Bobby McCain – June 1, 2017
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Thursday, June 1, 2017
CB Bobby McCain
(We saw you guys giving a little heck to the receivers yesterday. Tell me about the secondary and the attitude that you guys have? I know you like to have a good time but you seem to be a veteran unit who is a little more accomplished now.) – “Yes. Like you said, we like to have a good time and have fun. It’s competition. Competition brings out the best in people and every once in a while, giving a little bit to the receivers, receivers giving it back makes it a lot of fun out there.”
(Where has this secondary progressed would you say since last season?) – “We’re all still learning but we’ve got a lot of guys back. We do a lot of communication. We do a lot of … We’re better, but we can always be better and we’re going to be better. We’re going to get better each and every day. That’s what we work to do. Coming out here and learning, like you said, the ins and outs of the defense and everything.”
(There’s a picture of you hollering at QB Ryan Tannehill and WR Jarvis Landry. Do you remember what you were saying?) – “No. I honestly don’t. Probably just giving it to them a little bit. Like I said, just being competitive.”
(What’s the biggest area of growth that you expected to see in your game from last season to now?) – “Just getting hands on the football. That’s what I want to do. That’s what we want to do as a team. The more turnovers we have, the more chances the offense gets to score, and that’s how we look at it. Being able to create turnovers, being able to get hands on the football, that can make you championship team.”
(As a nickel, does that require you to jump more routes?) – “It just requires you to just do your job and at the end of the day, let the plays come to you. As long as you are in the right leverage, doing what you’re supposed to do, and tight in coverage, the plays will come to you.”
(How important is it for you to maintain your position as a starter?) – “Its competition everywhere. It’s competition every day and everyone wants to start. Everyone wants to play. Everybody wants to be the guy and at the end of the day, you have to go out there and prove it. You have to go out there every practice – every training camp practice, every game, preseason game, regular season game, playoff game – no matter what it is, and prove that you’re going to be the guy and that they can trust you.”
(How would you assess your performance last year?) – “I could be better. As a player, I could be better. I can’t sit here and tell you what my goods and bads were; but I can tell you that I know I can be better. I know I can do better and I will do better.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase also mentioned the entire coverage as well on defense this year. That’s something you just mentioned as well. What is required for a defensive back to remain tighter? Is it just study a little bit more?) – “Yes, studying, which you train for. You pretty much train all year to play. That’s what you do. You train to play. So however hard you train, that’s how well you’re going to play. At the end of the day, however hard you study, that’s how much you’re going to know. So being tighter in coverage consists of training, studying, being good in the classroom, being good at practice, knowing your responsibilities, all 11 guys on the field, and if all 11 guys are doing their job, we win.”
(They drafted CB Cordrea Tankersely but they didn’t really bring in a nickel to compete with you. Basically the competition comes from within. Were you surprised at all that they may not have gone and targeted that exact position?) – “I never know what … honestly I don’t watch the draft. I watch the first round, as everybody does; but after that, I don’t really watch it. I just come in. Whoever comes in, we’re all competing. Tankersley, he’s a good corner. Like I said, there’s competition at corner, at each and every spot. You’ve got to go out every day and prove yourself, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
(People often focus on who the starting outside corners are, but you’re on the field most of the time. So can you explain why the nickel role or the slot role is so important in the overall success of the defense?) – “For one, slot corner is, like you said, slot corners play 75, maybe 80 percent of the game, especially in this division with Tom Brady and Buffalo. You play most of the game. It’s important just because of that. You’re on the field all the time. It’s a passing league. You don’t see just line up in the I and run the lead. No, it’s stack options, there are all kinds of things happening inside, where you have to communicate. You’ve got to be able to be good on your feet, be quick and a nickel corner is very important to a great defense.”
(Having said that how would you look back on the run defense last year? How do you describe it? What needs to change this year?) – “Like I said, we’ll be better. At the end of the day, I can’t tell you ‘We have to do this or we have to do that.’ As long as guys are doing their jobs, as I know they will, we’ll be fine.”
