From @ToddBrock24f7: The 2nd-year CB may be having a coming-out moment as far as the league is concerned, but Bland’s fellow Cowboys have seen this coming.
DaRon Bland tallied two interceptions in his junior season at Sacramento State. After transferring to Fresno State for his final college season, he recorded two more.
On Sunday, the 24-year-old cornerback came up with a pair of picks in Week 4 alone.
Although not (yet) a household name, the fifth-round draft pick is proving himself to be a legitimately dangerous presence in the Cowboys secondary, and his second multi-interception outing in his last 10 games has put the rest of the league on notice.
But Bland’s teammates and coaches in Dallas have known it all along.
“That’s a guy that works his tail off,” Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said of Bland after the team’s 38-3 dismantling of the Patriots. “Practices hard; one of the best players at practice no matter what he’s doing, no matter what look he’s trying to give, whether we’re going against hims 1-on-1s, he makes it tough for everybody. He’s a hell of a player, and obviously, it’s paying off here on Sundays.”
Bland’s biggest highlight on this Sunday came in the final minute of the first half. The Cowboys held a 21-3 lead and were working to keep New England from adding points before the break. Set to receive the ball to open the third quarter, Mac Jones and the Patriots could have climbed right back into the game with double-dip scoring drives.
But when Jones uncorked a ball back across the field, it was a move Bland had seen- and gotten burned on- just a bit earlier.
This time, though, he was ready.
“He got an early one across the field, so I couldnāt let him do that again,” Bland explained to reporters afterward. “Then I saw open field when I got the ball, and I was like, ‘Nobodyās catching me from here.'”
The Patriots caught neither Bland nor the Cowboys. The 54-yard pick-six extended the Dallas lead to 28-3 and took the rest of the air out of New England’s balloon; they never came any closer on the scoreboard.
Bland jumping the route and making the pick may have caught Jones off-guard, but it probably shouldn’t have. The California native stepped into a starting role last season as a rookie, replacing injured veteran Jourdan Lewis, and led the team in interceptions.
Now once again pressed into service as a fill-in for Trevon Diggs, Bland picked up right where he left off. He nabbed a second pick early in the third quarter Sunday and has three already on the season. In fact, Bland has more interceptions since the start of the 2022 season- eight- than any defensive back in the league: more than Patrick Peterson, more than Minkah Fitzpatrick, more than Sauce Gardner, more than Justin Simmons.
Sunday’s pick-six was already Bland’s second score of the young season. That ties the Cowboys single-season mark, just four games in. He still has 13 more chances to secure the franchise record for himself.
“Heās focused every day,” fellow starting Cowboys corner and five-time Pro Bowler Stephon Gilmore observed of Bland. “He doesnāt say much, he comes in and works. He competes, and itās only his second year. Heās got a bright future and [Iām] just trying to teach him as much as I can. One day heās going to be one of those guys, for sure.ā
The quarterback who goes up against him every day in practice believes Bland is already there.
“I think when you look at DBs- you practice against them or play against them- it’s the confidence,” Prescott shared. “It’s the guys that really take chances, especially when they’re younger and they take chances. They’re trusting what they see, trusting their eyes, trusting what they’re coached, and they’re jumping routes. He was doing that early in practice. Early in his time as a rookie, he got me a couple times. There was no hesitation in it, and that’s where you say, ‘That’s a guy whose eyes are in the right spot, believing what he’s being coached, and playing off of instinct.’ I hate to call somebody a natural because it sounds like they don’t put in the work, but he’s doing everything the right way, and he’s only going to get better.”
His head coach agreed.
“You can see it right away,” Mike McCarthy noted of Bland in his postgame press conference. “Just an extremely disciplined young man. He was given his first opportunity, his ability to play inside, outside. Excellent ball skills, which the whole back end [has] as a group; I donāt know if Iāve seen so many guys that can hawk the ball. Itās just great to see your young players have that success, especially when you know how much they put into it. I thought he played phenomenal today.”
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He’ll need to keep it up, with the red-hot 49ers on deck next. But despite the extra juice that will come with facing the team that’s bounced Dallas out of the playoffs the past two years, expect Bland to- true to his name- keep things predictably even-keeled and neutral.
At least until he gets out on the field. Then it’s time to turn up the spice.
“I expect myself to make plays.”
Just as he did on Sunday. Just as he’s been doing since Day One.
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