Arizona Cardinals

Cardinals' Bucannon named NFC Defensive Player of the Week

Published Dec. 23, 2015 5:49 p.m. ET

foxsports

Arizona Cardinals linebacker Deone Bucannon parlayed his first career interception into the NFC Defensive Player of the Week award.

Bucannon returned an interception of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford 39 yards for a touchdown as the Cardinals ran their winning streak to eight games and clinched the NFC West title with a 40-17 rout Sunday night.

NFC Defensive Player of Week 15: Cardinals LB Deone Bucannon. 1st career Player of Week Award pic.twitter.com/Fk0HpkGbp5
— Randall Liu (@RLiuNFL) December 23, 2015

It was the first touchdown scored by Bucannon since he was in high school and capped a monster effort in which he registered a game-high 11 tackles to match his season high.

The second-year linebacker, a converted safety, leads Arizona with 111 tackles. Bucannon also has notched 17 tackles for losses, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and two sacks.

Bucannon is the fifth Cardinals player to earn NFC weekly honors, joining wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, safety Tyrann Mathieu, running back David Johnson and kicker Chandler Catanzaro.