Browns receiver Travis Benjamin arguably was the single best player in the NFL last weekend. For that, he’s getting (drum roll, please) a sheet of paper.
The NFL has announced that Benjamin is the AFC’s special-teams player of the week, an award fueled by a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown punctuated by a leap over Tennessee’s punter/latex salesman Brett Kern.
For the game, Benjamin had a total of 154 punt-return yards and 269 all-purpose yards.
Benjamin added two touchdowns on grabs of 60 and 50 yards. On the first one, he blew past single coverage after a quick play-action fake froze the safeties. On the second (and as he explained on Tuesday’s PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio), Benjamin was supposed to run a “go” route along the right sideline. But a blitz flushed quarterback Johnny Manziel to the left. Benjamin broke off his route to the left and caught Manziel’s eye. Manziel then fired the ball to Benjamin, who caught it, eluded a couple of pigeons, and delivered the dagger at a time when the Titans had cut the score from 21-0 to 21-14.
