Defensive End Olivier Vernon
November 21, 2017
Q: What have you seen from (Samaje) Perine on film that varies from what they’ve had before?
A: Unfortunately, they had the other back that went down and he was very explosive, but the guys that they have stepping up, they’re pretty good backs as well. You can never underestimate anybody that you don’t have that much film on, but we know he’s going to come out and he’s going to play.
Q: They also have some injuries on the offensive line, I think the guy you’re going up against (Trent Williams) is dealing with a knee injury. When you watch him on film, does he lose anything?
A: No man, he’s a very good player that he knows how to adapt and even if he’s hurt, you won’t be able to tell at all because that’s how his playing style is and I know he is going to show up and play regardless of what he has going on.
Q: What did you learn about this team on Sunday?
A: Honestly, I felt like a lot of the games that we were in this year we were fighting, fighting, fighting and things didn’t fall through for us. This past weekend showed us that we have to stick to what we were doing before in the beginning of the year, sticking to Giants football, sticking to the simple things and everybody doing their job and it eventually paid off.
Q: How many times in your career did you play on Thanksgiving? Is there anything special about it?
A: This is actually my first time ever playing on Thanksgiving. I can say I remember when I was a kid watching football on Thanksgiving. I remember we used to always go outside, play football on the street and then come inside and watch the games. But being able to be a part of it now, it’s funny how things end up turning out. But yeah, first time playing on Thursday on Turkey Day, looking to get a win and moving on from there.
Q: What are your thoughts of playing games on Thursday night?
A: Man, that might be out of my paygrade right there.
Q: You get paid a lot though you know that, right?
A: Yeah, but there is always higher than that. I mean honestly when it comes to player safety, playing the game once out of the week, takes a toll on your body. So shortening that down, I mean, I don’t know. I just know you got to get ready because at the end of the day, the other players that we’re going against, the Redskins, they played a game too. So, I don’t know if it effects the quality of the game. It’s Thursday man, I don’t know. It’s good for the holidays I guess. I have no idea.
Q: When you’re coming off of a win, is it advantageous to keep it going?
A: Yeah, but you need your rest though. You need to rest a little bit before getting back in. But at the same time, the other team we went against they’re playing. It’s not like they had a bye week so we got to stick it out, fight through it, play a game.
Q: What gives you confidence that the effort that you guys showed on Sunday will carry over to another game?
A: I feel like we’ve been putting fights up this whole year. So this time it just ended up. We just kept fighting, kept fighting and sticking to the simple things and it worked out for us. But headed into this game, it’s a division game, we’re still out there fighting. We understand our situation right now, but there is nothing we can do. All we can do is to go out there fighting. We know how good it feels to get a W and we don’t want to lose that feeling. So we’ll see how it goes on Thursday.
Q: What are you thankful for this year?
A: Man, what I’m thankful for, I’m just thankful for my family. Thankful for my family, they’re always there for me whenever, regardless through thick and thin. At the end of the day, all you have is your family and your loved ones, so that’s all I’m thankful for.
