Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver has been named AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his dominant performance in the Bills’ 28-25 win over the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day.
Per the team, Oliver became the first player in franchise history to record a sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a safety in the same game, and is one of only four players in the past decade to do this (Khalil Mack, Justin Houston, and Cameron Wake being the others).
This is the second straight week that a Bills defender has taken this award home, as Oliver follows in the footsteps of linebacker Matt Milano, who won it in Week 11 after a dominant effort against the Cleveland Browns.
Oliver has now appeared in three Thanksgiving Day games in his career—all Bills wins—and has been a difference-maker in all of them, with 3.5 sacks, three tackles for a loss, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, and a safety to his name. The league did well to recognize his efforts in Detroit, so this is as good a time as any to throw a little more shade at CBS for not letting the man chomp on a much-deserved turkey leg on live television.
As the Bills head into a critical Week 13 matchup with the New England Patriots sans edge rusher Von Miller, who has a meniscus injury in his knee and is hoping to only miss one game, Oliver’s importance to the Bills’ hopes for an AFC East three-peat have never been higher.
