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Ndamukong Suh – November 22, 2017 Download PDF version

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

DT Ndamukong Suh

(Once again, how do you keep the spirits up this week?) – “Spirits? It’s football. Excitement. (We’re) playing a great game. It’s Thanksgiving week. (We) get an opportunity to watch some football after practice and get prepared for our game.”

(The losing streak doesn’t have guys a little down or would you say the mentality is the same as it was a month ago?) – “I think unfortunately we’ve been in this position before, so we know how to get ourselves out if it. Let’s just focus on those keys and focus on what we have to get done this particular week to go out there and beat the Patriots.”

(Last year there was a culture of accountability with this team. Lots of guys come in postgame talking about, “I did this wrong. I did this wrong. I need to do this better.” At least one captain told us after the game last week that “We need to get back to that.” Have you seen that same level of accountability in the locker room?) – “I think that accountability is there. I’m not sure … Tell me what was said last week, again?”

(I asked a captain of the team … Last year there were a lot of guys talking after games about “What we did wrong. What I did wrong. What I need to improve,” – both coaching staff and players. And I asked him if he had seen the same amount of that this year and he said, “No. We need to get back to that.”) – “That’s interesting, because in my personal opinion last week, I think we had a lot of that. Guys understood what they needed to get done. I think, especially on the defensive side – because I don’t know everything that’s going on the offensive side of the ball – guys changed the way they played. I think from a penalty perspective, on the defensive side of the ball, we cleaned some things up. I think we only had two (penalties), and I think both of them – or actually one of them – was in game and one of them was out of the game, false start or something like that. Regardless, I think guys understand what they need to get done and have accomplished that. I think in crucial situations, we haven’t been our best, and we need to change that.”

(What’s the toughest part about playing against Patriots QB Tom Brady, if you had to pick one aspect?) – “He has found a way to get the ball out. I think he has been a little bit slower this year, watching the film last couple days; but he likes to get rid of the ball very quickly. It’s our job up front to really get after him and make him feel uncomfortable. I know that’s one of my particular goals in this particular week – touch him as much as I can, hit him as much as I can, push his own lineman into him as much as I can and go from there.”

(The team’s overall sack numbers are bottom 10 in the league, which is surprising in the sense that obviously it’s a highly respected defensive line. Not surprising in the sense that you all have trailed a ton. How much of the fact … How much of it can be attributed to trailing 90 percent of the time in games this year or should that not be used as an excuse for low sack numbers?) – “I think there are a lot of factors that go into sacking the quarterback. I wouldn’t pinpoint any one in particular. I would say that if I were to point out one particular piece that is a huge stat is the fact that we’ve played against some elite quarterbacks that have gotten the ball out tremendously fast. I can think of only maybe one quarterback in Cam Newton – which we had a terrible rush defense week that week, he didn’t really have to throw the ball as much – but I think every other quarterback that we’ve played in all other nine weeks has gotten out the ball very, very fast and has been up in the top of the league of getting out the ball, getting the ball out fast.”

(Do you feel good about how the defensive line has played?) – “No. I don’t.”

(Has it been to capacity? Has it been what you guys are capable of?) – “I think at any particular level, we’re capable of playing a lot better. I think at the end of the day, we have to continue to strive for perfection knowing that we’re not probably going to get there, but we can obviously strive for it and get there.”

(Why was the run defense better last week?) – “I think execution (and) tackling – those two simple things. People were in the right places. They were getting the ball carrier down. I think we got on top of it very early and then really forced them to pass the ball. Unfortunately in some situations they were successful in passing the ball and others they weren’t.”

(DE Cameron Wake is a guy who has had so much successes for so long. When he goes a couple of games without a sack, it’s kind of jarring to us. Can you see him getting back on track this week? Is this usually the week that Cam Wake…) – “I think it’s all of us at the end of the day that need to get back on track. I think we’ve only gotten one sack in the last two weeks. We all need to be better.”

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