Northwestern in the NFL, Week 3: Justin Jackson stays unlucky, Dan Vitale makes a big play

Three weeks into the NFL season and the Northwestern Packers are 3-0! 11 Northwestern alums made the 53-man rosters for their respective teams. Here’s an update on how these former Wildcats fared in the third week of NFL action:

Dean Lowry, DE, Green Bay Packers: Lowry had another solid day in the trenches for Green Bay in their 27-16win over the Broncos, with six tackles including 0.5 TFL. The former Wildcat doubled his tackling total up to this point in the season and matched his NFL career high.

Tyler Lancaster, NT, Green Bay Packers: Lancaster also had a strong showing alongside Lowry at the front of the Green Bay defense. After being out-snapped by just about every other member of the d-line rotation for the last two weeks, he broke out, recording a career high seven tackles as the Packers moved to 3-0 on the season.

Dan Vitale, FB, Green Bay Packers: Vitale finally got onto the regular season stat sheet! The former superback recorded his ninth career NFL reception and nearly scored as he was tripped up just short of the end zone on a seam route that created a 27-yard gain:

Anthony Walker, MLB, Indianapolis Colts: The man in the middle of the Colts defense exploded in their crucial 27-24 win over the Falcons, leading the team with 14 total tackles (11 solo). The Franchise also recorded two TFLs in the game, arguably providing the winning edge defensively in what became a close game late. All of those numbers marked career-highs for Walker, who continues to evolve into the centerpiece of the Indy defense.

Justin Jackson, RB, Los Angeles Chargers: Northwestern’s all-time leading rusher saw just 5 carries on Sunday, though he added four catches and racked up 30 total yards. He still leads the league with 7.9 yards per carry through three games, and (unfortunately) had a touchdown brought back due to penalty for the second straight week. Jackson is still the secondary back to Austin Ekeler, but he still seems to be coming into his own as an NFL contributor as he continues to take advantage of Melvin Gordon’s contract holdout.

Ifeadi Odenigbo, DE, Minnesota Vikings: Odenigbo did not record a stat last week in 18 snaps (h/t Ben Weinberg on Twitter) as the loaded Minnesota front seven rolled to a dominant home victory over Oakland.

Austin Carr, WR, New Orleans Saints: After being scratched from the first two weeks of action, Carr suited up for the Saints in Seattle as the Saints’ WR3. With starting quarterback Drew Brees sidelined due to a thumb injury, Carr saw a handful of targets from backup Teddy Bridgewater, although his only catch (a potential third down conversion) was called back due to an illegal shift penalty.

Sherrick McManis, DB/Special Teams, Chicago Bears: McManis was inactive for the second straight game.

Joe Jones, ILB, Denver Broncos: The 2016 NU graduate is still yet to see his first action this season as he missed another game due to an upper arm injury suffered in the preseason.

Garrett Dickerson, TE, New York Giants: The former Wildcat superback was listed as inactive for the third straight week as he continues to battle a quad injury. He’ll hope to return to the field shortly and rejoin the REVITALIZED New York Giant passing attack under rookie quarterback and esteemed Northwestern defense destroyer Daniel Jones.

Trevor Siemian, QB, New York Jets: To our chagrin, Touchdown Trevor is now officially out for the year. We hope to see him back and better than ever in 2020.

Practice Squad Members: Nate Hall, LB, Buffalo Bills; Clayton Thorson, QB, Dallas Cowboys; Blake Hance, OT, Jacksonville Jaguars; Montre Hartage, S, Miami Dolphins