Cowboys legends Everson Walls and Deion Sanders speak glowingly of what they see in new star Trevon Diggs. | From @StarConscience
There was nothing but good vibes inside AT&T Stadium in Week 16 as the Dallas Cowboys dropped 42 points in the first half and cruised to a 56-14 win. The Cowboys scored on offense, defense, and special teams. After punting on their first possession, Dallas got their start with Washington’s first offensive play when cornerback Trevon Diggs snagged his 11th interception of the season, tying Everson Walls’ team record set in 1981.
Walls was in attendance as the teams’ Community Legend of the Game and sat in the Ring of Honor suite. Once Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke launched a pass intended for wide receiver Terry McLaurin, Walls believed Diggs would secure it.
“When it first happened, I knew it was going to happen,” Walls said. “When I saw the ball in the air, I was already up, had my hands in the air. I knew that was going to be it.”
Walls was accompanied by his daughter Charis, former teammate Michael Downs’ daughter Carolyn, as well as former Cowboys Dixon Edwards and Chad Hennings who both were members of all three of the franchise’s Super Bowl title teams in the 1990s. Diggs hauled in the interception just after Walls had been announced on the big screen, and Walls almost missed it.
“I barely saw the play,” said Walls. “We were talking trash, laughing, having fun. My daughter was on social media, telling me stuff. And before we could look up …
“I remember when he caught it, I remember standing up, ‘There it is.’ I had my fist up like, ‘Mine!’ Like I got the interception. Everybody is going crazy in there. The first thing we see is his son (on the screen), and that was hilarious. We all sat down and started cracking up because the son, he was doing all his moves.”
As a former wide receiver during his collegiate days at Alabama, Diggs has transferred those skills to the cornerback position by high pointing the ball when it’s in the air. It’s a skill that Walls displayed during his playing days and he talked about how when Diggs made the interception it was reminiscent in a few ways of his 11th. Walls had brokene Hall of Famer Mel Renfro’s record established in 1969.
“And you’re going to tell me that didn’t look like an Everson Walls interception?” said Walls. “Come on, man. That’s the same way I surpassed Mel Renfro. Same side of the field, against the Philadelphia Eagles. Same route.”
Diggs may not have set a new team record yet, but his interception against Washington put his name in the history books as he became the first player since Walls to amass more than 10 interceptions in a season.
Walls isn’t the only former Cowboy that is supporting the play of Diggs. Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, who is considered by many to be the best cornerback in NFL history, has been impressed with the second-year star.
“I think Diggs has been phenomenal,” Sanders said on The Rich Eisen Show. “I truly hadn’t had a chance to study him or watch him right. But what he’s accomplished is phenomenal. Of course, the next phase is going man to man against the best man every week, then you get the accolades and the talk of the guys who’ve been doing it for years. A guy like Patrick Peterson came out of the womb to play man to man against the opponent’s best receiver. Jalen Ramsey, same way. You’re going to get balls, they’re not going to throw away from you because that’s their best. That kid can play and I’m proud of him. What he’s doing out there on the field for cornerbacks, I’m proud of.”
If Diggs can get at least one more interception he would be the first player to grab more than 11 since Lester Hayes in 1980 when he recorded 13 as a member of the Oakland Raiders. Even if he doesn’t, Diggs has established himself as the NFL’s top ball-hawking cornerback in only his second season.
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