Elandon Roberts – November 4, 2021
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Thursday, November 4, 2021
LB Elandon Roberts
(Houston QB Tyrod Taylor is going to start for the Texans. I don’t know if you’ve gone against him a time or two before but what do you think is a key against him in particular?) – “Tyrod is a good player. When he was in Buffalo early in my career, I went against him a lot. He’s a good quarterback. He can throw, dual threat, obviously his running capability and stuff like that. Veteran quarterback in this league that has seen every defense and seen every coverage and seen every type of scheme thrown at him. I know for a fact, probably, that Houston is glad to have him back. He’s a good quarterback.”
(With QB Tyrod Taylor’s scrambling ability, how much does that put you guys in an uncomfortable spot because he can cheat and get those extra yards?) – “It affects you. It affects you because you always have to make sure the quarterback is accounted for. I think what benefits us is that we have played against quarterbacks like that this season that have scramble capabilities. We know in the sense from a defensive schematic standpoint, okay what will put is in a bind and what won’t. Like every other week, it’s going to be a 60-minute game.”
(I wanted to ask you about the run defense. You guys, since DT Raekwon Davis came back, with the exception of Buffalo QB Josh Allen’s big run, you guys have been tightening up as a run defense. What has been the difference that wasn’t there early in the season?) – “I think we just honed in as a defense and just started – we just really honing in as a defense, fixing some things and just been playing better run defense. I think it’s all 11, whoever is on the field, defensively-type job.”
(As a captain, and I wouldn’t ask you this specifically what it is that’s private, but are there things that you would suggest to Head Coach Brian Flores or that you have suggested over the last few weeks to try right the ship whether it’s a change in routine, bringing in inspirational speakers or anything at all? The changes you privately suggest to Flo.) – “In like what way? What do you mean?”
(In terms of maybe we change the practice routine, maybe we do this a little differently on Thursday or Friday. Anything at all that you feel like because of your experience, knowledge and role as a captain, that you can privately go to Head Coach Brian Flores and say, ‘How about we do things this way, just my idea.’ Do you feel comfortable doing that and do you do it?) – “I think as leaders, we have those conversations. I think that’s at every club, though. At my previous employer, we did the same thing. I think that’s just like a regular routine just as a leader and a captain in the building.”
(You go back with Head Coach Brian Flores longer than most of the people here. What has this type of adversity been like for him?) – “Personally I think that’s a ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) question. I can’t.”
(In terms of what you’ve seen him and how Head Coach Brian Flores has responded to it?) – “I mean, how he responded to it to me is that he comes in each week working on what we need to get better at. He’s putting us in a good position as a football team to go out there and be successful. I’m not speaking for him, but I don’t see him hanging his head. I don’t see him this and that. I just see him trying to fix problems and coming in each week ready to work, just like he expects us to.”
(Unless I’m wrong this is you’re sixth year in the NFL and in your first five years you never played on a team that won less than 10 games. How difficult has this been in dealing with the situation with the team with the record it has?) – “You don’t want to be in the situation but just because I haven’t been in the situation, I use it as a learning experience. As a leader, how can you lead if you ain’t ever been through something? Just like growing up – a lot of adversity. I didn’t have a lot of schools calling me going to college. Sixth round pick and stuff. If you ain’t never went through it, how are you going to know how to move when adversity hits you? I just take it from a leading standpoint of just each week being there for my guys, learning from the adversity and one thing about leadership is you got to be willing to learn as well and learn from others. That’s what it’s teaching me on a personal level.”
(I asked CB Xavien Howard too because like him, you guys are both Houston-area guys. Did you grow up a Texans fan? He said he grew up a Cowboys fan.) – “Nah, I didn’t grow up either one.”
(Who did you root for?) – “When I was growing up, I was a Philadelphia Eagle. It’s kind of funny because that’s the team I lost to in the Super Bowl. Me and my dad always joke around about it. But no, I didn’t grow up a Houston or Dallas fan.”
(How do you become an Eagles fan?) – “I liked Donovan McNabb – black quarterback. A lot of people are afraid to say that but I’m not afraid to say I was going for him because he was a black quarterback and then I just kind of fell in love with that organization.”
(Were you around a lot of Cowboys fans? Division rivals?) – “Yeah, all my family are Cowboy fans. It’s Texas. That’s mostly what it is, Cowboys fans. I think Houston came in like 2002, 2003 but it was the Oilers there first, so you still got a lot of Oiler fans.”
(You mentioned something earlier that you learned from this leadership experience. What have you learned? What have you picked up?) – “I picked up a lot. Even from like I said about ‘Flo’s’ (Brian Flores) standpoint, ain’t no head hanging, ain’t no this, ain’t no that. We are going to get better. We are going to get better as a team. A lot of people may look at the record and say oh that’s this or their season is done, but they need to really start watching film because if you look at the games, we’re getting better as an overall team. The average fan wouldn’t understand that because they are just looking at the game, they don’t really know what they’re looking at. But if you are really a football person like you say and you really know the game and you look at the game and not look at certain stuff, you’ll be like, ‘This team is getting better,’ and we are getting better each week.”
