Jerome Baker – September 30, 2021
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Thursday, September 30, 2021
LB Jerome Baker
(We saw you limited on the injury report yesterday – listed you as limited – could you go full today and do you expect to play Sunday?) – “Yeah, I was fine. I don’t know why I was on there. But yeah, I was fine. (laughter)”
(Just a quick question before I ask my real question. Are you communicating – do you have the green dot helmet to relay the defensive calls?) – “Do I have the green dot? Is that what you’re asking? Yeah, I have it.”
(So I guess you know this week we’ve been asking a lot about the third-down defense and you guys not being able to get off the field as easily as last year. I guess third down, what are you looking at and what are you trying to relay? How do you maybe make checks especially on a third-down play?) – “It truly depends on what defense we’re in, but I can tell you like the simple things, just being aware of where the down-and-distance is at – if it’s third-and-long, is it third-and-short, are they trying to pick us? It’s truly just figuring out what we’re in and what they’re trying to do against us. There’s no secret we play a lot of man, so a lot of teams are just trying to pick us. That’s the main thing, so when we do play zone just being aware of where the sticks are at. I think we’re truly just at the end of the day as a defense, we’ve just got to execute and that’s knowing your leverage, that’s eliminating yards after the catch. Just those things we truly preach on and that’s how you get off the field in this league.”
(It’s a weird question to ask, but I think you would know because you have some context. What’s missing from this defense? You guys were so good last year and it doesn’t seem to be clicking yet and maybe it didn’t click early last year, too, because you guys were like 1-3.) – “What’s missing? I wouldn’t say anything is missing. I think it’s just a lack of truly just executing. I think guys last year, we just executed better and this year I think we’re just not having that focus of – we’re just not executing. We’re not getting it done. Now we’re preaching that every third down, if it’s in practice, if it’s in walkthrough – whatever it is, we’re preaching execute, execute, execute. What I mean by execute is knowing your leverage, it’s getting back on your breaks on zone drops. Whatever it is, you’ve truly got to execute your job and having trust in the guys around you to do their job. I think guys – it’s not a sense of they’re trying to do bad or do wrong. It’s they’re trying to make the play for themselves and not be wrong and that’s not how our defense is. Our defense is truly a team defense. I think that’s the main thing. We’ve got guys that want to do right, want to make the play. But in this defense, plays come to you if you just do your job. I think that’s the one thing we’ve got to just lock in on.”
(Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer said that earlier this week that it’s not guys doing bad for making the bad play. They’re just trying to make that extra play. Do you find yourself in that situation where…?) – “Yeah, there’s been times I definitely am a part of that group. I’m not going to sit there and say I’m not. I can think of a few times it was me and it’s not just in a game. It’s times in practice, walkthroughs, whatever it is. It’s usually if it happens in practice, it’s kind of hard to just fix it game time, so you are going to get it right today or yesterday. So I think for me, we all make our mistakes. We all try too hard and we end up being out of the play and hurting us more than helping us. I would definitely say I was in that group, too.”
(You faced RB Johnathan Taylor your last year at Ohio State and when he was a freshman. He carried the ball 15 times that game. Did anything stand out to you about him at that time thinking, “yeah I’m going to see that guy in the pros in a few years?”) – “Yeah, just the way he runs. He’s a strong, physical, center of gravity guy. He’s just been like that. He’s got all the tools to be a great back in the league and I saw that early on. Even this past offseason, we worked out at the same place and he’s still the same way. He’s a strong, physical guy. He just competes his ass off.”
(Was there any difference in terms of how it was for you not having either linebacker coach last Sunday with you and are they back this week?) – “Was it a difference? I wouldn’t say there was a difference. ‘Camp’ (Anthony Campanile) brings that energy. He’s a guy that no matter what day it is, if it’s a walkthrough, if it’s a gameday or whatever, he’s going to bring the same exact energy every day. I think that was the only difference, the true difference. He’ll be fine. He’ll be back soon and we’re waiting on him.”
(You mentioned RB Jonathan Taylor, obviously it’s going to be important to stop him. In what ways can this team’s run defense improve?) – “It’s the same thing, just doing your job. You don’t have to try to make the play by yourself. Our defense is truly built on setting the edge, tackling well and playing your fundamentals and technique. That’s truly our defense. All of us are smart, all of us understand what we are doing. It’s about just doing that every single play, every down, every quarter. Not just doing it in the beginning of the game and later in the game it shows up. It’s truly about every single snap, locking in and truly doing it as a defense. Our defense is truly built on ‘together.’ We’ve got to do it together and nobody can just make the play by themselves so I guess that’s what we need to do.”
