Q. (In progress.)
JUSTIN REID: Oh, this is the best test you can have. I mean, going against the defending Super Bowl champs, Brady is the greatest quarterback of all-time. This is the people you want to play. I still have yet to pick him off, even though I should have. Wish I could have some of those back, so this should be a fun game to play in against them.
Q. You've gone against him your first two years - not last year. What do you want to see, not just against Brady, but their offense? What do you want to accomplish in this last game?
JUSTIN REID: Yeah, they got a couple of real good receivers over there in Mike Evans and Godwin, so matching up against those guys, especially being a DB, making sure we take away the deep ball, and then also just playing the run physically.
We want to just be solid, not beat ourselves, and just play sound fundamental football.
Q. Is the confidence overall in the defense, is it way up?
JUSTIN REID: Yeah, the confidence is high on the defense side of the ball. I feel like we've been playing solid so far. Haven't had a test against a starting quarterback yet, so this will be exciting for us to actually do that.
Q. (No microphone.)
JUSTIN REID: Yeah, I mean, every football game is exciting to go to, but especially going against the greatest of all-time and the defending Super Bowl champs. It make it a little bit more exciting. It's our first home game of the season, too. We are going to have a good crowd come out, so we want to defend the home turf.
Q. How cool will it be with some fans here?
JUSTIN REID: Oh, man, incredible. I feel like it's been two years since, you know what I mean, since we had a crowd in here. It's going to be a really sick experience to have the fans back in the crowd and be able to feed off the energy they bring to the home field.
Q. (Regarding Malik Collins.)
JUSTIN REID: Yeah, Malik Collins, man, he's doing awesome, bro. He makes my life a whole lot easier. When you're able to have pressure up front everything on the defense side of the ball works together. When you have pressure up front, that creates opportunities for us to get turnovers on the back end when the quarterback has somebody in his face so he has to speed up his throw.
It makes it easier for us on the back end to read those throws and create turnover opportunities than if he's just sitting back there all day. So Malik has been getting after the ball, man.
When we watch film we see it up front. We got all the credit in the world that a lot of those interceptions came from our defensive line, creating pressure on the quarterback.
Q. (Regarding Desmond King.)
JUSTIN REID: Yeah?
Q. How does that work communication-wise with him?
JUSTIN REID: Desmond King? Yeah, I mean, Desmond is a little bit in each of those, right? Sometimes going to be in coverage, sometimes blitzing. We really just have to be alert for when we have a front change on where our defensive guys -- our defensive line is what gaps are fitting into, so we know what gaps we have to fit behind them.
So for the most part, it's a lot of the independence, but in certain scenarios we do have to pay attention to what gaps those guys are in so we know what gaps we got to fill behind them.
Q. (No microphone.)
JUSTIN REID: I hope so, man. I hope so. I hope I never have to in the sense that Ka'imi is always there, because he's clearly the best kicker on the team. It would be a dream of mine to actually kick an extra point.
Q. What do they say when you lobby? Are they just like, Yeah, yeah, yeah?
JUSTIN REID: Oh, yeah. They humor me a little bit and say, Maybe one day.
Q. Who do you think would be the best two-way player on the team?
JUSTIN REID: The best two-way player on the team? Well, speaking how Desmond has been returning each ball he caught for about 25 plus, I'll say he'll be a mean slot receiver too the day they put him on the opposite side of the ball.
Q. (No microphone.)
JUSTIN REID: I'm sorry?
Q. What have you learned about this team?
JUSTIN REID: Oh, man, just the resilience and the toughness. I mean, like this team just feels more fundamentally sound and solid across the board. The details feel a little bit more crisp. The emphasis on turnovers going after the ball, everybody running to the ball. I mean, we have team meetings where we meet as an entire defensive group, and the defensive coordinator is going through where each person did a good job or messed up, so everybody on the field knows what's happening or what went wrong on the play.
There is a higher level of accountability with that in the sense that you're going to be told in front of everybody what you did good or what you did wrong.
Q. As we get closer to the start of the season, what has Lovie been like?
JUSTIN REID: Yeah, I mean, he's just constantly in my ear, you know what I mean? Yesterday he even told me before we went to practice, it's like, Have you been to practice the last couple days, as in saying like I haven't made any big plays in practice.
So I had to go and get three for him, you know what I mean, to make that up. But he's just a guy who constantly preaches the details. He will coach you up. We'll restart the play if you're a foot off in your alignment at the start of the play. It's like, No, it's not here, it's here. So those details matter, and it shows up.
Q. (Regarding Vernon Hargreaves.)
JUSTIN REID: I mean, he's a awesome corner who has great man coverage ability, so we are going to hate to miss him, but that's going to be a big opportunity for Vern, and the next guy have to step up and be able to take that role and play.
We're playing against a rook quarterback who has been talented so far in the preseason, so it's going to an exciting opportunity for everybody on the field to play that game.
Q. How have you seen Vern step up?
JUSTIN REID: Yeah, man, I mean, like Vern is a very team guy. He's excited to be on the field. You see him focused on his details of man courage? Feels a lot more confident from what I got from just watching him play. He's playing with a lot more confidence. So that's major. Playing the cornerback position, I mean, you know Dion Sanders, all those guys in there got the most confidence in the world, so you have to have that to be a successful corner.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports