Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver has been named this week's AFC Defensive Player of the Week. It's Oliver's first time earning player of the week honors in his career.
The defensive tackle had several notable plays against the Lions on Thanksgiving. Oliver finished the game with a forced fumble, one fumble recovery, one sack in the end zone for a safety, two tackles for loss and six total tackles.
The game was all tied up in the second quarter when Oliver knocked the ball out of Lions running back Jamaal Williams' hands and recovered it. That following drive, the Bills offense scored a touchdown and took the lead.
Later, in the third quarter on 3rd and 15, Oliver sacked Lions quarterback Jared Goff in the end zone for a safety. That gave Buffalo a 19 to 14 lead over Detroit.
Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said that's the type of performance they want from Oliver every week.
"So many impact plays that really changed the game in a lot of ways, in particular that safety that he got for us and then the caused fumble," Frazier said of his defensive tackle. "He was just a wrecker, a game wrecker in the way he played. But we needed that from him with some of the other things that we were dealing with injury wise. And he's more than capable of doing that week in and week out, and we expect to see at the rest of the season."
So far this season, Oliver has 11 quarterback hits, six tackles for loss, one and a half sacks and 22 total tackles in eight games played.
