Jerome Baker – November 19, 2020
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Thursday, November 19, 2020
LB Jerome Baker
(I wanted to ask you about Linebackers Coach Anthony Campanile. He seems like a real energy guy, a real whole ome family-oriented guy. What have you noticed about him and what has your experience been like working with him this season?) – “’Coach Camp,’ he’s full of energy. He’s full of excitement. You can just tell he cares a lot. He cares about every little thing. He’s just a guy that cares. He definitely brings a lot of energy to us.”
(When you arrived, you were at the tail end of several seasons where the Dolphins would come out in the first half of games and really struggled to take command of the game and struggled to score. Now you guys are tearing it up the first quarter. What is it about your preparation or you mindset that is enabling you to really jump on teams? What do you see when you look into the eyes of the opposition when you guys have jumped to a two or three touchdown lead and the ballgame has just begun?) – “I think this year, we put a big emphasis on starting fast and not just defense, not just offense, but as a team in all three phases. I’m a firm believer that if you put an emphasis on it, it’s going to work out. This year, the emphasis has been to start fast, start fast, start fast. We’ve proven that we can come back or different things like that. This year, we really wanted to, every game, start fast and lately we’ve definitely been doing it.”
(This is a team with two talented backs with two different running styles. With all that goes on in the 40 seconds between each snap, do you have time to really key their substitutions and how does their ability to swap those two talented backs in and out change your approach and maybe your pre-snap checklist?) – “Yeah. You definitely have time and if you don’t have time, you have to make time. They definitely have two unique backs and what I mean by that is you have to do your homework of who is in the game because you can eliminate – or kind of have anticipation of what they are trying to do with that back. For us, that’s been our goal with pretty much anybody we face. You have to know who is in the game, you’ve got to know who you’re going against, what they do well, what they struggle with and play accordingly. You definitely have enough time. You’ve really just got to really know your stuff.”
(I wanted to ask you this question primarily based on that you played the least amount of snaps last week that you have all season. You’re the leading tackler. How difficult is that for a guy who has been playing such a prominent role to minimize yourself and play the role and scheme they have for you every Sunday – no matter how little or how much?) – “I think the one thing I can say about me is I do whatever just to win. That’s why I play so many different positions, that’s why I do so much. My role is always switched. For me, it’s all about winning. Last week I didn’t play as many snaps. It really doesn’t affect me because the outcome was a win. I’ve played game where I’ve play 99 percent of the snaps and I’ve played other games where I didn’t. Ultimately for me, we came out with the win and that’s all that’s important to me.”
(Obviously you guys have won five straight and are in the playoff mix. If you all win Sunday, you are tied for the division. Do you circle any of those things as a goal before the end of the year – win the division and make the playoffs?) – “I think that’s the unique thing about this team is we truly do not – I’m not going to say care, but we really don’t make that an emphasis of this is what we’re going to do. The one thing is we truly just want to get better every day. Even in the video, I truly didn’t even know our record. I just go out there and keep winning games, keep winning games and in the end, it’s going to come out how you want it. I think for us, our main goal is to just get better every day and let the season handle itself.”
(The amoeba defense, I don’t know if that’s what you all call it or if you all call it something different. What does that do when you get that as a play call? What goes through your mind when that’s called and you see the other offense’s face when they don’t know what’s going on?) – “For me, I get excited. You don’t know who is down, you get to hear all of the different checks. You kind of just mess with the offense. They might say I’m the Mike. I would mess with them and say, ‘no I’m not.’ Then you look up and a tackle or guard didn’t hear and they asked what happened. The center snaps the ball, the next thing you know, we’re in the backfield. For me, I get excited because it’s kind of like a mind game. I know it’s confusing and the more you try to communicate, I’m going to communicate with you. I’m going to mess you up. ‘Did you say I’m the Mike, or is he the Mike?’ You kind of just have fun with it. I think that’s one of my favorite calls or my favorite defenses because you don’t know who’s who. We’re all moving, we’re all jumping around, we’re all talking. For the offense, it’s pretty tough. The more you confuse an offense, the more fun for defensive players you can have. I love it.”
(I wanted to ask you about the standings and everything. You said that you truly don’t know your record. So when we tell you that you can catch Buffalo for first place, is that a surprise to you? Did you know that? Are we poisoning your mind?) – “I know our record now. Kyle (Van Noy) told me last game. (laughter) But it’s going to work out in the end. If we just keep winning games, everything is going to work out. That’s the main thing. It’s going to work out. If you just constantly win games in this league, you’re going to get where you want to go.”
