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Jerome Baker – December 22, 2021 Download PDF version

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

LB Jerome Baker

(I wanted to ask you your thoughts on the new league COVID-19 policy where asymptomatic players don’t test unless they are randomly selected like a lottery almost. Is that a fair way of doing it in your opinion?) – “I honestly just follow the rules. I don’t really have input or anything. I’m just trying to stay healthy and be ready to play. This COVID thing is hard. It’s hard to control. It’s hard to dictate it. I’m just trying to do my part to stay healthy.”

(Have you been tested this week?) – “No, I haven’t.”

(As you watch the Saints on film, how would you best describe QB Taysom Hill and do some of the same principles apply from when you were game planning for QB Lamar Jackson or QB Cam Newton? Do some of those same teaching points apply with Taysom Hill and that offense?) – “Yeah. They are similar in the aspect as far as running quarterbacks, but I think they do a great job of keeping you on your toes. When you pop on the film, they can be in so many personnel (groups). They can give so many looks out of so many personnel (groups). I think that’s what really makes them hard is you have to be sound … you have to know who is in the game. You have to communicate. They do a great job of just putting you in situations where it’s going to be difficult. It’s going to be a good one Monday.”

(As a linebacker, do you personally like facing the more unorthodox quarterbacks like Taysom Hill, or would you prefer a more traditional drop-back quarterback?) – “I love the challenge, so I’d say I love the guys that can run and extend plays. I won’t say it’s easy, but it’s a little easier when a guy just stands back there and just makes throws. You don’t got to worry about if they run the ball, if you’re covering well, you can’t be in too much man because they can take off. That challenge for me, that’s what football is about. I love the challenge of football, so any chance I get to have a great challenge like Hill, I get excited. It’s going to be fun, especially Monday night, there. It’s going to be an electric atmosphere for sure.”

(An athletic quarterback sparks your move back to outside linebacker. What do you think you’ve learned from this transition? What has it brought to your game?) – “I think for me, when you’re down there with the d-line and outside linebacker, your technique has to be very, very sound. At linebacker I can get away sometimes with just my pure speed or just being off the ball in anticipation sometimes. With outside linebacker, if you’re not worried about who is in front of you sometimes, it can hurt. Down there, it taught me that technique is really, really important. Your hand placement, getting off the ball – those things I’m not going to say you take for granted as a linebacker, but sometimes you can shy away from it. At outside linebacker, just being down there really helped me appreciate my technique .”

(It’s only human nature to look forward, but it seems like going day by day is working for the Miami Dolphins. Why do you think this group is so receptive to the Head Coach Brian Flores philosophy?) – “It’s one thing. It’s all trust. We trust ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) with everything. Every guy trusts him. We know his system works. We believe what he is talking about. I think we just had to truly see it. I think once we believed in us and him, things started to turn around. It’s a credit to him and our coaching staff and it’s a credit to all of us. We’re really just doing a great job of taking it one day at a time and taking it one game at a time and just doing our thing.”

(Can you give your thoughts on how your front is playing? With DT Christian Wilkins playing really well, DT Raekwon Davis, DE Emmanuel Ogbah’s impact. Do you have even more respect for DT Zach Sieler because of what he made himself as a [seventh-round] guy. If you could just talk about that group of player in front of you.) – “I’m going to say this, I’m very grateful for those guys. They make my job a lot easier. All of those guys we got down there, from Christian to Ogbah all of them. They truly make my job easier. I think the one guy – ‘Gink’ (Andrew Van Ginkel), that is a smart guy. There have been plenty of times he got me right and he coached me up a little bit. When you see a guy like Zach, he comes in and he’s so consistent. He comes in and works and does what he has to do. He’s a great teammate, he’s a great guy and we’re all just happy for him. He deserves it. Everything he gets and accomplishment he’s making, he deserves it. You definitely have a lot of respect for a guy like that. He comes in and works and does his job and he’s consistent. Credit to him.”    

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