COACH KIRBY SMART
COACH SMART: First and foremost, really appreciate the Sugar Bowl committee and trustees of the Sugar Bowl. They’ve done a great job making us feel welcome from the time we got here.
Got off the plane, had the band out there, and it’s great to shake everybody’s hand and see everybody. Obviously we’ve been very fortunate since being in Alabama. It’s our fourth Sugar Bowl.
I was part of two prior to that. One at the University of Georgia. Actually was in Atlanta. And also part of a Sugar Bowl at FSU. So being from the Southeast, this is the premier bowl in the southeast. Excited to be here.
It’s an honor to be here. They do a great job hosting us, with a great city to do it in.
A little bit about this year’s team: We’re excited. These guys have played their butt off ever since the Ole Miss loss.
They’ve never turned back. Kept fighting, done everything we’ve asked them to do. Proud of this group. A lot of good seniors. Especially the group I’ve got in the secondary. Some good kids that have worked hard to overcome a lot of things. But they’ve responded well and competed the way that we’ve asked them to do.
We’ve got a lot of respect for Ohio State. Obviously I admire the coach and team. They’ve done a great job. Scoring 45 points and around 500 yards per game. It’s made for a rough 20, 30 days watching that tape of what they do offensively.
Great challenge. They block well. Hit you in the mouth. Throw the ball well. Do a good job, really great group of skilled receivers.
So the challenge is in front of us defensively to play well and execute against a really good offense. But we’re excited and we’re happy to be here. I’ll open it up to any questions.
Q. Kirby, one thought, the fact they’re playing a quarterback who has really only started one game. He did play other opportunities during the season. Just your thoughts on Cardale Jones’ one full game and what did you learn about him and maybe how do you anticipate he’ll play in this game?
COACH SMART: Well, I hope he doesn’t play like he played in that game. He did a great job. Very unflappable. Not affected easily. He does a good job in the pocket. Throws the ball really well. He really threw the deep ball as well in that game.
Kind of proved himself as a passer. And Wisconsin really challenged the guys outside and forced him to throw it and he did. So what he’s been asked to do, he’s done. And he’s done it at a really high level.
He’s got a lot of good players around him, which makes it easy for a quarterback. When you’ve got really good players around you, and they manage the game well for him, they do a great job of what they asked him to do in that game he did well.
The guy’s proven to me he’s a very quality quarterback.
Q. When you get ready to prepare a defense to face an offense that’s very multiple, that can do a lot of things in a lot of formations, take us through that process, what is that like, to try to prepare for, frankly, a million different looks or things, how do you go about making guys so they don’t overlook?
COACH SMART: Take it part by part. It’s harder on a bowl game. Because you gotta focus on one thing a day. Can’t get ready for everything every day. We try to take a part of what they do, work on it each day, get better at it. There’s a lot of material. We have a lot of games on the season.
We’ve got a lot of time. You have to be careful. You can overthink things. We tried really hard to work on us, us meaning we’ve got to get better, not focus on what they do the whole time. Here in the last seven, eight days, focus on what they do and getting better at what they do. It’s a challenge, especially when you are seeing them running up and down the field like a track meet on every play. Daunting task that hopefully we’ll be up to.
Q. Talking about running up and down the field, they have speed. And the Big Ten has always been, in a sense, has always been slow, is this more like an SEC game?
COACH SMART: We’ve talked to several coaches in their league and every coach to a T said -- these are coaches that have been in the SEC. From their league said, without a doubt, they’ve got an SEC team, they’ve got SEC speed and SEC size. They just don’t play in the SEC. These guys are out to prove something. They’ve got a chip on their shoulder.
And they look on film just like one of the teams we play, if not better, because they’ve got big, fast receivers. Big, fast skilled guys. They do a really good job with their tight ends and their offensive line is really quality, too.
Q. What’s the biggest disadvantage when you’ve only really had that one piece of tape on their quarterback?
COACH SMART: Well, not knowing how he reacts to different things would be the toughest thing. You don’t know how he’s going to react in certain situations. You haven’t seen enough tape to know. That’s probably the hardest thing for us to get prepared for is we’re watching one quarterback in a lot of games, yet we’re going to face a different quarterback.
So knowing what they want to do with that guy makes it harder, tougher to get ready for.
Q. Who is the time element on? Does it make it help you more preparing for Ohio State or does it help Cardale Jones more preparing to face your defense?
