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Sam Darnold: "All Of The Hard Work And Dedication Leads To This Moment" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's this, what's this like for you to be in
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the Super Bowl and get that vindication after so many
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: years of teams giving up on you and writing you off.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: You know, I think it doesn't really come down to
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: that for me. You know, it's always just been about
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: putting in the hard work every single day, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: sometimes hard work and all the dedication and hours I've
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  Speaker 2: put in in the off season during the season, you know,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: that just it leads to this moment, you know, And
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  Speaker 2: that's kind of the mindset I have, and really the
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  Speaker 2: mindset I've had my entire career.
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  Speaker 3: Sam Over here, Sam Over here to your left. Yeah, uh,
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  Speaker 3: you after your time in San Francisco here if you've
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  Speaker 3: talked a lot about what that meant to you. But
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  Speaker 3: when you went looking for your next stops, how important
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: was it for you in Minnesota and Seattle to find
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: a system and coaches that were similar to what you
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  Speaker 3: did here?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: I think, you know, being able to have similar systems throughout,
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  Speaker 2: you know, your entire career, especially you know, ones that
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: you kind of see fit and especially with the type
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: of skill players we have, the offensive line we have,
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  Speaker 2: it just fits really well with all of our skill sets,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: and you know that was that was a very important
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  Speaker 2: piece to me in deciding kind of in my free
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: agency where I wanted to go. But again, like I
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: always say, you know, coach coach McDonald and the defense
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  Speaker 2: had a lot, had a lot to do with.
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  Speaker 4: My decision, as well as Sam front Row and you
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  Speaker 4: were right.
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: Your your teammate Cooper Cup yesterday spoke about how quickly
• 1:27
  Speaker 5: the NFL can chew up and spit out a quarterback
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  Speaker 5: who doesn't perform up to the standards people placed on
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  Speaker 5: them early in their career, and how impressive it was
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  Speaker 5: that you came through your early trials. I was wondering
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  Speaker 5: if you could speak about that as a broader phenomenon
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  Speaker 5: in the NFL and also from the perspective of your
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  Speaker 5: journey when you're about to play in a Super Bowl.
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a great question. I think.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you see examples of that, you know, all
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  Speaker 2: around the league and in the past. You know, just
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  Speaker 2: guys maybe not having as much success as you know,
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  Speaker 2: they feel like they should have had, or maybe the
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: media thinks that they should have had right out of college.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: But I think the biggest thing is to just you know,
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  Speaker 2: believe in yourself I think that's that's really what it
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  Speaker 2: comes down to is as long as I've always believed
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  Speaker 2: in myself and I've always had confidence in myself to
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  Speaker 2: do my job, and I learned I learned a ton
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  Speaker 2: from them stakes that I made early on in my career,
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  Speaker 2: and I feel like that that kind of mindset has
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  Speaker 2: kind of gotten me to this point.
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  Speaker 6: Same tip to your left. We'reird in terms of Cooper
• 2:27
  Speaker 6: Cup and just the veteran presence he provides. How would
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  Speaker 6: you just describe how valuable he's been to your offense
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  Speaker 6: overall and and how much you guys maybe leaning on
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  Speaker 6: his experience getting.
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  Speaker 4: To this point.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I can't speak highly enough of Coop
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  Speaker 2: and you know what he's meant to our offense, not
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  Speaker 2: only our offense, but our entire team. You know, the
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  Speaker 2: mindset that he has, the way he leads by example.
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  Speaker 2: But if he if he does say things, he's one
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  Speaker 2: of those guys where the entire room is dead silent,
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  Speaker 2: and then they're super focused on what he's saying because
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  Speaker 2: we know that you know, he doesn't waste his breath.
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  Speaker 2: You know, he's always going to be able to say
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  Speaker 2: something very very mindful and for us it's it's you know,
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  Speaker 2: speaking speaking for the players but also the coaches. I
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  Speaker 2: feel like he's he's had a huge impact on all
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  Speaker 2: of us in that building, and you know, we have
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  Speaker 2: a ton to thank for for Coop and kind of
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  Speaker 2: what he's brought to to.
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  Speaker 4: All of us here in Seattle, being here, New.
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  Speaker 7: Being here.
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  Speaker 8: Do you ever reflect on those early stages in New
• 3:31
  Speaker 8: York and what did you take from that experience?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think just I think just learning how to
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  Speaker 2: you know, flush flush bad plays, flush bad games. You know,
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  Speaker 2: always at the end of the day, like you know,
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  Speaker 2: no matter if I had a bad game or a
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  Speaker 2: bad bad rep or a bad series of plays, like
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  Speaker 2: I always was able to wake up the next day
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  Speaker 2: and and be able to move on.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that was something that I always learned.
