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Sam Darnold Talks Preparing For Week 4 vs. Chargers · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: What's up, guys? Yeah, obviously another great week to prepare
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  Speaker 1: for a really good opponent. Really well-coached team, really good defense,
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  Speaker 1: really good scheme, obviously really good players as well. So
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  Speaker 1: it's got to be a really good week of preparation.
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  Speaker 1: We've been having good weeks, but I think getting a
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  Speaker 1: really good week of preparation and then showing it on
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  Speaker 1: the field on Sunday is going to be huge for us.
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  Speaker 2: Good team, good players, all that. When you are looking
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  Speaker 2: at a team going, are you even really aware of
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  Speaker 2: their record or is it more just what you see
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  Speaker 2: on tape and what.
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  Speaker 1: You see when you study? Yeah, it's all about tape
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  Speaker 1: for us. You know, you guys hear nameless, faceless opponent,
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  Speaker 1: that kind of thing. It's like, what does that even mean?
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  Speaker 1: You know, it really is just about the tape, about
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  Speaker 1: the players, you know, and that sort of thing because
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the NFL is, you know, that's why the NFL is
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  Speaker 1: so great. That's why people love Washington is because it
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  Speaker 1: truly is any Sunday. And, you know, again, it's a
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  Speaker 1: really good football team, really well coached, like I said,
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  Speaker 1: and good players. So, you know, we just got to
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  Speaker 1: continue to prepare and do our thing and make sure
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  Speaker 1: we're just ready to go out there and play well.
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  Speaker 2: What's it like preparing for and playing against Irwin James?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, he's a really good player, obviously, and
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  Speaker 1: he does a lot of different things. You know, they
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  Speaker 1: can line him up wherever they want. He's a really
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  Speaker 1: good run stopper, really good in the pass game, really
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  Speaker 1: good blitzing. So, again, It's everything, everything a DB does,
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  Speaker 1: anything a linebacker does. He can even do some things
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  Speaker 1: that D linemen do really well. So just he's one
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  Speaker 1: of those guys that you kind of got to be
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  Speaker 1: aware of where he is at all times. Does practicing
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  Speaker 1: against Nick remind you at all of him? Absolutely. Not
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  Speaker 1: just because he wears the same number, but, man, they're
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  Speaker 1: one and the same, just how they operate, you know,
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  Speaker 1: just both being very athletic and, you know, strong and
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  Speaker 1: being able to cover guys down the field as well. So, again,
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  Speaker 1: really good, really good player.
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  Speaker 3: I'll be back this week, but I.
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  Speaker 1: Don't know what it's going to mean to have Zach
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  Speaker 1: Charbonnet back at practice this week. Yeah, having Zach back
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  Speaker 1: in general, just to have his presence and, you know,
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  Speaker 1: obviously Zach, man of many words, right? Like, doesn't say
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  Speaker 1: a whole lot, but just the way that he leads
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  Speaker 1: by example every single day of just coming to work
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  Speaker 1: and doing his job, you know, that's huge for us
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  Speaker 1: as a team.
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  Speaker 4: When you look at the offense from Sunday, and there's
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  Speaker 4: a discrepancy between passing.
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  Speaker 3: Yards and running yards, what do you take away from that?
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  Speaker 3: that game?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, you know, sometimes that's just how it
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  Speaker 1: works out. You know, it's like for us as quarterbacks,
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  Speaker 1: like it doesn't, you know, it doesn't matter necessarily where
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  Speaker 1: the ball goes. It's, it's about, you know, going through
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  Speaker 1: my progression and letting the ball kind of find the
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  Speaker 1: energy and wherever the defense, you know, allows me to
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  Speaker 1: throw it, like trying to find the open guy. It's
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  Speaker 1: kind of the same way, you know, with pass yards,
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  Speaker 1: run game, like sometimes they're going to, they're going to
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  Speaker 1: do a lot to try to stop the run game.
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  Speaker 1: And sometimes they're going to be able to go out
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  Speaker 1: there and throw it the way that we did. obviously
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  Speaker 1: got to take care of the football, but yeah, there's,
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  Speaker 1: you know, obviously some ways to continue to run the
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: ball better than what we did last game, but sometimes
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  Speaker 1: it's just how the game goes. You mentioned the ball
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  Speaker 1: just kind of going where it goes.
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  Speaker 2: Are there games where you do go into a game saying,
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  Speaker 2: we got to target this guy or that guy kind
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  Speaker 2: of thing, or is it always just.
