Interceptions are a rare thing in Dallas. The Cowboys defense had logged just one through the first seven games of the 2020 season. Only seven all of last year, tied for the league low. And coming into Sunday night’s contest, no Cowboys defender had had multiple interceptions in a single game since 2015, when Jeff Heath snagged a pair against Tampa Bay in Week 9 of that season.
Just eight games into his pro career, Trevon Diggs looks like he’s going to sell a ton of No. 27 jerseys during his tenure in Dallas.
The rookie made two impressive picks in Sunday night’s game and was a rare bright spot in another lackluster performance by the Cowboys.
Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia offense had clearly targeted Diggs in their game plan. Rookie wideout Jalen Reagor scored the Eagles’ first touchdown on a short pass in which Diggs was the cover man.
But the 23-year-old cornerback decided he wasn’t going to be picked on all night long.
“You’ve just got to keep fighting. That’s the beauty of the position,” Diggs told reporters after the game. “We’re all professionals; they’re going to catch some passes. You’ve just got to respond and keep competing throughout the whole game.”
Diggs got his revenge on a 35-yard laser from Wentz later in the opening half. In double coverage on Reagor, Diggs snared the ball as he was diving out of bounds. After dropping one toe, he managed to flatten his ankle and contact the end zone turf with his shin just before his other knee slid over the chalk.
.@TrevonDiggs with the end zone INT! #DallasCowboys
📺: #DALvsPHI on NBC
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/JjMLyJTFLl pic.twitter.com/Yjy2cSVmbQ— NFL (@NFL) November 2, 2020
“What is it? An arm or a leg? An arm or a leg counts as [the second of] two [feet]?” Diggs asked with a laugh. “I knew I wasn’t going to get my other foot down with the momentum, so I slid and put my knee down. Just making a play on the ball, having awareness of where I’m at on the field, making a play.”
He said he felt the pick that ended Philadelphia’s potential scoring drive helped make up for getting burned by Wentz and Reagor on the earlier touchdown.
“You’ve just got to have a short memory,” Diggs explained. “I’m a competitor. I like to fight, too. I’m going to keep fighting all the way to the end of the game. That’s all that was. He had gotten me; it’s my turn now.”
The second interception came shortly after halftime. Trying to capitalize on their first possession of the second half, Wentz launched a bomb from beyond midfield. The ball hung in the chilly wind, and Diggs turned into a centerfielder, completing the haul on the run at the five-yard-line. After sliding untouched into the end zone, he got up and brought the ball back to the Cowboys’ 30.
Carson Wentz is 2/2 targeting Trevon Diggs! pic.twitter.com/dXWBnhInLs
— PFF (@PFF) November 2, 2020
“I was just reading my keys, not trying to get beat deep… just playing my technique, reading my keys, and making a play on the ball.”
The pair of picks capped a strong showing for the rookie, who has been baptized by fire this season, seeing heavy action as part of a paper-thin Cowboys secondary.
It’s been a struggle at times for Diggs as opposing teams go after him in coverage, but his Dallas teammates have been encouraging him to trust the skills that made him a second-round draft pick.
“Talking to him on the sidelines,” linebacker Leighton Vander Esch told media members, “I’m telling him, ‘Dude, you’re going to get one sooner or later. You are going to get one. Just keep playing, keep being you. We’ve all got your back. We all trust in you. Just keep being you; you’re a heck of an athlete.’ And then he got one. And I was, like, ‘Dude, that’s the first of many.’ And then he got a second one. It was awesome. It was great. I don’t even know how he caught the second one, honestly.”
If his over-the-shoulder play looked like one an offensive wideout would make, there’s good reason. The pick actually required Diggs to dig back into his own football past, when he played wide receiver in high school and as a freshman at Alabama.
“That’s exactly what it was. I had seen the ball thrown and seen what angle it was going at, so it kind of took me back to my wide receiver abilities, just tracking the ball and things like that. It did play a factor.”
His older brother Stefon, a starting wideout for the Buffalo Bills, would undoubtedly be proud. The two train against each other often; going up against a legitimate WR1 in their practices has certainly helped the younger Diggs get acclimated to the speed of the NFL game.
“I feel like it’s starting to slow down a lot. The more reps that I’ve gotten, playing in every game and things like that, everything’s starting to slow down. Things are starting to look familiar, and I’m starting to get the hang of it.”
Head coach Mike McCarthy agrees.
“I love the way he played,” McCarthy said after Sunday’s game. “I love his competitiveness. Such a high-level competitive spirit. He had some tough challenges, and the guy just keeps going. He’s as good a young player as I’ve ever seen in my time in this league when the ball is in the air.”
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