Will Ronde Barber have some company in the record books?

by Buc Wild on Nov 12, 2009 10:00 AM EST in News Comment 5 comments

More photos » by Alex Brandon - AP

Setting a team record is something that player's cherish. It secures their name in the franchise annals and sets a bar, one they hope won't be beat. Players have even talked about going after each other's records. Other times, fans don't want to see a record broken (See Johnson, Larry - 75 yards away from breaking Priest Holmes rushing record. Fans actually started a petition to bench LJ so he wouldn't break it. He has since been released and talked about coming back to Kansas City to break the record some day). Being atop a certain category seems to lend credence to a player's career.

With the current season unfolding, and without looking through every record, I came across one record that may be threatened this year.

Ronde Barber's single season record for interceptions is under siege in the 2009 season. In 2001, Ronde Barber intercepted 10 passes in a single season. This broke the previous record of 9 set by Cedric Brown back in 1981. Halfway through the season, there is an opportunity for a new name to join or surpass Ronde's atop the leader board.

Aqib Talib has five picks through 8 games, putting him on pace to match Ronde's 10. The remaining schedule sets up pretty favorably for Talib with a few young quarterbacks (Henne, Sanchez, and Ryan) and some gunslingers (Hasselback and Delhomme).

Talib of course was aided by his three pick day against Washington, but so too was Ronde. In Ronde's record setting season, he intercepted three passes against the Saintsin Week 15. In fact, Ronde had 8 picks through 5 games, as Talib does now. In the first 8 games of 2001, Ronde had two multi-interception games, whereas Talib only has one (Washington).

With Talib shadowing the opposing team's #1 WR, this should lead to ample opportunity to make a few plays. Talib has done a pretty good job of shutting down the #1's but doesn't seemed to have earned the respect of opposing teams. Yet. He plays a pretty aggressive style of defense which leads to opportunities to take the ball the other way. As opposing QBs continue to test him, Talib may make them show respect quicker than they anticipated if he continues his assault on Ronde's record.

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I agree with you BW

I think it is very likely that he will hit double digits this season. I think he could even get as many as 12. The only thing I can see possibly hurting his chances are teams getting up big on us and not taking chances down field.

He may be a thug, but he is one heck of a corner. He was a dynamic return man at Kansas. I would love to see him start taking some of those picks back to the house. He has nine career picks in ten career starts. Not too shabby at all.

"Three or four plane crashes and we're in the playoffs" - John McKay

by LeeCaz on Nov 12, 2009 1:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Ronde recently talked about wanting to achieve some goals such as most return TD's in NFL history.

I wonder how he would feel if Talib knocked him off the record books on this one.

Signature space available for rent - Got to pay the bills somehow

by Buc Wild on Nov 12, 2009 3:04 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Good point.

Sometimes I wonder if maybe Ronde secretly hates Talib. They are pretty polar opposites as far as personality goes. Plus, you have the situation of him taking his number #1 corner spot after all those years. A little resentment there maybe.

"Three or four plane crashes and we're in the playoffs" - John McKay

by LeeCaz on Nov 12, 2009 3:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs