Antonio Pierce Speaks At Camp
Antonio Pierce spoke with reporters at camp today. The following is a full transcript of his comments.Are you excited about your upcoming game against Detroit?
Yeah, we’re tired of hitting each other. I’m tired of seeing Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, Bradshaw, and Eli. I want to hit someone else for once. You just want to get out there and compete and the only thing we’ve done at that kind of level was goal-line and that’s not realistic. The offensive line has the ball at the two yard line and they didn’t have to do any work for it. It will be good to go out there against another team. Detroit has a lot of weapons and we’re excited to go out there and play. We’ve got new faces on the defense so it’ll be good to see the guys working well together in the game situation.
How has Danny Clark fit in?
He has fit in well. It would be nice to get all of our guys healthy and out there on a consistent basis. Danny is physical and a guy who has been in the league for a while so he doesn’t get tricked much by the offense. I think now it’s more about him understanding the concept of our defense and how we run it. Let the competition begin for that linebacker spot.
Anything personal that you are going to work on for this game?
I’m working on everything to get better. When you go out there you’re trying to improve on everything you did last year. We’re going to go out there to work on our technique, make more plays, and overall be more productive. For me it’s about going out there and exceeding what you’ve done in the past.
What happened last time you guys played John Kitna and Detroit?
Before we played them he said we were the worst 6-3 team in the league and he guaranteed a victory. I don’t know if he’s going to guarantee in preseason, that wouldn’t be too smart especially if he’s only going to end up playing six snaps or a series. They’ve got a new running back over there, new offensive line, new coordinator, so they’re excited and we’re excited to play them.
Unless you have a tremendous amount of confidence in your backups and your backups’ backups you can’t really guarantee a victory in a preseason game?
Yeah, preseason is all about your second and third team; the depth of your team. It doesn’t really reflect the strength of your starters. You could go 0-4 and it wouldn’t mean anything.
Did Mathias Kiwanuka break his leg against Detroit or was that against the Bears?
That was against Detroit. Hopefully we can stay injury-free this time.
Is it tough for the older guys like Sam Madison and R.W. McQuarters to find motivation?
With Sam he had a sports hernia and it’s tough for him to practice. Obviously, our secondary is very young, we’ve got a first round pick safety and a first round pick at corner, and also two second round corners. We’ve got a lot of depth there and that’s really good for us. You never want to have too much youth because they don’t have the same experience as a Sam Madison or R.W. McQuarters. For Sam not being out there on the field he’s not lacking as far as helping these younger guys out off of the field. If you ask them they would probably agree with what I just said. I like seeing Sam out there because he is our savvy veteran. He knows how to play the game, he knows how to decoy, and play the receivers.
He’s got little tricks?
Yeah. The young guys just do what the coaches tell them, but that doesn’t work all of the time. You’ve got to be able to play beyond the X’s and O’s.
What do you need to get from the weak side Linebacker spot? What does Danny do well that makes him a good fit?
He’s physical, he’s plays a very similar style to what Kawika Mitchell gave us last year. They are in the same mold as far as a physical linebacker. Danny knows how to play the ball, but he still needs to learn more about how our defense works.
Why was Kawika such a good fit for that spot?
He was physical and the guy wanted a pay day so he put in a lot of extra work. Kawika was my roommate last year and he put it a lot of effort off of the field which allowed him to have the season he had last year.
