LB Anthony Walker Jr. (9.6.23)

Did you get to the place you needed to be to start the season?

“I hope so. I am though, I’m ready to go.”

 

Anthony, just never having been through an injury like this one before, how relieved are you that you feel in a good enough place heading into week one to go out there? 

“Yeah, obviously, first major injury, major surgery that I went through. Just feels good to be back out there with the guys. Long road, but happy to be in this place that I’m at mentally, physically, and spiritually.”

 

Any nervousness not having played in the preseason?

“I’ve been playing football since I was four years old. I get that first hit in and I’ll be good to go.”

 

Does it feel like a blur just thinking back to that September night last year to now, just everything, the ups and downs? I mean, is it kind of a blur as you think back? 

“It’ll be a little surreal moment back on the field, obviously, where I got hurt last year around this time. So not thinking about that too much right now. Obviously got a huge game ahead, big-time opponent, divisional opponent and that’s wherw my focus is right now.”

 

Anthony, Browns four and one against (Joe) Burrow. How do you explain that? Best quarterback in this championship game two years in a row, is your matchup better against them than other teams?

“We’ve executed pretty well those last couple those games against them. As you go back and we watch the film, we had really good communication, execution in those games. Obviously, the sense of awareness kind of goes up. We just need to be able to have that for all opponents and not just Cincinnati.”

 

What do you think has been the most important addition to this defense from last year? 

“I say every piece. Every piece matters. Each person adds their own personality to it, starting with Jim Schwartz, all the way down to Za’Darius (Smith), to Shelby (Harris), to DT (Dalvin Tomlinson), to all those guys. They’ve all brought something that we really need to this defense. So, I can’t pick out one person, but I think as a unit, we’ve gotten better.”

 

Just the challenge of facing this Bengals offense, you yourself spent the season rehabbing plus learning a new defense right out of the gate. You get a guy like Burrow with (Joe) Mixon and those three wide receivers. If you could touch on just the overall challenge of facing that prolific of an offense just right out of the gate?

“It’s the NFL, it hits you fast, right? So, they’re not going to make excuses for us that we got a new defense, that players haven’t whatever, that I haven’t played – they’re not going to make any excuses for, so we’re not going to make them for ourselves. We have to execute our game plan that we have. Obviously, we’re going up against a talented group headed by Joe Burrow, and we got to be ready to play on Sunday.”

 

You guys are going to have number four (Deshaun Watson) from the start this year. What does that mean, to have him from the get-go?

“Yeah, it’s huge. Just his personality, his leadership has been on full display this whole offseason, all training camp. A lot of guys in the offense are just comfortable with him and he’s running the show. So just to have that guy, the franchise quarterback, leading the show from right from the beginning is huge for us.”

 

What do you expect from him on the field this season? 

“I told him he looks like his old self, the guy that I had to play twice a year in Indy (Indianapolis). Back to just controlling the whole game and not afraid to make a play, I think that’s huge for us. That’s huge for our offense.”

 

What do you think it means or what do you think when Deshaun says, ‘I want to be even better than I was in 2020.’

“That’s scary. That’s scary because in 2020, he almost beat us twice by himself when I was in Indy. So, to see him have that confidence that he’ll be even better is huge for us. I expect it. I hope it happens.”

 

Since the day you walked in the door, you really have become one of the locker room leaders, both behind the scenes and on the field. Just what is it about your personality that allows you to connect with your teammates so well and just naturally assume that mantle? 

“Yeah, just try to be myself. A lot of guys – I just be myself. I do everything that I’m asked to do from a teammate standpoint, from a player standpoint. I never took that for granted. Obviously, it helps having my dad as a coach and teaching me since a really early age how to be a professional and how to be a football player. So just taking that every day and never taking these never taking a day for granted at just doing that, doing the little things right.”

