Tag: Interceptions

Broncos’ interception leaders from 2023 season

Justin Simmons led the Broncos with 3 interceptions this season and he now ranks seventh on the team’s all-time INTs list with 30.

We continue our look at the Denver Broncos’ statistical leaders from the 2023 season today with a quick list of the team’s interceptions leaders.

It’s no surprise that safety Justin Simmons (three) led the team in 2023. Simmons has now recorded double-digit INTs in each of his eight seasons in the NFL. The veteran safety has had at least three INTs every year from 2018-2023 and he ranks seventh on the team’s all-time INTs list with 30.

Behind Simmons this year was cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian (two) and safety Kareem Jackson (two). Cornerback Pat Surtain, safety P.J. Locke, cornerback Fabian Moreau and pass rusher Jonathon Cooper each grabbed one interception.

The team’s 11 total interceptions this season ranked 19th in the league, so there’s definitely room for improvement going into 2024. Almost half the league (15 teams) totaled at least 15 INTs in 2023 and two teams recorded 22 INTs.

Check out previous lists of the team’s passing and rushing leaders. Here’s a quick look at their interception leaders in 2023.

Derek Carr looking to get his first career win (and TD pass) against the Rams

Derek Carr is looking for his first career win against the Rams. He’s 0-3 against them without throwing a single touchdown pass, getting outscored 102-29:

Derek Carr has a lot to prove on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Rams — he’s 0-3 against them in his long NFL career, having never beaten the Rams during his time with the Raiders. Getting a win would be a big achievement for the New Orleans Saints quarterback.

And it’s been ugly. Carr has thrown seven interceptions to the Rams defense without scoring a single touchdown in three previous meetings. Here are his final stat lines:

  • 2014 (lost 52-0): 24 of 39 (61.5%) for 173 yards, 2 interceptions, 3 sacks
  • 2018: (lost 33-13): 29 of 40 (72.5%) for 303 yards, 3 interceptions, 1 sack
  • 2022: (lost 17-16): 11 of 20 (55%) for 137 yards, 2 interceptions, 0 sacks

So Carr’s Raiders teams were outscored 102-29 in three meetings (including a pick-six thrown by Carr in 2018) with the Rams, which isn’t great. He’ll obviously need to play better for the Saints on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium. With both teams’ playoff odds shrinking in a loss, Carr and his Saints teammates have a very narrow margin for error. Let’s hope their recent success translates.

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3 of the NFL’s active pick-6 leaders have started at QB for Dennis Allen

Dennis Allen might have a type. Three of the NFL’s top-five leaders in interceptions returned for touchdowns have started for him at quarterback:

Does Dennis Allen have a type? Of the top five active quarterbacks in career pick-sixes (interceptions returned for touchdowns), three of them have started games for the New Orleans Saints at quarterback since Allen took over as head coach.

As noted by Nola.com’s Jeff Duncan, Andy Dalton ranks second among active passers with 18 pick-sixes in 169 games. Derek Carr is right behind him with 16 of them in 153 games. Jameis Winston rounds out the top-five with a dozen in 90 games.

Of course they aren’t alone; Kirk Cousins is also in the mix (14 in 150 games) and Matthew Stafford leads everyone with 30 of them in 201 games.

But it’s concerning that so many Saints quarterbacks rank high in this stat since Allen was promoted to head coach. He made the decision to sign Dalton in free agency last year and followed up by starting him for most of the season after Jameis Winston was injured and benched. It was Allen’s choice to recruit Carr to New Orleans this offseason, too.

Defenders typically don’t return an interception all the way to the end zone for a score, so this is more a ball security problem than anything. Carr has a career interceptions rate of 2%, but he’s whittled it down to 1.3% with the Saints this season. That doesn’t excuse his horrible ball placement on an interception against the Atlanta Falcons last week that was returned for a win-sealing touchdown. But we’ve got to acknowledge how critical his turnovers have been when they have occurred. Carr has thrown two pick-sixes this season against Atlanta and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

How does that compare to Dalton and Winston? Last year, Dalton threw an interception on 2.4% of his passes, which is near his career average (2.6%). And like Carr, his mistakes happened at critical times — just look at his two pick-sixes thrown against the Arizona Cardinals in the last two minutes before halftime.

