Jordy Nelson gets NFL Spin Zone Player of the Week

There are usually difficult decisions to make when naming a “Player of the Week”, but this was one of the toughest weeks to make a choice that I can remember since coming up with the award in Week 2 of last year. Darren Sproles had a ridiculously good game last night for the Philadelphia Eagles, Arizona Cardinals 3-4 DE Calais Campbell is almost always in the running and had a whopping ten tackles on Sunday, and New England Patriots breakout star Chandler Jones has acquitted himself well to his new role. Jones terrorized Matt Kalil and Matt Cassel all game long, and he also had a beautiful blocked field goal return touchdown to cap off the first half.

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All of these performances could have easily won in most weeks, but I decided to give the nod to Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson, who played in an instrumental role in helping the Packers avoid what would have been an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the New York Jets.

In the build-up to Sunday’s game, the main talking points were focused on the Packers offense, as this was going to be the elite unit’s coming-out party against a weak Jets secondary. Instead, it was Geno Smith who lit up the Packers secondary in the first half, as the Jets raced to  a 21-3 lead. But the tied turned before the half was over, as the Packers quickly cut the lead to 21-16 when Aaron Rodgers woke up from his slumber, while Geno reverted to his old ways when Eric Decker went down.

Rodgers had a strong game, but the clear star of the Green Bay Packers offense was Jordy Nelson, who continues to show why he is definitely a top-ten receiver in this league. I mean, there’s even some room to argue that he’s actually a tad underpaid on his new extension, but that’s immaterial at this point. What’s important is the rapport between Rodgers and Nelson, which is the best in the NFL. The highlight of Sunday’s game was Nelson’s double-move to completely dust top Jets CB Dee Milliner, as Rodgers quickly found Nelson downfield with a sharp throw between the corner and safety on play-action. It was a classic Nelson-Rodgers deep hook-up off of a PA, and this yielded an 80-yard touchdown late in the third quarter that would prove to be the winner at 31-24.

Nelson had a pair of drops, but that doesn’t matter when you catch nine passes for 209 yards and a touchdown. As efficient as ever, Nelson showed off his route-running prowess, and he’s one of the few receivers who can win with ease anywhere on the field. There are versatile receivers who can line up in the slot or out wide and run short and deep routes well, and then there’s Jordy Nelson. What separates him from the rest of the crowd is his ability to play at an elite level in all these different areas of the field, and it’s that precision, timing, and clean route-running that allows Rodgers and Nelson to display such quality and keep the Packers hopes alive. He was at the center of the team’s comeback victory and that, combined with his 200-yard day, should be commended appropriately.