Wide Receiver Darius Slayton
Q: This time you're ready?
A: Yeah, I feel good.
Q: Anything you're still working out or do you feel like you can go 100-percent at this point pretty much?
A: Just kind of been taking it day by day, trying to come out here and put together a couple days of practice. I feel good and just getting myself ready for the game.
Q: Looked like last week you did a pretty intense workout before the game. How close were you?
A: Yeah, I did a little workout before the game. Felt pretty good, but there was still probably a decent amount of risk in playing and trying to play a full four quarters, so just decided to wait another week.
Q: Was it longer than you thought?
A: The recovery time?
Q: Yeah.
A: No, because I'd never really dealt with something exactly like this before, so it was kind of hard to know, to be honest.
Q: When you look at the injury report and it's literally every player on the offense, what goes through your mind? Is that training room jinxed or something?
A: I definitely hate that for my teammates. I know they want to play. Obviously, I want to have them all out there with me, but the guys that we have that are going to play Sunday are going to step up and make it happen.
Q: How much more important does that make it for you to come back this week? They're down a whole bunch of guys.
A: I think it definitely helps. Obviously – I just lost my train of thought, wow. Repeat the question again.
Q: How important is it for you to come back now knowing that everyone else is out?
A: I would just say I think it just helps. Obviously, the guys you carried through camp, you get a lot of reps with those guys. Fortunately, our room has pretty much stayed together, but obviously guys like (Wide Receiver Sterling) Shep (Shepard), (Wide Receiver) KG (Kenny Golladay), (Wide Receiver) KT (Kadarius Toney), all guys that we rely on, obviously you want to have them out there. But, like I said earlier, all these guys were for the most part with us through camp except for maybe one or two, so still got a lot of reps with them and they'll do well.
Q: You and Shep both got the hamstring within a couple plays of each other. Did you figure out what was going on that week or why that happened to you guys?
A: I don't know, a sniper in the stands or something (laughs). I don't know, but it kind of was what it was.
Q: In these last few weeks, Kenny would get the number one corner obviously and Kenny's not playing this week. Last year, you got a fair amount of having to go up against the number one corner, so how did that experience kind of help you, considering that could be the case again this week?
A: I think it helps a lot. Obviously, everybody's got really good players, so whether it's the one, the two, whoever it is, whoever lines up across from me, I'm going to try to beat them.
Q: What did you see from (Wide Receiver) Dante Pettis or what have you seen? Last week he got 11 targets, so I assume he must have done something right in practice.
A: Yeah, I mean that shows you right there, he's a reliable guy. Real wiggly, tends to shake guys, kind of has a different little body motion. He's a really good player, a talented player and I'm excited to be able to play with him.
Q: How tough has it been for you to – I guess you sat out the Saints game and the last couple games. How tough has it been to be a spectator these last couple of weeks?
A: It's brutal because you get so used to being out there and playing, especially pregame – you're used to getting ready, getting warmed up, they've got the music and the hype videos and everything going, your blood gets pumping and then it's like, 'and now I sit.' It's been a good time to reflect though. I got a chance to step back from the game, see the game from a bigger view than just the tunnel-vision I have when I'm playing. It's been good and bad in different ways.
Q: You said you're seeing the game from a different view. What particular things did you take from that?
A: Just kind of getting to see the ebbs and flow of the game, key moments, third downs, fourth downs, in the red zone, touchdown plays, what makes this play go (versus what makes) that play go. Just trying to see the game from a holistic view.
