Cameron Wake – November 26, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 26, 2017
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins DE Cameron Wake (transcribed by the New England Patriots)
Q: Losing streaks, this is five straight, how painful is this one and how do you get this fixed?
CW: Hopefully I can speak for most of the guys in the locker room, I don’t look at streaks. I treat it as one game, whether you win or lose. You get 24 hours to sulk or 24 hours to pat yourself on the back and cheer and you got to move on. To be very honest, I haven’t thought past this last game. And you have to focus on the next game. The next play is always the most important and this one was the most important one. You can’t be thinking about three games ago because that really has no bearing on today. As far as today is concerned, I guess frustrating is the simplest word to use being that we feel like we had a great opportunity. Great game plan, but again as I have said in the past, there are self-inflicted wounds that rear their ugly head that cost you plays, that in turn cost you position on the field, that cost your points on the board. And obviously that sways the course of the game. The only way to fix most things in football is to sprinkle a little hard work on it and, you know, just because you work hard still doesn’t guarantee you victory. You know, you have to go out there and execute, you got to go out there and do all the things, cliques in football. Next play, one play, could change the game, so on and so forth. Today, I felt like, on both sides of the ball, there were opportunities we didn’t capitalize on. And there were things that we did to hurt ourselves, rather from the outside hurting us, so those are things, again I said before frustrating, but also probably the easiest to fix. If I had a solution, it would already be fixed by now. But I’m a strict believer in hard work fixes most things.
Q: When the Patriots ran a fake punt on the first drive of the game, is that a sign of disrespect to your team that they are willing to take that gamble?
CW: That would be a great question to ask them. I just feel like they’re like anyone else, just trying to make plays wherever they can. We did the same thing. We gambled on fourth-and-whatever it was and made a big play, but that’s football. Any play, when you’re on the field, can be play to change the game. It doesn’t matter if it’s defense, it doesn’t matter if it’s special teams, it doesn’t matter if it’s offense, you have to play complementary. So, if the defense goes out and gets a stop, it’s now the punt or punt return, whoever is out there, it’s their opportunity to do their job, make sure they punt the ball and then offense gets the ball, and so on and so on and so on. It’s that complementary football. The play you’re speaking about, obviously it wasn’t complementary.
Q: Were you near Bobby McCain on the play in which he got ejected?
CW: Actually, I don’t think I was on the field at the time, but I’d have to go back and look at the replay.
Q: Just before that, there was a face mask penalty on Xavien Howard and then McCain got ejected. Was the defense losing composure at that point?
CW: I’m actually interested to see the play. I mean, to get ejected, I would assume you’d have to do something pretty vile.
Q: They said he threw a punch.
CW: Again, he said, she said. I’d have to see it. I know Bobby and obviously we’ve been here for a long time. He’s, as far as I – I mean, he’s shown on tape he’s a pretty composed guy. It will be interesting to see what happened in the replay.
Q: What’s the toughest part in trying to dig out of this five game losing streak?
CW: It kind of goes week-by-week. Obviously, this game – and this is not just this team. It’s any team. This is the NFL. If you hurt yourself, as well as the other team trying to hurt you, it causes a compound effect. Obviously, they’re going to make plays. They’re professional athletes. But, then if you do damage to your own self on top of the things that they’re doing, you’re fighting a losing battle. So, I guess the frustration – and I told you before, I’m not into the streaks. My focus is on the current situation. This game – that was the most frustrating thing.
Q: How many times would you say that happens where the team hurts itself?
CW: Well, generally, any penalties are self-inflicted wounds – before the play, especially, during the play, as well – whether it’s pass interference, jumping offside, like I did, or players miscommunicating or whatever it may be and you’ve got somebody running wide open or a back running through our defense untouched. I mean, those are the things that it’s not physical ability that causes that. There’s nobody who’s that fast. There’s nobody who’s that strong in the NFL. It’s you made a wrong step or went the wrong way or I didn’t tell you something, you didn’t tell me something. Jumping offside is not concentrating on your play. Guys running free, hitting the quarterback – all those things aren’t physical things. If you get beat, you get beat. This is the NFL. I mean, that happens, but to say a guy’s just running free untouched – pass, run – or hitting the quarterback, all those things, that’s you did it to yourself, not they did it to you.
Q: What is it about the Patriots that frustrates you guys the most and has allowed them to have such success over the past 17 seasons?
CW: It’s just another game. To me, it’s no special sauce. Its, again, as I just mentioned, I don’t look at it the way that you look at it. You’re a bit of a cheerleader. I just look at it as football. It’s football and as I told before, if you do things to yourself as well as somebody trying to do the same thing to you, then you’re fighting a losing battle. Today we did a lot of things to cause us to lose the game, not them doing it to us.
Q: With the playoffs looking like a long shot now, how do you keep guys from checking out on the season?
CW: Well, it’s the same concept as if you’re looking at the statistics and the standings, the formulas, which I’ve been in this league a long time. To me, I really don’t care. I don’t even know them. If you asked me what they are I couldn’t tell you. The reality is you just have to focus on winning and it’s not five weeks from now, it’s not five in a row, it’s the next game, the next play. What are you going to do to make sure you, as an individual, win your matchup? You do your job on that play. People ask me all kinds of questions about this big picture thing. I’m not a big picture guy. I like to focus on the step right in front of me and figuring it out, and we have to do the same thing as a team. If you’re looking at the – I couldn’t even tell you who the third game from now is. Whoever that is, if you’re figuring that game out then you’re going to miss whoever we’re playing next week which, again, I don’t even know. But it’s all about the next play, the next snap, the next game and all of the rest of the stuff will fall into place or not. But if you’re looking past, you’re going to miss the step right in front of you.
