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Rice Football 2024: NFL Owls Week 4 Roundup

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Rice Football is well represented on 2024 NFL rosters. Here’s the latest from the NFL Owls in action in Week 4.

There are former Rice football players scattered across the NFL. Stay tuned each week for their game results and notables from each player.

Team NFL Owl(s) This Week Result Next Week
Detroit Lions Jack Fox (P) vs Seahawks (MNF) W, 42-29 — BYE —
Indianapolis Colts Kylen Granson (TE) vs Steelers W, 27-24 at Jaguars
Pittsburgh Steelers Chris Boswell (PK)
Calvin Anderson (OL)		 at Colts L, 27-24 vs Cowboys
New England Patriots Nick Leverett (OL) at 49ers L, 30-13 vs Dolphins
Seattle Seahawks Myles Adams (DL) at Lions (MNF) L, 42-29 vs Giants
Washington Commanders Luke McCaffrey (WR) at Cardinals W, 42-14 vs Browns

Offense

Calvin Anderson – OL, Steelers

Anderson was signed to the Steelers’ 53-man roster this past week and dressed for the teams’ Week 4 game against the Colts but did not see action.

Luke McCaffrey – WR, Commanders

McCaffrey caught his lone target in Week 4, a Commanders win over the Cardinals. He now has caught all seven of his targets over four games as an NFL wideout.

Nick Leverett – OL, Patriots

Leverett played the majority of the Patriots’ offensive snaps in Week 4, taking over for an injured David Andrews who left the game in the first quarter, recovering a fumble as well as covering his typical special teams work.

Kylen Granson – TE, Colts

Granson wasn’t targeted in the Colts’ Week 4 win over the Steelers, the first time he’s gone without a target in a game this season. He did play 14 special teams snaps, which was a season high.

Defense

Myles Adams – DL, Seahawks

Adams saw his most extensive usage of the season on Monday Night Football, registering two tackles against the Lions, including one solo stop. He played a season high 38 percent of the Seahawks’ defensive snaps..

Special Teams

Jack Fox – P, Lions

There wasn’t much punting on Monday Night Football but Fox made his boots count. He kicked three times for 140 yards including a long of 50. He averaged 46.7 yards per punt.

Chris Boswell – K, Steelers

Boswell trotted out for one field goal this week from 50 yards out and struck it through the posts. He also added three extra points. The Boz has now made 11-of-12 field goals so far this season.

More Owls in the NFL

From practice squads to current free agents, there are other Owls on the cusp of returning to active rosters. Find more detail on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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Rice Football 2024: NFL Owls Week 3 Roundup

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Rice Football is well represented on 2024 NFL rosters. Here’s the latest from the NFL Owls in action in Week 3.

There are former Rice football players scattered across the NFL. Stay tuned each week for their game results and notables from each player.

Team NFL Owl(s) This Week Result Next Week
Detroit Lions Jack Fox (P) at Cardinals W, 20-13 vs Seahawks (MNF)
Indianapolis Colts Kylen Granson (TE) vs Bears W, 21-16 vs Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers Chris Boswell (PK) vs Chargers W, 20-10 at Colts
New England Patriots Nick Leverett (OL) at Jets (TNF) L, 24-3 at 49ers
Seattle Seahawks Myles Adams (DL) vs Dolphins W, 24-3 at Lions (MNF)
Washington Commanders Luke McCaffrey (WR) at Bengals (MNF) W, 38-33 at Cardinals

Free Agent News

Former Rice football offensive lineman, Calvin Anderson, who most recently played with the Patriots before being released this offseason, has signed with the Steelers.

Offense

Luke McCaffrey – WR, Commanders

McCaffrey made a splash on Monday Night Football. picking up a crucial fourth down conversion from quarterback Jayden Daniels, one of three receptions on the evening for the Commanders’ rookie wide receiver. He finished with three receptions for 44 yards.

Nick Leverett – OL, Patriots

Leverett saw limited action on Thursday night, making one appearance with the Patriots special teams unit. He did not see any snaps with the offense this week.

Kylen Granson – TE, Colts

Granson hauled in a 40-yard reception against the Bears, the second-longest catch of the day for the Colts. His grab accounted for roughly a quarter of their passing offense for the day.

Defense

Myles Adams – DL, Seahawks

Adams was inactive for the Seahawks’ Week 3 game against the Dolphins.

Special Teams

Jack Fox – P, Lions

Fox punted five times for 247 yards on Sunday, pinning the Cardinals inside the 20 on four of his five kicks while still managing a 494. average of his punts.

Chris Boswell – K, Steelers

Boswell entered rarified air this week, banging through two field goals and two extra points against the Chargers, officially surpassing 1,000 total points in his NFL career. He became the second Steeler in franchise history to achieve such a feat.

