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Jaxon Smith-Njigba On The Keys To Winning Sunday: "We Just Have To Play Our Game" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I mean one of every three.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would just say I give credit to you know,
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: a lot of work and Sam. He's a gun slinger,
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: he's a ball player, and I give a lot of
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: credit to Sam. You know, he's making big plays out there,
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: not forcing anything.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: And when I'm open, you know, we connect. Christin Gonzales,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Cartoon Davies, patrons, corners. Are they going to be the toughest.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: They're gonna be a tough matchup for sure. I mean,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: you know, credit to those guys. You know, you have
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: to be elite, you know, to get here, and they've
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: done a great job all year. So it's gonna be
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: a tough matchup. Okay, shout out Mexico. I love the
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: support and yeah, much love, thank you. I think they
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: just have a great collective, you know. I think they
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: just play with a lot of energy, run to the ball,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: you know, know their scheme and know their game plan.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah me, I'm really locked in, honestly, you know, staying
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: locked in. I'm just I'm just locked in honestly. You know,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: it's been fun. I think everything's cool and and it's
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: it's fun to go through this week with your guys.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: But you know, we're we want. We came here to
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: win a game. Yeah, yeah, No, it's awesome.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: You know, that's what football is about.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: And our defense been playing great all year and giving
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: us chances, giving us the ball back. So you know,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: it feels good going into the game where you have
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: complete confidence in your whole team to get the job done,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: especially in your defense. She's I think the blue, I
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: think the blue looks nice. Can't go wrong with either though, yep, now.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: Without him this year and have more, you know, a
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: bigger in the wide receiver.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: I mean you can say that definitely, but you know,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: playing football and playing with two elite receivers, you know,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: like we have now Cooper Cupping or she You know,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: I think it's more about you know, scheme and getting
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: both guys open, all your guys open. I don't think
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: it has anything to do with one or the other.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Sam, Sam, what's the difference adjustice you have to make?
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Sam? Is there anything your game.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Quarterback?
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: No?
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: No, I just I just had to be me and
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: really just understand, you know, what Sam likes, and you know,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: what's he what's he about, what's his thought process and
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: stuff like that. So as far as myself, you know,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: I kind of stay the same, stay in my lane
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: and just lock in and catch every ball that's thrown
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: to me. It's super fired up, you know.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: His former teammate Chris Olave called me and gave me
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: the news, and I was super excited knowing you know
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: what type of player he is, very explosive player, something
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: that you know we could use obviously in this offense.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: And you know, ever since he stepped in, it's just
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: been the trajectory of our team just been going up.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: And you know, he's a winner, he's awesome, and he
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: puts his team, he takes his team to another level.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Oh man, it was amazing. Yeah.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: You know, you want to start fast, and you know
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: you want to score. You know, you know you want
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: to score. And it's always cool to sit on the
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: bench and watch the team score, whether that's defense or
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: special teams. So that's always cool. I oh, yes, sir, Yeah, definitely.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: I mean you could see all around the league. We
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: got a lot of guys in the league, and you know,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: you got a lot when you come in as a
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: young guy, you got a lot to look up to.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: You got a lot of great leaders in that building
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: that you know have been at each level. So it's
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: really just easy if you work hard with your head down,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: you know, and you get on the field, you know,
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: you have the opportunity to play in the NFL. So
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: I just give credit to the development and you know
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: everyone in that building really okay, yeah kJ Yeah, uh huh,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: shout out kJ Man. I remember, you know, watching him,
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: you know, as a recruit, and you know, I know
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: how special he is too, Ohio State buck guys in
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: you know, to the players and guys at the Woodies,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: so you know, you know, shout out him for sure.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: It kind of clicked pretty fast, you know, you know,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: just going out there catching the rock conversations. You know,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: he's a real, you know, great, great guy, so it
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: was easy to just open up and you know, have
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: that clear commun munication on how we see ourselves and
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: then after that put in the work and you know
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: it's been great so far. I don't know, you know,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: I'm sure they'll make the right adjustments. M hm yes, yeah,
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: term technique mm hmm, yeah, yeah, I think you know,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: that's something I didn't really think about. But when you
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: put in words, it makes you know, complete sense. You know,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: you could give you know, you can give credit to
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: a lot of things. You know, my body type, you
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: know how I run. You know, it could go a
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: lot of different ways. But you know, I think for me,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: just trying to make everything look the same is very important,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: you know when selling routes and getting open and so
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: you know me digging and running, you know, is an
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: advantage for me. Yeah, I was, I would say high school.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: You know, high school, I started trying to make things
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: look the same until they weren't. And you know, just
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: playing that little chess game with the defenders. Like I said,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: just trying to make routes look the same and kind
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: of correlate, you know, the run in the past game,
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: and you know, just try to make it as difficult
