Why Kevin Byard wants the Chicago Bears to face Lamar Jackson in Baltimore

Why Kevin Byard wants the Chicago Bears to face Lamar Jackson in Baltimore

Okay, Kevin, four interceptions. You’ve already matched your total from 2022, and I can see the smile on your face. It’s like contagious week after week as you guys become ball hawks. What’s the temperature of the room right now is everyone’s kind of eating when it comes to interceptions. No, is we’re having a lot of fun. Uh, you know, our motto in our room, especially in the defensive back room, is getting the ball. Uh, Al preaches it every single day, practice, games. Uh, we have a certain quarter that we got to hit every single day, and it’s usually four. four in practice, four on game day, and we’ve been hitting them. So, uh, we’re going to keep the, you know, keep the standard. The standard is high. We’re gonna keep it that high. I’m curious about this quota. Is this something that Al brought from the start where he’s like four is the number? And are there consequences if you don’t get it in practice or or games? Uh, I wouldn’t say it’s consequences. I just think that no, Al did bring it from the start. And I think it’s just more just a mindset. It’s like Al talks about it all the time like and and we all DBs know this, you know, they pay guys that get the ball and everybody, you know, you play this game long enough, everybody wants to get paid. Everybody wants to take care of their family. So, he’s just good at just preaching that to all the guys like, “Hey, if you want to get paid, get the ball.” So, we got to, like I said, it’s a quot. It’s just like, you know, you clock into a 9 to5 or whatever job you’re doing, it’s like you have a certain quota, certain thing that you need to do for your work. And for us is getting the ball, getting four turnovers. Is is that quota gonna go up as it becomes more um I guess consistent and I guess you guys are putting up that number each and every week? No, it it definitely might. You know, honestly, even myself, like I had a certain threshold of goals that I wanted to accomplish this year and uh just last night, I kind of had to readjust those goals a little bit more. Um because like I said, I mean, it’s just one of those things where, you know, you’re feeling really good about yourself. You’re feeling really good about you know, how we’re playing as a defense. So, uh sometimes you got to, you know, rearrange the list. What were the goals coming in and what did you change them to? So, um, going into this year, I kind of wanted to break my previous mark that I had. Um, my second year in the league, I had got eight interceptions. So, that was something that I I’ve always try to set a standard, try to break that record. So, I’m kind of already halfway there. So, um, I upped it up to 10 interceptions. Uh, 12 total turnovers is kind of where I’m aiming for. Um, but 10 interceptions, that’s where that’s what I’m aiming for. But to do that, to have your your career high in year two, now be in year 10 and be able to set that bar even higher. You got to have like a ton of pride in not only yourself, but the body of work that you can consistently put out there season after season. Yeah, I mean the my belief in myself and the confidence I’ve always had in my game has never wavered from year 1 to year 10. Um, obviously every single year I haven’t been able to hit that number, but the confidence has never wavered. I always have uh confidence in my abilities to go out there and play this game at a high level. So, uh, I just been off to a hot start this year and, uh, hopefully that continues. Dennis Allen preached about picking your spots to go after those takeaways. And you mentioned after that Vegas game what you saw on film from Gino Smith and the way the receivers were lining up, but I’m sure every defensive coordinator stresses that, but the way that it’s been vocalized this year seems like there’s more of an emphasis on it. Is that something that you’ve noticed differently with DA coming in and the way he approaches getting those takeaways? Yeah, I would just say first and foremost, DA has done a great job of just putting his players in positions to make plays. Uh for myself, he’s been giving me uh a great opportunity to be able to use my god-given abilities to be able to roam the middle of the field making all those plays. Uh number two, obviously DA being very meticulous and detailed when it comes to, you know, the film study and his installs and kind of giving us those clues. And then at that point for me, you know, as I’ve, you know, gotten a little older in the NFL, the way I break down film, uh, I kind of have a few plays, which obviously with the installs that we have in a few plays that I try to watch to see like, hey, if I’m