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  Speaker 2: And I feel like as a young player too, in
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  Speaker 2: early in my career, I was really hard on myself.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: Like after a bad you know.
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  Speaker 2: Bad rapp or a bad practice, I would I would
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  Speaker 2: let it kind of affect my attitude a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, I think just being able to have
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  Speaker 2: a great attitude all the time and and kind of
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  Speaker 2: have that you know, all right, you know that happens
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  Speaker 2: it's football.
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  Speaker 4: You know, We're not always going to be perfect.
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  Speaker 2: I think, you know, Jerry Rice has a quote, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I'm just gonna paraphrase it, but he never had a
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  Speaker 2: perfect practice or a perfect game, you know, And that's
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  Speaker 2: that's kind of the mindset that I've always had, you know,
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  Speaker 2: after after my first few years in the NFL, was like,
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  Speaker 2: it's not always going to be perfect, you know. That's
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  Speaker 2: why that's why everybody loves this game, you know, and
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  Speaker 2: people call it like some of the best reality TV
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  Speaker 2: there is, because you know, nothing's always perfect, and and
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  Speaker 2: it's about how can you move on from mistakes to
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  Speaker 2: continue to to better the team and better yourself. And
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  Speaker 2: that's how I've kind of had that mindset, and I
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  Speaker 2: feel like I learned a ton from my early years
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  Speaker 2: with that.
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  Speaker 7: Sam Tier left along the wall here in talking to
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  Speaker 7: you a couple of years. Coaches, they feel like Drew Locke,
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  Speaker 7: you know, is kind of the glue a little bit
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  Speaker 7: in that quarterback room, and he's pushed you a lot,
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  Speaker 7: just kind of mentally this season. What have you seen
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  Speaker 7: from him kind of in that regard and does his
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  Speaker 7: journey do you feel like mirror years in some way?
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  Speaker 4: Of what it could be, no doubt, no doubt.
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  Speaker 2: I think, you know, Drew is one of the more
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  Speaker 2: talented guys I've been around and throwing the football.
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  Speaker 4: Me and Drew go way back.
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  Speaker 2: We were roommates at the Army All American Game, and
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  Speaker 2: we knew each other from the Eliteal eleven camp and
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  Speaker 2: just being in the same recruiting class. So, you know,
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  Speaker 2: just being able to spend time again with Drew and
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  Speaker 2: reconnect and and just you know just how close he
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  Speaker 2: brings everybody. You know, he's such a He's just such
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  Speaker 2: a great presence to have in the locker room and
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  Speaker 2: in the quarterback room especially, and he's so smart. He's
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  Speaker 2: going to bring up things that I don't think about
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  Speaker 2: that the coaches don't think about.
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  Speaker 4: Uh.
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  Speaker 2: And yeah, he's just he's a brilliant guy to be around.
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  Speaker 2: And again, like I said, he's super talented. So I
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  Speaker 2: know whenever he does get an opportunities to shine.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: Sam second rid of your right, you've obviously been to
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  Speaker 3: a Super Bowl and a backup capacity before.
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  Speaker 4: What did that process teach you about handling this week
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  Speaker 4: in a starter capacity?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I learned a ton, you know, I think I
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  Speaker 2: think the biggest thing is just trying to keep the
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  Speaker 2: routine the same.
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  Speaker 4: And that was something that.
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  Speaker 2: That, you know, I was able to ask Brack a
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  Speaker 2: little bit about during that process of kind of you know,
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  Speaker 2: are you feeling it?
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  Speaker 4: Are you a little tired?
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  Speaker 2: And and he said no, you know, I just I
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  Speaker 2: take it one step at a time, one day at
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  Speaker 2: a time, and do the whole media and do you
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  Speaker 2: know all my obligations and everything I need to do,
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  Speaker 2: but continue to keep the routine the same. And I
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  Speaker 2: think the biggest, biggest thing too is early in the week,
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  Speaker 2: like these last couple of days, I was able to
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  Speaker 2: get a lot of sleep. And I think that's that's
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  Speaker 2: huge because as you get closer to the game, you know,
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  Speaker 2: nerves and just your your mind might start thinking about
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  Speaker 2: the game and things that can happen, and you know
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  Speaker 2: you're going.
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  Speaker 4: To bed a little later, you got to wake up earlier.
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  Speaker 4: So I think just.
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  Speaker 2: You know, getting as much sleep as I possibly could
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  Speaker 2: these last couple of days, which I did, is gonna.
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  Speaker 4: Help me later on in the week.
