Terron Armstead – September 10, 2024
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Tuesday, September 10, 2024
T Terron Armstead
(After seeing the body cam last night on Twitter, your emotions as you watched it, was it anger, sadness? You’re always so thoughtful, how would you describe what your emotions were as you watched it?) – “It was a combination of emotions, for sure – frustration, sad, feeling for ‘Reek’ (Tyreek Hill), and ‘Reek’ just being a representation for a lot of other people that have been through those situations. It was heartfelt for sure.”
(What stuck out for you when you watched the body cam video that really bothered you the most?) – “Just unnecessary to me. To me, it was unnecessary. Nothing I feel like warranted the reaction. Just any time you’re getting physical for a traffic stop, it never ends too well.”
(The idea of DT Calais Campbell being handcuffed seems absurd. What was your take on that aspect?) – “All of it just seemed aggressive, aggressive. What I would say about my teammates, Tyreek (Hill) specifically, the way that he handled everything coming into the locker room, going out performing and then postgame just making sure the story stays positive. Trying to find a solution opposed to being a problem and playing a victim. Calais (Campbell) is the same way. He could’ve got more vocal with what he was feeling, but it’s all about the progression and moving forward collectively with the police department and all of those things. Really hats off to those guys, for real.”
(Do you have any thoughts on how both sides could’ve handled this situation differently from the pull over all the way through everything else?) – “Not really. It’s different when you’re right there in that situation. For Tyreek, he’s Tyreek Hill. So window down, he’s talking to the police, that’s a lot of cameras, so he’s going back up and down. When you first get that initial knock on the window and it feels aggressive to you, you get caught off guard like, ‘Damn, man. Slow down.’ I have personal experience with it too, so it definitely – I know how that goes. Like I said, if we can work together and find solutions so these things won’t happen more, I would be open to listening and moving forward doing the work to do so.”
(Speaking of just moving forward and you being so thoughtful and a leader on this team. How hard is it to separate this and realize you have the Bills in 48 hours?) – “We got to handle the task at hand. It’s the schedule, we’re going to roll. We’ll be ready. Nobody will be tired; we won’t be talking about the last game or anything. We will be ready for the Bills.”
(How hard is it to separate? This is a serious issue going on around the country, but yet regardless, it doesn’t matter. You still have to go out and perform and put this to the side.) – “I think that’s the beauty of the sport. You get a chance to escape real world issues for that time slot. I think there’s no better place in the world that Tyreek could’ve been following that but a locker room and a football game. That’s the beauty of that sport, that you get that time to escape and enter a world that is kind of a fantasy for us.”
(There has been a lot of talk about the response by teammates. TE Jonnu Smith, DT Calais Campbell coming to WR Tyreek Hill defense there. Is this maybe a galvanizing thing for the team to get that much closer together?) – “It’s all about your response to adversity for sure. But do we need it? No, we didn’t need it. I love the group. I love the locker room, everybody. It’s close knit, it’s family for real. So it’s a no brainer, if I would’ve seen him, I would’ve did the same thing. You never know how that situation would’ve happened, and I know countless others in here would’ve pulled over and tried to look after him to make sure he was safe too. It’s just the vibe that we have.”
(This game, is this 1 of 17 or is this game a little more important because it’s Buffalo and a division opponent?) – “It’s the next one. It’s important because it’s the next one. All energy, all thoughts and preparation go into it, for sure. It’s a division opponent so there is some familiarity there. It’s nothing different. It’s nothing different. It’s the 2024 Miami Dolphins, everything that happened in the past is different. We got to go out and execute Thursday night and get a win.”
(Are you aware of the numbers with Buffalo that QB Josh Allen is 11-2 against you and they’ve beaten you 13 of the last 15?) – “No.”
(Does any of that stuff matter?) – “We are 0-0 in 2024. 0-0, so let’s get it done Thursday and see who’s going to win.”
(So there is no bad blood knowing how the regular season ended last year? That doesn’t factor in at all? You don’t remember any of that?) – “It’s a different team. We got a lot of different new people. We’re 0-0 against each other. We’re going to go out and see what’s happening.”
(What was your thoughts on the offensive line’s performance against Jacksonville. It seemed like you and OL Austin Jackson had very good games. What did you think about the offensive line?) – “Solid performance. Knocking some rust off early in the season still, got to get fully in football shape and get going and all that. Jacksonville did a really good job schematically with some of the things they were doing, creating pressure off the edge to the open side, trying to continue to keep eyes on Tyreek (Hill) and (Jaylen) Waddle, for sure. I think as we progress through the season, I think our technique, our intent flying off the ball, you’re going to see more and more of that. We were able to get that going somewhat in the second half, but we want to get that started early Thursday.”
(As a captain, has there been any thought or any type of gesture on Thursday night in response to what happened to WR Tyreek Hill?) – “No. No, we won’t march, kneel – not to my knowledge. No. We are definitely talking about doing some things that will be real life impactful, whether that’s conversations with the police department and other leaders of the communities with myself, Tyreek and a few other leaders on the team. We want to do something that will be really impactful, not just make statements. I’m not a fan of empty statements. Whatever that is, we’re brainstorming. I have some ideas and I’m sure some others do as well.”
