Cameron Wake – October 8, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 8, 2017
Postgame – Tennessee Titans
Miami Dolphins Defensive End Cameron Wake (transcribed by Ted Leshinski and Savanna Bell-Stevens)
(It was mighty warm out there. It is South Florida.) – “Was it warm? It felt nice to me.” (laughter)
(Certainly when you consider how the defense really set the tone for this football game, can talk about the pressure you put on Titans QB Matt Cassel and how that was a factor in today’s win?) – “We had a laundry list of things that we wanted to accomplish coming into this game, and obviously, the first one was stopping the run. Anytime that you do a good job stopping the run, even in the third-and-longs, that’s going to help you get pass-rush opportunities. As a front, you’ve got to work first before you play, so we put in the work stopping the run and we get to go have some fun on third down and get after the quarterback.”
(That play where it was a fumble and S Reshad Jones picked it up and ran it in, from your vantage point did you realize it was a fumble right off the bat?) – “The thing is you’d rather have it in the end zone and let them them figure it out. And obviously Reshad – who’s a great player, a veteran, he knows the system – he picked it up and, like I said, he got it into the end zone and let them figure out all the paper work. Obviously, a smart move. Touchdown for us.”
(You guys have been playing better and better each week and you played a very good game today. The way this offense has been going and where you’re going next week, you guys may have to play better. Can you guys play better than you played today?) – “I think sky’s the limit. I guarantee you we have higher expectations on ourselves and amongst one another than anybody outside the locker room. We’ve been stepping up to the plate, week in and week out. It has always been a different challenge, whether it’s one week it’s a great running back, one week it’s a great quarterback, another week it’s good receivers. Whatever it may be, it’s the NFL. Week in and week out you’re going to have a challenge and you’ve got to step up and you’ve got to own and put the ball down and let’s play. That was our mentality coming into this game: no matter what happens, where ever the ball goes down, we’re going to put our chin straps on and go out there and get to work.”
(You had two turnovers, you had four sacks in the game, 10 points off turnovers. This one was clearly on the back of the defense. Do you just have to have the mentality going in and out every week that if we got to play this way, that’s the way we’ve got to play?) – “We started off way back in April that it’s really a whatever-it-takes mentality. And I just said it before, wherever the ball is put down on the field, we’re going to attack no matter what. No matter whatever the situation. No opportunities to cry about what’s going on. Offense, obviously, sometimes they’re going to have a day where they’re putting up points and helping us when we’re not having a great day. So, we work hand in hand. Whatever it takes for them to get the job done. Obviously, at the end of the game, they put drives together to put points on the board and secure the win for us. We work together. It’s not one side versus the other. It’s a full team, and the Miami Dolphins won today, and it was on the backs of everybody working really hard to get it done.”
(We saw a burst from DE Charles Harris today, the rookie. Can you talk about what you’ve seen in terms of his development?) – “That first one is always a great one. I know he’ll remember that the rest of his career. I really feel like that’s just the beginning. He has so many gifts, talents. He’s a hard worker. He’s obviously explosive. Physically, mentally, he has all the pieces. So just putting them together, him having a complete game, I’m glad he got that first one. I told him that’s one of many more, let’s keep it going, and I know that’s what he’s going to do.”
(What was your first sack?) – “Buffalo.”
(What do you remember about it?) – “Jason Taylor was on the other side, so they were paying a lot of attention to him. I had it pretty easy. I have to thank ‘J.T.’ for that one. It was a game … I had been inactive actually the first five games – some of you guys weren’t even here for that – and actually I think I had three sacks my first game.”
(What’s the mentality going into the game next week in Atlanta?) – “More of the same. More of the same, obviously. Again, another challenge. They have weapons. They have good players, not unlike this week. And as a defense you’ve got to go up there and whenever your number’s called, you’ve got to step up to the plate. I think the guys will take 18 hours to enjoy this and flip the page. You’ve got to move on the next one. It feels good to win, but it’s just like when you lose, you can’t dwell on it. You can’t pat yourself on the back too long. You’ve got to move on. So, we’ll enjoy tonight, but then tomorrow morning we’re on to the next one.”
(What’s something that Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke has been doing that’s paying dividends?) – “I think for the most part, knowing his personnel. He knows the guys. He knows the guys that he has and the skill set for each guy and being able to call plays and call the defenses that puts those certain guys in positions to make plays. Obviously, stellar play calling today. Obviously, the run was stopped, I’ll say, I think very definitively. And I think a lot goes to him in setting this up and putting us in position to make plays. Obviously, we’ve got different guys going in and out. If you look back and see, run stoppers in when they need to be, pass rushers in when they need to be. It all works together. It’s one cohesive unit. He’s kind of the brains of the operation for running the show, and I’m glad that he can put this one on his chart today, because this was a win that, again, for him most guys will probably not say his name but I think, to start off, everything that we did today started with him.”
