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Akeem Spence – September 24, 2018 Download PDF version

Monday, September 24, 2018

DT Akeem Spence

(What happened on the play you were ejected?) – “If you go back and watch that play, Cam (Wake) got a sack on that play. Everybody who knows me, I’m always trying to be the first one to go celebrate with his teammate. The guard … We know Oakland’s o-line. We know what they do, we know how they play. They’re extra after the whistle. Me, I’m trying to go celebrate with a teammate; but the guy put hands on me. I’m simply trying to protect myself and keep him up off of me. It turned into a little scrum, some of my teammates came over to help me and the rest is pretty much history. You all saw the helmet in my hand; but me being the person I am, I’d never hit anybody with a helmet. I never want to put anybody’s career in jeopardy or nothing like that. It’s really unfortunate because I thought I was still in the game. I went to actually go back out on defense the possession after that, but they told me I was ejected.”

(So you were surprised you were ejected?) – “Yes, because I didn’t know they were handing out ejections for ripping guys’ helmets off.”

(Have you seen the video?) – “Yes, I’ve seen the video.”

(When you watch the video, is there anything where you feel like ‘I should’ve done this differently’ or ‘I should’ve had some restraint?’) – “Playing the play, I see Cam (Wake) get the sack. I’m trying to go celebrate but the guy has his hands on me pushing me, pushing me, pushing me. At some point, as a man, I have to protect myself and get his hands off of me and do what I have to do. It just went beyond football at that point, which it shouldn’t have. I feel really bad about it because I thought I almost took Cam’s sack away. Then, the defensive guys lost a d-tackle. They lost Will (Hayes) and then you put your defense in a bad position. Now, they’re out there with three d-tackles, three ends and are trying to play a rotation that they never played, so I felt really bad for that. Putting guys in an awkward position on defense, it sucks; but the guys pushed through and found a way to win. We just get ready for next week and that’s pretty much it. It just shows how resilient this team is and the guys we have in there, especially up front and on defense. That’s pretty much it.”

(When you say it shouldn’t have happened, you mean what part of it? You said it went beyond football and that shouldn’t have happened. That’s on his part or your part or the ref?) – “It just shouldn’t have gotten to that point. Me, I’m never going to put my hands on anybody. I just play football. After the play is done, that’s it. Go back to the huddle and just play football, the next play and just keep playing. There shouldn’t be all of the extra pushing guys over a pile, punching guys in the helmet and stuff. It never should come to that. It’s just playing ball, honestly.”

(Head Coach Adam Gase told us today that DE William Hayes got hurt because he was trying not to put his body weight on Raiders QB Derek Carr. Did you hear that?) – “Yes, I heard about that. Let’s keep it honest, that rule is a tough rule to gauge. Will is going to make a play, trying to sack the quarterback and then roll off at the end, not trying to put all of his weight and get a sack taken away. He ended up being hurt, and it sucks, because he’s trying to protect the quarterback while still trying to make a play. It’s a double-edged sword. What do you want players to do? We know the rule, but we don’t know the ins and outs of it. I saw (Packers LB) Clay Matthews, I think he had another one yesterday. It’s like, ‘what do you want the guy to do?’ He has to put the guy down. ‘How much is too much late? What technique do you use? How do you go about it?’ I’d say we’re still asking questions just like you all are asking questions.”

(How do you get over the loss of DE William Hayes, both on the field and in the locker room?) – “It’s going to take time because Will is a good dude, a good locker room guy, a great teammate and definitely a guy you want to be out there with on Sundays. Guys have to continue to step up – me, some of the d-tackles, the ends – we have to do it by committee. We just have to keep going and keep finding a way, just like the guys did yesterday when me and when Will went out. The guys found a way to stay out there and get it done, grind through it. Jordan (Phillips), ‘V.T.’ (Vincent Taylor), (Davon) Godchaux – those guys, they played great. They sucked it up. I think those guys had 47, 50-plus snaps. For d-tackles, that’s a lot, especially in this Florida heat. We just have to keep finding ways to win and we did that. Our defense gave our offense a chance until they got it going and they caught fire. The rest is history.”

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