Cameron Wake – September 21, 2018
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Friday, September 21, 2018
DE Cameron Wake
(Is there anything that now you’ve gotten to know DE Robert Quinn and seen him up close, that you’ve gained an extra appreciation for about him?) – “No. It’s about the same as it’s always been. Before I knew him or met him officially, (there was) mutual respect, I think, from a distance. We’ve been together for quite a while now, so there’s no new information over the past week. I love him just as much as I did last week.”
(The way snap counts have fallen, obviously getting work for five defensive ends is challenging. Has it been ideal for you? Because sometimes it’s been only half the game for you. Is that good by you? Ideal?) – “I’m enjoying it. I think everybody is getting the chance to get out there and play. I think the rotations are good. Obviously the skillsets (are) there across the group of guys that we have. Coach always tells us there’s not really any starters. Whoever goes out there the first play, then a few plays later there will be a new set of guys and so on and so forth. We all end up playing probably around the same amount. I think that puts accountability on everybody but also, it keeps everybody engaged. It lets everybody go out there and have their chance to be at the point of attack. I think everybody is enjoying it, myself included.”
(Do you feel, because of the rotation, that you feel fresher in the fourth quarter?) – “It’s hard to say now. I think hopefully this strategy pays dividends … I think in the fourth quarter, yes; but I’d like to think I always feel fresh in the fourth quarter as much as can be expected playing this game. It’s brutal on the body. But I hope in December, that’s when you can tell that it’s a different level. Again, it’s all going to be relative. If we all feel fresh, we won’t know unless you go ask somebody else across the league who’s not doing it. Then you kind of have to make your own formula as far as who feels fresher and why.”
(Because of what you’ve accomplished in the league and the respect for you, does Defensive Line Coach Kris Kocurek when he comes in, or Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke, do they have a conversation with you and say “You only might be playing 50 to 55 percent of the downs this year. We want you to know this going in and not be surprised.” Has that conversation happened?) – “It’s happened in the past. It’s not something that’s happened recently. But I think both of us – the coaching staff and myself – we try to do what’s best for both parties, including myself and obviously the team. As you guys know, there’s been a time where I’ve not been a starter and I’ve taken less reps; but then when it was necessary, things changed and the role had to change. Again, I’ve done a lot in this league and I’ve been around and my whole goal is winning. I can pat myself on the back all I want but that team success isn’t something that’s necessarily been at the forefront of my career and I want to make sure that this year, we do everything we can and whatever has to be done (to win), and I’m on board.”
(Have you learned anything from DE Robert Quinn about the position? When you bring in a new guy like that, is there anything that you’ve…) – “Oh, yeah.”
(I know that you’ve been around for a long time but maybe you’ve picked up something new from a guy like DE Robert Quinn?) – “Yes. We always talk about our craft a lot. I think any time you get a guy has – what, 65 sacks? – I don’t know. Whatever it is, you guys can look it up. But obviously he’s a guy who knows what he’s doing. He can get to the quarterback. We always bounce ideas and tips and tricks and wisdom off of each other. It’s a treat to have a guy like that. There’s probably different ways we go about it, as far as getting there; but we both get there. Anything that I hopefully have been able to put in his game, I hope it obviously helps. And he does the same for me. Whatever you can use, you use. There may be some things I can’t (do) but he can do some pretty amazing things. You take what you can and leave what you can.”
(What’s one thing you’ve taken from DE Robert Quinn?) – “I don’t want to give away too much but he has an interesting philosophy on snap counts. I’ll say that much.”
(On that quarterback snap count?) – “Quarterbacks (yes). Or center to quarterbacks.”
(Do you see that philosophy as valid?) – “I’ve dabbled with it at practice. I don’t know if I’m ready for prime time yet doing some of the things he does; but again, the more you can learn. There’s no such thing as knowing enough or being too smart or whatever you want to call it. So any opportunity that I can get something from anybody … It doesn’t have to be a d-lineman. It could be a safety. I was talking to a corner today about some football stuff.”
