The NFL named Houston Texans DE/OLB Jadeveon Clowney the AFC Defensive Player of the Week following his performance in the team's 37-34 overtime victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
Clowney recorded four total tackles (four solo), 2.0 sacks, four quarterback hits, four tackle for loss and one fumble recovery for a touchdown. He sacked Colts QB Andrew Luck for a loss of nine yards in the second quarter and brought Luck down for a loss of 10 yards on a critical play late in overtime.
Clowney is the only player to record at least 2.0 sacks, four tackles for loss and one fumble recovery returned for a touchdown in a single game since tackles for loss became an official NFL statistic. Not only that, Clowney has accomplished the feat twice in his NFL career (Week 3 of the 2017 season). He recovered a fumble by Colts C Ryan Kelly in the endzone for his second career touchdown and became the first player in franchise history to record multiple career games with at least 1.0 sack and a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown.
Clowney tied his single-game career high in sacks, quarterback hits, tackles for loss and fumble recoveries in the game. He has registered four-or-more tackles for loss in a game in each of the last three seasons (Week 5 in 2016, Week 3 in 2017 and Week 4 in 2018). No other player in the NFL has more than one game with four-or-more tackles for loss since 2016. He also has 42 tackles for loss in that time span (33 games), which is the second-most in the NFL.
This is the first time Clowney has earned Player of the Week honors in his career and the 41st time a Texan has been named Player of the Week in franchise history. It is also the 15th time Houston has won the AFC Defensive Player of the Week award in team history and first time since CB Johnathan Joseph in Week 6 of the 2017 season.
