Buckeyes bring the noise

OSU's influence felt throughout the NFL on opening weekend

The weekend didn't go well for former Ohio State assistant coach, but it wasn't a total loss for hometown-boy-makes-good stories.

While Fickell''s Cincinnati Bearcats suffered a 42-0 humbling at OSU on Saturday, his former defensive line-mate in the mid-90s, Mike Vrabel, experienced a much different result on Sunday.

Vrabel's Tennessee Titans registered the NFL's most-surprising result of Week 1 with a 43-13 road rout of the Cleveland Browns, the team Vrabel grew up rooting for in Akron.

Browns fans were so stoked for the opener they began tailgating on Saturday night, but that -- and little else, it appeared -- surprised Vrabel and the Titans.

He actually expected the lots around First Energy Stadium to start filling up more than 24 hours before kickoff and prepared his team for it in the middle of last week.

While Vrabel got it done from a coaching perspective, there were plenty of former OSU players who did the same in uniform on Sunday.

Not surprisingly, Ezekiel Elliott was one of them in the Cowboys' 35-17 win over the New York Giants.

Indianapolis rallied late to force overtime against the L.A. Chargers. Although Indy didn't get the win, most people left talking about this interception by Malik Hooker.

Sam Hubbard had two sacks in the Bengals' one-point loss to Seattle and Nick Bosa recorded his first career sack in his first career game, a 49ers win over Tampa Bay.

Bosa's former teammate, Terry McLaurin, wasn't as fortunate when it came to the outcome in his debut with the Washington Redskins, but he looks like the steal of the draft so far.

McLaurin, taken 76th overall, caught five passes for 125 yards and one TD in Washington's 32-27 loss at Philadelphia.

The Monday Night Football doubleheader wrap-up to Week 1 affords a host of former Buckeyes a chance to make similar impact contributions for their respective teams.

Houston at New Orleans features Carlos Hyde and Bradley Roby on the Texans against the Saints, awash in the OSU influence of Michael Thomas, Ted Ginn Jr., Eli Apple, Marshon Lattimore and Vonn Bell.

Gareon Conley is slated to start at left cornerback for the Oakland Raiders.