Former Longhorn Quandre Diggs delivered a huge hit to Irv Smith last night. The hit was so big, you could hear the two players colliding.
The Seattle Seahawks played host to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football last night. In the middle of the second quarter, the two teams were tied at seven. Quarterback Kirk Cousins found former Alabama tight end on an out route near the line of scrimmage. Former Texas cornerback Quandre Diggs quickly sniffed it out and delivered a monster hit.
Smith only gained three yards on the play. Once Diggs hit him, he immediately went down. The hit was so big, you could hear the two players colliding.
Diggs is having a great season for Seattle after being traded from Detroit. In the three games, he has forced two turnovers, an interception and a fumble. His interception came in a win against the San Fransico 49ers. Against the Philadelphia Eagles, he forced and recovered a fumble.
Diggs and the Seahawks beat Minnesota last night, moving into first place in the NFC West. Their final four games will come against the Los Angeles Rams, Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals, and San Fransico 49ers.
A dead rivalry since 2011, Texas used to play Texas A&M on Thanksgiving night. Here is the series history between these two bitter rivals.
One of the best rivalries in all of college football, the annual Lone Star Showdown between Texas and Texas A&M was played every single year from 1915-2011. The rivalry had started before then, being played 22 times beginning in 1894.
Being played on Thanksgiving for the first time in 1901, it became an annual tradition beginning in 1996. Playing on the holiday for a total of 63 times, it was one of, if not the only, college football game played that night.
When Texas A&M left for the SEC in 2012, the matchup that had been played 118 times went dormant. There have been rumors of the two schools playing each other in a bowl game, but until then, it remains a dead rivalry.
Here is the series history of the historic Thanksgiving Day rivalry between the Longhorns and Aggies:
All-time series record: Texas leads 76-37-5
Largest wins: Texas 48-0 in 1898, Texas A&M 42-10 in 1985
Latest Texas win: Nov. 24, 2011
The final matchup between the two schools took place in College Station where the 25th ranked Longhorns faced now NFL quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Neither team lit up the stat sheet, with Texas having 237 yards and Texas A&M having 328. Both teams each had 10 penalties, totaling 187 yards.
The Aggies were in total control of the game in the middle of the second quarter, up 13-0. Their defense had forced the seventh straight Texas punt, but returner Dustin Harris muffed the punt and the Longhorns recovered. One play later, wide receiver Jaxon Shipley threw a double pass 41-yard touchdown to Blaine Irby.
After a couple A&M field goals to end the half, Tannehill threw a pick-six to Carrington Byndom to cut the Longhorn deficit to two. Later in the quarter, Quandre Diggs took a punt down to the Aggie nine-yard line to set up the field goal that gave Texas their first lead. The Longhorns extended that lead to 24-16 on their next drive via a Cody Johnson rushing touchdown.
In the fourth quarter, A&M scored 10 points in their final two drives, taking the 25-24 lead. With 1:48 left in the game, quarterback Case McCoy lead Texas on a drive to put them in field goal range that included a 25 yard run from McCoy. They set up kicker Justin Tucker to have a chance to end the rivalry with a game-winning field goal.
Tucker hit the field goal to give the Longhorns their 76th win in series history. Texas ended the rivalry the only way they knew how, with a win.
Latest Texas A&M win: Nov. 25, 2010
Thanksgiving night 2010 ended up being the final Lone Star Showdown that took place in Austin. The Aggies were ranked No. 17 at the time and had a chance to make an appearance in the Big 12 championship with a win. Even though they beat Texas by seven, they still came up a little short of winning the Big 12 South.
The story of the game was Texas A&M’s running back Cyrus Gray. On 27 rushes, he ran for 223 yards, averaging 8.3 yards per carry. A good chunk of his yards came on his two touchdowns, where he had an 84-yard score in the second quarter and a 43-yard touchdown that ended up being the game-winning score for Texas A&M.