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  Speaker 9: Sam, to your left, the resurgence in the run game
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  Speaker 9: in recent weeks, how has that affected your performance and
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  Speaker 9: the overall offenses?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, you know, the way that our offensive
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  Speaker 2: line and our receivers are tight ends and our running
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  Speaker 2: backs have been able to communicate with each other and
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  Speaker 2: grow with that chemistry has only helped us a ton
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  Speaker 2: in the run game. And you know, we're going to
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  Speaker 2: continue to meet with each other. You know, we meet
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  Speaker 2: with each other once a week on run game stuff
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  Speaker 2: just as players, and get guys communicating in the in
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  Speaker 2: the room on certain looks that we see from the defense,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, it's just great. It's great to hear
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  Speaker 2: the guys communicating and and geling with each other, messing
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  Speaker 2: around with each other in the in the you know,
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  Speaker 2: in the hallways and stuff like that in the hotel.
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  Speaker 2: Like it's there's a great chemistry going on, and I
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  Speaker 2: think that has a lot to do with kind of
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  Speaker 2: our success that we've.
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  Speaker 4: Been having in the run game. You know in the
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  Speaker 4: last few weeks.
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  Speaker 10: Sam here on the right, you said earlier in the week.
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  Speaker 10: I believe it was last week that you know, going
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  Speaker 10: against this defense and made you guys better as an
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  Speaker 10: offense your defensive seasons. That is, what about that unit
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  Speaker 10: was so difficult for you guys to go against all
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  Speaker 10: year long? And how is that kind of played out
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  Speaker 10: in your opinion during the regular season. What made that
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  Speaker 10: unit so good?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's a few things, right.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's coach Mike in the scheme, how the
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  Speaker 2: players play in that scheme, and how smart our guys are,
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  Speaker 2: Like the football IQ that our defensive players players have.
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  Speaker 4: You know, they understand in certain.
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  Speaker 2: Coverages all right, like we might not be able to,
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  Speaker 2: you know, hold our shell, you know, as much as
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  Speaker 2: we can. We need to get to our spots, but
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  Speaker 2: in certain pressures and maybe it's a third down or
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  Speaker 2: maybe like a short yardage type situation, like you know,
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  Speaker 2: we're able to hold our shell a little bit longer
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  Speaker 2: and you know, wait till they snap the ball. So
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  Speaker 2: just just those little things. And you know, there's there's
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  Speaker 2: just so many smart players on that defense, and I
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  Speaker 2: think that's what makes it the toughest is how smart
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  Speaker 2: they are and understanding just the little nuances that come
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: with playing defenses and and.
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  Speaker 4: Also what the quarterback's looking for.
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  Speaker 2: I feel like they're they're very smart with what we're
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  Speaker 2: looking for as a quarterback and the center as well
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  Speaker 2: with protections. So yeah, they just do a great job
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  Speaker 2: and they make it really hard on an offense.
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  Speaker 11: He sam, uh back here, back right.
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  Speaker 7: Uh.
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  Speaker 11: Mike was talking a lot about your resilience in that
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  Speaker 11: being part of the ability to overcome some of those
• 9:25
  Speaker 11: early season turnovers. Is there anything technical though that you
• 9:28
  Speaker 11: can speak to that changed, whether it was with you
• 9:31
  Speaker 11: or the offense. Uh, in the later stages of the season.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: Where are you sorry? I'm sorry?
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  Speaker 8: Beck here?
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: Oh? Gotcha? Hey? What's up? Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: You know, I think you know, the biggest thing is
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  Speaker 2: for me as a quarterback, like just understanding situations, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the first and second down stuff like being able to
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  Speaker 2: understand like, okay, why are we calling this play? You
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  Speaker 2: know where my checkdowns are at? Is it a certain
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: protection where you know they might eat up the back
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: and the back I cannot might not be able to
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: get out and I gotta you know, maybe throw.
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  Speaker 4: It to a receiver or just throw it away over
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: his head.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Or is it back end to be able to get
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: out and I can look for him a little bit
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  Speaker 2: quicker on a checkdown, and then when it comes to
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  Speaker 2: third down, you know, being able to you know, get
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: through my progression, understand why we're calling the play, and uh,
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  Speaker 2: you know, if I do get out and scramble and
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: and you know I can find someone open. Great if not,
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: you know, that's again that that's kind of the benefit
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: of having a great defenses. I've I've always felt like
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: this year, especially the latter half of the season, like
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: I always felt like I never really had to force anything.
