Outside Linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux
Q: Obviously, a lot of talk going on on New York Sports Radio about you right now. I'm just curious, when you hear that noise in the background, how do you deal with it? What do you think of it all?**
A: Man, let's just keep playing. Everybody has an opinion, everybody has a critique and sometimes I like it when they're educated, sometimes when somebody's trying to help me get better. But most of the time you try not to pay attention to it because it'll have your emotions going up and down. I actually was just told about (by) one of the reporters about what happened, and I'll probably go look at it later on, but I appreciate the support from the people who do like my game and the people who want to watch me play. I think the biggest thing is for me to just continue to get better, you know? Not have any weeks where I'm not impacting the game as much as I want to. I try to just stay consistent and focus on what I can control.
Q: With that being said, how do you evaluate your game and your growth this season?
A: I think I'm continuously getting better. Carrying momentum from last year, I had four sacks so if you're comparing, I'm already doing better and I'm having more of an impact. But as a team, we won a game so I'm happy about that and now we're trying to keep that momentum and just continue to get better as a whole.
Q: (Defensive Coordinator) Wink (Martindale) said when it comes to getting better as a whole, he sees you guys playing for each other, becoming more selfless. Do you see that among the attitude of the defensive line in each of the units that exist on the defense?
A: Yeah, because we realize – any team that's shooting from behind realizes that it takes all of us. No matter if I have a few sacks – you think about last year, I didn't have any sacks and we won five games straight. Now, I've got five sacks and we're just now starting to pick up momentum. You've got to realize that it takes everybody, long story short. We're only as strong as our weakest link and the things that we kind of feed to each other is what's going to grow. Just continuing to keep that mindset of wanting the guy next to you to get better and letting it flow during the game.
Q: With that being said, I heard you talk about greatness. Sometimes that's making the shot, sometimes that's getting the ball. Where are you on that and wanting to be great? That desire…
A: People are still asking me about the dropped pass before and it's like – for me, the frustration is when you understand Michael Jordan, he made the shots, Kobe Bryant, he made the shots. In the NFL, you can talk about every pass Tom Brady made and that's that difference between good and great. You can make plays but sometimes the frustration comes from wanting to reach that next level.
Q: Sometimes Jordan passed it to Steve Kerr, and he knocked down the shot because he was the open one (laughs)…
A: And that's the thing, that's why you have a team. That's why it's the ultimate team sport because I can only impact it so much and I need other great teammates, which I have on the d-line and the backend and even on offense that are going to make plays.
Q: Let's talk about the team this week, you're going up against the Jets. How do you perceive this rivalry game here?
A: When you talk about playing the Jets, I think it's going to be real competitive. It kind of gives you that old school feel of like a high school rivalry game, something like that. They're a great team. They've got a great defense. We're trying to outplay them; I know they're going to try to outplay us and we're going to try to go put a real competitive game together.
Q: Do you guys like that part? The defense against the defense?
A: I mean, you know, no (laughs). I'm going to be honest, we love a full team game, obviously. We want it to be a striking match on both ends. We want to play complementary football so if you ask me, we want our offense to go out there and score as many points as possible and keep us off the field. But obviously, when you have an opponent that has great other individual players, we have guys that want to match that standard and go show that we can make plays too. It's definitely going to be competitive on both sides of the ball, but I'm excited.
Q: You're going against a running back that he can go the distance any time he gets a touch so what are you seeing in him?
A: We've got to stop the run and that's the story of most football but in this game, it's definitely important. He's a great player but yeah, we've got to stop him.
