LB Alec Ogletree -- September 2, 2019
Q: How do you prepare for the Cowboys with the Zeke situation so up in the air?
A: We’re just focused on us, really. We have to be prepared for whoever shows up to play. If he’s there, we’ll be prepared for him. If he’s not, we also have to be prepared for the other guys. We just have to focus on what we need to do versus worrying about their situation as much.
Q: Do you hope he doesn’t?
A: No, I hope he does show up. I hope he gets what he wants to get. In order to be the best, you have to play everybody that’s the best, and he’s one of the best in the league. Like I said earlier, it’s about us going against the top groups and showing why we are a good defense and a good team.
Q: Coach feels you guys are a better team right now than you were at this time last year. You have less big-name guys but he thinks you’re a better team. Do you agree with that?
A: Who? What less big names?
Q: No Odell (Beckham), no Landon (Collins). (Olivier) Vernon is gone. There are a number of big-name guys not here.
A: We are a better team than we were at this point last year. Last year was a new a year for everybody. It took a little time for everybody to get going the right way. This year I thought we attacked OTAs really well and the summer really well. Now we just have to continue to attack the season as well as we did in the offseason.
Q: Do you think you guys are more together?
A: Yeah. We definitely have come together a lot closer this year. Like I said, it was new for everybody last year. Things were happening all over the place. It’s one of those things— the more you stay together with a certain group, the more comfortable you get with being around each other.
Q: Coach spoke about his expectations and said they are a lot higher than what the outside feels about what this team can do:
A: Yeah, he said it best. Nobody is really giving us a chance, but we have to worry about what our standards are and what we say we want to be. We have to do the things we know we can do. Like I said, we have to play to our standards and not to what somebody else says we should be or what they think.
Q: When you say you know what you can do, what is that?
A: We can be one of the best teams in the league. We have a shot at it, just like every other team, of making it to the end of the year and to the Super Bowl. We have to start with Week One, starting with Dallas. That’s our focus right now— taking care of business this week and (then) going from week to week.
Q: Why do you think the expectations are low out there?
A: I guess we don’t have those ‘big-name players’ anymore (smile). Nobody really gives us a shot. We know the type of guys we have in the locker room, (and) we know the work we put in. We set our own standards for what we want to do.
Q: Is that a rallying cry or a chip on your shoulder?
A: It’s football. You can’t talk about it, you have to go out there and actually play the game. That’s what we intend to do—go out there and play the game and not worry about the outside noise. Just focus on us.
Q: B.J. got let go. Were you surprised by that? What do you think changed for him?
A: He just got traded.
Q: Yeah, with him getting traded. What do you think changed for him in the last year here?
A: I don’t think anything changed. He got an opportunity to go somewhere where the team wants you to be there, and they are obviously bringing him in for a reason. I have nothing but respect (for him) and I wish him well in his journey with Green Bay. I hope he goes up there and does really well, and helps the team play at a high level.
