The Star-News will present periodic updates of South County alumni currently playing or coaching in the National Football League. Here is our first installment.
Tony Jefferson (Eastlake High School)
Jefferson made his season debut with the Cardinals a winning one as Arizona defeated the visiting New Orleans Saints, 31-19, on Sept. 13. A strong safety, Jefferson was credited with five tackles in the game – four solo stops and one assist.
This is Jefferson’s third year with the Cardinals. He has appeared in 33 games over that span with 11 starts. He had eight starts last season and started Arizona’s 2015 regular season opener.
In those 33 games, Jefferson has amassed 108 tackles, including 98 first hits, one sack, one pass deflection and one forced fumble.
The Cardinals benefitted from the return of 13-year veteran quarterback Carson Palmer, who completed 19 of 32 passing attempts for 307 yards and three touchdowns in the win over the Saints. He was not sacked nor did he throw an interception in the game, finishing with a 122.8 quarterback-rating.
Arizona travels to Chicago to play the Bears (0-1) on Sunday, Sept. 20, in their next game.
Alex Smith (Bonita Vista Middle School)
Smith is 1-1 so far this season as the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs. Smith, a graduate of Helix High School, completed 22 of 33 passing attempts for 243 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-20 win over the Houston Texans in the teams’ regular season opener Sept. 13. He also rushed the ball nine times for 15 yards, threw no interceptions, was sacked twice and came out of the game with a 118.6 quarterback-rating.
The Chiefs hosted the defending AFC West Division champion Denver Broncos on Thursday, suffering a 31-24 loss. Smith compiled just a 53.9 quarterback rating after being intercepted twice and throwing four interceptions. He completed 16 of 25 passing attempts for 191 yards and no touchdowns.
Smith, 31, was matched against Denver’s Peyton Manning in the nationally-televised Thursday night game. Manning out-dueled Smith by completing 26 of 45 passes for 256 yards and three touchdowns and one interception.
Manning, 39, eclipsed the 70,000-yard mark in his career to become only the second NFL player to do so. Brett Farve holds the record at 71,838 career passing yards. Manning is expected to surpass that sometime later this season.
More importantly, Manning led the Broncos to a key divisional win and a 2-0 start to the new season.
Trailing 24-17, Denver stunned the Chiefs with two touchdowns in the final minute of the fourth quarter to steal the victory. Manning, playing up to vintage form, connected with receiver Emmanuel Sanders on a 36-yard touchdown pass to tie the score with just 36 seconds remaining in the game. Deadlocked 24-all with Kansas City, the Broncos’ defense then came into play as Brandon Marshall stripped the ball from Chiefs’ running back Jamaal Charles and Bradley Roby returned the fumble 21 yards for the winning touchdown with 27 seconds to play.
For the season, Smith has passed for 434 yards with three touchdowns, two interceptions and has been sacked six times. He has a 90.7 quarterback-rating in two games.
Manning, sporting a meager 74.2 quarterback rating, has passed for 431 yards, thrown three touchdown passes with two interceptions and seven sacks in two games so far this season.
The Chiefs next play in another nationally televised game on Monday night, Sept. 28, in Green Bay against the Packers (1-0).
John Fox (Castle Park High School)
Fox traded in his Denver Broncos sideline jacket for Chicago Bears gear following Denver’s quick exit from last year’s NFL playoffs. Fox led the Broncos to a 12-4 record last year after posting a runner-up finish in the Super Bowl with Denver two years ago.
Fox has led two teams to the Super Bowl – the Carolina Panthers in 2003 and the Broncos in 2014. Both trips to the NFL championship game ended with runner-up finishes.
Fox lost his Chicago debut, 31-23, to the visiting Packers in the teams’ season opener on Sept. 13. The Bears won just five games last season and are essentially in a rebuilding phase under Fox and new Chicago general manager Ryan Pace. Despite this, the Bears kept the game close.
Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdowns, including two to James Jones, to lead Green Bay to the win. Rodgers, who threw for 189 yards in the win, improved to 13-3 lifetime against Chicago.
The loss was the Bears 10th in 11 games, including playoffs, to the Packers.
Chicago led, 13-10, in the third quarter and trailed, 17-16, in the fourth quarter before Green Bay pulled away. Fox elected to go on fourth down and goal in the fourth quarter but Bears quarterback Jay Cutler overthrew receiver Eddie Royal. Cutler had another chance later in the quarter but threw an interception to Clay Matthews.