in this coverage and I see this play, this is my play to make every week. Uh, we kind of call like a look to own. And me and Al talks about that all the time, like, hey, we get this route in this coverage, this need to be a pick. And uh like you talked about in those Raiders games, uh those two interceptions were two looks to own that I was able just to trust uh my preparation uh trust DA obviously putting me in those positions and after that just go making the play. When Al got hired, a lot of the conversation was how cool is it to have a guy who played the game at a very high level for a very long time. How have you seen that manifest itself with the way he’s worked with you and the other DBs? Man, he’s he’s been a phenomenal hire. Um, I think for me, I’ve always been um very appreciative to have somebody in our room, in our building that played the game at a high level because they just see the game a little bit differently. Uh, Al was a pro bowler, all pro, uh, played 15. I didn’t even know he played 15 years. Obviously, I know Al Does he tell you? Does he put on the tape sometimes? He doesn’t, honestly. It’s It’s funny. He doesn’t never really make it about himself, but for me, I’ve been a football junkie. I’ve always I remember the days of um obviously his most memorable play is Green Bay pick six versus uh Matt Hasselbach in Seattle. Um but he just sees the game a certain way. He always can give especially the corners because he worked with the corners a lot being able to give them a lot of little tips that helped him play Reds his routes. Uh just the process of elimination like if he does this or if he gets to the numbers only a couple routes that he can run and that’s allowed them to be able to play faster. Obviously you see Nan making plays and Tyreek Stevenson as well. So, uh, but no, he’s been a big addition to our staff and just to our team. As you’ve been in the league for now 10 years, I’m sure your knowledge of those little ticks has increased, too. And whether it’s Jaquan, whether it’s Tyreek, they’ve all kind of noted that you’ve been one to wrap your arms around them and take them under your wing. What do you hope that they’re learning from watching you, whether it be approach or just how you’ve been able to sustain this long career? Yeah, I mean, for those two guys, I mean, they’ve played a lot of ball very young in their career, just like myself. So, um, they have that experience kind of already under their belt a little bit. For me, it’s more just giving them tips off the field, you know what I mean? Like, obviously, we’re all communicating. We’re helping each other on the field, but, you know, I have a lot of regimen things that I do uh weekly that I try to give tips to. Jaquin is obviously taking uh some of those things and same thing with Tyreek. Um, cuz I think that’s the biggest thing when you talk about longevity in this league and I think everybody wants to play a long time, take care of their family, make a lot of plays, build a legacy. Um, I just try to give it those longevity tips, right? If it’s, you know, how you take care of your body throughout the week, uh, I’m a big IV guy. I get IVs throughout the week. Uh, massages, how which days do I do my massages, things like that. So, uh, they’ve done a great job and, um, just obviously you could tell by their play. I remember last year cuz you did the Tuesday thing with Lou and you were always hooked up to an IV at your house. I was like, “All right, he is definitely very regimented.” Yeah. It’s funny. One time I had it was like the blood going out the IV and I I had to let America know that I wasn’t on no steroids, man. I just But no, man, that’s something I’ve actually I did my IVs on this past Tuesday, uh, just yesterday. So, um, it’s just something that I’ve kind of stuck to for a long time and and it’s helped out a lot. All right, so level with us. Like, you’re 32 years old. How old do you feel? Uh, I don’t feel that old, honestly. Um, it’s funny because I have a lot of guys around the locker room. I’m you know what I mean? It’s it’s funny. I don’t really take offense to it. I actually kind of look at as a term of endearment. It’s like I joke with the guys I’m like one day you’ll be called Uncle or at least you will want to be called that means you played a long time and you’re still making plays. Um but no I don’t feel like at all. Obviously you can see me still roaming the field making plays. So uh uh I feel younger spirit but um it’s certain things that I feel like in the locker room with the music selection and stuff like that. I kind of joke and laugh but uh no it’s all good. Now you can just hold up four and and you got the the interceptions going for you. Exactly. Uh Jaquan also said that the talk this week especially is that you