Mizzou in the Pros

Mizzou in the NFL: Week 2

Ouch. (Side note: The most underrated aspect of this picture is the QUALITY ball boy/man mustache in the background. This guy obviously came prepared for the national spotlight. You think it's a coincidence he was in the picture of the biggest play of this game?)

By Adam Cribbs Sep 17, 2013, 10:30am CDT

Well, we're two weeks into the NFL season, and things are already back in full swing. We saw a surprisingly lopsided victory for Seattle over San Francisco, an extremely close win for the Chiefs, and the Rams come up just short against the Falcons. I can already tell that this is going to be the type of season with a lot of teams in the playoff hunt when we get to the season's end. Let's see how our boys in the pros did this week.

Sean Weatherspoon, Atlanta Falcons

STATS	COMB	TOTAL	AST	SACK	STF	STFYDS	FF	KB	INT	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	PD
vs. STL	3	3	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

'Spoon tallied three tackles in the first half of the Falcons' contest against the Rams of St. Louis before leaving the game with a foot injury. The good news is that it looks like he will be back on track to return next week, as it was nothing more than a minor sprain. Losing the leader of their defense would be quite a blow, and that was evident on Sunday. While building a 24-3 lead before the half, the Falcons saw a number of injuries to defensive players (including Weatherspoon) and ended up only winning by one score, 31-24. Here's to hoping this is the last time we see him on an injury report this season.

UPDATE: Apparently Spoon's injury is a bit more serious than first suspected.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>FALCONS PLACE LB SEAN WEATHERSPOON ON INJURED RESERVE-DESIGNATED TO RETURN</p>— D. Orlando Ledbetter (@AJCFalcons)</blockquote>

William Moore, Atlanta Falcons

STATS	COMB	TOTAL	AST	SACK	STF	STFYDS	FF	KB	INT	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	PD
vs. STL	7	7	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Willy Mo continues to assert himself as a star in the NFL. Seven tackles this week brings his total to 15 in two games, and that kind of consistency won't go unnoticed. Oh yeah, and Sir William decided to plant a few McNeill seeds in the turf of the Georgia Dome on Sunday too. Just watching this knocked the wind out of me. I'm honestly a little surprised McNeill didn't explode into a cloud of dust when he hit the ground.

Justin Smith, San Francisco 49ers

STATS	COMB	TOTAL	AST	SACK	STF	STFYDS	FF	KB	INT	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	PD
vs. SEA	9	4	5	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Nine tackles. I just wrote last week how Justin doesn't put up big numbers all the time, then he goes out and puts up NINE tackles. It's too bad this was in an absolute romping of the Niners, because this kind of performance from a defensive lineman would really stick out in a victory. While Seattle was busy being the loudest stadium in the world, Justin Smith was busy being the quietest star in the NFL.

Aldon Smith, San Francisco 49ers

STATS	COMB	TOTAL	AST	SACK	STF	STFYDS	FF	KB	INT	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	PD
vs. SEA	7	6	1	2.0	2	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

ALDON SACKWATCH continued nicely as Agent Smith found his way to Russell Wilson twice on Sunday, bringing his season total to 3.5. Finishing the day with seven total tackles, 49ers fans had to be left scratching their heads after seeing their star defensive players put up what seemed to be pretty strong numbers and still getting blown out 29-3. I have a feeling things might be a little different the second time around. Lightning struck in Seattle, but I don't imagine it'll happen again in San Francisco.

Ziggy Hood, Pittsburgh Steelers

STATS	COMB	TOTAL	AST	SACK	STF	STFYDS	FF	KB	INT	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	PD
vs. PIT	6	4	2	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Ziggy had a pretty decent game for a decent defense, but man the Steelers just aren't all that good this year. I truly expected the Steelers to be competitive again this year, but I just don't see it yet. I'm sure as the season goes on they'll prove to be better than they look right now, but until their offense can get some sort of consistency this defense will continue to be hung out to dry. The eventual return of Heath Miller and Le'Veon Bell will only help. The Steelers defense will still be formidable regardless of the offense's woes, and Evander "Ziggy" Hood had an overall solid game under the big lights of Monday night.

Sheldon Richardson, New York Jets

STATS	COMB	TOTAL	AST	SACK	STF	STFYDS	FF	KB	INT	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	PD
vs. NE	5	2	3	0.0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

SHELDON again put up solid numbers, this time getting five tackles against Brady's Patriots in a narrow 13-10 defeat.The Jets as a whole didn't really play well, but were able to hang around as the Pats receivers did everything they could to let the game slip through their hands as easily as the ball seemed to. It's nice to see SHELDON putting up decent numbers as a rookie, because expectations are always high for a first round pick.

Colin Brown, Buffalo Bills

If you weren't happy for the Bills in their 24-23 victory over the Panthers, you're either a Panthers fan, a fan of another AFC East team, or you have no soul. E.J. Manuel led a pretty darn good game-winning drive (which actually brought him to tears) and Colin Brown got his first victory as a starter with Buffalo. Here's to a few more of those this season.

C.J. Mosley, Detroit Lions

STATS	COMB	TOTAL	AST	SACK	STF	STFYDS	FF	KB	INT	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	PD
vs. ARI	2	1	1	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Continuing to provide solid depth for the Detroit defensive line, C.J. Mosley added a couple of tackles in a tough, tough 25-21 loss at the hands (wings? talons?) of the Cardinals this week. The Lions' undisciplined play continues to cost them as this week they had eight penalties for 101 yards. I understand that a lot of people want their defenses to have a "mean streak", but this is getting to the point of being stupid football. Mosley just needs to keep playing his game and not fall into the mistake-prone mindset of his teammates.

Andrew Gachkar, San Diego Chargers

STATS	COMB	TOTAL	AST	SACK	STF	STFYDS	FF	KB	INT	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	PD
vs. PHI	2	2	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Gachkar saw some more action for the Chargers this week in their surprising 33-30 win over the Eagles this week and made the most of it by getting a couple of solo tackles. As a Chiefs fan, I will rarely root for a player of a division rival to succeed, by Andrew is an exception.