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Jaxon Smith-Njigba: "I Love The Culture That We're Building Here" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Win.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: So everyone assumes that a guy in the receiver position
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: is putting up all these numbers and then has a
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: bad you know, a game where you don't get as
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: many numbers, gets upset about it. How do you react
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: to a game like that.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: I'm definitely happy with our guys. I'm proud of our guys,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: and we went out there and won twenty six to zero.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: We're entering championship football, and you know, at this time
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: it's about winning.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: So I'm happy with the win.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I know there's things to get better on, as I
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: say every week, and so just attacking that and making
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: sure we win, you know, that's like I said, that's
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: all that matters.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: See that number of blazes is like fun. But when
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: you see that last week and you know you're gonna see.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: It again this week, is it easy to detect or
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: dissect or anything like that. Yeah, I mean we have
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: work to do. We have work to do, and you know,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: that's just what comes with it. You know, they they
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: played a played a good game, and I felt like
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: we responded well throughout the game. So it's just something
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: that we have to work on as a unit and
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: to make sure we're protecting all ins and executing at
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, playing offense, are you seeing
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: week over.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Week teams doing more and more different things to try
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: to slow you down or just very defensive defense.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Mm?
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you would say that week to week.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: I'm sure they you know, are definitely having discussions about it,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: and I'm sure it's a point of emphasis for them.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, you know, they
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: have to guard us, and we have a lot of
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: threats out there, and we have Sam who's been playing
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: really well, so you know, we're gonna trust him to
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: make the best decisions for us and put us in
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the spots and guys be in their spots and be
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: ready to make a play when their names called.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Second adjustments seemed to work.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Is the first half?
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: What doest those quick adjustments?
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's everything, you know, That's that's real football,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: real championship football, you know, being able to adjust, you know,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: on the move. And I think our guys, like I said,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: responded well. And we have the coaches to see things
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: out and give us, you know, clear line communications, so
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: it's just up to us to get it done.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: It sounds like halftime in the NFL is pretty chaotic
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: because it's so.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Like rushed and everything.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: What is that like, who's who's imagine someone's up on
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: the whiteboard?
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Is that the offensive coordinator? Like? What does that look like?
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, we're all gathered around. We're all gathered around,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: you know, do what you gotta do to be ready
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: for the second half. But we're communicating, talking to one
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: another given the halftime game plan, you know, so to
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: so to say, so, you know, just all of us
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: together talking and communicating, understanding you know, our mission in
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the second half.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: Jason Myers is a Special Teams Player of the Month.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: And we don't talk to him very often.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I do, I do, Jason. You know
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: he's he's more on the quiet side. But you're the
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: great dude. Love love the guy. You know, we talked
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: about you know, San Diego and golf and stuff like that.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: But yeah, real nice, real nice guy. You know, happy
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: for him, especially just coming in to clutch like he does.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: You know, it's awesome to have number five out there.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: You know he's gonna you know, clean up the mess
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: and you know he's definitely a pro bowler, all pro
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: and we're lucky to have him. For sure. Me never, No,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: I know it wouldn't go well. I used to hold
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: for the field goal.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: A long long time.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Ago, but kicking the ball is not my thing. Yeah,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: high school, sir, oh, I did everything. I did everything
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: I was on except except kicking exactly. Do you uh
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: wanna throw another pass in Atlanta.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Or do I want to? Mm? Yeah I do, Yeah,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: yeah I do.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: I do wanna wanna maybe chunk one down the field?
