S Grant Delpit (11.9.23)
Is there a little extra juice for this game at all based on the fact that there anything to the fact that you guys are going in with the number one defense? They have the defense that is number one against scoring, sacks and everything else. Does that add something to this?
“I’m not familiar with all the statistics of it all. I know what we got in this building. I believe that we’re the best defense in the league, so we got to go there and show it at the end of the day, can’t just say it and not back it up. I don’t think it’s going to be a competition between, it might look like it’s to the outside world, but we try to take care of the offense at the end of the day.”
There is more juice in the fact that the way the defense played in the first few weeks.
“I come out there with juice every week, Tony (Grossi). You know that. I try to fly around, make plays, man. I know our guys will be fired up just based off of where we could be and stuff that we put on tape so far that’s not us, man. We got to keep improving every week. We are riding off a good win last week and we’re going to keep that same energy.”
So how do you get that consistency, Grant? Because there’s been times you guys look great and then times when you probably would admit it wasn’t as good as that week before.
“It’s a tough league, man. The teams are good as well, but we can’t take any weeks off. We can’t take any plays off. As you can see, three or four plays, it could be a difference in the game. So, we’re very familiar with this team. We have a good game plan and we know what that they did to us last time when they came here. So, we’ll have a great practice and go into this game with this killer mentality.”
Grant. There was the game in Baltimore where you guys intercepted Lamar (Jackson) four times and all four of them were intended for Mark Andrews that day.
“Okay, yeah, I forgot about that.”
And then there’s last time, two touchdowns. He’s always a part of this game, isn’t he?
“Mark Andrews?”
Yeah.
“Yeah, he is. He’s a good tight end, man. You can’t take away from him. He’s very comfortable in their offense. He finds some open spaces on his own coverage. So, you always got to be aware of where 89 is at. That’s one of his favorite targets.”
He’s kind of like (Travis) Kelce in that, you know, it’s coming to him, but he makes his catches. I mean, not against you, just overall for a lot of times. He’s the only playmaker out there for this team.
“They got a lot of playmakers, but we got a game plan.”
Grant, we’ve mentioned the last game. They come into this one offensively much healthier team than the last. So, what has to change for you guys on your side of the ball to slow them up, considering they got a full roster and how successful they were in that first matchup?
“Yeah, well, they’re going to look at our game to see the plays that they had success with, and of course they’re going to have some more in their arsenal. We have to correct that. First of all, we already did after we played them, but we got to know what they’re going to come with, man. They’re on a high streak right now. They got a good win they just had against a good opponent. So, we just got to correct our mistakes, man, and move forward. That’s pretty much it.”
You’ve talked in the past about just your connection with Odell (Beckham) through LSU and everything, the relationship there. What’s it going to mean from a personal standpoint to you to be able to face him?
“My first time? Oh, yeah. Odell, like I said, he’s a good dude, man. He gets a bad rep sometimes, but that’s my dude. He’s a great person in the locker room. He’s a great teammate, so I got nothing but respect for that dude. But step into these white lines man—it’s game on. So, it was good talking again, but we’re not worried about that right now.”
Grant, obviously you guys and Baltimore, defensively are both playing well. How much of playing good defense is scheme vs. attitude or are those not two separate things for you?
“Two peas in a pod man. So, you got to have both to be an elite defense. We have the right coach for it, (Jim) Schwartz preaches that. Playing with attitude and knowing your assignment. In order to be a great defense, man, you got to have that chemistry, and attitude. And we have both, man. We got to keep it rolling.”
And is attitude the biggest difference this year, or is it something different?
“I don’t know. It’s a lot of little differences that make a big difference, so I can’t pinpoint each one of them, but I do feel like we have an attitude that nobody’s better than us, so that always helps.”
Grant, it seemed like when you got that taunting penalty, you weren’t happy with that. What was going on there?
“Yeah. Y’all know me, man. I’m not going to stand over no dude and talk about it. It was just funny how we all saw the play. I don’t really need to speak too much about it, but I wasn’t standing over on him on a disrespectful thing.”
Do you guys relish the role of sort of nobody giving you a chance to win a game. I mean, it’s all about the Baltimore Ravens and how tough they are at home. I mean, do you guys kind of like that when it seems like it’s the world against you?
“In a way, it doesn’t seem like that to me. I feel like we all in this building know what we got, of course they won last game. Now we got a chance to go in their place to do the same thing that they did to us. They might meet them again in the long run. So that’s what’s on our mind.”
Grant, you got a lot of football to play and I understand that considering they already have seven wins, game and a half separation here in the standings, how big is this game for your prospects to try and come back and win this division?
“It’s a division game. It’s a big game in that aspect, but we play big games all the time every week in this league. As long as you stacking wins, that’s what we focus on. We go into each week that it’s the most important game of the season, to be honest. Might have a little more riding on it, but it’s not saying it’s hard.”
Can you believe how tough this division is this year with everyone having at least five wins?
“I feel like it’s been like that. Like we have a very elite division. I feel like some elite defense specifically. So, we got to come in and show up.”
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