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Head Coach Mike Macdonald Looks Ahead To Week 13 vs. Minnesota Vikings · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: All right, great to see everybody.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: I know, we got a lot of updates to go,
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: so I can't think all of all of them, so
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: I'll let you ask.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: The number of roster moves that were made today, bringing
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: back Quandrae and some of the other decisions that we're there.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Uh yeah, bringing back Diggs.
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  Speaker 2: Was you know, it's pretty cool because we taught him
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  Speaker 2: and I talked when we when we first got here
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: last year and had a great conversation. Obviously things worked
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: out the way they did. But excited for him to
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: be back. I know the building's really excited. I think
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: he's excited. I know a lot of our guys are
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  Speaker 2: really fired up. And yeah, so we'll.
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  Speaker 1: Just see how it goes.
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  Speaker 2: But we're just doing a walk through and he's spitting
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: out calls and.
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  Speaker 1: We'll see how it shakes out. But excited to see
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  Speaker 1: him practice today overlap with what he was doing with
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: and yeah.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: I think so, I think so, yeah, you're looking at
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: similar thing with EJ last year, And I mean he's
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  Speaker 2: been you know, been doing a while at a high level,
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  Speaker 2: so it's we're not doing thing he's never heard of,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: you know, because he's played so recently the past couple
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  Speaker 2: of weeks.
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  Speaker 3: Does that make it less of a ramp up period
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  Speaker 3: for him?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I kind of put it in the bucket like
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  Speaker 2: that he has been playing, you know, if we were
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  Speaker 2: just to acquire him in a different, you know, different fashion,
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  Speaker 2: that's how That's how I'm looking at it.
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  Speaker 4: So how's Julian Love and.
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  Speaker 1: Kyle kind of doing that? Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: So Ties, you know, we're day by day with Tie.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Not gonna practice today, We'll see, We'll see tomorrow. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: Julian's still in the same process we're talking about. So
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  Speaker 2: it's not gonna practice, He's not He's not gonna practice
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  Speaker 2: this week.
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  Speaker 1: He's not gonna play.
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  Speaker 3: So Cam akers bringing him in and with George obviously
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  Speaker 3: going on there.
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  Speaker 2: Uh yeah, Yeah, just a lot of respect for Cam,
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  Speaker 2: have some a lot of relationships with him, you know
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  Speaker 2: from prior stops. System familiar, you know, familiar to ours,
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  Speaker 2: So expect him to step right in and do a
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  Speaker 2: great job.
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  Speaker 3: The same as Julian.
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  Speaker 1: There's not going to practice this week as of now.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, when you first met with Kindrey, what did you
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  Speaker 4: like about how his football, actionen and skill fit in
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  Speaker 4: with your system?
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  Speaker 1: Well, he wasn't in town. We talked on the phone.
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  Speaker 2: The conversation was really just about you know, it's like
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  Speaker 2: it's funny you go back and think about what my
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  Speaker 2: where my mind was, and that in that moment, there's
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  Speaker 2: a lot going on, and uh, I don't think we
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  Speaker 2: had it as dialed in terms of like describing how
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  Speaker 2: we wanted to operate. So it was kind of just
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  Speaker 2: getting to know each other and you know, understand where
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  Speaker 2: he's coming from in his career, where how he wants
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  Speaker 2: to operate, and then you know, the same thing from
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  Speaker 2: my perspective too.
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  Speaker 1: It was a great conversation. I got a lot of
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  Speaker 1: respect for him.
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  Speaker 3: Riley Mills getting his practicemen to open.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. Told the
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  Speaker 1: team this morning too, and they were fired up.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, Riley's been working extremely hard, you know, and
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  Speaker 2: he's he's been locked in, and I know he's been
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  Speaker 2: anticipating this moment for a long time and just gotta
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: go out there and just play the game that you've
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: been playing your whole life. It's been been a minute
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  Speaker 2: since he's played, so but it would be great to
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  Speaker 2: see him out there and in uniform with a helmet on,
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  Speaker 2: and everything will be really cool with Julian.
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  Speaker 3: You know, do you have an idea like is he
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  Speaker 3: gonna be back this year? Is there concern that he
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  Speaker 3: might not be back?
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  Speaker 2: I expected to be back this year and we're really
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  Speaker 2: really hoping for next week is what That's what we're
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  Speaker 2: shooting for.
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  Speaker 1: But I've been wrong before the Anthony Bell had to.
