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Xavien Howard – October 28, 2021 Download PDF version

Thursday, October 28, 2021

CB Xavien Howard

(I wanted to ask you this question. I know you’re experienced at shadowing guys, but when you have to go inside and you have to go into the nickel spot, how comfortable are you and does that lead into more communication issues?) – “Playing inside there is a lot of communication, especially being inside there is a lot of field you have to cover. Like outside – I wouldn’t say it’s a cheat code, but using the sideline and knowing where everything is at kind of helps out when you’re outside. But when you’re inside, there’s a lot of space so you’re covering a lot of things. And there is a lot of communication using your leverage and knowing where the safety is at and trying to use that help.”

(The trading deadline is Tuesday and a player of your stature and teams looking for cornerbacks, your name is going to come up. What goes through your mind between now and then?) – “Miami Dolphins baby.” (laughter)

(That interception you had on Sunday, another one of those over routes you kind of undercut. It seems like that’s where you get a lot of your picks from. What’s the key to success on that particular route to get the ball away?) – “That’s a tough route. I’d say I’ve been getting that week in and week out. A lot of running away from me and making me trail and making me chase guys. That’s what I’ve been seeing for these six or seven weeks. I’m expecting that now, and like I’ve said, everything the coaches scheme up – my job is not going to be easy. Everything I get is going to be hard. I’ve got to understand, as a player, who I am and what teams are going to do. I just try my best to make a play and make something happen for the team.”

(Is there a little bit of baiting that goes into that? Because it seems like sometimes they may think they have a window and then they throw it and the window’s gone. Do you bait quarterbacks that way?) – “I don’t. I don’t think I’m baiting quarterbacks to get the job done for me because like I said, most of the guys are running away from me and it’s making my job harder. When the ball is in the air, I just try to make a play on the ball.”

(When you play the Bills, they do so many crossers when you guys go to man. How difficult is that as a cornerback to cover that kind of route?) – “It’s tough man. It’s a tough job. At the end of the day, you’ve got to understand. You have to know what teams are doing to you and you just have to take the challenge on and take it how it comes.”

(How do you feel the secondary has faired in instances playing man versus zone?) – “I’d say we try to mix it up. Try to give guys a different look. At the end of the day, we’re definitely a man team. Zone helps also, so we just try to mix different coverages up. Not playing just one and give the quarterback an easy read like ‘oh, they are playing this.’ We try to mix it up.”

(How important is exactly that against a QB like Josh Allen?) – “Especially against Josh. Like you were saying, a scrambling quarterback, it makes the job even harder knowing you’ve got to stay on your guy. With the scrambling, you can’t look in the backfield. It’s really like backyard football. You just got to stay on your guy.”

(Can you ever look in the backfield? Do you peek?) – “I do sometimes. Stuff happens when you look in the backfield, like I said. If I’m beat or not, I’m still going to try to look back and get the ball. That’s my whole mindset, just finding the ball.”

(Do you feel like you’re getting fewer cracks at interceptions this early part of the season?) – “I try every week. That’s my goal, but it hasn’t been happening for me lately. Whatever opportunity I get, the best thing I try to do is just give the ball back to the offense so they can make something happen.”

(With WR Stefon Diggs, WR Cole Beasley, WR Emmanuel Sanders, WR Isaiah McKenzie.) – “(Gabriel) Davis.”

(As far as wide receiver corps, is Buffalo about as good as it gets?) – “Yeah, that’s a good team. That’s a good playoff team. Those type of teams we have to face if we want to call ourselves a playoff team. That’s the type of talent we have to see.”

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