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: as I can.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: On DB's a lot of what Oh, no, I'm I've
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: been chilling.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: I've been in my room chilling, you know, hanging with
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: the guys in the mill room, really just laying low.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: What's the biggest challenge for you really? I mean, we
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: just have to play our game, honestly. You know, they.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: They are a great defense. I've been playing great all year.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Credit to them, you know, but we just have to
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: go in and do what we do. You know, run
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: the ball, pass the ball, catch the ball, score the ball.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: What do you think the.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Difficult I would say, like decision making, decision making, and
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: not only decision making, but making the right decision to
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: be on the same pa with your quarterback. You know
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: what I'm saying, you know, like, yeah, yeah, I mean
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: those are pretty easy. I mean when you learn the defense,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: I think you gotta grow and learn the defense and
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: the schemes of the defense on how they want to
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: stop you. So yeah, like that that took some time
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: and you know, some reps you know, to get it right.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I would say that I want oh yeah,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: I mean it's been great.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: I think he's given me an opportunity to run a
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: whole different bunch of routes and I think that's been
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: great for my arsenal. And yeah, I mean just giving
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: that opportunity, I'm just trying to make the most of it,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: and it's been great. So I'm a creative person on
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: the field. So you know, I've been loving this year. Honestly,
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: I would say just summer, I would say, going to
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Green Bay before the season, you know, the the combined
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: practice you know with the Green Bay Packers really just
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: seeing a different opponent for the first time and seeing
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: where you're at, you know, really as an offense in
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: the defense, as a team really you know, for the
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: first time against you know, another competitor, another team.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: It was a good trip. I think it brought us together.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: We did some fun activities off the field and you
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: know we were fighting klawn scratching with each other against
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: those guys.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: So I think, you know, that trip definitely brought us together.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Yeah.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: I would definitely say say the same thing. I mean,
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: just every day consistency. You know, that's something we preached
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: and something that our best players do, and you know
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: a lot of us are going to fall in line
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: and do the same thing. You know, It's kind of
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: become our our motto for you. Oh yeah, Colin Kaepernick,
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: I mean a legend. You know, definitely respect him and
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: all the things you know he was able to do
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: on the field and fight for off the field, and
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: you know, have a lot of respect for.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Him, and and.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: You know, it's it takes a lot, you know, to
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: stand up for what you believe in. So you know,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: as long as it's not causing like danger and harm
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: and stuff like that, you know I can.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: I can go for it. Would you describe yourself.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: How would you describe yourself how you're trying to go
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: down exacting?
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: I would just say, you know, I could get it
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: done from you know, whatever the coach really asked me
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: to do. I just try to get it done to
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: the best of my ability. And I feel like I'm
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: the best man for the job. So if that's being
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: your man, you know, I feel I can do that.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: But that's zone coverage, I feel like I can do it,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: you know, whatever the coach asked for me, I try to,
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: you know, get it done and and I make sure
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: I get it done at some time.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: M hm. Yeah. I definitely was one of those guys.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: I mean he's gotten me better throughout this offseason and
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: during the season. He's just a tough competitor. I think
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: his fundamentals are there. I think he's a very sound player.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: He's a very strong player, impressed and very patient. So
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: that's very challenging, you know, it could be very challenging
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: for receivers especially, you know, his press man is very good,
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: and you know he's a ball player. So yeah, just
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: going back and forth with him, you know, and practice
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: and stuff like that. You know, definitely, you know, yeah
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: he could play.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Who is he playing with? You know? Oh you was.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Okay, I don't remember the Eagles, but I do remember.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: I do remember seeing them in the National Championship game
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: and I was like, gosh, this guy is buff. Who's
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: this buff guy at corner lifting all these weights? And
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: you know, he's had a great college career and having
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: a great NFL career.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: So super proud of Bro.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: Your defensive practice every day makes your offense way better.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Can you talk.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: About what it's like to go up against school bowling
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: and what you sort of learned from them and how
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: they helped improve.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: I give a lot of credit to those guys. Those
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: are this defense is the toughest defense we've seen all year,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: and you know, just being able to compete with them
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: every single day in the offseason and.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: And practice has just leveled up our offense.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: And you know, that's why they're the best in the
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: world though, and you know we're we know we're not
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: going to see a tougher challenge in them, So it's
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: just been great to compete and get better with those guys.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: What are your impressions stands up you need to get a.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: Sense as opposed to Oh yeah, most definitely. You know,
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: he's a smart player. He's a smart player, you know
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: for me, he can do he can do all the
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: things you know that you want, you know, in the
