Once again, Jaxon Smith-Njigba<\/a> was the standout African offensive player in week 7 of the NFL season, making history for the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> in the process.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, it was another solid week for African defensive players, with Nate Landman<\/a> once again starring among the pick of the bunch for the Los Angeles Rams<\/a>.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, a trio of African players had a significant contribution to a Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> win, with several African rookies across the league having standout displays in another week of many firsts.<\/p>\n African Player of the Week: Jaxon Smith-Njigba<\/p>\n Smith-Njigba, of Sierra Leonean descent, became the first player in Seattle Seahawks history to record at least 100 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in three straight games.<\/p>\n He made eight catches for 123 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter in a 27-19 win over the Houston Texans<\/a>. The Seahawks are now 5-2 for the season and Smith-Njigba squarely in the MVP race.<\/p>\n With six first downs for the third straight week, he continues to establish himself as the centrepiece of the Seahawks offense. Smith-Njigba’s touchdown came right at the end of the first quarter off a catch for 11 yards and the Seahawks went into the break 14-0 up as a result, never looking back from there despite the Texans’ best efforts.<\/p>\n It was an important win at Lumen field for a team that has fared better on the road (3-0) than at home (2-2) generally this season. Once again, the 23-year-old wide receiver whose Sierra Leonean blood comes through his paternal grandfather was a key component of the offense led by Sam Darnold<\/a>.<\/p>\n Having set the Los Angeles’ Rams total tackles record in week 6 with 17 against the Baltimore Ravens<\/a>, Zimbabwe-born Landman got off the mark in terms of sacks in week 7 with 1.5 against the Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once again, the Rams ended up on the winning side – taking the game 35-7 to go 5-2 for the season.<\/p>\n Landman shared a sack with Byron Young<\/a> in the third quarter with the game all but out of reach at 21-0. However, it was his earlier sack on Trevor Lawrence<\/a> in the early stages of the second quarter – his first for the Rams since joining from the Atlanta Falcons<\/a> – which won him Moment of the Week.<\/p>\n The Jaguars had been 14-0 down after the first quarter and hoping to make a comeback in the second. However, the Rams defense – with Landman as a core component – pummelled Lawrence with hits from the get-go.<\/p>\n Linebacker Landman’s superb positioning paid off at a moment when the Jaguars were finally beginning to gain a bit of momentum halfway down the field. Lawrence escaped the rush on first down only to be stopped in his tracks by a huge Landman tackle to send him back three yards.<\/p>\n The Jaguars never recovered as the Rams joined the Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers<\/a> on 5-2 in the NFC West with a convincing win at Wembley Stadium.<\/p>\n Honorable mentions<\/p>\n There was no game in week 7 with a bigger African influence than the Philadelphia Eagles’ 28-22 win over the Minnesota Vikings<\/a>. Josh Uche, Moro Ojomo<\/a> (both players with links to Nigeria who got sacks) and Andrew Mukuba<\/a> (a Zimbabwean rookie who got an interception) all had important plays.<\/p>\n Liberia’s Sam Okuayinonu<\/a> got a sack for the San Francisco 49ers in their 20-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons. YaYa Diaby – of Guinean heritage – got one for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> in a 24-9 defeat to the Detroit Lions<\/a>, an opponent against whom he has a history of standout performances.<\/p>\n Donovan Ezeiruaku<\/a> – a rookie defensive end of Nigerian descent – got his first career sack in the Dallas Cowboys<\/a>‘ 44-22 win over the Washington Commanders<\/a>.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n Meanwhile, his compatriot, Kingsley Enagbare<\/a> got half a sack for the Green Bay Packers<\/a> in their 27-23 win over the Arizona Cardinals<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cameroonian-American running back Kyle Monangai<\/a> got his first ever touchdown in the NFL for the Chicago Bears<\/a> in their 26-14 win over the New Orleans Saints<\/a>. Meanwhile, Chimere Dike<\/a> – of Nigerian descent – got one for the Tennessee Titans<\/a>, but in a 31-13 loss to the New England Patriots<\/a>.<\/p>\n Africa-born Player Watch<\/p>\n Four players in particular stood out among those born on the continent this week.<\/p>\n Landman, who is from Harare, is becoming a fan favourite at the Rams, where he has consistently been in his best form after showing patches of it at the Falcons.<\/p>\n Another player from Harare – Mukuba, who also has ties to another African country due to the fact his family is from DR Congo – made a crucial interception to keep the Philadelphia Eagles in the driving seat against the Vikings.<\/p>\n Ojomo, born in Lagos, crept through the heart of the Vikings defense to pick up an important fourth quarter sack for the Eagles in the same game.<\/p>\n Okuayinonu – born in Monrovia, Liberia, had a crucial moment for the 49ers with his sack in a win which saw them bounce back from defeat to the Buccaneers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leonard Solms CloseJack of all sporting trades. Author of my 11-year-old self’s fantasy story about his road to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-233937","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Seattle Seahawks’ Jaxon Smith-Njigba scored a touchdown and ran for 100+ yards in three consecutive NFL games, a new franchise record.\u00a0Cooper Neill\/Getty ImagesAfrican Moment of the Week: Nate Landman<\/p>\n