Jerome Baker – October 21, 2020
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Wednesday, October 21, 2020
LB Jerome Baker
(I saw you did a radio appearance yesterday, and you said you found out on social media about the quarterback change. Surely since then, you’ve had a chance to hear from the head coach. I’m curious A, what was his message; and B, what was the team’s reaction to the quarterback change?) – “His message was just letting us know. I think just the one thing, we were just off, and that’s when we all heard it. We were just off. One thing about ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) is he always makes sure we know news first. I think the team is excited. We’re all excited; we are ready to go. We believe in Tua (Tagavailoa). He definitely can get the job done. We’re all excited about what he can do, so I guess we’ll see when the time comes.”
(We just got a chance to talk to QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and he was pretty emotional, feeling like he lost his job. How is that in the locker room for you guys? Obviously you want to support QB Tua Tagovailoa, who is a young player; but you’ve got a guy like ‘Fitz’ that you all love, and put a lot into it for you all?) – “It’s a part of the job. At the end of the day, you just want the team to do well. We all believe in our coaching staff, and that’s who they went with. We’re all excited and expect Tua to do great things. It’s unfortunate; but it’s also a part of the job. At the end of the day, we’ve just got to get the job done.”
(Forty-eight hours ago, we were talking about how this team won three out of four in a blowout fashion, and looking like a real playoff contender. Are all those things still in front of you in 2020 with a rookie quarterback?) – “Yeah. Our season – there are a lot more games left to play. We have a lot of areas we need to improve on. These past few wins, we’re not just excited about what we’ve done, but what we can do. The one thing that got us to this point is we truly show up every day and we put the work in. These past few games are just a small glimpse of that.”
(A little bit more on the locker room news and your reaction to when you guys heard the news. I know that Head Coach Brian Flores likes to inform you guys first, but that wasn’t the case in this situation. How did you guys kind of deal with everything kind of collectively, before finding out from ‘Flo,’ and now after hearing from him?) – “I think the one thing – we are all excited. I think that’s the one thing we all can agree on is that we’re excited. We’ve all seen it as far as his talent, he can do it. I think now we’re just excited to show he can do it and show the world what he can do. Yeah. We are definitely all excited.”
(I wanted to talk to you about the defense for a second. You guys really shut down the last two offenses you’ve seen, and really heated the quarterback up in both of those games. A lot of new names on the defense this year. How much of that production is growing more comfortable with the defense and guys really jelling and coming together?) – “It’s a lot. It’s definitely a lot. I think as a defense, we are definitely learning what different guys are comfortable doing. We’re trusting each other more. At the same time, we have so many things we can improve on. I think as a defense, that’s what we are so excited about. We are making plays now, but we left a lot of plays (on the field) we definitely could’ve took advantage of. I think as a defense, we’re definitely excited and hungry; but we’ve got a lot more to prove.”
(Us as media, we haven’t been able to see all of practice since camp, so I wanted to kind of get a gauge of maybe what it’s been like facing QB Tua Tagavailoa. We haven’t seen him. What have you seen from him, and has it been different from what you saw in camp?) – “He’s a smart, collective young man. He’s very smart. He’s very calm. He’s definitely going to be a future great player in this league. I think we are all excited; we all know what he can do. I think the one thing that surprises me or surprised me – I always tell this story – is when he first came in, we went through a few practices, and we threw so many different looks at him. Instead of getting down on himself or saying it’s too hard or whatever, getting emotional, after practice, it was me and Bobby (McCain), he came by and just asked us questions. He asked for advice on what can he work on, what can he see, whatever it is that he can get better. I think that was the one thing that really stuck to me. He just truly wants to get better, he just truly wants to help us win. I’m definitely happy that he gets his shot.”
(I’m sure you heard it and you felt it on Sunday when QB Tua Tagovailoa went into the game. Obviously the fan base is excited of his kind of superstar power as their quarterback. Do you guys feel that from social media, or just amongst that locker room, the national hype around Tua?) – “I think in the locker room, he’s still our rookie. (laughter) He can get all the hype he wants, but he still has to do his rookie duties. He still has to – honestly he still has to prove that he’s ready. We understand that the media is going to give you all of the credit and all of that; but at the end of the day, you still have to strap on those pads and gain our trust and gain the trust of everybody that you can do it. The one thing we all can agree on is that we’re behind him 100 percent, and we definitely believe in him.”
(Did you all as a team get the question addressed in terms of why QB Tua Tagovailoa, why now?) – “No, we didn’t get that question. I think the one thing with that is we just put all of our trust in ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) and our coaching staff. If he says Tua is the man to lead us, we’re going to go with it. We’re going support him. The defense is going to support our offense just as our offense will pick us up. We’re going to do the same thing. We’ll come together as a team, back him up, and do what we have to do to win games.”
