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Leonard Williams: "We Can Still Push It To Another Level" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh taking another step forward. What's going to be different
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: about being back at home this week? It's the same.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, that was a big win for us. I
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: think what continued to show up was our style of play.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: I think it showed up week one where we're just
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: a physical team. We played to the end, and I
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: think this past weekend we just you know, brought it
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: all together with the physicality and just the execution, and
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: I think we just need to bring back a home win.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: You guys have all been telling us, you know, how
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: well Byron Murphy played, even when the stats weren't there,
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: it was. It nice to see him get a game
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: where it does show up on the status sheet and
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: he makes us splash plays.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, I think especially you know, being an
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: interior d lineman, being a first round in myself, I
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: understand that it takes a little bit of time to
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: develop in those trenches. But I also know that once
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: you've had a game like that under your belt, it
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: just starts to make you believe that that's your style
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: of play, that's the type of player you are. And
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: I think you know, now that he's had a game
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: about under his belt, he'll start to believe it.
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: If you taught him.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: I mean a lot of things. I'm trying to teach
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: him how to repass situations a little bit more, trying
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: to change a stance when he does he passed. I
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: think he's a great run stopper. That's something that showed up,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: you know, since college for him. I don't think I
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: could even teach him much in the in the run game,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: he could play double team better than me. But in
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: the past game, I think there's times where, you know,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: early in his career, he's still getting caught in a
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: run stance when it's passed and things like that. So
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: just trying to see the game a little bit faster.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: When you talk about.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Having that game under your felt that gives him more confidence.
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: Is it because there's actual stats that go with that game,
• 1:43
  Speaker 5: Like you compliment him all the time when you have
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: a sack and a half?
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: Is that?
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: What does it?
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: I mean?
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, Yes, that's just a part of the game. Like
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: not everyone's going to see him playing well, Like we
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: see it in the D line room, the coaches see it,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: his teammates see it. There's a lot of times where
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: he's just destroying blocks and he's not making the play,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: but he's freeing up guys around him to make the play.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: But you know a lot of times fans are not
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: seeing the stats or the big splash players and things
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: like that, so they probably count them out. And then
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: as a player sometimes you think the same way. You're like, Okay,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: I'm not making these big splash players, and I think
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: you start to put that pressure on yourself. But I
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: think that's something that Murphy has actually done a good
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: job of is not putting too much pressure on himself.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: He's just been out there playing the technique and just
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: doing the right things, and you know, now players are
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: coming his way. Of stat's not necessarily telling the whole
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: narrative of how a DLAN is playing.
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: Did you still feel though that on Sunday against the
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: Steelers there's a better representation of what you guys are
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: the front.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: Seven are capable of.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. And I think as a group we
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: still think we can push it to another level. I
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: think we did a good job affecting the quarterback. We
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: stopped to run pretty well. There's still so many things
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: that we think we can clean up as a as
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: a front seven. We just have so many guys that
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: I think that we have the capability and we have
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: the want to to dominate games and win games.
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: Regardless of who we're playing.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: And you know, I think we had glimpses and we
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: showed that we could do it at times, but I
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: feel like there's still another level.
• 3:12
  Speaker 6: When you guys want to play the physical brand that
• 3:15
  Speaker 6: you try to bring out there, and then you know
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: you've got this game in a Thursday game coming up,
• 3:19
  Speaker 6: how do you kind of prepare yourself for that.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's not preparing right now. It's
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: something that we prepared since OTAs so now that we're
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: here in season and it's not like, oh, we have
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: to now get prepared to be physical teams in back
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: to back games and things like that. It's like, this
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: is something that we've been developing for a long time.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: And then also coach Mike, he knows how, you know,
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: physical we're playing and he takes care of us throughout
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: the week.
• 3:46
  Speaker 6: If someone didn't know Justin Hines, how would you describe
• 3:49
  Speaker 6: him to them?
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: I would say he's a young coach.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: He gets along with the guys like as if he
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: was one of the players, which is a great thing. Also,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: he's just I would say he's open with learning, which
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: is good from a coach because sometimes you meet an
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: older coach that's kind of stuck in his ways. He
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: teaches everybody the same, even though you know, me and
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Jay Reid are built completely different. We're gonna play a
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: double team completely different from each other. Whereas Hines, he
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: understands that we're different players and we may play things
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: in a different technique and he teaches us differently based
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: off of that. And because we have so many veterans
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: in our room, he's also learning from the veterans.
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: You guys have the big win Sunday down, you come home,
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: you're kind of a favorite in this game. And fans
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: might look at that and be like, oh, they could
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: be up for letdown or something like that. And your
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: experience is that like a thing in the NFL where
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: there could be letdowns from week to week, and you
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: know if you come off a big win, and.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think that any given Sunday quote
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: is something that's just so real and believable. In this league,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: it's just like literally any week, any team can win.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: So you never want to overlook a team. You never
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: want to underlook a team It's like we literally have
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: to prepare every Wednesday the same, every Thursday the same,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: every Friday the same. And I think that's what will
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: take us to that next level.
