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Jerome Baker – November 8, 2021 Download PDF version

Monday, November 8, 2021

LB Jerome Baker

(How did you feel waking up after the first game back from a knee injury? As you look ahead to Thursday night, what are some of the key coaching points for you guys on defense when you’re facing QB Lamar Jackson?) – “When I woke up today, I felt good I guess. When it comes to the Ravens, they’re a physical team and Lamar is Lamar. He’s been making plays since he got in this league. It’s definitely going to be a challenge for us but we’re definitely excited and we’re definitely ready to take on that challenge.”

(On your interception, give me your thought when you see QB Tyrod Taylor approaching the sideline and just casually flips the ball forward? And kudos to you for having the wherewithal and the presence of mind to re-establish yourself back in the field of play. What was going through your mind through that whole thing?) – “So that play, I don’t remember exactly the call or anything but he was rolling out or whatever and was going to the sideline. I kind of relaxed and was like he’s going to throw it away. I could tell he was throwing it away but it wasn’t far enough out of bounds. I was like oh snap, it’s really coming to me. So I got my feet in, caught it and the rest is history. It’s definitely a free one and I’ll take all of those.”

(I hate to bring back bad memories but how long did the last game against Baltimore stick with you? Are you still having nightmares about how that whole afternoon went down?) – “Back in 2019? Yeah, that was a tough one. That was definitely a tough game. But this team is completely different. I always tell the story of back then, I didn’t even know some of the guys I was lined up with. I didn’t know their names. But this team is a lot different. We’re better coached, we have better players. Thursday is definitely going to be a challenge. We’re definitely going to have some fun Thursday.”

(It seems like the last couple of games, and really yesterday, you had a lot of different blitzes and got home a lot more. Has there been anything different as far as what you guys have been able to do as far as different blitzes?) – “I think that’s a credit to our coaching staff. They kind of have that mentality of they’re going to let it all loose. They’ll say let the bullets fly and empty the chamber. That’s a credit to them. They definitely put us in situations to have good blitzes and good disguises and they teach us really well. That’s a credit to all of them. We just execute but at the end of the day, they come in every week and it’s either something new or it’s something we can really expose the offense on. That’s really a credit to all of them.”

(When you are able to get the sacks, pressures and interceptions that you were yesterday, does it feel like a lot of what you guys were doing when you were at your best last year?) – “Yeah it’s definitely fun to get to the quarterback, get interceptions and get sacks. All of that is fun. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to execute that first-down play to get to that third-down special pressure you have. We understand that we can definitely do that. But we definitely have to handle the early downs before we get to all of the exotics and doing all of that. It definitely felt good to get to the quarterback and have turnovers. Definitely happy for that.”

(It seems like the coaches were kind of wondering about your availability when the day began yesterday and you wound up playing 68 out of 69 snaps. Does that surprise you? Did you go into the game thinking you were going to be able to go that far?) – “I don’t go into the game thinking how many snaps I’ll play. I’m one of those guys that when I’m on that field, I just try to do my job and try to do it well. My knee is taking it day by day but it felt good yesterday. Overall, I’m just happy we got the win.”

(Following up on the interception, you re-established yourself and then you still had to tiptoe to make sure you were in bounds, and you’re a linebacker. So where is all of that coming from? Do you have any receiving in your background going back to high school or anything?) – “Yeah, in high school I actually played running back. I was recruited to play running back coming out of high school. Linebacker was really like my second option. I’m really an offensive guy, I guess you could say. But now I play defense. I guess that’s the background of it.”

(Did you change over to defense kind of kicking and screaming or were you open to the change?) – “Nah, I was open to it. I kept getting hurt on offense and I didn’t really like that. I’d rather just hit somebody and dictate when I can hit somebody. Defense definitely worked out for me.”

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