Emmanuel Ogbah – September 25, 2023
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Monday, September 25, 2023
DE Emmanuel Ogbah
(Which was your favorite highlight, the pick or the sack?) – “For sure, it’s my first career pick. I’d say the pick was my favorite highlight.”
(You’ve been such a team guy even though you’re playing less, you always have such a positive outlook. Is that hard being so positive when you’re maybe not playing as much as you used to?) – “It’s definitely tough, but with the limited role that I have, I try to make the best of my opportunities. That’s what I’m doing.”
(Is the hope that the play you did Sunday maybe opens up some more of those opportunities and playing time?) – “Shoot, hopefully. Just going out there and showing what I can do, and just get me on the field more.”
(What’s the origin of your celebration? It seems like when you make a big play it’s always been consistent.) – “I started it I think when I got to Kansas City or the year before that. It’s like I’m betting on myself and I’m just rolling the dice. I played dice games a lot growing up, so betting on myself is kind of where it came from. The jump kind of happened when I got to Miami.”
(Are you keeping that football from your first career pick?) – “Oh, yeah I’m keeping it. Actually Drew’s still got my football. He didn’t put it in my locker today. I’m going to have to have a little word with him. (laughter) I need my ball.”
(How quickly did you have to react? The ball hit S DeShon Elliot’s hand and maybe DT Christian Wilkins’ helmet. What was that moment like when you saw it?) – “DeShon made a great play, he put his hands up and hit the ball, and I think it bounced off of one of their helmets and all of a sudden I looked to my left and the ball was spinning. I was like, ‘oh snap, I’m right there.’ So I just kind of stretched my arm out and grabbed it. It was kind of an easy catch. It was nice.”
(What are you looking forward to this week in this matchup with Buffalo, knowing how the season ended last year, and just having another opportunity?) – “I didn’t get a chance to play against them, in that playoff game or the last game. I’m looking forward to going up there and playing them. Just going out there and starting fast, hit the right keys, just playing hard, just playing complementary football.”
(How important is it for you as a franchise to get past the Bills? They’ve been kind of road blocking you.) – “They are a good team, so just do what we got to do. We’ve got a good offense that’s going to go out there and score some points. We got to do a good job of holding them off from scoring points.”
(How has it changed this year compared to last year in terms of how much time you spent in Austin Clark’s room compared with Ty McKenzie last year and Ryan Slowik this year? Has that changed?) – “I didn’t spend time in Ty’s room, just more Austin’s room last year. This year I’m more in the outside ‘backers room.”
(Is it nice to play there in September and not in December or January?) – “Oh yeah, I’m thankful it’s still September. It’s going to be a good game for us.”
(I think you guys last year, or the year before, got some snowballs thrown at you?) – “I wasn’t there, but I watched on TV. They were getting snowballs thrown at them and also they complained. They talked about it too. It was pretty wild they allowed that to happen.”
(What’s the rivalry like with the Bills? I know every team is a little bit different, but what’s special about playing Buffalo?) – “I really don’t know. I guess I’ve lost to them more times than I’ve won. It’s just I want to beat them bad because they beat us multiple times. That’s just the goal, to beat them pretty much.”
(If I can do a quick look back to this past game. what is it like as a defender when you see the offense crank up?) – “I would say as for us, the d-line/outside ‘backers, we’re excited because that means they are going to pass the ball and we get to just rush the passer. That makes our job easier. But to see the offense go out there, lights out, and score a bunch of points for us, that just makes us happy. We’re happy for them, they are celebrating doing their little dance. We saw them practice that dance too on Friday which is funny, and they ended up doing it. That was pretty cool to see.”
(OL Austin Jackson said that they only did it for like five seconds, and they got it down. Is that accurate?) – “Oh yeah, they did it right before the walkthrough on Friday, and then they did the little dance and then they did it in the game.”
(As a defender when the opposing team is dancing after a touchdown…) – “It’s demoralizing. You don’t want to see that. You don’t want to see that. They just scored on you, and they are dancing. You could see the defenders, you can see the look on their faces like, ‘come on y’all.’ But, yeah it’s demoralizing as a defender.”
(How fulfilling was it to win in that fashion?) – “It felt good. We opened the season with a bang in our home. We should dominate every time we play at home. That’s my mindset every time we play at home.”
(Did you guys go back and watch the first S Jevon Holland’s forced fumble? The effort everyone had to get in front of the play and block for him, I’m curious of the message in the defense room to give that effort to go block?) – “First of all, Jevon is a hell of a player. A hell of a game he had. Nice strip on the ball. We’re trying to score on defense. That’s our whole mentality. As soon as somebody picks the ball up, the lead blocker goes block the receiver, goes block the quarterback, whoever that can go make the play. Just go block them.”
(Did LB Bradley Chubb say anything about this being personal as far as last week’s matchup with Denver?) – “He didn’t have to say anything. We knew. Just like (Defensive Coordinator) Vic (Fangio) didn’t have to say nothing. We knew the game meant a lot to them coming from that organization. We just wanted to go out there and play for them really.”
(Can you take that same mentality to next week as far as making it a little more personal?) – “We could do that too. Like I said, we have a sour taste in our mouth the last time we played them. We lost. Even though I wasn’t playing, we lost that playoff game. Just going out there and dominating, that’s what we want to do.”
