Two picks in last three games.
Last Sunday, Jamel Dean may have had his best game in the NFL.
Hard to argue when he got his first sack of his career and a rare pick. It happened to be his second pick of his career and he put himself in perfect position to go up and haul in a Mac Jones pass.
Dean’s interception pretty much locked the door on any potential 49ers comeback.
Dean’s game was good enough to be named NFC Defensive Player of the Week.
Dean for the past two or three years, has been the subject of constant haranguing and ridicule about his stone hands, whether it be from his coach who joked how he should drug test Dean after an interception in practice to his teammates to Bucs fans who want(ed) to run him out of town for this.
(Joe’s take is the old football cliche: Eh, if a defensive back could catch, he’d be a receiver.)
Dean said he’s been practicing hard, learning how to catch a football. He thinks the secret is he’s learned how to catch while also moving. He was OK catching balls from a stationary JUGS machine but learning how to catch on the fly might be the difference.
“The main thing was catching the ball on the move,” Dean said of his newfound sticky hands. It’s easy to track [on the move]. It helps me track the ball better.”
On his pick, Dean said it was a zone coverage and it was fourth-and five so he focused on not allowing a receiver to get past the first down marker.
Then, he said, Jones held onto the ball, which told Dean that Jones was looking for more than five yards.
“Then I just kept sinking (fading backward),” Dean said. “I guess I sank at the right time. As soon as he pulled the trigger, that’s when I started sinking.”
Dean skied and caught the ball that was headed for a target just behind him.
On his sack, Dean said he knew he only had one man to beat and he had Jones. Dean not only got the sack, but also forced the fumble. A Simeon Rice special.
So Joe has to wonder, did learning how to catch while moving turn Dean into an interception machine or did his pay decrease and contract status (he’s in the final year of his contract) suddenly transform him into a defensive version of Cris Carter?