Cal Football in the NFL: Big Days for Wide Receivers
A pair of former Cal football wide receivers had big days on Sunday, including a breakout performance for a Washington wideout.
Washington has had their share of problems offensively, but as they lost again on Sunday, they witnessed a former Cal football wide receiver have, by far, his best day in the NFL.
Maurice Harris, undrafted in 2016, entered Sunday’s matchup against the Falcons with 11 catches and 102 yards on the season. He nearly doubled his catch total while more than doubling his yardage. Harris caught 10 passes for 124 yards on Sunday, blowing his previous career-highs out of the water. Before this game, Harris hadn’t caught more than three passes and hadn’t totaled more than 50 yards in a single game.
By halftime, Harris had matched his career-high with three receptions, totaling 42 yards. On the first drive of the third quarter, Harris caught a fourth pass for the first time in his career. A little later in the third, he made a fantastic one-handed catch for 33 yards to set a new personal best in yardage.
Harris piled up the milestones on Washington’s final drive. His first catch of the drive was his seventh, and it put him over the 100-yard mark for the first time. He then made his eighth, ninth, and 10th catches of the day before the clock ran out. It marked the first 100-yard game for a Washington player this season, and the second with at least 10 catches.
On the other side of the country, another former Golden Bear receiver had a big day. Chargers wideout Keenan Allen caught six passes for 124 yards, a season-high and his first 100-plus yard game since week one of this year. He was one of the catalysts as the Chargers beat the Seahawks to move to 6-2 on the season, firmly holding on to a wildcard spot in the AFC.
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Allen’s second reception of the day was a 54-yard bomb deep over the middle, more than doubling his previous longest catch of the season, which was 25 yards. He also had a 28-yard rushing gain, the longest carry of his NFL career.
Sunday was Allen’s 20th career game of at least 100 yards, and the 12th time he surpassed 120 yards. He’s within 400 yards of reaching 5,000 in his career, and on the season, is well above pace to reach 1,000 yards for the third time in his six-year career.
The Italian Stallion
In his return to the NFL two weeks ago, Atlanta kicker Giorgio Tavecchio stunned the league when he made a pair of 50-yard field goals, including a career-long 56-yard kick. He earned NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for that performance, but had to wait to follow up because of the Falcons’ bye week.
He was back out there on Sunday, and though he didn’t get the chance to make any more huge kicks, he was again perfect. He made his only field goal attempt, a 27-yard try, and was also perfect on five extra-point attempts.
In two games with the Falcons since Matt Bryant’s injury, Tavecchio has been perfect on 11 kick attempts (four field goals, seven extra points). Dating back to last season with the Raiders, he’s made 13 straight tries (five field goals, eight extra points). With his eight points on Sunday, he’s reached 100 points in his two-year NFL career.
And One
Jared Goff and the Rams are undefeated no more. They matched up with another of the NFC’s best, the Saints, on Sunday, and came out on the short end of the shootout. The Saints came away with a 45-35 victory, finally erasing the zero in the Rams’ loss column.
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Victory Bell Rings
Both quarterbacks played extremely well on Sunday. Former Cal signal-caller Goff threw for 391 yards, the second-highest total of his career and his 10th 300-plus yard game. He also threw three touchdowns for the fourth time this season, and ninth time in his career. Goff added 17 yards on the ground, a season-high.
Goff has thrown 53 touchdown passes in his career, moving into the top-10 in Rams’ franchise history. He sits in 10th place, three behind Billy Wade for ninth and six behind Sam Bradford for eighth.
Around the League
Cameron Jordan recorded two tackles, one solo, as the Saints handed the Rams their first loss. Jordan was held without a sack for the third straight game, and he has just one in his last five contests.
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers came up just short against the Patriots and Tom Brady on Sunday. He completed 24 of his 43 pass attempts for 259 yards and two touchdowns. He didn’t throw an interception for the fourth straight game, and is riding a streak of 201 consecutive passes without a pick. He’s been intercepted just once in 327 pass attempts this season.
Lions wideout Marvin Jones made six catches and piled up a game-high 66 yards as Detroit lost to the Vikings.
DeSean Jackson had two catches for 32 yards as Tampa Bay lost to the Panthers. He’s up to 10,113 career yards, 46th all-time in league history.
Next. Two Former Bear QBs Battle in L.A.. dark
Cowboys long snapper L.P. Ladouceur was back on the field Monday night as Dallas lost to the Titans. It was Ladouceur’s 213th consecutive game, leaving him 11 games shy of tying Ethan Albright’s record for most consecutive games by an NFL long snapper. He also tied Todd Steussie for sixth-most games by a Cal Bear in the NFL.