Cameron Wake – December 15, 2017
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Friday, December 15, 2017
DE Cameron Wake
(Given the stage and the opposition, how satisfying was the win against New England on Monday night?) – “It was fun. Getting a win is always a good, fun experience. I know I speak for a lot of guys saying we enjoyed it.”
(What makes it tough to stop Bills RB LeSean McCoy? We see the shiftiness and all that kind of stuff, but from your standpoint, what makes it tough going against him?) – “Again, this is the NFL so anytime you’re in a position where you’re playing against a premier player, and again, I’ve said it – whether it’s quarterback, receiver, running back – good players are always going to find the guy that’s not doing their job. If it’s quarterback, usually it could be receivers they’re throwing it to or scrambling. Obviously, running backs are guys who, ‘Hey everybody, he’s in his place, he’s in his place, he’s in his place, he’s not,’ and that’s where they’re going to run. Obviously, he, being an explosive-type players, that’s what he’s going to do; and as a defense you have to be where you’re supposed to be every play the whole game. You can’t have a letdown or you get good play, good play, good play, and then that player takes advantage of that person who’s not doing what they’re supposed to. Another day in the life of an NFL defense.”
(Assuming Bills QB Tyrod Taylor does play, he’s a mobile quarterback. Those guys have given you problems in the past. Why is it so hard to defend a quarterback that’s mobile and how can you fix it this week?) – “Again, in the same line, whether it’s quarterback or running back, if you’re not rushing together as a unit, somebody’s not doing what they’re supposed to do, then they break contain or scramble for extra yards. Obviously, quarterbacks generally are not stressed physically throughout a game and when they take off running, they get to do their one or two sprints, when everybody else has been doing them for quite a while. It usually is a disadvantage, so you just have to be able to rush together and not allow that player – running back, quarterback, receiver, whoever it may be – to take advantage of people not doing what they’re supposed to do.”
(You dropped into coverage a fair amount on Monday. Is it more than you have in the past?) – “I’d have to go back and count. I mean I drop occasionally. I really don’t know what the numbers were, but whatever it takes.”
(Do you have an instinctive respect for the other guys that are in your age bracket, regardless of position? Like QB Jay Cutler is about the same age as you, guys like that.) – “I do; but I also think it changes by position, as well. A kicker’s workload and a defensive end’s workload aren’t the same. Again, being able to play physical football, contact football at the highest level for an extended period of time, I have a great amount of respect for anybody that’s doing that, regardless of position; because trust me, I know what this game takes away from you, physically. When you sign up, you kind of have to write some body parts off knowing that they’re going to the cause. You look around and you see a lot of these young pups, they really don’t know what they’re getting themselves into probably; but the older guys who do and they’re still doing it and still doing it well, my hat’s off to them.”
(How often do you shake your head about something like that in the locker room when you see a guy that’s 22 or 24, and you think to yourself, ‘They don’t know yet?’) – “I actually can say that I think a lot of guys in our locker room are pretty good as far as understanding; but I’ve obviously been around the league long enough to see guys who – and it’s not necessarily them understanding what’s coming, but it’s them not looking toward that day and treating today like it won’t affect them 10 years from … in the future. If you’re eating a bunch of BS and you’re partying and you’re staying up late and all of those things, that might be fun now; but again, like I’ve always said, there’s nothing free. In year six, when you feel like a bag of dog crap when you probably could have been okay and played a few more years, maybe that was based on those early years where you didn’t really do what you were supposed to do. Again, this locker room I think, for the most part, guys have taken notice from some of the older guys who we have who do things that they can do to continue to play. Then again, I’ve been around the league a while and I’ve seen the youngsters not take heed. ”
(Where does your discipline come from, because those things that you mentioned that are bad are pretty fun – like eating bad is great at the time.) – “Why is it great?”
(You’re sitting there with a pizza in front of you and you’re thinking, ‘Man I can’t do this because I want to be out there killing it in Week 14?’) – “Yes, but it’s a very simple risk-reward or cost-benefit. The pizza is great for 10 minutes, then you finish eating the pizza. Once it gets in your body, you feel like crap for two days. Ten minutes for two days, what kind of return on investment is that? Now if I give you a salad, it tastes like crap – which I think salads taste great – but it tastes like crap for 10 minutes, but you feel great for two days. Don’t let me take any investment advice from you. (laughter) Football is no different, neither is nutrition or discipline. If I give you $2 now and I’ll get $400 later, yeah I’ll take that. Obviously, I’m not going to do it the other way around, take a loss and then take another loss. It just doesn’t make sense to me, personally.”
(One more follow up on this important topic, what is the Cam Wake salad if I was to go home and make it?) – “Mixed greens, carrots, peppers, maybe a little avocado, chicken breast and if we have some, maybe some egg whites.”
(Dressing or just dry?) – “Maybe a little oil and vinegar if it’s available, but I’ll eat it dry.”
(This team has played well in December for the second year in a row. What does it take to win December football? There’s usually more at stake this late in the year.) – “There’s more at stake and it’s harder to win from a purely logical, physical standpoint. There is nobody who is playing at 100 percent, I’m talking about personally – your team or your position. You’ve got injuries. There’s a load of things. Everybody has to dial it up a little bit as far as, ‘Hey, maybe he’s not in, so we have to take more snaps, or this scheme of such and such team we’re playing going into Week 14 is different than maybe we’ve seen before the second time we’re playing them,’ and so on. There’s a lot of other things that come into play late in the season. Again, it’s playing consistent football and playing complementary football. That’s the only way it’s going to happen, so I’d like to think the guys that are in the locker room, on this team have that mentality, whether it’s back against the wall, a must win, all of those things that everybody says. At the end of the day, you’ve got to fight the bear.”
