BREAKING: Raiders S Pola-Mao Receives Impressive Respect for His Play

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HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders (3-12) won this past Sunday 19-14 versus the Jacksonville Jaguars (3-12) snapping a 10-game losing streak.
The win was spearhead by another terrific performance by the Patrick Graham led defense, and specifically safety Isaiah Pola-Mao who had nine tackles to lead the team and two forced fumbles.
Simply put, he was a force. After the gamae I spoke with him in great detail about his development and the game that he had. You can hear that conversation when you CLICK RIGHT HERE.
For that performance on Sunday, IPM was awarded the NFL Defensive Player of the Week.
Per the NFL:
DEFENSE: S ISAIAH POLA-MAO, LAS VEGAS RAIDERS
- Pola-Mao recorded nine tackles and two forced fumbles in Las Vegas’ 19-14 win over Jacksonville. His two forced fumbles were the most by any player in Week 16. Pola-Mao is the first defensive back to record nine tackles and two forced fumbles in a game since Week 12, 2023 (Josh Metellus).
- This is Pola-Mao’s first-career Defensive Player of the Week award, becoming the second Raiders defensive back to earn the honor in the past 10 seasons (2015-24), joining Jeff Heath (Week 10, 2020).
- Pola-Mao becomes the fourth former USC defensive back to win Defensive Player of the Week in the past 20 seasons (2005-24), joining Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu (six-time winner), Nickell Robey-Coleman (Week 5, 2016) and Terrell Thomas (Week 8, 2013).
S Isaiah Pola-Mao led the team with 9 TKLs and 2 FFs in Week 16, just the 2nd DB in #Raiders history to force multiple fumbles in a single game.
— Raiders PR (@RAIDERS_PR) December 24, 2024
He now becomes the seventh safety in franchise history to win AFC Defensive Player of the Week – the first since 2020 (Jeff Heath). https://t.co/EkTcB6oRMc
Coach Antonio Pierce raved about his young star and his performace by saying, "Well, I think it started just doing it the right way, right? Comes in undrafted, works his way up, special teams, gets a little play here or there on defense, and obviously when the opportunity came up, he was ready. It wasn't like, 'Oh, just throw him in.' No, we were ready for him to play. And all he's done is taken every advantage of it. He's vocal. He has a quiet, like you said, confidence about himself now. He has all the ability in the world; tall, long, can run, ball skills, physicality showed up last night. He's really put himself in a good place. And it really started in the offseason when he was here every day after
the Super Bowl."
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Hondo S. Carpenter Sr. is an award-winning sports journalist with decades of experience. He serves as the Senior Writer for NFL and College sports, and is the beat writer covering the Las Vegas Raiders. Additionally, he is the editor and publisher for several sites On SI. Carpenter is a member of the Pro Football Writers Association (PFWA), the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), and the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).
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