Eric Rowe – May 14, 2019
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Tuesday, May 14, 2019
CB Eric Rowe
(I see you out here. You guys are still out here after practice working on stuff. What’s that all about?) – “There’s always something to work on. For me, I like to get some releases in at the end of the day, just to keep up my technique just in case I don’t get too much in practice man-wise or press-wise. So yeah, after practice, I like to get a little bit in. Just a little bit every day, it will stack up.”
(Working with a guy like WR Kenny Stills, he seems receptive to helping you out after practice.) – “Yeah. I can already tell, I haven’t been here too long, but I can already tell he’s one of the guys who likes to get some work in after. So usually I just try to grab him. He’s probably one of the best at it. It’s the only way to get better.”
(How much of that comes from your years in New England and learning how to do things correctly? Everybody is talking about Head Coach Brian Flores having his things from New England, but as a player, it has to stick right?) – “Yeah, it stuck to me. I was there for three years. Just kind of being with the guys up there, their work habits, I just catch on and now it’s kind of ingrained in me. It’s almost like second nature.”
(How nice does it feel that a guy like that wants to bring you around? Head Coach Brian Flores wanted to bring you in specifically.) – “It feels great. It always feels great to be wanted. Obviously, they see potential in me. Just as a player, it just gets your confidence up and you want to work even harder.”
(Did anybody impress you? I know S Minkah Fitzpatrick said he was all over the place today and he likes that. He likes not knowing where he’s at.) – “Yeah. From last year, I saw him bouncing around just kind of on film and now being here, they’re asking him to do a lot and he’s a smart guy. Just being around him in the locker room, he’s a smart player so I know he can do it.”
(From a defensive standpoint, is this very much similar to the Patriots’ approach from what you’ve seen so far schematically, how the practice is run defensively, etc.?) – “Yeah. The way practice is run, the way we’re working, how hard we work – it’s all similar to being up there. To me, it’s not new except the heat. I know it’s not bad right now but I have to adjust to that.”
(It seemed like you got much of the first-team corner snaps today opposite CB Xavien Howard, correct?) – “Mhm.”
(Is it important to you to be a starting NFL corner again? You’ve obviously been that at different times in your career in Philadelphia and New England.) – “Yeah. It’s just important to me to stay healthy. Right now, I know he has me running with the ones, but for me it’s just trying to improve each day because it’s not just competing – obviously against young corners here that are really good – but it’s competing with guys on all 32 teams and all of the receivers out there. Kind of through my years in New England, I learned that you’re not just competing with the guys – you have to compete with yourself because there’s receivers on the Falcons, the Seahawks or whoever we play that are really good, so you have to get ready for them.”
(When you signed here, did either Head Coach Brian Flores or General Manager Chris Grier tell you what they like about you?) – “Yeah.”
(And that was what?) – “Just that even though ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) and (Defensive Pass Game Coordiantor/Cornerbacks Coach) Josh (Boyer) know I’ve been hurt, they see that I still have potential. When I was healthy, I was playing good. They know that I’m all healthy now and cleaned up, so I should get back to the level I was at.”
(Not just you, but this team has a pretty big chip on their shoulder just from the outside noise.) – “Yeah. I don’t really know what’s going on on the outside noise. I learned not to pay attention to that. But just kind of from the grapevine, everybody has a chip on their shoulder. Everybody wants to be great.”
(What you mentioned about things being similar structurally to New England, how comfortable does that make you feel as you transition over here?) – “It’s almost like second nature to me. It takes the learning curve out of it. I know the defense, I know what the coaches want, I know how much they expect, what they demand. All of that, that learning curve is out. Now it’s just me just getting better as a player.”
(You’re lining up opposite the highest paid corner in NFL history. What do you admire about CB Xavien Howard from having watched him from afar and now his teammate?) – “From afar, I heard he was getting a lot of picks. He’s a great player and even working with him, I see how hard he works off the field, on the field, kind of his behavior. That’s the key to being a great player.”
(What can you tell us about this ‘TNT’ wall?) – “He (Brian Flores) put that wall up. It means ‘Takes No Talent.’ It’s basically just saying that mistakes that we make – offsides, false starts – little stuff that really doesn’t take any talent to get good at. If we mess up – I think we had 10 guys on the field or something – and he’ll just send us to the wall until we get those bad habits out of us.”
(What’d you see from your quarterbacks today?) – “Honestly, I don’t even know. I mean yeah, I’m watching them, but I’m watching the guys in front of me on defense. I saw some good balls being thrown – over routes and some good balls. I saw a really great deep ball to DeVante (Parker). It was a really nice play.”
(You got to watch the GOAT – Tom Brady – for a few years there. Obviously, you don’t compare people, but when you need to have a quarterback on the other side that can get you somewhere, how important is that? I know you’re a defensive guy, but the big story here is who is going to be the quarterback of this team.) – “That’s not my decision to make or to even judge. That’s not my job. Whoever they pick, obviously they’ll make a great choice. Whoever it is, they’ll lead this team, they’ll lead this offense. It’s just OTA’s right now. They’re learning a new offense. The receivers are learning routes. They’ll get the timing down, but whoever they pick, I trust in the coaches.”
(You won the starting job obviously in training camp last year. The Jacksonville game was a tough game for everyone early in the season. How did you react emotionally to losing the starting job quickly? Obviously a change was made after that game.) – “The reason I did bad in Jacksonville was because, I should not have played, but I was playing injured. I was playing with a like a sports hernia in the groin so I couldn’t really run. Obviously, me being prideful, I was like ‘I can do it,’ but obviously I couldn’t hold my speed. After that game, I just knew that I just needed to take some time off. The coaches knew. You heal up because you can’t play with an injured guy. You can’t play injured. Obviously, it hurts and affects the whole team. After that game, I just had to kind of get back into my zone.”
(How similar is what you’re doing here to what you’ve done in the past in New England on defense?) – “Everything is really similar. The way that Coach (Josh) Boyer, how he wants the corners to be played, how ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) wants the defense to be ran, kind of what everybody expects, what the coaches expect. Everything is really similar so it’s nothing new to me.”
(Does that give you an advantage?) – “I wouldn’t say an advantage. It would give me an advantage personally, so I can improve my techniques and not focus on learning new calls, new terms, maybe like to some other players that have to put that in their mind. For me, it’s just like I already know the terms. Now I can get better myself.”
(When the defense had to run and touch the wall, that was because 10 players were on the field, or was that another day?) – “I think it was 10. It was either 10 or 12 players. We couldn’t get the right amount of people in there or something and that’s just a mistake that obviously in the game, that would be a penalty. Or if it’s 10, that would just hurt you on defense. Mistakes that we just can’t make.”
(What does running cross-field and touching it do for you physically from a physical standpoint?) – “It hurts. Even though it’s a slight jog, from running way over there, it’s tiring. You don’t want to make mistakes like that. I think it’s just more, not a physical thing, but it’s more of a mental thing. We can’t have a fumble, a ball-security issue, or a false start, or if the QB fumbles the center exchange – stuff that really doesn’t take much effort to get right.”
(The fact that you have the most experience with Head Coach Brian Flores, what should we expect? What should the team expect from Coach Flores?) – “They will expect competition. There’s a lot of good guys defensively. I don’t even know much about offense but defensive-wise, a lot of guys in each position and everyone is competing. That’s what everybody expects from him, to kind of get everybody to improve each day because if you’re complacent because there’s no one pushing you, you won’t get better. I know and I think the team should know that he’s going to have competition at each position to make everybody better.”
