Buckeyes in the NFL, Week 12: Your fumbles belong to them, Pryor Benched and Mangold's Struggles

Rule changes have made it difficult to play defense in both the NFL and college football. Luckily, we have A.J. Hawk to guide us through a perfectly fundamental tackle and strip. Young linebackers take note. 

Meanwhile, the only Buckeye NFL quarterback is healthy enough to play but a starting job is no longer his. The Jets probably have one of the worst offenses in the NFL and are receiving little help from their offensive line. An OSU standout is giving a boost to the Steelers defensive line. 

Plus, Eleven Warriors has stats from all former Ohio State players in the NFL, which includes the above, clutch fumble recovery by Nate Ebner. 

mcgloin remains under center   

He's only played in three games, but it's enough of a sample size to declare Matt McGloin the better option as Oakland QB.    

The Penn State grad won his first start last week, stepping in after Terrelle Pryor sprained his knee. Pryor was limited in practice all week and questionable heading into Sunday's game against the Titans. Still, he was on the active roster. 

Head coach Dennis Allen contends Pryor isn't fully healthy, but told reporters McGloin earned another start.

"I thought Matt played well. For him to lead us back when we needed a touchdown," Allen said, after the game. "He got us the touchdown we needed to give us the lead, we just couldn't hold it defensively."

Including the touchdown pass, McGloin went 19-32 for 260 yards and threw an interception in a loss. Turnovers were the biggest concern for Pryor, before his injury. He's thrown 10 on the year, half of which came in his last three games. 

Whether his benching is truly performance based or because of injury, Pryor isn't expressing his frustrations.

"It's just a game ... You get hurt, other guys play well, why not keep continuing with it?" He told the The San Francisco Chronicle's Vic Tafur. "I don't blame Coach. I'm a team player. I hope Matt has a lot of success."

WHOSE LIPSTICK IS ON YOUR COLLAR, JAMES? Or ear blood.

Mangold not performing at typical all-pro level?

With Jack Mewhort dominating on the left side of Ohio State's offensive line, he's earning consideration as one of the best Buckeye linemen in recent memory. 

An Eleven Warriors poll still declared center Nick Mangold the top lineman of the past decade – by a wide margin. His reign of dominance extended to the professional ranks, evidenced, in part, by his four Pro Bowl appearances.

Some stats show he's no longer playing at that level. Gang Green Nation writer Scott Salmon uses Pro Football Focus' grades to prove that point.

Through 12 weeks, Mangold grades out as the 30th best center, overall. He's responsible for 12 quarterback hurries – a realtively high total, for him – and is struggling with run blocking, according to Pro Football Focus' metrics. 

The Jets offense ranks as the NFL's second worst offense, according to Football Outsiders' weighted offense metric and the team is scoring the second fewest points per game. Clearly not all Mangold's fault, but he's not immune to criticism.

All of the Fumbles

Nine former Buckeyes saw action on defense or special teams yesterday. Five of them recovered fumbles. Which, yeah, don't even bother calculating those odds.

Nate Ebner, GIF'd up top, landed on a fumbled punt in overtime to help his Patriots to top the Broncos in improbable fashion. He went modest after the game, saying, “I was in the right place at the right time.”

Will Allen, A.J. Hawk, Cam Heyward and James Laurinaitis also collected fumbles. 

Highlight of the week

Like all Brandon Weeden turnovers, this one just fell into the defense's lap. Not to discredit Cameron Heyward, but the disgraced, ginger QB has led the Browns to exactly zero wins. His futility is highlighted by seven interceptions and four fumbles, this season. Anyhow, here's Heyward scooping one of his fumbles and moving nimbly along the sidelines. 

How ex-Buckeyes Fared During Week 12 

[Screengrab via @Daniel_Doelling]