Players of the Game for Week 3 Loss against Chiefs: Bradley Pinion & Justin Simmons

Contributor
Clint Goss
Players of the Game for Week 3 Loss against Chiefs: Bradley Pinion & Justin Simmons image

Bradley Pinion

Yes, seriously. Punters can be the Player of the Game here at Sporting News. Probably Pinion’s first in his now 10-year NFL career.

Averaging 54 yards per punt on Sunday Night Football versus the defending Super Bowl Champs, the NFL’s best player gets included in third-year Atlanta Falcon Bradley Pinion.

Pinion’s 65-yard long in particular jumps off the stat sheet this week after the 22-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Adding to the Special Teams appreciation, Younghoe Koo’s 54-yard Field Goal gave the Falcons as good a shot as he could (another look would have been nice in hindsight).

Hopefully, Pinion and his 51.2 season average get a rest Sunday against those people.

Justin Simmons

3x the number of career interceptions (the above image is pre-game) on the 2nd-best Quarterback of All-Time than the next guy ($96M Patrick Surtain to be exact)? It’s particularly not shocking given this stat:

Forced Turnovers (INT + FF) Leaders 2017-2023

Only players with 30+:

TJ Watt 34

Justin Simmons 33

Xavien Howard 32

Kevin Byard, Harrison Smith 31

Jordan Poyer 30

How crucial of a snag that interception on the 1-yard line by Simmons was to give the Falcons a chance late in the 4th. This talent and leadership at safety is as good as I will ever see covering this team, as it should be.