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The Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith was awarded NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors Wednesday morning for his outstanding performance against the San Francisco 49ers, on Sunday.
Smith had himself a day. He recorded eight total tackles ( 7 solo, 1 assist), a sack, one interception and a fumble recovery. The fumble recovery came at the goal line and the interception came late in the fourth quarter to help seal up a week one win.
With week one in the books, Smith is already making a strong statement on why he should be Defensive Player of the Year. This was Smith’s second defensive player of the week honor in the past three weeks of the regular-season (going back to last year, obviously).
Here are his key plays that sealed the deal for him:
Harrison Smith making an early head start on his Defensive Player of the Year campaign:
— Nick Olson (@NicholasJOlson) September 9, 2018
• One sack,
• Two tackles for loss,
• One goal line stop
• One goal line fumble recovery
• And the game-winning interception. pic.twitter.com/E84vMGFWff
Other ‘Players of the week’:
NFC Offensive Player of the Week:
Really no surprise here. Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick received the NFC offensive nod. He completed 21-of-28 passes for 417 yards, four touchdowns and threw zero interceptions. He rushed for 36 yards and a touchdown, on top of his passing performance. Fitzpatrick had a passer rating of 156.2.
AFC Defensive Player of the Week:
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt recevied AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. He dished out 11 tackles and four sacks, along with one blocked field goal. Watt seemed pretty deserving of the award.
AFC Offensive Player of the Week:
Kansas City Chiefs qaurteback Patrick Mahomes received the AFC offensive award. Mahomes completed 15-of-27 passes for 256 yards and four touchdowns en route to a 38-28 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. Mahomes had an AFC-best passer rating of 127.5.