Across the Shield: Eli Apple Offers to Play Receiver, Ryan Shazier Nabs Another Interception & Joey Bosa Sacks Eli Manning Twice

The New OBJ?

Things are looking grim in New York. Not only are the Giants 0-5 after this weekend, but they're down four wide receivers, including star Odell Beckham Jr., who will be out for the season after injuring his leg on Sunday afternoon.

New York will also be without Dwayne Harris for what looks to be the remainder of the season and receivers Sterling Shepard and Brandon Marshall will be evaluated this week after suffering ankle injuries.

It seems the Giants are out of receivers, but a solution may not be far away as cornerback Eli Apple offered his services at the position, if the team needs him.

From Newsday.com

“I’ve never seen that,” Apple said of the Giants losing four players at the same position. “Going back to high school, Little League. It was insane. I was like ‘Do we even have any more receivers?’ I was thinking I was going to have to go play receiver.”

For Apple, it would be going back to his roots, as he played wide receiver back in high school before becoming a full-time cornerback after he arrived at Ohio State.

“I played receiver in high school,” Apple told the New York Post. “All-state, baby.”

Another layer to this story is that Apple was benched during New York's 27-22 loss to the Chargers, and he admitted he was not happy about it.

Though it's unlikely we'll ever see Apple line up on offense, he wasn't joking when he offered his services. If the Giants needed him to play receiver, he would play receiver.

“I’ll go out there,” he told Newsday. “I’m gonna have to tell them this week in practice to put me at receiver if you need me.”

Feed Zeke

Ezekiel Elliott hasn't been quite as dominant this season as his rookie year and was even held in check most of Sunday afternoon's game against Green Bay, but he was huge for the Cowboys down the stretch.

Needing both to score and run time off the clock to make a game-winning drive more difficult for Aaron Rodgers, the Cowboys relied on Elliott's legs to move them down the field, and the former Buckeye delivered.

At times, the Packers seemed to know exactly what was coming, but still had no answer for Elliott or the underneath passing game. The Cowboys picked up first down after first down, including a crucial fourth-down conversion where Elliott was initially ruled short, but was given the first down after further review.

THE BEAST @EzekielElliott #GBvsDAL pic.twitter.com/vhWdKV6Vmh

— GEZA PAUL FREY II (@itsGEZA) October 8, 2017

The Cowboys drove the length of the field and scored, putting themselves up four points with just over a minute remaining, but it was too much time for Rodgers as he found the end zone with just 11 seconds left in the game to steal a 35-31 victory.

It came in a losing effort, but Elliott put up big numbers. He rushed for 116 yards on 29 carries and caught one pass for 16 yards.

Shrug Life

Remember when people legitimately thought Joey Bosa would be a bust, just over a year ago? That gets more hilarious every day.

Bosa had yet another dominating game on Sunday afternoon, wreaking havoc on Eli Manning almost all game to help his Chargers get their first win of the season. He finished the game with a forced fumble, two sacks, one tackle of a loss, six total tackles and had three quarterback pressures.

And when he wasn't actually putting up stats himself, he was eating blocks to help his teammates get to the quarterback.

It's unbelievable how good Joey Bosa has been since his arrival in the NFL, mostly because his impact on ever snap is difficult to quantify.

But thankfully, the folks at Pro Football Focus try, and Bosa's had probably the most impressive start of any pass rusher since they began keeping track.

After 17 career games:
Joey Bosa-16 sacks, 15 hits, 43 hurries-74 pressures
Von Miller-13 sacks, 21 hits, 36 hurries-70 pressures

— Nathan Jahnke (@PFF_NateJahnke) October 8, 2017

It's high praise to be even compared to Von Miller, but almost all of Bosa's numbers are even better than Miller's were at this point in his career.

Ryan Shazier Takes What He Wants

Last week, Ryan Shazier forced two interceptions, grabbing one himself and acrobatically tipping another into the arms of a teammate. This week, he was at it again, though the process looked quite a bit different.

Shazier showed off his athleticism with his interceptions last week, but this week he just showcased his aggressiveness and strength, ripping the ball away from Jaguars tight end James O’Shaughnessy after he pulled the ball down, and taking it for himself.

RT steelers Better hold onto the tightly when RyanShazier is around. pic.twitter.com/zVZFehvyOP

— StlrsDieHard (@StlrsDieHard) October 8, 2017

Great play by #Steelers Ryan Shazier. 2nd pick in that many weeks for the pro bowl linebacker #NFL #JAXvsPIT pic.twitter.com/gz9SeauQfi

— Joshua P. Forrest (@jpfscouting) October 8, 2017

I'm not sure if that should count as an interception or a fumble, but ultimately it doesn't really matter. It's Shazier's ball regardless.

Ohio Against the World

Well, I had no starting receivers this week since the Saints bye overlapped with the Redskins'. Couple that with an abysmal performance from Carlos Hyde you've got yourself a disaster of a week.

This week, I managed just 31.1 points, and almost a third of those came from my defense.

The score ain't pretty, but let's look at the silver lining – I got the bye week out of the way for all of my receivers. There's still hope going forward!

Serious question, who wins a game first, me or the Browns?