Brian Burns opens up on early chase of iconic Giants record, ‘psycho’ Cam Skattebo’s influence

Giants pass rusher Brian Burns tackles some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.

Q: Michael Strahan: Do you know what his single-season sack record is?

A: [It’s] 22 ¹/₂.

Q: Why would you know that?

A: I knew that when I came into the league.

Q: Is that something you could aspire to, or does that drive you to reach or break it?

A: Yes, all the time. I just feel like to have a season like that, everything has to go right in my opinion. You can’t miss any sacks, miss any opportunities. Obviously that’s a crazy number to get to, but it’s possible. T.J. [Watt] got there, tied it recently. In the recent years, you’ve had high guys around 18, 19, so it’s very possible to get it. Everything’s got to go right.

Q: So far you have seven, so you’re on a trajectory that would put you close.

A: It would put me close, yeah. … It would take a couple of big games to set yourself ahead and give you that leeway, and you’re playing with house money at that point.

Q: How neat was it sacking Tom Brady?

A: I wanted one so bad, finally got him his last year. It was dope, man. When he came into my division, I’m like, “I’m definitely going to get him.” But for two years, he just kept getting the ball out and I couldn’t get him. And I finally got him in that last game.

Q: What drives you?

A: Proving myself right. I feel like a lot of my motivation is internally. Obviously I do this for my family, but the main thing is to prove myself right, just about what I say I can do, who I say I am. I’ve been overlooked a lot coming up. Obviously I was highly recruited and things of that nature, but it was always something that always held me back — like I’m too small, can’t play the run, things of that nature. And that always stuck with me. So It was always me proving myself right, like I don’t really care about everybody else says, it’s about me.

Q: Describe the art of pass rushing.

A: A lot of people think like D-end and pass rushing is just going up the field, it’s really not. It’s an art to me physically because of the way we move. Like, if you slow pass rush down it’s so meticulous, it’s so many small things that you don’t see when it’s going fast — as far as like hand placement, to the distance between a big step to a small step, like it’s so many small things, so many nuances to just pass rush in general — but the main art of it is how you set up your pieces I feel like. I feel like the mental part of it is the main part in pass rush.

Q: Who are pass rushers you’ve liked watching?

A: Von [Miller] has always been a guy I watched. I feel like we moved similar coming out. … Jason Taylor, Julius Peppers. Aldon Smith. When I got more advanced at a higher level, I started watching Maxx [Crosby], Jon Greenard, Danielle Hunter, T.J., Myles [Garrett], Micah [Parsons]. All the top guys.

Q: How would you describe your on-field mentality?

A: I’m not really into trying to make every play. I’m a realistic thinker. I understand every play’s not going to come my way, and I’m obviously getting schemed by offenses and things of that nature. My whole thing is I’m just wired, like I’m only focused on what’s in front of me. If the play’s back side and somebody’s trying to block me, that’s what I’m focused on. It’s the person that’s blocking me, I’m not really worried about nothing else. … I’m just locked in.

Q: Who is the biggest trash talker on your defense?

A: Thibs [Kayvon Thibodeaux] or Dex [Dexter Lawrence].

Q: Are they good trash talkers?

A: Yeah. They just trash talk differently. … Thibs says things that will get you mad … disrespectful type of trash talk, get you mad. Dex says things that kind of hurts you inside. Like to your core, you know what I mean?

Q: Can you give me an example?

A: I seen one of Dex mic’d up and he said, “Everything you did up to this point your whole life doesn’t matter anymore,” something like that. Just basically telling him that you can’t stop me from doing what I’m about to do to you.

Q: You’re not a trash talker?

A: Not unless they start with me, I don’t say nothing.

Q: Describe Cam Skattebo as a guy and as a player.

A: As a guy, I say Skattebo is a genuine ball of energy. He’s going to be who he is. He has a natural attraction to people as far as like people gravitate towards Skatt due to his energy and how genuine he is as a person. And on the field, he’s a wrecking ball. Skatt kind of runs with that “I don’t give a f–k” mentality, and that’s what you need. You need psychos on your team sometimes. I kind of compare Skatt in different ways, but they’re similar in their energy and that “I don’t give a f–k” mentality to Frankie Luvu. When I played with Frankie, Frankie had that psycho, maniac, like lay my body on the line. That’s Skatt.

Q: How about Jaxson Dart?

A: Dart has a lot of charisma, a lot of swag. He just seems like a guy you want to root for. It’s either you’re going to like Dart, you’re going to love Dart, or you’re going to hate him.

Q Why would somebody hate him?

A: People that exude that much confidence and have that charisma that everybody likes, they just tend to hate that person. When I look at Dart, he just has confidence out of this world, and I like that type of s–t. Like, believe in yourself, man, it’s all you can do in this world.

Q: What is the biggest adversity in life and football you had to overcome?

