Jesse Davis – September 8, 2020
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Tuesday, September 8, 2020
G/T Jesse Davis
(Now that it’s officially Week 1 and the depth chart is out obviously, where do you think the offensive line is at as a whole in terms of gelling with you being the only returner and a lot of new faces right there starting with the starters?) – “I think everybody’s done a good job gelling together. We spent a lot of time in the offseason doing it and then we have a lot of this so called, call it ‘in-house preseason looks’ that we got together, so I think everybody did a really good job and we’ll see what we have come Sunday.”
(Do any of the rookies seem a little bit in over their heads this week? Do you find yourself kind of trying to calm guys down or try to reassure them a little bit more than usual?) – “No. No, I haven’t seen any uneasiness or any anxiety or anything out of them. I think they’ve all done a good job. I think with our game plan, everybody’s pretty prepared and with Day 1 – it’s only Tuesday – so hopefully at the end of the week, we’ll see how everybody handles it. But I think everybody’s ready to go.”
(From going up against him in practice, what do you think is the quality of this defensive line? It seems much improved obviously – DE Emmanuel Ogbah, DE Shaq Lawson, DT Raekwon Davis, etc.?) – “I think they’ve got a solid lineup. (Emmanuel) Ogbah’s really good. Shaq Lawson has proven that he’s a good player. (Davon) Godchaux had a great year last year. The rookie Raekwon (Davis) coming in, everybody seems to be doing really well and I’m excited to watch them go play.”
(I wanted to ask you in what ways do you think this team is better than it was a year ago?) – “I think just everybody that we had last year in the building. ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) is returning to getting some veteran players as well on the o-line and the running back situation seems like it’s doing well. The receiver corps is doing group and I think organization’s got a lot of good players and a lot of good people that they want, that’s shown that there’s no quit, no lip or anything like that. They’re just ready to play with the d-line to the back fields, and I think this coaching staff has shown that. They’ve done a really good job putting together a program.”
(Talking about the rookies and what they might be feeling this week, take us back a few years as a rookie, you were just cool and calm and no butterflies whatsoever as a rookie right?) – “You try to act like it and then once you get out there, it’s a little bit different with seeing things and trying to figure it out when really you don’t really know how it’s going to be, how it’s going to play out; but you learn as you go. You’re kind of thrown into the fire a little bit and then you either survive or you don’t and we’ll see what happens.”
(My question is about the Patriots and the way they’re going to attack you on Sunday. They’ve got plenty of guys up front that are kind of new to whether it’s the NFL or just haven’t played that many snaps in the NFL. How does that change your preparation for Sunday with guys that maybe you don’t have as much NFL tape on?) – “I think you just kind of do your best. You try to research as much as you can, who you have and then you kind of go from there. I think with everything going on everybody’s in the same boat; so they kind of know how I play, but I don’t know how their rookies are going to play, who’s going to line up with their d-line situation. You just go out there and you try to do your best and then you come to the sideline, communicate and then whoever makes the best changes will probably win that game.”
(I was noticing during one of the NBA games in the bubble between the Mavs and the Clippers that the Clippers players were cheering really loudly trying to knock Luka Doncic off his game a little bit. Do you guys think that you will need some energy on the sidelines, you guys are going to have to cheer on for each other, energy, bring the juice for you guys on Sunday?) – “I don’t know. I don’t think I can hear my teammates cheering for me or something like that. I don’t think that’s going to be a factor. I think it’s just keeping your composure when you’re out there – not panicking, not doing something out of the ordinary and just kind of staying in that little even level, even keel. Just not getting too high, not getting too low and then communicating. That’s going to be the biggest part with us, is what we see and we can adjust to on the run.”
(How did you guys find out that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick was the starter?) – “I don’t think we really had a meeting on it or anything. I was just kind of assuming that since he was taking all the reps that’s how it was going to be; and I think watching Tua (Tagovailoa) develop, it’s just been great seeing him develop as a pro athlete and how he’s picked up things and how he is with ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) and how ‘Fitz’ is with him and with how ‘Fitz’ is with us. I think it’s just kind of an assumed thing.”
(What’s your impression – what do you think it’ll be like to play in a stadium without fans?) – “I was kind of preparing myself for that. I don’t know how it’s going to be. I think it’s going to be kind of either a dead feeling or it’ll just kind of feel like practice. I don’t know. It’s going to be interesting to say the least.”
(I know obviously Offensive Line Coach Steve Marshall is doing a lot with the young kids but have you and C Ted Karras and G Ereck Flowers talked about doing anything special this week with G Solomon Kindley and T Austin Jackson? I’ll throw G/T Robert Hunt in there too, but obviously Solomon has been identified as first-team as has Austin. Have you guys paid extra attention to meetings about the Patriots?) – “We kind of took them aside with Rob (Hunt) or with Austin (Jackson) and Solomon (Kindley), just kind of telling them how they’re going to play and what to expect. It’s early on in the week right now. We haven’t really got too much into third-down stuff or anything. It’s kind of early downs, so we’ve just kind of been telling them how they’re going to play us and what to expect with movements to adjustments. So I think with everybody doing a good job, with (Offensive Line Coach Steve) Marshall kind of telling us what to expect as well; but I just know from experience playing these guys what to expect, too.”
