Sunday was the opening day of the NFL regular season, and right off the bat, a Texas Tech football alum may have made one of the special-teams plays of the year. Playing for the Washington Commanders, safety Tyler Owens had social media buzzing after beating a double team and then making a devastating tackle on a punt in his team's 24-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
On the play, Owens showed tremendous effort, strength, and speed just to get in position to make the tackle. He then sent the football world into a frenzy with a tackle that looked like something you might see in a professional wrestling match.
Owens caught the punt returner in the air as the returner tried to jump over a player on the ground. Then, Owens violently slammed the returner to the ground flat on his back.
After that play, Owens got plenty of attention on X. Most of it came from people who had no idea who the foremer Red Raider is.
Holy crap! This has to be one of the best individual highlights I’ve ever sen! https://t.co/9Aww76wxCN
— Adam Archuleta (@AdamArchuleta) September 13, 2026
Can you put this video in the HOF pic.twitter.com/RiyPBnvive
— Tone Digs (@ToneDigz) September 13, 2026
Tyler Owens. Play of the day. pic.twitter.com/RK3A1dMtSF
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) September 13, 2026
Maximum effort play by #Commanders gunner Tyler Owens here. Doesn’t get any better than that and a perfect example of why special teams matter so much 🫡🫡 pic.twitter.com/HkShVzRjoZ
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) September 13, 2026
Owens has made an NFL career as a special teams ace. This is the start of his third season in the league, and the reason he keeps making rosters is because of his ability to make plays in the kicking game.
In his career, he's started only one game. He's been credited with 24 total tackles, 16 of which have been solo.
As a Red Raider, Owens played three years at Texas before transferring to Texas Tech for the final two years of his college career. From 2022-23, he made 22 appearances for Tech. He racked up 69 tackles and a pick in that time.
Now, the elite athlete is sitcking around the NFL as a valuable special teams ace. So it was exciting for Texas Tech fans to see Owens get some recoginition for his amazing play.
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