Week 16 Report: Frank Okam and Nathan Vasher Snap Long Stretch of Silence

After being waived by Houston in October and cut by Seattle just weeks later, Frank Okam has since emerged as a solid contributor in Tampa Bay. Okam tallied just his 3rd tackle of the season last week but had 7 tackles this week, which is a career best.

Okam’s teammates Roy Miller and Tim Crowder both had 3 tackles.

Nathan Vasher has also hopped around from team to team this season after being released by Chicago earlier this year and dropped by San Diego after just a couple weeks with the team, despite signing a two-year contract.

Detroit picked up Vasher in September, who had just 5 tackles all season long before this week. Vasher recorded 8 tackles on Sunday and picked off a pass, his first INT since Week 6 of last season.

The pick set up Detroit’s game-tying field goal. On the following series, Miami threatened to score with time winding down but Vasher made a crucial tackle to keep Ronnie Brown inbounds, forcing time to expire and giving Detroit the come-from-behind win.

Vasher seems to like his new home in Detroit.

“I think you have to be able to fit with one team and I really like it here,” Vasher said. “It’s a good situation and I can continue to grow as a player and be productive and get things turned around.”

Jamaal Charles rose another spot into the 2nd position on his quest to win the NFL rushing crown. JC ran 13 times for 77 yards over the weekend.

With 1,380 yards so far this season, JC trails NFL leader Arian Foster by just 56 yards and ranks just ahead of Chris Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew and Michael Turner. JC has tallied all these yards off just 216 carries, and all other top rushers have carried the ball nearly 300 times, hence JC’s shocking (and potential record-breaking) 6.4 yards-per-carry.

JC also caught 4 passes for 40 yards, including two TD passes of 14 yards (video) and 5 yards in the 1st quarter (video).

Teammate Derrick Johnson had 4 tackles and leads Kansas City with 116 total tackles this season.

Colt McCoy had a rough outing against a top-notch Baltimore defense, completing 15 of 29 passes for 149 yards and 3 INTs. Colt had played great for a rookie, but his record dropped to 2-5 after his 3rd INT of the game sealed the loss.

Colt ran the ball 4 times for 30 yards.

Head coach Eric Mangini defended his decision after the game to stick with Colt for the rest of the season.

“He’s played very effectively and done a lot of really good things from an operation standpoint,” Mangini said. “There’s going to be some of this. I’d still say he set a pretty high bar.

Cleveland’s only TD pass in the game came off a 29-yard trick play pass by Mohamed Massaquoi.

Ricky Williams carried the ball 14 times for 71 yards, his 2nd best outing of the year, and caught 2 passes for 21 yards.

Fellow RB Cedric Benson struggled over the weekend, rushing 24 times for just 52 yards.

Jordan Shipley had just 1 catch, but it was for a 3-yard TD in the 4th quarter (video), his 3rd TD of the season. Shipley hasn’t totaled more than 40 receiving yards in a game since Week 7.

Fellow WR Roy Williams continues his woes in Dallas, this week catching no passes. One pass bounced off Roy’s hands, resulting in an INT returned 66 yards for a TD in the 1st quarter.

Michael Huff picked off his 2nd pass of the season, this time in the 3rd quarter to help keep Oakland within 3 points of Indianapolis. Huff also had 5 tackles.

Other Noteworthy Performances

Aaron Ross – 2 tackles
Michael Griffin – 6 tackles
Tarell Brown – 2 tackles
Casey Hampton – 1 tackle
Earl Thomas – 3 tackles
Quentin Jammer – 2 tackles
Cory Redding – 5 tackles