Oklahoma football and its players are no stranger to the National Football League. Every year we see the top Sooners in their class declare for the NFL Draft. With the first week of the NFL playoffs having just passed, we see many familiar Oklahoma alumni take the field, breaking records and even ending dry spells.
Here is the low down on what former Sooners and their teams will be moving on into the divisional round of the playoffs and the impact they made in Wild Card weekend.
Baltimore Ravens
Last Sunday the Baltimore Ravens took on the Tennessee Titans and secured a 20-13 dub to advance them forward to see another game. The Ravens have the largest number of Sooners on their team among the teams still in the playoffs.
Among those former players is Marquise Brown, who plays as a wide receiver for the Ravens. Brown was targeted nine times this past Sunday for a completion of seven catches. Brown finished with a total of 109 yards with an average of 15.6 yards per catch.
Mark Andrews also saw some action against Tennessee last weekend. Andrews starts as a tight end in Baltimore and completed four catches out of his six targets, totaling 41 yards with 10.2 yards per catch.
Finally, left tackle Orlando Brown and right guard Ben Powers played all 65 snaps for the Ravens on offense as well as seeing action on special teams to contribute to the Ravens Victory.
The Ravens will take on the Buffalo Bills this Saturday in the NFC divisional round.
Buffalo Bills
The Bills took on the Indianapolis Colts last weekend, clinching a close 27-24 win for the freshly up and coming Bills.
The only former Sooner playing for the Bills is offensive lineman Daryl Williams. Williams saw all of the action on the field against the Colts this past week playing snaps on both offense as well as special teams.
Williams will match up against his four fellow Oklahoma football alumni this Saturday as they take on the Baltimore Ravens.
Los Angeles Rams
The Los Angeles Rams took on the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL Wild Card round this past Saturday securing a 30-20 win to move on to this week.
Though there were no starting Sooners for the Rams, former Sooners still made an impact on the field this past weekend to help lead their team to victory.
Offensive lineman Bobby Evans saw the field for about half of the game as a backup O-lineman for the Rams as well as back up linebacker Ogbonnia Okoronkwo was credited for one tackle and one quarterback hurry on the game.
The Rams will take on the Green Bay Packers this Saturday in the NFC divisional round in hopes to make it to championship Sunday.
Cleveland Browns
Finally, we come to the Cleveland Browns and Mr. Sooner football himself, Heisman winner Baker Mayfield.
The Browns advanced to the the playoffs for the first time in 18 years. Making it to the playoffs was something that some Browns fans considered what feels like a Super Bowl win in itself after the dry spell for so many years. Mayfield and his team were able to shock NFL fans all across the country this past Saturday as they came out guns blazing and ultimately took down the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers 48-37.
Not only have the Browns not seen a playoff run for 18 years, but they also haven’t seen a playoff win since 1991, this is until this weekend.
Mayfield led his team to victory as the starting quarterback completing 21 out of his 34 pass attempts for a 61.8 pass completion rate and a total of 263 yards on the night. The former Heisman winner and first overall pick was all credited with three touchdowns and five rushes for three yards.
Needless to say, Mayfield was the most talked-about Oklahoma alumni this weekend as he brought back some major hope to ‘the Land’.
The Browns will now take on the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in their respective NFC divisional round this weekend.
