S Grant Delpit (11.30.23)
When you look at the Rams offense what, especially for you, what stands out to you about just the way that they operate and what you guys have to defend against?
“It starts with the gunslinger they got at quarterback, man. (Matthew) Stafford has been around the league forever, I don’t know what year, 14 or 13. He does a good job of spreading the ball around. They got a nice rookie receiver that’s come about. They spread the ball around man, and they do a great job of getting guys open so that’s something we got to control. We love passing games as DBs, so it’s an opportunity.”
How do you feel about you guys maybe having a veteran quarterback out there? I know it’s the fourth quarterback, but Joe (Flacco) might start this game.
How do you guys as a defense feel?
“We’ve seen what Joe could do last year. We don’t like to talk about it, but he came and beat us. We know he still got it, man. And he’s a savvy vet and seen everything, so I know that Elijah (Moore) is very familiar with him, playing with him last year. I know they got chemistry, man. So, I’m excited to see whoever goes out there. As I say, all the time, I play defense. We have a different side, so we try to control what we can control.”
On your side of the ball, what goes through your head when you see Myles (Garrett) kind of banged up? I know the expectation he’s going to play through, tough it out, but he’s your leader. So what do you kind of think when you see him?
“I didn’t know there was such thing as Myles being banged up and he got in a car accident last year and walked away and played the next week or something two weeks. He’s like the Incredible Hulk, man. That dude is different. But any banged up injury, he’s taking care of it right now. I don’t know if he’ll be out there this weekend. I hope he is, but if he’s not. If we got to reload, we got a lot of good pass rushers. We have a great D line. These guys know what they’re doing. We’re going to be all right.”
The defensive numbers are really good, on the road. they’ve occasionally spiked the other way. Is there anything to that or is that just football?
“Yeah, you’re right. Denver, Seattle, giving up a couple of plays here and there. So I think us being out here for a week is definitely going to help us, man. We’re going to have fresh legs. We’re used to the weather, we’re used to the environment. We’re comfortable. So I think that we’ll start fast and finish strong.”
The fact that you guys came out here and you’re in the sunshine, does it make it all the more sweet that it’s snowing back home and it’s like 26 degrees or something?
“Yeah, it’s comfortable for sure. For us in the south, we miss Cleveland though. We can’t wait to get home, play in front of home fans. It’s bad for opponents when we get play at home. So, looking forward to next week, but right now we enjoy this weather, man. Hopefully get this win.”
How have you seen MJ (Emerson) grow?
“It starts in the locker room. Really. He’s more vocal. He has more presence in the locker room, man. He’s a bigger voice because he played so well last year. And that translates to the field, man. He’s playing off the charts. So hopefully keep going, man. Bounce back from last week. Bad loss for all of us. Not bad loss. We felt like we could have played better, guys like him will step up and get it done.”
I know you guys all like to compete. He seems to really relish with those one-on-one matchups when he goes against certain guys. Do you see that edge?
“I do, man. He’s from Florida, so he always gonna have that talk to him and he backs it up with his play, too. So, it started in college. He was talking at smack at Mississippi State. And I like that SEC corner, man. Translates to the league. As long as you can back it up. I think he’ll be great, a long career.”
Can you believe there were like nine corners taken before him?
“There were like four safeties picked before me. That’s how it goes sometimes.”
You mentioned, the Rams, those receivers. What about that running back Kyren Williams? Had a big game last week. What do you see out of him?
“Run the ball hard. Run the ball very well. Downhill runner. He’s looking for contact. Notre Dame got him, JOK (Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah) familiar with him. We watched the tape. We played a lot of good running backs this year. Ran the ball too much last game. We got a big emphasis on that. This team isn’t the biggest running game team. We’ve got to play that to our advantage.”
How about Denzel (Ward)? Still not out there again today. If you have to be without him again, you think you guys might even adjust a little bit better this week?
“Yeah, it’s hard not having the warden out there, man. But like I said, we got to reload in order to play this game, man. You got to have a good D line. You got to have good corners, honestly. So, we got young guys that will step up. Bounce back from that loss last week, and boys have an amazing year. Man, it’s hard not having him out here, but he’s trying to get healthy so we’ll be alright.”
I know it’s one at a time, but you guys are right in the playoff mix. Right. You feel like if the defense does what it can do in December that you’ll get where you want to go?
“I promise. The sky is not falling, man. Put ourselves in a good position. We’re never satisfied, but it could be worse. So we control our own destiny, man. We want to finish our season strong. We want to do whatever we can do to make it there. Once we make it, we got a chance. All that matters, man. We got to keep doing us on defense. Offense got to take care of what they do.”
# # #
***Visit the Browns Media Center for materials provided by the Browns communications department, including media schedules, press releases, quotes, photos, media guides, rosters, depth charts and more.***