Bobby McCain – November 18, 2020
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Wednesday, November 18, 2020
S Bobby McCain
(The fact that you and S Eric Rowe have been such a good safety tandem obviously is a testament to both of you guys first and foremost, but as you look back at the decision to switch you both from cornerback, do you look back and say maybe Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer and Head Coach Brian Flores were onto something? Are you glad your career sort of took this position turn at this point? It seems to have worked out very well.) – “Me and ‘E. Rowe’ (Eric Rowe), we’re just football players. We play where needed. We can do it all in the back end. We can play corner, we can play nickel, we play safety now; and we’re just trying to get better each and every week. We’re still learning. He’s learning, I’m learning little things that can make us better each and every week. So kudos to ‘E. Rowe,’ kudos to ‘Coach Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores), Boyer, everybody for putting us – they’re just trying to put the team in the best position to win.”
(I wanted to ask you, this week considering what’s going on with Broncos QB Drew Lock from an injury standpoint, how difficult is it or challenging is it to prepare for three different quarterbacks?) – “Just making sure because people don’t understand the quarterbacks, they have different physical assets and some are better throwers, some are better on the move; but you have to look at the coordinator as well and what’s his tendencies and what he likes to do and what he likes to do with all three quarterbacks in the game. There may be a little change when (Drew) Lock is in the game or (Brett) Rypien’s in the game, so just understanding what they like, whoever’s in the game, just know what they like and know what their tendencies are.”
(I’m assuming that going into the season, you guys had a spoken or unspoken goal of ‘hey, let’s make the playoffs.’ But you look up now and you’re only a half game out of first in the division. How much has that occurred to you that you guys are in the thick of the race and could conceivably win the AFC East this year?) – “We definitely understand that we’re in the mix and everybody’s excited that we’re in the mix; but as a team, we try to preach to guys just have a one-week season and don’t think so much of 13-3, think more of 7-3. And if you can do that each every week – go from 7-3 to 8-3 to 9-3 – if you can do that each and every week, that should be the goal. The goal shouldn’t – we’re not thinking hindsight and we’re not thinking down the road of ‘oh, we can beat this team’ or ‘what if we don’t beat this team?’ It’s just one-week seasons and understanding that you’ve got to prepare each and every week because every Sunday, any team could be beat.”
(This season I think more than any other tests the mental fortitude of teams. You’re dealing with stuff – you’re talking to us from your office, your den or whatever – your meetings are all remote the rest of the season, the NFL just announced. There’s a lot going on. You lose star players to COVID, all this. What in your past has prepared you for this moment? How have you been able – because you’re a fiery guy, you’re an emotional guy and you’re a tough guy – but what has gotten you ready for something that you’ve never dealt with before?) – “Just handling adversity. Being able to understand that it’s a lot bigger than you. Even though you’re out of your comfort zone and yeah, you’re having meetings at home and you’re used to being in the building and doing this and doing that, but everybody’s got to do it so you’ve got to understand that it’s about safety first, it’s about the players, it’s about the people in the building making sure everybody’s safe. And if we’ve got to be in intensive protocol the rest of the year, that’s just what it has to be and you’ve got to lock in and be able to understand that taking the teaching from the meeting and from the classroom to the field is going to be very important, because you don’t have that extra time in the building.”
(WR DeVante Parker said something interesting about he kind of felt like there was a direction for this team and that he felt like this team was special even at the end of last year because of what Head Coach Brian Flores has brought to Miami. I’m just curious, in your opinion, what is it about Coach Flores that you guys kind of bought into so quickly and then you saw it kind of pay off even at the end of last year?) – “Guys are just buying into doing their jobs and doing what they’re supposed to do. At the end of the day, football is about 1/11. If one out of the 11 guys doesn’t do their job, then that’s either a big play – and in my case in the defensive backfield that’s a touchdown. So just guys doing their job, making sure that you stay on top of it and at the end of the day, just competing. Competing to win and understanding that everybody has roles on the team and you have to just do your job at the end of the day.”
(After the Chargers game, Chargers WR Keenan Allen had a pretty unique quote. He said, “I would say we were pretty confused out there.” You don’t hear players say that too often in the postgame. He said that “the Dolphins were giving us so many disguises that the best thing to do was to run the ball and avoid catastrophic plays.” When you hear something like that, what do you think?) – “Just applying pressure and putting pressure on the quarterback, on the o-line, on the coordinator. Just putting pressure on those guys and making them feel us because you don’t know where we’re coming from, you don’t know what we’re doing and that’s a good thing. It’s good to hear. We have good game plans each and every week coming out, starting off and ending the week. Some things may change the day before the game. You never know, but that’s just being able to adapt. We have a big sign in the back of our room that says ‘adapt or die’ – not literally, but you understand – and just making sure that all the guys know where they’re supposed to be. It confuses offenses. They don’t know what to do and it confuses the quarterback, which is exactly what we want to do.”
(One thing I noticed when I re-watched the games is so much solid tackling on the back end between you and S Eric Rowe and I confirmed this on two sites, but you can correct me if I’m wrong. It says you guys have four missed tackles out of 82 attempts this year and that’s one of the best among all safeties in the NFL. So my question to you is, is there a sense of pride in being such a sure tackler and a sure-tackling team and is there like one or two traits that you think are consistent among teams that tackle well?) – “Definitely. Definitely. You have to practice tackling well and that’s one of our pillars in our defense. Set the edge, tackle, communicate, defend the deep part of the field and understand that tackling – when you make sure tackles, that just puts the ball back down. That gives you opportunity to get the ball back, so if you guys aren’t out there making sure tackles and the ball’s getting past you and breaking tackles and things of that nature, then those are big plays, especially in the back end like I said earlier. So that’s one of the things we emphasize on each and every week – not just training camp. Each and every week, just making sure we’re sure-tackling and we’re getting the guys on the ground.”
(I know you just answered a question about this protocol, but you’re one of the guys that talked earlier about the challenges that the NFL players have faced having to kind of be disciplined. Do you feel like it’s getting to a point now considering the severity and the ramped up cases that you guys might not be able to finish the season?) – “No, I haven’t thought about that one bit. I’m just thinking about Denver and we’re going to keep going each and every week. I know that those questions are above my pay grade, whether or not we’re going to finish the season, so I’ve just got to go out and play football. My job is to play football and that’s what I’m going to do. If they tell us we’ve got to stop playing because of the severity of the corona(virus), then we have to stop playing; but if not, we’re going to keep the train rolling.”
(I guess just piggy-backing, whether it’s the amoeba look you guys give – I don’t know if you guys call it that or just your better play on the defensive side of the ball – what do you think the biggest difference in this defense from last year? It seems like it’s completely new.) – “Just putting emphasis on the little things. Putting emphasis on the details such as tackling, such as making sure the play call – making sure we’re are all lined up, making sure guys are in the right positions and understanding what the offenses are throwing at us, understanding the weaknesses of the defense, understanding what the offense is seeing on film. That’s one of the biggest things. That’s one of the biggest steps we’ve taken as a defense, especially the secondary – understanding that we know our tendencies and we know that they know our tendencies; so help them help yourself. I’m not sure if that’s the right way to say it, but you’ve got to understand where your help is and understand how you can make plays and what helps the defense.”
