TAMPA - Second-year edge rusher David Walker delivered three pressures and a 30-percent pressure rate Thursday night as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers held a Dallas offense that had been averaging more than 30 points per game to just 16, securing the team’s first win of the season.
Walker, who missed his entire rookie season to injury, did not record a sack but was central to a pass rush that kept Dak Prescott off-balance throughout the game. Two of Walker’s pressures directly produced an incomplete pass and a deflection that ended in Yaya Diaby’s hands for an interception. Walker also played on the special teams unit that forced a fumble in the third quarter.
“I thought all those guys brought pressure,” head coach Todd Bowles said. “They didn’t get the sacks, but they brought a bunch of pressure up front. They had Dak not having his feet set and that’s very important with a guy like that. If you can get him on the move a little bit and throw off balance here and there. I thought the pressure up front was probably the best we had all year.”
The secondary compounded the damage from the front seven, holding CeeDee Lamb - the NFL’s leading receiver through four weeks - to two catches for nine yards.
Walker’s numbers across the young season underscore how much he has contributed despite limited snaps. In 71 of the Buccaneers’ 291 defensive snaps this season, he has posted the NFL’s second-highest pressure rate at 29.4 percent among players with a minimum of 30 pass rush attempts. His 10 pressures rank second on the team. Among players with 10 or more pressures, his average time to pressure of 2.59 seconds ranks 11th-fastest in the league, and his 82.3 PFF pass rush grade places him 10th among all qualifying edge rushers.
Tampa Bay’s next game will give Walker and the Buccaneers’ defense another opportunity to build on what Bowles called the team’s best pass-rush performance of the year.