(Have you asked the quarterbacks about DE Robert Quinn’s theory on snap counts? How much research have you done?) – “Actually, not the quarterbacks. But we have had conversations with the o-line coach. So I’m sure that maybe will trickle it’s way up to … It’s probably more the center than technically the quarterback. But again, when we’re … I don’t want to say help. I’m trying not to defend the quarterback or center. Obviously we have a quarterback and center and some of the things that may be going on, we want to help them from not getting exploited in the same way that you’re talking to somebody on the Raiders about their snap count philosophy on getting to (Ryan) Tannehill. Sometimes you figure out a key and you’re like ‘Hey, this might be something that can help Tannehill or the center or a guard or a corner or whoever.’ Information flows not just one side, d-end to d-end. It can go d-end to center to quarterback to hopefully the offensive coordinator and it’ll help everybody.”
(It’s interesting that you bring that up because I remember seeing in the summer that your coach, Defensive Line Coach Kris Kocurek, would go over and work with some of the offensive linemen after practice. So are the defensive and offensive lines working together more so this year than in the past? How much shared information is there between the two groups?) – “It’s funny how it always works. It generally goes like this: OTAs and half of training camp, we’re kind of butting heads. We’re against each other like ‘I know something about you. I know your weakness. I’m going to exploit it for my own benefit, for the defense’s benefit. Yay, pat on the back.’ Then somewhere around the middle of training camp it’s like now ‘We’re not necessarily foes anymore. We’re the Miami Dolphins.’ You see guys that were trying to kill each other and then it kind of turns to ‘Alright, we’re all going to get behind each other and fight someone else.’ So as training camp goes on, it’s like ‘Okay, listen. I know your tell. Or I know your whatever. I’ve been doing it to you for the past three weeks. Don’t let them do it. So I’m telling you: Look, you’re not going to show this or don’t do that or don’t do this. Now you’re on my side so I’m telling you what I found out. Don’t let the other team exploit that.’ So it does get … It starts off with ‘Haha, I got you,’ to ‘Alright, look. Let’s get this fixed so he won’t … I did it to you. Pat myself on the back. But we’re not going to let him do it to you.’”
(That’s something that’s always like that or is it different or any different this year?) – “I think as time goes on and you gain wisdom … When I was a rookie, I probably wasn’t doing that because I didn’t know. I was just out there just running around. But as you grow and you start to learn and you start to figure things out, you say ‘Alright, look. You’re doing this. This is giving away that. I know every time you do that, this is going to happen.’ He’s probably just as smart as me. There’s a Cameron Wake on every team – maybe. (laughter) But he understands … There are smarter football players out there who understand that ‘This could be a giveaway. Let’s stop doing that because that’s going to not only hurt you but when it hurts you, it hurts the offense. If it hurts the offense, it hurts all of us.’ So I … I don’t want to say sacrifice but I’m not going to probably be able to do this anymore to you because I’m telling you what it’s doing, but it’ll help the entire team because I’m telling you.”
(So you were pulling aside T Laremy Tunsil or T Ja’Wuan James and telling them…) – “I’ve done Laremy, Ja’Wuan, the offensive coordinator, the offensive line coach, the center. There are things … Like I said, we study. I’m sure they do the same thing to us. ‘Look, this is what happens. This is what he’s going to do. When he does this and he does that.’ It’s the same thing. There’s a guy on a team that you’re going to play that is smart and they study and they’re probably going to pick up on it as well, so cut it out.”
(You at one point were the rookie who had to have some offensive tackle explain something to you? What was it? Who was it and what did they eliminate for you?) – “It could be a lineman. I remember having many sessions with Vernon Carey, for some of you guys that have been around for a while and know who he is. Again, it started off with foe. I was trying to make the team and I’m trying to beat them every way any time I can. Then as we kind of got to a point where now we’re not foes, we’re teammates and I want you to win on Sunday, and he wants me to win on Sunday. He had things about my alignment, my stance. He could tell when I was dropping or when I was rushing, when I was coming inside. Again, he played for … He was a veteran in the league, so he understood. Those things that he told me now I can tell a guy like maybe a Charles Harris or one of the other young ends and say ‘Hey look, maybe don’t do this. He’s going to know. They’re smart too.’”
