Cameron Wake – November 4, 2016
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Friday, November 4, 2016
Defensive End Cameron Wake
(Where do you think you’re at [with your weight]?) – “Heavy. Heavy enough to get my job done.”
(Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph has told us basically that you are back to being like the Cam that we all know and love. Do you feel that way yourself?) – “I hope so. I haven’t felt any different from the day I started playing back out here in August or whatever day that was. So to me it’s the same old. It’s just another day.”
(Was there anything … when you have the Achilles and you have scar tissue, did you break through anything like that or is it pretty much all just clicking like it used to be?) – “I feel good.”
(I mean, earlier this season was there anything you had to deal with?) – “Last year, maybe; but physically, I feel good. It’s just again, situational football is more what I’m dealing with than a physical situation.”
(There are people, obviously, who watch you play, that were surprised that you still have the burst after the Achilles at your age. Were you at all surprised at the level you’re playing?) – “No.”
(Why so?) – “Because I’m me. It’s not … confidence has never been an issue for me. I’ve always known what I’m capable of and that hasn’t changed since the first time I put on a helmet.”
(There have been some that have been trying to send you to the rocking chair for a while. But with the way you’re playing right now, is another five years possible?) – “Anything is possible. ‘They,’ ‘some’… those people I don’t really concern myself with. I’m a guy who, I look in the mirror and that’s the guy who determines how I am, what I do and what my goals are. So the ‘they,’ the ‘those’ and the ‘some,’ and all those people, I couldn’t be less concerned honestly.”
(With the level you’re playing at this year, there’s no doubt going forward that you want to keep doing this, obviously?) – “As long as I can get my job done, as long as I can help the team win and I don’t feel like I am doing any kind of long-term damage or anything like that, I mean barring any crazy circumstances, I feel good. So as long as that continues, I would assume … and as long as they still want me around, then why not?”
(How much of significance was there for you to be put back in the starting lineup a couple of games ago?) – “It wasn’t a big deal to me. Winning football games has always been my goal. I have to go over my resume, I’ve had a lot of individual success. Starting or not starting, it’s about what helps the team win. What’s the most … the best thing to do for everybody. Situational football is kind of where we were in the beginning and making sure that I was trying to make the most the times I was in there, that was my goal. And it hasn’t changed – to make the most of the time I’m in there. Whether it’s the first snap of the football game or not, to me that’s kind of trivial. But getting in there and doing your job, that’s the most important.”
(Just to make sure, you’re saying you feel physically exactly the same now as you did early in the season? You don’t feel any better or…) – “I might feel worse now. If you feel the same now as you did in August, what have you been doing? I don’t know if you guys watch football, it’s a very violent sport. It wears and tears on your body, so I probably feel worse than I did in August, if anything.”
(How much working in concert with you and DE Andre Branch?) – “A lot.”
(So how does that work exactly? Do you guys sometimes try to push things to each other or…?) – “We work as a whole. It’s not only him and I, but you (have to) understand that for football terminology, we just have to work together. Not just us, but all of the front four or five or whatever the call may be. We (have to) fit together. He can’t be going left and I’m going right, it doesn’t make sense. So he’s going top, I’m going down. It all kind of comes together. Of course we have a lot of different communications and calls. You’re talking about him and I, we’re together but even more so, maybe the guy next to me – (Ndamukong) Suh, ‘J.J’ (Jason Jones), Jordan Phillip – whoever it may be, we’re always working together for sure.”
(Is it a far assumption that you’ve never played with anybody like DT Ndamukong Suh?) – “Is there anybody like Suh?”
(I don’t think there is… does that change things? Have you noticed that the job is different when you’re working next to somebody like DT Ndamukong Suh? For you?) – “Well, if you’re an offensive coordinator or guard and you have Suh in front of you, would your job be different?”
(Yes…) – “So that would make my job different too. ”
(Is it easier?) – “Success is a gift and a curse because, you have more success, but you also draw more attention. Maybe it evens out, I don’t know. If everybody is looking at where you are and where he is, and he is drawing all of the attention, maybe that’s a good thing, maybe it’s not. It just depends on the situation.”
(You’ve been in the situation a lot where you get into mid-season and things kind of fall apart down the stretch. What can you do different, what can the team do different to make sure that, that doesn’t happen?) – “We’ve just got to be consistent. We started off the season with some inconsistency and things that didn’t necessarily gel together – whether it’s defensively together or offense playing off the defense and the defense playing off the offense. Just continuing to keep that going, not being complacent, not … Realizing that listen, nobody cares about what happened the last two or three weeks. It’s only about what’s going to happen on Sunday. Whether you’ve been successful or not, we have to eliminate that past few games, or past few weeks from your mind, and focus on the task at hand. To me, I hope, and I think I speak for everybody here, that nobody is thinking about the last game. It’s over and done with. The great play you made or the bad play you had, it’s over and done with. Now you have to focus on the New York Jets and going out there and doing your best. If we do that this week and the next week after that, and the next week after that, I feel like it should be good for everybody involved.”
(Do you feel like right now you are playing as good as you ever have?) – “I’m an old man. That’s a long time. I don’t know. I’m not a stat watcher, I have no idea. I just go out there and do my best when I’m out there. You probably have more access to stats and numbers and percentages and all of that.”
(Yes, but there’s also pass rushing that’s not just stats. There’s also getting off the ball and disrupting things. It seems like you’re having an impact a lot. Does it feel like you’re playing at a consistently high level?) – “I would hope that hasn’t changed. I’d like to think that. As good as I ever have? I hope I play well and have always played well. That’s always been my goal. Compared to the other seasons, I don’t know. That’s for February when I can look back and sit in my rocking chair and look at all my stats.”
(We are not putting you in the chair yet.) – “I’m not in there, I’m good.”
(Does it mean something to you guys that the Jets are a traditional rival? Or is it just another divisional game to you?) – “It’s another football game on Sunday. That’s another thing for later on in the season when you look back and hopefully all the guys with the playoffs and all that stuff, that’s for later on. But for now, it’s a game where there’s a team coming down to your home stadium that’s going to try to come in and win a game. I’ve never been a guy where you’re going to give more effort now because it’s the Jets. If you’re giving more effort, that kind of means you weren’t giving as much effort the last game or the next game after that. If we’re playing a non-rival, then you’re going to give 50 percent effort? You should give 110 percent every play, every down, no matter if it’s a rival or not. You have to win the game.”
