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Bobby McCain – December 22, 2020 Download PDF version

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

S Bobby McCain

(Obviously you’re really close with CB Xavien Howard. I wanted to ask you what is it about him that makes him have a real nose for the ball out there?) ­– “He’s a real playmaker. He attacks the football. One of the biggest things that people don’t understand is we’re – he’s in a lot of man coverage and he’s attacking the football in man-to-man coverage and that’s elite. He’s definitely in an elite group or company of people. He deserves everything he gets coming for him. He definitely does have a nose for the ball.”

(You’ve been here for quite a while. This is the first time you’ve been a part of an elite defense. You guys are ranked up there in the top three of most of the important statistical categories. What is the difference? What is the secret sauce?) – “Just doing your job. We’ve got 11 guys on the field that want to do their job and do it well and play for each other. That’s one of the biggest things is just playing for each other and understanding that we’re a family, not just a football team. We have a lot of guys that are being selfless, doing their jobs and taking on blocks upfront, or whether it’s the back end or the linebackers. Regardless of what your role is, everybody is just doing what they’re supposed to do and having fun doing it.”

(CB Xavien Howard is the only player on this defense that ends up making the Pro Bowl on a team that is the No. 1 scoring defense in the NFL. What are your thoughts on DE Emmanuel Ogbah not making it or any of the other guys from this defense and only Howard making the Pro Bowl?) – “It definitely sucks, especially in our situation. I’m not going to sit here and point fingers at the NFL and do this and do that. We all know that ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) is deserving and we all know there is a couple of other guys on the team that deserve it as well. That’s not my role, that’s not my job to sit back and tell you what their job is; but we have a couple of guys that could’ve made it. It’s disappointing but we know we’re looking for bigger goals in the near future.”

(You guys are the No. 1 scoring defense. Is that a goal to keep that by the end of the year? How important is that moniker for you guys?) – “We just want to keep winning football games. To be honest, I don’t even pay attention to what number we’re ranked on defense. Really, some of the first time I hear it is from y’all. We just try to go in each and every week and get better. We try to play better than we did last week. That’s really the goal and that’s our goal as a team, to win every week. All of these games are big games, huge games for us right now, so very week we’re just trying to focus up on the Raiders.”

(How’s your ankle doing? You seem to come out really well last week. How are you doing from a health standpoint and especially with the Raiders, they seem to be throwing the ball all over the field, especially with QB Marcus Mariota?) – “I’m doing all right. I’ll be fine.”

(Last year exactly at this time, you were preparing to face the Bengals in Week 16 with the No. 1 overall pick at stake. A year later in Week 16, you’re in the thick of a playoff race. How crazy is it to think how far this team has come in just one year?) – “It’s definitely an exciting time of year right now for us and this organization. We’re going to take advantage of it and take advantage of each and every one of these opportunities, and just try to make the best of them and just try to get wins. Keep winning, keep preparing and preparing each and every week like it’s your last week. If you keep doing that, you just keep going and going and going.”

(These two games right here in mid-December, late-December football – they mean everything for your team. What’s the difference in these games versus a Week 2 matchup or when you’re not playing for something?) – “Because we’re playing for something.”

(When you’re playing for something, is there a different mindset? Is the approach different? There’s got to be anxiety. What’s the feel for a game that doesn’t have much on the line?) – “You try to make it as normal of a week as you can. Even though we know the stakes of winning and losing games, each and every week you’ve got to go in and prepare the same and be the same and even-keeled. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low. Just remain the same throughout the week and throughout the season so when these moments do come up, you’re not too excited or you don’t have too much anxiety. You’re just going out there and playing football and doing what you know.”       

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