Offensive Players of Week: Lead-blocker Lamar, selfless Saquon take Week 7 honors

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Lamar Jackson is a leader in the Ravens’ locker room and a leader atop the NFL with a 118.0 passer rating. And in Monday night’s 41-31 win at Tampa Bay, he was a lead blocker. The quarterback flashed his rare speed by getting ahead of Derrick Henry and neutralizing two defenders on a fourth-quarter run. It’s one reason why the NFL named him the AFC Offensive Player of the Week, joining NFC winner Saquon Barkley, on Wednesday afternoon.

“We do something called the Brown Shirt,” said head coach John Harbaugh after Monday’s game. “And the Brown Shirt – we say every time we give it out after a win, ‘It’s our most prestigious award.’ And the ‘Brown Shirt Award’ is a nod to the Navy SEALs, because when you get through BUDS and you become a SEAL, you get a brown shirt – that’s my understanding.”

BUDS stands for basic underwater demolition/SEAL training. Baltimore’s director of learning and development Steve Clagget, a former SEAL, has taught the Ravens about BUDS and other SEAL philosophies for more than 13 years. Related to that education, the Brown Shirt Award is a coveted internal honor.

“And it goes to the guy that does the dirty work,” Harbaugh said. “It goes to the guy that does the hard stuff. So, based on that block right there, I think Lamar might get his first ‘Brown Shirt’ this week.” 

If there were a shirt for games in NFL history with five touchdown passes and 50 rushing yards, Jackson would have three of them. Including Monday, Jackson owns three of the five games ever in which a player passed for at least five touchdowns and rushed for at least 50 yards. This season, Jackson ranks 11^th among all NFL players with 455 rushing yards.

And in the NFC, if the Eagles have an award for selfless play, Barkley would run away with it for his decision in last week’s 28-3 road win over the Giants. Barkley exploded for 176 rushing yards, including carries of 38, 41 and 55 yards. Barkley now has carries of 55-plus yards in three of his last four games. For context, during the entire 2023 season, no NFL running back had more than three such runs.

This season, Barkley has 761 scrimmage yards, most by a player in his first six games with a team since Barkley’s first six games with the Giants as a rookie in 2018, when he had 811.

Jackson and the Ravens (5-2) are at Cleveland (1-6) on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS). Barkley is also headed to Ohio, leading the Eagles (4-2) against Cincinnati (3-4) at Paycor Stadium (1 p.m. ET, CBS).