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  Speaker 4: Kind of the ball goes where it goes?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like, not really. Yeah, we're always trying
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  Speaker 1: to just, you know, put plays together and Obviously understanding
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  Speaker 1: based on coverage and pre-snap looks like where the ball
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  Speaker 1: is supposed to go and where it might go. But
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  Speaker 1: when I'm out there, I just got to play fast
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  Speaker 1: and give the ball again to the guy that has
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  Speaker 1: the best odds of making a catch and whether it's
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  Speaker 1: getting a first down on third down or just finding
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  Speaker 1: a completion on first and second down. So it's really
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  Speaker 1: just for me, it's going out there playing fast, not
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  Speaker 1: really worried about who's getting the ball.
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  Speaker 2: Jack's obviously teams know who he is and they're putting
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  Speaker 2: a lot of effort into stopping him and yet he's
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  Speaker 2: still doing what he's doing like What is it about
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  Speaker 2: him that allows him to make the plays he has
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  Speaker 2: despite all the effort teams are putting in to stop him?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think a huge– it's going to sound silly,
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  Speaker 1: but a huge part of it is knowing what we're
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  Speaker 1: doing as an offense. You know, him being really locked
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  Speaker 1: into our game plan, doing everything that he can throughout
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  Speaker 1: the week to prepare himself mentally, to hear the call,
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  Speaker 1: hear the concept, and just going out there and playing fast.
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  Speaker 1: Because obviously when he goes out there and plays fast,
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  Speaker 1: he can just play ball at that point and– He's
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  Speaker 1: not running the route like it's supposed to be drawn
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  Speaker 1: on paper. He's going out there finding space. And just
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  Speaker 1: us being on the same page, that's what it's about.
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  Speaker 1: And then kind of like I mentioned before, just if
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  Speaker 1: they're taking him away, usually that leaves someone else on
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  Speaker 1: the field open to go out there and make plays,
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  Speaker 1: which I feel like our guys have been doing a
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  Speaker 1: good job of. So you talk about nameless, faceless.
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  Speaker 4: But you look at the film this week, and you
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  Speaker 4: see your friend Josh Allen going against him last week.
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  Speaker 4: Does that lead to any more text messages than it
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  Speaker 4: normally would?
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  Speaker 1: Not necessarily. Obviously, we're close friends, but during the season,
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  Speaker 1: we try to leave each other alone. Obviously, if something
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  Speaker 1: happens throughout the week, like he texts me after week
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  Speaker 1: one getting hurt, and then if he has a really
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  Speaker 1: good game, which he normally does, I'll send him a text.
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  Speaker 1: But if he has three or four games in a
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  Speaker 1: row where he does well, I won't text him because
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure he gets bored of that. With Zach, we
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  Speaker 1: hear a lot about how on the details he is,
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  Speaker 1: the word people use is professional. What does that look
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  Speaker 1: like behind the scenes? Yeah, I think just, you know,
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  Speaker 1: every morning walking by and saying, what's up sharps, how
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  Speaker 1: you feeling and having a good, you know, conversation just
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  Speaker 1: back and forth about, you know, what he's doing to
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  Speaker 1: try to get back and, and still talking about football too.
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  Speaker 1: Like he's, he's in our meetings, um, and still talking
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  Speaker 1: about like protections and all those sorts of things. Cause
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  Speaker 1: he's really good at that. And, you know, how we want,
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  Speaker 1: if the, if the backs have a certain route or
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  Speaker 1: they're lined up and empty, or we're running a route
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  Speaker 1: from the backfield, like he's very, uh, he's just very
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  Speaker 1: aware and in tune with kind of what we're doing still.
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  Speaker 1: And that's always good. You know, I think that's the
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  Speaker 1: main thing, even like a guy like AB as well,
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  Speaker 1: like AB is doing a great job of staying in it,
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  Speaker 1: you know, because when you're out for a few weeks,
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  Speaker 1: it's easy to kind of just rehab and do your thing.
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  Speaker 1: But it's good when those guys are able to kind
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  Speaker 1: of be in the offense of meetings and even on
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  Speaker 1: the field, like being able to watch the tape and
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  Speaker 1: make calls and all those things. Cause when you get back,
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  Speaker 1: the game happens so fast and you want to continue
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  Speaker 1: to stay on point and stay fresh. Did you go
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  Speaker 1: to any Chargers games growing up at all? I went
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  Speaker 1: to a couple. Yeah, I don't know why, but I
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  Speaker 1: feel like on the weekends, as a family, we had
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  Speaker 1: season tickets to go to the Trojan games, USC, so
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  Speaker 1: we found ourselves in L.A. a little bit more often,
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  Speaker 1: but went to a couple growing up, Breeze and LaDainian,
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  Speaker 1: all those guys.
