…but Eddie V. offends and his Oakland Defense bends — Bruin great and previously forgotten Jaguar Tight End Marcedes Lewis scores three Touchdowns in Jacksonville’s 44-7 triumph, then former Bruin Eddie Vanderdoes chooses to not mention UCLA in his primetime TV intro (maybe due to how bad the Bruin Defense was the night before), then Eddie’s Raider Defense proceeds to get shredded in a loss to Washington
Remember Marcedes Lewis? He was a total stud Tight End for UCLA about a dozen years ago. He was a part of the great Drew Olson/Maurice Jones-Drew 2005 team that completed some miraculous comebacks. In fact, Mo even CREDITS Lewis for making Jones-Drew such a prolific Running Back. Well, Lewis had some good years for the lowly Jaguars, but was eventually drafted over, and relegated to the bench. That may change now, after Sunday’s game in London, because Lewis caught three Touchdown passes from Blake Bortles in a 44-7 trouncing of the Ravens. Good for Lewis, to survive the rigors of the NFL, and still be able to pull off a record-book performance.
Fellow Bruin Tight End Joseph Fauria came around almost a decade after Lewis, and also had a stunning three-TD game, but it was a flash in the pan, as his career in the League fizzled out. Marcedes’ game was more akin to the day when diminutive Angels Shortstop Freddy Patek stunned the Baseball World by hitting three Home Runs in one game. Patek was a good player with a long, productive career, but no rotisserie player back then was relying on Patek to power up for three taters, just like virtually no Fantasy Football player had Lewis in their starting line-up, and if they did, getting 3 TD’s was totally unanticipated.
Lewis was the big Bruin winner in the NFL this week, but was not the only positive contributor. In the Redskin-Raider game, Bruin Fabian Moreau made an excellent special teams tackle on a punt, keeping the Raiders at bay. In that same game, Washington torched the Oakland Defense, going on to win 27-10. On that Defense is Bruin Eddie Vanderdoes, although you’d never know he was a Bruin, based on his TV introduction, where he mentioned his high school instead of saying UCLA. No big deal giving a shout out to your high school, but it sucks for UCLA, who loses a primetime recruiting boost. Young kids are definitely influenced by the amount of NFL players a school sends to the League.
It may not have been an intentional slight, or maybe he was embarrassed to be associated with UCLA after the Bruins’ horrible Defensive effort on Saturday night. Either way, it came back to haunt him, as his Raiders allowed ‘Skins’ QB Kirk Cousins to have an All-Pro day, completing almost every pass he threw and practically never getting rattled in the pocket.
Unfortunately, Vanderdoes wasn’t the only Bruin Pro who wasn’t happy after Sunday’s games. Paul Perkins of the Giants earned the gig as Starting Running Back this season, but the New York ground game hasn’t been able to get untracked. In fact, the Giants had gone on a long streak of games without ever scoring more than 20 points. They finally broke that streak against the Eagles on Sunday, but they still lost, 27-24, to fall to 0-3. And all their scores were through the air. Perkins ended with only 22 yards on 9 carries. Between that game and his alma mater’s bad loss at Stanford, NOT a good weekend for Perkins.
Speaking of Stanford, former Cardinal Richard Sherman pulled off a rare hat trick of his own, but not one to be proud of like Marcedes’ three-way. The Seahawks’ Sherman, who a couple of years ago redefined the word “thug,” picked up THREE major penalties all on one play! The most egregious of the three was a cheap shot thrown at Titan QB Marcus Mariota, who was clearly out of bounds before Sherman launched at him for a brutal hit. Sherman had already picked up an Unsportsmanlike Conduct flag moments earlier, before his three-flag meltdown. It figures that Sherman feels so comfortable being a dirty player — he is playing for Pete Carroll, who cultivates and rewards that kind of bush league play. Justice won out on this day, as Tennessee beat Seattle 33-27, dropping the Seahawks to 1-2 on the year.
One squad that remains undefeated is the UCLA Spirit Squad, so here are 48 more photos
