LB Jonathan Casillas
October 25, 2015
Q: How do you like where you guys are at the bye?
A: You have got to love it. It was a tough stretch in there where we dropped three in a row. But we are 2-0 in the last two weeks heading into the bye. [We had] a tough road trip in London, definitely a business trip out there and we handled business against a very tough NFC West team and now we are going into the bye with a winning record.
Q: In your opinion, is the bye coming in too early, too late, or just right?
A: I think it is perfect. Looking at the team and where we are at right now, with our injuries and who we have available to come back, I think it is perfect. You have to add training camp and those preseason games as well and it is almost in the middle when you add those in there, and we are looking to go past 16, 17 weeks and this is a good time to recharge everything, get away from ball and then come back and get ready to go for a divisional game.
Q: How do you approach the self-scouting process?
A: You have to look at everything and me, being the captain, I like to give feedback to the guys upstairs, the coaches and stuff. Number one is self-scout, personally and seeing what I can do to improve myself, getting my body right, getting my body healthy – everyone has something going on right now with them and it is up to you to take it upon yourself to get some rest, get some workouts in and get corrected whatever you need taken care of with your body or mentally and come back ready to go.
Q: With the way you guys played on Sunday, would you rather just be coming right back to play a game?
A: No, the bye week is cool. I want to take this bye week and enjoy it. But, I do understand what you are saying. We have the momentum going and the last couple games our defense has played lights out, but I think it has come at a good time. I think we have time to regroup, gather up, and even be better when we come back.
Q: What has made the defense better the last couple weeks?
A: I think we are more precise. We are being more detailed in all the coverages, all the blitzes. We blew some coverages early in the season that allowed teams to get big plays on us and get into the red zone and missed a couple tackles and I think we have done a lot better with tackling and we are creating turnovers. That is putting people at the ball, having the right people, at the right place, at the right time, and being detailed and I think that is all coming to fruition right now. This bye week came at a great time, like I said, and everyone is going to go ahead, get back (healthy) and study too. When you get away from football for a while, all of a sudden that base call isn’t so base anymore from not having looked at it the past couple weeks, but I think we have good guys in here to be able to stay mentally sharp when they get back.
Q: As a veteran guy, do you try and tell some of the younger guys how to spend their time?
A: Oh yeah, definitely. I know B.J. Goodson – he is telling me that he is going back to school and he is going back home and I’m just letting him know, ‘You are not in college anymore, bro. You have a target on you now.’ Whether for good or bad, it is just a fact, it just is what it is and it is just being smart about what you are doing. Hanging around some of the wrong people when you go home, try to avoid that. That is a good thing to avoid, some of those people. All of us, we aren’t from the Pompton Lakes and the Bergen Counties of the world. Some people are from tough places and I tell them to stay with family, stay with people who you trust, avoid drinking and driving and those are things that you tell them, because at the end of the day you can kick back and relax and you can chill a little bit, but you still have to come back and play some games and you are still a professional. You have a little time off and you have to handle it as a professional.
Q: Do you have an advantage looking at the Eagles this week or do you wait until next week?
A: Me personally, I am probably not going to look at the Eagles at all until next week to tell you the truth. But I will be here, so I might look at them, I might not, but it won’t hinder any progress or anything towards my studying. But the bye week is here for a reason. It is a way to get away from ball during the season and like you guys know, you don’t really have a chance to do that. Once football season starts, no matter what life you had before that, you are here, you are football 24/7, all the time and if you are not, then you are going to be slipping. You guys do the same thing. If you are not on top of your junk during the season, then you are going to fall back or you are not going to put together that work and it is good to get away. If you guys ever had a break during the season, then you understand what I am saying. It is always good to get away for a bit.
Q: There were so many times last year when the defense was on the field last, and you lost. What was it like on Sunday to get those late stops?
A: It was great. As a defender there is not too many things better than that. A strong, strong performance from the entire defense. Landon (Collins) came up with huge plays, DRC didn’t drop the punts that they were throwing to him and when you come out of the game knowing that you put a touchdown off of the board, took the ball away four times and it was still a close game, we had a lot to do with us winning. It is always good and we get to hold that with us for a while now and I think there will still be momentum for us when Philly comes here.
