Safety Xavier McKinney
Q: What sticks with you more, the two interceptions you got last week or the one you dropped?
A: The one I dropped. I work on that every day. It's something I should catch, so it's something that I will catch next time. It's one that I dropped.
Q: Did you feel that it was just a matter of time because you were getting opportunities, right? You were getting close, and it just wasn't happening for you and then all of a sudden, you got a couple. Is that just sort of the way it goes? Did you see that coming?
A: I trust in my preparation. I trust in my work level, what I do to go out there on Sundays and go out there and produce. I trust what I do out here on the field with my teammates. I trust what the coaches want me to do. I trust how they coach me. That's just kind of the standard that I go by. I try to go out there and make plays. If they come, they come. I've just got to make them. That's it.
Q: Two in a game is pretty impressive, it's not seven in six games like (Cowboys Cornerback) Trevon Diggs. What do you think of what he's doing in the NFL?
A: Hey, he's doing great, man. I always had a lot of belief in him. Obviously, that's one of my close, close friends. We played together at Bama, so I always knew he would be that way. I know how he works, so I'm not surprised.
Q: Obviously the fans have been pretty hostile to this team in the last couple weeks. Do you guys still enjoy playing at home or is it not a surprise that your best performances are on the road?
A: We enjoy playing, period. That's just whether we're getting booed or whether they're cheering. Obviously, we know we've got to play better, but we enjoy playing the game no matter what. Like I said before, we trust in everybody in this organization. We trust in all the players that are around us. We trust in the guys that are out there with us and we're sticking to the plan. We're just going to keep working and keep trying to improve and win games.
Q: It's been a rough start for the defense this year and a rough few games in particular. How would you sort of rate or describe the frustration level on that unit right now?
A: It's frustrating to lose games, period, but I think it's the NFL. That's something that I've grown to see. You even see some of the best teams from last year having rough starts. Everybody's got rough starts, so it all just depends on how you can come back from that rough start. It's all about how you come out here and challenge yourself every day out there on the field, out there in the meetings, to try to improve to get better and be able to win those games. It's frustrating, but we know what we've got to do to be better. A lot of times we shoot ourselves in the foot, but we'll fix it, we'll correct it, and we'll get it done.
Q: It seems like it's pretty mellow and levelheaded, even though there have been ups and downs this year. How have you guys been able to stay that way? Is there somebody driving that? Is it (Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator) Patrick Graham and the way he kind of leads you guys? Why would you say that's the case?
A: I think that's what we show you guys. Like I said, we're losing, we know we're losing. We're not happy, nobody is happy. Like I said, we know what we've got to fix. We'll keep that stuff in house. We've voiced our frustrations, but like I said, we'll get it done however it may be.
Q: The expectations were pretty high externally for your defense considering what you did last year, so how far off of your guys' internal expectations have you been? I mean, the defense has not performed well, so how far below your expectations has it been?
A: I don't know. We didn't really set – I don't know, man. Like I said before, we started off rough, so that kind of is what it is. We know what we've got to improve on, and we've just got to go get it done. We can't really talk about it. I can't sit up here and tell you what the expectations were. We've got to just go out there and get the job done and win the game.
Q: One of the things that people see is that you guys are trying not to give up the big play. At the same time, people are just sitting down in front of the defense and just catching passes. How do you make that work in the sense of prevent the big play but not giving the easy catch?
A: I don't really know how to answer that. I don't know what you're asking for real. I just think we've got to go out there and execute. That's it.