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: Relationship or connection that the frontline guys have to have
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: with whoever your green.
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: Dot guy is.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Like in terms of like past rushing and all that
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: pre communication.
• 5:21
  Speaker 7: Just yeah, I met your mic is responsible for someone
• 5:23
  Speaker 7: set in the front a little bit.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: I guess. Is there some type of chemistry that it
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: builds there? Yeah, for sure.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: I mean in all levels of the game, like in
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Run Game, Past Game, in the past Rush, I'm kind
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: of like the more green dot guy who kind of
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: dials up the front and the past rush and games
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: and things like that. And in the run game it's
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: obviously EJ who said in the front, and there takes
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: a lot of trust and communication in all parts of that.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: You know, when EJ says the front, he knows how
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: I'm going to play the run block, he knows how
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: I'm going to play a reach and things like that,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: and he'll play off me accordingly. And same in the
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: past Rush, like if I'm playing with d Law, I
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: know he's type of guy who might take the quickest
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: way to the quarterback, which maybe you know him taking
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: the inside move on the tackle and I don't know
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: to cover him. So just understanding each other, understanding and
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: that's the part where you know, like I just said,
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: we want to take our pastors to the next level,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: is just understanding each other.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: A little more.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Specifically with ernest role in the run game stuff.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: You mentioned some other parts of his game that he's
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: good at.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: That help you, guys, Devin, we can't see.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, I would say one point was, you know,
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Mike does a great job of like downing up plays.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: He he's a great He's a.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Mastermind when it comes to calling defense in my opinion,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: But there's times where because he's trying to see what
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: the offense is given us, the call may be coming
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: in a little late. And this is where e J.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: I think it has done a good job of. He's so
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: comfortable now with just taking control. He sees the offense
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: coming out with a quick tempo, and instead of waiting
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: for the call, sometimes he'll just get us quick, get
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: a set and you know, once our cleats are in
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: the ground, it's like he trusts in our team. And
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: I think that's where EJ. Is doing a good job
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: of just taking control of the defense.
• 7:04
  Speaker 6: Do you remember the first time that you believed that
• 7:08
  Speaker 6: Mike McDonald was a mastermind.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: I can't remember like a specific time, but like even
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: in this last game, I can bring up times where
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: he was calling like certain pressures where he's moving the
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: D line and he's stunning us and he's putting me
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: like right in front of the play. And you know,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: there's times where I kind of want to do that
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: on my own sometimes, but I don't want to like
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: hurt the defense by like jumping out of my gap.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: And like that's where like I love playing for Mike
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: because he's like calling plays and allowing me to play
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: fast and allow me to do things that I would
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: naturally want to do, but now he's given me the
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: freedom to just go and do it.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: You mentioned the term take the pass. Rush to the
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: next level looked pretty good last week. What does that
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: next level look like?
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: The next level, like I said, is just understanding each
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: other a little more. There's times and then also finishing.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: I think last week we got a lot of pressures,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: we got to him a few times, but there was
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: also a few times where he escaped and of course
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: he threw the ball away and it wasn't a great
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: play for the offense. But I think we want to
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: be greedy, greedier than that, and we want to be
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: we want to be getting him down on the ground
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: and getting sacks instead of just flushing him out of
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: the pocket.
• 8:16
  Speaker 7: So the games that you guys run up front, how
• 8:18
  Speaker 7: much of that is specified in the play call versus
• 8:21
  Speaker 7: you and whoever's next to you figure it out before
• 8:24
  Speaker 7: the step.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Some of it's in the play call when he's dialing
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: up pressures and things like that, but like last week,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: he kind of just put us in four down fronts
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: and just let us pass rush. And I think in
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: those situations it's it's just based on who I'm out
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: there with, whether I'm next to Mafe, d hall Chenna
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: or you know, d Law, and then also who's inside
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: also who we're going against, Like is this a jump
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: setting type of guard, because then like an exit might
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: work better to him. Are these guys who like kick
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: back and float because then maybe like deep texas will
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: work better, like more attack stuff. So it's based on
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: like what the offense is doing, and then also what
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: type of guys we have are.
• 9:01
  Speaker 7: Still figuring that out, Like right before the snap, you're saying, Hey,
• 9:04
  Speaker 7: I'm gonna do this.
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: You do this?