guys were four and two last year but this year it feels a little bit different and he said there’s a closeness between staff and players and given your experience being with Bradel and some really good teams. Have you ever experienced that and how it like kind of translates throughout the rest of the season and what that means to success on the field? Yeah, I mean we’re we’re in a position right now we’re 4 and2 and um you kind of you know drawn on my experience of being with he will always show us uh this video of the Kentucky Derby right and it will always be like in the beginning of the race like the first quarter mile you know all the horses are kind of bunched up together and if you can look at the the league right now especially the NFC it’s a bunch of teams that’s like five and two 4 and two three and three and four we’re all still kind of in the race and this is kind of the point and juncture of the season where you get to the end of that Kentucky DE where teams start to spread out a little bit, you start to create some distance. And I think that’s where we’re at right now. We’re kind of at that point where we got to continue to string together some wins. Obviously, we’ve we’ve won four straight, which is very good. Um, but we can’t let I would say the praise of, you know, whether it’s media, um, of people, our families and things like that kind of get into our head and think that, hey, we’ve arrived because, you know, Ben has talked about it. We haven’t played our best game yet. Not only on offense, but even on defense. And we just had four turnovers. And if you watch the film, if you count turnover and downs, we probably should have had six or seven. So, we still got a lot of improvement to make. And I think that’s the beauty of it. So, we just had to focus on the next game, the next opponent, and not, you know, worry about, you know, what this team is doing. Uh, we just got to continue to try to stack wins, become one and0, and just keep our eyes on the prize. We saw a miked up clip of Ben Johnson uh last game and he’s like stoic as can be throughout the entire game and then everyone is living for these postgame locker room celebrations. Do you appreciate that? I don’t want to say nothing’s good enough, but the competitor in him that is always like we can be better. Yeah, I mean this guy’s always locked in. It’s funny because I remember I I seen that that miked up thing too, but I remember pregame I’m always the the captain that talks during the coin toss and I was about to ask Ben about, you know, where where do you want to kick? and he was just walking by me. I guess he might have been talking on on the headset. He kind of gave me one of these real quick. He was like, “I’ll come back.” And I just seen his stuff. I was like, “Oh, I’ll just leave you alone for a little bit because he was just so locked in.” I guess he was talking to the coaches about some of the game plan stuff. But, uh, he’s a he’s a he’s a he’s a silent killer. He’s a maniac when it comes to really being able to lock in and, uh, really just focusing on the next thing. But obviously, once the game is over and we win, that emotion lets out. And you kind of love that from him because uh that’s something as a player that especially being in this league, I always want to be locked in because you never want to get too high, get too low, you always kind of want to stay neutral and and for our leader to be like that is always great. We don’t know if Lamar’s going to play or not. That’s kind of the big question mark going into this game, especially now on Wednesday. So, what kind of team do you see when he’s on the field versus when he’s not out there for the Ravens? I mean, you you see the team that was picked to be, you know, one of the Super Bowl favorites. I mean, obviously, he’s one of the best players in our league. Um, he’s dynamic. He’s the best, in my opinion, the best mobile quarterback uh in NFL history. Um, and obviously my guy Derrick Henry, who I got drafted with in Tennessee. I mean, that’s that’s two of the that’s probably the most dangerous backfield in the NFL. Um, so yes, this team is dynamic. It can put up points. Um, and personally, I would rather Lamar play. I played them a few uh different times, but you want to go up against the best to be able to test our defense out against them. So, expecting a heavyweight match. Um, like you said, they’re going to run the ball with Derek even if he does play or doesn’t play. Uh, so I’m excited about that matchup. Perfect. Kevin, we appreciate your time. No, absolutely. Thank you for having

The Bears face the Ravens this week, but MVP QB Lamar Jackson might not play. Bears safety Kevin Byard hopes Jackson does play, and explains why.

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