Linebacker Devon Kennard
November 24, 2017
Q: What do you tell your younger teammates that aren’t used to playing this late into the season? What kind of example do you set for them to keep them from mailing it in the rest of the way?
A: I mean if you’re a young player, if you’re a player in the league really, you have a lot to prove. You’re fighting to show what you can do as a player and what you bring to the table to prove that you’re a part of the solution, not the problem. So that would be my message to young players and older players alike.
Q: Did you get frustrated with the offense yesterday?
A: I don’t look at it that way. I think there are some things that we could have done defensively to put us in an even better spot. We didn’t play horribly, but that second half, if we played better in the second half, then maybe things would have panned out differently. So I think we got to look at ourselves and figure out what we should do on the defensive side of the ball to put ourselves in a better position. We see the offense didn’t score a lot of points, so we got to get more turnovers, we got to make sure we eliminate the big plays and keep them out of field goal range. When you look at the film and you see that there were things within our control that we could have done to help ourselves, that’s what you got to concentrate on. You can’t worry about the other side of the ball.
Q: What are you guys going to be doing the next couple of days?
A: Yeah, a couple of days off. I know some guys might be seeing family or doing something like that. I’m staying around here, getting a lot of treatment on my body, get some rest and just hang out. I’m having Thanksgiving today actually, so that’s where I’m headed.
Q: How difficult has it been for the linebackers taking guys in and out of the lineup?
A: It’s definitely a challenge. We have an intricate defense with a lot of moving parts to it and the linebacker play is a huge, huge role in that so having the inconsistency in the LB room has definitely posed a challenge for us this year. But there’s always opportunities for injuries. You can’t control that. Whoever you have out there, you got to be able to go out and perform. The expectation stays the same whoever is out there. I think coming off of a Thursday night game, hopefully we can get some more guys healthy and bring some guys back and we can finish strong.