For Texas, quarterback Garrett Gilbert was under-center, where he went 20-37 with 219 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions. His one touchdown came late in the first quarter, as he found Marquise Goodwin for a 31-yard touchdown. Running back Cody Johnson had 107 yards on 14 carries, leading the Longhorns in rushing.
Down seven late in the fourth quarter, Texas had the opportunity to tie the game up in the red zone. On 3rd and 5, Gilbert threw his second interception of the night, sealing the A&M win.
Since the game ended in 2011, both teams have played different teams on Thanksgiving weekend. Texas has played TCU and Texas Tech on both Thanksgiving night and the day after the holiday. Add Kansas into the mix and the Longhorns have not had a consistent opponent. For Texas A&M, they have developed a small rivalry with LSU while also playing Missouri.
While it may be a long ways off, these two schools will find a way to renew the rivalry, hopefully on Thanksgiving night.
Quandre Diggs is making a difference in the Seattle Seahawks secondary in his short time, and was named to PFF’s Week 12 Team of the Week.
Trade and wait isn’t the greatest strategy, but for Quandre Diggs and the Seattle Seahawks, there wasn’t much of a choice. Diggs is finally on the field after missing two weeks of action, and he’s proving he is worthy of the fifth round pick Seattle dealt for him, after making the Pro Football Focus Week 12 Team of the Week.
This honor comes after Diggs forced a fumble in the Seahawks win over the Eagles on Sunday. He was given a coverage grade of 89.1 by PFF in his performance and 88.4 grade for his overall performance – which was tops on the team.
Diggs’ presence in the Seahawks secondary is apparent already. Not bad for a player that had some questions about the severity of the hamstring injury that held him out of competition since the trade.
Since his return, Diggs has been involved with two turnovers, an interception and Sunday’s forced fumble.
There is a chance for Diggs to get three takeaways in as many games in Seattle’s Week 13 contest against a tough Vikings team, led by Kirk Cousins.
Seattle Seahawks edge rusher Shaquem Griffin is coming into his own in his new role with the team, which should increase going forward.
The Seattle Seahawks defense has been absolutely dominant in their last two games. The addition of Quandre Diggs in the secondary has been a big reason why, but he’s not the only newcomer to make an impact these past few weeks.
Shaquem Griffin, who had been limited to special teams duties for basically the first one and a half years of his career, has emerged as an edge rushing option for this Seattle defense – and already he’s proven he deserves to keep that role going forward.
Griffin played 14 defensive snaps in Week 10 against San Francisco, and saw 25 snaps on Sunday against the Eagles. He had a huge impact on Sunday, recording one combined tackle, two quarterback hits and helping force a fumble.
“Competition is a beautiful thing,” coach Pete Carroll commented on Monday. “They’ve got a little competition there. Griff’s making a move on them. He looks like he’s got some stuff that we can incorporate and keep developing that he can be a factor as well.”
Griffin was an elite pass rusher in college at Central Florida, but concerns about his lack of size prevented Carroll and company from unleashing him in that role with Seattle.
“It was kind of hard to imagine that it would work,” Carroll continued. “We used him as a blitzer. We needed him outside to blitz more and to do that. He did show some stuff and that’s where we saw the spark. We’ve been messing with him for a few weeks now. It just seems like it’s coming around a little closer now. The action is just happening now. I’m excited about it.”
Expect to see Griffin’s role continue to grow as a situational pass rusher, especially if he continues to make impact plays for this team in the final few weeks of the season.
The Seattle Seahawks are set to go the rest of the way with Bradley McDougald and Quandre Diggs as the starting safety tandem.
The Seattle Seahawks were fortunate to add two big time players to the active roster ahead of their Monday night matchup with the San Francisco 49ers – receiver Josh Gordon, who had two crucial late-game catches – and safety Quandre Diggs.
Diggs took over as Seattle’s starting free safety and was all over the field, recording a pair of tackles and a big time interception, which he returned 44 yards to set up an eventual touchdown.
