Eric Rowe – December 7, 2020
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Monday, December 7, 2020
S Eric Rowe
(There was a little bit of concern for you yesterday when you left with the injury. I’m curious, what is the concussion test like in the moment. And I don’t know if you’ve had concussions in the past but do you know in the moment if you’ve got one or not?) – “The test is a series of – like they want you to remember 10 words and see if you can remember that, kind of where you’re at in time. They’ll ask you like what’s the date, can you put the months backwards. I did a little balance test, almost like you see when you see all of those cop videos when they have the drunk drivers and they have the heel-toe action and all of that stuff. They had me do all of that. I was like ‘come on, let’s get this over with because I knew I was good.’ I was just trying to get back out there.”
(You’ve got one of the biggest matchups this week, obviously the Chiefs are a dynamic offense, they pretty much got a tight end who is on the verge of having a Hall of Fame career. How much do you get excited about that matchup?) – “It’s a great opportunity. You can’t really ask for anything better – going against a guy that’s been consistent every game for years now. Just having that challenge ahead of you. I’ve been looking forward to it since the schedule came out. It’s a great test, not just for me, but as a whole defense too and as a whole team. It’s going to be a great test this week.”
(With TE Travis Kelce, I know you’ve defended a lot of tight ends, but do you have to defend him differently because of maybe his prowess as a receiver?) – “Yeah. Well, you have to defend every tight end a little bit differently because everybody has got a different skillset. Some are more blocking than receiving and some are more receiving than blocking. This one is more receiving than blocking, obviously. I already see from a little bit of film that the way he runs his routes are like receivers. He’ll stem leverages, he’ll push you outside, cut you inside to go back outside. He does a lot of stuff. Obviously with that, I have to approach it differently.”
(What’s unique about QB Patrick Mahomes?) – “He’s a complete quarterback. He can make all the throws, he has the arm, he can read defenses, he can read coverages, he can read protections, he’s mobile enough to get out and run for the first down. He’s not slow, so he’s the complete package. What’s unique? He’s got it all.”
(I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about your teammate LB Kyle Van Noy. They caught him on the sideline predicting his three sacks, and he got them. I was wondering, does he do that every week or was that actually a premonition? And two, what does he add to this defense in general, going back to your time with him with the Patriots. What is something he does that the fans don’t see every single Sunday?) – “Everybody tries to predict their stats, right? I go into the game like, ‘I’m going to get two and maybe a TFL today.’ Bobby (McCain) is like, ‘I’m going to get me one. I’m going to get me one this week.’ Everybody always like to predict, but he spoke it into existence. He called out three and he got three. That’s good for him and just for him, as a guy on the team, he provides leadership, experience, when he’s on the field, he’s confident about whatever call or check he needs to make within the scheme. Having that kind of security on the defense, whatever call he makes, his confidence kind of puts everybody at ease, like ‘we’re fitting to run this call,’ rather than maybe someone who is not too sure and kind of gives you the call kind of faintly. Then everybody is questioning ‘what did he say, what did he say,’ then the ball is snapped. Just little stuff like that really adds a – he’s really an important piece to the defense.”
(I have two quick questions. No. 1, you guys have been amongst one of the best defenses all year. What is the sense of excitement in facing the challenge of stopping the Kansas City offense that few teams have been able to slow down. And No. 2, what makes TE Travis Kelce different than other tight ends that you have faced this year?) – “This is really going to test us to see how good we are as a defense – from our run defense, to pass, to pass rush, to coverage, to everything. It’s not like a team that let’s say we get a jump on them and we have a comfortable lead and we’re good. Nah, we’ve all seen them score and put up points. I think last year they put up like 21 points in two minutes or something like that against the Texans. This is going to be a good test for us. We’ve got to play all four quarters, 60 minutes. Everyone has to be on their details because one slip up and we all see how explosive this offense is. Then two, with Kelce, just like I said before, what makes him different is a lot of tight ends when they run their routes, they don’t really stem, they don’t push leverages, they don’t do stuff like receivers do. They kind of just run the route like you see on paper. If it’s an over, they’ll run straight across the field and you’ll be like ‘ok, that’s easy.’ But with him, he’ll push you vertical, maybe a couple of juke steps, jab out, then break on his route, which obviously makes it harder to cover. He has a totally different skillset.”
(How does the way TE Travis Kelce goes about his business, how does that compare to a guy you know well in TE Rob Gronkowski?) – “The difference between those two guys is ‘Gronk,’ his route-running ability is not like Kelce’s with the stemming and all of that. But what makes ‘Gronk’ great is the way he knows how to use his body. He’s a wide dude. He’s a big bodied guy and obviously he has tough hands. You put the ball anywhere in his radius and ‘Gronk,’ he was getting it, even with the hits coming on. Two different skillsets, but obviously I think Hall of Famers.”