Eddie Lacy scored on a late touchdown run to extended Green Bay’s lead to 31-16.
Cutler completed 18 of 36 attempts for 225 yards with one touchdown and one interception. His touchdown came with 36 seconds left in the game but Green Bay recovered the ensuing onside kick.
“Green Bay is a very good football team,” Fox noted in a post-game press conference. “You have to be near flawless to beat them.”
A defensive-minded coach, Fox presided over an offensive-minded Broncos team led by Manning. The 2013 season was a record-setter for Manning and Denver as Manning set league records with 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns and the Broncos set another record with 7,317 yards in offense.
Fox joined the legendary Vince Lombardi as the only coach to take a team to the NFL championship game after that had won just one game the previous season. Fox also guided the Panthers to the 2005 NFC championship game, but recorded a runner-up finish to the Seattle Seahawks.
Fox signed a four-year $14 million contract with Denver in January 2011 after his contract was not renewed in Carolina. He received a contract extension in 2012 and led the Broncos to four divisional titles during his tenure with the team, leaving as the coach with the highest winning percentage (.719) with the franchise. He is only one of two NFL coaches to win both an NFC and AFC championship, joining Dan Reaves.
Fox signed a four-year contract with Chicago on Jan. 16 after leaving the Broncos on Jan. 12 following Denver’s upset loss to the Indianapolis Colts in the divisional playoffs. The Broncos had entered the 2014-15 playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the AFC.
Fox’s nine-year regular season coaching record with the Panthers was 73-71.
Fox has a career head coaching record of 126-97, including an 8-7 playoff record. He has won six divisional titles in 13 previous NFL seasons.
NFL FedEx Air Player of the Week
Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers earned honors as the NFL’s weekly passing award, as voted on by fans, for Week 1. Rivers was the only signal-caller in the league to eclipse the 400-yard mark in the opening week. He completed 35 of 42 passing attempts (.833) for 404 yards with two touchdowns to lead his team to a 33-28 come-from-behind win over the visiting Detroit Lions.
Rivers tied a team record with his 254th career touchdown to tie Chargers legend Dan Fouts.
The Lions looked the better team early on, especially after taking a 21-3 lead before halftime. Rivers threw two interceptions in the first half, including one to Detroit’s Glover Quin that went for a 31-yard touchdown return.
But Rivers and the Bolts were a different team in the second half as they recorded 30 unanswered points to take a 33-21 lead. Rivers threw scoring passes to Stevie Johnson (six catches, 82 yards) and Ladarius Green (five catches, 74 yards) while Danny Woodhead (12 carries, 42 yards) rushed for two touchdowns. Rookie Josh Lambo kicked two field goals.
Rivers’ favorite receiver on the day was Keenan Allen, who caught 15 passes for 166 yards. The 15 catches tied a single-game Chargers record previously held by the great Kellen Winslow.
Rookie Melvin Gordon rushed 14 times for 51 yards to lead the Chargers’ ground assault. The Chargers accumulated 95 rushing yards in the game to go with 499 total yards.
Eric Weddle led the Bolts defensively with nine tackles while Kyle Emanuel had one sack.
The Chargers recorded two interceptions against Lions QB Matthew Stafford — one each by Patrick Robinson and Emanuel.
Stafford completed the game 19-for-30 with 246 passing yards. He threw two touchdown passes but was picked off twice. Detroit managed just 69 rushing yards. Ameer Abdullah rushed seven times for 50 yards and scored the game’s first touchdown on a 24-yard run.
Rivers finished with a quarterback-rating of 102.8 while Stafford’s quarterback-rating was 83.5.
The Chargers (1-0) next play at Cincinnati (1-0) on Sunday, Sept. 20. Kick-off is 10 a.m. Pacific time. The game will be telecast by CBS-TV.
The Lions travel to Minnesota to take on the Vikings (0-1) on Sept. 20.
Minnesota dropped its season opener, 20-3, to the host San Francisco 49ers on Monday night. Former Helix High standout Reggie Bush made his 49ers debut with two carries for eight yards.
Carlos Hyde was San Francisco’s star attraction with 26 carries for 168 yards and two touchdowns.