A: In life I would just say the main thing that I faced in adversity is probably death … just death around family members, overcoming that feeling. As far as football, besides being on losing teams, I ain’t really had too much adversity individually. God willing, and God forbid, I haven’t dealt with any like serious major injuries.

Q: Tell me about your grandfather.

A: We share the same birthday. We were pretty close, it was on my dad’s side. His name’s Gary, I called him Pop Pop. His funeral was the day of the game in high school, senior year, first game. I told my coaches days before I don’t know if I’m going to make it because I gotta go to my Pop Pop’s funeral. I went to the funeral, me and my Pops hopped on the road, tried to make it, probably got in maybe 45 minutes before the game. Got dressed, played, played well, we won. That was tough for me, because he was battling cancer, but my family kept a lot of stuff away from me or they kept it like PG, because I’m the baby of the family. So they didn’t tell me the real seriousness of what he was going through. At a certain point they had to tell me. Maybe if I would have known earlier where it could lead to, maybe I would have had my mind wrapped around it when it happened but I didn’t.

Q: Describe your leadership style.

A: I would say it’s more about action. I’m not really big on motivational speeches and stuff like that. Jameis [Winston] is amazing with vocal leadership and motivation, I’m more so, “I’m going to show you,” and if I got something in my heart, I say it. But most of the time it’s going to be from a real place more so than motivation.

Q: What is it like playing on the New York stage?

A: I like it, man. Obviously you got your ups and downs, your blessings and your curses with it. But at the same time, if you’re doing what you’re supposed to do, you do everything that you can to put yourself in the best position to succeed, I don’t have no regrets.

Q: Favorite New York City things?

A: I’ve been watching a lot of plays recently on Broadway. The latest one was “Great Gatsby,” that was a good one.

---

---

Q: Beneath your Twitter handle it says, “move different.”

A: That’s just something that I’ve always heard my whole life. When I trained in the offseason, most of the time for most of my career I’d be doing like DB drills and change of direction drills. And I always hear that, “You move different,” to be 6-5, 250, whatever, out here doing DB drills. It’s a different type of look.

Q: Describe your childhood friend Nik Bonitto, who has eight sacks with the Broncos.

A: He’s pretty explosive, pretty quick off the ball. He has done a good job of perfecting certain moves.

Q: What will it be like for you seeing him and your other old friend Patrick Surtain II on Sunday?

A: It’s going to be fun … hopefully because we’re on the winning side of this s–t. But it’s going to be fun seeing my guys.

Q: Describe the Brian Burns Family Foundation.

A: We’re just trying to help in the community. I did a back-to-school thing, I did this autism thing it’s called Hype for Life. My nephew has autism, so we’re trying to get awareness and bring out the word on that. There’s a lot of people dealing with a lot of challenges, and they’re doing it all on their own, and it’s hard, because I watch my brother firsthand deal with stuff that goes on with that, it’s a lot of things you need, and it’s a lot of things you need to know. A lot of people don’t know what to do in that situation. The family charities are Thanksgiving, Christmas, back-to-school, anything I can do in the community to bring some light and help people out.

Q: Three dinner guests?

A: Denzel [Washington], LeBron [James], Leonardo DiCaprio.

Q: Favorite movie?

A: “Life.”

Q: Favorite actors?

A: Denzel and Will Smith.

Q: Favorite actress?

A: Angela Bassett.

Q: Favorite entertainer?

A: Rod Wave.

Q: Favorite meal?

A: Soul food.

Q: What are you most proud of about your career?

A: I would say just being able to push through losing seasons. You lose the motivation to go out there sometimes, you lose that type of edge when you lose so much. I just like the fact that I haven’t allowed myself to get to that point. I still play hard, I still go out there and try my hardest and everything. That’s tough to get by when you’ve been losing for six years.

Q: Describe your older brother Stanley McClover.

A: He’s part of the reason why I feel like I’m playing this well. I attest a lot of that stuff to myself, for one, for realizing and understanding how I want to play and doing the things necessary to change it … my [outside linebackers] coach, Charlie Bullen, because he also shed that light to me, and he’s helped me in many, many ways you wouldn’t even understand … and of course my brother. My brother’s been on me about this year, like he’s staying on me. We watch film together at the house. He tells me what he sees throughout the game. There’s certain times where I may look in the stands just to see if he picked up a nugget of the guy that I’m going against, because obviously it’s a different set of eyes looking from the stands. Just to have that support system and have him in my corner anytime I need him, that’s big.

Q: Is he at every game?

A: Yeah. I told him to sit this one out though. Just because it’s so far.

Q: What is your message to Giants fans?

A: I appreciate all the love. We’re going to turn this thing around. I feel like we’re going in the right direction, and as long as they keep showing up for us and rooting us on, we’re going to show out for them.