Oklahoma Football in the NFL: Joe Mixon and Sterling Shepard find the end zone

As the 2019 NFL season rolls on, Week 3 — though mostly just rain on a parade for Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and the Ravens blazing pass-catching duo of Marquise Brown and Mark Andrews — did bring with it sprinkles of success for a few other Oklahoma Sooners stars scattered across the league.

Sterling Shepard was one of those stars. Coming back from a concussion that kept him out in Week 2, Shep enjoyed one of his best games in a long time in a thrilling one-point Giants win in Tampa Bay. Catching seven passes for 100 yards on a team-high nine targets, Shep also added 21 yards on two carries in the bounce-back performance that hopefully kickstarts a big fourth season.

With rookie quarterback Daniel Jones having a big day in his first start, the Giants offense looks to be on the uptick, despite the huge injury blow to running back Saquon Barkley. But it looks like this is the old Sterling Shepard we’ve all missed seeing for awhile.

Joe Mixon also had his best game of this young season, finishing with 15 rushes for 61 yards along with 34 receiving yards and his first touchdown in the Bengals loss in Buffalo.

Battling through an ankle injury suffered in Week 1 but not missing any games, Mixon seems to be getting his groove back after a rough go last week against San Francisco. The Bengals planned on a heavy workload coming into the season for the former Sooners all-purpose dynamo and with two healthy ankles, Joe also appears to look more like himself.

Jordan Phillips added 3 solo tackles and his first sack of the season in the win on the other side for the 3-0 Bills.

Baker Mayfield and the Browns fell painfully short of getting on the right side of .500 in a down-to-the-wire Sunday night home loss against the NFC defending champion Los Angeles Rams. Mayfield struggled to get in rhythm most of the night (having a horrific offensive line doesn’t help) and finished 18-of-36 for 195 passing yards, one touchdown and an interception.

The costly pick came on the Browns last offensive play of the game, down a touchdown on fourth-and-goal. The playcalling doesn’t seem to be clicking in Cleveland, causing the otherwise poised Mayfield to look consistently uncomfortable, sometimes impatient, in the pocket. The result has been the offense scoring 13, 23 and 13 points, respectively, through the first three games this season.

Anyone watching live or on TV with the sound on could hear the boos in the stadium, most likely in response to first-year head coach Freddie Kitchens’ head-scratching play calls (especially late in the game), the lack of protection and the offense’s overall lack of execution. It doesn’t get any easier for the 1-2 Browns from here. The explosive, 2-1 Ravens await them in Baltimore in Week 4.

Rookie kicker Austin Seibert went 2-for-2 on his field goal attempts, with his long coming from 35 yards out, and added an extra point.

Kyler Murray went 30-of-43 for 173 passing yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and added 69 rushing yards on 8 attempts in the Cardinals’ home loss to the Carolina Panthers, who were without Cam Newton. Ironically enough, the quarterback starting opposite Kyler on Sunday was none other than Kyle Allen, Kyler’s former Aggie teammate.

Gerald McCoy grabbed 2 solo tackles on the other side for the Panthers.

Kenny Stills led all Texans receivers with 89 yards in a big road win at the Chargers.

After a scorching start to the season, the Ravens were dealt a humbling defeat in Kansas City. Though the score ended up close in the end, it was all KC all day. Following his big performances in Weeks 1 and 2, Marquise Brown was bottled up by the Chiefs’ secondary and managed just 2 receptions for 49 yards. One of his two catches was this gem, though.

Tight end Mark Andrews, limited with a foot issue all week, was able to suit up and caught three passes for 15 yards in the loss. One bright spot for the Ravens was safety Tony Jefferson, who tied for a team-high in tackles with seven and also assisted on another.

Adrian Peterson made a second-straight start, carrying the ball 12 times for 37 yards in Washington’s Monday Night Football loss against the Bears.

Dede Westbrook caught five balls for 46 yards on a team-high 9 targets in the Jaguars’ Thursday night win over the Titans. It’s encouraging that rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew and the Jaguars are looking to get Dede more involved in the offense after his quiet first two games.

Steven Parker grabbed two solo and one assisted tackle in the Dolphins’ loss at Dallas.

These Sooners also saw action for their respective teams this weekend:

(*denotes starter)

Blake Bell (TE - Chiefs), *Orlando Brown (OT - Ravens), *Jordan Evans (LB - Bengals), *Cody Ford (OT - Bills), *Lane Johnson (RT - Eagles), Samaje Perine (RB - Bengals), *Tress Way (P - Washington), *Daryl Williams (OT - Panthers), *James Winchester (LS - Chiefs)

The following Sooners were inactive or did not play in Week 3:

Rodney Anderson (RB - Bengals, IR), Devante Bond (LB - Buccaneers), Curtis Bolton (LB - Packers), Aaron Colvin (CB - Washington), Bobby Evans (OG - Rams), Ogbonnia Okoronkwo (LB - Rams), Ben Powers (OG - Ravens), Dru Samia (OG - Vikings), Damien Williams (RB - Chiefs), (Trent Williams (OT - Washington, holdout)

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