(With this point, 2-2, finishing the first quarter of the season, how do you view that?) – “I’m not going to be satisfied with 2-2. I don’t think anybody else in the locker room would be. I feel like the games we lost, we let them slip through our fingers. We’ve could’ve done more. You never want to be, like I said earlier in the week, you never want to be looking back Week 13 saying, ‘Should’ve, should’ve. Wish I, wish I.’ But that’s in the past and all we can do is look forward and move on to the next one. We have done some good things, but we also have some things to work on. I think we have good building blocks in place to move forward. I think we’ve shown on all aspects of the game that we are capable. To me, when you have the capability and you don’t execute, that’s more frustrating than not even having the capability at all. We know that there are things that we can do. We’ve just got to fix up, change some pieces around, whatever it may be, to play a full, complete, solid game. And I think moving forward that’s going to be our goal.”
(You look at some of the players who are in their first year of the defense here like DE Will Hayes, DE Charles Harris, LB Lawrence Timmons, LB Rey Maualuga, CB Cordrea Tankersley, probably some more, some good players. Is there sort of a common thread among any of those guys?) – “Dogs. I think in order to play – and again, back to (Defensive Coordinator) coach (Matt) Burke – in order to play in this defense the way he has it set up, if you don’t have that anger and that aggression and that pride of self that, ‘I don’t care what’s going on. I’m going to get my job done,’ if that is stopping the run, if that’s getting to the quarterback, if that’s stopping such and such receiver, you have to have a sense of pride above all else, if that’s going take place, it’s going be accomplished, whatever it takes. And the guys that you just named – the guys that they brought in here – I feel like they all have that mentality. In the locker room, we call it, ‘You have to have that dog in you,’ and that’s that pitbull mentality that, ‘I’m going to die, or I’m going to get my job done.’ One or the other. It’s not, ‘Oh, well. Darn. You got me.’ You’re not making a play. If you if you look across the board and go back and watch some of this film, all of those guys were playing that way. That’s the only way we can be successful is everybody have that.”
(There’s been difference in mood between yourself and S Reshad Jones and DT Ndamukonmg Suh when they came in versus when Head Coach Adam Gase and QB Jay Cutler came in about how they felt about how the game went today. How do you as a leader and the locker room as a collective sort of come together so that it’s not offense versus defense, who’s getting the job done versus who’s not?) – “I think that the ultimate goal is to get a ‘W’, so I assure you 10 weeks from now, nobody will be talking about what happened in this game. It will be we won, and that’s it. There’s no style points. There’s nothing beyond getting the ‘W’. No matter how you get it, whatever has to happen, nobody will remember that Reshad scored a touchdown. It’ll just be the Dolphins won, such and such score to Tennessee, whatever it was. We scored points. We. Not offense, not defense – the Miami Dolphins. So moving forward, again, for us, it’s never going to be one versus the other. I think that sense is what carries that unity is, ‘It’s us together.’ We came at halftime, we’re winning the game, we looked each other in the eye (like), ‘We’re going to finish this game off.’ Again, we have things we have to work on as well. It’s not, ‘We’ve got it all figured out and offense doesn’t.’ It’s the Miami Dolphins have things to work on, ways that we can get better, ways that we can make the game not as intense, maybe win by three scores and that’s on defense, offense, and special teams. Moving forward, we got those things we got to work on. Again I think we’ll enjoy this one tonight and then we’ll move on to those things tomorrow.”
(You and your teammates say there are things you guys defensively need to work on. What are those things?) – “I feel like, for us, the most important thing moving forward is knowing how teams are going to play against us. And at some point, as I’ve told some of the other guys, yes, we’re good at certain things and teams are going to try to scheme you to limit your skill set, to limit your advantage, then that’s smart. They’re not idiots. What are you going to say, ‘If they’re throwing the ball quick or what.’ You can’t do anything about that. What are we going to do to change that? If they’re going to double team (Ndamukong) Suh, what are you going to do to change that? You can’t cry about it. You have to figure it out. And if they’re going to run certain plays or do certain things to try to take away that advantage that you do have as a defense, we have to adjust it as well. I think moving forward that’s something that … again, I think Coach Burke did a great job of today. I think we’ll continue to do that, and I think once we fix some of those pieces, again, sky’s the limit for this defense and this team.”
