Although the North Carolina football team got stomped by Georgia Tech during Homecoming Weekend, Tar Heel alumni in the NFL did not face quite the same hardships.
Mitchell Trubisky
Mitchell Trubisky continues to thrive in his second season in the NFL. This season he has posted an average passer rating of 96.1 and boasts an impressive 64.2 percent completion rate. He has led the Chicago Bears to a 5-3 record, which has them on top of the NFC North. To put the improvement in context, the Bears won five games all of last season.
Though Week 9 was not the best week for the young signal-caller, Trubisky and the Bears beat the Buffalo Bills 41-9 on Sunday. With two big defensive touchdowns, Trubisky did not have to be impressive in the win. With an interception and a touchdown to show for it, he was 12-20 for 135 yards from under center, including a 2-yard touchdown pass to Trey Burton late in the fourth quarter.
All in all, Trubisky is looking like a franchise quarterback so far this season, but he will have his hands full the next three weeks with consecutive NFC North matchups. The games will have major implications for the Bears' playoff picture, as they hope to make their first appearance since 2010.
Bruce Carter
Bruce Carter was one of the top linebacker prospects in the 2011 NFL Draft before an ACL injury cut his senior season at UNC short. Carter dropped out of the first round and was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the second. He was recently signed by the Falcons, who are on a three-game win streak right now.
During the streak, Carter has exploded for 12 combined tackles, with six of those tackles coming against the Redskins Sunday, a tie for the most on the team. The Falcons line as a whole on Sunday limited the Redskins to 79 rushing yards, with 22 of those yards coming on an Alex Smith scramble midway through the second quarter. Translation: the Redskins never got in a rhythm running the ball thanks to Carter and the rest of Falcons’ defensive line.
