Bobby McCain – September 30, 2020
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Wednesday, September 30, 2020
S Bobby McCain
(When you have one of the best QBs in the league getting ready to come to the crib, what type of excitement level is there in terms of going up against that challenge this Sunday?) – “Very exciting. We know he’s playing good football right now. We know we have to have a good week of practice, a great week of practice, to be able to perform well on Sunday. That’s what it takes. It’s not necessarily so much about them; it’s about us doing what we need to do and being prepared.”
(Both Head Coach Brian Flores and Defensive Backs Coach Gerald Alexander are very complimentary of how you’re playing. Do you feel really comfortable right now at safety, and how do you feel of your play?) – “Each and every day we can get better. I can get better each and every week. That’s my goal. I’m just trying to play well and play better each week. I’m not going to sit here and say I’m comfortable, because you never want to get too comfortable. But you want to keep getting better and keep applying pressure.”
(The Seahawks come into this game with a couple of really dangerous deep threats. I’m just curious, from your perspective in that single-high safety look where you’re 20 yards off the ball so many times, how much of an importance do you put on yourself to help eliminate that deep passing game?) – “Just doing my job. Defending the deep part of the field is our job as a secondary. Just making sure we defend the deep part of the field. Don’t allow big plays, don’t allow big touchdowns. It depends on what coverage we’re playing. I can’t tell you what coverage we’ll be in or if we’ll be single high or whatever; but just defending the deep part of the field is our job as a secondary.”
(One of the things that has happened since Head Coach Brian Flores has taken over is penalties have gone down. I’m curious from your perspective, in terms of like pass interference, defensive holding, how did the coaches help you guys figure out, ‘hey I can do this but I can’t do this to this player, or this game, or this official.’ What’s going on behind the scenes that’s helping you guys?) – “Just making sure we’re disciplined at practice. Making sure at practice that we understand the rules, and you can’t get too handsy on guys, especially at the top of the route, because they will call it in this league. You have a five-yard access to put your hands on guys but you can’t hold them. Just explaining the rules to everyone each and every week. We would go over the rules, and having the refs here during training camp, having the refs here was huge. They explained to us what we could and could not do. That helped a lot.”
(I’m sure you’ve been made aware of what’s been going on with the Titans. What’s your reaction to them not playing a game this week? Their game is going to be delayed. What has Head Coach Brian Flores’ message been to you guys internally? Is this kind of a wake up call do you think?) – “We have to keep being accountable to one another, keep being accountable to yourself. You have to understand that you have to hold yourself to a high standard, especially when you’re outside of the building. When you’re inside of the building, it’s probably one of the cleanest places you can be in America. So when you’re outside of the building, making sure you are accountable and taking precautions and doing the things necessary to not come down with anything or catch COVID, or to not feel well coming in here because you never know. It’s not something you can choose or you can pick. It is something that can happen. So you have to hold yourself accountable.”
(How would you describe the progress the secondary has made after this Jacksonville game? And how eager must you be to see the secondary attack with both CB Byron Jones and CB Xavien Howard in there at the same time? I’m sure you must be itching to see that. Can you just describe your feelings on that?) – “Just getting better each and every week. We have a lot of guys that can play a lot of different spots. Just getting better each and every week, coming together because we didn’t have a preseason. These first three games were vital to us to understand that where we’re supposed to be, what we’re supposed to be doing, our roles. Really, you’re just trying to get better each and every week. You don’t want to put a stamp on it and say we made it, because we haven’t. We won one game. Now you have to keep playing well and keep stacking on top because it’s going to take a better effort this week than it did, and we’re excited to get the opportunity for them to come and play at home.”
(A lot of us I guess here in this group, we don’t play football. We don’t have the vantage view of seeing all of the players kind of in front of you when you’re on defense. What is that experience like? What’s it like when you are kind of looking at everything and watching plays unfold? Can you take us a little bit inside your helmet of what you see and what that experience is like for you?) – “Yeah, it’s just making sure that guys are lined up, making sure we’re in the right play call, making sure we know what we’re doing. That’s one of the biggest things, especially playing safety, playing free safety. You have to understand that a lot of the guys are going to look to you and some of the other captains and leaders on the defense to get us lined up. So just making sure we’re communicating, making sure the plays are going to be made; but it all starts with communication pre-snap because if you’re not lined up right, then you’re all wrong.”