As for Winston: his issues protecting the ball are well-documented, and his performance with the Saints the last two years speaks for itself. His career interceptions rate is 3.4% and he’s been picked off on 4.3% and a staggering 7.1% of his passes in the years since Sean Payton left the team. He’s only attempted 42 throws this year but he’s thrown more interceptions (3) than touchdowns (2) when asked to step in for Carr. He threw a pick-six against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season, too.

Allen’s choices of quarterbacks haven’t exactly meshed with the philosophy of a head coach who wants to run a conservative, run-first offense that can protect the ball and settle for field goals while trusting its defense to win games. Whether they’re not clutch or just unlucky, the Saints quarterbacks — especially Carr, the current unquestioned starter — must play better.

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Opportunistic Saints defense can take advantage of Jared Goff’s mistakes

An opportunistic Saints defense can take advantage of Jared Goff’s mistakes. The Lions quarterback has committed six turnovers in his last two games:

An opportunistic New Orleans Saints defense must take advantage of Jared Goff’s mistakes. The Detroit Lions quarterback has committed six turnovers in his last two games, losing three fumbles to the Green Bay Packers last week after throwing three interceptions to the Chicago Bears a week earlier. Goff is in a bit of a rut, and the Saints need to capitalize on it. He’s thrown eight interceptions and fumbled five times this season.

That’s easier said than done for most teams, but New Orleans is known for its ballhawks. The Saints defense has intercepted the second-most passes in the NFL this season (14 in 11 games) while doing an admirable job of recovering fumbled balls from the offense — nine different defenders have recovered a fumble this season, and cornerback Paulson Adebo has two of them.

Adebo also has four interceptions in just nine games, leading the team. Strong safety Tyrann Mathieu is second with three picks, and his tag-team partner Marcus Maye has two of his own (though the free safety may not play this week due to a shoulder injury). Five other Saints defenders have intercepted passes this season, too.

Taking the ball away becomes even more important when you consider all the struggles the Saints have experienced offensively. The more opportunities the defense can create for Derek Carr and company, the better. Shorter fields and swings of momentum are going to be critical against a talented and well-coached Lions team. If Goff does a better job protecting the football, Saints fans may be in for a long afternoon.

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Cowboys CB DaRon Bland’s INT numbers already put him in rare historical air

From @ToddBrock24f7: After just 28 regular-season games, Bland is alongside Hall of Famers and Ring of Honor members when it comes to his interception totals.

What DaRon Bland did in the final quarter versus Washington was unprecedented, and his 63-yard pick-six was a most satisfying dessert to top off a 45-10 holiday feast in sweet style. But now that the Cowboys cornerback has made NFL history by becoming the first player ever to notch five interception-return touchdowns in a single season, what’s next?

The easy answer is that he still has six more games to play, and anything else he does post-Thanksgiving is gravy. He’s the current league leader in interceptions (with one more than Ravens safety Geno Stone), and he’s in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year consideration.

Even if he never ever picks off another pass, that all makes for an incredible story for a fifth-round draft pick out of tiny Fresno State who- as recently as the COVID season of 2020- was at even tinier Sacramento State.

But Bland will undoubtedly add more interceptions to his resume, and he’ll likely take some of them to the end zone.

“I’m sure it’s not going to stop,” Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb said this week. “They keep trying him, he’ll get another one.”

And with every one Bland grabs, he inches further and further up some awfully star-studded leaderboards.

In terms of career house calls, Bland already has just 31 names ahead of him. Hall of Famer Rod Woodson is the all-time pick-six king, with 12. But it took him 238 outings with four different teams to do it; Bland is over 40% of the way there, after just 28 regular-season games.

