Sheldon Richardson returns, Shane Ray gets hurt during #MizzouMade Week 6

Welcome back to my look at Mizzou's Sunday players. I apologize for the lack of a column last week, but moving stinks. This week, byes continued to eat into the number of players we get to examine here. With Oakland, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, and Dallas all on bye, there's no news to report on Aldon Smith, Tim Barnes, Jacquies Smith, or Andrew Gachkar. Additionally, Chase Coffman was a healthy scratch this week.

But that still leaves 15 players to look at. Let's break it down...

"Skill" Positions

Our two intrepid Mizzou QBs roaming the sidelines continued to do so this week. Blaine Gabbert - the subject of fan speculation just a couple weeks ago - has been relegated to an afterthought with the improved performance of 49ers starter Colin Kaepernick.

In their stead, however, Chase Daniel is starting to generate a little buzz due to the poor play of Chiefs' starter Alex Smith. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports wrote:

I know I say this every week, but the Chiefs need to look at Chase Daniel. Soon. They have a pretty substantial quarterback issue.

Daniel's teammate Jeremy Maclin has thus far managed to continue performing well despite the team's offensive woes, but left the game early this week with a concussion (as of writing, no reports on his status for week 7) after generating a mere 48 yards on 3 catches.

Oklahoma's own Dorial Green-Beckham got significantly improved playing time in Tennessee's 38-10 thrashing at the hands of the Miami Dolphins. Green-Beckham reeled in 3 catches for 57 total yards, and his play generated some curiosity from an increasingly disenchanted fanbase over at Music City Miracles:

Where has the fade to Dorial Green-Beckham gone? You remember the one that some of the best corners in the league couldn't stop, that one. The Titans have Justin Hunter and DGB and refuse to use them together on the field consistently.

Marcus Murphy continues to be relegated to return duty (something he could just as easily be doing at Faurot Field, one would think...) and contributed a couple punt returns in the Saints victory over the previously undefeated Atlanta Falcons.

Long snapping is a skill, right? Beau Brinkley still does that for Tennessee.

The Trenches (offense)

With Tim Barnes on bye, only 2 Mizzou OL were playing this week.

At Arrowhead Pride, Mitch Morse was the whatever-the-opposite-of-beneficiary-is of some film breakdown. He anchored a line that game up 2 sacks and paved the way for 3.2 YPA rushing average for the Chiefs. To their credit, they were playing a Mike Zimmer led team. Zimmer is a very good defensive coach.

Justin Britt continued in his role at LG for the suprising(ly bad) Seattle Seahawks. This week, Russell Wilson was sacked only 4 times, and the team averaged a mediocre 4.4 YPA rushing. Britt was not singled out by fans at Field Gulls, which is  a first for this column, if I am not mistaken.

Bit Players

C.J. Mosley played 20% of Miami's defensive snaps this week, generating a QB hit, but no tackles.

Sean Weatherspoon continues to be marginalized in Arizona due to the lingering effects of nagging injuries and quality play from others at his position. He generated no stats this week in 12 snaps played.

Last year's Charles Harris, Shane Ray, suffered an injury this week, spraining his MCL. Fortunately, there was no tear, and Ray is expected back in 4-6 weeks. With the Broncos having perhaps the stiffest defense in the league, Ray was getting limited snaps in any case. Hopefully, he'll be able to get back soon and make his case for a bigger role in 2016.

Starters

William "Pig Brown" Moore joined Ray on the injury front, suffering an undisclosed hand injury and emerging with it iced after the game. However, Moore managed 6 tackles prior to the injury, and the prognosis is that he is likely to be able to play through the issue.

Starting for the first time in lieu of the injured Alex Okafor (and switching sides due to the signing of Dwight Freeney), Markus Golden managed 6 tackles (2 TFL) in the Cardinals' unfortunate loss to Pittsburgh. Golden was the only Cardinal defender to generate more than one QB pressure in the contest.

Kony Ealy continued his solid play for the undefeated Carolina Panthers, nabbing 3 tackles (1 TFL) in their comeback victory over the Seahawks. Cat Scratch Reader cited one particularly impressive play in their look at the game's important moments:

Russell Wilson faked a handoff to his left, then spun right to run. Kony Ealy (+1, -3) stayed at home on the end and was suddenly one-on-one with the nimble Seattle quarterback. Wilson juked, but Ealy read Wilson perfectly, stayed in front of him, and pounced like a cat to drop Wilson for a five yard loss. Ealy’s incredibly athletic play helped end the series with a 50-yard Seattle field goal, upping the Seahawks lead to 20-7.

Finally, the Jets impressive 34-20 win was notable for the return to the field of Sheldon Richardson, who notched half a sack and 3 tackles. Richardson's return was examined by Gang Green Nation with a fine sense of humor:

Richardson has been a bit of a disappointment in his third season. For reasons I cannot at the moment recall he has gone the entire first quarter of the season without registering a single sack, tackle or assist.  It's almost like he's been in a state of suspended animation or something.

Big Shel also drew some Jets' official page love, being featured in a post-game interview video. Watch it here!

Well, the difficult and demanding NFL season is well underway, but the #MizzouMade players in the league continue to fight to make their mark. Check back again next week for more on these players. Please leave your thoughts, corrections, and additions in the comments.