Across the Shield: Ted Ginn Jr. Goes Deep Again, Bradley Roby Makes a House Call & Eli Apple Intercepts a Pass

Apple Turnovers

Buckeye and Giants faithful alike have been waiting for a breakout game from top-10 pick Eli Apple, and in week 13 against the Steelers, the rookie delivered.

Apple was on the field for every single defensive snap and finished the game with five tackles, a tackle for a loss, a fumble recovery and his first-career interception. He allowed just 3 receptions for 27 yards the seven times he was thrown at.

Fortunately, this pick counted after an interesting rule robbed Apple of his first NFL interception last week.

Of course, Buckeye blood runs thick, and Apple's former teammates were quick to congratulate him.

Congrats @EliApple13 on your first career pick and many more to come, just not on me lol

— Cardale Jones (@Cardale7_) December 5, 2016

I see you! @EliApple13

— Ezekiel Elliott (@EzekielElliott) December 4, 2016

BIA!!! @EliApple13 https://t.co/5pakcvrmTx

— Marshon Lattimore (@shonrp2) December 4, 2016

I see you @EliApple13 https://t.co/TeYy5Azqoc

— Bradley Roby (@BradRoby_1) December 5, 2016

Miller Injures Shoulder

The most sickening news of the weekend was that Braxton Miller went down with a shoulder injury.

Braxton Miller is still down on the field. Landed very hard on shoulder

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) December 4, 2016

After the injury Miller was initially deemed questionable to return to the game, but was soon downgraded to "out." 

Of course, there's fear whenever you talk about possible shoulder injuries to Miller. The former Buckeye quarterback was forced to switch to receiver following two tears to his labrum. Another tear to the same area would be devastating, both medically as well as mentally.

Fortunately, the injury does not appear to quite that severe. Here's a doctor – which I am not, despite rumors – explaining Miller's injury better than I could.

Meanwhile, SportingNews.com reported that Miller may be out for the season with a broken collarbone. Obviously, that's not ideal, but the good news is that the words "torn labrum" haven't been tossed around.

Ginn Goes Deep Again

Alright now it's getting a little excessive. I joked last week that Carolina had finally figured out the let-Ted-Ginn-Jr-outrun-everybody-and-then-throw-him-the-ball offense. Looks like I might not have been joking.

For the third straight week, Ted Ginn Jr. torched a secondary for a deep touchdown catch. This time it was for 55 yards against the vaunted Seattle Seahawks secondary.

The 55-yard touchdown catch is Ginn's third in as many weeks. He hauled in a 40 yarder against New Orleans two weeks ago, and burned Oakland for 88 yards last week.

It helps that Ginn's quarterback, Cam Newton, can throw a ball 60 yards in the air with the flick of his wrist. They're a match made in heaven.

The craziest part of Ginn's three week tear is he hadn't even caught a touchdown pass all season until week 11. Now, it seems like that's all he does (when he's not getting destroyed by K.J. Wright).

Play of the Week

There was an excessive number of pick sixes from the Silver Bullets this season, and there was an almost-equally excessive number of pick sixes from former Buckeyes now playing on Sundays.

This week, Bradley Roby added to that tally, jumping in front of a Blake Bortles pass and taking it back for six points the other way. 

The pick-six was Roby's second of the season. He joins Eric Berry as one of just two players with two interceptions returned for touchdowns on the season.

Ohio Against the World

Sadly, it looks like my fantasy team is going to finish the season 0-13 (unless Brandon Marshall decides not to play).

Here are my takeaways from this experiment.

Yes, I could have done a lot of things to make it more even. I could have allowed myself to take an Ohio quarterback (Ben Roethlisberger) instead of a true Buckeye. I could have added additional teams to spread the talent a little thinner. I could have made teams exclusively of alumni of other colleges like Alabama or Miami.

Maybe that would have made things more interesting, but I think it's incredible that I had a legitimate chance to win and posted really competitive scores a little less than half the time while not doing anything to make it easier.

My team consisted of seven rookies, two converted quarterbacks at receiver and non-starters at both the quarterback and the tight end position and I easily could have come away with three or four wins against opponents actually trying to win – that's how good the other players were on a consistent basis.

I think it's safe to say the professional Buckeyes exceeded our wildest expectations this year. Ezekiel Elliott, Michael Thomas and Terrelle Pryor are absolutely fantastic fantasy football picks.

***Player listed as "Injured/Physically Unable to Perform"