LB Olivier Vernon
October 20, 2018
Q: How do you feel physically?
A: I feel pretty good. Football season, you can only feel as good as you try to make yourself feel.
Q: So the ribs was a minor thing?
A: Ribs? Who said ribs?
Q: They had you on the injury report whenever Monday was.
A: I’m just messing with y’all, I’m alright. I’ll be good.
Q: You obviously made somewhat of an impact in limited reps in the first game. How do you plan to build off that and are you kind of ready to be 100 percent in on Monday?
A: I’m just trying to go in, know what I have to do as far as assignment wise. We’re playing a really good team and just do what I can for the most part.
Q: You had a sack and you disrupted. Did you feel like – were you happy with how you played in your first time back?
A: Not really because we didn’t really win, so all of that kind of gets voided. I’d rather have gotten the win. That probably means a lot more.
Q: But did you feel like, considering you missed so much time, wasn’t that much rust?
A: Football is football. It don’t really change. My thing was just trying to get a win.
Q: They’re really good in the red zone. What do you guys have to do in the red zone to make sure that they’re not as efficient getting touchdowns?
A: We just got to stay solid. We got to stay solid and play our football. Stick to assignments, stick to just what we have to do to contain. They got really explosive players on the offense, great quarterback, so whatever we can do to contain and try to disrupt, that’s it.
Q: I know you didn’t play the first five games, but it seems like the Giants pass rush overall has been getting hits or knockdowns or pressures but not sacks and I know that you’re talking about the difference there of a half second or a second. How do you erase that? How do you make sure that they go from pressures to sacks?
A: Just keep getting after it. At the end of the day, if pressures equal a turnover, that’s still as good as somebody getting a sack, so guys are getting it, they’re fighting, trying to win their one-on-ones, they’re getting back in the backfield trying to disrupt the quarterback. If they’re putting the pressure on and we’re putting the pressure on the quarterback, as a defense as a unit, everything else is going to fall into place.
Q: Why do you think you guys haven’t produced as many turnovers as you would’ve liked?
A: Sometimes that’s just how it is. That’s just something you got to keep working at and it’s going to come. It’s going to come eventually, but can’t wait for it. You got to go take it.
Q: Does the team get a lift when you’re in there? Not to put too much on your shoulders, but do you feel like it picks everybody else up when you’re in there?
A: I have no idea. I just know when everybody’s out there when they’re playing that defense, they’re all playing for each other and they getting after it. Everybody out there trying to get the W. Don’t matter who’s in the game, who’s not. That’s just the type of guys we have in this locker room. It’s not predicated off of one person, it’s everybody.
Q: A few guys said though you being back kind of brings kind of a normalcy factor where it kind of puts guys back in their natural roles. Do you see that?
A: Yeah, you got more guys – when it comes down to it and guys are not able to be out there, it does put much more responsibility for other guys. A lot more things to put on somebody else’s plate and the more guys we get to have back, the more easier it gets to distribute the workload.
Q: Do you feel a sense of urgency considering you missed games and your record is where it is to kind of turn this around?
A: My thing is just getting out there and making sure I’m doing all the right things. Sense of urgency is – when somebody says that, like I don’t know how to respond to that because every time we take the field on Sundays we’re trying to get a win. It’s not like we’re coming in lackadaisical trying to let’s maybe win. No, that’s not our mindset. Our mindset every Sunday, Monday, Thursday is trying to get a win, so I don’t know what the sense of urgency is. I just know we just trying to go out there and get a win, no matter what it is.
Q: How is your ankle? Is it at 100 percent or will it ever be 100 percent this season at all?
A: I’ll be fine.
Q: Do you feel ready to go a full 60 and be yourself?
A: Whatever I’m allowed to do, I’m there to help and contribute. That’s it.
Q: But do you feel like physically yourself?
A: I’m out there, so once you’re out there, you suit up, don’t matter what it is, you’re out there. I feel like I’m just ready to play. That’s it.
This comment is worthless...One of the best players we have on the team...Some of us don't care if he kneels during the national anthem...Some of us don't care that he's not a ra ra guy...Just as long as he stays HEALTHY and PRODUCES...This comment is WORTHLESS...GO BIG BLUE!!!