(Fourteen straight weeks now that you guys have had a game?) – “Is it? Sheesh. Didn’t know. We have a bye week, though, right?”
(We all talked about it in September about hitting a wall. Are you guys physically alright? I know you get a lot of rest time during the week, but how are you handling this?) – “We get a lot of rest time during the week?”
(Off day.) – “Perception is such a thing. (laughter) I don’t believe in walls. You hit the wall the first time you step into a game, literally, a 300-pound wall of men. I didn’t even know, to be very honest, I didn’t know that. I realized we weren’t going to have a bye week; but I don’t even know what week it is. It’s just about putting your head down and fighting the next fight, whatever it is. This week it’s the Buffalo Bills and the first play it’ll be whoever’s playing tackle. That’s my fight and every guy has their fight. Again, if you’re thinking about how many week’s it’s been since you had a bye week or you’re still thinking about the hurricane, you’re completely off as far as where your attention should be and where your effort should be. Again, I don’t think any guys in the room have even thought about bye weeks or consecutive games or anything like that. This is the next one, it’s the most important one and we’ve got to win. The same as last week. You’ve got 12 hours to celebrate and then you’ve got to move on. You get 12 hours to sulk and then you’ve got to move on. It’s the same way week in and week out. ‘No bye week? Okay, here we are, pout, and done. Ready, let’s go.’ That’s just how it is.”
(Do you feel the same way as you have in years past at this point in the season?) – “I hope so. (laughter) I hope so. Every year takes a toll on your body, as we spoke about earlier. It’s just life and physics; but you try to offset that with working a little harder, working a little smarter and hopefully it pays off on Sundays”
(Have you preached that to any of the guys, being a veteran, or do they know better? ‘We’re not thinking about hitting any walls, you guys should know better, this is what football is about, men have to be men.’ Do you have to preach that as one of the veterans to let them know this is what it’s all about?) – “I’d like to think that we established that a long time ago – weeks ago. I speak to the rookies every year and I tell them about, the hardest thing won’t be your opponent, it will be you. It’s not the guy you’re going against. He’s going to be great. He’s fast, he’s strong, he’s big, he’s all that; but the guy in the mirror is going to be your biggest you’re going to face your entire career, whether it’s discipline, taking care of your body, eating that salad instead of that pizza that’s going to make you feel like crap for two days that tastes good for 10 minutes. All of those things, that’s the fight. We’re all big, we’re all fast, we’re strong. Studying instead of playing video games. All of those things. Either you want to be great or you want to be just a guy. Just the guys that play video games that have got all of the numbers and all of the promoters on South Beach. They’ve got pizza on speed dial; but they play for two or three years and nobody ever hears from them. If you want to be great, you eat a salad with no dressing.”
(Two-part question here. What was going through your mind when you were watching shots of the Colts-Bills game from last week knowing you were playing in Buffalo this week? And how much experience do you have playing in snow games or blizzard games?) – “It looked like fun, I guess. It’s interesting. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve seen a game with as much snow as that but in the division we play in, traditionally, every game from October on that’s not in Miami, it’s going to be cold. Buffalo’s cold. New York’s cold. New England’s cold. It’s not really a thing at this point. Every home game is going to be hot. Surprise. The same way you deal with 110 degrees as we do for months in training camp is the same way you deal with cold games, whatever the temperature may be. You put on some gloves and go out there and play. If you’re thinking about the cold, then again, you’re already losing the battle. The cold and the heat and the fans and all crowd noise, all of that stuff should be in the far trenches of your mind. Your job, defeating your opponent – whoever it is – is number one. ”
(We talked about earlier you mentioned how workloads vary from one positon to another. We also talked about the no bye week thing. When you put that together and you see the guy next to you, DT Ndamukong Suh, playing every snap against New England, what do you think? He never came off the field.) – “Yes, obviously. He’s a tremendous force of nature. Again, the amount of respect – speaking to what you were saying – he’s taking on double teams. He’s got four hands on him every play, offenses are scheming to him trying to do whatever they can to stop him and still he’s successful, on top of playing every snap. You can’t find a way to negate how incredible that is. That’s out of this world. Obviously I’m tremendously honored and pleased to have him on my side and playing on the good guy Dolphins. It’s incredible; but again, surprising? No. I’ve been with him long enough to see what he’s capable of. I’m not shocked. I’m not wowed in that sense, because I know him and I see what he’s capable of. It’s still a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for the things he’s able to do.”
(Have you and DT Ndamukong Suh traded notes in any way in terms of offseason workouts?) – “We do. Actually, we’ve spent some time working out in the offseason together. We have our own separate skill sets and things we have to do on the field; but a lot of times, playing on the same side, we have things that we have to collaborate on and get to make sure we’re on the same page. We spend time in the offseason tailoring, because again, we can’t be two complete individuals, even though we are. We have to work together as well as the guys on the other side, so we all have to be on the same page, not just him and I, but a lot of other guys on the d-line as well.”
