DL Dexter Lawrence II -- August 20, 2019
Q: Let’s start out with obviously the Baker Mayfield comments regarding your roommate. He was saying he was shocked that the Giants drafted him knowing his won-loss record.
A: Really? No, I didn’t see that, but all I can say is I’m happy Daniel (Jones) is a part of my team. I played against him in college and he did his thing. You know we can just control what we can control. He comes in and works hard every day and he deserves respect, but I guess he’s got to go and earn it.
Q: When we were here last week, you said you requested him as a roommate to help him block out that noise. What will you do about this?
A: We’ll just have our nightly talk. I mean, he doesn’t let things like that phase him at all. He knows who he is, he knows how hard he works, he knows where he came from. It’s just people talking again and you can’t control that.
Q: Does it bother you that many people are talking about him without knowing him or seeing him play? Not just Baker (Mayfield) but the whole NFL?
A: Slightly, because I know who he is and I’ve been around him for a couple months and we’ve grown close and he deserves a lot more respect than that.
Q: Did you play against Oklahoma in college?
A: No, I didn’t (laughter).
Q: Does a quarterback’s win-loss record resonate with you?
A: I just kind of play football, he wasn’t on my team then, so I wasn’t really concerned about what his record was or anything like that. He’s just a player I played against and going into the game, the coach put a lot of respect on him. After the game, I had a lot of respect for him, so that’s all I can really say about that.
Q: What’s the next step for this defense on Thursday night? What do you want to see from it?
A: Just consistency, you know, coming out strong. We kind of came out not loud enough last week. But just coming out strong and being consistent throughout the whole game.
Q: You’ve had some early drives that have been extended, one was a dropped interception, the other was a penalty on a late quarterback hit. Are those things you want to clean up?
A: Yes, there are definitely things we have to fix throughout the defense. That’s more of just knowing where you are and knowing that you can’t do that to the QBs, or you can’t get those flags. So, it’s kind of just stuff that you’re kind of practicing throughout practice--when you get there, stay low and make sure you’re below the neck area, and for the PIs, you know it’s just 50/50 pretty much.
Q: You said you think the defense came out loud enough. Do you think you’ve come out loud enough in these two games?
A: I definitely see myself improving from the first week to the second week, and that’s just a goal I have—keep getting better, don’t be comfortable, stay uncomfortable. That encourages growth.
Q: So you get seven snaps, twelve snaps--
A: The snaps bother me a little bit, I would like more (laughter). But, it’s preseason, they have to see everybody play, but it’s just doing the most I can with the snaps I have, and that’s what I’ve been trying to take advantage of.
Q: Do you think that with more snaps your physical ability can show itself more?
A: I can’t say until I’ve played many snaps, so I can’t really say.
Q: Have you gotten more snaps in the middle than the outside?
A: It’s kind of been 50/50. I’ve played a lot inside, I’ve played a lot outside, and they try to see me play all three positions inside, just to see where I fit best and where I can help the team the most.
Q: Where do you think you fit best?
A: I’d say I fit the best at probably all three, honestly. Just going throughout practice, I’m running in and out of all three positions and being disruptive, making plays, so it’s just wherever they feel like they want to put me.
Q: One of the questions about this team is “Where do they get the pass rush from?” Do you think the front three can generate, or does it have to be the front five, or what?
A: I definitely feel like the way we’ve been working and the emphasis we put on it this offseason, it’s just been great, the guys just coming out knowing what we have to do to get to the quarterback, and how we’re going to get to the quarterback, so we’ve just got to put it all together.
