Voters on NFL.com and via Sprint wireless service have made their choice. Linebacker Patrick Willis of the San Francisco 49ers is the Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week for games played Sept. 6-10, the NFL announced today.
Willis recorded 11 tackles and forced a fumble in his first regular-season game, helping the 49ers to a 20-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Willis led the 49ers in total tackles and joined Oakland's Kirk Morrison and Tampa Bay's Barrett Ruud as league leaders in Week 1 with nine solo tackles.
More than 82,500 fans voted this week on NFL.com and via Sprint wireless service. Willis was selected from among five finalists. The other finalists were wide receiver John Broussard of the Jacksonville Jaguars, wide receiver Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions, running back Marshawn Lynch of the Buffalo Bills, and running back Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings.
After the regular season, five players will be nominated for Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year honors. Fans can vote for the winner on NFL.com and via Sprint wireless service throughout the month of January. The winner will be announced at a press conference at Super Bowl XLII in Arizona.
This is Pepsi's sixth year as the official soft drink sponsor of the NFL and the third year that Diet Pepsi will present the NFL Rookie of the Week and NFL Rookie of the Year awards.
| !Calvin Johnson | | Caught four passes for 70 yards and scored a touchdown in the Lions' 36-21 win at Oakland. Johnson's third reception was a 16-yard scoring pass from QB Jon Kitna in the third quarter for his first NFL touchdown. |
| !Marshawn Lynch | | Carried 19 times for 90 yards in the Bills' 15-14 loss to the Denver Broncos. Lynch's contributions included an impressive 23-yard, third-quarter touchdown run in which he mowed down a Broncos' defender on the 1-yard line to score Buffalo's first offensive touchdown of the season. |
! | | | !Adrian Peterson | | Carried 19 times for 103 yards and caught one pass that he turned into a 60-yard, fourth-quarter scoring play in the Vikings' 24-3 win over the Atlanta Falcons. It was Peterson's first NFL touchdown in addition to being Minnesota's first offensive touchdown of the season. |
| !John Broussard | | Made two catches for 55 yards and a touchdown in the Jaguars' 13-10 loss to the Tennessee Titans. In the first-quarter, Broussard caught a 47-yard touchdown pass from QB David Garrard, marking the Jaguars' first points of the season, Broussard's first NFL reception and his first career touchdown. |
! | | | !Patrick Willis | | Recorded 11 tackles, nine of them solo, and forced a fumble in his first regular-season NFL game, helping the 49ers to a 20-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. |
