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Sam Darnold: "We'll Continue To Grow As An Offense" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, obviously, you know, got Tampa Bay coming in here. Uh,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: we're really looking forward to this opportunity. Another really good defense,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: really good scheme. Obviously they got great players over there
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: as well, So really looking forward to it.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Baker talked about you this week, being pretty close to
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: you guys, go back to the draft and then your teammates.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Just kind of what's that relationships been like going back.
• 0:23
  Speaker 4: To the draft.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, going back to the draft, and really
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I think that that year in Carolina that we spent together,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: you know, that was a you know, especially year just
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: being able to spend it with with Bake and you know,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: that entire quarterback room that we had, you know, it
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: was Uh it was fun to be able to get
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: to know him and Emily and and uh, you know,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: his entire family.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: What's the quality that he has that you admire most?
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: You know, I think his resilience, I think is the
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: biggest piece.
• 0:52
  Speaker 5: Obviously he's got.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: You know, all the all the talent in the world,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the intangibles that you need as a quarterback, but he's
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: resilient and he's a good dude.
• 1:01
  Speaker 5: Mentioned resilience.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Both of you guys were kind of similar places in
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: your career. When you were together in Carolina, did you
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: ever have those conversations about kind of the route you've
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: gone that far? Was it just kind of focusing on
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: that year.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we had conversations every now and then about you know,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: the places that we were and you know, things that
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: had happened in similarities between us, for sure.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: Sam, you talked about needing to be your authentic self
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: as a leader with this team. Baker's himself in a
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: completely different way to you with this firing. Is what's
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: that like kind of seeing that up close and kind
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: of seeing that put to put the use of the
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: way he does it.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, Bakes Uh, you know, he's a competitor
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: and like you said, he's he's pretty fiery with it.
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: It's cool to you know, be able to watch some
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: of his tape too, when he runs for a first down,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: you know, getting as excited as he does, gets the
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: crowd into it. You know, it's fun stuff and you know,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: but he's Uh, I've always you know, loved that part
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: of Baker's game, just the way that you know, he
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: plays with so much energy and you can see, you know,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: the passion that he has for the game. By the
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: way that he plays.
• 1:58
  Speaker 6: This tendency to kind of hold grudges against some of
• 2:01
  Speaker 6: the teams that passed up on him or let him go.
• 2:04
  Speaker 6: You don't seem to have those. You seem a little
• 2:06
  Speaker 6: bit more zen. Was it always that way for you
• 2:09
  Speaker 6: or did you learn that along the way?
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: No, you know, that's uh, you know, I feel like
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: that's all interpretation, right, you know, uh Baker, maybe maybe
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: a little bit more outspoken about it. You know, for me,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: it's just you know, at the end of the day,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: like I just I come in here every single day,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: I do my job. You know, whatever I think you
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: know about you know, people or places, you know, that
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: doesn't at the end of the day, it doesn't matter
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: to me. You know, it's just about me going out
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: there and doing my job every single play.
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: How do you master that?
• 2:40
  Speaker 7: Are being decisive in the pocket? If doctor a couple
• 2:43
  Speaker 7: of things some of the offensive players you'll see and
• 2:45
  Speaker 7: that came up, you're goodly decisively in the pocket.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I think at the end of the day,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: it's it's understanding you know, my reads, my progressions, Understanding
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: what the defense is trying to do to us. You
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: know what you know the protection is what the you know,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: flaws are in the protection and just understanding that. And
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I think when you put all that together with the
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: route combinations that we have, it's you know, understanding kind
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: of where you know, where the flaws are, you know,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: in the concept or in the protection itself. And I
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: think once you understand that as a quarterback, you can
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: kind of go from there.
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: You take a look at.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: This Tampa defense, it's kind of tough to tell who's
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: going to be on the field based on injury. So
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: how does that affect preparation and watching film?
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, at the end of the day, their
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: their scheme is what it is. You know, it's a
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: very good scheme.
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I feel like coach Bowles is you know, puts his
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: guys in really advantageous situations a lot of the times,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: you know, whether it's showing one way, bringing it the
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: other way, showing one way and then bringing it from
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: that same you know spot that they're showing it. So
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: they have it all certain ways, and I think, you know,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: we just have to be prepared, you know, for for whatever,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: you know, for whatever happens, whatever looks that we get
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: just understanding kind of what that play that we're running.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: You know, what kind of what we get if if
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: we get a certain pressure one way, what we're throwing
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: and just kind of figuring it out, you know conceptually
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: that way. There's a lot that kind of goes into it.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: But you know, I'm very excited that. That's what makes
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: it so fun to be able to go up against
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: the defense like this is you know, it really is
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: a chess match, and you know, I'm excited to be
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: able to you know, go up against this defense and uh,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: you know all the great players, like I said that
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: they have on that side of the ball.