(Is the ultimate comfort level of when you can share that the weekend after Labor Day when all of the cuts are done?) – “To be very honest, it doesn’t really have to be that long. There are guys, and I think across the league, there are guys who you know have a tougher time making the roster; but wisdom is wisdom. I want him to be successful. Maybe he’s not on this team. Maybe he’s on another team, another league or whatever it may be. Maybe one day down the line there’s a guy who got cut that’s like, ‘Cameron Wake told me blank. And I’m using it in the CFL or I’m teaching my high school team.’ Whatever it may be. It’s just an opportunity to pass on that wisdom that was passed on to me. Whether I think you’re going to make the team or not, it should be beneficial.”
(You always seem sort of happy when we ask you about teaching. You seem to enjoy that part about when you talked about teaching DE Charles Harris when he got here and even just now, you seemed somewhat interested in what we were asking you about.) – “It’s probably the part of the game that’s not highlighted as much. You always see the highlights and all of that stuff on TV on Sundays and all of that, but those things don’t happen if there weren’t guys – the Jason Taylors of the world – who told me. And one day I tell Charles Harris, who one day is going to tell X guy who is in high school (now), and so on and so on and so on down the line. And I’ve been around guys who don’t share and don’t want Charles Harris to get sacks because that would take away from (them). I don’t look at it that way. I want Charles Harris to go out there and break the record because that, in turn, furthers the cause of everybody involved. (Am I) happy? I don’t know. I don’t consider myself a happy guy but sharing wisdom, I’m all for it because it’s mutually beneficial.”
(I’m sorry for saying that you were happy.) – “Yes. Bad choice of words. (laughter)”
(Engaged?) – “Very angry. (laughter)”
(Semi-interested?) – “Not opposed to. Let’s go with that. (laughter)”
(So how common would you say that is across the league, like pass rushers sharing your marquee move with somebody else?) – “That’d be hard. I’d have to go and be a fly on the wall in other locker rooms or other defensive line rooms.”
(But you, if you were facing like DE J.J. Watt or DE Von Miller, do you guys talk?) – “Oh, yes. I know other guys and we speak, because then it’s kind of like us versus them again. It’s like us d-linemen versus the o-linemen. We, as a group, want to get more sacks. Every time I watch football, I’m cheering for the defensive end. I don’t care who it is. I’m always out there like ‘Ah, I almost got him. Get the sack!’ Obviously I know a lot of guys personally on other teams in other areas of the country; but especially when it’s on your team, then it’s for sure. Even week to week, if I know a guy who has played or knows a guy personally on the offensive side of the ball, of course I’ll give him a call. ‘Hey, you played so and so last week or two weeks ago. What do you have on them?’ And vice versa. They do the same for me.”
(What is it like to now be an established player to a point where people are coaching what you do? People are breaking down film saying this is the DE Cameron Wake rip and under move.) – “I don’t get to see it as much as maybe some of the other guys. I’m always … It’s always happening outside of where I am, so I don’t really get much of a perspective on it. But it’s probably more rewarding when you guys have come to you face to face and say ‘Hey, listen. I’ve watched such and such or that play or whatever,’ and asking me about it. Or ‘How do you do this?’ Or ‘Help me with this.’ It could be another guy who’s gotten 60 sacks like a Quinn or it could be somebody who has never touched the NFL field – an undrafted, rookie free agent. I’ve had both. Again, I think that’s, hopefully, somewhat of a compliment to what I’ve accomplished over my career and I take that with all of the rest of the accolades and enjoy it.”
(Have you ever considered being a coach when you’re done?) – “I bounce it around every now and again; but that’s to be determined, I guess.”
(Do you think you’d want to coach this level or younger kids, like high school or something like that? Have you ever dabbled in it? Have you ever gone and helped out at anything?) – “Dabbled (but) not anything official. My high school actually came down here twice over the last four years, I think. They’ve played one of the area high schools. The best high school in the country is DeMatha Catholic High School. (laughter) One of my … Actually my old former teammate is the head coach now, so whatever I can do to further the cause. It doesn’t have to be my teammate or a defensive end from another team. (It could be) a high school kid who maybe on Friday night, wants to go out there and put on a show. He may not ever touch an NFL field. He may not even make it to college. But if I can help him go have another moment to be successful, how does it benefit me to not (do that)? That’s kind of what I always wonder. What am I doing to say I’m keeping my secret from him? I don’t understand the logic on that.”
(What defensive ends do you like watching?) – “Any of them who are not happy. (laughter)”
