Bobby McCain – September 10, 2020
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Thursday, September 10, 2020
S Bobby McCain
(Head Coach Brian Flores talked this morning a little bit about in-game adjustments and how players might have a tendency to kind of stretch the truth about what might have happened on a given play. I’m curious to ask you how difficult is it to process and recall how a particular play went in the heat of the moment, and how do you escalate that knowledge or that concern to the coaching staff?) – “I can understand that because sometimes you may have a 10-play drive, 12-play drive – I’ve had even an 18-play drive before where they ask you what happened on play three and I mean, ‘well, play three was 15 plays ago.’ So it’s tough to regurgitate what happened exactly, but the one thing that’ll help you as a defense and the one thing that offense as a team, is if you’re coming off and you’re like, ‘nope,’ not necessarily lying but false information is the worst information. So if you’re giving good information when you come off to the sideline, that helps us be able to get adjusted and helps everyone around you to be able to play better.”
(How did you end up shaping in the point system? Did you and your team end up winning at the end?) – “I believe I led all points, but we ended up losing. (laughter) We ended up losing at the end. It was a close fight. It was a close fight.”
(I’m wondering if you guys were able to hear in your practice the fake crowd noise that the Patriots plan to use on Sunday?) – “They can do that?”
(I don’t know. I’m not sure the rules if each team has the exact same noise. I’m not sure.) – “I’m not sure either. We still practice with crowd noise as if there’s fans. We know there’s not going to be fans there, but I’m not even aware if they can use the fake crowd noise for the game or not. Either way, it’ll help – not on defense, they won’t use it while they’re on offense of course – but it helps us to be able to use it in our practices and be able to go through those things that you’re going to have to use such as cadence and keys, reading your keys and everything when the game comes.”
(I wanted to ask you what kind of growth have you seen from CB Nik Needham this camp. Also, CB Noah Igbinoghene – I know you worked with him during the offseason but how much do you think that he’s digesting what’s going on from a defensive standpoint?) – “Nik (Needham) – the game is definitely slower to him. You can see that and he’s understanding his techniques better. He’s taking that Year 2 jump as you should. Everybody’s just got to keep pushing. We’re going to keep getting better each and every day and that’s what I tell them. I tell them the same thing. ‘Man, just keep doing what you’re doing and keep getting better and everything will work out.’ As far as Noah (Igbinoghene), he’s a young guy. He’s a good football player, but he’s a smart guy as well. He’s not somebody that doesn’t understand. He understands once he gets it. If he makes a mistake, he probably won’t make that mistake twice. And that’s good. That keeps you in the league. Those two guys, they could be real good for us this year.”
(It seems like you guys have gotten so good at kind of the routine with the COVID protocols and wearing a mask is almost just part of your day, getting the test, wearing the tracker. Now that you’re in a game week and the routine kind of changes – you’re getting a plane, you’re staying in a hotel – do you almost have to kind of remind yourselves of what’s going on in the world and kind of take everything seriously again?) – “You still want to take everything seriously because you definitely know in the forefront of everything, football is important to us and we all love it, but people’s lives are at stake and we do understand that as well. So understanding that that is an important issue and you take care of yourself, take care of your brother, take care of the people around you and just stop the spread of coronavirus, such as wearing your mask, using hand sanitizer, when you’re getting on planes and buses and stuff like that wiping it down – understanding that if one of us gets popped, it could mean multiple of us could be popped.”
(Year 2 at safety – do you feel like a safety now? Is there a little bit more comfort level than at this time last year? A lot more?) – “I would say yes. Understanding the defense is really the part that I would say – just understanding my role and where I fit in the defense and knowing that I’m able to make plays on the ball even at free safety, whether I’m at free, corner, nickel; no matter where I’m at, just understanding that it’s a game that everybody has their piece of the puzzle and you’ve got to do your piece to the best of your ability.”
(Two things if I could – on the points deal you said your team lost like the Hood vs. Burbs or the safeties vs. the corners or both?) – “The Hood vs. Burbs.”
(So you all ended up losing that one?) – “Yeah, we ended up losing that one.”
(So I guess the second thing is obviously you’ve got Patriots QB Cam Newton this week. How is that for you as a safety, knowing you’ve got to defend him as a big runner and as a passer who can stay in place?) – “Just understanding that he’s effective in both ways – in the run game and the pass game and making plays outside of the pocket. If a play breaks down, him being the athlete that he is, he can get out of the pocket and throw the ball downfield. So you have to understand as a safety, as deep defenders, as corners; you’ve got to plaster onto your guys and understand that the play’s not over until it’s over. Until the play’s blown dead, it’s not over because he is Cam. He is a good athlete. He can use his feet. He’s mobile and he’s got a good strong arm.”
(I remember you as a fifth-round rookie just young, wet behind the ears and now you’re a team captain for what is it, your third season? What’s that like to be responsible for an entire unit?) – “Honestly, it’s my honor. It’s my privilege to be a captain and especially to lead these guys. Just knowing that they trust me, they have my back, I have their back; that’s big for me. That’s big for the team. There’s seven other captains – a couple of new guys – and they’re all good leaders. They’re all good veterans. They’ve all played in the league and they understand that at the end of the day, we’ve all got one end goal and that’s to win football games. If we do that – our end goal is to win football games, that’s all I’m going to say about that one.”
(Kind of on that same note about being a captain and we know how important communication is on this defense and on this team, Head Coach Brian Flores has talked a little bit about how there might be more rotation-based on this opening day without the preseason games to kind of ramp up. How much more does that add to your plate as far as communicating to guys that might be coming in and out of the game more at the cornerback and underneath spots?) – “Just making sure we’re all on the same page because one thing like, if we’re all wrong, we’re all right because at the end of the day we can get out of the play and we can play the play. You don’t want to be wrong, but things happen in the heat of the battle and understanding that guys may be rotating, understanding that guys may be coming in up front, in the back end, no matter where it’s happening; guys have to be on the same page. That’s me as a communicator, as a signal-caller, understanding that we’ve got to have the guys on the back end on the same page.”
