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Geno Smith: "Kenneth Walker III Is Phenomenal" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Good afternoon.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: You know, you didn't start the way you guys wanted
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: to offense, for the way you were able to.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we want we wanna not have that happen going forward. Uh,
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  Speaker 3: But anytime you have adversity and you're able to overcome it,
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  Speaker 3: it always speaks well for your team, for the guys
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: on the team. But obviously we'd like to start a
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  Speaker 3: lot better. And uh, you know that's been the emphasis
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  Speaker 3: all week. It's starting fast and uh, you know, obviously
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: sustaining it throughout.
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  Speaker 1: The entire game.
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  Speaker 3: How to do that or do you just clean up
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  Speaker 3: not making mistakes, not uh having those self inflicted wounds,
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: you know, penalties, turnovers, uh, those type of things, and
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  Speaker 3: then obviously going out there having fun and executing. You know,
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: that's the main thing, is that we're just out there
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: doing our jobs. I thought we did a better job
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  Speaker 3: at that in the second half, and then you could
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: see the consistency in our drives, and so I think
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: if we just do a better job at that, we
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  Speaker 3: will we'll have a shot.
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: Four states a miss tackles help get the offense on
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: track in the second half. What is it about either
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: his style of running or the way he sees the
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: field that leads to those miss tackles.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: Man, that that guy is, uh, Ken Walker phenomenal. I
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: mean I can't uh express in enough words just how
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  Speaker 3: good he is with the ball in his hands.
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  Speaker 1: One of the best I've ever seen. Uh, I mean
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: you've seen him.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: I've never seen a running back, suplexa defensive lineman with
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: the ball in his hands. I mean, just think about
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: just how much fight that kid has. And then obviously, man,
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: just the things that he does on the field. He's
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: a leader on our on our offense, we need him
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  Speaker 3: to do well and uh, that's that's something that we
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  Speaker 3: expect from him. And so Ken's been doing a great
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  Speaker 3: job since he's gotten here. Uh, He's only been getting
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  Speaker 3: better each and every year. And so uh for us, man,
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  Speaker 3: I'm just happy to be his teammate.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Uh he ha h.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I get a couple of blocks in here
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  Speaker 3: and there whenever he cuts it back, So I'm able
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  Speaker 3: to put some of that on tape as well.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: And how much I guess grace or leeway does his
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  Speaker 4: vision give you when you call a play or when
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  Speaker 4: you see pressure from the defense.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know the thing about Ken is he he
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: understands his reads and he's always reading his keys. We
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: expect the line to, obviously, you know, block up front
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  Speaker 3: and give him lanes to run through. But at times,
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: you know, things happen, and you know, some guys get
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: through there. And the great part about Ken is that
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  Speaker 3: the first guy is never gonna bring him down. You
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: see that every single week. You know, anytime he's got
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: that first guy, he's gonna either run him over or.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Make a missing space.
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  Speaker 3: And then if we can block downfield, if we can
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  Speaker 3: spring him to the second level, you can see his
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: explosiveness and just how he can finish runs and as
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: well as he can pull away from defenders. And so
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: like a guy like Ken, like I said, one of
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  Speaker 3: the best backs in the league. I've said that, you know,
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  Speaker 3: since I've been getting up here. We have a great
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  Speaker 3: running back room led by him, and shoot, man, I'm
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  Speaker 3: just happy to be his teammate.
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: Do you know a lot a lot of folks talk
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: with quarterbacks about arm strength, accuracy. Decision making seems to
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  Speaker 5: be a big separator for the best qbs. Is there
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  Speaker 5: a part of your decision making you feel like it's
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  Speaker 5: improved and a part where you're still.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Wanting to improve.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, always in proving there's always room for improvement as
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: far as that. As far as that goes, you know,
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  Speaker 3: for me, it's about just doing the next right thing. Uh,
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  Speaker 3: you know, obviously reading the reading the defense, and taking
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: whatever they give me, not trying to force things. I
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  Speaker 3: think that's where decision making comes in, is when you
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  Speaker 3: just kind of take what they give you, make the
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  Speaker 3: right read, and allow the system to work for you.
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  Speaker 3: And then there's times where obviously you've gotta you know,
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  Speaker 3: go above and beyond the exits and o's, and you
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: gotta make plays when sometimes they aren't there. And so
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: having that that balance of the two is very important.
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  Speaker 5: You've played against Belichick defenses before. Does this look like
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  Speaker 5: a carbon copy of that or are there some differences
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  Speaker 5: to it or.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it looks like a you know, a Belichick defense.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously they want to be physical upfront, they want to
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  Speaker 3: you know, muddy up your run game. They want to
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  Speaker 3: give you a bunch of different looks as far as
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  Speaker 3: fronts go. And then you know, having those stumpers that
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  Speaker 3: linebacker you know, you know, one of them is two fifty,
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  Speaker 3: the others like two forty, you know, so they want
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  Speaker 3: to go downhill, they want to attack your offensive line.