Coach Pete Carroll was thrilled with Diggs’ debut, and he had high praise for the pairing of Diggs and fellow veteran Bradley McDougald, who started alongside him at strong safety.
“I thought that was the best game that our safeties have played,” Carroll said on Tuesday. “I’m hoping that we can continue to grow and get better and feed off it.”
That’s not great news for rookie Marquise Blair and third-year Lano Hill, who are both now on the outside looking in for a regular role on this Seattle defense.
Blair will work in when the Seahawks run dime packages, according to Carroll, but he did not see a single defensive snap on Monday night.
While Blair looked solid in his first few games in the secondary, it’s not surprising to see coach Carroll turn to his veteran guys to finish out the year. After the debacle that was Tedric Thompson, and the inconsistency from Hill, it’s nice to have two guys who have a track record of success manning the defensive backfield.
Diggs has the ranginess and hard-hitting required to excel as a cover-3 free safety in Carroll’s scheme, and his experience limits him from making mistakes – something they couldn’t afford to deal with from Blair.
Carroll cautioned that it’s still early to evaluate exactly how Diggs will mesh after just one game, but they are working on finding his perfect fit on this defense.
“It’s an early assessment because Q’s just played one game,” Carroll continued. “He can do a lot of things, so we’ll be anxious to figure out how he can complement what we’re doing and utilize him now that he’s crossed the threshold of playing time for us.”
The Seahawks will watch Sunday’s slate of games from their own homes before getting ready for their Week 12 matchup against the Eagles in Philadelphia, scheduled for Nov. 24.
The Seattle Seahawks are planning to find ways to get Shaquem Griffin involved as an edge rusher for the rest of the season.
The Seattle Seahawks are 8-2 through the first 10 weeks of the season, in part because they are able to flash different tricks up their sleeve each week to keep opponents guessing.
Monday night against the 49ers saw Seattle debut two new impact players, safety Quandre Diggs and receiver Josh Gordon, which made it difficult for San Francisco to gameplan without having seen either of them in a Seahawks uniform.
As if that wasn’t enough, Shaquem Griffin, who has been an active member of the special teams all year, made his 2019 debut on the defensive side of the ball against San Francisco — and he was playing a new position.
Griffin played 14 snaps on defense for the Seahawks, all coming on passing downs as an edge rusher. While he did not record any stats, coach Pete Carroll liked enough of what he saw to keep him in that role going forward.
“We’re going to find ways to utilize him,” Carroll said on Tuesday. “It’s really clear, more than it has been, that we might be able to build [him] a role that could be a factor. We have to work at that more so just to use his speed. He’s instinctively a good rusher. He’s just not very big. You have to do special things with him. We’ll put that together and see if we can make that a good complement to what we’re doing.”
Part of the reason Carroll believes Griffin should play more is certainly due to his performance in practice — but it might have more to do with the poor performance of veteran Ziggy Ansah, who has failed to live up to expectations in his first season in the blue and green.
Ansah also only played 14 snaps on Monday, and he was benched after committing a neutral zone infraction late in the game.
The veteran edge rusher has just one sack and three quarterback hits all season, and has struggled to adjust to Seattle’s defensive scheme.
Griffin is not a slam dunk to instantly contribute off the edge, but considering how great at it he was in college, he’s certainly earned at least a look out there. Plus, this allows Carroll to challenge Ansah to improve, knowing his role is no longer guaranteed if Griffin can find a modicum of success getting to the quarterback.
The Seahawks have a Week 11 bye but will be back in action on Sunday, November 24 against the Eagles in Philadelphia.
The Seattle Seahawks won a thriller on Monday night that went down to the last seconds of OT, handing the 49ers their first loss.
The Seattle Seahawks got their biggest win of the season Monday night, handing the San Francisco 49ers their first defeat on a field goal as the clock expired in overtime. With the 27-24 victory, the Seahawks moved to 8-2 on the year and shaved the 49ers’ lead in the NFC West to a half-game. There was plenty to discuss after the matchup — good, bad and ugly abounded all night.
