Jerome Baker – December 19, 2019
Download PDF version
Thursday, December 19, 2019
LB Jerome Baker
(What’s been the area that you’ve been most pleased with your work in? Has it been in coverage? We obviously saw the interception last week. Has it been pass rush? Against the run?) – “I don’t know. I feel like I just improved as the year went on, so I’m just definitely happy with my development as a player.”
(How will things change for you this week without LB Raekwon McMillan?) – “I just have to lean on the new guys and just kind of build our defense – our linebackers that are going to be in. We just have to communicate a little bit more just on a personal level. Raekwon, I’ve been with (him) so long. There’s a lot of things that we don’t really have to say. We just kind of know. Other than that, nothing really changes. They do a great job of bringing in guys – like Calvin (Munson), he already knows the defense a little bit. It’s just the little nuances of how he communicates. That’s all we’ve really been stressing this week.”
(What’s the key to getting better against the run for this defense?) – “Just playing technique. That’s it. Just playing technique. Just trusting the edge is going to be set, the tackles – they trusting us that we’re going to come downfield, just using all the things they teach us well. Effort in the NFL is not a big thing. We all do that. It’s all about technique and just playing together and trusting each other.”
(What have you learned most this year? Obviously more responsibilities in terms of calling signals. What’s been the biggest learning thing you’ve taken away from this year?) – “There’s no such thing as overcommunicating. You just have to communicate as much as you can. Even the little things of, you might say a call to a d-tackle and he might just not hear you. You have to overly communicate, make sure you’re all on the same page. There’s just no such thing as overcommunicating.”
(How much different is this scheme than what you’re used to from your previous experience last year and then Ohio State?) – “It is definitely unique. I’ll say that.“
(What makes it unique?) – “Just the things – if the puller happens, you have to spill it and the safety’s going to come and make the tackle. There’s very (little) of that. There’s very just gapped out – this guy on this gap, you’ve got to be in this gap. It’s a lot of you can’t go one-for-one. If a fullback comes then you can’t just get blocked and expect somebody else is going to make the tackle. You can’t just be okay with being blocked by one guy. It’s a lot of – you have to understand that if you’re in trouble, this gap is open, they have an angle on this gap, how are you going to use your front to mess up their blocking scheme? It’s a lot of understanding the little details that come with this defense.”
(Have you enjoyed playing in it?) – “Oh yeah, I love it. This defense, it’s just cool because you have to know football play in this defense. You can’t just be a little 260 (pound) linebacker and just hit whatever’s in your way. That doesn’t really work too well.”
(It seems like every week there’s a new guy being worked into the starting lineup for different reasons. How do you guys handle that kind of – I know you guys want consistency, but it seems the most consistent thing is every week there seems to be a new starter out there?) – “We’re used to it now. It’s not really a problem. This is the National Football League. You come in here, you’re expected to do a job. All the guys in the front office, they do a great job of bringing in guys in that have an understanding of our defense. Even when guys come in this week – Calvin (Munson) – he came in and he knows the calls. He understands it. It’s just the little, you might have different sayings for different things, so just getting all that worked out – it’s a little easier, a little smoother. We’re definitely doing pretty good.”
(Has it even been snake-bitten like this again, or is it kind of role with the punches?) – “No. It’s nothing like it was in the beginning. In the beginning, I didn’t really – compared to now – I didn’t really understand the defense. It’s just a work in progress and we’ve definitely been doing that.”
(Were you guys really in the first game calling people by numbers?) – “Yeah. I always tell this story that we had a blitz from the field. I was lined up on the boundary, I’m trying to tell the guy next to me that ‘you have contain,’ and he didn’t know. It is what it is. You just learn and now this team has definitely grown into being a team. We’re definitely going in the right direction.”
(Have you spent that much more time preparing each week because of the complexity of the defense?) – “Yeah. You have to in this defense, you really have to. You can’t just learn on the spot in this defense. You can’t just think you’re a Mike linebacker and be fine with that. You have to know what the outside guys are doing; you have to be able to line up on the outside. There’s a lot of things where you can’t just be in one spot. You have to know the whole defense as a whole because you never know where they will put you in at.”
(They call it conceptual learning. I’m sure you’ve heard that word a lot around here. What does conceptual learning mean to you?) – “For me, it really is just understanding not just what my role is in this defense, but understanding the defense as a whole. What are some of our weaknesses? When we call a certain thing, what is the weakness of that? When we call man, what is the weakness to that? This year has been a big learning process in my football development. I’ve definitely had fun this year.”
(Why is that important to know all of those nuances?) – “Because this defense, it changes a lot. It could go from one week I’m covering Saquon (Barkley) man to man, to the next week, now I’m playing man coverage on a tight end. So different calls do certain things. It might be the same call for three weeks, but one week you might have a different job. It’s the same call, you just have to know where you are at in the defense. All in all, it’s just a fun defense because you never really truly have one job. You have to understand everybody’s job.”
(It would seem that, assuming next year there is a lot more stability on the defense – which there could be less – wouldn’t that make the defense that much more consistent if you have so many more of the same faces who understand all of those nuances?) – “It goes both ways. It’s not really about who they put out there necessarily. It’s about do they understand when they get out there. You can put out random guys every time, but if they understand what they are doing, they’d be fine. If you put out guys who are very talented and don’t play together, no matter how much talent there is, it’s not going to be good. It depends on how you look at it; but this coaching staff, they do a great job getting guys ready no matter who it is, just really playing in the scheme of our team. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