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: cornerback and he's been playing at an elite level all year,
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: so it's gonna be a great matchup.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: And it was the second Oh yeah, yeah, oh definitely.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a chess match out there, it's a boxing
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: match out there, so you know, you know, just filling
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: it out and you know, seeing what's happening and then
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: you know, you bring your counters with that.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Games or you kind of hen.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: You want to make figure out.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: How Oh yeah, I mean I play offense, he's played defense.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: You know, he has to cover.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Me and then you know we'll go from there. Yeah.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I think just competing, you know, every day.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: I don't think it takes a lot for that to
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: come out and for him to show that, you know,
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: And I feel like that's what winners.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Winners do.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: They bring it every single day, no matter you know,
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: who it is, if it's our defense, if it's green,
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: if it's whoever. You know, just hav't controlled the huddle
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: standing firm in the pocket doing this thing, you know,
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: and uh, just leading us out there. Oh yeah, I
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: think that's just I think the whole team has just
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: kind of taken that, especially the offense for sure, just
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: taking that mentality and you know, we're gonna we're gonna
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: play play by play. You know, we're not gonna get
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: too high, too low. We're just gonna keep the engine
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: rolling and you know, keep going until you know we win.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: They know a little bit of something.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: The best, Uh, you know, we gotta line it up
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: and roll the ball out there. I'm definitely one of
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: the best, if not the best. But you know, Sam
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: Donald can hoop. Sam Donald can hoop. He got a
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: good shot. Drew lock and hoop a couple of our
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: tight ends. We got a couple of ball players. But
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: first to eleven. I mean, if we're playing this week,
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: I might let him win so I can get the
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: ball a little bit. But all season, you know, I might,
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: you know, I gotta, I might take him to the
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: whole for real.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I heard that he's a good hooper. Yeah
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: he's a good hooper as well. Yeah, yeah, he can hoop.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: He can hoop. A lot of.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: Football guys don't get up a lot of credit, you
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: know for hooping, but you know we got some hoopers
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: in the league. Yeah, I mean when Cooper couple lines,
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: you got to count for him. And when I line
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: when I line up, you gotta count for me. So
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: you know, just playing that two on two game or
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: two on three game, you know it just we draw
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: eyes and uh you know when he's pulling the defense
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: and you know, it springs me open and likewise. So yeah,
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: just Coach Clint putting us in a great position to
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: play that too on two matchup.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: For me, it doesn't matter. But you know, I do
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: like lining up next to Coop. I do like lining
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: up really just process over results. Is there anything specific?
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Let's anything?
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's just meaning for the first time
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: him and la Rams just you know, chopping it up
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: with me talking about ball. I think, uh, it just
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: really started from there. Just mutual respect and uh, I
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: definitely looked up to him and respect him and his
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: game and what he's able to been able to do
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: in his career, you know, has been awesome. So for me,
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: you know, you don't have to say too much. I
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: ask a lot of questions, but you don't have to
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: say too much. You just gotta sit back and watch
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: watch them work. Oh yeah, man, let's go want to
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: know this week, you know, let's make sure, like I said,
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: process over results. Let's make sure we're ready, we're prepared,
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: and our process is right for us to go out
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: there on Sunday and let it loose.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: Look at the depth that you guys have a what
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: you see in the past week in terms of they
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: mixed up and attack that.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they've been doing incredible job mixing up looks and
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: really causing the offense some trouble. But like I said,
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: we just got to stick to our game and we
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: got to make sure we're heating on all cylinders and
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: that we know we know exactly what we're doing.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Our process is good, are you know? We just gotta
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: make sure we're ready just achieved, right mm hmmm mm hmm. Yeah.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: I think really just really just playing the game honestly,
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: because you know you're gonna get different looks. It's gonna
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: be second and two, third and two. You know, Uh,
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: the game's gotta be played. And you know with that
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: the routes you know that I ran before, the routes
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: that I know are coming up, you know, just it's
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: really like in game adjustments. At that point, it's gonna
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: be in the game, you know, I don't know, you know.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: I For me, it's I don't really focus on that.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: I just focus on being there for my team and
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: going out there and doing all I can. And usually,
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: you know, stuff like that either happens or it doesn't.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: But that doesn't really motivate me too much. For yourself,
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: it's very high. It's very high. It's very high. We're
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: ready to go. You know, it's only what Wednesday, but
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: you know, so we're just we're taking it easy, we're preparing.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: We're gonna make sure this winds. We win today, we
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: win tomorrow. But you know, I could see it in
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: our guys eyes. We're ready to rock a lot of people.
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: Nah.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: Nah, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. You know, anything
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: can happen, you know, on any given day. So, like
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: I said, we just got to make sure we're locked
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: in and we're playing play by play as hard as possible.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Yes, sir, thank you,