Christian Wilkins – September 25, 2022 (Postgame)
Sunday, September 25, 2022
Postgame – Buffalo
DT Christian Wilkins (Transcribed by ASAP Sports)
Q: What did you say to Josh Allen to set him off like that?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: It’s just competitive out there. You get a lot of guys, you get 22 alpha males on the field, it gets competitive, it gets chippy, it’s a division opponent that have beaten our butts the last six times we played them. It just gets competitive; it just gets chippy and that’s just how the game goes when we play each other.
Q: So what does that mean – just said they beat your butts X number of times, what does that mean for you guys to win this game?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: To me, this is how I look at it. Our goals as a team are bigger than beating the Bills. It was a great win today. It was an awesome, gritty, gritty win. It took a lot of grit. That’s what those southern grandmothers make on Sundays, grits. It was gritty. It took a lot. It showed the character of our team. But, like said, our goals are bigger than going 3-0 and beating the Bills. This is just a stepping stone to where we want to go. That’s how I look at it.
Q: Defensively as a team you were out there on the field a lot. I think 40 minutes. It’s hot, obviously. What was that like, the emotion of making all those stands?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: You are telling me. I was out there playing. It was definitely hot. It was definitely tough, but like I said, it was just gritty. We knew last week that wasn’t the defense we’ve been, and we didn’t play to our capabilities, so we definitely had the mindset of just coming in this week and just rectifying that because that’s not who we are, that’s not how we played last week, and we were able to did that.
Q: There was one time-out there in the third quarter, and I took notice of it. There were five offensive linemen on their knees during a time-out. I noticed nobody on your defense was on their knees. Did you sense that heat was starting to wilt them down a little bit?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: We practice in this every day. This is what we do. We were able to play tough the whole game and just able to squeeze it out.
Q: Did you pick up on that? Did you think that maybe they’re…
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: Everybody is pros. When the ball is snapped, you’re competing as hard as you can go. You’re not thinking about how hot it is or things like that. You’re trying to compete your butt off and try to do the best you can for your team.
Q: Take us through the goal line stand there at the end. What’s going through your mind? Any play in particular stand out to you?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: It was just gritty. We needed all four downs to stop them, and we did just that. We stepped up as a defense. When our best was required, we stepped up. It was just awesome.
Q: Tua (Tagovailoa) goes out there in the first half, he comes back. Can we just talk about that?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: All year Tua has been the heart of our team. He has been leading us and doing a great job. He just showed his toughness and his grittiness just to be able to come back, bounce back off of what was going – I don’t know exactly what was going on. He knew we needed him and he did a great job.
Q: I’m curious about if there was any messages going around after the fumbles or after the punt situation at the end with the safety. What was the message going around to the team?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: Hey, we just didn’t flinch. All right, well, next play mentality. That’s really all you can do. You’re not going to sulk on that. We’ve got to go out there and get a stop. That’s the mindset, the mentality. You try to get guys up going on the sideline. You don’t flinch. We still have the lead, so they still have to score to win. If we just did our job, which we did, and we were able to get a win.
Q: What does it mean for you for your team to be the last standing undefeated team in the AFC?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: Like I said, like I alluded to earlier, our goals are bigger than being 3-0. Our goals are bigger than just winning today. Again, we started back in April. We knew we had a chance, and we’re going to keep working the same way we did since April 4 moving forward. We’re just going to go back to work. Quick turnaround. No 24-hour rule. It’s the 12-hour rule. We just get tonight, and tomorrow we’re already getting ready for the next opponent so we can turn the page and get ready for Thursday night.
Q: I know you have your own concerns on the last play, but did you notice what Melvin (Ingram) was able to–
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: Oh, absolutely. You can’t tell me nothing bad about Melvin Ingram ever in life. After seeing what he did on the last play, he has the ultimate respect. An 11-year pro beating a rusher, missing a sack, then making a play 10, 15, 20 yards down the field, that’s just a
dawg mentality. That’s leadership. That’s ‘want-to.’ That’s will. Again, he is not the only player like that on our team. We’ve got a lot of guys that are just gritty and just compete. I’ve got the ultimate respect for him after a play like that because that takes a lot. That’s will to win.