COACH SMART: I don’t really know that. I think it helps both of us. It’s who takes advantage of that time better. If you manage that time right, he manages the time better; it could pay off for either one of us. He has a lot of time to watch tape and prepare for our defense. We’ve got a lot of time to get prepared for them and what they might do.
Q. Up front, it’s a team that has four new offensive linemen. And at the beginning of the year, shaky up front. In terms of the tapes you’ve done, can you analyze up front from where they started to where they are now?
COACH SMART: Got a lot better. You talk to people. That’s what they say. They’ve got new starters. They’re not new starters now. They started all year. They played really well together.
They have seen a lot of different looks from teams in their league. Pretty much what you could see, they’ve seen. They do a great job communicating. You can tell they’re well coached up front. They pick up things and communicate well. They’ve kind of gelled and played better. They got a hat on a hat. And do a good job blocking people up front. Improved throughout the year tremendously.
Q. (Question about Trey DePriest and his leadership growth).
COACH SMART: Trey is a great leader. Enjoyed recruiting Trey. I wasn’t the lead recruiter on him. I was coaching the linebackers at the time.
Very intelligent, sharp linebacker. Does a great job commanding the huddle. Makes a lot of checks for us. He’s grown. Played with Donte and played with C.J. Now he’s put himself in that role as a leader. Does a great job day in, day out. Just a quality person overall and came a long way to play for us and has had a good career.
Q. (Follow up on Trey DePriest – question indiscernible)
COACH SMART: The biggest thing taken away is the leadership role. He may be a different player, may be better playing block, playing the run.
But the biggest thing that he does is lead our team. Every day we’re struggling not having a good practice. He’s not afraid to speak up. That’s what C.J. did. That’s what Nico did and Donte did. He’s the bell cow in there. He does a good job leading for us, great person, great family.
Q. What’s it like having that family come down for every single game, talking about Trey came a long way. They make that journey every week?
COACH SMART: Says a lot for them. They think a lot of him, quality group of people that come down -- a lot of the games they’ve come to they’re all over the country. Not just home games. They’re always there to see him and support him. He’s been a great asset for us and a great kind of ambassador for our program.
Q. Talk about the defensive line. Obviously Nick’s talked about how deep it is this year. How do you compare to some previous seasons? Seems like this is the deepest rotation you’ve had.
COACH SMART: It’s the healthiest we’ve been. We’ve had some of this kind of depth before, but we usually lose a guy in the season, have a guy hurt.
Dalvin was an ACL guy. I guess it was last year. Lost guys on the defensive line in years past. This year, haven’t really lost guys. Been able to rotate guys and play a lot of guys. That helps us. Anytime you’ve got depth at that position, allows you to play more guys. That’s what we like to do is play a bunch of guys.
Q. One thing I know that’s disappointed both you and Coach Saban, the secondaries (indiscernible), and they have an opportunity to throw the ball well. They’ve got some big receivers, you talked about. How much improvement have you made the last few weeks on that?
COACH SMART: We’ll find out. I don’t think you ever know how much improvement you’ve made until you play. We’ve obviously worked on it, tried to attack that area, tried to help those guys some. And at the end of the day we have a lot of situations where if we can make the play and finish the play, then we’re probably not talking about it.
It’s a big part of what we do. We talked about explosive plays in bowl games to determine the outcome probably more than turnovers do. So we can’t give up explosive plays in the run game or pass game.
And Ohio State is really good at both. They’ve got more explosive plays than anybody we’ve played this year and I’m sure they’re trying to exploit that weakness. So we’ll have to do a good job on the back end to be successful in this game.
Because at the end of the day, against Ohio State, you’ve got to make them one dimensional one way or the other. It’s hard to do without putting guys in one-on-one situations. So we’ll have to do that and we’ll have to make some plays.
Q. Do they remind you of any senior face of the SEC this year maybe like Mississippi State?
COACH SMART: You like to say Mississippi State. There’s some differences there. But obviously Urban and Dan being together, it makes a little bit of similarities. But the quarterbacks are a little different, makes the offense a little different.
But they’re both very senior-laden. Lots of seniors on Mississippi State’s team and a lot of seniors on Ohio State’s team. A little bit of the same flavor. A little bit of Ole’ Miss too. They do a good job of mixing it up and make you account for every square inch of the field. They throw it all over the field.
