DT Larry Ogunjobi (12.12.20)
DT Larry Ogunjobi:
On what makes Ravens QB Lamar Jackson so tough to bring down:
“His illusiveness. I have been playing him against him – my first encounter with him really was in college, and he is the same guy as far as being able to create plays and make plays with his feet. Agile, quick and knows how to make people miss. That is one of his really special abilities. It just makes it hard for everyone to try to tackle him just because he is so gifted in that aspect.”
On if he does anything different facing Jackson as opposed to a ‘normal’ QB:
“The main goal is try to keep him in front of you, kind close the cage around and not giving him fresh lanes to kind of escape through, making sure that you are tackling at the right angles. He is going to make plays with his feet, but at the same time, you just have to keep him corralled. That is the biggest thing.”
On how the Browns defense is playing together better now compared to the season opener:
“I feel like everybody at this point in the season understands their role. Like I always say, this is a team effort. In a unique season like we have been having, that is the narrative that everybody has to do their job. It is not one guy. It is the entire defense finding ways to work together to make plays and find ways to get off of the field. I think that is just what everybody has kind of understood. We have taken that identity that we all play off each other and work off each other, and just continue to do that moving forward.”
On if there is a certain part of his game he felt like he improved most this season:
“It is really just going out there and playing but not over-thinking or over-analyzing. Just playing my game and allowing myself to make plays when the opportunity presents itself. Understanding what is front of you. As you get older, the game slows down. You start to see things more clearly. You start to understand your reads. Just to be able to play quickly and not over-think things. The biggest thing is just understanding how to maximize my role in what I am doing.”
On if he is OK with being under the radar, given DE Myles Garrett gets many headlines:
“It is all good. Everybody has their time so you just have to keep working. Like I said before, the biggest thing is just understanding your role and what you to do. Once again, it takes all of ours. I help Myles. Myles helps me. (DT) Sheldon (Richardson) helps OV (DE Olivier Vernon). OV helps Sheldon. We all work together. Rush helps coverage. Coverage helps rush. I feel like once you understand that aspect of it and how everybody works together, that is when you start seeing what you see now, a 9-3 football team. Things are just clicking on the right things so things are firing.”
On defensive coordinator Joe Woods:
“Just understanding he wants to win. His style of defense: attack up front. He just gets it as far as allowing us to play and make plays and just understand how it all kind of works together. Sometimes you can be in certain defenses where you kind of feel like you have to walk on egg shells, you can’t make a mistake and you are kind of nervous to make plays because you do not want to be wrong. Coach Woods gives us the freedom to go out there and make plays, to be playmakers and to understand. He gives you the background behind the defense, why it works, understanding your fit and how it fits the entire defense as a whole. When guys understand how their role effects the entire picture, they know what plays they can go out and try to make but understand at the same time, ‘I have to be in my gap, I have to be in my spot so that the other guy can make this play.’ He just does a great job of helping people understand their role and what they are trying to do.”
On comments that Woods is unfazed by adversity and if that mentality trickles down to everybody else:
“It is a unique season. It is ever-changing. We get new information every day. We are dealing with different things, the pandemic and everything that is going on. You kind of have to have this mentality that every day you have to be prepared, you have to take what comes with it and just be ready to put your best foot forward.”
On the five DL look the Browns used against the Titans and if that was more fun for the Browns DL than usual:
“It is always fun when you have a lot of D lineman on the field. It was cool. You had young (DT) Jordan (Elliott) in there playing fast and getting off the rock. Just a seeing how it all worked together, going against a great rushing offense and being able to do what we did was an awesome feeling. It is always cool when your boys are all out there with you. It was good to win.”
On if the Browns DL is hoping or lobbying for Woods to use the five DL look again:
“We will see. You can’t go to the well too many times (laughter).”
On how the focus on Ravens QB Lamar Jackson affects the rest of the Ravens running game:
“They have great backs at the same time so you can’t overlook the backs. (Ravens RB J.K.) Dobbins is running extremely well. You have (Ravens RB Mark) Ingram (II) and you have (Ravens RB) Gus Edwards. You have a stable of backs so you have to respect them. Once again, you have to play with your keys, you have to play with great gap integrity and you have to keep everything in front of you.”
On the Browns winning close games and if the team is creating a toughness or attitude to finish games in those moments:
“Of course when you are winning, you want to keep that. At the same time, you do have to kind of understand when you are playing this game the attention to detail. When you are winning, you have to earn it every week. Nothing is ever given. The biggest thing that we do a great job of this year is that we do not get hung up on the wins or the losses. It is going 1-0 every week. That is the goal. That is the focus is keeping everything right in front of you, not looking too far ahead and not trying to focus on next Sunday night. Really focusing on the main thing, which is to go 1-0 each and every week. I feel like guys understand it is not about what you did last week and it is not about what you did the week before, it is about you do this week. After this week is gone, it is gone, and we go onto the next one. I feel like we are just adopting that mentality that it is onto the next, staying focused on the goal ahead and the task at hand, and what is done is done.”
On Head Coach Kevin Stefanski’s leadership:
“He just gets it. It goes back to what I just said. He does a great job of keeping the main thing the main thing, staying focused and understanding that you have to earn this thing each and every week. Nobody is going to lay down for you. Nobody is going to give you what you want. You have to go out each and every week and you have to take it. You have to earn it. He does a great job of telling guys that is the goal: each and every week going 1-0. How do you win the week? How do you win the day? How do you win the practice? How do you win meetings? Then you go into gameday to win. I feel like that is a special characteristic that he has. They guys – obviously, you have seen the results – have really adopted that and are running with it.”
On if the Browns DL is playing as well as it has all season:
“We are just trying to get better each and every week. It is knowing your role, understanding your role and mastering it, making the plays that you can make. Really, just understanding that you are a piece of a very big puzzle, and when you do your job to the best of your ability, you give your entire team a chance to win. I feel like guys are understanding that and guys are executing that.”
On if he gets a sense that the Browns DL can do even more after seeing more players make significant contributions recently, including DT Sheldon Richardson and DE Olivier Vernon:
“Of course. I feel like that is the goal is to continue to get better and continue to push the envelope and challenge each other. We feed off of each other and we push each other. Like I said, the biggest thing is just getting better each and every week.”
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