Across the Shield: Corey Linsley is the Only Buckeye Advancing to NFL Conference Championship Weekend

By David Wertheim on January 18, 2021 at 1:45 pm
Corey Linsley
Mark J. Rebilas – USA TODAY Sports
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Corey Linsley is the last Buckeye standing.

With the Green Bay Packers' win over the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday, Linsley will be the only former Ohio State player on the field for the NFL's conference championship games next weekend. 

None of the three other teams who advanced to the conference championship games – the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers – have any Buckeyes on their active roster, though Darron Lee (who won the Super Bowl with the Chiefs last season) is on the Bills' practice squad.

Linsley and the Packers will take on Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in the NFC Championship Game at 3:05 p.m. next Sunday on Fox.

Linsley earns All-NFL honors

After earning a playoff win over the weekend, Linsley received more good news on Monday when he was named to the Pro Football Writers of America's All-NFL team as the league's best center this year. He already earned first-team All-Pro honors for the first time earlier this month.

Former Ohio State defensive ends Joey Bosa and Chase Young also earned recognition from the PFWA on Monday, as Bosa was named to the All-AFC team while Young joined Linsley on the All-NFC team.

Saints fall to ageless Brady

I think the Saints are ready for a changing of the guard at quarterback. Drew Brees appears to be unable to throw the ball over 10 yards in the air consistently, and it hurt Michael Thomas on Sunday, who ended with a goose-egg on four targets despite making an almost-ridiculous touchdown reception.

It also led to this statistic, which shows how dominant Thomas has been since he entered the NFL.

With Brees' impending retirement, it will be interesting to see how Thomas does with a new signal-caller. Thomas' staple over the last few years has been short routes, and Brees was good at that, but his loss of arm talent made it a lot easier for defenses to hold the Saints this year.

Elsewhere in this game, the ageless wonder Malcolm Jenkins led the Saints with 11 tackles and three passes defensed. He will return to the Saints next year, as he is under contract until 2024.

Marshon Lattimore ended with a tackle and two passes defensed against Tom Brady and a talented Buccaneers wide receiver corps. Mike Evans had just one catch all game, although it was a three-yard touchdown, which helped lead the Buccaneers to a 30-20 win over the Saints.

Denzel Ward, Browns fall to Chiefs

The Cleveland Browns saw their season come to an end at the hands of Chad Henne and the Chiefs, suffering a 22-17 loss even after Patrick Mahomes left the game in the third quarter with a concussion.

With that, it also marked the end of the 2020 campaign for former Ohio State cornerback Denzel Ward. Other than being abused on a slant route by Travis Kelce that went for a score, Ward played relatively well, finishing the game with three tackles. Now, he will begin preparing for what should be another fun season in the AFC North in 2021.

Rookie seasons end for Dobbins, Fuller and Harrison

With the Rams' loss to the Packers on Saturday, Jordan Fuller's rookie NFL season came to an end. The former Ohio State safety had five tackles in his team's 32-18 defeat.

The rookie seasons of former Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins and linebacker Malik Harrison also came to an end in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs as the Baltimore Ravens suffered a 17-3 loss to the Bills. Dobbins had 10 carries for 42 yards while Harrison had one tackle in the final game of their first season as pros.

They were the final three rookies from Ohio State to still be in action in this year's playoffs.

Urban Meyer becomes head coach in Jacksonville

Unless you live under a rock, I'm sure you have heard the big news that Urban Meyer will be trying his hand with the NFL and becoming the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

Two former Ohio State staffers will be joining Meyer in Jacksonville: Ryan Stamper, who was Ohio State's director of player development, will be the Jaguars' director of player assessment, while former Buckeye linebacker Anthony Schlegel, who previously worked as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Ohio State from 2011-15, will be the Jaguars' head strength and conditioning coach.

RELATED Urban Meyer Has Long Been Intrigued By NFL, and Believes Jacksonville is “The Right Place” for Return to Coaching

Several Buckeyes are unrestricted free agents this offseason (including Curtis Samuel, Noah Brown and Dwayne Haskins), and Meyer's Jaguars are projected to have the most salary cap space in the entire NFL, positioning them to potentially making a run at some of his former players.

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