Cameron Wake – December 9, 2017
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Saturday, December 9, 2017
Defensive End Cameron Wake
(Obviously, this is another opportunity to play Patriots QB Tom Brady. I know you take every quarterback and it’s just a quarterback, but do you notice any difference with him as opposed to others that you play?) – “Not really. They all throw the ball. They all hate getting hit. They all complain to the refs. All of the above. I’m not taking anything away from him, (he’s) obviously a good player; but obviously in this league, every week you’re playing a tremendous player at whatever position. It may be running back, it may be quarterback, o-line, whatever it may be, so week in and week out you have to make sure that you keep your Band-Aids on and put your best food forward. ”
(With Patriots QB Tom Brady, early in your career you guys had success against him, especially at home, generally splitting that series for a number of years. Is there any rhyme or reason that you guys had that kind of success?) – “I couldn’t put my finger on any one thing. I’d like to think that South Florida, the home crowd, we have a lot of support down here – the best fans in the NFL, I’m sure they play a part. I’m looking forward to them coming out, obviously on Monday Night (in a) sold out – hopefully – stadium. I don’t know if it is or not; but usually we have a tremendous amount of support from the Dolfans and I wouldn’t expect anything different this Monday Night. It should be a good one.”
(It’s the most expensive ticket in the NFL this week, actually.) – “Oh really? Cha-ching. (laughter).”
(What does it say about the level of interest for this game, nationally televised and all of that?) – “It should be a good one. I’m glad I’ve already got my tickets. (laughter)”
(Obviously, you don’t put more into one game than you do any other game. I’ve heard you say that; but do you feel any particular way about the fact that you guys have put together embarrassing performances in nationally-televised games?) – “Televised or not, embarrassing performances are an issue whether nobody sees it or it’s on Sunday Night, Monday Night or Thursday Night, whatever it is. We see it. You’ve got to look at your resume when we watch film. The guy besides you is watching your performance. The offense is watching the defense or vice versa. Those are the guys who, to me, are the most important, and the guys you really have to look in the face day-in and day-out and care about what they think and how you perform when their job’s on the line because of what you do. The television audience has never been a factor to me. It’s always going to be the guys to my right and my left, the coaching staff, GMs, owners, all of that stuff. The primetime, that doesn’t change my approach or feelings, whether we win or lose.”
(Have you had any contact with Patriots QB Tom Brady outside of games? Have you met him at Pro Bowls or anything like that?) – “Yes, we went sailing on a yacht together and go golfing. (laughter)”
(No, I thought maybe at a Pro Bowl or something.) – “I don’t recall many passing-bys. We usually meet each other, or collide into each other, on Sundays and Mondays. After that, I don’t recall any off the field.”
(Do you talk?) – “Do I?”
(When you collide into one another? Do you exchange pleasantries?) – “It’s quick. It’s like bang-bang and then I’m usually off doing something else. We don’t have many interactions that I can remember.”
(Who do you go yachting with?) – “I have a select group of friends that are my guys that I like to call – guys and gals – that I like to call up on a nice Sunday afternoon.”
(But are there other players, stars on other teams, that you have relationships with, that you actually go out with and things like that?) – “I think so. There’s one right now.” (points to TE Anthony Fasano) (laughter)
(Any that you want to tell us who they are? Cam, you’re a brick wall lately.) – “Same old, same old. (laughter)”
(With Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski suspended for this game, they play him a lot in line normally as a receiving threat? How do you anticipate they’ll adjust without that guy available?) – “Throw the ball to somebody else. (laughter) At this time of year, there’s people missing from every roster in every situation, whether it’s suspensions, toenails. It’s Week 14 so every team, us included, have to adjust to missing personnel. As silly as that is, they’ll just use somebody else the same way we would when somebody’s down. Somebody else has to go in there and take up whatever position or reps or whatever it may be.”
(Those guys also change up their game plan from week to week, quite a bit. Do you think without TE Rob Gronkowski, are they spreading out? Are you expecting four wides all day? What do you look at from that perspective?) – “That’s a great question to ask (Patriots Head Coach Bill) Belichick. If we focus on what they’re going to do, then we’re probably already at a disadvantage. I think the most important thing is to focus on what you do, play your game, do your rules, whatever they may be. I think the way our coaching staff has built this defense, when you present the defense and you present the play, whatever it may be, you have a certain set of rules and whatever combination of guys, the formation they come out in, your rules will tell you what to do. If you execute it, you’ll be fine, no matter who’s wearing the jersey in the position that is out on the field.”
(You mentioned Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick. We talked to him two weeks ago and he had some pretty high praise on you. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but he said that you and Jason Taylor are two of the players he’s had to game plan solely for in the past. Does that level of respect go both ways? What do you think of Belichick. as a coach?) – “I think he’s obviously done things his way and he’s had success doing it that way. My hat is off to him and what he’s been able to accomplish.”