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  Speaker 3: They want to you know, press the line of scrimmage,
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  Speaker 3: and then they want to be you know, play man
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: coverage in the back end.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: They wanna get hands on guys. Uh.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: They trust their guys to to you know, run with
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  Speaker 3: any receiver and you can see that man Coach Mayo.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: I think he's doing a great job with those guys.
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  Speaker 3: They g got having them believing in themselves and in
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  Speaker 3: the system, and so you can see that on tape
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  Speaker 3: uh from week one. And you know, for us, it's
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  Speaker 3: about just taking advantage of our matchups.
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  Speaker 1: Uh. And then obviously you know, blocking them up front.
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  Speaker 1: You know, that was your first chance to to play
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  Speaker 1: with Connor Williams in front of HI. How'd you feel
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  Speaker 1: that that played out through the sixty stats of the
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: game or so when you guys kind of getting that
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  Speaker 1: chance for the first time.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought Connor did a great job overall, just
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  Speaker 3: right off the bat, thinking of his leadership.
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  Speaker 1: Just he was very vocal in the huddle.
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  Speaker 3: Uh we were doing some tempo when he was getting
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  Speaker 3: guys to the line of scrimmage. He has the right
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  Speaker 3: uh demeanor, He's got the right tone when he's in there. Uh.
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  Speaker 3: I thought, you know, for a guy who's only been
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: here for three or four weeks, uh, picking up the
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: system and just allowing us to operate smoothly when we're
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: out there. Uh, I thought it was very impressive. Really
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  Speaker 3: think the world of him. Uh, just the way that
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  Speaker 3: he approaches the game and every single practice practice matters
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  Speaker 3: to him. And so that's something that you know, we
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  Speaker 3: enjoy around here, love having him as a teammate, and
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  Speaker 3: I think it's only gonna get better.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: Any thinks then that about how the Patriots use their dbs,
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  Speaker 2: maybe like kind of interchangeable, perhaps the.
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  Speaker 3: Same way Mike McDonald's fishing kind of is.
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  Speaker 4: For his secondary.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, they're very multiple h with their personnel. So you'll
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  Speaker 3: see dime defense, you'll see Nickel defense, They got Penny.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: You know, they go five down linemen where they've got
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: you know, pretty much all DB's in the game. One linebacker,
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: and they can you know, get to pretty much any front.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: You'll see at times. You know, you know, uh, Pepper's
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  Speaker 3: number five. You know, he can line up anywhere from
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  Speaker 3: a linebacker to a safety, to a corner to a
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  Speaker 3: d N and they're all interchangeable. Like you said, I
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  Speaker 3: think they do a great job at mixing up the
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  Speaker 3: looks and just making you think a little.
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  Speaker 1: Bit out there.
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  Speaker 3: And so for us, communication is gonna be key. Uh,
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  Speaker 3: it's gonna be a loud environment, and so we've got
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  Speaker 3: to overly communicate and make sure everyone's on the same
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  Speaker 3: page and then just blocking the looks that we see.
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  Speaker 5: You know, because blitz a lot, Patriots don't blitz as much.
• 6:02
  Speaker 5: How does that change your approach?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think like when you say blitz with the Broncos,
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  Speaker 3: I mean they're just bringing five d linemen, So that's
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: considered a blitz or a pressure, but it's really not
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: a blitz.
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  Speaker 1: You know. The Patriots are more of a four down scheme. Uh.
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  Speaker 3: And if they do blitz, they'll bring a safety or
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  Speaker 3: nickel and so that's that's more of a blitz to me.
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  Speaker 3: And you gotta be aware of those things, and you
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: gotta have your eyes in the right places, reading the
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  Speaker 3: right keys to know you know which guy is gonna
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  Speaker 3: be blitzing and where your hearts are if there is
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  Speaker 3: any But overall, man, you know, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Different scheme. Uh.
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  Speaker 3: They run a few different coverages, but that's just the
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  Speaker 3: way they do it, you know, uh, you know, compared
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  Speaker 3: to the Broncos.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Can I talk with the.
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  Speaker 5: Charles Crossed yesterday he spoke about that the offensive line,
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  Speaker 5: just this wanting to finish plays and the physicality.
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  Speaker 1: Can you speak to that and what you've seen.
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  Speaker 2: From that line?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Charles alone did a great job at
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  Speaker 3: what exactly what he said, man Like, he was finishing
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  Speaker 3: plays all game and you saw in that second half,
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  Speaker 3: you know, are you know, from ab to Lake and
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: Connor up front? I thought Stone did a great job.
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  Speaker 3: The run blocking was phenomenal and that really got us going.
