Kenyan Drake – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins RB Kenyan Drake (transcribed by Alex Onaindia)
(What did you see on film that led to that strategy and do you think that’s something we will see more of?) – “We just wanted to create mismatches out on the perimeter with the versatility that we have between me and Damien. I think we were able to execute that. We kept putting ourselves behind the eight ball with penalties and things of that sort. As long as we keep momentum going on drives and don’t hurt ourselves, I feel like we will have success moving forward.”
(What happened on the fumble?) – “I need to make sure that I’m mindful of keeping it high and tight. They do a good job of ripping at the ball and it was a costly fumble because they went down and scored on the same possession. It was a however point swing so I obviously need to be mindful of that. I can’t let that happen.”
(It seemed on TV that we saw a lot of guys tried to pick you up. Is that what happened?) – “For sure. We’re a team, we’re a family. Everybody was very receptive to understanding that I was down at the moment. They were definitely trying to help me… uplift my spirits because we had another three quarters.”
Jay Cutler – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins Quarterback Jay Cutler (transcribed by Daniel Chavez)
(Jay, this is one of those games where it looked like the opportunities were there for you guys to win this football game. There were penalties, turnovers…) – “Yes, I don’t know how many penalty yards we had, but I know it was a lot. A lot of holding calls, a lot of good field position that second half and it seemed we were going backwards there a few times.”
(How’d you hold up physically?) – “I felt good. The offensive line did a great job. They’ve got some premier pass rushers over there and they played really well.”
(Have you played with a vest before or is this the first time you’ve had to play with the vest?) – “No, I’ve always played with a vest.”
(Was this a big difference running this offense? It seemed like you’re trying to get running backs the ball in space a lot more?) – “Yes, we saw a lot of zone, a lot of soft zone. I thought Adam (Gase) did a great job calling plays, getting the ball out of my hand and letting the playmakers get it early and let them run.”
(What’s the frustration level with this football team right now?) – “I think we just have to look at the positives; offensively, we did some good things tonight. If we eliminate some of those penalties and that turnover when we’re driving, and we’re in good position. We’re 4-4 at the halfway point. (There is) a lot of football left to play. There’s a lot of opportunities for us to put it together.”
(It seemed like a lot of dinking and dunking and a lot of short stuff until the fourth quarter when you started going deep. Was it just a case of just taking what they were giving you? What were they doing for you to keep you from going down the field?) – “Playing soft zone. That’s what they gave us pretty much all game and then we got into a situation where we had to push it a little bit and even then, DeVante (Parker) makes a heck of a catch in Cover 2 in the hole over there. Julius (Thomas) makes a catch in Cover 2 in the middle of the field. We still didn’t … we weren’t able to push the ball down extremely far because they were playing soft zone against us.”
(What did you see from the offense that you liked and things you can build on?) – “Whenever we weren’t going backwards from holding calls, I thought we had a really good rhythm. Guys were on the ball. I thought we mixed it up really well with our tempo. I got the ball out of my hand and got it to the guys that can make some plays. The running game, we had a few big runs that were sprinkled in there. (There were) a lot of positives. I think we’re going to look at the film and discuss some of these calls that we got against us. We’ve just got to clean it up for next week.”
Jarvis Landry – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins WR Jarvis Landry (transcribed by Lexie Balboni)
(You set the all-time NFL record tonight for the most receptions by any player in their first four years. I know this is a team game, but for you, for that kind of accomplishment, what does it say?) – “It’s a tremendous feeling. It’s something I feel like I can’t be proud of with the loss. I’d rather take the win. It’s definitely a milestone for me. I guess I’m proud of myself.”
(Do you feel like after Head Coach Adam Gase called out the offense last week that you guys sort of stepped it up this week?) – “We did the best that we could. It’s always tough – like I’ve been saying for weeks now – when you’re in first-and-20, second-and-25 and third-and-30, it’s going to be tough to get a first down, and we were in that position a lot; and when we weren’t, we were moving the ball well.”
(What did you think of QB Jay Cutler’s return tonight from the broken ribs?) – “It was good. It’s something we all know Jay can do. It was good to have him back out there. It felt good to have him back out there. I wish we could have put this one together somehow, though.”