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  Speaker 4: Jump into that spot when time went down the other
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  Speaker 4: How do you feel he's done the bolt in the
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  Speaker 4: game Sunday and throughout the year for you?
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  Speaker 2: Kind of yeah, I mean it's it's another It's like
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  Speaker 2: fel like we have these conversations every week with guys
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  Speaker 2: that get opportunities and uh, you know, when we had
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  Speaker 2: an opportunity to get d Bell in the building, you know,
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  Speaker 2: Jeff Howard had a lot of you know, had history
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  Speaker 2: with him and we knew what type of player was
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  Speaker 2: on special teams and get this. You know, he's a
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  Speaker 2: physical player out on defense as well. I think he's
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  Speaker 2: shown those things working to be, you know, as decisive
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  Speaker 2: as those guys. And he did a great job of
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  Speaker 2: coming in and operating without a lot of reps, which
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: is not that easy thing to do from what we
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  Speaker 2: ask our safeties to do.
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  Speaker 1: So that was really.
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  Speaker 3: Cool putting Sequille on the fifty three and waiting Darien Kendrick.
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  Speaker 1: I guess what kind of way to do that putting Sequillet. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: we hope you get DK back.
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  Speaker 2: Just you know, Shack's been doing a great job, and uh,
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  Speaker 2: I felt like that was the right move, and it wasn't.
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  Speaker 2: It wasn't just like a one for one, like just
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  Speaker 2: subbing out DK for Shack. And there's some other things
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  Speaker 2: going on roster wise, too, is what helped drive that decision.
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  Speaker 4: Getting Patrika O'Connell's up to the fifty three. I know
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  Speaker 4: he's the guy he praised after the games, but what
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  Speaker 4: has he done, you know, over the course of the
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  Speaker 4: time you've been here, to kind of build himself up
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  Speaker 4: to where he is now?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I describe him as steadfast. I mean he gets
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  Speaker 2: here at I see his car more often than not
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  Speaker 2: when I'm getting here, so that's you know, six am
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  Speaker 2: or whatever. He's just here every day working on his body, preparing.
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  Speaker 2: Then he's a guy it's always been available, and he
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  Speaker 2: takes a ton of rep he played. He practices a
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  Speaker 2: hundred one hundred miles an hour all the time. And
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  Speaker 2: it's not like he's been you know, nobody's perfect in
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  Speaker 2: those moments, but as a coach, you respect the the
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  Speaker 2: effort and the competitor and the guy that just keep
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  Speaker 2: coming back after he's gotten some situations where he's gotten
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  Speaker 2: not really the best news that reflects like the effort.
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  Speaker 1: That he's put for, which is a tough situation.
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  Speaker 2: When you play well enough to be on an NFL
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  Speaker 2: team and you don't make the team, that's a hard
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  Speaker 2: thing to do, you know, and so it speaks a
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  Speaker 2: lot for him to just come back, go back and
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  Speaker 2: just keep attacking it like he did. And so that's
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  Speaker 2: why that's why you're so happy for hims, because you know,
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  Speaker 2: Cody White's another example of that of guys that just
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  Speaker 2: have stuck to it and had a great attitude. And
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  Speaker 2: that's that goes a long way with our team, you know,
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  Speaker 2: because the guys realized too. They see them making plays
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  Speaker 2: all the time, and they realize that they're really good players,
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  Speaker 2: and then they see how they handle you know, those
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  Speaker 2: types of situations, which is you know, you can't help
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  Speaker 2: but respect those guys for that.
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  Speaker 4: Well, if he and Drake got a ton of reps
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  Speaker 4: in camp when guys were hurt.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a way point team.
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  Speaker 4: Obviously, those reps are big for them to develop, But
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  Speaker 4: did what did that do for the coaching staff maybe
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  Speaker 4: to see them in that role and kind of how
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  Speaker 4: they handle it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great point. I mean, again, you know
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  Speaker 2: we're gonna we're gonna get a lot of place. It's
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  Speaker 2: just sometimes there are different speeds and different tempos. But
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  Speaker 2: we want to give guys opportunities, especially guys down the
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  Speaker 2: line on the.
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  Speaker 1: Roster, to develop and get better.
