Across The Shield: Jaxon Smith-Njigba Scores His First Touchdown, Jerome Baker Nabs A Pick-Six and Chase Young Has His First Two-Sack Game

By Dan Hope on October 24, 2023 at 10:10 am
Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Steven Bisig – USA TODAY Sports
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Jaxon Smith-Njigba scored his first NFL touchdown on Sunday.

In the first quarter of his sixth game as an NFL receiver, Smith-Njigba was left open over the middle of the field and caught the ball while spinning into the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown, the first score of his professional career.

The touchdown highlighted the most productive game of Smith-Njigba’s young NFL career so far, as the former Ohio State receiver caught four passes for 63 yards and helped the Seattle Seahawks to a 20-10 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

Following the game, Smith-Njigba shared a moment with one of Ohio State’s other 2023 first-round draft picks, Paris Johnson Jr., who made his seventh consecutive start to begin his career with the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

Baker scores on pick-six

The most unlikely touchdown scorer of the week among NFL Buckeyes was Miami Dolphins linebacker Jerome Baker, who scored the second touchdown of his professional career when he intercepted a pass off a deflection by Dolphins teammate Kader Kohou and returned it all the way to the end zone for a 22-yard pick-six.

The interception return, Baker’s first touchdown since his NFL rookie season in 2018, highlighted Baker’s most productive game of the year to date as he recorded a season-high 11 tackles, including one tackle for loss.

With that prolific performance, Baker earns our Pro Buck of the Week award as the NFL’s top performer among former Ohio State players for Week 7.

Pro Bucks of the Week
Week Player Stats
Week 1 Saints CB Marshon Lattimore 1 INT, 3 PBU, 2 tackles
Week 2 Texans QB C.J. Stroud 30-47 passing, 384 yards, 2 TD
Week 3 Saints WR Chris Olave 8 catches, 104 yards
Week 4 Broncos OLB Jonathon Cooper 5 tackles, 1 sack, 2 QB hits, 35-yard fumble return TD
Week 5 Bears QB Justin Fields 15-29 passing, 282 yards, 4 TD; 11 carries, 57 yards
Week 6 Bengals DE Sam Hubbard 7 tackles, 1 sack, 5 QB hits
Week 7 Dolphins LB Jerome Baker 11 tackles, 1 TFL, 22-yard interception return TD

Young gets two sacks

Going into Sunday’s game against the New York Giants, Chase Young had never recorded two full sacks in an NFL game. That changed in Sunday’s first half as Young twice took down Giants quarterback Tyrod Taylor for a combined loss of 22 yards.

Those two sacks came on a day in which Young – who had previously recorded 1.5 sacks in two NFL games, including once already this season – had three total tackles for loss, also a career-high. For the season as a whole, Young has now recorded five sacks and six tackles for loss, putting him on pace for the most productive season of his NFL career in the final year of his rookie contract with the Washington Commanders.

In the same game, Terry McLaurin had his best game of the season to date as he caught six passes for a season-high 90 yards, highlighted by a 27-yard reception he made between two defensive backs despite taking a shot to the head that gave the Commanders another 15 yards.

Despite their efforts, the Commanders lost to the Giants, 14-7.

Ward makes interception, recovers field goal block

Another defensive star among NFL Buckeyes in Week 7 was Denzel Ward, who made his first interception of the season with a picture-perfect break in front of a pass by Indianapolis Colts quarterback Gardner Minshew.

Ward also recovered a blocked field goal earlier in the game, returning the ball to the Colts’ 26-yard line to set up a successful field goal for the Cleveland Browns.

Collectively, those two plays by Ward led to six points for the Browns, and he also made four tackles in Cleveland’s 39-38 win. He briefly left the game to be evaluated for a head injury, but was not diagnosed with a concussion and was ultimately cleared to return to action.

Fellow Ohio State product Dawand Jones also shined in victory for the Browns, allowing just one quarterback pressure on 40 pass-blocking snaps. The win was extra special for the rookie right tackle because it came in his hometown of Indianapolis, meaning he had plenty of family and friends in attendance.

