S Grant Delpit (11.16.23)
What do you think Deshaun’s (Watson) loss or absence does to your guys’ hopes, goals and dreams for this season?
“We still have the same hopes, goals and dream. You know my heart goes out to Deshaun man. He’s been banged up this year and unfortunately, this year is coming to and end for him. But I know that he’s going to still be around and still be in DTR’s (Dorian Thompson-Robinson) ear and P.J. (Walker), whoever it may be, to get them where they need to be at. And we have full faith in those guys. So, I’m excited for.”
When you look at this Pittsburgh team offensively. They don’t put up big numbers that jump off the page, but it just seems that they just find a way and it isn’t always pretty. So, when you look at them, what type of challenges do you see?
“Yeah, as an overall team, they’re well coached. Like you said, the offense has been struggling, but they find ways to win. That’s the most important thing in this game is to win games. So, we have the same record right now. They have a great defense, so it’s going to be a tough game. They beat us already, but we’re familiar with this team and I think we’re prepared. We’re going to be ready.”
Is there anything different though, like in the fourth quarter? Because that seems to be where they offensively find their rhythm. So, have you noticed anything different from the first three quarters in that last month?
“Not really. I think that we need to do a better job with finishing strong. I think we did a good job with that this past week and to continue that we focus on us, man. They’re doing a good job right now.”
You’ve been here a while now, what do you think it would mean to beat Baltimore and Pittsburgh in back-to-back weeks for you guys and then for the fan base as well?
“We’re just trying to win, man. We don’t care who it is, so hopefully we get it done, but that’s our mindset to win. So, whatever the outcome may be after that, it’s all good.”
Last week among the defensive guys, there seemed to be like a payback attitude for the defense’s performance in the first Baltimore game. Is that still prevalent now in the Pittsburgh game?
“It’s the biggest game of the season just because of the next one, but it does have a lot riding on this game. This is an opponent we’re familiar with. Of course, this is one of our rivals and it’s a big game every time we see them. So, they come to our house, man, and we try to be prepared and get things done. But we go in the same attitude every week.”
I know quarterback’s a very different position, but DTR (Dorian Thompson-Robinson) was saying now that he’s got that one game under his belt, it should be night and day. You were once a wide-eyed rookie. What is it like going out there the second time with a little bit of knowledge of what to expect?
“Well, I got to get a whole year under my belt. I had a little advantage, but man. I know that it was an experience for him. He got it out the way and now it’s time to rock. It’s time to go. So, we have full faith in DTR, man. The stuff we saw in preseason, we know that he’s a playmaker and we know that our guys are going to ride with him and got his back. So, we’re ready for him. Excited for some fireworks.”
Grant, why do you feel so strongly that your hopes, dreams and goals are all still in front of you when you just lost your elite quarterback?
“I play defense. I don’t know not one offensive to play, to be honest. So, I’ll focus on what we got to do on defense, but I have faith in those guys, man. We had all camp competing with those guys, man. And I’ve seen what the whole offense could do as a whole. We lose one player, somebody step up.”
Grant, do you feel like you’ve left a couple of sacks out there this year?
“Oh, yeah, it’s been bad, man. I got to get home. I got to get home. I could have a couple right now.”
So what do you think? What do you notice when you watch it to say, okay, I got to do this different to take them down.
“Yeah, as safeties, you know, we really not in that position a lot. I got to just slow down. I get wide-eyed a little bit. I’m going to calm down this week and get me one.”
Denzel (Ward) mentioned today that he felt that the Ronnie Stanley hit was a cheap shot and I just was wondering what were your thoughts on it?
“Yeah, we can’t have that in this league, man. We’re doing a lot to protect offensive players, well everybody, but it’s a lot of, you know what I mean. So, we can’t have big 300-pounders come and hit our corners like that and they’re not looking. So, it is what it is.”
How glad are you that he didn’t suffer a fifth head injury on that or something more serious than what he did?
“Yeah, I’m very glad. That was one of our top corners. So, like I said, man, we got to do a better job of protecting defensive players in this league.”
Grant, I know that we asked about that taunting penalty against Arizona, and then you got fined for it. Are you going to appeal that? What’s the deal with that?
“Of course, I’m going to appeal it. But my hopes are high. I don’t know what they’re going to do.”
And what did you say you were doing instead of taunting him?
“Oh, yeah. He had flopped on the ground and brought me down with him. I just told him, like, you alright. I didn’t know what was going on. So, I was trying to make sure he was alright. I was trying to help him up, too, so. They don’t have any audio, so they won’t hear.”
I know the NFLPA and I think JC (Tretter) has talked about the NFL fining guys this year. We know that you’ve been fined. Do you think it’s getting a little excessive?
“How much was it?”
$10,000.
“Yeah. You can do a whole lot with $10,000 man. That was a bit excessive, in my opinion. I’ve got to be smarter though.”
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