Damien Williams – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins RB Damien Williams (transcribed by Alex Onaindia)
(Do you feel like some things were better today?) – “I felt like we were moving the ball pretty well, but at the end of the day, its penalties. You can’t have them.”
(Your touchdown where you got knocked back and spun back around, what happened on that play?) – “It was just an effort play. I’m just showing you who I am every day. I don’t quit. I don’t go out of bounds for nobody. It is an effort play. They gave up, I didn’t.”
(You were talking about how patient you’ve been waiting for your chance. This is your first really big chance here. How did you feel like it went?) – “I feel like it went okay. I feel like I could have done better in some areas, but as far as the running game, getting a feel to be faster and quicker, but I feel like it’s a process. It is just the first one.”
Adam Gase – November 5, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 5, 2017
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by Michelle Stone)
(You look at this game at a whole, tough to overcome penalties. You had 11 penalties, 107 yards. It seemed like most of them came at big times where it really would have been tough to continue drives.) – “There might have been 21 penalties between both of us. It seemed like theirs almost came on one drive where there was back-to-back penalties. Ours were coming at really poor times where we had some good plays and (they) get called back. Hard to recover from it.”
(Defensively you didn’t seem to have an answer for the tight end. It seemed like TE Jared Cook was available pretty much all day long.) – “He is a tough player. We didn’t really seem to have … We didn’t make that play that we needed to make to tie him up, whether it be through the rush or coverage. I know we tried a whole bunch of different things, but he seemed to find a way to get open.”
(Do you feel like you guys played well enough to win this football game?) – “We’ve got to eliminate the penalties. It’s hard to win. The fumble, that’s at a terrible time. We talked about it all week as far as not turning the ball over against this group, because we couldn’t afford to. We just knew the success rate that (Raiders Head Coach) Jack (Del Rio) has had when his team wins the turnover battle. We did it at a very poor time. We probably could’ve had some points there. We’ve just got to make sure that we don’t do that.”
(How would you assess QB Jay Cutler today?) – “I think he played well. He did a good job of getting the ball out of his hands. He threw it away a couple of times. We’ve just got to find ways to protect him a little better. We’ve got to be a little more consistent. When we did have some good runs, we had some penalties that pushed us right back to first-and-20 or second-and-20.”
(The running backs, how do you think they did?) – “It’s hard to tell without watching tape. We had a couple of runs that popped out of there. I feel like they had a couple of good runs, but we had those penalties on a couple of good ones. We did good in the passing game. With what they were doing outside, they were trying to take away … DeVante (Parker) and Jarvis (Landry) were on the same side. They were playing some coverages where it left the backs one-on-one with the linebackers and that was a good matchup for us.”
(Certainly the [Raiders] secondary going in this game was pretty banged up. You seemed to throw the intermediate pass. Was there any thought to try to get downfield against these guys?) – “We tried a couple of times but every time we tried to call one the corners were bailing and were way off, and a couple of times they caught us in a two-high shell. They were clouding us in man-cover-two…I’d ask them what they were going to play, but I don’t think they were going to tell me.”
Adam Gase – November 3, 2017
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Friday, November 3, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(How would you describe the overall week of practice from your perspective?) – “I thought guys did a good job. They worked hard, which we’ve been seeing for the most part; but I felt one thing that I kind of noticed was just the transition from meetings to field, being able to take the information and go to the field. There’s going to be physical mistakes, but I thought our guys were on it pretty good.”
(Are you optimistic about DE Andre Branch or DE William Hayes or both for Sunday?) – “Yes, I mean I’m always going to think everybody is going to be able to go until they tell us they can’t go. That’s the good thing about having tonight, tomorrow, Sunday all day. We’ll figure it out. We’ve got a lot of time.”
(How did WR DeVante Parker move in practice during the week and where would you say his ankle is?) – “He looked good. It’s just going to be all about when you start getting tackled live and moving in the game you just kind of … I think that goes on the backburner. You never know what’s going to happen and anytime you step on that field, its play every play because you never know. He’s doing everything he can to just get as healthy as he can, but you just never know how this game goes.”
(How much did he push himself relative to explosiveness and jumping? Was it kind of a light week or was he full?) – “No, I mean that’s what he’s been trying to do for a while. Whenever they kind of give him those guidelines of okay, we want you to start going in this direction, he does exactly what he’s asked. Last week we kind of saw him and he was really trying to push himself to show that I’m good, I can do everything. We’re doing a walkthrough and he’s trying to jump over the top of guys and things. I think he’s not restricting himself from what he’s doing.”
