Across the Shield: Nick Vannett and Rod Smith Score First NFL Touchdowns, Injury Bug Bites Former Buckeyes & DeVier Posey Breaks Grey Cup Record

Feed Rod Smith

Ezekiel Elliott may not be able to play for the Cowboys, but Rod Smith can!

Elliott's suspension paved the way for more carries for Dallas' other former Buckeye running back, and Smith made the most of it on Thanksgiving, scoring the first touchdown of his NFL career.

The best of both worlds: Rod Smith scores first NFL career touchdown in a Cowboys loss.pic.twitter.com/IFbz9TNOjo

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 24, 2017

It didn't lead to much, as the Cowboys still lost 28-6, but it's good to see him making it in the NFL, even if it is as Elliott's understudy.

Nick Vannett 

Former Buckeye tight end Nick Vannett has been a regular piece of the Seattle Seahawks offense since his rookie season last year, but that hasn't really resulted in big numbers.

Vannett's role in Seattle's offense was mostly as a blocking tight end. Through 19 games, Vannett had just 10 receptions for a total of just 87 yards and no touchdowns.

On Sunday, he finally found the end zone.

That catch was one of two catches Vannett had in the game. He finished with 29 receiving yards.

100 Yards Through the Heart of Canada 

I know this isn't the NFL, but if DeVier Posey is going to break Grey Cup records and win the game MVP on a snowy Sunday north of the border, you better believe I'm going to write about it.

Posey lit up the Calgary Stampeders secondary, hauling in seven catches for 175 yards and a touchdown. One of those catches happened to be a 100-yard touchdown – the longest touchdown reception in Grey Cup history. 

Posey could barely run in the snow, but that didn't stop him from Mossing the Calgary corner and taking it to the house.

The performance was enough to earn him the game's MVP honors and his Toronto Argonauts took home the title in dramatic fashion, downing the Stampeders 27-24 thanks to a late fumble return for a touchdown and a go-ahead field goal.

Broken Buckeyes

The injury bug has bitten former Buckeyes hard this NFL season. Eight Ohio State alums, including four members of the 2017 draft class, are currently on the injured reserve list – Curtis Samuel, Michael Bennett, Malik Hooker, Jack Mewhort, Raekwon McMillan, Devin Smith, Gareon Conley and Terrelle Pryor.

This week, two more Buckeyes went down.

Curtis Grant, who made the Giants roster after beginning the offseason as a practice squad player and earned regular playing time this season, sustained a season-ending knee injury in the team's 20-10 Thanksgiving loss to Washington.

Nate Ebner, a former Ohio State walk on who is now a key member of New England's special teams, injured his knee during a successful fake punt where he took the direct snap as the up-back and ran for a first down.

The extent of Ebner's injury is not yet known, but he did not return to the game.

No More Nuge

Mike Nugent's time in Dallas was short lived.

The Cowboys signed Nugent to fill in for injured kicker Dan Bailey. With Bailey back, Dallas released the former Buckeye kicker this week.

While in Dallas, Nugent proved he can still kick in the league. He went 8-for-8 on extra points and 7-for-9 on field goals, scoring 29 total points for the Cowboys during his brief, four-week stint.

Perhaps it was enough for another team to give him a shot.

Ohio Against The World

Let me first apologize to Mr. Vannett – I played the wrong tight end this week. I was wrong, please forgive me.

Starting Vannett would have given me 10.1 more points, but I still would have lost decisively.

The craziest thing about all of this is outside of getting zero points from the quarterback and kicker position, this is not an absolutely terrible team, even after all the injuries.

Unfortunately, "not absolutely terrible" + no quarterback or kicker ≠ lots of wins.