{"id":18513,"date":"2026-01-12T10:07:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T10:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/18513\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T10:07:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T10:07:23","slug":"zimbabwes-nate-landman-is-a-human-wrecking-ball-for-the-los-angeles-rams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/18513\/","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe’s Nate Landman is a human wrecking ball for the Los Angeles Rams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zimbabwe’s Nate Landman<\/a> set a franchise tackles record for the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> in their 17-3 win over the Baltimore Ravens<\/a> as Week 6 saw African players dominate on defense.<\/p>\n

The Seattle Seahawks<\/a>‘ Jaxon Smith-Njigba<\/a> was the one shining light on offense this week, but after coming flying out of the blocks at the start of the season, wide receivers with ties to the continent generally had a more quiet round.<\/p>\n

Arguably more than any before, this week showed that the NFL’s attempts to grow the sport in Africa are bearing fruit – both in terms of developments on and off the field.<\/p>\n

African Player of the Week: Nate Landman<\/p>\n

The impenetrable Landman – born in Harare – set a Rams franchise record with 17 total tackles in their win over the Ravens, including a quarterback hit and eight solo tackles.<\/p>\n

A convert from rugby, former Colorado Buffaloes linebacker Landman had arguably the best game of his American football career in the Rams’ win. His defining moment came on the stroke of half-time, as he contributed to two crucial stops within 10 yards of the end zone, as well as another earlier tackle in the same drive which saw the Rams held up over the course of eight plays.<\/p>\n

At the time, the scores were deadlocked at 3-3. The Rams defense, led by Landman, prevented the Ravens from taking control at a crucial point in the game. In the third quarter, the Rams themselves took charge and never looked back.<\/p>\n

“What a stop by our guys, really buckling up there,” Landman told Tom Brady<\/a> for Fox Sports after the legendary quarterback selected him as his LFG Player of the Game. “That’s the pride of the defense right there, how you play goal line, and we rose up to the occasion. Way to set the tone for the rest of the game.”<\/p>\n

Nate Landman recorded eight solo tackles against the Ravens, and also against the 49ers the week prior.\u00a0Brooke Sutton\/Getty ImagesAfrican Moment of the Week: Jaxon Smith-Njigba<\/p>\n

Smith-Njigba, who has ties to Sierra Leone through his grandfather, is on a run where everything he touches turns to gold – and much of what he touches turns to touchdowns.<\/p>\n

The wide receiver scored a 61-yard touchdown in the Seattle Seahawks’ 20-12 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a>. It came at a crucial time, too, as the Seahawks had been 6-3 behind midway through the second quarter before he crept in behind the defense and latched onto a Sam Darnold<\/a> pass.<\/p>\n

Although Landman walks away with Africa’s MVP honors this week as far as we are concerned, Smith-Njigba is the most likely candidate from the continent to be in the running for NFL MVP a the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Smith-Njigba made a total of eight catches for 162 yards. Although there were many other moments worth celebrating from players with ties to Africa in week 6 – notably a hugely impressive 72-yard kick return from Kene Nwangwu<\/a> (ties to Nigeria) in the New York Jets<\/a>‘ defeat to the Denver Broncos<\/a> – there was ultimately nobody who could top Smith-Njigba in terms of a notable single play.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n

2 Related<\/p>\n

Honorable mentions<\/p>\n

Kwity Paye<\/a> (Indianapolis Colts<\/a>, born in Guinea to a Liberian family) and YaYa Diaby (Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a>, ties to Guinea through his parents) each picked up two sacks in wins for their respective teams. The Colts edged the Arizona Cardinals<\/a> 31-27, while the Bucs beat the San Francisco 49ers<\/a> 30-19.<\/p>\n

Uchenna Nwosu<\/a> – who has family ties to Nigeria – got 1.5 sacks for the Seahawks in their win over the Jaguars.<\/p>\n

Nigeria-born duo David Onyemata<\/a> and Ruke Orhorhoro<\/a> each picked up a sack as the Atlanta Falcons<\/a> upset the Buffalo Bills<\/a> 24-14. Charles Omenihu<\/a> – who has ties to Nigeria through his parents – got one for the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> as they gained a crucial 30-17 win over the Detroit Lions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Eyioma Uwazurike<\/a> – who also has parental ties to Nigeria – made a sack for the Denver Broncos in their narrow win over the New York Jets.<\/p>\n

Odafe Oweh<\/a> – raised in a Nigerian household in New Jersey – also had a memorable Sunday as he got a sack on debut for the Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> in their 29-27 win over the Miami Dolphins<\/a>. Oweh was recently traded from the Baltimore Ravens.<\/p>\n

Africa-born Player Watch<\/p>\n

Week 6 was one to remember for African-born players, with few if any that can compare in recent memory. Landman (born in Zimbabwe), Onyemata, Orhorhoro (both born in Nigeria) and Paye (born in Guinea) all had performances to remember.<\/p>\n

There was a crucial development off the field, too, as Nigerian International Player Pathway (IPP) Program standout Basil Chijioke ‘CJ’ Okoye was officially signed to the Baltimore Ravens’ active roster from their practice squad shortly before his third straight NFL regular season appearance.<\/p>\n

Okoye and the Ravens may have ended up on the losing side against Landman’s Rams, but he – just as much as the Zimbabwean – will remember the weekend for years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe’s Nate Landman set a franchise tackles record for the Los Angeles Rams in their 17-3 win over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[106],"class_list":{"0":"post-18513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-zimbabwe","8":"tag-zimbabwe"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}