• 4:26
  Speaker 6: Numbers indicate you're hitting your backside reads a little bit
• 4:28
  Speaker 6: more than in the past, backside digs things like that.
• 4:31
  Speaker 6: Is that something that you worked on this offseason? Is
• 4:33
  Speaker 6: it something that's an emphysis of the offense?
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: How to you explain that? Yeah?
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, first and foremost, it's you know,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: the line, the running backs being able to protect and
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: give me that time to be able to get to
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: those reads. You know, without them, it wouldn't be possible
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: to to get to.
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: You know, three or fourth you know guy in the progression.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: So, uh, you know that's a huge credit to those guys,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: and for me, it's just you know, understanding when it's
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: shut out on the front side and you know, knowing
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: that I have to get backside. So it's a you know,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: it's a combination of kind of coincidence as well. You know,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: sometimes the coverages that they play, you know, the front
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: side isn't as good as the backside, and all of
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: a sudden, the backside becomes the number one read.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: So more going back to you and Baker, you're two
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: of several quarterbacks in the league who you know, maybe
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: went different routes to get to the success you're at now.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Is that kind of a point of pride just maybe
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: does show other young quarterbacks or other teams like, hey,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: just because a guy doesn't do everything in year one
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: or two, they can still be good at the show.
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, there's a ton of great examples
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: of you know, resiliency or grit, you know, throughout the
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: entire league.
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: You know, it's.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: You know, it's it's hard to do what me and
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Baker have done in the league, but I would argue
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: that it's you know just as hard to you know,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: have continued success, just like you know, guys like Josh
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Allen or Patrick Mahomes have had throughout the league. So
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: you know, there's there's so many different ways to cut it in,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: so many examples, especially for for little kids out there
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: that are striving to be you know, professional not only
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: professional football players, but professional athletes. There's so many great
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: examples of resiliency in the league because you know, just
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: because you have a lot of success doesn't make it easy.
• 6:06
  Speaker 8: Jet's third overall pick.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: Did you feel the pressure of franchise quarterback top pick expectations?
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: No, I think I think for me, I really, you know,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: even at a young age, I felt like I had
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: a good mindset of going in attacking every single day
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: as its own and not worrying too much about, you know,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: the outside pressure or you know things that you know,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, I don't really have
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: control over.
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: Four weeks at least, regulations and weeks with Clint couldbiact.
• 6:34
  Speaker 6: What's one thing that's similar to him and Kevin O'Connell
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: and maybe one thing that's different.
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a great question. I think.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: You know, there's some some things schematically and philosophically that
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: you know they would.
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: Agree on and disagree on.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: You know, I think, you know, there's a lot of things,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: a lot of similarities, a lot of differences, But I'm
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: not going to sit up here and and act like
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: I know all of it. But I would just say
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: both of them are really good coaches, and you know,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: they're really good at being able to put their players
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: in a really good position to succeed out there on
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: the field.
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: This could not be.
• 7:09
  Speaker 8: Any more off topics, Sam, But we're doing a story
• 7:11
  Speaker 8: on some quarterbacks. You do or don't wear the play
• 7:14
  Speaker 8: sheets on the wristband. It looks like you've done You've
• 7:18
  Speaker 8: done that for the most part throughout your career.
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: Is that right?
• 7:20
  Speaker 8: You've worn one?
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I've done both. But yeah, for the most part,
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: I've won a wristband.
• 7:23
  Speaker 8: What do you like about it?
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: You know, I think that you know, for me, it's
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: it's really just getting the play in, you know.
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: I think that's the biggest thing.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Instead of the coach having to say a big long
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: play call, he can, you know, he can sit up
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: there and say a number in a hash and then
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: it's just up to me to be able to get
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: the play in and out and we have more time
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: on the play clock.
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: That's really it. For me.
• 7:43
  Speaker 8: Is there any downside to doing it?
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: No, I think.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: I think it's just sometimes when you call, you know,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: when you have a wristband, you really got to study
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the plays and so that when you're you're reading it,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: you're not trying to understand the play and you're not
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: trying to understand it in your head where guys are,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: because you already can visualize it and see it. I
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: think that's the biggest thing, and that's you know, that's
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: a mistake that I made early in my career too.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: You know, I wouldn't spend nearly, you know, as much
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: time really like reading it and memorizing it as I
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: should have.
