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Eric Rowe – September 23, 2021 Download PDF version

Thursday, September 23, 2021

S Eric Rowe

(So last year was pretty much you and S Bobby McCain getting the safety snaps. S Brandon Jones was weaved in some and occasionally we’d see a little of S Clayton Fejedelem. This year is new for this team with four safeties all getting significant workload. Is that an adjustment for you at all? What’s the strengths of having four guys rotating in and out of that spot?) – “Yeah, just like Jason (McCourty) said, our safety room, everybody has different strengths and different weaknesses. Combine it all and we’re a pretty talented group. I think just early on in the season, everyone was just trying to figure out – even coaches – what role people were going to play. It was what, the second game? We’ve got 15 or however many games (left) this year. We still have a long season so with us four kind of weaving in and out, we’re just trying to find the strengths that we all have.”

(What makes Raiders TE Darren Waller so difficult to cover and what do you remember from facing him last year?) – “Darren is a big guy. Huge, like 6-6. And he’s fast. When you’re that big and fast – and he’s strong too – he’s a tough cover, especially with a quarterback like Derek Carr. He’s always played at a high level but this year, at least the past two games, he’s stepped it up a lot. Just having a quarterback like him, he can put it where only he can get it and the DB can’t. It just makes it super tough.”

(Last year, you guys had a very interesting matchup. I could say you covered him quite well. He still had 115 yards. How forward have you been looking to this matchup – a rematch?) – “Yeah, since I came off the field after that game. I know we came out with the win but just personally, I know that I was there in position and just needed to take that extra step and either knock it down or catch the ball – it was right there. Obviously you have to put it in the past because that’s the past. Different teams each year. We’ve got a different team and they’ve got a different team. Maybe (some of) the same players. This week coming up will be something new.”

(Was QB Jacoby Brissett a teammate in New England for one year?) – “Yeah.”

(So you know QB Jacoby Brissett a little bit on and off the field. What do you think are his strengths as a player and his characteristics in general?) – “As a player, when I was with him I’ve seen him grow from – I remember he was running kind of on the look team quarterback and he had trouble making some reads or whatever but he was a rookie. Then when he left, I was watching him on the Colts and he got immensely better. Now out here, kind of what he brings is toughness because he’s tough. He’ll stand in the pocket. He’ll take the hits. And obviously his accuracy and his throwing. Yeah, him and Tua (Tagovailoa), they had him as No. 2 but he can easily be a starter somewhere else. Obviously we have full confidence in him going out this week.”

(I’m sure you go into any game wanting to not give up a single completion, but do you agree with what was said a minute ago that even though Raiders TE Darren Waller put up some numbers last year, that you played a pretty good game? Do you agree with that?) – “For me or really any of the DBs, it’s really only a good game if you’re in position – I still didn’t get the job done. He made some great catches but at the end of the day, I didn’t get the job done. I didn’t break up the pass or intercept it. They still got the yards on however long those balls were. I was in position, I can say that, but to be a corner or a safety in this league to cover, you’ve got to make a play on the ball.”

(So what do you do? You mentioned what Raiders TE Darren Waller’s strengths are and how he’s a weird combination of size and speed, so what do you do? How do you combat that?) – “I don’t know. You’ve just got to play hard. (laughter) You’ve got to play hard. You’ve got to trust your abilities, have confidence and just go out there. If you go out there with no confidence then it’ll be a lot worse. You have to go out there with full confidence, trust your abilities and get the job done.”

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