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  Speaker 2: And when you do have guys that aren't available that
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  Speaker 2: are your first and second stringers, that's great opportunities for
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  Speaker 2: those guys. And so to your point, I think I'll
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  Speaker 2: seeing them do it for that amount of time probably
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  Speaker 2: gave them you know what we've been seeing since then,
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  Speaker 2: but it's a little bit more competitive in camp. So
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  Speaker 2: to see them in those situations is, you know, gives
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  Speaker 2: us confidence as well.
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  Speaker 3: Offenses have the lowest percentage of run plays in the
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  Speaker 3: NFL against the Vikings defense, But the Vikings have been
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  Speaker 3: giving up a ton of rushing yards. What do they
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  Speaker 3: do to discourage teams from from running the ball against them?
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  Speaker 1: That's a good question.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, they give you a lot of look they
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  Speaker 2: play different different personnel packages. Guys aren't always in the
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  Speaker 2: same spots. You know, they like to pressure certain you know,
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  Speaker 2: formations and things like that. So it probably adds some
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  Speaker 2: doubt to some game plans where you might not be
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  Speaker 2: getting some looks that you expect, so that might deter
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  Speaker 2: you from things, or you know, if they're gonna be
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  Speaker 2: so positive towards the run, that teams might feel like
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  Speaker 2: they're more opportunities, similar to like the third down question
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  Speaker 2: you asked last week, same idea. If they're going to
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  Speaker 2: commit to their run, it might teams might feel like
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  Speaker 2: they have more pass opportunities. I've got a number of
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  Speaker 2: guys with tackles for loss, I think third most in
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  Speaker 2: the NFL.
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  Speaker 3: Maybe it's the most in the NFL.
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  Speaker 4: That would lead you to believe it's an aggressive defense,
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  Speaker 4: But what else is it about being able to make
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  Speaker 4: those plays?
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  Speaker 1: Well?
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  Speaker 2: Our front is just playing at an incredibly high level,
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  Speaker 2: and so it starts with them and how they play.
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  Speaker 2: You know, if you're gonna play in shell defense all
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  Speaker 2: the time, you're just you're short on gaps. So guys
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  Speaker 2: have to account for multiple gaps on certain plays. So one,
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  Speaker 2: it takes a lot of chemistry and reps, so you understand,
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  Speaker 2: you know how we're going to play certain plays, but
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  Speaker 2: also our guys upfront have to be disruptive and they
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  Speaker 2: have to do it in a team fashion. You know.
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  Speaker 1: It's easy to just rip up the field and say you.
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  Speaker 2: Were aggressive, but it's another thing saying, well, okay, I
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  Speaker 2: could I can anticipate that I'm going to get a
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  Speaker 2: certain block based off a certain blocking service, and then
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  Speaker 2: I can take a little bit more of a calculated
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  Speaker 2: chance to be disruptive.
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  Speaker 1: You know, we prefer the latter in that situation.
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  Speaker 3: Do you Ernist Jones? Will he be able to practice.
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  Speaker 2: This week or do you know what they're Yeah, Hejay's
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  Speaker 2: printed a on his like normal workload, but it's still
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  Speaker 2: gonna be our ramp.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I don't think we're out of the woods yet.
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  Speaker 2: I think he's got to go test it out and
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  Speaker 2: see how it feels in full speed for us to
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  Speaker 2: start making some decisions.
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  Speaker 3: Brian floor Is blitz is like at almost a sixty
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  Speaker 3: percent rate the last few weeks. You tend to blitz
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  Speaker 3: less often. You know, what is it about Brian Flores's
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  Speaker 3: defense that allows him to take these risks and not
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  Speaker 3: necessarily give up a lot of explosives.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Well, methods and principles, right, So it's you know, I
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  Speaker 2: think they similar.
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  Speaker 1: Like Todd Bowles's defense.
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  Speaker 2: Is like they play they play aggressive, they play physical,
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  Speaker 2: they play smart. He calls an aggressive game. So that
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: like the principles are I like to think that we
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: call an aggressive game. We're just not necessarily sending bodies
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  Speaker 2: at the problem. You know. So the principles are there,
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  Speaker 2: but how they want to get it done a little different.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: They do a good job of like one, they do
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  Speaker 2: a good job of tackling in space, so that that's
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  Speaker 2: going to go a long way. They're not necessarily selling
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  Speaker 2: the farm on every pressure. So there's normally some sort
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  Speaker 2: of roof on what they're doing.
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  Speaker 1: And it's calculated.