(Is there anything you can do as a play caller to help QB Jay Cutler protect his ribs?) – “Not really. I mean it’s just … you’re kind of at the mercy of what happens on each individual play. You can try to keep him out of harm’s way but at the end of the day, it is what it is and at some point, we’re going to have to drop back and throw it and we’ve got to protect it and get open quick, and he’s got to avoid getting hit.”
(We don’t ask you about LS John Denney often but I’m just curious of what you think about his streak of 200 games?) – “I mean it’s impressive. The thing about it is he’s the only guy that … I think I’m older than him by a few months, so he’s been doing this for a minute. It’s impressive to just see how consistent he is. If you watch him practice every day and he comes out there, he’s a grinder. You never see him just kind of standing around. He’s always doing something. He’s always working, whether it be the short snaps, long snaps, talking to those guys, just making sure those guys have the right mindset. That’s why you always feel good, no matter who your punter and kicker are, because he’s taking those guys under his wing and making sure that mentally, those guys are ready to go.”
(With RB Kenyan Drake in spot duty, he’s averaging just 2.5 yards per carry; but when you’re being more featured or you’re getting more touches, why should that be expected to go up?) – “Well I think you have to … I said it yesterday as far as you’ve got to know what we are asking him to do on certain plays. Some of the stuff that he was brought in for were situational-type things. Every play has a different story. Like I said, if its second-and-1 and he gets 1 (yard), he did his job. The last thing I usually look at is average. It doesn’t account for … You can have a 20-yard run and two minus-5s. What do you really want? You just want consistency. That’s really what you’re looking for.”
(Is C/G Ted Larsen likely to remain inactive?) – “We’ll see. I mean we’ve still got time.”
(You can’t give us C/G Ted Larsen?) – “No. (laughter) I want to just keep all of our options on the table right now. I haven’t had a chance to sit down with (Executive Vice President, Football Operations) Mike (Tannenbaum) and (General Manager) Chris (Grier), which I’m going to do today, so…”
(Is bringing up RB De’Veon Smith to have a fourth back a consideration that you think you all will look at possibly?) – “We’re going to go through everything today, so the good thing is I feel like that’s why we like these practice squad players that we have right now. They do a great job of preparing themselves like they’re going to play. All of those guys, they can see what’s going on. When there’s roster moves and guys going on IR and you might have a spot here and there, I mean they’re chomping at the bit to get out there. We’ve got a couple of moves that we’re going to have to eventually make, whether it be this week and then obviously next week, where guys are coming up on the roster. We’ve got some things to work through here, especially this week and then on to the next week.”
(Talking about mixing stuff up and changing some stuff up between now and kickoff, is there anything different in terms of how many walkthroughs, the time of the walkthrough, what you’ll do in the walkthrough? If you’ll see a movie? Just different stuff that …?) – “Well for us, it’s a different schedule because this is really the first time we’ve played a Sunday game but at night. That kind of changes what we do on Saturday and Sunday. We had the Thursday game but that was a short week so you’re just cramming everything in and you’re doing some walkthroughs that morning just to make sure that you’re good to go. This is really something our guys haven’t really experienced yet, so we’re going to kind of … We’ve got an idea of what we want to do and then just see how it goes. It’s really on paper right now for us. Hopefully we’ve got the right formula that we need to get a win this week.”
(Do you want to get WR Rashawn Scott back involved from a special teams standpoint, considering he did well there last year?) – “Yes, I just can’t wait to see him get a chance to perform because he does so many good things in practice and you know it’s just going to be a lot of opportunity. When’s the right time that he gets a chance? The thing about him is he’s just willing to do anything. I love the fact that he knows all three spots as a wide receiver. He’ll do anything that (Associate Head Coach/Special Team Coordinator Darren) Rizzi asks him to do on special teams and whatever he has that day, he’ll get it. That’s why him getting hurt, that was one of those one’s nobody really talked about; but he pushed a lot of other guys, especially in that room, because they knew he wasn’t going to be outworked.”
