[News] Viska Continues To Shine, Montez Makes The News

[_Happy boy]

 

Viska Continues To Shine, Montez Makes The News

BOULDER--#NFLBuffs rookies Laviska Shenault Jr. and Steven Montez both made news last week, highlighting the Buffs in the NFL for Week 5 of the season.  

FEED VISKA
Shenault Jr. is turning heads in the NFL in his rookie season.  He joined Brandin Cooks as the only NFL receiver over the past 25 seasons to have 200 receiving yards and 50 rushing yards through his first five career games.  On the season he has 23 receptions for 270 yards and a touchdown, leading all rookies in the AFC.  Over the past two weeks, he has 12 receptions for 165 yards.  PFF has ranked him the No. 2 rookie receiver in social media posts for the last two weeks.  

MONTEZ PUT IN NEWS CYCLE
Not many rookie, practice squad QB's make the news, but Montez was put into the news cycle last week when incumbent Washington starter Dwayne Haskins was benched in favor of Kyle Allen on Wednesday last week.  It was widely reported that Haskins wasn't taking any snaps in practice and Allen, Alex Smith, and Montez were all taking snaps ahead of him.  Allen started the game but was injured and Smith came in to close out the game.

MORE COVID-19 ISSUES
COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on the NFL in Week 5 with the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans.  Early in the week, the Denver at New England game was moved to Monday night and on Sunday, the NFL moved the game to Week 6.   Phillip Lindsay is expected to play and will now have another week to get fully healthy.  Tennessee's game with Buffalo was also moved to Tuesday night at 7 p.m. 

SEVEN BUFFS SEE ACTION

In all, seven Buffs saw action in games in Week 5. 

Ken Crawley (New Orleans) has spent a majority of his two weeks in New Orleans on the practice squad, but he's spent both Sunday's on the active roster and football field.  Crawley played in his second game of the season, seeing nine snaps on special teams for the Saints in their 30-27 win over the L.A. Chargers. 

Isaiah Oliver (Atlanta) started for the fifth time this season and had six tackles on defense with one tackle for loss, playing 54 snaps on defense and eight on special teams in the Falcons 23-16 loss to Carolina. 

Shenault (Jacksonville) started and had another solid game for Jacksonville, leading the team with seven receptions on eight targets for 79 yards.  On the season he has 23 receptions for 270 yards and a touchdown, leading all rookies in the AFC. PFF has ranked him the No. 2 rookie receiver for the last two weeks and he's had 12 receptions for 165 yards in the last two weeks.  

Jimmy Smith (Baltimore) started for the second time this season and responded with one tackle, which was credited as a one-yard sack, tackle for loss, hit on the quarterback, and a third-down stop on the game's first drive.  Smith got to No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow for a loss of a yard on 3rd-and-5 on the first drive of the game, allowed the Ravens to hold Cincinnati to a three-and-out.  Baltimore responded with a field goal to make it 3-0 early and went on to win, 27-3 to improve to 4-1.

Davion Taylor (Philadelphia) saw action for the fifth straight week on special teams to open his career in the Eagles 38-29 loss to interstate rival Pittsburgh. 

Tedric Thompson (Kansas City) played on defense and special teams in the Cheifs' 40-32 loss to Las Vegas, seeing action on defense for two snaps and special teams for five. 

Ahkello Witherspoon (San Francisco) returned to playing action after two weeks on the inactive list and had three tackles against Miami, playing 41 snaps on defense and one on special teams.   

NOT IN ACTION IN WEEK 5
Inactive players for Week 5 included Arlington Hambright (Chicago) and Daniel Munyer (Tennessee).

Five Buffs were on Week 5 practice squads with Delrick Abrams Jr. (Atlanta) returning to there this week.  Others are Tony Brown (Washington), Steven Monez (Washington), Devin Ross (New England), and Juwann Winfree (Green Bay). 

Lindsay and the Broncos were forced into a Week 5 bye and Mason Crosby, David Bakhtiari, and the Packers had their regularly scheduled bye week. 

Chidobe Awuzie (Dallas) and Kabion Ento (Packers) are on the NFL's Injured Reserve list and Nate Solder (N.Y. Giants) and Josh Tupou (Cincinnati) opted out of the 2020 season. 

TRANSACTIONS
Delrick Abrams Jr. returned to the Atlanta practice squad on Oct. 6 … Ken Crawley signed to the active roster on Oct. 11.