Cowboys CB DaRon Bland ties NFL single-season pick-six record vs Panthers

Dallas Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland tied the NFL’s record for single-season pick-sixes on Sunday in the Week 11 matchup against the Carolina Panthers. After notching his third against the Rams three weeks ago, the second-year star picked off rookie quarterback Bryce Young and ran it back for his fourth pick-six of the 2023 season.

No other Cowboys defender, even the cornerback Bland is filling in for – Trevon Diggs – has ever grabbed three pick-sixes in a single season, let alone four.

INT No. 6️⃣
Pick-six No. 4️⃣ @DaRon_Bland 😱 pic.twitter.com/nkERULUdK2

— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) November 19, 2023

Only three other NFL players have grabbed four interceptions and returned those for a score in one season – Eric Allen (1993), Ken Houston (1971) and Jim Kearney (1972). Bland still has seven games left to break the NFL’s single-season record and set his own with five. He reached four faster than any of his predecessors.

Over the last two seasons, Bland has recorded 11 interceptions.

The Cowboys drafted DaRon Bland with the No. 24 pick in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft. After the injury to Anthony Brown last year, he proved to be a critical piece for Dallas. He notched a team-leading five interceptions last season. Diggs, an All-Pro, had 14 in his first two seasons, including a league-leading 11 in his second season with Dallas.

Bland is in his second year of a four-year, $3.9 million rookie deal. When extension time comes up for the 2022 draft class, he’ll likely be at the top of the list.

Jerry Jones kicks off Cowboys gameday with big announcement

Leading up to the Dallas Cowboys’ 1 p.m. kick off against the Carolina Panthers, team owner and general manager Jerry Jones revealed to Jimmy Johnson, live on Fox Sports, that the former head coach will enter the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor on Dec. 30, 2023. The owner and coach have had a tenuous relationship since playing football at Arkansas and winning Super Bowls together but they’re friends once again and Johnson will finally have his name added to the ring around AT&T Stadium.

The announcement has been years in the making since Jones told Johnson during his Pro Football Hall of Fame week in 2021 that the honor would be coming his way “soon.”

Jones told reporters that they made the announcement in Carolina with Johnson’s crew from Fox because it’s the team’s last game on FOX this season. The broadcast crew heaped praise on the former skipper as the duo continued into a press conference with local media.

The Cowboys will host the Detroit Lions on Dec. 30 in AT&T Stadium. Johnson will receive his Ring of Honor jacket during a halftime ceremony. The former Dallas head coach led the Cowboys to Super Bowl wins in two of five seasons that he coached in DFW after Jones named him head coach in 1989.