 

More Owls in the NFL

From practice squads to current free agents, there are other Owls on the cusp of returning to active rosters. Find more detail on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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Rice Football 2024: NFL Owls Week 2 Roundup

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Rice Football is well represented on 2024 NFL rosters. Here’s the latest from the NFL Owls in action in Week 2.

There are former Rice football players scattered across the NFL. Stay tuned each week for their game results and notables from each player.

Team NFL Owl(s) This Week Result Next Week
Detroit Lions Jack Fox (P) vs Bucs L, 20-16 at Cardinals
Indianapolis Colts Kylen Granson (TE) at Packers L, 16-10 vs Bears
Pittsburgh Steelers Chris Boswell (PK) at Broncos W, 13-6 vs Chargers
New England Patriots Nick Leverett (OL) vs Seahawks L, 23-20 (OT) at Jets (TNF)
Seattle Seahawks Myles Adams (DL) at Patriots W, 23-20 (OT) vs Dolphins
Washington Commanders Luke McCaffrey (WR) vs Giants W, 21-18 at Bengals (MNF)

Offense

Luke McCaffrey – WR, Commanders

McCaffrey earned his first career start on Sunday and saw action on more than half of the Commanders’ offensive snaps for the second straight week. He did not get any targets.

Nick Leverett – OL, Patriots

Anderson was active and played five snaps on special teams in the Patriots’ Week 2 loss to the Seahawks. He also saw action on two plays with the offense for the first time this year..

Kylen Granson – TE, Colts

Granson was targeted twice in the Colts’ Week 2 loss to the Packers, catching one of those passes for nine yards.

Defense

Myles Adams – DL, Seahawks

After being inactive in Week 1, Adams played briefly in the Seahawks’ Week 2 game against the Patriots. He did not record any statistics.

Special Teams

Jack Fox – P, Lions

Fox punted twice for 67 yards, pinning his opponent inside the 20-yard line on both of his kicks. His more impressive contribution, however, came with his arm, not his leg. A former high school quarterback, Fox showcased his passing skills on a gutsy fake punt, converting on fourth down with a 17-yard pass.

Chris Boswell – K, Steelers

A week removed from going 6-for-6 on field goal attempts, Boswell was only asked to kick twice on Sunday, but he made them both. His longest kick went 53 yards. His six points matched his opponent’s total, helping propel the Steelers to a 2-0 start.

More Owls in the NFL

From practice squads to current free agents, there are other Owls on the cusp of returning to active rosters. Find more detail on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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Rice Football smothered in Bayou Bucket loss to Houston

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Rice Football fell behind early and never threatened to catch up, ceding the Bayou Bucket to Houston after a one-year sojourn at South Main.

It had been more than 20 years since Rice football had claimed the Bayou Bucket in successive seasons. That streak will continue for quite some time longer after Saturday’s loss at TDECU Stadium. There’s one game left in the series as things stand and Rice can’t wait for another shot to redeem themselves from a rough outing in their biggest rivalry matchup. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Going Sideways

Notwithstanding their big day on the scoreboard against Texas Southern, the Rice football offense has struggled to move the ball north and south this season. They’ve largely been a horizontal offense utilizing their speed to the edges to outflank their opponents and slowly matriculate their way down the field. When you’re playing a less talented opponent, that works. When you’re playing a Big 12 team that is just as athletic as you are if not more so, it’s impossible. Rice found that out the hard way, early on.

The first three plays from scrimmage were a Dean Connors run off left tackle followed by a swing pass to Connors off the left side and then a flat out to Boden Groen. They gained seven yards and punted. EJ Warner was under a decent amount of pressure early but misfired on most of his shots down the field. Rice didn’t get any points from their offense until there were 68 seconds left in regulation.

Against FCS competition, Rice has scored 69 points. Against FBS foes the Owls have mustered just 21 in twice as many quarters.

If there was a weak link, it was hard to identify. Warner missed some receivers downfield, the protection regularly failed to give him time to work and the receivers did not generate nearly enough separation. There were moments when everything seemed to come together, but the passing game was flat and horizontal making it near impossible to sustain any meaningful drive.

Rice had one snap on the plus side of the 50 in the first half and seven such plays in the second half. They were 2-for-13 on third down. For an offense, it doesn’t get much worse than this.

The personnel is the personnel. The staff is the staff. They’ve got to figure something out, fast.

Defense staves off a massacre

In hindsight, leading the nation in sacks through two games should have been the clear indicator that this current iteration of Rice football would be led by its defense. A tough opening quarter, which included 35 total yards from the offense and a punt return score, would have been so much worse if the defense hadn’t picked up the slack.

Josh Pearcy added to that sack total on the opening drive, although that takedown probably could have been credited to a few Owls, which is a testament to just how dominant the front seven has been so far this season.

