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Leonard Williams: "We Have A Special Thing On This Team" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: What's up? Good defensive society efficts with quand right, Oh yeah,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: it's it's nice to see Quandra back. I mean, he's
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: a great leader. You know, he's been in this part
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of this organization for a long time. So everybody welcoming
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: back with open arms.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: You see a defense like the Vikings that blitz is
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: like crazy, and you guys don't send extras you know
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: it is it fun.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: To play a defense that that blitzes that often or
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: do you care one way or another? I mean, it's
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: definitely fun to blitz, but as a defensive lineman, we
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: prefer to not blitz because, like if we could rush
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: for four and get to the quarterback, that means the
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: sack is going to one of us in the defensive
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: line room, and you know, we all talk about, you know,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: you know how we would be happy if anyone got
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: the sack on third down to get out the field.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: But as a competitive defense, our defensive line wants to
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: get every sack, so sometimes we prefer to not send pressure.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: You've got to at least was.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: It seventeen guys with a half sack this year?
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Just like an incredible Have you ever been on the
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: team where it has been so distributed in that category.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure. I don't think I've pay attention to
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: it as much when I was younger, but it's definitely
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: a unique thing here. You know, at one point, the
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: defensive coordinator, I think ad asked the guys to raise
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: their hand if they got at least a half a
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  Speaker 1: sack in the room, and you just seem like the
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: way we're distributed in our defensive meeting, and it's like
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: the secondary system the front and then the linebackers and
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: then the D line, and you know, you see guys
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: from every level raising their hand and I think that's
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: pretty rare. What does it say about.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: The guys like a Derrek Hall who gets his first
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: sack last week even though he's been a on the
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: quarterback a lot, because I could breathe jealousy or it
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: could breed competition and.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: CAMPI yeah, I mean, I think that's what's so special
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  Speaker 1: here is you don't see as much jealousy. You see
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: a lot of camaraderie, a lot of competition. But at
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the same time time, like even for a guy like
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Derek Hall who just got his first sack, whenever he's
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: seen one of his peers or teammates get a sack
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  Speaker 1: leading up to his you know, he's the first one
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  Speaker 1: in there celebrating with them. And like I just said,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: it's regardless of who gets the sack on third down.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: I think overall, we're excited to have a good defense.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: We're excited to get out the field and clutch situation.
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  Speaker 1: So you know, even if it's Spoon getting the sack
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  Speaker 1: on a blitz, although I want to get that sack,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I'm still gonna be happy that he got it. He's
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a part of our defense and we all root for
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: each other.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: What was the bigger picture message from and Dirty when
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: he asked you that, Like, what point was he making?
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: When I think that was the point is that, you know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: we were talking about our pressure rate, and his point
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: was that, you know, it's not just the D line.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: It takes rush and coverage a lot of times, Like
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: sometimes he was showing our pressure on quarterbacks and you
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: know it took the quarterback to go through his second progression.
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  Speaker 1: So you know there's sometimes where we're getting pressure because
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: the secondary is doing their jobs by you know, making
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: the quarterback hold the hold the ball. And we were
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: just talking about how it just all ties together and
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: you know how we send pressure, we send blitzes, and uh,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: we're pretty much like trying to teach and you know,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: let some of the guys in other rooms that are
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: not in the defensive line that they have to learn
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: how to rush the quarterback as well. How were you
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: guys with the end of that game in Tennessee and
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: the fourth down conversions of long drives and Tennessee got on.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think it was definitely a learning moment
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  Speaker 1: from last week, which was you know, in this league,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: a lot of times you have those moments and you
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: lose the game. So overall, I think we're we're happy
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: that we won the game, but there there was a
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: lot of takeaways that we could learn from, you know,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: specifically with getting off the ball, getting off the field
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: on those fourth downs, and just doing a better job tackling.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Around a lot and it was just kind of hard
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  Speaker 2: to get to him, or there's some other things you
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: could have done there.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think there was definitely some things we
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: could have done there. But you know, at the same time,
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  Speaker 1: we got to give them credit, you know, I think
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: you know, he made some pretty impressive throws. I remember
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: hitting them out of bounds all the way to our
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  Speaker 1: left and he threw the ball completely across the field
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: and just made a good play. You know, sometimes in
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: football that's just gonna happen. I think you know where
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: our defense does good is we swam to the ball
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: regardless of the situation, and a lot of times we
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: stop those situations. You know, when when the quarterbacks making
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: a great play like that, we still get off the field.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: And you know that's overall what stood out to me
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: is that we kept fighting the best and you're the
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: best first half scoring differential jumping out. How is that
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  Speaker 1: alone helping defense? I mean it helps a lot because one,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: our offensive staying on the field and sustaining drives long
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: enough for our defense to recover from the last series,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, we're getting our wind and our legs back,
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  Speaker 1: so by the time we go back out there, we're
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: ready to go. And then also, when you get a
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  Speaker 1: jump on a team, they pretty much have to score,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: and a lot of times they abandoned the run pretty
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  Speaker 1: early and they had to pass the ball, which you know,
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  Speaker 1: as a as a defensive line and as a defense
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  Speaker 1: that wants to get pressure on the quarterback, that's going
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  Speaker 1: to be in our favor. Sure, I don't know. They
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: just end up in my locker and I love him drink. Yeah. Sorry.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: During camp when when Ernest was still coming back and
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  Speaker 2: then Tyer Sate was gone for a while, we saw
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: have to go conin Drake. Drake get a lot of
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: first team reps. What kind of confidence did that give
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: you guys a defense? Seeing them in that role and
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: doing it.
