LB Anthony Walker Jr. (12.20.23)
What happened to you in practice last week? And how are you feeling now?
“Yeah, just a little tweak as Kevin (Stefanski) said. I’m good, I’ll be okay.”
How close did you come [to playing] on Sunday? We saw you out there early.
“Not close enough. I didn’t play, so.”
When we talked to Kevin on Monday, he kind of climbed up on a soapbox and he talked a lot about Myles (Garrett) and how he feels that Myles is the NFL Defensive Player of the Year even though he hasn’t been getting the sacks like he has. He’s been getting held a ton. Just wondering what your thoughts are on that.
“Yeah, we all know what Myles is in this building, to our team. Obviously, I feel like he’s the most dominant player in the NFL. You got to account for him on every play and teams have done that. He still wrecks the game just by taking all the attention away from the other guys. And other guys have been able to step up and make plays. So, when you have that type of player like Myles, it makes the game a lot easier for everyone else.”
What do you guys have to do to play better on the road?
“Win.”
You guys play so well at home, what happens on the road?
“You just got to go back to the fundamentals and details. You don’t have that same energy that the people bring at Cleveland Browns Stadium. So, you got to go against the road and you got to take that road warriors mindset where it’s all of us in this building versus having many people in the stands plus the team, and we got to take that mindset on the road and travel. And defensively, we’ve been talking about it for a while, but we got to pack our defense on the road.”
Back to Myles for a second. What does it say about him that despite frustration, despite seemingly being ignored on holding calls, that he’s still giving that kind of effort play after play?
“Yeah, I expect nothing less from him. That’s the player that he is, that’s the person that he is. He’s going to go 110 mph every time and whether they make the call or don’t make it, I feel bad for the player that lines up against him after he doesn’t get the call. It’s like he goes even harder.”
Anthony, with (C.J.) Stroud, they’re very vertical. With (Case) Keenum, they’re not. So how does that affect the linebackers?
“We still got to be clean in our drops, clean in our zones and mans and eyes, discipline. Case, we all know Case did a great job for us here, has always done a great job in the NFL as a quarterback. So, he’s going to test us. Obviously, he’s going to make throws. He’s going to get them in the right sets at all times, make the picture clean for him. So we got to make it dirty for him. And that’s our job as linebackers to kind of control the middle of the field. I think that’s one consistent thing that they do, is take the middle of the field, no matter who’s at quarterback.”
Anthony, Kevin made a big deal about what a good teammate David (Njoku) is. Njoku. First of all, do you agree? And if so, what makes him?
“Yeah, I’ve been calling him that every day since Kevin said that. No, man, you talk about a selfless person, a guy that just wants the best for his teammates, willing to go. Burns himself and then go play in the game. I had to say emphasis on burns himself because that was a self-inflicted injury. So, for him to go do that and just play through everything, play through all the injuries, and it hasn’t always been pretty for him. When I first got here, I mean, I met him a while ago, him playing at Miami, but it wasn’t always pretty for him in the NFL, especially being in this building. So, for him to grow, learn, become that leader, become that teammate that Kevin talks about takes a lot of maturity for him. And the growth that, I’m pretty sure that’s what Kevin was alluding to, the growth that he’s shown over the last few years as well.”
I know you haven’t been here for all of his journey, right. But even in three years, you have been. Have you seen, I guess, what ways have you seen him kind of continue to mature and develop?
“Yeah, I think it’s less about…I think it’s less about him and more about the team. Obviously, when you’re young and you get your first round pick, you want to make every play. You want to become that player that you were drafted to be. And I think when you’re forcing it or whatever it is and you’re not getting the results, it’s kind of hard to go through that, go through those ups and downs and just the maturity that he’s shown since then, obviously. Whether he gets the ball, whether he’s blocking, whatever his job is asked to do, he does it at a very high level.”
Can taking that energy that you talked about on the road, can that maybe become a little easier when you’re in December and you’re playing meaningful football?
“Yeah, we understand that these are huge, pivotal games. When you play in December, when you play in January with a shot to go to the playoffs and put yourself in the tournament, the awareness has to go up and the energy like you said has to go up. So, I think that takes care of it by itself, like you said.”
