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October 9, 2014
Redskins Park
Arizona Cardinals Linebacker Lorenzo Alexander
On the feeling of facing his former team for the first time:
“It’s going to be fun. I’m looking forward to it. Obviously, I played with a lot of these guys multiple years – Kedric Golston being like seven years, I think. Anytime you line up against your brother, you want to go out there and win and dominate because a lot of these guys I spent a lot of time with in the offseason and training with. You definitely want to have bragging rights. So, it’s definitely going to be a fun experience for me so I’m looking forward to it.”
On if it’s weird for him to think about not playing for the Redskins:
“That’s kind of, I think, passed me now. Last year obviously it was difficult leaving there after being there so long and transitioning out. But now being out here with the Cardinals for the last two years and really immersing myself with the community, the organization and getting to know these guys, I feel at home now. So, that feeling has kind of passed and I’m glad it kind of happened this year versus last year as far as us playing each other.”
On the Redskins’ special teams:
“It’s one or two guys out of place and that’s all it ever takes for anybody to have a big return on any special teams unit. Or one guy – if you get a blocked punt, it’s never scheme, it’s just one guy with bad technique. We’ve had our own issues here as well. But the biggest thing is probably just culturally. You lose Danny Smith, you lose multiple special teams players that have been together for a long time that had great chemistry – from myself to Reed [Doughty] to Chris Wilson to Mike Sellers. And obviously these guys overlapped a couple of years when they were here, but when you build that type of chemistry and that type of standard of playing, when you lose all that, you are going to have some hiccups and growing pains until that new special teams coach is able to engrain his new culture and somebody else stands up. And I know you obviously still have Niles [Paul] and a couple other guys, and obviously Niles’ role has changed role more to tight end. So somebody else needs to stand up and be that guy and start building that new culture there.”
On how he is feeling:
“I’m feeling good. Being 10 years in the game, I can definitely tell it, but I’m having fun being 3-1, really enjoying it and just appreciating everything I have, especially sitting out last year. But who knows what’s going to happen in the coming future as far as me being 10 years, I know I’m coming up to the end of my career so hopefully maybe I’ll be working with some of you guys here soon.”
On if coming back from injury took anything away from him early on this season:
“Obviously missing a whole year of football, you miss a lot of experiences, just from a special teams standpoint as far as making plays as well as defense – the timing and everything. I think that my foot injury has taken me a little bit more time to kind of get at to where I want to be laterally. Running straight-line has been good for me, but I still haven’t played at the highest of levels yet where I want to be at on special teams. Luckily we have great guys out here from Justin Bethel, Jaron Brown to Kenny Demens that have kind of picked up the pace as I’ve continued to kind of work back into where I was two years ago playing at a high level on special teams.”
On if he feels the injury the most when he’s changing directions:
“No, really just during the week. Game day I’m fine. Anybody can get up for game day. It’s really the soreness kind of leading up to the week and you know, just cutting, really just planting side-to-side or when I have to really push on somebody during practice and stuff. During the game I really don’t feel it and I’m pretty sure it affects how fast I’m cutting and how hard I’m pushing, but mentally it’s not in my head or anything.”
On if returning from injury softens the blow of not starting:
“Obviously, I wanted to play on defense a lot more and obviously my injury has kind of hindered that process of getting back out there and being a contributor – whatever it may have been, whether it was starting or coming in like they used me when I was in Washington. So it was just being patient, continuing to work on it, and each week I’m continuing to get better, obviously, with what I show in practice as far as from a pass rush standpoint, getting off the ball, being able to cut laterally. And as the coaches see fit they’ll eventually enter me into the game plan and allow me to do what I do on defense, which also helps me on special teams because then I get into the flow of a game and I’m not just spot playing on special teams whenever we’re punting or kicking off, which can sometimes be 12-13off and now you’re cold and you’ve kind of got to ramp back up.”
On how tough the Cardinals’ defensive scheme is on young quarterbacks:
“It’s definitely multi-faceted that he’s going to use his personnel and use a lot of different groupings depending on what he’s trying to do or trying to accomplish on a given down and distance based on what guys are able to do. So we’ve used multiple [defensive] linemen, multiple safety fronts or extra DBs coming into the game depending on who’s up and down just to really utilize because those are kind of our strengths of our team as far as our front – me and the defensive line and the guys in that DB room. So it’s been fun to watch and kind of grow, and hopefully as I get healthier we’ll start some more linebackers in the rotation, too, on some of our third down and nickel packages. But you just really never know who’s coming. A lot of things look different but really are the same, and so it’s kind of hard for guys, quarterbacks – and not just Kirk [Cousins], but even Philip Rivers, [Colin] Kaepernick – all the quarterbacks we’ve played, we’ve gotten some hits to them when we decide to get after them a little bit.”