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  Speaker 3: And uh, when when we're led by that offensive line,
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  Speaker 3: when they're in their groove and you know they're in there,
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  Speaker 3: they're moving the line of scrimmage, we're pretty dangerous. And
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  Speaker 3: I think that's something that we've got to continue to
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  Speaker 3: harp on. They've got to be the strength of this offense,
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  Speaker 3: the strength of this team, and that'll take us where
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  Speaker 3: we want to go.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Tyler, excuse me, Tyler and Mike pcdaldo are both the
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  Speaker 2: raven about DK and some things he does away from
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  Speaker 2: just catching the ball, and then that last third down,
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  Speaker 2: we got to set that up. Have you seen DK
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  Speaker 2: grow in the last few years. A player like doing
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  Speaker 2: the little things like that.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I think it just starts with his preparation.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: You think about a guy who's taking vigorous notes. Uh,
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  Speaker 3: he's studying his opponent, he's studying the game plan.
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  Speaker 1: Uh, he's on point with everything that he does.
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  Speaker 3: Talk about his leadership has grown, He's grown physically mentally
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  Speaker 3: as well. I think that's a testament to the type
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  Speaker 3: of man that he is, the type of player he is,
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  Speaker 3: and Uh, like I said, I enjoyed playing with playing
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: with him.
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  Speaker 1: Man, he's one of the best receivers in the game. Uh.
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  Speaker 1: He shows it every single week.
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  Speaker 3: And it may not always show up in the box score,
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  Speaker 3: like you said, it may not always be the ten
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: catch game.
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  Speaker 1: Or the eight catch game.
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  Speaker 3: You know, sometimes he's you know, just being a weapon
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: by you know, being himself and getting double and allowing
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: other guys to work one on one. So the things
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  Speaker 3: that he's doing is phenomenal and I just enjoy having
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  Speaker 3: him as a teammate.
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: You know, you get to play the music in the
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: locker room.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: How do you make the choice of what's gonna play
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: any given day?
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: Uh, I just kind of go with whatever whatever we're
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: feeling that time. I get a lot of requests and
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: so it's usually whatever they request, But you know, I
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: just kind of go with whatever we're feeling. You know,
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: if if we need to pick me up, you know,
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: I'll go with some some pick me up songs and
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: you know, just go from.
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  Speaker 2: Thereas to play, I can just practice yesterday.
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  Speaker 4: So we don't know.
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  Speaker 3: But if Zach has to play with your confidence level
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  Speaker 3: and him, you know, driving on Sunday, extremely confident Zach,
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  Speaker 3: like I said, since he's gotten here, he's been the
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  Speaker 3: consummate professional.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: He does all the little things right. I know he's
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: gonna be prepared with the ball in his hands. Like
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: I said, you can see him on tape. Man, he's phenomenal. Uh.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: He finished his runs having him Ken k Mack, even
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: even Georgia in the in that room, and I think
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: we have a really great room. But Zach is a
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: guy that we're gonna continue to count on. He's always gonna,
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: you know, do his thing when he's out there, and
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: I expect him to play well. We think post game
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: you had mentioned Grubb trusted the old line and like
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: stay with the run game and you're really happy about that.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: Was that something he had mentioned to you or are
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: you just kind of feeling that based on what he
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: was saying in your ear like we're I mean, if
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: you just watch the game and like just looking at
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: the places he was calling in second half, like we
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: called a few run plays back to back, and you know,
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: they really got us going. And so you know, as
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: as a player, as a quarterback out there, kind of
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: like the coach on the field, you get a feel for,
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: you know, what we need at the time, and at
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: that time, you know, we weren't really moving the.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Ball executing well.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: And then once the run game started, everything else kind
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: of you know snowball from there. So, uh, just overall,
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  Speaker 3: just I think Grubb did a great job of just
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: sticking to the game plan and just trusting the guys,
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: and I think guys did a great job of settling
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: down and then getting things moving.
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: Could you feel the run game kind of slow down
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: their pass rush in the second half?
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: For sure? For sure you could our tempo the run game.
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: You can see how those guys were, you know, getting
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: worn down, getting tired, and then the pass rush, you know,
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: it wasn't as as effective as it was in the
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: first half, and so I think that's gonna be a
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: weapon for us. You know, we've got to mix it
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: up and use it when we can. But I think,
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: you know, definitely was able to see that you go.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Hurry up, is that your call? Or is that Ryan?
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Or could it be either one?
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: Could be it could be either one, but we we
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: we pick and choose our times when you do.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: So that was your first time going through the game
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: with Ryan in your ear the whole time. Just what
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: what was that process like you doing?
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: All that them? Fell smooth?
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: You know, coaches called games before and I've played, you know,
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: in games before, so it felt smooth. It's kind of
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: like we you know, we go through that process and
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: practice all the time, so it's not like a new thing.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: And we also had the.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: Preseason the one drive where we were able to you know,
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: get some of that going.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: What's he like just like demeanor wise, maybe when things
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: aren't going in the.
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: First half, same guy, you know, coach was the same
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: guy every day, good batter and different and that's what
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: we love about him.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: An yas, thank you, Thank you guys,