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  Speaker 2: And that's a that's a big key for me as
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: a quarterback and a kind of a security blanket almost,
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  Speaker 2: like you can I can feel really confident in just
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: moving on to the next play and and letting our
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: special teams and our defense go to work, understanding that,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: you know, we just got to protect the football at
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: all at all costs, and uh, you know, being able
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: to move on as a quarterback from.
• 10:53
  Speaker 9: There to Sam back left, got it here? Yep, Frank
• 10:58
  Speaker 9: Orr might be elected to the Hall of Fame this week.
• 11:00
  Speaker 9: You were teammates with him in twenty twenty. I was
• 11:03
  Speaker 9: hoping you could reflect on what he might have brought
• 11:06
  Speaker 9: to you as a young player. And then just quick
• 11:08
  Speaker 9: side note, tying back here to San Francisco or Santa Clara,
• 11:12
  Speaker 9: you're gonna be using the.
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: Forty nine ers locker room.
• 11:15
  Speaker 9: Have you put in a request to be in the
• 11:16
  Speaker 9: same spot there in the corner that you were in
• 11:18
  Speaker 9: twenty twenty three.
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: I haven't.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: I haven't put in that request. That might be a
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: good idea though, get some familiarity there. It was a
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: great spot too. It was like back corner. I had
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: nothing on nothing on the left side, so it was
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: a great spot. I can put my backpack there and
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: be really comfortable. So I know, e K and the
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: equipment guys here in Seattle do a great job of
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: giving me some space.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: So shout out those guys.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: But yeah, and then in regards to Frank Man, he's
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: he's just special. He's one of those guys that you
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: can tell right off the bat, right when you meet him,
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: just how comfortable he is in his own skin, how
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: confident he is as a football player.
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: And that's what makes him so great.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: And again he's such a smart, smart guy, just the
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: way that he talks about football.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: He does it all. He does it all.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: He does a great job obviously in the run game,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: pass protection, running routes. You know, he's he's one of
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: a kind, definitely, even you know at the age and
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: you know, towards the end of his career when I
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: was playing with him, I still felt like he had
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: a ton of juice. And you know, that's a someone
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: that I'll always remember playing with and sharing those memories
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: with in the locker room.
• 12:26
  Speaker 12: To your right front here, Sam, back to what you
• 12:29
  Speaker 12: said about the Jets and early in your career with
• 12:32
  Speaker 12: attitude change, What was the impetus for that, Who or
• 12:34
  Speaker 12: what led you to change your mindset on that whole.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: I think it was just me, you know, just to
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: be honest, like uh, just not being not being too
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: hard on myself. And again I think just hearing stories
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: about guys, you know, just being able to move on
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: and like again, like I said that that story with
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Jerry Rice, just like you're never gonna have a perfect
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: day out there. And I think once you understand and
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: that truly understand, that you can go out there and
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: just play free. And I think that really unlocks something
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: for me mentally, and it just allowed me to play
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: good football and and you know, be okay with you know,
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: things that happen out there. Obviously you want to play
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: your best. You know, there there is a fine line
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: of you know, you want to be hard on yourself,
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: but I think you don't want to. You don't want
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: to be hard on yourself in the moment, you know,
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: and you can you can be harder on yourself without
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: getting like mad at yourself, if that makes sense. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: it's a it's an attitude that I definitely learned, you know,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: as I've gotten a little bit older and experience in
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: this league.
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: I just I just heard about it.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think one day I just heard about it,
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: and you know, it kind of came up. I think
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: maybe I heard about it in college and then I
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: kind of, you know, remembered it and then heard about
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: some guys who took practice. You know, you obviously want
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: to practice really hard, but you understand that nothing's gonna
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: go perfect. And you know, that's why we play this
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: great game. You know, I think it personally, I think
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: it'd be kind of a boring game if if you know,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: you didn't make mistakes out there and you didn't learn anything.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: So yeah, it's that's that's why I play football, and
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: that's why I love this game.
• 14:12
  Speaker 13: Hey Sam front Row, and you left your weekly opaque
• 14:15
  Speaker 13: question here. Yeah, first one, how do you how close
• 14:17
  Speaker 13: do you feel like you are to being back to normal?
• 14:19
  Speaker 13: And then as you've played through that injury, athletes and
• 14:22
  Speaker 13: another sports sometimes talk about how when you're able to
• 14:25
  Speaker 13: play through an injury, it can simplify things and maybe
• 14:27
  Speaker 13: get you to play within yourself. Obviously you're letting it
• 14:29
  Speaker 13: rip and all that, but you feel like that is
• 14:31
  Speaker 13: applied to the way you've dealt with that injury at all.
