For Week 18 of the NFL season, UGASports highlights the top performances by former Georgia players. With our most outstanding performer for the week—or the Top Dawg—revealed towards the end, we spotlight the top NFL performances by Bulldogs for January 4 through January 5 and reveal other noteworthy happenings in the league involving former Georgia players.

With Buffalo having locked up the second seed in the AFC, Cook was used sparingly in a 23-16 loss to New England, rushing for just 28 yards on 10 carries, including a 1-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Still, finishing with 1,009 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground this season, the third-year running back eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the second consecutive season while tying the single-season franchise record for most rushing touchdowns. In the process, Cook became just the seventh former Georgia player to rush for 1,000-plus yards in multiple NFL seasons, joining Nick Chubb, Terrell Davis, Todd Gurley, Rodney Hampton, Garrison Hearst, and Herschel Walker.

Capping what has primarily been an inconsistent season for the fifth-year back, Swift rushed for 65 yards on a game-high 20 carries, including a 4-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, in a 24-22 win over Green Bay on the road. It was his first touchdown since rushing for a score against the Packers seven weeks beforehand. For the season, Swift rushed for 959 yards, just falling short of joining Cook as former Georgia players to rush for 1,000-plus yards in multiple NFL seasons. His 1,345 total yards (959 rushing + 386 receiving) gained this season are a career high.

As his snaps have been decreasing since earlier this season, Davis hadn’t produced a Top Dawg performance in weeks. However, the third-year defensive tackle saved his top performance of the year for Philadelphia’s final regular-season game in a 20-13 win over the visiting New York Giants. Although appearing for only 21 snaps, Davis totaled five tackles (three solo), including a vicious 5-yard tackle for loss following an opposing reception. His five tackles resulted from plays totaling only a combined three offensive yards for the Giants. In addition, Davis’ five tackles were a personal game-high since making the same number vs. Dallas in Week 14 of last season. The tackle for loss was his first since Week 6 of this season.

For their performances yesterday in the Los Angeles Chargers’ 34-20 win at the Las Vegas Raiders, Bowers and McConkey end their rookie regular seasons by sharing our recognition as the Top Dawg of the week. In what was his final game of the year, Bowers caught four passes for 50 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown reception late in the contest. It was the rookie tight end's fifth touchdown of the season. In victory, McConkey made five receptions for 95 yards. Currently, the Charger wideout’s 1,149 receiving yards (82 receptions) are No. 13 all time for a rookie in NFL history. As for Bowers, his 112 catches this season is an NFL rookie record. In addition, his 1,194 receiving yards, including 596 yards after the catch, and 15 contested receptions all rank first this season among tight ends in the league.

Other notable news involving Georgia-turned-NFL players from this week includes Travon Walker making a sack, giving him 10.5 sacks for the season, in Jacksonville’s 26-23 overtime loss to Indianapolis. With the sack, Walker became just the second Jaguar in franchise history with consecutive seasons of 10+ sacks.

Center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger made his first NFL start in Buffalo’s setback to New England. After appearing for 53 snaps through the first 17 weeks of his rookie campaign, Van Pran-Granger played all 67 of Buffalo’s offensive snaps yesterday.

After totaling just two receptions all season, San Francisco’s Chris Conley made a season-high four catches (for 59 yards) in the 49ers’ 47-24 loss to Arizona. After not making a single tackle since early November (injuries and being inactive), Malik Herring made a season-high four tackles in Kansas City’s loss to Denver.

In Seattle’s 30-25 win over the Los Angeles Rams, running back Kenny McIntosh rushed for a career-high 49 yards on seven carries. After rushing just four times for 16 yards in his first season and a half in the NFL, McIntosh totaled 156 rushing yards while averaging 5.8 yards per carry in his last five games of the season.

Finally, and back to our two Top Dawgs of the week, Bowers and McConkey—remarkably, 1,000-yard receivers as rookies from the same school—shared a special moment as former teammates after playing on opposite sides.

There's no Monday night game this week. Be on the lookout next week for the playoff edition of "Top Dawgs in the NFL."