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Jerome Baker – November 4, 2020 Download PDF version

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

LB Jerome Baker

(I wanted to ask you about some of the pressure looks you guys had on Sunday. It looked like you had a lot of opportunities to get free runs at the quarterback. I just wanted to get your take on how you were able to get so many free pressures on QB Jared Goff and what that does for you defense?) – “How did we do it? We just threw a lot of different looks. In our defense, anybody can come, so you’ve got to prepare like that and it’s hard to be prepared for anybody on the field to come. That’s pretty much how we do it. We kind of make it that anybody can come and throw different looks, and that’s how we get a few open runs to the quarterback.”

(What’s it feel like to be a part of one of the best defenses in terms of point statistics in the NFL right now?) – “I really don’t know all of the statistics that we are a part of or whatever; but I can tell you that it doesn’t feel like whatever it says. One thing about our defense is we’re pretty hungry. Every snap, every rep we have, we’re definitely getting on each other and holding each other accountable to do better. It doesn’t feel like whatever is written on paper. We’ve just got to keep it up. We truly are just taking one rep (at a time) and getting better as a defense.”

(The challenge of QB Kyler Murray and that kind of quarterback, a guy who obviously can do it with his legs, he can do it with his arms. How do you prep for a guy like that and the dynamic player that he is?) – “How do we prep for him? It’s hard, I’ll tell you that. It’s very hard. He’s one of those quarterbacks who’s young but he’s definitely dynamic. We’ve just got to do a lot of different things to make it hard on him. Just throw him different looks, throwing pressure at him, whatever it is. Our coaching staff does a great job of doing that and getting us ready for that. With guys like that, it’s hard to stop them. You pretty much just have to contain them. That’s our game plan. We’re just going to have to contain him and truly play as a defense.”

(You guys had four takeaways in the game on Sunday, but a couple of opportunities for more. I’m just curious if there is any razzing that goes on between you guys and for instance like S Eric Rowe, who had a chance at a pick-six there, or LB Andrew Van Ginkel almost had that pick on the ball he batted up. Do you guys give each other a hard time for that type of thing?) – “Yes. Very, very hard. It’s not just ok just to get the interception or pick up a fumble. This is all players: we hold each other accountable. So if you pick up the fumble, we expect you to score; but not just score, we expect everybody to block for you. When you get the interception – we just hold each other accountable. It’s not just you have to do it; as a defense, we have to work together to score points. That’s what’s cool about our defense. We hold each other accountable. We want each other to get better and that makes it more enjoyable when the coaches don’t have to say anything.”

(What about LB Kyle Van Noy falling down at the 1? I also wanted to ask what did you think about QB Ryan Fitzpatrick’s shorts today at practice?) – “The one thing I’d say about Kyle – if you look at the video, I was the first one on him. (laughter) I definitely got on him about that. We watch each other’s high school highlights as a linebacker corps and everybody scores touchdowns and everybody does their thing, so we all brought it up. ‘If you were scoring all of these touchdowns and all of this, why didn’t you do that?’ (laughter) It’s just a fun way to get on each other and have fun with it. I definitely got on him about that. The shorts, that was my boy Isaiah (Ford). It’s a part of the business, but we’re definitely going to miss him.”

(You were mentioning earlier that you don’t pay much attention to stats and I can appreciate that; but a year ago, you guys were giving up more points per game than anybody else. This year, you’re giving up the least amount of points per game in the entire league. Doesn’t it feel different?) – “Honestly, it really doesn’t. When I say that, it’s – our expectations are so high that when we make a play, it’s not ‘Oh, we made a play.’ It’s ‘that’s what we’re supposed to do.’ That feel – it’s like on offense, you don’t act like – when you get to the end zone, you act like you’ve been there before. That’s truly how we are. When we make a play, we expect to do that. That’s how we’re supposed to do it. That should be how it feels. We’re not getting comfortable. We’re not complacent or we’re good right now. We truly go out there every day and really truly want to get better. Just the guys we have, we hold each other accountable. If you had a bomb game last week, we expect you to have a bomb game this week. It’s truly fun to play with these guys because what you did in the past or what you did the last game, or the play before, we want you to do just as good today.”   

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