Lavonte David is the Buccaneers' unsung hero

Lavonte David is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' unsung hero.

Unsung, because while he's often recognized as a very good player, the number of splash plays has decreased drastically -- mostly because of a change in scheme. He doesn't appear near the top of any list of statistics, except total tackles. And that stat is perhaps the most worthless statistic in the NFL.

But in this Tampa 2 defense, Lavonte David has been arguably the most consistent player. He's the modern-day Derrick Brooks -- not the Derrick Brooks of 2002 with five interceptions, three touchdowns and 11 passes defensed. He's the Derrick Brooks of 1998. The one with one interception, 123 tackles, and that was it. An outstanding player who came to work every Sunday and did what's necessary for this defense to function.

And that's who Lavonte David is. He does what's necessary -- and then he has a few plays per game where he does more than that, where he chases down a play from behind, or shoots a gap and gets a tackle for loss. He's the unsung hero of this Tampa Bay team, and he deserves to be highlighted more than he is -- even on this sorry excuse for a defense.

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