Andre Branch – July 31, 2017
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Monday, July 31, 2017
DE Andre Branch
(Do you enjoy the more physical nature of practice today?) – “No question. It helps practice out a lot. When we are just in jerseys you can’t simulate a game. When you put pads on, it’s game time.”
(What does it sound like to you when pads are colliding during football practice?) – “Football season is back. That’s what it sounds like. There’s no more OTAs, no more minicamp. Football season is here.”
(When did you find out that you were actually going to be able to hit somebody?) – “Offense and defensive line is pretty much the same as it was yesterday. We just got to tackle the running backs and receivers today.”
(You had a strip sack, was that intentional or was the ball just there?) – “I’m going to always go for the ball on every sack; but in practice, we don’t want to hit the quarterback, but I was bending. I didn’t strip him with my hand. That was my shoulder pad. It wasn’t intentional, but it happened.”
(The d-line seems to be playing pretty well this past week. What is it that makes you guys so effective? Obviously the personnel is better. Why are you so good at getting after the quarterback?) – “We compete each and every day. We know what we have in our room and we know what we need to do to win. We have to play at a very high level and if we don’t, then we hold each other accountable each and every day. Me and Cam (Wake) and (Ndamukong) Suh and Will (Hayes) and Jordan (Phillips) and Charles (Harris), and everybody else in that room, we compete each and every day to see who practices the best. It’s kind of friendly competition with us; but we know what we need to do, and that’s what we are going to keep doing.”
(Who’s the one that keeps everyone accountable the most?) – “I think it’s a group effort. At the end of the day, like I said, we know exactly what we have. There’s no one bigger than the other, no matter who they are. If a younger player asks anyone in that room, he could ask another rookie a question, they’re going to answer just like a vet. For us, it’s just everybody plays at the same level and we just keep rolling.”
(What do you think of all the talk about your interior linemen behind DT Ndamukong Suh? All the talk about who’s going to be … Is there enough depth?) – “To be completely honest with you, I haven’t heard of any talk. We just go out there and play and practice, watch film and we correct each other. We don’t focus on what’s going on outside. That’s just what we do.”
(Have you seen defensive line improvement or is it too early to tell?) – “We focus on getting better each and every day. Daily, we’ve been getting better, but there’s tons of things we need to work on. For us it’s a constant battle of getting better each and every day and keep climbing that ladder.”
(I saw you really go out of your way today at one point to talk to DE Charles Harris right there on the field. Does that help him with a correction or a tip? Any light you can share?) – “Anything I can do to help. For me, we know Charles is going to play, and he’s going to play a lot. We need him and he understands that. He’s a student of the game, that’s for sure. He’s going to help us a ton.”
(Speaking of getting better, do you think it’s possible that DE Cam Wake could be better two years removed from an Achilles injury as opposed to one year?) – “I forgot he tore his Achilles. I didn’t even know that. No. (laughter) Cam is a different guy. Anybody that can come back and have the season that he had last year, a lot of people are going to say that it’s hard for someone to improve on that. But if you ask Cam, there are a ton of things that he can work on. Cam leads and he does everything the right way. He got four or five sacks called back, so in Cam’s eyes, that wasn’t his best year. That’s how we look at it and that’s the type of guys we have in our room.”
(Do you know many sacks you had called back?) – “Yes, I do; but I don’t want to talk about it. (laughter)”
(So you guys keep track of how you all are performing? Who’s the top performer right now this first week of camp?) – “I think that we keep track of each other. Like, I keep track of myself, Cam (Wake) keeps track of Cam and (Ndamukong) Suh keeps track of Suh. But if we see one of us slacking, we’re definitely going to tell each other. Like I said, there’s no one bigger than the other. I’m not going to say that X or Y or Z is outperforming the other; but if we feel like there’s something we need to focus on in practice, then it’s going to get done.”
(I’m not saying that this has happened, but would you feel comfortable getting on DT Ndamukong Suh if he needed it?) – “I do it all the time and he does it with me, and Cam (Wake) the same way.”
(DT Ndamukong Suh is receptive to that?) – “For sure. No question. We have a huge respect for one another. Like I said, there’s no one bigger than the other.”
(Speaking of DE Charles Harris earlier, rookies come in all the time and they’re not really that polished or good with their hands a lot of times. Does it surprise you to watch him and the way he is able to use his hands right now?) – “It’s very, very, very good. You know Charles, he has flashes where you see he can be a dominate player in this league. He’s young at the same time, but he comes in each and every day and he wants to work. I wouldn’t say he wants to be accepted, because we already accepted him as our little brother, but he works extra on that. When he asks questions, if he sees that I do something and he says ‘How did you do that?’ That’s already you showing improvement and showing growth in this game.”
(There are times with the first group that the only new member of that group is LB Raekwon McMillan, and just early observations of how he’s handled playing Mike linebacker with the first team at times?) – “Good. We always tell anybody in there, whoever is in there calling the plays, we’re going to follow your lead, because you’re the Mike. So if you say this, then that’s exactly what we’re going to do. For us, he’s been doing a great job of that.”
(There’s news that Jaguars T Branden Albert has announced his retirement in the NFL. You went against him a lot, a teammate of yours last year. Does that shock you or from kind of knowing him, is that kind of expected?) – “That’s the first time I’ve heard of that. I can’t comment on that until … I would like to talk to ‘B.A.’ (Branden Albert). I talk to ‘B.A.’ a lot. I don’t know if that’s actually a fact or if you know it’s a fact, then that is news to me. He has to do what’s best for him at the end of the day, and I support any decision that he makes for himself and his health.”
