Tight End Darren Waller
October 5, 2023
Q. (Tackle) Evan Neal just spent some time with us offering an apology for what happened. He said he’ll be in the future quicker to hear and slower to speak. What’s your reaction to all this?
A: I think Evan’s heart is in the right place. We could all look at the situation and realize that the words that he may have chosen at the moment weren’t the best. There are people who flip burgers and who are leaders in their families, trying to get their life on track, whatever their situation may be, there are good people doing that. But I think his heart was in the place of after a game like that, after the start to a season like this, you’re frustrated, you feel a little vulnerable, you feel a little pissed off. It may sting a little bit when people who may not know the grind, day-to-day, the work that you put in, they’re more critical and they’re trying to cut you down. So, I feel like he was operating from that place, not necessarily trying to put anyone down.
Q. Is there any frustration in this locker room?
A: I’d say frustration at the result. I don’t think there’s any frustration at people. It’s just the results of the way the season started. It’d be a little puzzling if guys weren’t frustrated because it’s something that we’ve got to fix and turn around. You don’t turn it around all at once, you don’t get to .500 all at once, and things like that. It’s one day at a time, unfortunately, it’s a climb, and the change and the progress you’re going to see in the locker room before everybody else in the world sees it.
Q. I know you wanted to be a workhorse when you came here. Are you disappointed that your load hasn’t been greater?
A: I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed. I’d say that’s the flow of football sometimes. There have been patches of seasons where I’ve had 1,100 yards where there were three or four games where I didn’t touch the ball as much or the flow of me being involved in playmaking wasn’t necessarily there. Those are things that you’ve got to accept and be like nobody is plotting against me, nobody is trying to keep me from being involved. You know what I’m saying? And yeah, trust the process. Trust that these guys are looking out for me to have opportunities just like they’re looking out for everybody else here.
Q. What can you do on your end to make sure that you can make a bigger impact in games? Because that half in Arizona you we’re one of the driving forces in the offense looking the best that it looked all season.
A: I’d say just continuing to be vocal. These coaches are always receptive to our opinions, and always receptive to what we see in the game. Just continuing to bring ideas to them, bring things that I feel and see on the game field because they’ve got things to worry about as well. They’re trying to help the team win ultimately no matter what’s going on. Yeah, so just continue to be vocal.
Q. You’ve got to score this week against a team that can score as many as 70. Do you guys know that the offense has to step up?
A: We know the talent that’s over there but at the same time if you focus too much on what somebody else is doing, we’ll be distracted from what we’ve got to do. With that offense over there, as talented as they are, we trust the defense to go out there and do their job. The defense has played more than well enough for us to win football games and we trust them to go out there and do that. We’ve just got to do what we’ve got to do.
Q. How much does stuff change for you with (tight end Daniel) Bellinger injured? When you guys are on the field together, he plays more of a blocking role, you play more of the receiver role. Do you become more of a blocker when your other tight end is injured?
A: Yeah, there are certain times where, again, it shifts. My role may shift with him not being on the field and that’s part of being a teammate. As much as I’d like to run routes all the time, there might be things that I might not necessarily want to do that are necessary. That’s everybody in football. There are certain situations that I’ve got to do this to help the team. Belly is extremely important to what we do. Not only in the run game but he’s gotten so much better at route running and in the pass game as well.