Q. Can you look a little at Florida to get a feel for how Urban likes to attack a Nick Saban team?
COACH SMART: I think you can a little bit. I think it’s tough. A long time since that game. I don’t know how much of that they’ll use. We’ll see. Different offensive coordinator for them. So it will be interesting to see.
Q. You said compared to Mississippi State, would you compare Cardale Jones to (indiscernible)?
COACH SMART: I’m saying the quarterbacks are different. Different players. Similar plays but different kind of players. So I don’t know if that overlaps or not. I’m sure they’ll use the tape. I’m sure they’ll talk to Coach Mullen, too.
Q. You obviously had a long career, very successful career as a coordinator. I want to hear your appreciation for what Tom Herman accomplished this year as a coordinator and now a head football coach.
COACH SMART: Houston got a good one. I still remember to this day, I don’t know what year it was -- you all have to help me with that, -- but watching maybe it was a Thursday or Friday night game. Ohio State was playing Oklahoma State, I guess it was.
Man, he did a phenomenal job. I remember having a lot of respect for him then, thinking who is this guy. Then he got on with Ohio State. I knew right away they were going to be a good team.
Coach Meyer made a great hire and the guy does an unbelievable job. As good a job as anybody I’ve seen in all my years of being a coordinator of mixing it up, changing it up and keeping you off balance. No real tendencies, outstanding coach. Houston got them a good one.
Q. You talked about talking with several Big Ten coaches about getting ready for Ohio State. And you mentioned Urban and Dan Mullen. Where do the conference loyalties lie in terms of --
COACH SMART: I think you have coach loyalties. When all things are closed, and you’re behind closed doors, you have coach loyalties, not conference loyalties.
And he’s got a lot of loyalty to our conference because he did a good job in it. He’s been around it. The same way with some of the guys in his. So it’s mixed emotions there. But at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what they tell you, it’s what you do.
Q. Within the SEC, don’t you guys have an agreement like if somebody would fall in a game like this, that you wouldn’t talk to another conference?
COACH SMART: I don’t know of any agreement like that.
Q. Nothing there?
COACH SMART: I wouldn’t know.
Q. What would be their incentive to help you if they’re in the same league?
COACH SMART: I don’t know, maybe they like Urban Meyer. Maybe they’re good friends with him. You tell me why they would want to help him. I don’t know.
Q. People say that Urban Meyer and Nick Saban are a lot alike in a lot of ways. What do you think makes Nick Saban so successful in situations?
COACH SMART: His leadership qualities. Development of young men. I think the both of them, overall ability to run a football program. Day-to-day decisions where they focus on the here and now. They don’t get caught up in the long term. They’re sitting there saying I’ve got to win today. Both of them do a great job running their programs. Very sound. Good leadership at the top.
Q. Quite a bit of success there against Missouri in the SEC championship game. How tough is it to carry --
COACH SMART: It’s tough, because Ohio State’s got really good wideouts and a good quarterback. And they can run the ball really well. I think it makes it tougher because they’ve got better overall players right now than Missouri does.
Q. Are you mentally conditioned enough to --
COACH SMART: I hope so. We’ll find out. We’ve tried to work really hard. It’s a long layover. You don’t know what you’ll get when you go back out there.
But obviously we challenged our guys. We know it’s going to be a great challenge to play these guys, because they do such a good job offensively. We’ve got to keep them off balance and expect them to go up-tempo and go fast and hopefully we can play well.
Q. You said several Big Ten coaches have given you some information.
COACH SMART: I wouldn’t say information. I wouldn’t say information. I think everybody wants to talk about that and focus on that. Where all we’re saying is you share different ideas as far as how good is this team, are they good. Because we’re going to do what we do defensively.
We’re not going to go get ideas from somebody else. When you say information, it’s do they look like an SEC team? Are they built like an SEC team? Yes, they’re fast and big and they’re physical. That kind of information. Not defensive information or secrets. There are no secrets to this game.
You’ve got to block. You’ve got to tackle. You’ve got to be physical. You’ve got to be fast. That’s what we hope to do.
Q. Did that surprise you, even that, because usually you think --
COACH SMART: Doesn’t surprise me that anybody in the SEC would talk to Coach Meyer either.
Q. Why?
COACH SMART: Because in the league, if they know him and trust him, they’re going to talk -- coaches talk. You know what you believe. Coaches that are friends talk. That’s what friends do. The loyalties lie within the coaching, not necessarily within conference.