With his very next interception-return score, Bland will move into a tie with the likes of Asante Samuel, Derrick Brooks, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and Darrell Green, who terrorized quarterbacks for a jaw-dropping 20 seasons. Bland is in his second season; no one above him on the all-time pick-six list played for fewer than nine seasons. Current free agent Marcus Peters, with six total, is in his ninth season now, the only active player ahead of Bland. Deion Jones, in his eighth year, also has five; he’s the only active player tied with Bland.

Bland is already the Cowboys’ all-time franchise leader in pick-sixes, a fact that’s a little hard to believe. But it’s true: he passed Dennis Thurman and Dexter Coakley (four apiece) with his Thanksgiving score. Even legends Mel Renfro and Lee Roy Jordan had just three each over their Ring of Honor careers. Same with Terence Newman. Chuck Howley, Charlie Waters, Darren Woodson, and current teammate Trevon Diggs? Two. And before you ask, Deion Sanders totaled nine as a pro, but just two while wearing the star.

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As far as regular old interceptions go, Bland’s 12 career picks already have him in 26th place in the annals of Cowboys history. With two more- well within reach, given his astonishing current pace of one every 2.33 games- he’ll be in the top 20.

True, he’s got a long way to go to catch Renfro’s club mark of 52 (amassed over 14 seasons), but anyone who thinks that’s beyond the 24-year-old Bland’s grasp clearly hasn’t watched him jump a route.

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‘Just makes another goal’: Cowboys’ Bland will get ample chances at record

From @ToddBrock24f7: The 2nd-year CB is already tied for the all-time record, with 7 games- all against interception-prone passers- remaining on the schedule.

DaRon Bland is garnering a reputation for two things. One is the low-key businesslike demeanor with which he conducts himself, on and off the football field. Even after a record-tying effort against Carolina, the Cowboys’ second-year cornerback shrugged it off as- literally- just another day at the office.

“Just doing my job, the kind of stuff I feel like I’ve kind of been doing,” Bland said following the team’s 33-10 win. “I always felt it myself, so it never really hit me because it felt like just another day.”

But there’s a very small handful of guys who have ever had a day quite like Bland did on Sunday, which brings us to the second thing he’s become known for.

His fourth-quarter interception return for a touchdown was his fourth of the season. Only three other players in NFL history have had that many pick-sixes in a single campaign: the Eagles’ Eric Allen in 1993, the Chiefs’ Jim Kearney in 1972, and the Oilers’ Ken Houston in 1971.

But none of them did it in 10 games.

Houston needed two return scores in the 1971 season finale- the team’s 14th game- to set the record. A year later, Kearney scored his fourth in Week 12. And in 1993, Allen had just two pick-sixes heading into the 15th game of the 16-game season.

Amazingly, Bland has seven more games to do it again and have the record for himself.

“It just makes another goal,” he admitted Sunday, “just to break it.”

As it is, the cornerback is tied for second place- trailing only CeeDee Lamb, no less- for the Cowboys lead in touchdowns thus far this season.

“He’s scoring touchdowns. At that point, he’s a part of the offense when he’s getting in the end zone as much as he is,” quarterback Dak Prescott noted in his postgame press conference.

Bland’s latest score came after making an incredible catch, using just his fingertips to snatch out of midair a pass intended for Panthers receiver Jonathan Mingo. Bland admitted that Mingo originally had him beat on the route.

“I’d seen him running under, and he kind of had a step on me at first,” he explained. “So I had to catch up, and then once I caught up and I turned, I saw the ball, and I was like, ‘Yes. I’ve got to go get this one,’ because I only had about three targets, so I had to make the most of my opportunities.”

Bland laid out and completed a rather-acrobatic somersault as he completed the catch, joking later, “There were some cheerleaders in my family.”

But then once he realized he hadn’t been touched, muscle memory kicked in from the former high school wide receiver.

“When I got that ball, when I got up, I was like, ‘I’ve got to go. I’ve got to just find the end zone again,” he said. “Having to actually run the ball and having to actually make some moves. Getting up like that, you don’t really get a return like that.”

