Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs currently leads the league with eight interceptions, two of which he’s returned for a touchdown.
He started the year picking off a pass in Dallas’ first six games. The streak ended with the Cowboys’ win over Minnesota, but he may have started a new one by intercepting Atlanta’s Matt Ryan last week.
While Patrick Mahomes looked like he got his groove back with five touchdowns and no picks against the Raiders last week, the Chiefs quarterback has still been particularly turnover-prone in 2021. He’s tossed 10 interceptions this season. Only Carolina’s Sam Darnold and Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow have more with 11.
So even though Diggs can be boom or bust — he’s been called for 10 penalties this season — Mahomes said Wednesday that he has to be aware of Diggs.
“I mean when you have that many interceptions that means you know what’s going on, you have an understanding of what the offense is trying to do so you definitely have to have an eye on him at all times,” Mahomes said in his press conference. “He’s going to wait for his opportunity and usually when he gets his hands on it, he ends up making the catch so definitely a great player, someone you have to pay attention to on every single snap and try to find ways that you can have success in either other places or on him in certain areas.”
After four consecutive games with multiple turnovers, the Chiefs have cleaned things up in the last two weeks. They didn’t have any in their victory over the Packers in Week Nine and had just one — on a kickoff return — in last Sunday night’s victory over the Raiders.
That has to continue for Kansas City against Dallas this weekend.