Q: How much are you looking forward to the next challenge with the Saints' top ranked offense in the league?
LB: [I'm] definitely looking forward to it, just like we were looking forward to playing against the Indianapolis Colts. They're undefeated. It's always good to play a great team like that, and they're on a roll. Like you said, the offense is doing pretty good. Everybody's always talking about our defense and kind of talking bad about our defense, so it will be good to show how good of a defense we are against a top offense like that.
Q: Yesterday Braylon Edwards had one catch for 10 yards. He's their best receiver probably. Jonathan Wilhite was on him a lot and you were on him sometimes. Was that a point you guys took pride in after the game and said, 'We held their best receiver to one catch for 10 yards'?
LB: It's always good when you hold a receiver to one catch for something under what he's used to. But like I said, it's the whole defense. It's not just one guy playing corner and just checking him. It's the defensive line getting pressure on [Mark] Sanchez, giving him good looks and us in coverage, when it's man and when it's zone. It's just a tribute to the whole defense working as a unit.
Q: I don't know if you have seen much of the Saints at all, either on film or watching them on TV, but of what you've seen this year, what stands out most to you about that offense?
LB: You know, I haven't watched them on film yet. I have watched them on TV and it's hard to see everything on TV though. He [Drew Brees] has a lot of weapons, a lot of young guys and he's very accurate. I thought the line seems like they protect him well. They have a good running game; they're all around a good offense. When I look at the film I can tell you a lot more, but I can't really tell from the TV copy.
Q: Does the attitude almost have to be, 'bring it on,' when you go up against a team like that when you know what they're going to do?
LB: It has to be 'bring it on.' You have to put your best foot forward when you play a team like that. They're undefeated. They're a good team; we're a good team. We just have to bring our A game, that's what I like to say. I think we will. It's going to be prime time, a lot of guys play good in prime time, so it should be fun.
Q: How different is it playing inside with a high-octane offense like that, maybe the fast track, that kind of stuff?
LB: I mean, it helps the defense too; doesn't just help the offense. It's always good to play a good team on turf. It's no weather, no footing problems usually, so the ball's not going to be slick, so it makes for a good game. I think they play pretty good on the turf inside, but like I said, I think we played a good game against the Colts inside and we just had to finish and that's what we're trying to do this game.
Q: With Cincinnati losing yesterday, how much are you paying attention to what's going on with other teams right now in terms of standings?
LB: Nah, I'm not trying to pay attention to the standings, really. We just got to pay attention to us. I remember in Cleveland we were kind of in the playoff hunt, but we had to hope other teams lost because we didn't take care of our business. So, that's something that teams want to do, and you just want to take care of your business and not worry about what anybody else is doing. You just continue to win and everything will take care of itself.
Q: Does the experience haunt you at all? It was the Titans, right? And the Colts sat all their guys and... [referring to the regular season finale between Tennessee and Indianapolis 12/30/07]
LB: But if we would have beat Cincinnati [Cincinnati beat Cleveland 19-14 on 12/23/07], it was the second to last game, we would have automatically been in.
Q: Is there a lesson in that?
LB: Yeah, there definitely is. You can't depend on other people; you have to take care of your business and not worry about hoping teams lose or doing anything like that. So if you win the games that are important in the AFC, usually in division games, you'll get in no matter what.
Q: Is that something you've noticed, being in the locker room this point of the season, have you seen that kind of attitude. How is the attitude different with this group than maybe when you were with Cleveland?
LB: Yeah, the attitude is just about us. It's about paying attention to us and trying to win these division games, putting it in guys' heads. I think, guys, we have enough veterans on this team that know and have been around. They know to know that we have to take care of business and you have to win the AFC games. Bill [Belichick], from the beginning of the year, he stressed it, because last year they were 11-5 and they didn't make the playoffs. That's because some of those early AFC losses and division losses, so that's something he stressed and talked about and everybody has that attitude in the back of their mind. We just have to continue to keep that in our mind and not worry about anything else.
Q: After the Denver game you mentioned that you guys played a lot of cover three, which in English means there was some off-coverage, and Eddie Royal had like 10 catches on you for 90 yards. The last couple of weeks it's seemed like you've been playing more press coverage, up in the receiver's face. Have you enjoyed that more? Is that accurate?
LB: Well, what's not accurate is that he caught 10 passes on me. It wasn't on me. He caught like three or four catches on me when we were in cover three. The 10 catches weren't solely on me. He wasn't always on the right side and I wasn't always checking him. So that's not accurate. But when you play cover three, you have to do your job. You play the deep third, and you have your underneath defense help, or however they want us to play cover three, that's how we have to play. I can't press in cover three, so I have to do what my job tells me to do. But when we play man, they've asked for us to be more aggressive at the line and that's something I'm used to. I played in Cleveland, and that's pretty much all I did was press man because we played a lot of man in Cleveland. That's something I'm used to and I like to do. There're times in man where you want to play off for certain reasons, certain situations, but you just got mix it up.
Q: How big of a deal would it be to get a quality road win over a really good team? Winning on the road, how important is that at this point?
LB: That's another important thing because we're on the road. Say you do make it to the playoffs and you don't get home field advantage, then that's one thing you're going to have to do is win on the road. So it's definitely important to win on the road and get that under your belt and try to play good away. Sometimes it's hard because your fans aren't behind you; you don't have your fans. At times you have an edge when your fans are not behind you. It's hard to start off fast when you're away because of the crowd. That's one thing we need to do is start fast and finish fast.
Q: It seems like according to your contract that this is kind of a prove it year for you. Obviously when your deal is a no-franchise and everything else, is this kind of fulfilling for you - being able to perform the way that you've been performing, having a day like yesterday with as much on the line as there is for you professionally?
LB: You know what? That's the least of my concerns. I came here on a one-year deal just because I felt like that was the best situation; me and the organization felt like that. I wanted to prove that I'm still a good player, a good top corner in the league, but it just wasn't shown with Detroit because the success that we didn't have. I'm playing well. I just have to finish the season off good and hopefully playoffs, Super Bowl, just play to the best of my ability until the last game. That's all I'm really worried about. I'm not worried about any contracts or anything like that. I'm just trying to help this team any way I can.