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  Speaker 2: I mean they're they're running the premier looks and they're
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: on they're in good calls. It means it's structured the
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: right way and designed well. And uh, the players are
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  Speaker 2: really smart where they can get them out, get in
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: and out of certain plays, I'm assuming is what's going on.
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  Speaker 1: So it's a it's a a high level operation. They
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: got going aggressive game without blitzing, well, I think I
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: think you can.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: It's like you're attacking, like what you feel like they're
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: trying to do, you know, so how you like allocate
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: people and where you put everybody and things like that.
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: You're gonna be digging into some centennial tape for Max Bograph.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny. Small world, huh, kind of crazy. It's
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: weird that it's weird that you went to the same school,
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: but like the separations, Like I feel like I'm young.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: I feel like I'm like twenty five years old, and
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: now here he comes. I don't know what year he graduated.
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  Speaker 1: But kind of cool.
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: I mean if he does go, there's so little tape,
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: NFL tape on him, Like what do you just have
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: a like preseason or more.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: Just what they're Yeah, I think it's we got a
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: question like this a while ago when I forget who
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: were playing. But when they're like little tape, you know what,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: it was a new coordinator, you know, so what do
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: you do? See wanted to understand try to how they operate,
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: you know, and like and JJ still.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Might play, so we have to be ready for him
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: as well.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: But you're gonna watch preseason tape, you know, watch some
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: of their college stuff, you know, talk to our scouts
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: things like that, guys that have watch him coming out
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: and you know, and I'll followed his path, but do
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: the best you can really with what the tape.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: You have out of him, what's out there.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: But he played pretty extensively in the preseason, so that's
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: pretty good tape to watch.
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: Mike, and you played these guys last year.
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: Sam was obviously the quarterback on them on the other side.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: What do you think back to it? What stood out
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: about him that day? Kind of going against him and seeing.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Him coming back down four and freaking ripping a nine
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: ball and to double to justin the last guy in
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: his progression, that's what I remember. How many touchdowns he throw?
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know you knew, Mike.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: Why did Why did those two games that ended sam
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: season the wild card in the regular seasons finale?
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Why was that not a de term for you?
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: I guess what else did you see from his sample
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: last year make your confidence bringing him in?
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a little like narrow mind, you're
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: just gonna go off a two game sample.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: You know, it's like it's a shot on our.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Guy, sulk, but it's like, you know, getting rid of
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: a guy after the first ota, like it's to be
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: the full, full experience. But you know, when we did
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: our when we're looking into possibly, you know, trying to
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: get Sam. I mean, to a person, the type of
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: player and teammate he was on a on a daily
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: basis was like really cool. And uh and then and
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: then Clint havn't worked with him for a full year
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: and understand what type of practice player he was and
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: the things that he could do, like ability wise, went
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: a long way. And then you watch, you know, you
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: watch the totality of the tape, there's a lot of
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: great things going on, like in the red zone on
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: third down two minute, on the move. You know, we
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: know he's a great thrower on the move, So I mean,
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: all those things shine through.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: Did you guys take Kevin O'Connell about him, and it
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: seems like, I mean, they were obviously committed to JJ.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Did you talk.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: You know, Kevin and I have had conversations over the
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: last year or so, just catching up at like owners
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: meetings and stuff, and he's a great guy and he
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: loves Sam obviously and spoke really highly of him.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: So yeah, you've been saying.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Byron Murphy's been playing this way since you got here,
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: What is the difference with sec numbers.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Well, I do think he's playing I do think his
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: game has stepped up a notch. Yeah, I think it's
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: just coming with more reps and experience in him realizing
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: that he can make certain plays. I think he's moving
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: a little bit more decisively and in the pass rush game.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: I think it's just a function of snaps and and
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: that continual improvement.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: There are two lines of thought with how good JSN
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: has been playing. One as you'd be crazy to not
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: keep targeting him as well as been playing. The other
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: would be you know, maybe you want to start getting
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: other players involved to help add variety. Kind of curious
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: where you fall on that spectrum.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Both, Yeah, both.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: I mean we got we got a lot of great
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: skill players on our on our offense that do a
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: lot of great things that we can continue to find
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: ways to get them the ball.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: And and.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: How do you not how would you not want to
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: target Jacks as much as you possibly can as well?
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: So it's you know, it's not it's really not that
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: simple of a thing for Clint, you know, to do that.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: But I thought we've done a great job balance up
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: to this point. We've gotta gotta continue to do that.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Ok thank thank you, Okay, thank you,