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  Speaker 4: You've had a couple passes over the last couple years
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  Speaker 4: that have hit helmets. Is that, like, bad luck, or
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  Speaker 4: do you see things where, like, technique or other things
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  Speaker 4: you'd want to change.
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  Speaker 1: To avoid that? You know, there's obviously some things you
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  Speaker 1: can control, some things you can't. I think to a
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  Speaker 1: certain extent you can try to find a window. But, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: like I said before, like things are going to happen
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  Speaker 1: on the field that you can't really control. I think
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  Speaker 1: if anything, like if it's a shorter route, just being
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  Speaker 1: able to get my elbow up and to avoid stuff
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  Speaker 1: like that.
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  Speaker 3: The scheme that they've got defensively, how much carryover do
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  Speaker 3: you see compared to what Mike's defense is, especially up
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  Speaker 3: front when– They've got a couple of guys that they
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  Speaker 3: can move up and down the line.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it's a great, great question. They do a
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  Speaker 1: lot of good stuff. You know, I'm not going to
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  Speaker 1: get into the details, but they do a lot of
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  Speaker 1: good stuff defensively, first, second and third down, really. So just, again,
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  Speaker 1: seeing the looks, preparing for it and just being prepared
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  Speaker 1: for it.
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  Speaker 3: Sam, I know you talked about it after the game,
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  Speaker 3: but the second the second interception, we went back and
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  Speaker 3: watched it on film.
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  Speaker 2: What sort of what jumped out to you is what
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  Speaker 2: happened on the play?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, just Again, kind of the same thing I said
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  Speaker 1: after the game, like being able to make that split-second
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  Speaker 1: decision and just dirt it, you know, especially in that
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  Speaker 1: situation too, like trying to go down and score, like
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  Speaker 1: is a two-, three-yard gain really going to be the
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  Speaker 1: difference in that situation? Like being able to like weigh
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  Speaker 1: all those things in my head and then I think
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  Speaker 1: to keep it short though, like just seeing the defender
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  Speaker 1: and being able to burn it at AJ's feet.
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  Speaker 3: Sam, how important is it for the quarterback to be
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  Speaker 3: able to feel the game and when did that come about?
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  Speaker 1: Say that one more time.
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  Speaker 4: The ability to feel the game, seeing some mature quarterbacks,
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  Speaker 4: you know, Mariota yourself, that ability to feel the game,
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  Speaker 4: how important is that in order for you to manage
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  Speaker 4: the game?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's super important. I think that's something
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  Speaker 1: as a young player, you know, I didn't do a
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  Speaker 1: great job of was, you know, understanding like the situation,
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  Speaker 1: what that might tell with the defense and different calls
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  Speaker 1: that they might get in because of the situation. So just,
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  Speaker 1: I think an overall understanding of what's going on throughout
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  Speaker 1: the game, if they get us with a certain pressure,
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  Speaker 1: like is it a coordinator that likes to do it
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  Speaker 1: again or is he a guy that kind of likes
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  Speaker 1: to bluff it and get out of it? So just
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  Speaker 1: understanding all those things, I feel like is very important
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  Speaker 1: that you, again, like you mentioned, you continue to understand
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: as you, you know, go on throughout your career.
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  Speaker 4: Obviously different season, different team and things like that. But
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  Speaker 4: last year we saw this team, every time there was
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: a loss, you ran on a wood streak sort of thing.
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  Speaker 4: What is it about the culture, everything with this franchise,
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  Speaker 4: that you guys have shown that ability, at least in
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  Speaker 4: the past, to bounce back in a big way like that?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think a lot of it is, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and we do this when we win as well, but
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  Speaker 1: everyone looking inward. You know, how can I get better?
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  Speaker 1: What did I do that wasn't great on the field
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  Speaker 1: that I can continue to get better at? And even
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  Speaker 1: if we see something that, you know, will help the
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  Speaker 1: offensive line with calls or, you know, will help the
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  Speaker 1: receivers with some things, like being able to just voice
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  Speaker 1: that opinion, even if it, you know, Even if the
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  Speaker 1: coach is, like, shutting it down, you know, it's still
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: great to bring it up just in case. So I
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  Speaker 1: think just being really honest with each other, but more importantly,
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  Speaker 1: just looking inward and see how you can get better personally.
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  Speaker 1: I think our guys do a really good job of that.
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  Speaker 2: Do you feel like the injury is behind you, or
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  Speaker 2: are you still kind of in maintenance mode with it?
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: You know, it's just, that's kind of the deal of
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: playing in NFL season. There's always things that you're managing
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: and trying to get better at in terms of the body,
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  Speaker 1: but by the time Sunday comes around, it's usually ready
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  Speaker 1: to roll.
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: Thanks, guys.