Defensive Back Logan Ryan
Q: This was a game where the offense was shorthanded. Did you look at this as a defense and think that this was a game where you need to step up and carry the team?
A: For sure. We always try to do that and honestly, I think this is just a little bit – it's one win and it feels good because we prepared hard for it. It was kind of an identity game for us. Wasn't perfect, it was pretty good, wasn't perfect. Some missed tackles, some stuff we've got to clean up schematically. We talk about pride and I have a lot of pride and this defense has a lot of pride and this area has a lot of pride. When people say you're not playing with pride, that's just inexcusable. You shouldn't even allow that to be questioned. I think today, no matter what was going to happen, we wanted to outscore them personally. I was mad we didn't beat them – it was 3-2, their offense versus our defense in points. We really wanted to outscore them. It just came out of pride and kind of the way you do it. Same plays, same defense, same X's and O's, not everything was magic drawn up in the dirt. It was just playing with more pride and passion and let that energy lift the team.
Q: You guys always talk about how you don't pay attention to the noise, but sometimes the noise gets so loud that you can't ignore it. Was that the case this week?
A: Yeah, obviously, ideally try not to. In professional sports, you play week in and week out, it goes good and it goes bad. This society, just in general, where we're at with technology, you're going to hear things, you're going to see things. You're going to hear how it goes and you want to give the fans something to cheer for. You want to have good results, you want to, honestly, be rewarded for your work. Like I told you guys time and time again, it wasn't for lack of effort and lack of work, it just wasn't coming together and today it came together for us (on) defense, it came together for us as team. We found a way to win. That was the biggest thing and now we have our way and now we just got to try to replicate that with a great week of practice this next week.
Q: We talked a lot about fan reactions over the last couple of weeks. This was for you and a lot of other guys the first home win with the fans in the stadium. What did that feel like?
A: Yeah, it felt great. It won't be our last. It felt great, Marvel Day. Got a good comic book, thought that was pretty cool. My kids were obviously excited I'm a superhero. So, you left with a comic book and a win, you can't get better than that. I thought Marvel Day was awesome. I definitely wanted to win for Marvel Day and I wanted to win for the fans.
Q: What was it like getting (Linebacker Benardrick) McKinney in this game? He just got signed earlier in the week onto the practice squad and now he's out there playing linebacker. What does it have to do for you to try to help him get acclimated and in the right position?
A: Yeah, I tried to help him get caught up, but I can tell you right now, it wasn't perfect for him, for us, but man he set a tone with some of those hits. I mean, it's as simple as that, some of the aggressiveness, the passion. I love (Panthers Head Coach) Matt Rhule to death, I respected Temple (University) when he was there and he's a great coach, but he talked about them establishing their identity and running the ball 33 times to figure out who they are, and they just got to do it next week. They couldn't establish it against us, so they got to do it next week and they're a good organization over there. They have a good defense, they're tough, but I just think it wasn't happening today just on some of our mindset and making the game simpler, simplicity and willing it to happen.
Q: Do you guys take that personally when another coach says they're going to come out and run it down your throat?
A: You hear it, I'm not Michael Jordan, not everything is personal. I wish I could say that, my results were perfect. I always say how Michael Jordan took everything personal. But you hear that man, and this is our house, this is our fans, they pay good money. I heard a guy in the tunnel say he paid $5,000 for a PSL or whatever and hey, you know, I feel that. I want to give him his money's worth. You just don't let teams come in here and say they're going to do this to you and do that to you. We definitely heard about it, but it was a lot to take personal with how it's been, so to us, we just had to play with a certain type of identity and dominant defense is great way to start.
Q: As a guy who makes a living by stopping these sorts of plays, how would you rate (Quarterback) Daniel Jones' one-handed catch and what did that do to your whole team to adjust some things?
A: Yeah, the speech this week was done is better than perfect. Job done, get the job done, whatever it takes. It might not be perfect, you might not be playing perfect and for Daniel to make – I was just talking to him right there, I didn't know he had that. Again, there's some stuff I don't know he has. He talks about he's a good basketball player. I know he's hearing me right now, we still haven't lined it up on the court. I know his brother plays at Duke, that's better than where my brother plays. My brother's on the couch. Daniel's a competitor. I think he shows that he puts his body on the line to do whatever it takes running. I just heard QB1, RB1 and Wide Receiver 1 today. He put it on the line today and whatever it took to get those first downs, to grind it out. Offense turned it on and put the game out of reach and sealed it how you should. It was a good complementary team win.