(With the changes that you’ve made this week to the schedule, to the roster, are you expecting these guys to come out kind of breathing fire on Sunday or do you expect a tangible, visual up?) – “I mean I can’t say that I know that for a fact. I know that every week we’ve talked about playing with passion, emotion, having a swagger to us that we know … You know what to do. You’re going to play fast and you’re going to react to what’s going on in the game. I don’t know if any of that will have any bearing on Sunday because every guy is different. Every guy handles their preparation and game different, and the majority of our guys come out that way. It might now be visually; but you can tell when you look in guys’ eyes and you kind of talk to them, you can tell if a guy is really, really locked in or if he’s kind of not there. The majority of the guys when you talk to them, Cam (Wake), the (Ndamukong) Suhs, Kiko (Alonso), (Lawrence) Timmons, those guys, if you go talk to those guys before a game, you can tell they’re dialed in and ready to go.”
(You’ve only lost one fumble in seven games, which is a pretty impressive pace. And the guy who fumbled is actually no longer here. Just curious of what your teaching point is with that, because obviously whatever you’re teaching is working in that regard.) – “I’m glad that you’re not trying to jinx us on that. (laughter)”
(It’s a compliment.) – “It’s fine. Just don’t talk about it. (laughter) I think (Running Backs Coach) Danny Barrett does a good job. Really, you see it a lot of times with the running back coach, he takes a lot of pride with the entire offense. It’s something that I actually took from Steve Mariucci. Tom Rathman used to get up in front of the group and he’d go through the basic fundamentals of carrying a football, and how to lock it down and how to prevent yourself from ever putting it on the ground, and we carried that over here. I think Danny does a good job of whether it’s a wide receiver, a tight end, running back, of if he sees something where the ball is loose in practice, he’ll go correct it. I think there’s a little bit of personal pride too with each coach of making sure their group isn’t the one to put it on the ground. It’s one of those things where you just always have to be mindful of it, because every week you play a different style of defense when you play these teams, that their d-line gets out and they run fast and you get slowed down. All of a sudden you get drilled from behind and you have to be able to hang onto the ball. Really, it’s just awareness. It’s focusing on what you’re doing right now and make sure you keep that ball tight.”
(Do you teach one technique for every player? Because I would think every player would like to hold it a little differently.) – “You try to make sure that you keep it pretty consistent. We got a way that we teach it. I think guys for the most part have bought into that. Every once in a while you see somebody get sloppy with it and start carrying the ball with one hand and trying to act like Walter Payton. That’s when, as a coach, you start getting a little nervous; but I think guys for the most part, they try to do the right thing.”
(Where are you guys on pass defense right now just considering the way I guess QB Philip Rivers and QB Drew Brees hit you, getting LB Lawrence Timmons, putting CB Cordrea Tankersley in there, DE Cam Wake’s sacks, the late game interceptions – CB Bobby McCain and S Reshad Jones?) – “We’ve been watching it since training camp, the improvement that was made from last year. I think a lot of it has to do (with) you have 11 guys playing together. Sometimes it takes you some time to realize our defense is built through our front. The rest of us are there to try to do everything we can to make sure those four guys get home. The best way that we can do that is by everybody doing their job on every play. When a guy goes freelancing or tries to do something where that ball can come out quicker, that’s really not what we’re looking for. We’re looking to make sure that quarterback cannot throw to his first progression and go to his second one, because we feel like we’re going to get home if we do that.”
(We know that RB Senorise Perry has developed into a core special teams guy. We only saw eight carries from him in preseason. Has there been anything that you’ve seen that intrigues you about him as a ball carrier?) – “I’ve been around him. This is my second time being with him. I’ve actually called plays with him in the game. I just feel like I have a good feel for what he likes. He’s one of those guys that, really at the end of the day, whatever you call, he’s going to do everything he can to execute it. What you see on special teams is exactly what you get from offense. He’s going to give you everything. If he gets an opportunity to carry the ball, I know whoever tries to tackle him, it’s not going to be easy. That’s what I appreciate about these three guys is they are tough and they have multiple aspects of their game that we really like and it makes us very versatile.”