Except Bland does, with startling regularity.

In fact, he told Erin Andrews of FOX Sports after the game went final that he had even called his shot prior to kickoff.

“He said, ‘I told you I was going to get one,'” Prescott confirmed for media members. “I said, ‘I didn’t know you were going to score.’ His expectations, his standards, he said, ‘That comes with it.’ That’s just great to hear. That’s what he believes in. Ball guy. You put it near him, inaccurate with a throw- trust me, I’ve known it from the time he showed up, just practicing against the guy- he’s a big-time playmaker. He’s doing a hell of a job.”

The fifth-round draft pick out of Fresno State even has Micah Parsons- arguably the most dominant defender in the game since entering the league three seasons ago- campaigning for the 24-year-old to win some hefty postseason awards.

“Seeing him come into his own is truly special. Remarkable. He’s having a Defensive Player of the Year year. He should be a lock for All-Pro; it shouldn’t be a question,” Parsons told reporters. “It’ll be fun to see how he finishes this year.”

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Bland is currently tied for the 2023 league lead in interceptions (six, along with Baltimore safety Geno Stone) and already has more interceptions since the beginning of last season than anyone.

And come Thursday, he’ll square off against Washington quarterback Sam Howell, who has thrown an NFL-most 12 interceptions this season. That’s tied with Buffalo’s Josh Allen, who the Cowboys will face in Week 15. Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa, Detroit’s Jared Goff, Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts, and Seattle’s Geno Smith all have more than seven picks this season, too; those teams just happen to be the Cowboys’ remaining opponents.

So Bland should certainly get his chances at a few more really good days at the office.

Asked if pick-sixes have become “his thing,” Bland, just 27 regular-season game appearances into his career, gave an embarrassed smile and a typically aw-shucks response.

“I guess so.”

And then he went back to work.

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Justin Simmons leads the NFL in interceptions since 2016

Broncos safety Justin Simmons leads the NFL with 30 interceptions since he entered the league in 2016.

After intercepting a Josh Allen pass on Monday Night Football last week, Denver Broncos safety Justin Simmons has now totaled 30 interceptions in his career, more than any other player in the NFL since 2016.

Simmons has now recorded interceptions in consecutive games for the fourth time in his career.

Simmons has been a ball hawk since he was drafted by the Broncos in 2016 and he is currently tied with Dennis Smith for seventh place on the team’s all-time interceptions list. He needs three more interceptions to tie Mike Harden for sixth place and four interceptions to tie Champ Bailey and Tyrone Braxton for fourth place on the team’s all-time list.

Steve Foley holds the franchise record with 44 interceptions, and he played 11 seasons with the Broncos. At his current pace, Simmons is on track to match Foley’s 44 career interceptions in his 11th season.

Here’s a quick look at the NFL’s top-five interception leaders since 2016.

Playmaking Saints secondary leads the NFL with 12 interceptions

Credit where it’s due: Dennis Allen’s secondary leads the NFL with 12 interceptions. Offseason coaching staff changes are paying off for the Saints defense

Credit where it’s due: Dennis Allen’s secondary leads the NFL with 12 interceptions through their first nine games. Offseason coaching staff changes are paying off for the New Orleans Saints defense. The decision to bring on coaches who shared Allen’s vision for the defensive backfield like coordinator Joe Woods and secondary coach Marcus Robertson have made a difference — and, we’ll admit, those were moves we questioned when Allen rolled out those changes in the spring.

But the numbers speak for themselves. Turnovers are one of the NFL’s most high-variance stats from one year to the next, but it’s not often you see a team go from ranking 30th in interceptions (7) to leading the league in just a single season. And it’s not like the Saints have different players out on the field.

Tyrann Mathieu, Paulson Adebo, Marcus Maye, Alontae Taylor, and Marshon Lattimore were all starters last year and they’ve all returned, albeit with some minor shakeups like Taylor moving to the slot. But whether it’s due to different coaching points like playing the ball differently or simple bounces going New Orleans’ way, the defense is doing a much greater job at creating opportunities for the offense this season. They need to keep that momentum going during the back half of the 2023 campaign.

