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Former Buckeyes turned big contributors for the Panthers stay undefeated

It's good to be undefeated -- Buckeyes know this feeling.

By Alexis Chassen
Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Week 9 in the NFL offered a lot of options to watch former Ohio State players in primetime, and several players have started to make a name for themselves. Despite six teams on bye, there was only one active player with the week off -- Houston Texan John Simon.

Buckeyes and Panthers undefeated

Four former Buckeyes are riding the Ohio State undefeated train at the next level; the Carolina Panthers are now 8-0 after a big win over Green Bay on Sunday.  Offensive guard Andrew Norwell is out with a hamstring injury, but three other former Ohio State players made headlines -- good and bad.

Kurt Coleman has been a welcome addition to the Panthers' secondary and has quickly become a playmaker. He made two tackles late in the game to secure the win for Carolina.

The Panthers wide receiver starters were Corey "Philly" Brown and Ted Ginn Jr. Brown had his share of dropped passes early in the season, but is becoming a reliable receiver for quarterback Cam Newton; he snagged a 39-yard deep pass and a touchdown pass against the Packers.

Ginn suffered dropped passes all day on Sunday -- all day.

Battle for Ohio

The Cincinnati Bengals host the Cleveland Browns for 'Thursday Night Football' this week, and the outing was missing some of the regular former Buckeyes. The Browns have been dealing with injuries throughout the season, but last week's game resulted in wideout Brian Hartline and strong safety Donte Whitner were sidelined due to concussions. The subsequently miss this in-state rivalry matchup.

For the Bengals, former Buckeye kicker Mike Nugent was perfect against the Browns, making one 28-yard field goal and going four-for-four at extra points on the day. Linebacker A.J. Hawk hasn't made a consistent impact for CIncy like he did in Green Bay, but is still an important part of that offensive line.

Jets return from injuries

Both former Buckeyes on the New York Jets missed last week with injuries, wideout Devin Smith with a foot issue and center Nick Mangold with a neck injury following a scary hit in Week 7. Mangold suffered another blow to his neck Sunday and left the Jets-Jaguars game and did not return.

Player of the week

Bradley Roby

The Denver Broncos took a tough loss to the Colts on Sunday, but Roby did his part to keep them in the game for most of the day -- with a combined four tackles and interception. He broke up a deep touchdown pass near the endzone with just under seven minutes left in the game, in what seemed like a game-saving play.

His former teammate Devin Smith even made note of the play and performance of Roby on Sunday.

He is quickly becoming one of the noted secondary players in the league, and is putting in the work to only get better.

Other note

The Steelers defense has four former Buckeyes on the starting roster with Will Allen returning from an ankle injury, but they didn't play like Silver Bullets on Sunday against Oakland. As a leader on defense, Cameron Heyward had words about their performance in the post game.

"We played like crap on defense," Cameron Heyward said.

"When you give up a late lead - 14 points - that's unacceptable [and] inexcusable," Heyward said. "And if we're going to hoot and holler about it, then we're going to get beat in the same way."

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