 

There’s the potential in this linebacker room for a lot of turnover, but you guys are basically all back. I mean, even though it’s a new defense, how much does that help in terms of communication styles and knowing one another and things like that? 

“Yeah, I think that’s it, you just hit on the head, the communication styles. We know how each other needs to be talked to on the field, off the field. We have that camaraderie together, obviously adding Matt Adams, I’ve played three years with him Indy. A guy that I know pretty well. So, he fits right in with everything that we do and then add Mohamoud (Diabate), another great linebacker. I really enjoyed the way he played this preseason. I think he has the potential to be a star in this league really soon, so I know he’s going to keep learning, keep grinding, and when his numbers called, he’s going to be ready to go. So, I think our room, like you said, has the potential to be good, but we’ve had potential in this locker room at every position for the last – I’ve been here two years. So, we want to transform that into some wins and some playoff runs.”

 

That rebuilt defensive line in front of you, how much – if they’re able to do what everyone believes that they’re going to be able to do – how much easier does it make your job working behind them and free you up to make even more play? 

“Yeah, I think you said it right there. Everything that you said, those guys are going to make our jobs a lot easier. The whole back seven, we believe that the front four is the engine of our team. They’re going to drive us. We’re going to go as far as they take us. And with the guys that we have, we’re going to go pretty far. So, we’re excited about that.”

 

I was listening and reading some stuff out of Cincinnati, how they changed their run game, midway through last season. Do you notice a big change and what kind of challenges does that pose then? 

“Yeah, I think at the end of the day, you run the football, you hand it off to the running back. They may have some different schemes, like every team does. Go into the offseason, see what works, learn from other play callers and stuff like that. So, I’m excited. I’m excited for the challenge. At the end of the day, number nine has to take the snap, and number 28, number 30, number 25 has to get the ball. And we have to know our fits, know our gaps, and that’s never going to change in the game of football.”

 

We don’t know if Denzel (Ward) is going to play or not yet. How do you guys make up for it if he’s not up there? 

“I think we have a full DB room ready to go. I think guys are confident that whoever’s on the field, they’re going to make a play, and we all believe in that.”

 

You look like you were having Deshaun Watson flashbacks a couple of minutes ago. When you watched him this summer, is that what you were seeing out there? 

“Yeah, no doubt. No doubt, no doubt. For sure.”

 

There’s a lot of excitement around the potential of this offense and defense. And then you’re starting off at home, you have a divisional opponent coming in. Is there a point to where that hype could be too much? Or do you look at that and you see that as something that’s going to pump you up for the game? Or it could almost be a distraction?

“I wouldn’t call it a distraction. It’s almost like you just hop out – it’s like the first day of school, you want to see what everybody has. New shoes, we all got new things, right? It’s exciting to open up with a division opponent week one, and obviously just the ‘Battle of Ohio.’ We understand that, how big that is for us. Like you said, we’ve been successful in the past, but this is a whole new year, whole new team, both sides going after one goal in the 2023 season. It’s all about how you start week one. And we have a huge opportunity ahead of us, so we’re looking at it as an opportunity to put everything on full display. And obviously, it’s a test for us. Are we as good as we think we are, or we know we are, and we have a huge opponent that can test us right away.”

 

We’ve asked you so many questions about Jim Schwartz’s new defense and how it’s going to separate, what’s different about it and whatever. Just how excited are you to finally get out there and be able to just be in this system now and really get some tangible proof of what the potential really is? 

“Yeah, you see the plays that the guys made in the preseason, and I’m just on the sideline watching and I’m getting, like, really antsy. You watch the first couple of drives in the Washington game, the first couple of drives in the KC game, you just want to be out there with those guys flying around making plays. And that’s the excitement around our defense right now. Everybody has the opportunity to make a play, and we don’t care who makes the play as long as somebody makes it. And I think that’s a testament to the defense, and that’s also a testament to the guys that we have. A lot of unselfish guys in our room and the whole defensive room.”

 

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