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Saints’ playmaking secondary looking to get the better of C.J. Stroud

The Saints’ playmaking secondary is looking to get the better of C.J. Stroud where other units have failed. The rookie QB still hasn’t thrown an interception:

Something has to give here. The New Orleans Saints’ playmaking secondary is looking to get the better of C.J. Stroud where other units have failed; the Houston Texans rookie quarterback looks like the real deal going into Week 6. He’s playing at a very high level and making some difficult throws despite an undermanned receiving corps and spotty protection keeping him upright.

He has not thrown an interception through his first five games, a streak of 186 consecutive pass attempts, which is commendable — but it would be a mistake to characterize this as Stroud not putting the ball in harm’s way. There’s been a little luck involved. He’s fumbled three times in the last two games, twice failing to recover and turning the ball over. And you have to think the interceptions will come soon.

Atlanta Falcons safety Jessie Bates III dropped a pick last week, as did two different Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 3. Pro Football Focus charting has found Stroud has thrown five turnover-worthy passes this season, but opponents have not capitalized on those risky decisions.

Can the Saints take advantage of his rookie mistakes where others didn’t? Maybe so. They’re going into Week 6 with seven interceptions, tied for third-most around the league, and those passes have been taken away by seven different defenders. Multiple players are stepping up and plucking the ball away when given the opportunity.

So what’s going to happen first? Will Stroud’s dangerous throws come back to bite him? Or will the Saints defense start dropping passes? It’s an intriguing factor in this matchup. Every opportunity to take the ball away and put the New Orleans offense in good field position matters. The Saints did a great job of playing complimentary football last week. Let’s hope it continues on Sunday.

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Saints’ frustrating loss to Packers could come back to haunt them

The Saints’ frustrating loss to the blundering Packers could come back to haunt them. They can’t let many more winnable conference games get away from them:

It’s tough to take much satisfaction from the Green Bay Packers’ blundering loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night — at least for New Orleans Saints fans, no matter how many interceptions Jordan Love threw. This was a team the black and gold had on the ropes back in Week 3, with Derek Carr’s offense holding a 17-0 lead that felt unsurmountable.

Then Carr got hurt and couldn’t return. The offense punted four consecutive times with Jameis Winston under center and Blake Grupe missed his only field goal of the season as the margin for error shrunk defensively. Pass interference fouls on Alontae Taylor and Isaac Yiadom gifted Green Bay 67 of the 80 yards they gained on their first scoring drive, and a rare missed tackle by Demario Davis let the Packers cut the lead to just a single score. You know the rest (and if you missed it, read our full recap here).

What matters now is that the Saints lost a very winnable game to a bad team in a golden opportunity to pad their record against conference opponents. Letting this game get away from them could come back to haunt the Saints when the playoff picture solidifies in December and January.

There are currently eight teams in the conference with three or more wins, but various tiebreaking procedures like divisional standings and conference records leave New Orleans at the bottom of that group. If the playoffs started today, the Saints would be left on the outside looking in. For the sake of illustrating that point, here’s the way-too-early NFC playoff picture after Week 5’s games:

  • 5-0 Philadelphia Eagles (1) on bye
  • 5-0 San Francisco 49ers (2) vs. 3-2 Dallas Cowboys (7)
  • 4-1 Detroit Lions (3) vs. 3-2 Atlanta Falcons (6)
  • 3-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4) vs. 3-1 Seattle Seahawks (5)

And the 3-2 Saints would be left watching from home. The good news is that they have plenty of conference games left; they’re in the middle of a four-game stretch of matchups with AFC teams leading up to their bye week. They’ll come out of that midseason break with seven consecutive games with NFC teams, four of them at home, with four matchups against division opponents. That’s going to be a great opportunity to strike back and disrupt the standings.

But it all starts now. The Saints must remain focused and take care of business against the teams lined up in front of them. The next step forward will fall Sunday against the Houston Texans.

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