The Arizona Cardinals have another award winning performance on their hands.
From the team:
Arizona Cardinals linebacker Chandler Jones has been named the “NFC Defensive Player of the Week” for his performance in last Sunday’s 38-13 victory over the Tennessee Titans.
This is Jones’ fifth career “Defensive Player of the Week” selection and his fourth “Defensive Player of the Week” selection with the Cardinals. He was also named “AFC Defensive Player of the Week” in 2014 with the New England Patriots.
With this selection, Jones is now tied with safety Adrian Wilson (four) for the most “Defensive Player of the Week” awards in team history.
Jones had a record-setting performance in the Cardinals win over the Titans, finishing the game with six tackles, a career-high 5.0 sacks, two forced fumbles, six QB hits and four tackles for loss.
He became just the third player in NFL history – and the first in the last 23 years – to record at least 5.0 sacks in a season-opener, joining Hall of Famer Derrick Thomas (6.0 in 1998 with Kansas City) and Bill Gay (5.5 in 1983 with Detroit). Jones also joined SF’s Aldon Smith (11/19/12 vs. Chicago) as the only NFL players in the last 16 seasons to record 5.0+ sacks, 6+ QB hits, 4+ tackles for loss and 2+ forced fumbles in a single game. He had 3.0 sacks in the first quarter on Sunday, becoming the first player in NFL history to record at least 3.0 sacks in the first quarter of a season-opener.
His 5.0 sacks tied the franchise single-game record and of the six games in franchise history in which a player recorded at least 4.0 sacks, Jones now owns three of those performances.
Jones’ third sack on Sunday was the 100th of his career. He became just the 36th player in NFL history to reach 100 career sacks. Jones reached 100.0 career sacks on Sunday while playing in his 125th career game. Only seven players in NFL history reached the milestone in fewer games.
After recording 5.0 sacks and two forced fumbles at Tennessee, Jones now has 102.0 career sacks and 29 career forced fumbles. Both totals lead the NFL dating back to his rookie season in 2012.
Congratulations to Chandler Jones.