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, interesting, Yeah, we we figured it out during the week.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: So on Saturdays actually we do presentation in the d
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: line room with each other and uh, you know, I'll
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: go over the guards, like Channel will go over the tackles,
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: Murph will do like a presentation on the center. We
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: talk about them as an individual. We talk about what
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: type of games work well on on which side on
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: certain guys, so that by the time we get to
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: the game, we kind of are already having these things
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: in our mind and expecting what could come out. And
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: then so then it just helps us roll a little faster.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: We know like where the center is going to slide,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: if he's sliding into the field or to the boundary
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: or away from the back to the back type of things.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Uh So then when we get out there, we're just like, Okay,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: we see the back on the right side, it's hot.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: On the left side. The left side has the games,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: and we know Exits and Texas are going to be
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: good on this side.
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: So then we just we get to it quick that the.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: Actual quarterback doesn't make as much of a difference because
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: I think in last week you had better at all
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: that this week you've got a guy who's made and starts.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: To the quarterback doesn't make a difference. Actually, So playing against.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: Like a guy like Party who's good at escaping the pocket,
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: there are certain times where we don't want to run
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: games where the end is going inside as much because
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: we know we can give up the edge to a
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: guy who can scramble pretty well, and in games like that,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: we kind of want more pressure up the middle to
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: get in Party's face.
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: He's a little bit shorter.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: He's not as tall as a quarterback, so pressure in
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: the middle for a shorter quarterback is going to affect
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: him a little more versus a guy like Rogers. We
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: think he can make every pass in the world. He's
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: a great quarterback, but when it comes to running the ball,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: he's lost the step. He's a little bit older, so
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: we weren't as worried about him scrambling and getting off
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: the spot and stuff like that. So I think this
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: past week we kind of like dialed up games a
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: little bit more because we weren't as worried about him running.
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: The ball to be worried about more than.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: I think it's just he's a young quarterback. I think
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: he's playing well, but at the same time, because he's young,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: I think we want to give him some different looks.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: We want to fluster him, get in his face. I
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: think he can scramble and he's making quick, decisive plays.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: He's looking he's looking great, don't get me wrong. But
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: at the same time, he's a young quarterback and I
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: think we can affect him.
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: Did you guys take that as a point of pride
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: at all up front? When they leave you in just
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: format and rush a lot like that, they trust you.
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: Guys could just got to do that that way.
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: I mean I think with the guys we have in
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: our room, a lot of times we're always like, hey,
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: don't call pressures, like let us rush, don't call games,
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: just let us get a one on one. But also
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: with knowing the type of guys we have, other teams
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: know what type of guys we have as well, So
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: offenses aren't just gonna get in a five man protection
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: and just let us rush.
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: They're gonna chip us.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: They're gonna do seven man protections, play actions and things
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: like that. So it makes our job harder and it
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: makes us have to work a little bit more together.
• 12:04
  Speaker 6: You have played for coaches that aren't masterminds, does it
• 12:07
  Speaker 6: make it a little tougher to trust and stay like
• 12:10
  Speaker 6: not freelance within a player assignment?
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: Uh?
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: I think just you know, I can't point out specific
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: coaches or systems or anything like that, but just from
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: my personal experience, there's been times where I played in
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: defenses where you know, I was scared to you know,
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: step in the wrong gap or make a mistake. And
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: you know that comes with like trust and in my
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: back level the guys behind me and the guys next
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: to me as well, playing off of each other. I
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: think that's what's been so fun for me playing here
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: is I've just been playing with so much freedom and
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: it just brought back the fun of football for me.
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: Is that.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: I mean, maybe it's a maybe it's oversimplifying, but you
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: talk about bringing back I mean, how much does that
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: contribute to the success you've been having when you're really
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: enjoying yourself.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: I mean I think it's eighty ninety per of it,
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: to be honest, just having fun out there and not
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: being worried about if the coaches trust, if I'm going
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: to do what I gotta do. If the guys behind me,
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: like EJ, are gonna trust it, I'm gonna be in
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: my spot. I think everyone knows what type of player
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: I am here. I'm here now, so uh, they allow
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: me to just play fast. With that freedom, it just
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: allows me to play fast. And I think when you
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: could play fast and take out the thinking, I think
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: that's when you play your best ball.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Surface feels a little out of left field, asked Mike
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: something similar. There was an article on ESPN on Monday
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: where Gino Smith said, you never really felt like he
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: fit in in this organization. You had a lot of
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: good times, but it just wasn't quite right. You go
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: way back with them in your jet stays. It's like
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: you guys are really close here. I'm just wondering if
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: you ever had any kind of indications that you felt
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: that way, or if you.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: Had a reaction.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: I didn't think. I didn't get any indication. I obviously
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: wasn't here with him that long. We had one full
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: year together last year, since my rookie year being around them.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: From my understanding, I thought he loved Pete Carroll and
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: loved playing with him and the team here and stuff
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: like that, and he's had success with playing with Pete Carroll.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: So yeah, that's all I really know about it, all right, Leo,
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: thank you, thank
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: You, thank you,