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Christian Wilkins – September 11, 2023 Download PDF version

Monday, September 11, 2023

DT Christian Wilkins

(This is not a question meant as an excuse because you all are a no-excuse team. But is there a natural adjustment in terms of playing for a coordinator that calls games much differently than the previous coordinator? Is there a feeling out period or adjustment that you all are going through?) – “I’d definitely say the first thing, to your point, no excuses need to be made. We all know that wasn’t our standard. We’ve got to play better defense and that starts with me as an individual, as a leader. As the leader of the defense, it starts with me. We’ll definitely be better this week and moving forward, we’ll definitely be better. No if’s, and’s or but’s about it. We’re about business moving forward and about improving moving forward, so that’s what we’ll do. But just naturally, there’s obviously a little bit of adjusting but that’s no excuse. We’re all professionals so we all have to do our job regardless of how plays are being called, what’s being called. If there is a good play called, we’ve got to execute it. If there’s a bad play called, we still have to execute. Regardless, there’s no if’s, and’s or but’s about it. We just have to be better.”

(What did the film show you?) – “Again, just that there are a lot of improvements to be made. There’s just a lot of areas that we weren’t so great at. But at the end of the day, we did get the win so I was excited for that. And I was excited for what the offense was able to do and how they were able to have our backs through it all. That was definitely good and we definitely needed a full 60-minute game and full team effort.”

(Was the in-game operation any different like with Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio calling plays from the booth? I think Linebackers Coach Anthony Campanile was kind of running things down. Does it change anything as far as communication?) – “Not for me because I’m not the green dot. That doesn’t really do anything for me. I get the calls from the linebacker and then line up and get ready to play.”

(What was the biggest issue in the run game?) – “We just have to be better technique, fundamentals and just executing the plays that are called. Each one of the 11 doing their job.”

(Can you take us through that last drive?) – “I would say those last two series, maybe the last 10 plays or so – obviously it wasn’t great, wasn’t pretty for most of the game, but we can build off of how we finished moving forward. Guys playing at a high level when we needed it the most. Jaelan (Phillips), Zach (Sieler), we were all able to focus in a little bit more. We know we needed it. The offense did their part. We couldn’t let them down. We were able to pull it together and do a good job.”

(Was it surprising because of obviously it’s not your standard and it’s surprising any time, but what you saw during training camp, did what happened yesterday completely throw you for a loop after – did you feel you were much better in training camp?) – “I would say no we’re not rattled, again, it just wasn’t the performance that we expected and when you put a lot of work into this, when you invest your all at this and when you know the guys we’ve got on defense and you’ve got the right coaches in the position; you never expect anything like that. But like I said, we will be better moving forward. We really don’t have a choice.”

(I don’t know how much you get to see of WR Tyreek Hill, but when you see him and when you see a game like yesterday, what comes to mind? How do you defend this guy?) – “He’s definitely a pretty damn good football player. I’m glad he’s on our side. Really a lot of the guys on offense, they all stepped up and played pretty well. That damn No. 1 was pretty solid, too. And just guys were making plays left and right and it was just fun to see and like I said it was just good that they’re on our side and they had our backs even with everything going on. So that was definitely a lot of fun to watch and just to see guys putting a lot of work and who it means a lot to and an underdog like River Cracraft goes out there and balls out, catches another touchdown. Just everybody. Just good to see the o-line step up and do their thing. Just a lot of respect for those guys on that side of the ball and what they did yesterday.”

(And what does that tell you about this team? All that stuff you just said – no CB Jalen Ramsey, no T Terron Armstead, hostile environment, team that beat you last year? What does that tell you about this team?) – “Just that we’re going to compete and that we definitely all care about each other and we’re not – as I started at the beginning – we’re not an excuse-making team and I won’t allow us to be that regardless of who’s on that field, what we’re doing, what’s going on, what’s happening – good, bad or indifferent. We’re all going to play hard and do our best to have each other’s backs through it all.”

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