The National Football League announced today that Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David has been named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 11.
At Philadelphia, David recorded six tackles and two interceptions, including one returned 20 yards for a touchdown, the first interception for a score of David’s career. Sunday’s contest marked David’s second career game with multiple interceptions (also vs. Buffalo, 12/8/13), becoming the first linebacker in team history with more than one multi-interception games. This season, David has eight passes defensed, the most by a linebacker in the NFL, while his two interceptions are tied for the second-most in the league. He is the only player in the NFL with 80+ tackles, 2+ interceptions, 2.0+ sacks and 1+ forced fumbles.
Since entering the NFL in 2012, David has recorded eight interceptions, tied for the most by a linebacker during that span. He is the only NFL player with 12+ sacks and 8+ interceptions since 2012, ranking second in tackles during that time.
This marks David’s second career Defensive Player of the Week award (also Week 12, 2013), joining Derrick Brooks and Hardy Nickerson as the only linebackers in team history to win the award more than once. David joins Kwon Alexander (Week 8) as the second Buccaneers player to win the award this season, the first time the team has had multiple players earn Defensive Player of the Week honors since 2008 (Derrick Brooks, Rondé Barber). The team’s three Player of the Week awards this season (also Bobby Rainey, Week 5) are the most for Tampa Bay since 2009.
Information written and provided by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers