Luke Kuechly has been named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against the New York Jets that included 10 tackles and a fumble recovery that was returned for touchdown.

This marks the linebacker’s fifth time receiving the honor, and the second time a Panther has won it in 2017. Julius Peppers was named Defensive Player of the Week in Week 4 for his performance against the New England Patriots, and was tied with Kuechly for receiving the most amount of weekly awards at four in his career with the team.

This was Kuechly’s second touchdown of his career.

Kuechly’s fumble recovery for a touchdown was the team’s first defensive touchdown this season; the touchdown could not have come at a more opportune moment, with the Panthers trailing by two points in the fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium. The score was followed four plays later by Kaelin Clay’s punt return for a touchdown which put the Panthers up by two scores. It marked the first time since December 8, 2002 that Carolina scored a touchdown on both a fumble recovery and punt return; it was the first time since 1995 that Carolina scored both in the fourth quarter.

Kuechly leads the team with 88 tackles on the year, despite missing a game due to being in the concussion protocol earlier in the season.

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Josh Klein
Editor-In-Chief at The Riot Report
Josh Klein is Editor-In-Chief of The Riot Report. His favorite Panther of all time is Chad Cota and he once AIM chatted with Kevin Greene. Follow Josh on Twitter @joshkleinrules.