THE GOOD
Jadeveon Clowney: Clowney posted his best game as a Seahawk, welcoming 49ers tackles Joe Staley and Mike McGlinchey back from injuries by absolutely dominating them at the line of scrimmage and constantly getting into quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo’s face.
In all, Clowney posted a defensive stat line of five tackles, five QB hits, one sack and one forced fumble; he also scored Seattle’s first points by recovering another Garoppolo fumble and running it 10 yards into the end zone late in the second quarter. The Seahawks have had pass-rush issues recently, but if Clowney can regularly post this kind of performance, the unit should become much less of a liability.
The rest of the defense: New acquisition Quandre Diggs showed up in a big way at the safety position. His interception of Garoppolo in the third quarter led to the second Seahawks touchdown of the night. Linebacker Bobby Wagner was his usual self, totaling 11 tackles and one defended pass. Defensive tackle Al Woods added two tackles for loss (including one sack) and cornerback Shaquill Griffin continued his standout season with two defended passes and six total tackles.
On the night, the Seahawks sacked Garoppolo five times, in addition to completely shutting down the 49ers’ run game and forcing Garoppolo to throw a number of near-picks. It was a massive turnaround for the much-maligned defensive squad, which they hope to carry into their matchup against the Eagles in two weeks’ time.
Jefferson is in just his second year as a pro. He was drafted in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.
With the Browns in 2019, Jefferson only made an appearance in one game, and that game came in week one against the Titans. In that game, Jefferson recorded just one tackle.
Hopefully, we see Malik find a new home soon. After all, he was a third-round pick last year for a reason.
Watch as Seattle Seahawks defensive back Quandre Diggs gets his first interception with his new team
A few weeks ago, former Texas Longhorn defensive back Quandre Diggs was traded from the Detroit Lions to the Seattle Seahawks. Last night, Diggs saw his first action with Seattle in a clash between the San Francisco 49ers.
The 49ers went into this Monday Night Football matchup as the only remaining undefeated team in the NFL. The Seahawks were able to stun the 49ers in San Francisco, winning in overtime by a score of 27-24.
About midway through the 3rd quarter, Diggs was able to intercept 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo with the score being 10-7 in favor of San Francisco. This interception led to a Seahawks touchdown, giving them the lead.
On the night, Diggs was able to tally two tackles, one of which was solo, a pass defense, and this interception.
The Seattle Seahawks played a lot of their new players, Josh Gordon and Quandre Diggs, in their victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
The Seattle Seahawks improved to 8-2 on the season with a thrilling overtime victory over the previously undefeated San Francisco 49ers on Monday night, a game that will go down as an instant classic between the two NFC West rivals.
Seattle had a few tricks up their sleeves in this one, including the team debuts for both safety Quandre Diggs and receiver Josh Gordon.
Gordon was on the field for 28 snaps, hauling in a handful of crucial catches down the stretch to keep Seattle in the game.
Diggs played all 88 of Seattle’s defensive snaps, settling in as the team’s starting free safety alongside Bradley McDougald – giving Seattle a veteran duo to man the secondary.
The Seahawks also gave core special teamer Shaquem Griffin a new role on the defense, as the second-year saw 14 snaps on defense – all coming as an edge rusher in obvious passing downs. He previously had not played a single snap on defense this season, and appeared to be replacing Ziggy Ansah, who himself only saw 14 total snaps.
The Seahawks once again relied heavily on Chris Carson, who was on for 71 of Seattle’s 74 offensive snaps. Rashaad Penny only saw three total snaps, and did not come back into the game after fumbling early in the third quarter.
Jacob Hollister played in 58 snaps, thanks in part to an injury to Luke Willson that kept him out and limited him to just 14 total snaps.
Here is a look at Seattle’s snap counts and play percentages for Monday’s game.
