Kyle Van Noy – September 9, 2020
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Wednesday, September 9, 2020
LB Kyle Van Noy
(My question for you is about going up against a team you’ve seen plenty of times in the past in practice and more narrowed focus here on the offensive line. They’ve got so much continuity up in front on that offensive line. How does your familiarity with those guys – maybe some of their tendencies and weaknesses – kind of help you attack them on Sunday?) – “Yeah, going against them, they’re familiar with me. I’m familiar with them. I’m excited for this task. They’ve been talking trash the four years I’ve been there, so I’m excited to see if we both can back it up. (laughter)”
(So piggybacking off that, is there one player you most want to hit on Sunday?) – “Nah, he’s not there anymore. (laughter) And that would be ‘Gronk’ (Rob Gronkowski) by the way, not Tom (Brady). (laughter) That’s my guy.”
(You were there for a minute and Foxboro is a very hard place to play; but no fans, is that going to be a surreal experience for you?) – “No, I think it’s going to be a cool experience. I don’t think people are looking at it the way that I’ve been looking at it. I’ve been looking at it as the fans get a close, inside (look) at what guys on the field are communicating, trash-talking. Kind of like what you’ve seen with the NBA, you get to hear the ball dribble and you don’t necessarily get to hear that all of the time. I feel like that’s what it’s going to be like on a football field. I think the smacking is going to be louder, the trash-talking is going to be right there in prime television. I think it’s going to be a good atmosphere because at the end of the day, you’re going to find out it’s the team versus the team. There’s no real home-field advantage. Obviously you have to make the road trip out there, but you’re basically going against that team and they’re going against you. You’ve just got to outperform (them), so I think that’s pretty cool.”
(Earlier this week we were talking with LB Jerome Baker and he said that you, LB Elandon Roberts and LB Kamu Grugier-Hill don’t really talk too much about the Patriots, and that he’s been asking for little tidbits for game-planning and stuff like that. What’s with the secrecy? Are you going to maybe – as the game week progresses here – get a little bit more into what they do?) – “Really, what you see on film is what you’re going to get. There’s no secrets, really. I don’t know about that one. Me and ‘Bake’ (Jerome Baker) have a great relationship. We talk about the game plan each and every day. I think he’ll be ready, though.”
(As a guy who has been with another organization…) – “I’ve been with two. (laughter)”
(Yes, I know. You were with the Lions before you got to the Patriots. When you got there, how much different was the organization than what you had previously known in the NFL?) – “I mean, huge. First off, I had a team put me in the game. That was the biggest difference for me. I went from a team saying they didn’t know what to do with me to a team that knew what to do with me and put me in the game. From top down, it was run a really, really positive way. Just like here, it’s run really, really well and I’m excited to be a Miami Dolphin. I feel like they are investing a lot into our success. We have a new facility coming around. They invest a lot in off-field things that we, as players, want. They really, really want us to be successful and I hope we can be successful for this city. This city hasn’t – I believe – won a playoff game in 20 years, and that’s one of our goals. We’re reaching pretty high and we hope that we can obtain it and bring this city some good football.”
(I just want to piggyback off those expectations that you hope to achieve here. What makes you believe that this team is going in the right direction towards that? And you’ve just joined this team, so why is it important to you to do this for the City of Miami and South Florida?) – “I wish I could answer (that). We could be here all day. I’d have to write out a paragraph or a 20-page paper for you; but I’ll just try to keep it simple and sweet. I’ve been given a lot and I hope to give others a lot. I’m blessed to be a part of this. I know what winning looks like and structurally, ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores is – I respect him a lot. He’s doing a really, really good job. We’re not taking any shortcuts. I wasn’t here last year but the guys, you can tell, work their ass off; and this year, we continued that. For me to be a part of that and to be elected a captain from my peers, I’m honored and just hope that we can take this first game – it’s a big game – and that’s what they want to do, that’s what we want to do. It’s going to be a really, really highly competitive game right off the bat, and I’m excited for it. It’s what you wish for as a kid playing. You’re playing against a rival team at their home (in) the opening game, through all of the craziness that’s been going on, and trying to be a light for people off the field and on the field. It’s a good way to start.”
(There’s been a different quarterback there for a while but now you’ve got QB Cam Newton to defend. What’s that like as a defender? I know you’ll probably see a lot of them on Sunday, but how do you go about defending a guy as unique as him with his skillset?) – “Yeah, that’s a good question. Cam brings a Cam effect. That man is a gamer. (He’s a former) MVP, so he knows how to win. He knows how to play to his strengths. He’s a really good passer. He can throw on the run really, really well. But the Cam effect is definitely the running. Being able to have that as, I guess, your third option – hand the ball off, throw and then be able to run and create something out of nothing – it’s tough to guard. We have our hands full and we’re doing everything we can to prepare for it; but we’re excited for the challenge. We know how good he is and we respect him as a player.”
(If there is one knock on QB Cam Newton, it’s that he gets hit a lot. He’s coming off injury and I think he had over 30 sacks a year based on his career and you got him once.) – “I did. I chased him down. People think I’m slow. (laughter)”
(How difficult was that for you and is that the key to QB Cam Newton, just to kind of punch him in the mouth?) – “I think it’s just all 11 (guys) on the same page. I think that’s what it takes. Every guy doing their job – as cliché as that sounds, that’s really what it takes. Whether you’re blitzing and you have to keep him in the pocket or whether you’re playing zone and everybody has eyes back to the quarterback, you have to do those little things against a running quarterback like that and be able to hit him. Just like any quarterback, you just have to continue to put that pressure on him and sustain it for all four quarters. It’s not easy and it’s not easy to do in this league; but when you do it, that’s usually when you come out with a good outcome.”
(You’re a captain now, a new captain. With everything that’s gone on in America right now, in terms of the culture of what’s going on politically and with race relations, has there been a discussion about what you guys will do as a team? And if so, what is that?) – “Yeah. That’s something that we’re still continuing to discuss. It’s a major, major topic and we want to do the right thing as a team, that everyone agrees with. You’ll be the first to know, how about that? (laughter)”
