NFL Week 13 Recap for Former Vols: Eric Berry’s Historic Performance

Star Performers

Eric Berry, Safety, Kansas City Chiefs

Talk about a historic day! In front of his mom and his hometown crowd in Georgia, Eric Berry single-handedly carried the Kansas City Chiefs to victory over the Atlanta Falcons Sunday. It was all extremely unlikely as well. He gave the Chiefs their first lead in the game with less than 40 seconds left, intercepting a Matt Ryan pass and taking it into the end zone.

A pick-six would have been enough to get him on the list, especially when you add in his two tackles and pass deflected. But then he made the play of the year late in the fourth quarter. The Falcons scored a touchdown to go up 28-27 and went for two to take a field goal lead. But Berry intercepted Ryan again on that play and ran it back for two the other way. All of a sudden, on a crazy two-point play, Berry gave the Chiefs the lead back. And it was the difference, as they held on 29-28.

Forget being the Vols’ top performer. Eric Berry is the star of NFL Week 13 among all players.

Robert Ayers, Defensive End, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have gone on a four-game winning streak ever since Robert Ayers returned to health. And he may have carried his team to a 28-21 victory on Sunday by getting inside of Phillip Rivers’s head.

The veteran defensive end had one sack, one and a half tackles for a loss, two solo tackles overall, and laid two huge hits on Rivers. He helped force Rivers’s first interception in the game, which was returned for a touchdown, by hurrying his throw. Then, his sack came on the final drive, and that forced Rivers to take a deep chance downfield later, which also resulted in an interception. So Ayers was nearly on Berry’s level as a star during NFL Week 13.

Mychal Rivera, Tight End, Oakland Raiders

Mychal Rivera was working on moving back into the passing offense as a tight end, but it had not yet come to fruition. That all changed on Sunday, as he helped lead the Oakland Raiders to another victory and possibly the top seed in the AFC.

Rivera had three catches for 57 yards, and he remained a staple in the offense as a blocker and a decoy on top of that. Forcing teams to respect him opened up the offense even further, and it’s exciting to see where he can go from here. But Sunday was a great breakout game for him.