Football

Three Storylines Following NFL Week 1

September 12, 2017

Here are three storylines following the first week of the NFL regular season:

Patriots D-Line #ProHogs
The Patriots have two former Razorbacks on their active roster, Trey Flowers and Deatrich Wise Jr., making Arkansas one of five teams to have former players in an NFL defensive line rotation. Others include Boise State (Dallas – Demarcus Lawrence and Tyrone Crawford), California (Los Angeles Chargers- Brandon Mebane and Chris McCain), Southern California (New York Jets – Leonard Williams and Claude Pelon), Oregon (San Francisco – Arik Armstead and DeForest Buckner) and Penn State (Tennessee – Austin Johnson and DaQuan Jones).

Both #ProHogs were responsible for all three of New England’s sacks in its season opener against the Chiefs.

Flowers recorded five total tackles, a team-high two sacks, two tackles for loss and two quarterback hurries. Flowers was one of four Patriot defenders to play every snap of Thursday’s season opener.

Wise tallied the other Patriot sack in his rookie debut, along with one tackle for loss and two quarterback hurries.

NFL Debut
Wise was not the only former Razorback to make his NFL debut in Week 1. Detroit Lions defensive lineman Jeremiah Ledbetter saw his first action on the big stage Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. The rookie recorded two tackles in 33 plays, including one quarterback hurry on a third down to force a Cardinal field goal attempt that hit the left upright.

According to Pro Football Focus, Ledbetter had the fourth-highest pass rush productivity going into Monday’s games, the second-best among rookies.

Monday Night Spotlight
Tight end AJ Derby performed well on the first Monday of the NFL season. Targeted three times, Derby hauled in all three receptions for 34 yards. His three receptions were the most by a tight end in the game, all resulting in first downs. Dating back to last season, Derby has hauled in three or more receptions in four of the last seven games.

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