(When you look at special teams, you guys made some plays last season – kickoff return, punt return, good coverage units. I think LB Spencer Paysinger might be one of the few key guys that you guys lost. Can this be a game-changing unit, a difference-making unit this season? What do you think?) – “Yes, most definitely. Special Teams, we take them very seriously here and ‘Coach Rizz’ (Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi) and ‘Coach Mouff’ (Assistant Special Teams Coach Marwan Maalouf), they take pride in what they do and so do we. Being on special teams, it’s not an offensive or defensive play, but it’s an important play, regardless if it’s field goal block or regardless if it’s the first kickoff of the game, because you never know. That field goal block, you may be up 2 points and the balls on the 4, and you need a field goal block to win the game. So we take them very seriously here and yes, like you said ‘Spence’ (Spencer Paysinger) is a great player, but we also have really good players as well.”
(Going back to talking on the field. Do you think when you get engaged verbally with, whether its the receivers, actually raises your game?) – “Yes. Everybody. Everyone. If you raise it even with the receivers, the coaches, regardless what it is – every once in a while the coach will give it to you here – it’s just competition. If you’re not out there, if everybody’s out there quiet and just lackadaisical, ‘Oh we’ve got practice today.’ No. You want to go out there and have fun. You want to compete. You want to be the best you can be and at the end of the day, I want to beat the guys in front of me.”
(What would you say has been Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke’s sort of points of emphasis since it’s his defense now and he’s the voice, especially as it relates to the d-backs? Like what are you guys constantly hearing?) – “Just play with effort. Play with effort. Play with attitude. Do your job like you’re supposed to do. Do your job and like I said, if everybody’s doing their job and everybody’s doing their responsibility, plays will come to you.”
(Going back to the talking thing, let’s say you make a big play out of here in OTAs or on Sunday for that matter. If I’m a receiver, what am I going to hear from you?) – “(Laughter). You’ll just have to wait and see for that one. I can’t give you that.”
(Do you research their family names and stuff like that?) – “No. No. No family names. No mom names. No mom jokes. That’s a little far, but you know you’ll give them a little heckle a little bit.”
(What’s the worst you have ever heard?) – “I can’t say (laughter). We’ve got cameras in here. (laughter). That’s alright. I can’t tell you that one. I wish I could.”
(On trash talking) – “Yes. From time to time, it may; but like I said, most guys are just out there just having fun. Like we know most of the guys we play against, or we train with them or we went to school with them; we played them in college. So every once in a while, you’ll give a guy; but it’s nothing too crazy.”
(It’s amazing some of the things you probably here and if you heard it anywhere else, there’d be fists thrown, right?) – “Yes. Probably. Even more than likely.”
(Did you see Charles Barkley and Shaq almost went at it on the air?) – “No. I didn’t see that.”
(You’ve got to look it up on YouTube. It’s funny.) – “Yes, I haven’t seen it.”
(When it gets personal like that, does it get under guys skin? Does it affect their play? Have you ever seen it negatively affect a guy’s play?) – “No, not me personally. No, not really. Not too bad, because you’ll give it back. At the end of the day, you have to play the next play. That’s just like if you have a bad down. If somebody catches the ball, you can’t just let that affect the next play. So whatever this guy’s saying, it probably doesn’t matter. I probably won’t see him again.”
(You come to work every day believing you’ve locked down the starting job or thinking ‘I’ve got to perform every single day to make sure that nobody passes me.’) – “I mean I believe every – I think 90 guys? All 90 or 89 guys come into work just knowing ‘Hey, I’ve (got to) perform.’ We’ll go out to practice every day, not to say ‘Oh, I’m comfortable.’ You can never get comfortable in the NFL – ever – because you never know. I have a friend that just got traded today. So you can never get comfortable in the NFL. You have to come out every day and prove yourself, and that’s what you go to practices to do. That’s what you do in the classroom. Any question they ask, you want to get it right. Any play you have, you want to get it right. You want to do it the right way and that will keep you around.”
(No entitlement?) – “No.”
(Was it Calvin Pryor that got traded?) – “Yes.”
