Inside The Huskies

He's a Rapp Star: Taylor Named NFC Defensive Player of the Week

The former University of Washington safety quiets his pro football critics.

Dan Raley

He's a Rapp Star: Taylor Named NFC Defensive Player of the Week
He's a Rapp Star: Taylor Named NFC Defensive Player of the Week /

The rap on Taylor Rapp was he wasn't coming with enough turnovers for the Los Angeles Rams. 

Now he's a Rapp star.

The former University of Washington safety had the biggest game of his brief NFL career with 2 interceptions, 3 pass break-ups and 5 tackles in a 38-11 victory over the New York Giants in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Rapp's reward: NFC Defensive Player of the Week.

Plus a complete muffling of his critics.

This particular league honor represented the first time a Rams safety has won it since 2008, according to the NFL. 

Both of Rapp's interceptions led to Los Angeles touchdowns and came off Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. 

Ironically, NFL analysts and fans alike recently had called for Rapp to lose his starting job because the feeling was he was a weak link in the Rams defense. 

In his three-year NFL career, Rapp has started 21 of 30 games while becoming a fixture in the Rams defense. He has 5 career interceptions, returning one of them for a touchdown as a rookie. 

Always a big hitter and a sure tackler, he has 183 career tackles in L.A., including 4 tackles for loss. 

On top of his breakthrough game, Rapp also has yet to surrender a touchdown pass his side through three games.

The safety has missed only three tackles out of 207 total defensive snaps he’s taken.

Also, Rapp has been targeted 15 times, surrendering 11 catches for 155 yards.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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