Outside Linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux
Q. He was talking about your instinctiveness and your feel for the game for a guy your age. Do you feel that yourself?
A: What did you say? Sorry.
Q. (Defensive Coordinator) Wink (Martindale).
A: I love Wink. Wink always has great things to say about me.
Q. What do you say about yourself? How do you feel about where your game is at?
A: Things are just working; we're playing great team ball and I'm just doing my job.
Q. Are you seeing things more this year? Or do you sense you know what's happening more on the field?
A: I study ball, and the more you study, the more start to learn, the faster you start to learn, the faster you start to adjust and understand so yeah, things have been moving a little bit faster as far as my processing and things like that. So yeah, it's been pretty good.
Q. When it comes to seeing things before they happen, that was what Wink said, that's a unique attribute. Does that come from how the offense lines up?
A: Just watching the tape. There are only so many directions a team can go. You think about when you watch the tape and it's like watching a movie and then going to act it out. Kind of applying that to my game and just being able to recognize things when you line up.
Q. How does having a guy like (defensive lineman) Dexter (Lawrence II) next to you affect what you can do?
A: Dexter's an all-pro, he's a legend. He's one of the best interior defensive linemen to ever play the game so he makes everything easier.
Q. Just watching from above, you seemed to have a very active game Monday night. Do you feel that yourself as it's going on? That you're in a flow that's beyond just a normal game.
A: It hurt (laughs). When your body hurts after a game, you know you had an impact. It felt good and I was happy to help the team get a win.
Q. There's an old football saying when it comes to defensive backs that they have a nose for the ball, and it just happens to find them. Do you feel that for the defensive line that you just have a nose for the quarterback? It seems like the sack numbers are piling up pretty –
A: I'd say when you play you try to be as active as possible. That was kind of my mission last game, was just coming off a bye week, playing fast, playing physical, and letting everything else just happen and that's what I did.
Q. You had made a point in training camp that you were working on your conditioning, and you knew that when November and December rolled around last year, you talked about how maybe your body wasn't ready for what you needed to do. Do you feel like all the things you did in the summer to get yourself ready are now paying off?
A: I feel like things are paying off in the sense of how I feel health-wise, weight, size, things like that, strength. At the end of the season, things are feeling pretty good so yeah, I'm excited to finish this back half.
Q. This was the purpose though, right? This is what you thought.
A: Exactly. Exactly, this is what I thought I was going to be. I knew we were going to be in a fight late in the season so we're here and we've just got to keep climbing.
Q. What have you seen from the Saints and (Saints running back Alvin) Kamara?
A: They're very meticulous. They're very, I'd say different than the teams we've played. They like to run the ball they've got a lot of guys who can run it. They've got a lot of guys and a lot of shifts and motions and things like that that we're going to focus on. But as always, we've got to stop the run and make them throw the ball and let the back end cover down and we affect the quarterback.
Q: So, it's like night and day, what they do and what the Packers do?
A: No actually, I wouldn't say it's night and day. It's kind of similar, them trying to hit the perimeter and them trying to do things like that and get the run game going. So, I wouldn't say it's too different. I would just say they have a run-first run-second mentality rather than Green Bay only having a run-first throw-second kind of mentality.
Q: People found your tweet yesterday interesting about what should or should not motivate a person. What inspired you to post that?
A: I think when you talk about motivation, most things that people write on social media aren't really motivation. Most of these stories and things like that aren't motivation, they're just stories to create. For me coming into the league, there were a lot of underdog-type narratives being pushed, and it's like, everybody has great seasons. Last year, other guys had great seasons. This year, I'm having a great season, and it's going to continue to change as the seasons go. I think the main point I was just trying to make is just create new stories. We're a team that's fighting back, but I've been playing good football. I think that's the only story there is to it. I'm not playing good ball because people wrote negative things about me, I'm not playing good ball because I'm trying to prove everybody wrong. This is what I do for a living. I'm happy to do it. I'm proud to do it. I think that's why I'm playing well, because I take pride in what I do, and I put the work in.
Q: Was there a point in time either towards the end of last year or the offseason this year where things really did start to slow down for you, or an aha moment on the NFL level where you felt that turn to start playing some really good ball?
A: No, I feel like I've been playing good ball, consistent, good ball for the past two years in the NFL. I feel like things have been going well. When you talk to my coaches and GM, whoever else in the building, I've done great things to contribute to the team. So now just continue and grow in that impact and do things like that. I mean, it's a blessing, and I'm happy things are clicking even more, and I'm getting the numbers and the stats, and hopefully we start to continue to get the wins. But yeah, I think I've been playing good ball. I think people just want to write stories. And for me, I'm okay with being the headline, I just want it to be new ones or fresh ones, or something that tells the real story of goal setting and reaching those goals. Because everything that I'm doing now, I had these goals. It's not new. I never thought I was going to do anything different. I just keep working until time pays off.
Q: Not too long ago you told us the difference between last year and this year was you knew what to expect, the length of the season, and everything else. You seem to have gotten stronger as the season goes on. Do you feel that way?
A: Definitely. I put on a few pounds towards the end of the season, which last year was kind of the opposite where I lost a few pounds at the end of the season. So that feels great. My conditioning feels great. I played the same number of games leading up to now but I missed four games last year. So, I feel stronger. I feel good. We're in Week 15 of the season. It feels great.
Q: Are you hungrier in the sense that you feel like you're in a playoff race now?
A: Yeah, I'm starving. I'll tell you that.
