Noah Igbinoghene – September 30, 2020
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Wednesday, September 30, 2020
CB Noah Igbinoghene
(My first reaction to you being a rookie here is QB Cam Newton, QB Russell Wilson and Josh Allen in your first couple of games. That’s got to be a challenge for a guy like you. What do you think about all of that?) – “It’s crazy when you think about it. Like I said, it’s a blessing just to be here. Those are three really good quarterbacks. I feel like we played well against all three of them. Of course we went down on two of them and we won the last one. We’ve just got to keep on that roll and we’ll be good.”
(What’s the No. 1 challenge when it comes to defending WR DK Metcalf?) – “He’s big, physical and fast. I’m pretty sure everybody knows about that. You’ve seen what he did at the Combine. I feel like it’s not really about him. We all have the physical abilities to beat him, but we have to focus on ourselves. We have to do our technique and be disciplined ourselves and focus on that. I feel like it’s not really about the Seahawks. It’s about how we play ourselves, so that’s how we’re going into this game.”
(The Dolphins have very few penalties and that’s been the case since Head Coach Brian Flores arrived. What are some of the specific ways that these coaches help guys and put you in position to understand the rules, to understand the trends, to understand what is more likely or less likely to actually get called?) – “We’ve sat in Zoom calls and face-to-face meetings and he really details and explains to us every single rule. Literally, he’s explained every single rule. He’s brought referees in to tell us about the rules and stuff. It’s been real. He comes educated about it, I would say. Real educated. I think that’s why we’re successful in that area of the game. We just have to keep doing it and keep being disciplined.”
(One more question about WR DK Metcalf. You’ve obviously matched up with some of the better receivers in the league. If Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer asked you to guard Metcalf for 65-70 snaps on Sunday, what have you learned from your past experiences and why do you think it will be better this time around?) – “I just have to be overall better myself. I feel like the Buffalo game, it just wasn’t me that day. I’ve just got to come together. If that was the case, I’d come together and I’d do what I have to do as a man to prepare like I need to and dominate like I know I can.”
(Last game was a good bounce back game. You covered well, tackled well. What happened on that one play where WR Chris Conley got behind you?) – “I really don’t know. I can’t really go into detail with it. I really don’t know, honestly.”
(You had mentioned focusing on your own technique and your own fundamentals and being discipline. Just to piggyback off the previous questions, what would you say you changed in your fundamentals and your technique from Week 2 to Week 3 to have more success on game day?) – “I’d say I took a breath. I just relaxed. I feel like that second game I was tense, just on myself. I was so tight everywhere. In this last game, I was playing relaxed and I hope you were able to see that. I was just myself. I was relaxed and focused on my game, not really focused on my opponent, and just focused on my eyes, my technique and my fundamentals and stuff like that. It was just being focused. It turned out to be a better game.”
(I’m wondering if you can describe the challenges – it’s not just WR DK Metcalf, but WR Tyler Lockett, TE Greg Olson, it seems like they have so many weapons. It almost seems like they make it look easy sometimes. How difficult is all of that when you look at their offense as a whole?) – “Like you said, they are a complete team. They have really good receivers all around, really good players. Like I said before, we have to come around as a team, as a defense. I feel like it’s not really about them. I feel like it’s really about us. If we come together as a team, if we do what we’re supposed to do, do our job and execute, we’ll be fine. I don’t feel like we’ll have to worry about that at all.”
(This is a matchup of two of the best special team units in football. You play a role on Dolphins special teams. What makes what you guys good in kick and punt coverage so good right now?) – “We practice. We do a lot of practicing and we focus at practice and do what we need to do at practice. We take care of what we need to do in this week. We prepare like we need to and I feel like that’s why we’ve been successful the last couple of weeks.”
(This is about to be your fourth game. As a first-rounder, you come with some higher expectations to play here for this team. How have you dealt with all of those things after those first couple of performances?) – “Like you said, I feel like there is a high standard for me. I put a high standard and a lot of pressure on myself, so to play to the standard I know I can and what my coaches preach on me – like I said, I put a lot of pressure on myself but I don’t really feel it from my coaches. It’s just a standard. I need to meet that every single game.”