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  Speaker 1: For that really much? I mean I think, uh, you know,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Pat and Drake just from a work ethics standpoint, gives
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: us confidence in them before we even seen them take
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: reps with the ones. I think, you know, Patrick is
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: one of those guys where I've seen he's one of
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: the first guys in the last guys out, and uh,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: you know, I've had conversations with him and he told
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: me he learned a lot from Bobby Wagner when he
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: was here, and you know, his work ethic and how
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: he showed up every day. And I see those same
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: patterns and Patrick, and you know, to me, it's like
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: that alone gives me the confidence in him when he's
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: out there on the field with us.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: How about how physical he played that game.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, he played great. He was coming downhills hitting
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: his holes, and you know a lot of times they
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: tell defensive linemans like hold the old lineman off of
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: the our linebackers. And you know, sometimes like I just said,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: you know us wanting to be selfish and get to
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: the quarterback. It's the same way in the run game.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: It's like sometimes I want to shed the block so
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: I can make the play. But when you have a
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: linebacker coming downhill and hitting it like that, it's like,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: I'll hold this offensive lineman off your view all day.
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  Speaker 1: Going back to that.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Point about Derek Hall and kind of selflessness front boyer,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: same thing.
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  Speaker 1: You know, only got one second.
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  Speaker 2: He's in a contract year, as you know, sacks get
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: guys paid. What does that say about his.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Kind of selflessness that he's accepting his role despite.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Being last year his deal.
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  Speaker 1: It says a lot. I mean, I think for all
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  Speaker 1: of us, we're allowed to succeed and do well when
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: we fully just accept our role. I think when you're
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: trying to fight your role and you know, fight the system,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and it just makes the situation worse in my opinion.
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  Speaker 1: You know, he knows his role. He knows when he's
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: out there on the field, and he has to maximize
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: his opportunities and his snap count and all those things.
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  Speaker 1: So if you're not fully locked in and prepared and
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  Speaker 1: ready for the moment, and you're too worried about, you know,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: things you can't control, like outside of your role, then
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  Speaker 1: that's going to affect your places when you're out there
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  Speaker 1: on the field. So I think you know that's a
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  Speaker 1: special thing on this team right now, on this defense,
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  Speaker 1: especially that you know guys are knowing their roles, they
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: know when to take their opportunities and know when to
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: take their shots. I mean, it's it's certainly a team
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: that worked right. But how much of.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: This is you talking about your past experience and being
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  Speaker 2: the leader in the room that says this is how
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  Speaker 2: we are going to play.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think that is a big part of it.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: I think I do play a big role in the
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  Speaker 1: leadership in our defensive line, and luckily I don't have
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  Speaker 1: to do it alone. We have guys like Jerry, DeMarcus Lawrence,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: you know, other good vets in our room. And that's
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: something that you know we've been talking a lot about,
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  Speaker 1: is just making sure that we stay the course and
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: just reminding the young guys that it's not easy to
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: be in the position that we're in right now as
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: a team. On the unselfishness, how important was it for
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: players to buy in early in OTA's training camps just
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: didn't happen. Now, Yeah, how important was that?
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  Speaker 2: Uh?
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  Speaker 1: I think that was you know, that's a good point.
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  Speaker 1: I think it was really important to you know, take
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: it by the horns early on, because now by this
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: time in the season, there's a lot of teams that
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: have players that are down from injury. There's a lot
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: of players battling through you know, small injuries to stay
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: on the field. There's a lot of you know, things
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  Speaker 1: that could be going against teams, and like, this is
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: a time where we rely on our basics, rely on
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: our culture, rely on our identity as a team. And
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: I think that identity was created way back in O.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: T A's in camp. So if we didn't have that
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: strong base found and strong foundation, you know, it would
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: be really hard at this time of year. Thank you,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Thank you. M