Christian Wilkins – September 18, 2023
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Monday, September 18, 2023
DT Christian Wilkins
(The run defense was very good last night. From Week 1 to Week 2, how much was it a strategic schematic adjustment from Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio and Defensive Line Coach Austin Clark compared to you guys just playing better?) – “I think it was a little bit of both. Zach (Sieler) kind of hit us – the d-line – with some real (expletive) before the game. I’m not going to say what he said but the message was received. We just kind of had that on our minds and we knew we had to play better. Week 1 wasn’t us as far as the run defense and our standard and what it has been around here. So it was good to definitely improve against a really good running team. Everybody knows the Patriots like to run the ball. Regardless of what’s going on, they’re a physical team. So we were able to do some solid things there which was good and it was just good to see the defense improve overall.”
(Is DT Zach Sieler a guy that talks often?) – “No, not too much. He keeps about his business but when he does talk, you listen. And like I said, message received.”
(How did it feel to go up there and get a win in that building? I know you are from the area.) – “Yeah, very nice for multiple reasons. Obviously like you said, that’s a home game for me every time I get to go up there and play in front of the home crowd. I have friends and family, people from high school and whatever. You just see a lot of people in the crowd that you know and that know you, so that’s always cool. Obviously it’s just big getting a division win on the road at night on Sunday Night Football. It makes it more fun and a little more special.”
(Two impressive wins on the road. Now to finally be back home, what does it mean to be back in front of the fan base and guys in their routine?) – “Definitely. I’m excited for that, to come back home, be in front of the fans, put on a show and do what we do at Hard Rock Stadium. That will be exciting. I’m encouraging and hoping that our fans come out and support and get loud and get crazy and make this place tough for opponents to want to come play in. Obviously there’s heat and other elements and things like that, but we want this place to raucous every time we come home and play. I think we work our butts off and we deserve that, so I definitely want to challenge the fans from that standpoint. It just makes it a lot more fun.”
(I’ve asked you several times about re-tracing screens and going down the field. You do it in conditioning and training camp. Last night, LB Bradley Chubb had a re-trace where he had a forced fumble. I just wanted to hear your perspective on that.) – “That was big. That is definitely something we emphasize and talk about a lot just getting off the stack, because oftentimes it’s the guys you don’t see. That was a perfect example of getting off the stack. Stack monsters hunting. He was just trying to make a play downfield and that was great to see. I had a perfect view on it. I was like Bradley, please get there. I didn’t know who it was. I saw a white color flash and was like, please get there. He was able to make a great play on the ball and (it was) clinic tape of a hammer down on the ball from the blindside.”
(Does this 2-0 feel like last year’s or is this one different for any reason?) – “I don’t know exactly how to answer that but it is just nice to be 2-0, especially getting two tough road wins. That’s obviously very important. Two in the conference and one in the division is huge. We definitely just want to keep building off of what we’ve done and get ready for a good Week 3 coming up.”
(From a stylistic standpoint, I couldn’t think of three different quarterbacks to start the season with now with Russell Wilson coming this weekend. What kind of challenge does he pose?) – “His resume speaks for itself and the things he’s been able to do in this league. He presents a lot of challenges, just being able to obviously be great in the pocket, run when he needs to, a great leader and things like that. I’ve gotten to play him once in my career and he was able to do some pretty impressive things throwing the ball, running, launching it down the field and different things like that. I’m excited for the challenge that he brings and looking forward to it always.”
(Did you see how their game ended yesterday?) – “I did not. I heard something was crazy. I was watching Get Up a little bit this morning but I turned it off before they got to that game.”
(It was a Hail Mary on the last play. They got it and then missed the two-point conversion on a blown defensive pass interference so they’re probably pissed off.) – “Oh, wow. Nah, I did not see that. But I’m sure they’ll definitely be motivated coming on the road and wanting to get their first win, so we’ll have to be ready.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa calls Head Coach Mike McDaniel ‘beast.’ I was wondering if anybody else has any nicknames for him or do you call him anything besides…) – “I mean I wouldn’t go that far. (laughter) No, I don’t know what other guys have for him. I didn’t know Tua really called him ‘beast’ or anything like that, but that’s pretty funny. That’s cool. That’s part of Tua’s humor. Throwing kind of against the grain there. (laughter)”
(What did you make of the performance off the edge last night with all of the pressures, tackles for loss and sacks for the guys outside?) – “It was good definitely just for guys to be able to be active, make those plays and get that kind of pressure. It’s important because when you get that edge pressure, it makes it even that much more important for the middle guys to get that push and things like that. Just working together. I feel like we did a pretty good job of that last night. The interior guys were rushing and we were able to get some good pressures up the middle and off the edge. When we’re working like that, that’s important just to build that confidence and build that camaraderie as a defense and as rushers.”
(On wanting sacks and fumbles) – “Yeah, you definitely want to be known as an intimidating front. We’ve got the guys to do it. But it all comes down to a weekly focus and a weekly preparation, locking in on the game plan and really trusting one another. Fortunately for us, like I’ve said before, we’ve got a lot of guys who have played around each other for awhile. So it’s kind of knowing each other’s styles and just giving a guy a look and knowing what that means. That kind of helps so I just hope we can continue to build off that.”
(Have you seen that kind of pass rush from LB Andrew Van Ginkel before?) – “’Gink’ is my guy. Me and ‘Gink’ came in together as rookies back in the day. Me and ‘Gink’ have always been cool. I was happy to see him have a night like that and do some good things because we know what ‘Gink’ can do. We all mean it when we say he’s got like a horseshoe up his butt or something. (laughter) He always finds a way to be around the ball. And we joke too and say that ‘Gink’ is really one of the best football players on the team, just his ability to be versatile, smart and super reliable. That was good that he got a little shine and had a night like that last night.”
(Is that intelligence?) – “He’s always in the right spots at the right time and just knows ball. He’s really good at ball. ‘Gink’ (Andrew Van Ginkel) is just such a well-rounded athlete. Any sport he picks up, he’s really good at. Like I said, I was just happy to see ‘Gink’ have a night like that and happy to see him do his thing a little bit.”
(Can he dunk?) – “Yeah. He’s an athlete, I’m telling you. He’s the most unassuming athlete in the world there is. Don’t let the blonde hair and the nice guy demeanor fool you. ‘Gink’ (Andrew Van Ginkel) has some dawg in him.”
