Cornerback Aqib Talib had a career day for the winless Tampa Bay Bucs on Sunday, matching a franchise mark held by Ronde Barber, with three interceptions.
But what the former Kansas University standout will remember isn’t his history-making performance in a 16-13 loss to the Washington Redskins.
“I’m going to remember this 0-4 start,” Talib said.
That’s largely because Talib was on the wrong end of the Redskins’ biggest play of the day — a 59-yard bomb from Jason Campbell to Santana Moss in the third quarter that gave Washington the winning touchdown.
Talib, who has been featured in man-to-man coverage this year, made a mistake against the veteran receiver. After the snap, Moss used a double move to confuse Talib, and it had the intended result.
“I turned the wrong way, and, against a guy like Santana Moss, you can’t do that,” Talib said.
Talib offset that with his three picks. None of them seemed like easy catches. In fact, on his second, he not only had textbook position against Malcolm Kelly, he also went up and made a leaping catch.
That was preceded by a diving interception across the middle in which Talib appeared to snatch the ball from Kelly. He hopped off the turf and peeled off a 16-yard return.