Getty Trevon Diggs of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates after an interception.
After finally getting an opportunity to sound off, one Dallas Cowboys star is making it clear he’s fed up with how fans and media view Trevon Diggs.
Diggs made a major impact in his second season in the NFL and with the Cowboys, bringing down 11 interceptions. However, critics have stated that the 2021 Pro Bowler and first-team All-Pro isn’t as good as his takeaway numbers imply as Diggs led the league in yards allowed.
Micah Parsons has heard enough of it. Coming off his own All-Pro season, Parsons has been gearing up for 2022 loudly, stating he wants to break the NFL single-season sack record and answering head coach Mike McCarthy’s call to be “elite.”
Now, Parsons is calling out critics of his teammate.
“The guy had 11 interceptions,” Parsons said to USA Today. “We’ve never seen it. I’ve never even seen someone come close to that since I’ve been alive. We haven’t all seen it, and it’s a shame that it got degraded because of, they say, the yards that he gave up… Without a doubt, I thought he was the best defensive player in the league last year. We’ve seen 20 sacks before. But in this era, we’ve never seen no one reach over 10-plus interceptions, so it’s disrespectful, to me, because I think he deserves all the credit in the world and deserves to be named a top-five corner if not the best corner in the league.”
It’s a strong defense of Diggs, but is it reality or just one teammate standing up for another?
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Diggs’ Controversial Stat
A lot of Diggs’ numbers are undeniable. As Pro Football Reference shows, the 23-year-old had 11 interceptions, a 52.4% completion rate and 21 passes defended. The area that Diggs has drawn criticism for is due to the volume of yards he gave up.
PFR states that Diggs allowed 54 completions on 103 targets for 907 receiving yards and four touchdowns. The volume is high, but the percentages and surrounding stats are crucial to his season.
His 52.4% completion rate was better than his rookie season (54.8%) and his 55.4 opposing QB rating is the highest among the Cowboys’ corners in 2021.
The stat that should actually be concerning fans is his missed tackles, as he had 10 in 2021. That showed up in a big way with opposing receivers earning 411 yards after the catch in the 54 completions Diggs allowed.
Parsons Wants Cowboys Corner to ‘Double Down’
Each corner and team takes a different approach to defense, with some preferring to keep their opponents in front of them and sacrifice takeaway potentials in favor of disruptive tackles and limiting the big play.
Obviously, Diggs is not that kind of player for the Cowboys. That can be a major strength or weakness depending on the day, but Parsons doesn’t want his teammate or Dallas to change.
“I want Diggs to keep doubling down, to keep being him because that’s what makes him the player he is — his confidence, his willingness to go after the ball. That’s what makes him Diggs, not because he don’t give up no yards. I’ve seen a lot of corners not give up yards, but their teams aren’t winning games. This league is about how many times you can get the ball back, and you get the ball back with turnovers, so I’ll take that any day of the week.”
Diggs led the NFL in interceptions last year. Doing it again will be difficult, but it’s clear that Parsons wants Diggs to forget the critics and stick to his game.