Thomas scores first touchdown in 13 months

After missing most of the 2022 season due to injury and scoring no touchdowns in the New Orleans Saints’ first six games of the season, Michael Thomas reached the end zone for the first time since September 2022 when he scored his first touchdown of the year on Thursday Night Football.

Thomas delivered in a clutch moment, making a beautiful diving catch just inside the boundary of the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown, allowing the Saints to tie the game at 24-24 (with a subsequent two-point conversion) and 6:38 to play in the game, though the Jacksonville Jaguars would go on to win 31-24.

Marshon Lattimore also made the highlight reel with what was nearly his second interception of the season. Replay review determined that Lattimore did not actually catch the ball, but his pass breakup was still an excellent demonstration of man-to-man coverage.

Quick Hits

  • Ezekiel Elliott scored his second touchdown in as many weeks, running into the end zone from two yards out to help the New England Patriots to a surprise 29-25 win over the Buffalo Bills.
  • After missing the Denver Broncos’ six games of the year due to a meniscus tear in his knee, Baron Browning made his season debut and recorded a tackle and a pass deflection in their 19-17 win over the Green Bay Packers.
  • In case you missed it, C.J. Stroud spent the Houston Texans’ bye week in Ohio Stadium with his former teammates as Ohio State beat Penn State, 20-12. Stroud served as the guest picker on College GameDay and proceeded to watch the entire game with the Buckeyes from their sideline before joining them in the celebratory postgame singing of Carmen Ohio.

Statistics for every former Ohio State player from Week 7 and for the 2023 NFL season as a whole can be found in the table below compiled by Eleven Warriors researcher Matt Gutridge. (Note: The table only includes players who finished their college careers at Ohio State.)