(How big is that trust factor for coaches in general and you specifically? Because we know you’ve gone back to the past with RB Senorise Perry and C/G Ted Larsen and QB David Fales and QB Jay Cutler. How big a factor is that specifically to coaches and you?) – “When you know a guy and you know how he works, you know how he goes through the day, you know how he practices, you know how he’s going to be on game day, that eliminates a lot of things. Sometimes like last year, for me, it took me a minute to kind of figure our guys out. We start off 1-4. I felt like I was a big reason that we were kind of jacked up on offense, because I didn’t get a good feel for Ryan (Tannehill) early, calling plays with him, and made some changes and we kind of got in a better rhythm. And then this year, it has been some different things that really have caused us to not be productive; but when you know the guys that you’re going to work with every day and you know the kind of effort they’re putting in, that’s what helps you bring in the guys that you’ve been around before, because you just know what you’re going to get day in and day out, and they know what to expect as far as what’s coming from me, and then they can help facilitate a lot of these things to other players. When things aren’t quite going right, they can help get you right back on path of saying, ‘This is how we need to do it,’ because they’ve done it before and they’ve been through some experiences with me to where they know what we’re trying to do is the right way.”
(Is there any even general or rough analogy to a college football coach trying to install his program – get his players in – to what you’re doing?) – “It’s tough in the NFL. We’re talking about a handful of guys when you come to a place you might be able to get, because guys are under contract. It’s tough to go from one team to another and try to get guys to come with you because you’re just not able to. Any time you can get at least a few guys in the locker room that at least know what you’re about and how you want to do things, when you do that, it really helps you really get your system installed and ready to go.”
Cameron Wake – November 3, 2017
Friday, November 3, 2017
DE Cameron Wake
(Anything special about playing Sunday Night Football? It’s the NFL’s marquee package. WR Jarvis Landry says it’s special to him, that’s one perspective. Anything for you or zero appeal about that?) – “Not really. I like playing football. It doesn’t matter if it’s – I won’t say Thursday – but it doesn’t matter if it’s Sunday – Sunday morning, Sunday night, London. I just enjoy playing the game.”
(Did you notice any kind of difference at practice this week coming back after the “mini bye?”) – “I think guys were refreshed. I’d like to think guys have time to do whatever, whether it was get away from the game, whether it was get some extra treatment, or whatever thing you needed as an individual to help you get through the rest of the season. I think guys took the time to do that and I think it was good week of practice.”
(How do you measure pass-rushing success when you have quarterbacks who get rid of the ball really quickly?) – “I’ve always thought that we, as a front, we’re eventually going to get there, no matter what. It just depends on whether the quarterback has the ball or not. You can control what you control. Whether he has it, that’s not necessarily in your control; but the reality is at some point – especially with the guys we have in the back end – at some point they’re going to hold it and you have to trust that those guys are going to do their job, and you have to say, ‘This is going to be the play that I’m going to get the opportunity to get to the quarterback.’ If you do the opposite and say, ‘Alright, he’s throwing the ball quick, I’m not going to rush,’ then that’s a play when he’s sitting back there for five seconds and heaving it down the field. You have to have a short memory and you have to have a lot of confidence in yourself in every single play. ‘This is the play I’m going to get there, this is the play I’m going to get there. I trust in my guys.’ From a measurement standpoint, if you beat your guy, whether the ball is there or not, to me, that’s doing your job.”
(Do you get help from the back end? Is that how it works?) – “That’s exactly how it works. I feel like especially as a general teaching for the lay football watcher, that when they see a long pass and the corner got beat or the safety got beat on a 60-yard bomb and (they say), ‘Oh, that guy got beat.’ But in this league, there’s nobody … A corner couldn’t cover me for 10 seconds and I’m not a receiver, so eventually a receiver’s going to get open. As a pass rusher, if you throw a 70-yard pass, that’s my fault as a pass rusher; not mine, but we as a front. We definitely work hand in hand. Short drops and short, quick passes, I feel like, ‘Okay, you guys challenge those route concepts or whatever it may be, and when it’s the long routes, that’s our chance to say we’re not going to put you in that situation. We’re going to get there regardless of what the circumstances are.’”
