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Christian Wilkins – January 5, 2022 Download PDF version

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

DT Christian Wilkins

(What steps do you take this week to correct the run defense after you had a string of strong games against the run but then a season-worst last game?) – “Really the biggest thing was coming in here after the game, watching the tape, making the adjustments as coaches and players and looking in the mirror, seeing what you did wrong, seeing how you could have helped the team more, how you could have done your job just a little bit better because we know what we’re capable of and what we’ve been doing for the majority of the season. That wasn’t it last week. We’ve got one more week to at least go out there together as a group and have a little fun and get another crack at it.”

(Yesterday Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer mentioned something about one faction of why the run defense did allow as much yards as it did was because you guys were trying to scheme up some negative plays and maybe attack and go get it. I know that’s one of the things that you’ve talked about before with playing your job and also being aggressive and taking chances. When you play 40-50 snaps in a game, how do you balance the decision to play aggressive and try to go make a play versus you can’t take a chance in this position?) – “The majority of the time you’ve just got to do your job anyway. There’s often a few plays throughout the game where it’s like, you just know what you are going to get based off your film study, based off practice, based off your preparation if you do it the right way. You’re like, ‘Ok, I have a pretty good beat on this,’ or just throughout the flow of a game you can find where you can take your chances and things like that within the scheme of course. That’s the biggest thing. Like I said, we’re just going to make those adjustments this week and hopefully put a better result out there on Sunday.”

(You not only lead the NFL in tackles by a defensive linemen but you have the most by any Dolphins defensive linemen since at least 2000. Do you take pride in either of those?) – “Honestly, yeah I always take pride in my performance and I always want to do well but that’s something I’m not necessarily focused on. I just try to take it game by game, play as hard as I can. Maybe at the end of the season, I’ll look up and be like that’s pretty cool but I’m still locked in for this last week. I’m not really thinking about that and who knows, maybe I’ll feel differently after this week.”

(What’s a specific area do you think you’ve become a better player this year?) – “Really just my overall knowledge of the game, understanding schemes, how offenses try to attack us and my overall knowledge of our scheme and what we’re trying to do. Again, kind of what I was alluding to earlier, where I can take shots in our defense and our scheme and where it makes the most sense. Kind of just understanding if this happens on the front side and I’m on the back side then a play is here to be made or vice versa. If I do this, the play is coming my way. If I just do this, then this opens someone else up. Just overall understanding the scheme of what we are trying to do defensively.”

(We all see some of the things that DE Emmanuel Ogbah has done to help this team this year. I’m wondering from your perspective as a guy who plays alongside of him, how would you describe what he does to make players around him better?) – “That’s actually funny. With Ogbah, he’s such a low-maintenance, even-keel kind of guy so even in the toughest of situations Ogbah is like, ‘Hey.’ He’s just himself all the time, just cool, just chill. That’s kind of nice to always see he’s got that vet – he’s one of the most vetted guys in our room and he’s just got great play-making ability. That get-off, his ability to pass rush is impressive and it’s good to know that if I just rush this way on the interior, I know he’s going to do his job and that might make a play for him. That overall helps our team. He’s just a great teammate, a fun guy to play with. Like I said, even-keeled, very smart player and can just affect the game in a lot of ways whether it’s batted passes, he’s done some really good things on the edge in the run game, pass rush and all that. I’m glad he’s been with us for the last couple years. He’s made my game better overall. I’m sure I’ve had a few moments where things weren’t super easy or for me whether that was on the field or mentally and Obgah is just there like, “Hey Chris, you good. Just be yourself, play your game.’ You know, just helping from that standpoint and he does that for all the guys. That’s definitely important, his leadership and everything he brings.”

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