Buckeyes Around the NFL
PLAYER POSITION TEAM WEEK 7 STATS SEASON STATS
ELI APPLE CB DOLPHINS 4 tackles, 2 PD 28 tackles, 1 QB hit, 6 PD
JEROME BAKER LB DOLPHINS 11 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 INT, 1 TD 44 tackles, 1.5 sacks (0 yards), 1 TFL, 4 QB hits, 1 INT, 1 PD, 1 TD
VONN BELL S PANTHERS Bye 33 tackles, 1 INT, 2 PD
JOEY BOSA OLB CHARGERS 1 tackle, 1 QB hit 9 tackles, 3 sacks (28 yards), 3 TFL, 4 QB hits, 1 PD
NICK BOSA DE 49ERS 5 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 QB hit 19 tackles, 2.5 sacks (22 yards), 5 TFL, 17 QB hits, 1 PD
NOAH BROWN WR TEXANS Bye 5 catches, 57 yards
BARON BROWNING OLB BRONCOS 1 tackle, 1 PD 1 tackle, 1 PD
PARRIS CAMPBELL WR GIANTS Played at WR 16 catches, 85 yards; 1 KR, 21 yards
JONATHON COOPER OLB BRONCOS 6 tackles, 1 QB hit 36 tackles, 4 sacks (28 yards), 1 FF, 3 TFL, 6 QB hits, 1 PD, 1 FR, 1 TD
TAYLOR DECKER OT LIONS Started at LT 5 starts at LT
J.K. DOBBINS RB RAVENS Injured reserve (Achilles) 8 carries, 22 yards, 1 TD
EZEKIEL ELLIOTT RB PATRIOTS 11 carries, 31 yards, 1 TD 60 carries, 224 yards, 2 TD; 13 catches, 59 yards
LUKE FARRELL TE JAGUARS Played at TE 4 catches, 30 yards
JUSTIN FIELDS QB BEARS Inactive 100/152 passing, 1,201 yards, 11 TD, 6 INT; 47 carries, 237 yards, 1 TD
JORDAN FULLER S RAMS 5 tackles, 1 TFL 44 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 PD, 2 FF
DaVON HAMILTON DT JAGUARS Injured reserve (back) Has not played
JOHNATHAN HANKINS DT COWBOYS Bye 12 tackles, 2 PD
MALIK HARRISON LB RAVENS 1 tackle 12 tackles, 1 QB hit
ZACH HARRISON DE FALCONS Played at DE 13 tackles
CAMERON HEYWARD DT STEELERS Injured reserve (groin) 1 QB hit
RONNIE HICKMAN S BROWNS Inactive 1 game played at S
MALIK HOOKER S COWBOYS Bye 21 tackles, 1 INT, 2 PD
SAM HUBBARD DE BENGALS Bye 32 tackles, 3 sacks (18 yards), 3 TFL, 10 QB hits, 1 FR
JONAH JACKSON OG LIONS Inactive 5 starts at LG
PARIS JOHNSON JR. OL CARDINALS Started at RT 7 starts at RT
CAMERON JOHNSTON P TEXANS Bye 11 punts, 42.8 average, 5 inside 20
DAWAND JONES OT BROWNS Started at RT 5 starts at RT, 6 games played
DRE’MONT JONES DE SEAHAWKS 3 tackles, 2 QB hits 15 tackles, 2 sacks (10 yards), 3 TFL, 4 QB hits
MARSHON LATTIMORE CB SAINTS 2 tackles, 1 PD 32 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 INT, 7 PD
TYQUAN LEWIS DE COLTS 3 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 QB hit 9 tackles, 1 sack (6 yards) 3 TFL, 5 QB hits, 1 PD
COREY LINSLEY C CHARGERS Non-football illness (heart) 3 starts at C
LIAM McCULLOUGH LS FALCONS Played at LS 1 tackle, 6 games played at LS
TERRY McLAURIN WR COMMANDERS 6 catches, 90 yards 37 receptions, 432 yards, 1 TD, 1 FR TD
THAYER MUNFORD OT RAIDERS Started at RT 3 starts, 7 games played at OT
JOSH MYERS C PACKERS Started at C 6 games started at C
JEFF OKUDAH CB FALCONS 6 tackles, 1 PD 16 tackles, 3 PD
CHRIS OLAVE WR SAINTS 7 catches, 57 yards 39 catches, 471 yards, 1 TD
NICHOLAS PETIT-FRERE OT TITANS Bye 1 game played
ISAIAH PRINCE OT FALCONS Released 2 games played
BRADLEY ROBY CB EAGLES Inactive 2 tackles
JEREMY RUCKERT TE JETS Bye 4 catches, 36 yards
CURTIS SAMUEL WR COMMANDERS 4 catches, 25 yards 31 catches, 310 yards, 2 TD; 4 carries, 20 yards, 1 TD
TREY SERMON RB COLTS Special teams 8 carries, 24 yards
KENDALL SHEFFIELD CB 49ERS Practice squad 3 tackles, 1 TFL
TYREKE SMITH LB SEAHAWKS Practice squad 1 tackle
JAXON SMITH-NJIGBA WR SEAHAWKS 4 catches, 63 yards, 1 TD 20 catches, 173 yards, 1 TD
C.J. STROUD QB TEXANS Bye 127/213 passing, 1,660 yards, 9 TD; 18 carries, 55 yards
MICHAEL THOMAS WR SAINTS 3 catches, 42 yards, 1 TD 34 catches, 371 yards, 1 TD
SHAUN WADE CB PATRIOTS Special teams 12 tackles, 1 PD
DENZEL WARD CB BROWNS 4 tackles, 1 INT 18 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 INT, 6 PD, 1 FF
PETE WERNER LB SAINTS 4 tackles 47 tackles, 0.5 sack (4 yards), 1 QB hit, 1 INT, 1 PD
GARRETT WILSON WR JETS Bye 32 catches, 369 yards, 2 TD
LUKE WYPLER C BROWNS Special teams 1 game played
CHASE YOUNG DE COMMANDERS 3 tackles, 2 sacks (22 yards), 3 TFL 15 tackles, 5 sacks (35 yards), 6 TFL, 9 QB hits, 1 PD
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