You guys were four of five in the red zone. What was it different about today?
“I think just execution. Obviously, we were able to run the football. That was big. That’s a really good defensive line and the o-line stepped up and we were able to run it down there. We found a way to get in the end zone and when you get in the end zone, you get points on the board. Now it’s about cleaning up the turnovers and think if we could do that we can start hitting our stride.”
It looked like San Francisco 49ers DT Malik Collins either punched you or grabbed your throat on that play. Can you tell us what happened and it did seem to kind of fire you up even more?
“I mean, I don’t. I’m hoping that he didn’t intentionally. I don’t think he intentionally tried to hit me in the throat. I think he was trying to just push me in the chest there and he’s taller than me. So, I threw the pick. I don’t know if I was fired up from that or if I was fired up because I threw my second pick and kind of hurt our defense there in that situation. So, we continue to just make strides in the right direction, but at the same time, we make those these mistakes, especially me. We’re winning football games, which is awesome, but we’re going to try to continue to get better.”
When you ran for the touchdown were you still kind of feeling that fired up and did you kind of seek the contact?
“No, I actually was not trying to lower my shoulder. I was trying to absorb the hit because I knew I was going to be right there in the end zone. And that dad body man. I had enough weight on me where he went down. So, it wasn’t like I was necessarily trying to seek out contact. I was trying to absorb it and get in the end zone and just ended up looking good for me.”
When was the last time you were able to lower your shoulder? Can you remember?
“The last time I lowered my shoulder was against Iowa State and I had an AC sprain and then Iowa State beat me by 56 points. So, I’ve stayed away from that.”
Did your dad body help you on the scramble down the sidelines?
“Yeah, I was stopping and was going to try to just get the first down and I haven’t seen the play, but the dude either overran or got a little bit of a block there. So, once I got on the sideline it opened up and I was able to get down there and I thought about cutting it back but, I’ll save that for the playoffs. Right now I’ll just continue to run out of bounds.”
What’s the benefit of playing these games that have this high level of intensity?
“Yeah, I think you get the best of the best and that prepares you for the playoffs. I think that’s the biggest thing. I’s obviously fun to win and score a lot of points, but whenever you play these high tense moments against the great teams in the NFL you see where you’re at. We were able to find ways to get a win today as our defense continues to play special, honestly. Offensively we’re able to run the ball and find a way to get in the end zone. I think we can get so much better. So we’re going to continue to work at that and try to continue to get better as the season goes on.”
I know you don’t do a lot against the ones during the week, but CB Chris Roland-Wallace, I assume you played against in practice. What have you seen from him?
“He’s a good football player. He’s been like that since training camp, and you can see it. Some guys just have it, and you can see it from day one and he’s gotten better and better. You can tell he really listens to [Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo] Spags to [Defensive backs] coach [Dave] Merritt to all the coaches and the players. So he sits there and he listens to [CB] Trent [McDuffie] talk and he’s gotten better and better each and every week. He stepped up today and whenever his number was
called and I think there were two rookies who got interceptions if I’m right. So, it was cool to see those guys to get in the game and make plays.”
You guys are 6-0, but nothing seems like it’s come easily for you all. Is that frustrating or does it make it that much more rewarding when you’re able to find different ways to win?
“I don’t want to say it doesn’t come easily because we’re winning games against good teams by a good amount of points and that’s not easy for the NFL. But I just don’t think it’s normal for what you’ve seen from us because there’s not a lot of passing touchdowns. There’s been a lot of turnovers, especially by me. So, I think it’s just showing the versatility of our team. It’s not just about me, it’s not just about the stats and the light show and stuff like that. It’s about playing team football. I believe that if we continue to work we’ll get better offensively throwing the ball down the field. Until then it’s nice to know that we have a great running game, we have a great defense and we’re able to execute whenever the time comes to win football games.”
The interceptions, any common threads there from your perspective?
“The first one the guy was open, [TE] Jody [Fortson] was open on the slant. It was going to be a catch and tackle trying to just gain some back because we were in second and long and their D-line made a good play. He got his hands up, knocked it up in there and made a pick. Then the second one was just trying to go to my matchup with [WR] Xavier [Worthy]. Obviously you saw the feet got tangled up there and he ended up losing his balance and falling down and that guy made a good play. I feel like in the interceptions, I was going to the right direction in the right spot. Just you get unlucky sometimes, but, I’ve got to still clean it up. There’s too many interceptions that put our defense in bad spots. So in order for us to even take another step it’s going to be about me taking care of the football, scoring those touchdowns in the red zone like we did today, and then letting our defense really eat and letting Spags be spags.”
It seemed pretty chippy overall today in a lot of ways. I wonder, on the touchdown, it looked like you had something to say. Are we gonna hear you on mic’d up saying something?
“I don’t know what I said. I think I just said I hope I scored a touchdown. I got pretty hyped up there just because it was fourth down and got in the end zone in a big moment. But, I don’t remember exactly what I said.”
On the play to WR Mecole Hardman, how similar was that to the play in the Super Bowl?
“It was a different play, but a similar motion just based on how they guard the motions. I kind of threw it and then my next read was coming across the field. I think he was wide open, so he slipped and he was going to be open and it’s not there. It’s just about finding a way to reset back, and get to your next read. I’m still going to be able to throw a touchdown even though we didn’t exactly show it exactly how it was drawn up.”