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Former Oklahoma Teammates Sweep NFL Weekly Awards

Baker Mayfield and Joe Mixon are remaking their NFL careers, and Sunday's performances were a sign that things are going great so far.

John E. Hoover

Baker Mayfield, Joe Mixon
Baker Mayfield, Joe Mixon / USA Today Sports
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It was quite the season opener for a pair of Oklahoma teammates in the NFL, who delivered huge performances and big wins for their teams. Now they've swept a pair of league-wide awards.

Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield and Houston running back Joe Mixon starred together in the OU backfield in 2015-16, and Sunday they led their respective teams to impressive openers.

On Wednesday, Mayfield and Mixon were announced as the FedEx Air and Ground NFL Players of the Week.

Mayfield passed for 289 yards and four touchdowns as he led the Buccaneers to a 37-20 win over the Washington Commanders, while Mixon rushed for 159 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries in a 29-27 victory over the Colts.

Both players are in the middle of remaking their pro careers, with Mayfield signing a three-year, $100 million contract with the Bucs that includes $40 million guaranteed, and Mixon starting over with the Texans under a two-year, $19.75 million contract ($13 million guaranteed) after playing his first seven seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Mixon is third (behind Derrick Henry and Ezekiel Elliojn) among NFL running backs with 6,571 rushing yards since he came into the league in 2017, while Mayfield is 12th among NFL quarterbacks with 20,621 passing yards since his pro debut in 2018.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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