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, first of all, it feels really good.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: You know. Definitely the time off has helped a little bit.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I think, you know, I'm always just gonna
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: take it one step at a time, you know, do
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: my rehab, do everything I need to do to make
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: sure it feels great going into practice and going into
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: a game, obviously on Sunday. But yeah, it feels it
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: feels great and you know it. But again, it's just
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: one thing to add to the routine, and I think
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: making sure I keep the routine the same as I
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: would if we were in Seattle. Just practicing on a
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: day to day basis here in the hotel is going
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: to be very important this week.
• 15:04
  Speaker 14: Hey, Sam over here, going back to your offensive line,
• 15:08
  Speaker 14: I mean, they overcame some injuries. Can you just talk
• 15:11
  Speaker 14: about the character of that unit. Obviously you talked about
• 15:14
  Speaker 14: in terms of their ability in the run game in
• 15:16
  Speaker 14: the past game. What can you say about the character
• 15:18
  Speaker 14: of that unit.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're unbelievable guys. I think that's the biggest thing.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: And like I like I always mentioned their chemistry that
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: they've had, just you know, being able to mess around
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: with each other honestly, and because again, like this is
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: a kid's game. We're playing football that we've all played
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: since we were nine ten years old, So I think
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: remembering that and you know, just just having a good
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: time with each other, cause that this is twenty something
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: weeks we've been playing together. So you know, if you're
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: not clowning around with each other having fun in the
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: locker room and in the hotel, like, what.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: Are we even doing here?
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: So I think that's that's something that you know, our
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: guys do a really good job of kind of remembering
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: and understanding the why of why we play this game.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: But our offensive line is they've they've always been amazing
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: and they understand, you know, while we can mess around
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: and have fun with each other, they know when to
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: lock in and understand their their job and their assignment.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it's it's always fun to fun to go
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: play with those guys.
• 16:15
  Speaker 8: Sam too, Hi, Sam, can you paint the picture for
• 16:18
  Speaker 8: us of your meetings with Cooper cup in the morning,
• 16:20
  Speaker 8: and also what's in one of the most memorable moments
• 16:23
  Speaker 8: you've had, our conversation that you and Cooper have had
• 16:25
  Speaker 8: that has helped in the.
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: Week later on.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, uh, yeah, it's been It's been great
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: just to kind of see, uh, just our routine, right,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: I mean, because when I when I show up at
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: the facility, I feel like, you know, me and Cooper
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: are always kind of the first ones to get there
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: besides Tyo Cootta and padd O'Connell. They're always there at
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: like five thirty, which again they're there at five thirty
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: and then they sit down at breakfast for forty five minutes.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: So never really understood that. But and then you know,
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: for Coop, like he's he's always beat me in the facility,
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: especially early on in the sea and then towards the
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: back half of the season, you know, sometimes I'll beat
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: him in and you know, I know he's spending a
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: lot of time with you know, his family in the morning,
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: waking up, drinking some coffee. So whenever I get there
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: before him, I make sure to you know, let him
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: know about that. So but just I guess that's the
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: best part about it, Just the banter that we share together,
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: you know, in the mornings. You know, that's that's what
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: I look forward to the most. Obviously the football stuff
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: is great, but just the relationship that we've been able
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: to continue to have throughout the season and to see
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: how it has grown has been the best part about
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: those mornings with Coop.
• 17:35
  Speaker 15: Yeah, hey, Sam, game day question on this Patriots defense
• 17:39
  Speaker 15: super stingy, great against the run. What challenges do they
• 17:43
  Speaker 15: present for you? What kind of a chess match are
• 17:45
  Speaker 15: you anticipating.
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, again, just.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: You know, a great defense, great scheme. We understand kind
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: of you know what they might bring. They they they
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: do a lot of different things personnel wise, you know,
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: they they've always done a great job of that throughout
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: the season. So we got to be ready for for
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: all that. And then, like I always say, you know,
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: especially with this team, like they have great players. You know,
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: you can have great scheme, but if your players don't
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: make it come to life, you know that it doesn't
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: do you any good as a as a defense. So
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: they do a great job their players do of making
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: their scheme come to life. On the back end, you know,
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: being able to show different coverages and and get out
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: of it and pressure and and do all these things coverage.
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: Wise, So they do a great job.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: Their backers are great and then obviously their their their
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: defensive line is one of the top defensive lines in
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: my opinion in the NFL. And truthfully, I don't know
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: if they get enough love, uh their defensive line for
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: how good they've been all year. But yeah, it's a
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: it's a really good defense and something we we're obviously
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: going to continue to prepare for, but we'll be ready
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: by the time Sunday comes around.
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: Thanks guys,