We’ve seen teams ride their defense to the postseason. Is this team built to do something similar?

James Laurinaitis: I hope this season is more of a team effort, but I think being a defensive player, we pride ourselves on trying to be as stingy as we can be. So we always say if our offense gets us three, then we’ve got to shut them out. That’s just the way we all view the game. If our offense gets us 10 points, we’ve got to hold them under 10. It’s that simple. So if we’re the reason why this team makes the playoffs, that’s phenomenal. I don’t care how we get there; I just want to get there. I think right now we can be that unit. Now, do we continue to evolve to become that dominant unit? We’ve shown flashes, but how do we do it more consistently? So until we do it for a consistent season, I’m not going to make any predictions or guarantees or any of that. We have the talent as players. It’s just when do we put it all together?

Consistency week to week was an issue for you guys last year. When you watched the tape, what were the reasons behind that, and in what ways do you plan on changing your approach this season?

Laurinaitis: Some of the things were communication errors, some of the big plays that happened. Some were just not smart football plays. I think we have a lot more experience. When you go through a full season, you learn things, and I think you saw players getting better. I think with that, can those players who got better start this year at that high level versus going backward and having to learn those mistakes over again? So we always say, ‘Don’t be a repeat offender, don’t make the same mistake over and over. Prove that you can learn from it and move on.’ I think the challenge with us is it’s not just yourself learning it, but learn from the guy next to you. If your buddy learns a lesson on a dumb football play, you don’t have to make that same mistake, and then learn it yourself. Be quick with it and then try to pick up on ‘How can we all be smarter football players?’ So I think early on we have always started slow. I don’t know why that is, but I think this year we have an opportunity to really start camp faster.

How does this front seven compare to others throughout the league?

Laurinaitis: I think we’re up there. I think Buffalo has a pretty good front seven. I think the Jets are pretty solid. I think the Seahawks have an overall great defense. I’m not big into the whole comparing thing. If you want to say we’re the fifth-best defense but we win the Super Bowl, OK. But we want to be up there. We want to be mentioned. Everyone is going to have their favorites and play favorites and all of that, but I think we have the talent to be really special. And I’ll let our play do the talking.