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Eric Rowe – August 21, 2021 (Postgame) Download PDF version

(When you see the defense playing at this level this early, I know it’s preseason – does it make you optimistic that you guys seem to be picking up where you left off?) – “Not in that sense. I see it more as we’re coming together, we’re communicating well. We’re playing as a team. When you get those early signs, that’s a good sign. Not — the past is the past. Everybody has got new people on the team. You’ve got to bring everybody up to speed. If we weren’t coming together by now, it would be a little shaky.”

(Although it’s preseason, to have that pass breakup on the 4th down on the goal line, how did that feel?) – “Yeah, it felt good. I was out there working my technique. Not much I can say about that. It was just a good play, and I was happy to get off the field and they didn’t score.”

(How has your week been going up against TE Kyle Pitts and TE Hayden Hurst, two really good tight ends in the league? How has that been for you personally?) – “Oh, yeah, it was a great week. You know, Kyle Pitts, he’s basically like a receiver. He’s a guy I’ll see in the future, and Hayden Hurst, he’s a great tight end, great receiving tight end, so I was glad whenever we got the news we got joint practices, and I saw them on the roster. It’s going to be a great opportunity for work because it’s always good to go against our guys, but you get a little tired of it. You want to go against someone else and kind of like where do I stand kind of competition-wise. So going against them, it was a great thing.”

(LB Sam Eguavoen is a guy who they told him once he was going to have to pay $100 to try out for the CFL. Do you think that his – how hard his road was, can you sense that when you’re around him?) – “Yeah. You know, when I talked to him in the locker room, cafeteria, just hang around him, he doesn’t intentionally put it out there like ‘oh, I’ve been through X, Y, Z and this.’ You can just sense it, body language wise, the way he works, kind of the way he talks. I remember when I first met him in 2019, he was like – it just be things like, man, I’ve got to get my chance, I’ve got to get my shot, all that stuff. And he’s in year three, and he’s the same way, same grind. That’s great for him. You’ve got to keep that chip on your shoulder.”

(Do you guys feel at this point in the preseason where you guys are as a team, what your identity is?) – “It’s tough. It’s tough to say that because I know preseason and the regular season, it’s two different speeds. But from practice, I can get a feel of what we can become. We’re all — at least in the defensive backfield, we’re all really good man-to-man coverage guys, and D-line, they eat up the run. I can see that in practice, but you can’t really tell until week one.”

(Offensively you guys have a couple receivers that are out. Defensively do you guys feel even more of a need to turn it on defensively, you guys have so many guys returning, you know the scheme so well, to keep points off the board? Is that something you need to do even more because of the offensive injuries so far?) – “We haven’t really thought about that. I know camp, injuries occur. Us as a defense, our number one goal is obviously everyone wants to shut everybody out, but it’s the NFL, so our goal is to turnover, get the ball back to our offense. Whoever is out there on offense is out there. Our job, our main focus is attacking the ball, get the ball back, give it to the offense.”

(Offensively you guys have a couple receivers that are out. Defensively do you guys feel even more of a need to turn it on defensively, you guys have so many guys returning, you know the scheme so well, to keep points off the board? Is that something you need to do even more because of the offensive injuries so far?) – “We haven’t really thought about that. I know camp, injuries occur. Us as a defense, our number one goal is obviously everyone wants to shut everybody out, but it’s the NFL, so our goal is to turnover, get the ball back to our offense. Whoever is out there on offense is out there. Our job, our main focus is attacking the ball, get the ball back, give it to the offense.”

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