(On a week like this where obviously you have health questions at defensive end with DEs Andre Branch and William Hayes, do you and Defensive Line Coach Terrell Williams or you and Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke have a conversation about more snaps. Do you express willingness for that? Do they come to you and say, ‘We might need you’ or does that conversation never happen?) – “I don’t think it’s a conversation, it’s a reality. Unfortunately, the game we play, it’s violent and injuries happen unlike any other sport that’s played in this country. It’s an unfortunate situation. You know that it’s going to happen at some point, yourself included, and the guys around you know that. If we have to step up and play a little more, that’s just the situation. We knew that the day we signed on to play. Whatever happens on Sunday, and still, again, that’s to be determined about who plays and how many snaps and all of that. When your number gets called, you’ve got to go in there and you’ve got to do your job. That’s the way it’s been, whether it is injury, a shoelace, a person with no shoe, a suspension, so on and so on and so on. ”
(Emotionally, is it better for a team to come out the same way every week or would you prefer to see a spike after a loss or a change in personnel like you guys had?) – “I don’t like spikes. I don’t like rollercoasters. I’m not a fan of extra. For example, Sunday night are we going to play harder because it’s Sunday night? What were you doing Sunday at 1 o’clock? What were you doing Thursday night? If there’s an extra, then to me – and I can say that to any football player – you’ve already been withholding something that you should have been giving. It should be a maxed-out effort week in and week out, no matter what time the game is, no matter who you’re playing, no matter if you all lost 10 straight, you won 10 straight, you’re going against an All-Pro, you’re going against a rookie who’s never played. There’s no let up. It’s your 100 mph fastball every pitch until your arm falls off. That’s the only way you can play this game. If you’re out there throwing lobs because it’s not a great hitter and then you’re waiting for a hitter to come up, then you’re wasting an opportunity. Me, I’m swinging for the fences every play, I don’t care who’s pitching.”
Michael Thomas – November 2, 2017
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Thursday, November 2, 2017
S Michael Thomas
(On whether guys get the message that Head Coach Adam Gase is sending) – “Obviously, Coach Gase did some things last year that got everyone’s attention. The way we’ve got to take that as a locker room is, regardless of how big of an impact it was, is that he sent a message. I think everybody got the message, ‘let’s go out there and do our job.’ It is what it is. Let’s go out there, let’s produce and let’s try to go get this W. That’s it.”
(What kind of feeling did you sense from everybody on the team coming back from the bye after the game in Baltimore?) – “Let’s get back to work. We put something out there on tape on Thursday night that was not respectable. That wasn’t us and we don’t ever want to look like that again, so let’s get back to work.”
(How did you feel when you were pressed into duty in Baltimore?) – “Stay ready. Obviously, you don’t plan for that. I hate to see anybody get injured. Obviously, I didn’t want to see that happen to Nate (Allen), but they’re calling my name – I’m trying to get a breather from special teams – and they’re calling my name to go in. I’m ready. Just go out there and produce. This is an opportunity and I’ve got to make the most of it.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase has talked about a different sense of urgency out there. Have you noticed anything in particular in practices?) – “Just the fact that everybody understands that you can’t take anything for granted. You can’t take being here for granted. This is an opportunity to play in the NFL. You want to put something good on tape at all times. You never know when it’s going to be your last snap. You never know if you’re going to be here, so every chance you get to step out on that field and give it your all, that’s it.”
(Can you handle your normal full load on special teams along with defense?) – “I stay ready for everything. If they want me to play a lot of special teams, I’ll be ready for that. If they want me to more on defense, I’ll be ready for that.”
(Going up against a very talented passing offense this week. What do you see in the Raiders?) – “They’re dynamic. They have explosive players. They have big-play ability. They’ve got a tight end who could be a matchup problem. They’ve got a quarterback who’s young and could be one of the better ones in the game. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but we’re not worried. We’ve just got to execute the game plan (Defensive Coordinator Matt) Burke has for us and we’re going to be straight.”
(Do you expect Raiders QB Derek Carr to be testing you?) – “If he does then I’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity. That’s it. I’m just going to go out there and play my game, that’s it.”
(Were you able to catch your hometown team winning the baseball World Series) – “Definitely. Shout out to H-town (Houston). The city really needed that. The city needed it.”
(Do you interact, just from a preparation standpoint, with S T.J. McDonald? Do you interact with him?) – “Oh, yes. First off, that’s my spades partner in crime. We’re like the dynasty. There’s other people in this locker room that think they can play spades. We normally beat them. But, obviously, he comes back next week. We’re excited for that return; but this week, we’re just trying to go out there and get that W. I’m trying to put the best film I can together this week and control what I control.”
