Boilermakers in the NFL: Week 4

The nation tuned in Monday night as one of Purdue's most distinguished alumni put on an offensive clinic to close out Week 4 in the NFL. It was a performance that led Jon Gruden to say about Brees:

"He's a surgeon. He'll shred ya."

Time to find a new surgeon, Jon.

DE Cliff Avril (Seahawks) - Avril picked up his second sack of the year in the Seahawks overtime win over the Texans.

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QB Drew Brees (Saints) - Brees and the Saints dashed the hopes of a 4-0 start for the Dolphins, instead keeping that honor for themselves. Brees passed for 413 yards and four touchdowns in a record tying performance. Whose records did he tie? His own of course.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>•10 straight w/ 25+ comp. (ties own NFL record) &#10;•9 straight 300-yd gms (ties own record) &#10;•passes Elway on all-time comp. list &#10;Wow, Brees.</p>&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/statuses/384882027167629312">October 1, 2013</a></blockquote>

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The Saints head to Soldier Field next week where they are 0-3 under Sean Payton.

C Nick Hardwick (Chargers) - If you took Nick Hardwick away from the Charger's starting offensive line in Sunday's victory over the Cowboys, you got 15 combined NFL starts. Experience didn't turn out to be an issue as the Cowboys only sacked Philip Rivers one time.

TE Dustin Keller (Dolphins) - Injured Reserve

OT Dennis Kelly (Eagles) - Kelly was inactive Sunday despite returning to practice at full strength.

OLB Ryan Kerrigan (Redskins) - Kerrigan recorded four tackles, two sacks, and a forced fumble in the Redskins first win of the season. Kerrigan feasted on Raiders' backup quarterback Matt Flynn and now sits at 4th in the NFL in sacks (5.0), more than both the Giants and Steelers.

LB Mike Neal (Packers) - Bye

DE Rob Ninkovich (Patriots) - Ninkovich sits at 8th in the league in total QB pressures among 4-3 defensive ends. He wasn't able to bring the quarterback down, but did record two tackles and eight pressures.

G Uche Nwaneri (Jaguars) - The Jaguars didn't make any progress on the ground in Sunday's loss to the Colts and Nwaneri was clearly frustrated.

"That's an elite back right there," Nwaneri said, nodding his head toward Maurice Jones-Drew, who ran 13 times for 23 yards, the second-lowest total of his career in a game in which he had double-digit carries. "For him not to get yards, it makes me angry just because I know he should be getting yards."

For the year, Jones-Drew has just 138 yards on 57 carries with a long run of 10 yards.

QB Kyle Orton (Cowboys) - Orton continued as the Cowboy's backup quarterback, arguably the greatest job in the world.

T Michael Otto (Titans) - Otto is listed as the backup left tackle, although it's also believed he would start at right tackle if current starter David Stewart goes down.

QB Curtis Painter (Giants) - Eli threw for under 50% and the Giants got smashed 31-7. The Giants have not won a game since Curtis Painter has been on the roster.

DE Shaun Phillips (Broncos) - Phillips has moved into the starting spot at right defensive end. He recorded four tackles and a sack, bringing his count on the year to 3.5. Phillips ($1m/1yr) looks like a bargain as the man who replaced him in SD, Dwight Freeney ($8.75m/2yrs), suffered a season-ending injury.

DB Bernard Pollard (Titans) - Pollard played all 65 snaps, leading the Titans with eight tackles in their win over the Jets.

HB Kory Sheets (Saskatchewan Roughriders) - Sheets missed his second straight week, bringing the likelihood of a record setting year to nearly zero. Sheets would need almost 170 yards per game over his last 5 games to break the CFL record of 2,065 rushing yards.

DT Kawann Short (Panthers) - Short was on a bye this week and spent Saturday on the sideline during Purdue's loss to NIU.

DE Anthony Spencer (Cowboys) - Spencer is set to undergo microfracture surgery Tuesday, ending his season.