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Maryland in the NFL: Darrius Heyward-Bey, Nolan Carroll, D'Qwell Jackson shine

Catch up with the former Terps who are playing on Sundays.

By Carson Kenney
Jeff Gross/Getty Images

After a roller coaster of a week in the football world of College Park, there were still NFL games to be played on Sunday. A good weekend of football is behind us, and with it only a handful of former Terps played as four teams were on a bye week that had four former College Park footballers taking a break from action. Take a break from your work day to see what these Terps did on the field this weekend and what the future holds as we head towards week six.

Nolan Carroll, CB, Philadelphia Eagles

Last week's stats: Five tackles (three solo), one pass defensed

Don't look now, but the Eagles are slowly starting to look like an NFL football team after beating the Saints 39-17 on Sunday in Philly. Carroll had another solid game, playing well in pass coverage against a banged up Drew Brees. Nonetheless, Carroll and the rest of the Eagles secondary are quickly erasing major doubts they had only a few games ago. Side Note: last Thursday, Philly.com posted a sit down interview they had with the former Maryland defensive back talking about everything from his injury history to his favorite player growing up to his collection of cars.

Jon Condo, LS, Oakland Raiders

Last week's stats: None

Oakland lost 16-10 to the Broncos in a pretty boring football game. Oakland went back to the subpar team it's used to being, and Denver improved to 5-0. Condo was on the field for four Marquette King punts and three Sebastian Janikowski field goals, even though he only converted on one of those tries. Unrelated to Condo and the Raiders, but related to the game: Is Denver the worst best team of the league this year? They are 5-0 but Spaghetti-Arm Peyton Manning threw two picks and Denver as a team rushed for just 43 yards, but still managed to win.

Vernon Davis, TE, San Francisco 49ers

Last week's stats: DNP (Knee)

Davis was inactive once again due to his banged up knee, but reports are he should be back by next week's game matchup against the Ravens. Reports from ESPN's Adam Schefter on SportsCenter are that the 49ers are open to the possibility of trading Davis. That seems to make some sort of sense as the 49ers are a team most likely on the verge of dumping their roster, save a few players. We'll have to wait and see how this all plays out for the former Terp.

Stefon Diggs, WR, Minnesota Vikings

Last week's stats: Bye Week

AJ Francis, DT, Miami Dolphins

Last week's stats: Bye Week

Erin Henderson, LB, New York Jets

Last week's stats: Bye Week

Darrius Heyward-Bey, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

Last week's stats: Two catches, 24 yards (15-yard long), six targets

If you have Twitter, please, I beg you, search "Darrius Heyward-Bey" for some funny tweets pertaining to his (good) performance last night against the Chargers. He didn't pack the stat sheet but he came up with a couple of big catches in crunch time that helped the Steelers earn the win. With Markus Wheaton back, it will be interesting to see how many passes DHB continues to haul in each week, but if last night was any indicator, both Vick and Roethlisberger like throwing to the 6'2" Maryland product as he led the team in targets with six. Michael Vick... throwing the ball to Darrius Heyward-Bey... what a time... to be alive...

D'Qwell Jackson, LB, Indianapolis Colts

Last week's stats: 11 tackles (10 solo)

Another beast day from the former College Park linebacker as he led all players in tackles for the second week in a row and also leads the NFL with 58 tackles on the season. The Colts beat the Texans 27-20 and Indianapolis has pulled off two straight wins without star quarterback Andrew Luck. Jackson has proven to be the leader of this Colts defense which has played a huge role in winning without Luck. After a putrid start to the season, Indianapolis is looking more like the potential AFC champions each week.

Darius Kilgo, DT, Denver Broncos

Last week's stats: One tackle

Kilgo had just one tackle in the Broncos' victory over the Raiders and is probably not playing as much as was hyped up during the pre-season. But he is playing steady for the Broncos up front. It's a long NFL season and linemen get hurt all the time, so don't be surprised if we start seeing more of Kilgo down the stretch.

Dexter McDougle, CB, New York Jets

Last week's stats: Bye Week

Nick Novak, K, Houston Texans

Last week's stats: 2/2 FG's (49 yard long), 2/2 XP's

There's the Nick Novak we know. After missing his first and only attempt in the 2015 season last week, Novak came back strong in his second Sunday in a Texans uniform, burying two tries, including one from 49 yards deep. Unfortunately, the Texans are a very mediocre football team this year, bordering on bad. The good news for Maryland fans is that means Novak will probably get his fair share of field goal opportunities thanks to stalled offensive drives in the red zone.

Torrey Smith, WR, San Francisco 49ers

Last week's stats: Two catches, 42 yards (25 yard long)

Smith was only targeted twice in San Fran's three-point loss to the Giants on Sunday night, which is unfortunate because it is starting to seem like this season is a wash for the 49ers. Smith was brought in to help bolster the passing game, but that has failed to come to fruition. Still, there's a lot of football left this season so no need to draw conclusions quite yet... But the 49ers are dead last in offense this year and are only using their $40 million receiver on 65 percent of their offensive snaps.

Randy Starks, DL, Cleveland Browns

Last week's stats: Three tackles (two solo)

The Browns beat the Ravens 33-30 on Sunday in an exciting finish to a football game, however Starks had little to do with the win, nor did he do much to silent the Browns fans who are becoming increasingly frustrated with the fact that Cleveland dumped a lot of money into him this off-season. The Browns are 2-3 and probably won't contend when it comes down to it, but it will be interesting to see how Starks fares down the stretch. He was interviewed by Empire Radio and talked about growing up and his year so far in Cleveland. Decent read.

Josh Wilson, CB, Detroit Lions

Last week's stats: Two tackles (two solo), one for a loss

Wilson only had two tackles against the Cardinals. However, not many Lions in general could tackle Cardinal players as Detroit got thumped by Arizona, 42-17. Wilson is in the twilight of his career but is proving he still has what it takes to contribute at a high level. The Lions unfortunately are another team that is not good, still looking for that elusive first win of the season.

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