Jeff Wilson Jr. – December 27, 2023
Download PDF version
Wednesday, December 27, 2023
RB Jeff Wilson Jr.
(It might be a little chilly in Baltimore, like 50 degrees. I think 50 is cold… they say it’s not cold. Is 50 cold?) – “No, not really. It’s not that cold, especially when you’re playing like a regular sunny day. You get moving around a little bit. For everybody else it might be a little chilly, but for us on the field, it’s just like the best football weather.”
(How does your style of play align with what the Dolphins need at the end of the season here in regard to having a running game, going against a physical Ravens defense?) – “That’s my cup of tea. That’s always been because I’ve always played with a chip on my shoulder and it hasn’t left. I feel like the more I get in the league, the bigger it gets. It’s just to a point where I’m ready to just knock it over and me knocking it over and just letting the world know that I can play and don’t ever play with me on my name again and that’s just kind of where it’s at. I’ve been around the league a long time so I don’t like to play games, so it’s business and that’s really what it is.”
(You’re a Texas guy. Did it mean a little more to you to get that clinching first down, if you will, against the Cowboys?) – “Oh yeah, no doubt. I’m still getting texts from people back home. I’ve been there, I went to college there, was raised there, born there. So I know everybody. All my aunts, my uncles, my cousins, you’ve got to think they’re Cowboys fans. It’s been that way since we were young so to get that done against them, that was another one of the greatest feelings, and just getting that win with the team and clinching the playoffs and whole nine. To have that above my family members, I’m going to use that for a long time.”
(What were you saying in that moment, what were you shouting?) – “I really blacked out. I can’t even tell you, but I know one of the words I was saying, ‘don’t play with me.’ That’s just kind of what I meant.”
(What’s the best reaction you got from the Cowboys game and in regards to your first down run that clinched it?) – “Like I said, it was just going back in those huddles and even before I got it, just looking in my teammates’ faces, man, and seeing their eyes, knowing the urgency that they had to get the job done and knowing what was at stake, seeing that grit. And then after that, seeing the smiles, kind of like the weight had been dropped off people’s shoulders and it’s like, all right we can kind of – still with the urgency because it’s still a football game and the clock hasn’t struck zero – but it was like all right, now we can breathe now and the whole time we’re holding our breath for the whole drive. Like blow it out, like get your breath out so that’s kind of what it was like.”
(I asked QB Tua Tagovailoa a few minutes ago about the satisfaction, not just winning a game because winning is always great but winning when you come back. What’s that extra bit of joy or whatever it is you feel?) – “That’s just championship football and especially coming down this stretch and going to where we want to go, you’re going to have to win these games like that. It’s not going to be always easy. It’s not going to be peaches and cream. Sometimes we’re going to have to get down and dirty. Sometimes we’re going to have to come back, sometimes we’re going to have to put our foot on people’s necks and end the game. Obviously we didn’t do that two weeks before so to come back and do that now, that’s what we needed and that’ll let us know that we’re getting prepared and we’re on the right path to getting to where we want to go.”
(That’s what this team did a year ago in Baltimore.) – “Yeah, but that was last year. This is a whole new year and like I said but with another note, the people there, they haven’t forgot about that either though, so we know they’re taking that into consideration. But for us, this is about us.”
(Being along for the ride with RB Raheem Mostert for so many years, what does it mean to see what he’s doing this year?) – “Man, like we got emotional after the game. I ain’t going to lie. Just us talking, our personal goals and our aspirations. Like we share those with each other so to see that being done, that’s an inspiration to me. That inspires me and that lets me know that no matter what even though how my situation has gone, I still look up to see him and see him, you know what I mean? Like imagine where he was at when he was in my year, but look at him now. So that lets me know to always go back to work, always pick my head up and always be happy around these guys because you never, man, you never know.”
(What’s the best part of playing on the road in a tough environment for the one seed? I mean this is a big money game.) – “This is like the middle of football. This is the football that you really love as a kid, you dream about, you fantasize about these type of games because I played in Baltimore before so I know the crowd, the energy is going to be electric because they know the stakes just as well as we do. So to go out there and be in that environment and that’s what we’re entering into and that’s what it is from every week from here on out so to go and get those pre-trials right now, I feel like it’s tremendous for our team and I can’t wait for it.”