Q. (Indiscernible). Not much background. About the secondary. With the extra faculties, same guys, maybe a Tony Brown steps up, and maybe make more of an impact in a game like this where you might need more corners to step up and make good plays?
COACH SMART: You know, we work hard on developing our young players during this time. We’re trying to get them better for next year.
We have a lot of practices to get ready for next year. A lot of guys have grown up and played more. At the end of the day, the guys that are starters gotta play best because they’re the guys that are going to play. We’re not necessarily going to play more guys in the secondary. We’ve just got to play better in the secondary. We’ve challenged them to do that.
Q. I know you guys worked so hard during the season to form an identity in your defense. At the end of the season what would you say is the identity of this team?
COACH SMART: I think it’s a real resilient group. Really good job in the red area, stopping people. Holding the field goals.
I think the identity has been a mixed bag of tricks. Because we’ve been good sometimes and sloppy sometimes. At the end of the day I hope they finish on the note that we started with, stopping people in the red area being physical at the run and not giving up the big plays. We gotta force more turnovers.
We haven’t been able to do that. I hope we can finish with that identity of the typical Alabama defense. Stop the run first, don’t give up big plays and force turnovers.
Q. (Indiscernible) a lot of people think the Arkansas game was the turning point for your team. Do you remember, probably so, Coach on one day went on this rant about employing victory. Can you talk about that message he gave and (indiscernible) the different players?
COACH SMART: I certainly think it helped. I think it helped just as much when he told the team, before the Arkansas game, leading into the game, to play, have fun, compete, go win the game.
Don’t worry about losing the game. Go win the game. And that’s the way they played against Arkansas. It didn’t matter how many times we went back out there. Our defense was not going to be denied.
We weren’t going to give up a score. And we had to stop them about four times in the second half. And each time they did. And I didn’t feel like they were playing not to lose like I felt like the Ole’ Miss game.
That’s why I say it was probably a turning point going into Arkansas that, hey, we were going to play to win not play not to lose and that was probably the biggest difference.
Q. Also said they seemed to come alive in that game in terms of (indiscernible)?
COACH SMART: I agree. I agree. They enjoyed -- every time they went out, there were guys in the huddle like here we go, we’ll stop them again. Whereas, I felt like Ole’ Miss, there was a lot of nervous energy, when is something going to go wrong instead of let’s go stop them.
Q. The other thing, when Coach goes on those --
COACH SMART: I’ve seen him before.
Q. Give me your opinion of those.
COACH SMART: I think it’s great. Gets everybody’s attention. You obviously pay attention more. You talk about it. So it has an effect. At the end of the day, that’s what you want to do is have an effect on your coaches, players, media, whatever it is.
Q. What’s the biggest difference for an Urban at Florida and an Urban at Ohio State, what they’re doing offensively?
COACH SMART: Tough question. There’s a lot of similarities. Especially with the other quarterback. Between him and Tebow. Really good runner.
Tim always commanded the offense well. So did Rex and J.T. All those guys have done a great job. There’s some similarities there between both of them. But really good skill guys. Good offensive line. Good backs. Probably got more power backs than I remember him having at Florida, might be the biggest difference. But does a good job.
Q. Do you get help in your preparation because you had to game plan against an Urban Meyer team?
COACH SMART: Again, I don’t know how much, is this Urban Meyer, is this Coach Herman? I don’t know. I’ve never had to go against Tom Herman before. And he’s the one calling the plays.
So obviously there’s some similarities in the offense. I’m not saying that. But for us, we can’t copycat their Florida game plan, because we’re not what we were when we played Florida. We’re a different team. Football is different now. There’s a lot of kind of different plays coming out there.
Q. Who does Cardale Jones remind you of that you may have faced this season?
COACH SMART: Tough comparison. I don’t really know. He’s a really accurate passer. Does a great job passing the ball. Does a great job commanding the huddle. And I really don’t have enough information with the one game to pinpoint him with somebody else.
Tell you what he’s got, he’s got great poise. Played in a great high school program. Very intelligent. Very good leader. You can tell he’s well prepared.
ALABAMA DEFENSE PLAYERS QUOTES
DECEMBER 28, 2014
DL JONATHAN ALLEN
(On watching film on the Ohio State Offensive Line earlier in the season) “I watched a little bit of film earlier in the season, but that’s not who they are now. So, we really can’t focus on who they were back then. We’re going to look in terms of the most recent games and, like I said, they’re a good group…a lot of experience; they work well together, big and physical. We’re excited for the challenge.”
