The National Football League has announced that Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold, San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Yetur Gross-Matos, and New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Bryan Bresee are the National Football Conference’s best players for Week 14 of the 2024 season.
Darnold is the NFC Offensive Player of the Week after completing 78.6 percent of his throws (22 of 28) for 347 yards and five touchdowns against the Atlanta Falcons. Darnold and the Vikings won, extending their winning streak to six games. The former USC is experiencing a resurgence with Minnesota, tallying 264 completions for 3,299 yards and 28 touchdowns in 13 games.
Meanwhile, Gross-Matos had four tackles and three sacks in the 49ers’ home victory against the Chicago Bears. Before this game, the NFC Defensive Player of the Week had one sack in his first six games. Now, he has four for the season to go with 15 total tackles.
Finally, Bresee is the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week after blocking a field goal attempt by Graham Gano, which would have tied the game at 11. Instead, Bresee’s effort helped his team improve to 5-8. Likewise, Bresee had the Saints’ lone sack on Drew Lock in that game. The defensive lineman from Clemson has 19 tackles and 7.5 sacks in 13 games.
-Lance Fernandez