When Odell Beckham scored a game-tying touchdown last Sunday afternoon, capping off a 28-point Giants comeback to tie the score at 35-35, the look on Cam Newton's face said it all. Luckily for us, the broadcast cameras were there to capture an ice cold stare and a simple nod that led us all to believe that Newton would lead the Panthers to yet another victory. And he did.
Newton finished Sunday's game 25 of 45 for 340 yards, five touchdowns and no picks. Those are Peyton Manning-in-his-prime numbers and Newton is doing it with an equally underwhelming cast of wide receivers outside of tight end Greg Olsen. Over the last five games, Newton has thrown 18 touchdowns and just one interception. He's completed more than 60 percent of his passes. He's rushed for 214 yards and he's posted a cumulative QB rating of 121.8.
What does an MVP conversation even look like right now? Newton is it, and this Offensive Player of the Week award is well deserved.
Here are the rest of your winners...
NFC
Cardinals linebacker Deone Bucannon: The 2014 first-round pick iced the game on Sunday night with a pick-six on Sam Bradford. The score was closer than the 40-17 final indicated, but not by much thanks to a punishing performance by the linebacker. Bucannon added nine total tackles to his box score from Sunday.
Rams KR Benny Cunningham: Cunningham's two carries didn't do much to aid in the victory over Tampa Bay on Sunday, but Cunningham's four kick returns for 188 yards were mammoth steps toward getting St. Louis into the win column. Cunningham took one kick from the minus-five and went 102 yards -- almost for a touchdown. Cunningham now has one of the longest kick returns in NFL history without a touchdown.
AFC
Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown: What can we say? Brown is the best wide receiver in football and it's not even close. On Sunday against the Broncos, he caught 16 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns and that wasn't even his highest catch total of the season. Show me this guy vs. Josh Norman. Let's settle it now!
Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters: Peters is just a rookie but already seems well on his way to stardom. He was named to a Pro Bowl on Tuesday, which is not easy to do when playing on an initially-bad team as a late first-round rookie. But performances like Sunday, where he had two picks, one of which was returned for a touchdown, help. Poor Jimmy Clausen never had a chance.
Bengals DE Carlos Dunlap: Dunlap gets the special teams nod after blocking a field goal against the 49ers on Sunday, which was greatly underplayed next to his wonderful strip and recovery on Anquan Boldin in the second quarter.