A lot different Houston team than a year ago?
“Yeah, for sure. Very well coached, very fundamentally sound. Obviously, C.J. being their quarterback. Case, another veteran. Defense flying around. Yeah, they’re a really good team.”
Wild card being so close and Houston kind of having their backs against the wall. How much is going to kind of add an extra layer to it?
“I mean for them and I mean, us too. We’re fighting for our lives. Playoff lives, for real. We want to get in. We want to put ourselves in the best position. They want to do the same thing as well. They’re tied for their division lead. Anytime you put yourself in that position, you’ve played good football and you want to keep playing good football. And at this point of the season, it’s one-a-game playoff season.”
How much do you guys have to lock in to go on the road, play in Houston, turn around, come right back home and then play again on Thursday night so quickly?
“Yeah, we’re going to worry about Sunday right now. We’ll worry about whoever we play whenever we play after that. But yeah, we got a big one this week. A really big game this week on Sunday. That’s where our focus is at right now.”
I know it’s still 1-0, but has focus shifted to the fact that the playoffs are so close?
“I mean, obviously you’re human. You want to be in the playoffs and you find yourself in good position and everybody here has social media and all that stuff, so we see everything. But that’s when you got to narrow your focus to the one-game season and one game at a time and every game matters. We understand that. We put ourselves in that position to make it where every game matters and where you play meaningful football in December and January.”
Does that mean you won’t be watching Bengals and Steelers on the plane ride down to Houston?
“I didn’t say that now. We’re going to watch football for sure. It’s on TV. But like I said, we got a big game to focus on ourselves.”
And then you have Christmas in between too.
“Oh, I didn’t know that was coming up.”
I think I’ve asked you about Joe Flacco every week, but he was signed a month ago today. Does it still seem a little weird that he’s the quarterback here and how impressed have you been by what he’s been able to accomplish in a month?
“Yeah, no, it doesn’t feel surreal anymore. I’m tired of seeing him actually now. No, he’s a great leader for us, great veteran presence at that quarterback position. Truly unique, right? Played in the division as a rival for a long time and then coming in here. Shoot, I would have done the same thing. He’s like kind of undefeated in Cleveland, so I would have done the exact same thing. But we’re happy to have him. Like I said, that steady hand that we needed at that quarterback position, and he’s doing a great job for us.”
Anthony, you guys have, I think six of your wins have come against winning teams in the league, and you’ve beaten some of the top seeds or the current top seeds in that. How much do you feel that experience has set you up for not only these next three weeks, but what could potentially come after these three weeks?
“Yeah, I think winning, period, breeds confidence. Anytime you’re able to win and whoever you play, winning in the NFL is very hard. We saw that on Sunday, it’s very hard. No matter what the records are, there are no bad football teams in the NFL. So anytime you’re able to win and stack wins, it’s huge for your team. And we’ve been able to do that. So, you know, hopefully that leads into more. And like you said, when we get to that next phase, it does something for us.”
Did you know Shelby (Harris) before he got here?
“No, I didn’t.”
What has he kind of shown you or how has he impressed you?
“Yeah, his celebrations are very old school. So, to see him do that is really awesome, but, yeah, man, just another veteran present. You can never take away good veterans out of the locker room. I think that’s huge for us. He’s shown the young guys how to play the game the right way, how to study the right way, how to prepare the right way, and you can never take that for granted. And, yeah, he’s a guy that goes out every Sunday and makes plays. He’s been doing it for a very long time and there’s nothing new for him.”
Anthony, how good has this secondary been this season?
“Yeah. Lights out. Those guys are the tip of the spear. They’re the backbone of our team, especially on defense. We ask a lot of those guys to play a lot of man coverage and go against the best athletes, probably outside of DBs in the NFL, at receivers. Guys running at them full speed, straight ahead, and they got to make plays, and we accidentally do a lot, and they rise to the challenge every week.”
Do you think people are starting to respect how good they are?
“Yeah, I think they all play with a chip on their shoulder. They all want to be labeled as the number one in the NFL, so I guess that’s a good thing. But, yeah, they always want to play with that chip on their shoulder.”
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