeted nor did he accumulate any special teams stats. The Dolphins did win again, this time over San Diego.

Sunday Night football saw a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX that ended on a goal line stand, sound familiar? Devin McCourty had one less solo tackle than his twin and 3 more assisted tackles. Logan Ryan defended a pass and had 3 tackles while Duron Harmon added two tackles as well. Unfortunately, this game will be remembered for two things Doug Baldwin’s third TD of the game where he beat Ryan off the line with Harmon’s help coming too late and the goal line stand this time leading Seattle to the triumph 31-24.

Monday Night football: The Bengals return from their bye as two former Scarlet Knights tight ends Clark Harris and Tyler Kroft. Interesting stat: By my count there are 7 former RU Tight Ends that have played in the NFL. (by excluding Rashod Kent who played basketball and Tim Wright who played Wide Receiver). They combine for 498 games played in the regular season and 245 of those games have been for the Bengals between Battaglia, Brock, Harris, and Kroft. So if Harris and Kroft both play the remaining 8 games this season that would result in more than 50% of the total games played in the NFL by Rutgers tight ends being for Cincinnati.

The Lions and Michael Burton had a bye but will wake up in first place in the NFC North. Injured Reserve tracker (Freeny, Wright, Johnson).

Knights in the pros FLASHBACK ...

1999: In Week 10, Ray Lucas was tapped by Bill Parcells to start for the 2-6 Jets in New England (both of their former team) on Monday Night Football. The Jets led 24-3 early in the fourth quarter and held on for the victory behind Lucas’s 2 Touchdowns in what is believed to be the first game any former Rutgers Scarlet Knight started at Quarterback in the NFL. Lucas started the rest of the season and the Jets finished 8-8 after the aforementioned rocky start.