New Orleans Saints Linebacker Demario Davis
Video Call with New Orleans Media
Friday, December 4, 2020
The last two meetings that you have had with the Falcons, you have had 17 sacks between linebackers. I mean, some corners, everybody's getting involved. What about them brings out the best in your defense?
"I am not sure if there is anything about them that brings out the best. We try to treat all our opponents the same, I think you have to in this league. You have to be locked in on your assignment and your job and your responsibility executing the game plan. You know, when they give us certain looks, we've got to be able to execute what our response to it is. Situationally being locked in. And I think sometimes you just have things clicking, certainly we're going to need them clicking this Sunday."
Over the, I guess, last few weeks, you guys have been playing with like, a lot of swagger and talked to a couple of the other guys and they mentioned that, I guess the Chicago game is when you could kind of feel the vibe change on the defensive side of the ball? Is that when you noticed it? And you know, what do you think is contributing to that kind of attitude you guys are playing with?
"I feel like, you know, we're a unit that just, you know, plays with a lot of swag. Individually, the guys that make it up are guys that have a ton, a ton of confidence and a ton, a ton of energy. And that's just, you know, that's just how we are. I mean, you look at us in the past, you know, we play with that same tenacity, same energy, same swagger. And I think it just comes out more when you're making plays. And that's the only way you can really have swag and have confidence and show all this excitement is when you're constantly making plays and feeding off that energy. It isn't like, you are going to be getting beat by 21 points, and, jumping up and down with excitement. So I think, it's having good players and good players making good plays and having a selfless mentality. It's just created that type of culture. We have that same type of swag and energy when we're practicing. And we just carry that over to the field."
On your podcast that you did with Steve Wyche, you talked about the communication errors at the beginning of the year. I was curious, was that something that you addressed to Dennis Allen? Was it something that he came to the captain's? Or was it kind of just a mutual thing of okay, we need to simplify things a little bit?
"No, I do not think I was speaking specifically to the communication areas, we just were not performing well in certain situations, and it kind of became repetitive. And Coach took it upon himself to change the way that we were practicing. And a lot of times, you do not see that, sometimes you just kind of get into a routine and I think our Coach is constantly harping on our process and being locked into the process. I think I guess he saw something we could change in our process, we changed it and (it) made a big difference."
Just with the way the defense has been playing, how important will it be to kind of keep that up this Sunday against an Atlanta team that's coming off of scoring a lot of points?
"I don't know if we're thinking about, you know, just how we're playing, like I talked about earlier, we're so locked into the process. It's important for us to continue to sharpen our process and continue to be locked into the things that allowed us to have success, which is preparation, the way that we're practicing, the way that we understand the details of our assignment, and then going and executing them at a high level on Sunday. And to get to where we want to get to as a team, we have to continue to do that, especially on our side of the ball. We know to win games down the stretch, we have to play great complimentary football, and the only thing that we can think about is, is our responsibility on defense. And that's performing at a high level. And that just requires a lot of focus, a lot of detail. And playing with that same energy and urgency that we've been playing with."
