Before his interception Monday night, the last time Ravens defensive lineman DeAngelo Tyson touched the football in an actual game happened on the junior varsity team in high school when he returned a blocked punt for a touchdown.
When the native of Statesboro, Ga., alertly picked off a tipped pass from Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, he resisted the urge to lateral the football following his first NFL interception.
"They have their so-called list of guys who can pitch it, and I didn't think I was on that list," Tyson said. "That was my excuse for not pitching it. Yeah, that's the Ed Reed list."
The former Ravens free safety was famous for pitching the football.
A 2012 seventh-round draft pick from the University of Georgia, Tyson has two sacks this season in the Ravens' defensive line rotation.
The interception is the biggest play that Tyson has made in two NFL seasons, drawing praise from coach John Harbaugh for his "sweet hands."
"I was dropping back and looking for the ball," Tyson said. "It got tipped. Happily, it tipped into my right hand, and I was able to control it and make the interception.
"I didn't really know how athletic it looked. It wouldn't have meant nothing if we had lost that game. It meant more since we won. It was very special."
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