Rolando McClain Quotes

We always think we can get to the quarterback, put pressure on him.

When you put pressure on the quarterback, everything looks a lot better.

Obviously, teams are passing a lot more, and there are rules that... allow the offense to be more explosive, so you want to have as many defensive players and defensive playmakers and defensive backs that you can.

Rex Ryan does a lot of the same kind of stuff that we do in terms of how they play in the secondary and what they do.

You can't put a running back in there and have him not know who to pick up. You can't get your quarterback hit.

You're shooting the quarterback, and he drops back to pass the ball, and you see the ball leave his hand at 10 frames per second. At 7 frames per second, the ball's already gone.

You can't be wrong in the three-tech position. I like that. It allows a lot of freedom.

Oftentimes, the post safety will eye me up pre-snap a lot of times and know where I am.

A defensive coordinator is always going to try to throw you something different and get you out of your element, and I have to do better with the pass protection.

I can stretch the defense.

I want to get to the quarterback and stop the run.

Plays are designed to attack certain coverages and schemes.

As I say, 'Every tackle's nightmare is third and long.'

If you can put your hands on the receiver and get to him fast, that messes up everything for them. If I don't put hands on him, he's probably going to beat me on the route.

If I'm out wide, and they put a linebacker on me, I think that's a mismatch every time, regardless of who is on me.

I want to play defense. I want to get sacks.

If all you ever play with a cornerback in there is man to man, it is a disadvantage.

Tackling and playing well in space against any spread offense is very important.

Defensive lineman in the 3-4 isn't a glory position. He is supposed to tie up as many linemen as possible in order to free the linebackers.

We always try to mix it up-three-step drop, five-step drop, seven-step drop, naked bootleg. We spread out all these kinds of things to keep the defensive pass rush unbalanced.

There are very few players who know what to do when they're not marked. So sometimes you tell a player: that attacker is very good, but don't mark him.

When it comes down to it, you're playing football regardless of what offense you're in.

When we had a great defense at Tampa Bay, we always measured our defenses against the best quarterbacks.

You have to make the strikers fear you. Make it difficult for them to get on the ball and go into different areas. That makes my job easier.

I'm kind of like the quarterback: being able to orchestrate a lot of things out there on the field and being able to run different schemes and coverages.