Monday Transcript: Safety Jason Pinnock

Safety Jason Pinnock

Q: Going into yesterday's game, it looked like you were determined not to let anything behind you, and you were going to have everything in front of you. Was that kind of one of the game plans?

A: Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's each week. We just want to go out with the preparation that we have for the week and try and win the game. That's the ultimate goal each week, especially with it being a divisional one.

Q: How much grief did you get for dropping the interception?

A: Not as much from the world as I did from my daddy. So, I'm alright.

Q: What did your dad say?

A: He just said, 'It's like you only like the hard ones.' He's going to get on me all the time; that's him. It was just like, you've got to move on, glad you didn't let it pile into other negative plays. That's the biggest thing. But got to catch the ones that come to you. Those are the free ones.

Q: I'm guessing he's also your absolute biggest fan.

A: Oh yeah, it's like all in one. So, it's so funny. It's like, they're killing me for the first two parts of the conversation and then it's like I'm his son again.

Q: How soon after that play did you think, 'I'm going to hear it from dad?'

A: As I'm on the ground with my head in the turf, I already knew. Because usually, how I grew up for my first 11 years of putting a helmet on, I got it as soon as I got off the sidelines. So, it was just, man, that's my pop.

Q: Because he was coaching you up, right?

A: Yep.

Q: What did yesterday do for you guys emotionally and spiritually as a team? It had to feel good.

A: Yeah. Our special teams coordinator T-Mac (Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey) always says, 'Some vitamin W, some vitamin W will get you back.' So obviously, with the struggling season we've been having those are good. It's a good kind of momentum booster for us and get it flowing into the room and get guys, younger guys, especially, to remember who we are. Remember who we are, and sometimes things pile up in the game, whether it's early, offensively, defensively, special teams, or whatever the case may be, and it just doesn't go your

way. These types of games get you that momentum to keep rolling through the rest of the season.

Q: In a game that is very emotional from week to week – you lose it's devastating, you win, it's great – how does your head coach prevent, as he said, riding the roller coaster? How does he prevent that because it's so easy to get on that roller coaster?

A: The roller coaster is the outside, honestly. He keeps us all—everybody within the room from upstairs to downstairs to chefs to everybody in the building, he keeps us all right here. Just keep it going. Never get too high; never get too low. Just stay within the building is how you avoid being on that roller coaster so much.

Q: It's easy to look at your head coach, and when you win a few games, he's patting you on the back and you're great, keep it up, and when you lose, maybe he turns on you a little bit. I mean, coaches can do that. So, do players kind of cue in to see, the man in charge, how is he going to react when we're no good? How does he react when we are good? That kind of thing, take a look and see that?

A: Yeah, exactly. The biggest thing for me from a coach and when you gain that respect from your players, your leaders, and your captains, is composure. That's something he has.

Q: Which is an interesting choice of words considering on the sideline, he doesn't look composed, does he?

A: There's a difference for me between composure and emotional. We put a lot into this game, so things are going to come out as men.

Q: I'm just kind of wondering what your take is on (quarterback) Tommy DeVito. You went up against him in practice a lot. What have you seen from him before the last three weeks, and what have you seen from him in the last three weeks?

A: I've seen from him, and this is through camp early in the season, confidence. He's a confident guy, and it all comes from his preparation. He soaks the game up whether he's in or out. So, it's just a lot of confidence in that young guy because of how he handles himself as a professional. So, nothing he's doing right now is surprising to a lot of us truthfully, he's just blessed that the world gets to see it.

Q: For professional athletes, particularly a quarterback, how much of the recipe is confidence?

A: A lot, man, because this game is so mental, too. As much as it is physical, it's very mental. So, if you're not confident, which comes from your preparation, you'll have a hard time out there. You'd be second-guessing yourself; you'd probably be a step behind. In this league, the margin of error is way too small to be a step behind.