(On anticipating what the Ohio State offensive may do) “Yeah, we have an idea of what they’re gonna do. We gotta do what we’ve been doing all year. It’s a little bit challenging because we didn’t have a lot of film on them, but I think we’ll be able to handle it.”
(On rating the Ohio State Offensive Line, it experience and if he sees any weakness) “They’re probably one of the better ones. Like you said, they already have a season of experience. We’re pretty experienced. They play well together, work well together, are big and physical. They are definitely a challenge, but we’re excited for the challenge.”
(On the SEC vs. the Big 10 and if he sees more speed in this Ohio State team) “I definitely see more speed in this Ohio State team. Every single one of their skill positions can fly and I feel that’s something that’s really helped them out throughout the year.”
(On if they [Ohio State] remind him of anyone in the SEC) “I really don’t think I can compare them specifically. They do things that Mississippi State did, that Texas A&M did, that a lot of other teams did. But, to compare them to one individual team out there, I can’t do that.”
DB NICK PERRY
(On challenges playing Cardale Jones) “He’s a mystery. Really don’t know exactly what all he can do or what kind of offense they’re gonna have come game time, so we’re just preparing for everything and anything. You know they’re gonna come out there with something different on game day and we just have to be able to adjust and go out there and execute.”
(On bowl game mindset) “It’s kinda weird. We’re usually used to travelling the day before the game, but now we’re traveling like 5 or 6 days before, so we just gotta stay focused. It’s hard to stay focused in a city like this with the music and the crowds, and all the distractions. We just have to be together as a team and make sure everybody knows what our goal is.”
(On being a part of first ever playoffs) “I’ll appreciate it a lot more if we can win both games.”
(On Coach Saban’s support after Arkansas game) “Basically he’s had our back. He felt like that was the most important win of our season; that changed our season. The media was kinda on us for only winning by one point. Sometimes he felt like the expectation was too great and at the time nobody really respected Arkansas, but now everybody respects them. Because of that game and how we came together, and faced adversity, we’re in the position we are right now. We thank Coach Saban for that, for having our backs and we didn’t want to make him look bad. He had our backs, so we want to represent him well.”
(On challenge facing QB that has only had one start) “It’s hard. We’re used to playing guys that have been starting all season long. Like I said earlier, he’s a mystery. We don’t know what he’s gonna come out there and do. We don’t know his tendencies or what kinda plays he runs, what kinda offensive scheme they’re gonna have, so we’re just preparing for everything.”
(On a comparable QB to Cardale Jones) “Dak Prescott. He’s the same type of physical size, he might be even bigger. He runs well, he can throw the ball deep. He’s a good quarterback.”
(On Ohio State’s deep offensive game) “We respect them. We work on deep game all week long and they have very good receivers. Our primary goal is to go out there and compete, and know that they’re gonna try us and we got to be ready.”
(On staying focused through the break between games) “It’s tough with the layover between games. By just watching the bowl games over the past week, you can tell the difference, you know, with the sloppy play. The turnovers, the miscommunications, the missed tackles and stuff like that. Coach Saban has done a good job for us by keeping us competitive, keeping us in shape and holding us to a higher standard.”
(On last year’s bowl game) “We definitely have a chip on our shoulder. We’re not really thinking about last year, but it’s in the back of our minds that we didn’t play our best game. We weren’t really prepared well, so we want to come out there and put a different picture in everybody’s head. That left a bad taste in our mouth and we don’t ever want to have that feeling again.”
DB LANDON COLLINS
(On playing in New Orleans in front of family and friends) “It’s always exciting to play in front of my family members that don’t get to see me as much. It’s always tremendous to see them at the end of the game and see a smile on their face.”
(On his approach this season) “I always try to do the best thing for my teammates. I play as hard as I can for them and I put myself in the right position to make plays so we could get to this point. That’s all I did.”
(On how the end of last season set up this season’s success) “Losing that game and the game before that definitely set us up, because we didn’t like that feeling. We just wanted to overcome what we had done and show that we are a different type of team.”
(On preparing for Ohio State QB Cardale Jones) “You can’t have that many thoughts. He did an excellent job against the last team they played. He put up major numbers and I’m looking for him to do the same thing against us.”
