Owls in the League 2020-Playoff Edition
1/7/2021 8:43:00 PM | Football
Four Owls head to postseason action
The NFL playoffs open on Saturday with the first Super Wild Card Weekend, featuring three games on both Saturday and Sunday. For the fourth time since 2013, four former Owls remain in the hunt for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Here's a look at how the 10 NFL Owls wrapped up the regular season, along with a healthy dose of some postseason trivia at the end.
This week's main question: Chris Boswell, Vance McDonald, Andrew Sendejo and Luke Willson remain in contention for a Super Bowl title. Willson (11) has the most playoff games among active Owls (Boswell and Sendejo each have six and McDonald four), can you name the Owl who has played the most postseason NFL games? Bonus, can you name the player who Willson can tie for third on the Owls' career list if he sees action this weekend?
Calvin Anderson— Anderson closed out his first season of active duty with the Broncos by playing on special teams in Denver's 32-31 loss to Las Vegas. He played in all 16 games this year and made a pair of starts.
Chris Boswell—Boswell missed his second straight game while nursing an injury and his status for Sunday night's playoff opener against Cleveland is in doubt. The Steelers and Browns will meet for the second straight week at 7:15 on Sunday. (NBC)
Bryce Callahan- Despite missing the last month of the season with an injury, Callahan enjoyed his most productive season in the NFL and was named to the Pro Football Focus All-NFL team.
Christian Covington—Covington played in all 16 games for the second consecutive season and set career highs with 14 starts. He closed strongly, collecting a career-best six tackles in the season finale against to end the year with a career-best 39 stops.
Jack Fox—Fox completed the most statistically dominant performance by a rookie punter in NFL history by averaging 50.5 yards on a pair of punts against Minnesota. He set team records for the highest gross (49.1) & net (44.8) punting averages in a season, which both marked the highest averages in a player's first season in NFL history. He joined Callahan on the PFF All-NFL Team.
Phillip Gaines— Gaines played in 12 games for the Texans, including a pair of starts. He missed the final four games with an injury.
Vance McDonald— McDonald made his 12th start of the year his most productive game of 2020, catching five passes for 33 yards in the loss to the Browns. The Steelers and Browns will meet for the second straight week at 7:15 on Sunday. (NBC)
Andrew Sendejo— Sendejo was inactive in the season finale after being placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list during the week. His Cleveland teammates held off Pittsburgh to end the Browns 18-year playoff drought and will face off against the Steelers again on Sunday night at 7:15. (NBC)
Austin Walter— Walter return to action after spending several weeks on the reserve/COVID-19, returning a pair of kickoffs for 29 yards in the 49er's 26-23 loss to Seattle.
Luke Willson— Willson was not activated for the season-ending win over San Francisco, but he was elevated to the active roster late in the week and looks to play in his 12th postseason game on Saturday against the Rams at 3:40. He will match O.J. Brigance for third on the Owls' career playoff games list if he takes the field on Saturday and should the Seahawks win, hit would tie Brigance again with his eighth playoff win. Larry Izzo leads the Owls in both playoff games (21) and wins (16) while Darryl Grant (16 games and 12 wins) ranks second
Answer—If you scrolled over the story to get the answer, you'll have to look in the story for the answer, but just to give you something for the effort, here's a few other nuggets:
That's all for this year, thanks for playing!
This week's main question: Chris Boswell, Vance McDonald, Andrew Sendejo and Luke Willson remain in contention for a Super Bowl title. Willson (11) has the most playoff games among active Owls (Boswell and Sendejo each have six and McDonald four), can you name the Owl who has played the most postseason NFL games? Bonus, can you name the player who Willson can tie for third on the Owls' career list if he sees action this weekend?
Calvin Anderson— Anderson closed out his first season of active duty with the Broncos by playing on special teams in Denver's 32-31 loss to Las Vegas. He played in all 16 games this year and made a pair of starts.
Chris Boswell—Boswell missed his second straight game while nursing an injury and his status for Sunday night's playoff opener against Cleveland is in doubt. The Steelers and Browns will meet for the second straight week at 7:15 on Sunday. (NBC)
Bryce Callahan- Despite missing the last month of the season with an injury, Callahan enjoyed his most productive season in the NFL and was named to the Pro Football Focus All-NFL team.
Christian Covington—Covington played in all 16 games for the second consecutive season and set career highs with 14 starts. He closed strongly, collecting a career-best six tackles in the season finale against to end the year with a career-best 39 stops.
Jack Fox—Fox completed the most statistically dominant performance by a rookie punter in NFL history by averaging 50.5 yards on a pair of punts against Minnesota. He set team records for the highest gross (49.1) & net (44.8) punting averages in a season, which both marked the highest averages in a player's first season in NFL history. He joined Callahan on the PFF All-NFL Team.
Phillip Gaines— Gaines played in 12 games for the Texans, including a pair of starts. He missed the final four games with an injury.
Vance McDonald— McDonald made his 12th start of the year his most productive game of 2020, catching five passes for 33 yards in the loss to the Browns. The Steelers and Browns will meet for the second straight week at 7:15 on Sunday. (NBC)
Andrew Sendejo— Sendejo was inactive in the season finale after being placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list during the week. His Cleveland teammates held off Pittsburgh to end the Browns 18-year playoff drought and will face off against the Steelers again on Sunday night at 7:15. (NBC)
Austin Walter— Walter return to action after spending several weeks on the reserve/COVID-19, returning a pair of kickoffs for 29 yards in the 49er's 26-23 loss to Seattle.
Luke Willson— Willson was not activated for the season-ending win over San Francisco, but he was elevated to the active roster late in the week and looks to play in his 12th postseason game on Saturday against the Rams at 3:40. He will match O.J. Brigance for third on the Owls' career playoff games list if he takes the field on Saturday and should the Seahawks win, hit would tie Brigance again with his eighth playoff win. Larry Izzo leads the Owls in both playoff games (21) and wins (16) while Darryl Grant (16 games and 12 wins) ranks second
Answer—If you scrolled over the story to get the answer, you'll have to look in the story for the answer, but just to give you something for the effort, here's a few other nuggets:
- Tobin Rote is the only quarterback in history to win both NFL and AFL titles as a starting quarterback. He led the Lions to a title in 1957 by routing Cleveland, 59-14. In a pair of postseason games that season, Rote threw for 494 yards and five TDs, completing 28 of 49 passes with just one interception (by Dicky Maegle who was a defensive back with the 49ers). In 1963, Rote was signed by the Chargers of the AFL after four seasons in the CFL and he promptly led them to the title, blowing out the Boston Patriots 51-10.
- One year after Rote completed his historic double play, the Owls narrowly missed having both starting quarterbacks for the professional football championships. While Rote and the Chargers lost the AFL title to Buffalo, Frank Ryan was leading the Cleveland Browns to the NFL title with a 27-0 win over Baltimore.
- Bill Howton played in 142 games in the NFL without reaching the postseason, the longest stretch of games for any former Owl.
- Weldon Humble played only in five professional seasons, but he was unbeaten in six postseason games. After completing his career at Rice by leading the Owls to the 1947 Orange Bowl, he signed with the Cleveland Browns of the All-American Football League, who ran roughshod over the league for three seasons and then captured the NFL title in their first season in the league in 1950. Humble was recalled to military service due to the Korean War in 1951, then returned to the NFL with the Dallas Texans for the 1952 season before retiring.
That's all for this year, thanks for playing!
Players Mentioned
RB
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