Redskins Park
Arizona Cardinals Linebacker Lorenzo Alexander
On the feeling of facing his former team for the first time:
“It’s going to be fun. I’m looking forward to it. Obviously, I played with a lot of these guys multiple years – Kedric Golston being like seven years, I think. Anytime you line up against your brother, you want to go out there and win and dominate because a lot of these guys I spent a lot of time with in the offseason and training with. You definitely want to have bragging rights. So, it’s definitely going to be a fun experience for me so I’m looking forward to it.”
On if it’s weird for him to think about not playing for the Redskins:
“That’s kind of, I think, passed me now. Last year obviously it was difficult leaving there after being there so long and transitioning out. But now being out here with the Cardinals for the last two years and really immersing myself with the community, the organization and getting to know these guys, I feel at home now. So, that feeling has kind of passed and I’m glad it kind of happened this year versus last year as far as us playing each other.”
On the Redskins’ special teams:
“It’s one or two guys out of place and that’s all it ever takes for anybody to have a big return on any special teams unit. Or one guy – if you get a blocked punt, it’s never scheme, it’s just one guy with bad technique. We’ve had our own issues here as well. But the biggest thing is probably just culturally. You lose Danny Smith, you lose multiple special teams players that have been together for a long time that had great chemistry – from myself to Reed [Doughty] to Chris Wilson to Mike Sellers. And obviously these guys overlapped a couple of years when they were here, but when you build that type of chemistry and that type of standard of playing, when you lose all that, you are going to have some hiccups and growing pains until that new special teams coach is able to engrain his new culture and somebody else stands up. And I know you obviously still have Niles [Paul] and a couple other guys, and obviously Niles’ role has changed role more to tight end. So somebody else needs to stand up and be that guy and start building that new culture there.”
On how he is feeling:
“I’m feeling good. Being 10 years in the game, I can definitely tell it, but I’m having fun being 3-1, really enjoying it and just appreciating everything I have, especially sitting out last year. But who knows what’s going to happen in the coming future as far as me being 10 years, I know I’m coming up to the end of my career so hopefully maybe I’ll be working with some of you guys here soon.”
On if coming back from injury took anything away from him early on this season:
“Obviously missing a whole year of football, you miss a lot of experiences, just from a special teams standpoint as far as making plays as well as defense – the timing and everything. I think that my foot injury has taken me a little bit more time to kind of get at to where I want to be laterally. Running straight-line has been good for me, but I still haven’t played at the highest of levels yet where I want to be at on special teams. Luckily we have great guys out here from Justin Bethel, Jaron Brown to Kenny Demens that have kind of picked up the pace as I’ve continued to kind of work back into where I was two years ago playing at a high level on special teams.”
On if he feels the injury the most when he’s changing directions:
“No, really just during the week. Game day I’m fine. Anybody can get up for game day. It’s really the soreness kind of leading up to the week and you know, just cutting, really just planting side-to-side or when I have to really push on somebody during practice and stuff. During the game I really don’t feel it and I’m pretty sure it affects how fast I’m cutting and how hard I’m pushing, but mentally it’s not in my head or anything.”
On if returning from injury softens the blow of not starting:
“Obviously, I wanted to play on defense a lot more and obviously my injury has kind of hindered that process of getting back out there and being a contributor – whatever it may have been, whether it was starting or coming in like they used me when I was in Washington. So it was just being patient, continuing to work on it, and each week I’m continuing to get better, obviously, with what I show in practice as far as from a pass rush standpoint, getting off the ball, being able to cut laterally. And as the coaches see fit they’ll eventually enter me into the game plan and allow me to do what I do on defense, which also helps me on special teams because then I get into the flow of a game and I’m not just spot playing on special teams whenever we’re punting or kicking off, which can sometimes be 12-13off and now you’re cold and you’ve kind of got to ramp back up.”
On how tough the Cardinals’ defensive scheme is on young quarterbacks:
“It’s definitely multi-faceted that he’s going to use his personnel and use a lot of different groupings depending on what he’s trying to do or trying to accomplish on a given down and distance based on what guys are able to do. So we’ve used multiple [defensive] linemen, multiple safety fronts or extra DBs coming into the game depending on who’s up and down just to really utilize because those are kind of our strengths of our team as far as our front – me and the defensive line and the guys in that DB room. So it’s been fun to watch and kind of grow, and hopefully as I get healthier we’ll start some more linebackers in the rotation, too, on some of our third down and nickel packages. But you just really never know who’s coming. A lot of things look different but really are the same, and so it’s kind of hard for guys, quarterbacks – and not just Kirk [Cousins], but even Philip Rivers, [Colin] Kaepernick – all the quarterbacks we’ve played, we’ve gotten some hits to them when we decide to get after them a little bit.”