(On whether it is difficult to prepare for Ohio State QB Cardale Jones with only one game’s worth of film) “Just a little bit, because you haven’t seen him play. You haven’t seen his keys and what he likes to do. He’s played enough snaps to get a feed on what he likes to do. So, we’re going to have a little touch.”
(On having a knack for the ball and being in the right place at the right time) “I learned that from the guys that were before me. They taught me what to do and the key concepts. Then, I have a linebacker right there that knows what’s going on too; so, we are definitely on the same page to help each other out. We just figure it out and catch up with the game. Coach Saban and Coach Smart definitely help us out with the read and tell us what is going on. Plays and formations definitely help you out when you do a lot of film study.”
LB TREY DePRIEST
(On facing Ohio State) “I kind of felt like it was coming one day, because I have been having good seasons. I knew it would happen one day.”
(On the last two weeks) “I get a little trash talk at the house from everyone, but that’s alright. One of my best friends is Braxton [Miller], so he and I have been talking about it. It sucks that he isn’t playing, but it is what it is.”
(On his friendship with Braxton Miller) “We grew up in Springfield together. We played Peewee [football] together. We played middle school ball together. He went to a different high school, but we’ve been friends throughout school. We first met at Peewee football practice. I went to a different elementary school, but same middle school. He could throw the ball 70 yards in the seventh grade. We used to talk about playing in a big game one day, but we never thought it would be like this.”
(On the decision between Ohio State and Alabama) “I pretty much knew that this is where I wanted to go. I had a good relationship with Coach Sal. He isn’t here anymore, but I had a good relationship with a lot of the guys. I had a good vibe with a lot of them.”
(On their thoughts on Ohio State’s offense and what stands out) “I really didn’t take Ohio State as a fast team until I started watching film. They get set and lined up pretty fast. The key for us is to get lined up. And, they do a lot of stuff on offense…a lot of stuff that he [Urban Meyer] did at Florida. It is a complicated offense, so you have to look at the right stuff.”
(On preparing for Ohio State QB Cardale Jones with little game film on him) “You can’t really see a lot of what he does on film. That is different, because you can’t really see who you want on film. He has played in a few games and we know what we can do. We saw what he did against Wisconsin. How he handled himself, not playing a lot before that and coming into the Big Ten Championship, and showing that type of composure and putting up the numbers that he did, was impressive.”
DB CYRUS JONES
(On what they’ve learned new about Ohio State) “I already know a little bit about them. I know they’re explosive and have athletes all over the field. We just have to come out and match that, and be aggressive, physical and try to make plays.”
(On what he sees in the different styles of wide receivers) “They have every type of wide receiver. They have big guys that they put on the perimeter to block well and can run screens. They also have the guys that can stretch the field vertically with their speed. You have to be ready for anything they do, because they have guys all over the field that can do anything.”
(On what it’s like only having one week of game tape on Cardale Jones) “I don’t think it affects us that much. We’re preparing like its Braxton Miller or JT [Barrett], so it’s not that big of a difference. You have to come out like you’re playing the starter who’s been in there the whole year.”
(On expecting Ohio State to challenge them with deep balls) “Yes definitely. A lot of teams think they can come out and pick on our secondary, but it’s up to us to strap down defensively and hold it down on the back end. It’s expected, but I think we’ll be ready for it.”
(On if Ohio State looks like an SEC team) “They look a lot like an SEC team. Speed wise they have a lot of guys that can run and their backs are very physical and run hard, so it’s not that much of a difference.”
(On dealing with a 6 foot 5 inch quarterback that’s such a dual threat) “Everybody has to do a good job of reading their keys in run/pass and be ready to tackle. Everyone’s going to be forced to tackle this game from the linebackers to the defensive backs and I think we have to be ready, in that aspect, and stay on top of our game.”
(On why the zone read offense works so well) “I think a lot of people have their eyes in the wrong place focusing on the pass and a lot of times. A lot of times when you have guys spread out you don’t have too many guys in the box and it leaves you vulnerable for those types of runs. We have to do a good job of reading run/pass, like I said, and be ready to tackle.”
(On what it’s like going against Amari Cooper in practice) “It’s great! I love it. I say all the time that going against [Amari] Cooper in practice is one of the reasons I’m a good player today. I credit him for my progress over the last year, because going against him is like playing the best guy in the country in my opinion. Covering him in practice makes it that much easier, in the game, covering anyone else.”