(What’s it been like battling Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick for a decade?) – “It’s been fun. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”
(Because?) – “Because it’s football and I love it. Again, replace (Bill) Belichick with X coach and I’ve been loving playing against them. I feel like week in and week out, there’s going to be a game plan, a position, or person that’s a challenge. I’ve never been afraid of a challenge or backed down from a challenge. Every week in this league, there’s a Belichick, there’s a (Tom) Brady, there’s a somebody that you have to be able to go out and be Cameron Wake against X, Y and Z. And every week it’s pass or fail. That’s why we love this game.”
(You earlier in your career, figuring out how to set the edge. What do you tell young players like DE Charles Harris about that role and that responsibility and the challenge?) – “I don’t want to be biased but I think it’s one of the most important positons on the field, especially when you consider running the ball, you are generally the make or break area of the field when it comes to most outside zone or outside plays. You have a huge responsibility and generally speaking, you’re going against somebody who is 70 pounds heavier than you. It’s not a physical thing as much as it is a mental thing. You just have to have the mindset of I’m going to go in there and I’m going to get the job done. I don’t care if I’m 240 (pounds), I don’t care if I’m 300 (pounds). We’ve got d-ends that have been anywhere in between and everybody on defense counts on you to basically funnel that ball to a certain area. It’s a mindset. We’ve had guys here that no matter what their physical stature is, if you don’t have the mindset mentally, you probably won’t be successful. Being able to have that mindset, being able to get the job done, I think it’s the only way to be successful.”
(This past Monday night we saw the injury Pittsburgh Steelers LB Ryan Shazier. Do you think that players need to remind themselves about the safety factor as it pertains not only to their opponents but themselves when they’re tackling people, for example?) – “I wouldn’t be able to do that unless the offensive players are doing the same thing, because if I say I was going to have to slow down or adjust to protect myself to not hurt tackling this player, meanwhile he’s saying I’m going to do everything I can to completely annihilate you when I have the ball in my arms, it has to be … If it’s not mutual, if I’m going 20 miles an hour and you’re going 15, I’m going to win. Now you’re like, well now you’ve got to go 30. Well then I’ve got to go 45. And we’re going to go until we’re I’m maxed out and you’re going to max out and we’re going to have a tremendous collision. Where’s the line? Are you going to tell all the running backs, listen you’ve all got to slow down a little bit? Receivers? But I also feel like as a defender, I’m trying to give myself as big of an advantage as possible without trying to hurt myself, because we’re rarely defenseless as a defender. I mean my knees aren’t valuable to the NFL. They can cut me, they can do everything; but if I brush a quarterback, I get fined. So it’s like there’s so many different levels. One player after the play, he’s suspended. Another player doing a football move, he’s … There’s so much doing on that we have not touched on and that needs to fixed and addressed that I think you’d be here for a 45 minute … (laughter).”
(If you’re slowing down. Then you’re putting yourself at risk.) – “I put myself at risk. I’m going to lose the play. They’re going to get the first down. All of the above. So every time I’m going in there, I’m trying to literally destroy this person. I’m glad that you see that. That’s the way football is because he’s doing the same thing. You don’t see running backs going in (softly). They’re down and getting into the most powerful and compact (position) and literally in terms of physics, the most kinetic energy they could possibly produce; and I have to do the same to meet that force. It’s force. It’s two forces, mass, velocity – it’s physics. How am I going to stop you from advancing beyond this line?”
(What did you think when you saw the Pittsburgh Steelers LB Ryan Shazier injury?) – “I mean I’ve seen a lot of injuries so unfortunately, again, being in this league, that comes along with it and it’s unfortunate. This is my thing: I want to hurt everybody I play. I don’t want injure anybody. So to see somebody … I want you to be able to get up and go to the next play or feed your family and play next week but I want you to say ‘Man, Cameron Wake.’ I don’t want you to be off the team or like not playing. I want you to obviously be physically defeated. I want to intimidate. I don’t want you to be harmed beyond tomorrow at all. It doesn’t always work that way. What do we’ve got? What is it, 10 guys on IR or whatever? I’m sure every team has about that with 50 players on a team and then when you think about a 90-man roster … That’s a 20 percent chance every time you’re on the field, a 20 percent chance that whatever happens to you, you’re not going to play football this year.”
(You’ve had it happen before.) – “It’s happened to me. I’ve been lucky. I mean I’ve dodged a bullet, but (there’s a) 20 percent chance every play that something is going to happen to somebody. That’s crazy but it’s the reality. Everybody acts like, oh well …”
(Just for clarity sake, there’s a big time difference between injury and someone being hurt.) – “Yes, yes. Completely. I don’t want to injure anyone; but I want to hurt you, and I’m sure he wants to hurt me and so on and so on. But as a defender, I feel like I’m obviously much more vulnerable than a quarterback, receiver or a running back …”
