Back in Week 11, Around The NFL's Chris Wesseling postulated that Detroit Lions safeties James Ihedigbo and Glover Quin -- at the time --Â could be considered the best duo in the NFL.
Since then, Kam Chancellor has come back in full force for the Seattle Seahawks and pretty much ended any discussion about top safeties that doesn't start and end with him and Earl Thomas.
Unless, of course, you are talking to James Ihedigbo.
"You know, for me, you ask me without a doubt, I feel we're the best safety tandem in the NFL," the Lions safety told NFL Network's NFL AMÂ on Monday. "I'm not talking about last year or years before that. No, this season we are the best safety tandem in the NFL. I give a lot of respect for those guys in Seattle and San Fran, and they do a great job, they play amazing ball. But for the production that we have -- our job on defense is to be playmakers, is to create turnovers, is to get the football. For us to be able to do that this year and be doing it at the level that we're doing it across the board, without a doubt, I guess what's the saying, numbers don't lie?"
The Lions' duo of Ihedigbo and Quin lead all pairs with nine interceptions on the season -- Quin nabbed his fifth on Sunday with an acrobatic sliding grab.
Pro Football Focus ranks the duo as their seventh (Quin) and 11th best overall safeties over the duration of the season and Nos. 5 and 6 (Ihedigbo) in coverage.
While we'll still take the duo in Seattle, there is no question that the play of Ihedigbo and Quin is a huge reason Detroit sits at 9-4 and controls its own path to the playoffs.
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