D.J. Moore on Tyrique Stevenson Hail Mary fail: ‘One play doesn’t define him’ but captains need to address it

Amazingly, the wildest moment of the Sunday afternoon slate in Week 8 was not the Washington Commanders‘ walk-off Hail Mary to defeat the Chicago Bears. Instead, it was what happened just before the snap, and then while Jayden Daniels was scrambling around trying to buy both time and space to unleash the ball downfield.

Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson was spotted taunting Commanders fans in the stands, and not joining the play until deep into the down. By the time he recovered to the Hail Mary scrum, his man (Noah Brown) was wide open behind the defense, and after multiple Bears defenders tipped the ball into the air, Brown came down with it.

Stevenson has already issued an apology for his conduct here. “To Chicago and teammates my apologies for lack of awareness and focus,” Stevenson posted on social media Sunday night. “The game ain’t over until zeros hit the clock. Can’t take anything for granted. Notes taken, improvement will happen. #Beardown.”

On Monday, wide receiver and team captain D.J. Moore was asked during a radio appearance if he had seen the play and if so, what his thoughts on it were. 

“I didn’t see it happening during the play,” Moore said during his weekly appearance on the Mully & Haugh Show, via 670 The Score. “I’ve seen it just how everybody else has seen it (on social media). The captains were talking about how we need to really address that. I saw that he put something out that he was sorry, but we’ve still got to address it as a leadership group in front of the team.”

Moore noted that as a captain, he believes it falls at least partially on him to deliver the message about what lessons are to be learned him. But he also cautioned that people shouldn’t just Stevenson on this particular play.

“I don’t know (what the punishment will be), that’s not up for us to do,” Moore said. “But we can address it as captains, and upstairs will have to do what they’re going to do. It’s a lesson learned, for sure. He won’t do that again. But if you bench him it’s just like, that one play — it’s a big play — but that one play doesn’t define him as a player.”

Stevenson actually has been a solid No. 2 cornerback across from Jaylon Johnson since around the middle of last season, but this is certainly a mistake that will follow him for quite some time — even if it doesn’t ultimately come to define his career.