Vikings' Kene Nwangwu earns Special Teams Player of the Week for kick return TD
MINNEAPOLIS -- Vikings running back Kene Nwangwu has established himself as one of the NFL's best kick returners, and he added to his case in the team's Thanksgiving win over the New England Patriots.
Nwangwu took a kickoff 97 yards to the house in the third quarter to tie the game at 23. For his efforts, the league named him NFC Special Teams Player of the Week.
Head coach Kevin O'Connell also gave Nwangwu a game ball for his return TD.
This was the third time in his career the 24-year-old scored on a return. That's good for third-most in Vikings history, behind Cordarrelle Patterson and Percy Harvin, each with five.
Patterson returned 134 kicks for the Vikings, averaging a touchdown about every 27 returns. Harvin averaged one about every 23 returns. Nwangwu's three touchdowns in just 41 returns gives him an average of one score every 14 kicks, give or take.
Nwangwu also leads the league in both kick return yardage (620) and yards per return (25.8) this season.
