Tampa Bay Buccaneers outside linebacker Anthony Nelson has been named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week Eight, and he won't be celebrating alone. Buccaneers kicker Chase McLaughlin has also snared NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. It's the first such honor for Nelson, while McLaughlin previously won a Player of the Week award with the Indianapolis Colts in 2022.
It's a rare feat for two players on the same team to win POTW awards in the same week. The last such occurrence for the Buccaneers was 17 years ago, when Derrick Brooks took home the defensive honors and Matt Bryant was the special teams choice in Week Four. Nelson and McLaughlin became just the fifth Buccaneer pair to pull off the feat in team history, and all five instances were a combination of defensive and special teams selections. These are all five times the Buccaneers have had two players win NFC Player of the Week awards in the same week:
- 1999, Week 11: CB Donnie Abraham & K Martin Gramatica
- 2001, Week 16: LB Derrick Brooks & TE Todd Yoder
- 2006, Week 7: CB Rondé Barber & K Matt Bryant
- 2008, Week 4: LB Derrick Brooks & K Matt Bryant
- 2025, Week 8: OLB Anthony Nelson & K Chase McLaughlin
Nelson and McLaughlin gave the NFL little chance but to double up on Buccaneer awards in Week Eight, as both played enormous roles in the team's 23-3 win at New Orleans. Nelson combined 2.0 sacks with a three-yard interception return and a forced fumble, becoming the first NFL player with multiple sacks, a pick-six and a forced fumble in a game since 2007. McLaughlin drilled all three of his field goal attempts, all from long range as he made 55, 54 and 52 yards in the second half to help the Bucs pull away.
Nelson also had four tackles and both of his turnovers were in the first half of a very close game. He is the first player since Chicago's Khalil Mack in 2018 to record a sack, a forced fumble and a pick-six in a single half of play. Nelson tied for the league lead in Week Eight in sacks, interceptions and forced fumbles. His three-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter dramatically shifted the game's momentum as it came just moments after the Saints' defense had pulled off a four-play goal-line stand from the one-yard line.
McLaughlin joined the Pittsburgh Steelers' Chris Boswell as the only kickers this season to hit three field goals of 50-plus yards in a single game, and he added two extra points for a total of 11 points scored in the win. He is one of just four players to make three 50-yarders in a single half since the start of the 2020 season. McLaughlin is now eight-for-eight this season on attempts from that range, the most made 50-yarders in the NFL, and is a remarkable 40 of 47 in his career in that category.
Nelson is the first Buccaneer to win a Defensive Player of the Week award this season, and the first since fellow outside linebacker Yaya Diaby in Week 17 of last season. McLaughlin is the second Tampa Bay player to take home Special Teams Player of the Week award in 2025, joining wide receiver/punt returner Kameron Johnson, who won it in Week One.