The defense was burned for a handful of chunk plays but largely limited the backbreaking Houston punches to a pair of long first-quarter runs by Re’Shaun Sanford and a screen touchdown following a special teams mistake. A 37-yard run up the gut by Donovan Smith was the cherry on top of a garbage time sundae.

Forced to carry the load for the totality of the game, the defense added three sacks to their total and did a reasonable job containing Houston quarterback Donovan Smith and the Cougars’ rushing attack, which tried its best to drain the clock as quickly as it could. It might not have been a great day from the defense as a whole, but this phase of the ball wasn’t the reason Rice lost on Saturday.

Special teams roulette

Many of the largest swings in this game came in the sometimes overlooked third phase of football. Houston’s second touchdown was a 75-yard punt return touchdown. A few series later, a muffed punt by Sean Fresch was followed by a 44-yard touchdown from the Cougars on the very next play.

The Owls’ punt return woes didn’t stop there. Tyson Thompson, Fresch’s replacement, was leveled on his first return, putting the ball on the deck. Fortunately, Rice recovered and was aided further by a targeting penalty on the Cougars. The Owls were only in need of being bailed out because Thompson failed to signal for a fair catch, perhaps hoping to make the most of a rare opportunity.

While so many of his teammates struggled, Rice punter Alex Bacchetta was a bright spot on Saturday night at TDECU Stadium. Bacchetta punted seven times in the first half and two more in the second. The Rice football program record is 12 punts in one contest, most recently achieved by Jack Fox in 2018.

Bacchetta had one bad boot, a 24-yard on his first touch of the game. The remainder of his kicks were booming blasts. He averaged 42.2 yards per punt, 44.2 yards apiece when excluding the first dud. He was superb, but special teams on a whole were way too erratic in the moments that mattered most.

Behind schedule

Beating Houston would have gotten the Owls to 2-1, par for the season according to oddsmakers, with a marquee win and a rivalry trophy retained. The loss, while not unexpected from a spread standpoint, officially puts Rice behind expectations with a road trip to Army looming.

Picked to finish in the middle of the AAC, presumably with another bowl trip in tow, it’s time to officially put all of those aspirations on hold. Rice could very well achieve both of those objectives, but the team that was talked about as a dark horse to contend for the AAC title quite frankly hasn’t shown up to play in this season. Beating an FCS squad is nice, but the remainder of the schedule is against FBS opponents, against which Rice is 0-2.

Maybe things would feel a bit more hopeful if Rice had found a way to not stub their toe in their opening game against Sam Houston, but right now this is a team with more questions than answers and there are still two more games to play before the first bye week of the season.

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Rice Football 2024: NFL Owls Week 1 Roundup

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Rice Football is well represented on 2024 NFL rosters. Here’s the latest from the NFL Owls in action in Week 1.

There are former Rice football players scattered across the NFL. Stay tuned each week for their game results and notables from each player.

Team NFL Owl(s) This Week Result Next Week
Detroit Lions Jack Fox (P) vs Rams W,  26-20 (OT) vs Bucs
Indianapolis Colts Kylen Granson (TE) vs Texans L, 29-27 at Packers
Pittsburgh Steelers Chris Boswell (PK) at Falcons W, 18-10 at Broncos
New England Patriots Nick Leverett (OL) at Bengals W, 16-10 vs Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks Myles Adams (DL) vs Broncos W, 26-20 at Patriots
Washington Commanders Luke McCaffrey (WR) at Bucs L, 37-20 vs Giants

Offense

Luke McCaffrey – WR, Commanders

McCaffrey caught all three of his targets for 18 yards in his NFL debut including a long reception of 10 yards. He led all Commanders receivers in yardage, topped only by running backs Austin Ekeler and Brian Robinson Jr. as well as tight end Zach Ertz.

Nick Leverett – OL, Patriots

Leverett was active and played four snaps on special teams in the Patriots’ Week 1 win over the Bengals.

Kylen Granson – TE, Colts

Granson was only targeted once in the Colts’ Week 1 loss to the Texans. He did not haul in the pass.

Defense

Myles Adams – DL, Seahawks

Adams was inactive for the Seahawks’ Week 1 game against the Broncos.

Special Teams

Jack Fox – P, Lions

Fox was impressive in his Sunday Night Football performance. He punted four balls for 230 yards, an average of 57.5 yards per punt with a long of 67 yards. Two of his four kicks were downed inside the 20 yard line as the Lions topped the Rams in overtime.

Chris Boswell – K, Steelers

The Steelers scored 18 points on Sunday. Chris Boswell accounted for all of them himself, draining kicks of 51, 56 and 57 yards in the process. He was perfect on his way to becoming the first kicker in franchise history to make at least three kicks from 50 yards away or longer.

More Owls in the NFL

From practice squads to current free agents, there are other Owls on the cusp of returning to active rosters. Find more detail on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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