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: And I think, you know.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Over these last few years, just really like, you know,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: so that when I'm reading it on game day, it's
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: you know, it's already going through my head, okay, like
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: this is the risk band, this is what we're what
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: we're doing, and this is my read other rather than
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: like trying to visualize it as I'm saying it.
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: I don't know if that makes sense, but I've never actually.
• 8:33
  Speaker 8: Seen one up posts, but it looks from afar like
• 8:35
  Speaker 8: it's like four point fond. Does it ever get hard
• 8:38
  Speaker 8: to read like does does something never get on it
• 8:40
  Speaker 8: or like get scuffed up or anything, or it makes.
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: It hard to read it.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but again that's that's you know, to kind of
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: the point I just made is like if you have
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: it dialed in and you have it memorized, and you know,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: if it is scuffed up or there's some sweat that
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: drips on it, like it's not going to get in
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: the way of reading the play.
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: Call to the guys, what's the challenge she present to
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: your phone?
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Ah, you know, I think that's a better question for
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the offensive line.
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: But I can just tell you off the tape.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: He's he's very strong, he's explosive for a guy his size,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: he moves incredibly well.
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: So we always, you know, whenever you.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Go up against a guy like vite Vella, Uh, you know,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: you always got your hands full with him.
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: Like McDonald talked about the weekend kind of being a
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: good chance to take a break and kind of self
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: scout a little bit and stuff like that. From from
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: your standpoint looking back on the first four games and
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: having some time to look at that, just kind of
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: what's your assessment or where you guys are offensive?
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, No, it was it was good to get a
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: break for sure. You know, I think for us, like
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: we just got to continue to put the work in
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: every single day and continue to, you know, as an offense,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: just look at ourselves and.
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: See what can we do better.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: I think I said it to you guys after the game,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: But if we just if we do that and we
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: focus on the little details of how can we get
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: better and you know, whether that's targeting in the run game,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: whether that's pass protection, whether that's you know, me, you know,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: getting off of my first read kind of what I
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: talked about before and getting backside, Like, there's so many
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: little things that we can get better and I can
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: get better at. And so I think if everyone just
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: kind of takes that approach, we'll just continue to grow
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: as an offense.
• 10:06
  Speaker 7: With the targeting in the run game, how much of
• 10:07
  Speaker 7: that is you versus Jalen or even just I guess
• 10:10
  Speaker 7: what the call is.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, we just we just got to continue
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: to look at it and work work on it. You know,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: see all the different looks that the defense can present
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: and roll from there.
• 10:18
  Speaker 7: Stuff like if they change the front or something, or
• 10:20
  Speaker 7: with the safeties, there's a lot of you know, what
• 10:22
  Speaker 7: I mean.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, there's you know, there's a lot of
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: a lot of variables that.
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: Can go into it.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: I think at the end of the day, like as
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: long as everybody's on the same page, that's all.
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: That matters, you know, And and we'll go from there.
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: How Jackson has been on.
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: How good he is.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: Is there something that he does in meeting rooms or
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: in the locker room.
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: That you don't see that goes into a success that
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: we've seen.
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think I think there's a lot of a
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: lot of things.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: I mean that could be said about everybody that people
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: do outside of the building that people don't necessarily see.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I feel like Jack's is always just on top of
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: his body, you know, making sure that his body is
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: right because you know it doesn't necessarily look like like that.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: But on you know, on Sundays or on Thursday night,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: but you know, guys get pretty banged up. And you know,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: the way that he's been able to respond and not
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: only respond on Sundays, but be able to practice, you know,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: and especially for me as a you know, first year
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: here working with Jack's like for him to be able
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: to practice and put that work in on the field,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: you know, on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: That's so crucial to our timing.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: And so I just credit him and a lot of
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: the guys in that locker room for being able to
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: get ready for practice.
• 11:29
  Speaker 7: What is it about him that he has zero targets?
• 11:32
  Speaker 7: I think officially in that first half, but like it's
• 11:34
  Speaker 7: not you know, going to you like, hey, Sam, get
• 11:35
  Speaker 7: me the ball now.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, Jacks has been great with all that.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: You know, it's just it's a credit to who he
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: is as a person. You know, he truly puts the
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: team first, and so that's, uh, that's always something that
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: you know, I respect about him.
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: Appreciate it. Guys.
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: Thank you.