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Jay Ajayi – November 30, 2016 (Conference Call) Download PDF version

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Running Back Jay Ajayi Conference Call with Baltimore Media

(Can you talk about your success this year? Has this been a surprise to you, or is there a reason why you’ve been successful this year?) – “No surprise. I’ve always had belief and confidence in myself and waited on an opportunity. Now, it’s all about being consistent.”

(Do you look at this week as a big test for you going up against a Ravens team that has the best ranked run defense in the league?) – “For me, personally, I think we’ve had the opportunity to go against a lot of great run defenses over the past couple of weeks, and it has been a great challenge to go out there and try and succeed in the run game. We know this week is another good defense we’re going against, and we want to be up to the challenge, have our offensive line play well and be physical on Sunday.”

(After having those 200-yard games, what have you seen from how defenses are approaching you? More eight-man fronts, nine-man fronts? What are you seeing?) – “(There) have been a lot of different things that teams have started to do. You definitely see a lot more teams are stacking the box, respecting the run game and kind of daring us to pass, and we’ve been able to do that as well. It has been fun showcasing our balance over these couple of weeks, showcasing what we can do, and we want to keep executing on offense.”

(How has Head Coach Adam Gase changed the culture down there?) – “He makes it fun for us to come to work. At the same time, he stresses a lot of accountability for us. It’s a one-day-at-a-time mentality as well as one week at a time. You can definitely see around the building no one is really looking too far ahead. We’re all focused on what we’re trying to achieve right now.”

(You mentioned accountability. Was that something you guys needed?) – “I definitely think that it’s a huge part of why we’re doing better. A lot more people are accountable. Everyone is playing for each other. I think we’re playing as a complete team, whereas maybe in the past, we were not playing together.”

(Was that really the change – because that’s what Head Coach Adam Gase said – after you guys started 1-4, this six-game run he attributed to the fact that everyone seemed to buy in to showing up on time and being disciplined a little bit more.) – “I think over this win streak, fines are down and player accountability is definitely up. I think to be successful, you need to be accountable to each other, and it has bled over to the field. We’re trusting each other on the field. We trust our defense to get us out of situations. Special teams – they’ve got us out. On offense, we always want to help the team put ourselves in great situations to win. We’re definitely working on playing as a full team out there on the field each game.”

(Along that same thing, when Head Coach Adam Gase left you at home for the road trip to Seattle, how much of a shock was that to your system, and do you look at what has happened since then? What does that mean to you and the success you’ve had?) – “No one wants to get left home. No one wants to be a healthy scratch. It’s tough. I’m a competitor, so I wanted to help my team win. Moving past Week 1, it was all about refocusing, being more consistent and focusing on myself, really, and blocking all the outside noise and going and grinding each week.”

(Has Head Coach Adam Gase made any other changes besides the mental or cultural aspect in the locker room?) – “Not that I know of, personally. I know I feel like our team this year is a completely different team than we were during our losing streak. I think now that we’ve been winning, we understand what it takes. I think he has done a great job in showing us what it’s going to take. But at the same time, we still are scratching the surface. We still have a lot of room to grow. It’s comforting because if we can figure those little things out and hone in on those details now at this time and really get rolling, then December is going to be huge for us.”

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