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: What I remember? I remember, you know, just really saying
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: if it, throw it up. You know what I'm saying.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: I really just said it, throw it up and let
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: one of my guys make a play. You know, I
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: told him if you if you call it, I'm gonna
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: throw the ball.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah I was.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: I guess I was immature back then, but but yeah,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: yeah it would be cool to you know, come back
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: to that.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: Jackson, your your brother obviously a professional athlete. I wonder
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: when you were younger and he was starting.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: Out in pro baseball were the things.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: That you saw him do that kind of helped you
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: you started to get more of the like college and
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: now into the pro game, and then how does he
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: help you now? As a as a professional athlete.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think playing a different sport. It's He definitely
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: gave me the perspective of, you know, keep swinging. You know,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: it's it's baseball. They play every single day. It's a
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: very tough sport. You know, if you hit three out
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: of ten, you know you're Hall of Famer. So just
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: really he taught me just being you know, where your
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: feet are, and you know, process over results kind of
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: in his own way. And it's definitely a I took
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: it as an advantage just to you know, pick his
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: mind and you know, to be able to see his
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: career and how he went about it, the draft process
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: and all that was definitely made it kind of easier
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: to understand what I need to get done. It's been
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: like for you.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: To have him hear in Seattle sometimes, right, Yeah, Oh yeah.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: That's been awesome. It's been awesome. You know, he makes
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: he does make life easier. I'll tell you that. You know,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: anybody who caused my phone, I'll tell him. They just
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: you know, talk to him and he handles it. And
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: it's been a He's been a real big help.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: I would say I have a great team around me.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: For me to be able to focus on ball and
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: to pour everything I have into this, which was, you know,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: which is what I want to do. And so to
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: be able to have family and you know, great partnerships too,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: for me to live out my dream has been awesome.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: This is the first time you've been on the team,
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: at least in Seattle. That's you know, one nine years
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: at this point, nine and three at this point. What
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: do you feel like the main difference is between like
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: how you guys are playing this year and how you
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: guys are playing previous years.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say there's a lot of things different.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of things different. One, you know, the camaraderie,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: you know, you know, how we go about each other,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: how we approach the game and you know, leave it
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: all on the line, make sure you know you have
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: your brother's back. And I think that's you know, very key.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: You know, all the best teams I've been on, you know,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: has had that you know brotherhood, and it's it's definitely
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: cool to see where it has transformed from you know
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: a year or even you know, in the spring. So
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: you know, to have that, I think it's key. I
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: think it's key, and you know, clear line of communication.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: I think that opens the door for great communication talks
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: and being able to look, you know, your teammate and
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: the eye or coaching an eye and said, this is
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: what I expect from you and being able to get
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: it done, you know, for the next guy. So I
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: love the culture you know that we're building here. I
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: think it's awesome. It's a privilege to be a part
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: of it.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: The locker room percent.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: One thousand percent, one thousand percent. Anytime you know we
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: can get together, you know we're gonna get together, and
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: you know you can see you know, people just setting
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: up you know, setting up more settings for us to
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: be at and you know, to take advantage of a
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: special time that we all feel, you know is a
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: special time to you know, be great and you know,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: be here for one another and push this push you know,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: what we believe in onto you know, a great city.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: And yeah, what do you think is different this year?
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, just for it being coach McDonald's
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: second year. I think what he built from our first
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: year is just growing and you know, being able to
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: see you know, what we're about, you know, put up
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: in front of you, you know, chasing edges, you know,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: mob tie, something that we have built, you know, all
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: those things, you know, being able to just build on
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: that and everybody just.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Understanding the mission.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: You know, when you have a lot of guys understanding
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: the mission and going forward, it's a lot easier.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Came up with the the mom.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Uh the leader leadership leadership did we call it leadership council?
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Just getting together and it it was really a team thing,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: something that you know bonds us. You know, mission over bullshit,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: and you know that's what we're about, just going forward
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: and winning and all the other stuff is we'll leave
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: that alone. You know, we're we're focused on the mission
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: and you know it's awesome to do it with these
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: guys in this building.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: Do you love the culture that you guys are building here?
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: If you were to explain to somebody that doesn't know
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: anything about what the culture.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Is, how do you explain it to them?
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: I would explain, you know, it's a brotherhood. It's something
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: that we built from the ground up. It's something that
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: like Seattle is very you know, if you will off
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the map, So the t togetherness when we travel, when
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: we go places, you know, it's protected team. It's to
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: protect the brotherhood and and we really stand on that.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: We really believe that, and it shows every single day.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: So if you're not really here, you know, maybe it's
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: hard to see. But if you're here every single day,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: you don't understand what I'm talking about.
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: It's probably difficult to like quantify exactly.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: But how do you think that helps you, like on
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: the field? For me?
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: You know, for me, I play at my best when
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: I'm playing for others, when I'm playing for Sam and
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: the old Line and Coach Kobiak and Coop and guys
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: like that. You know, when I kind of center it
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: on myself, it kind of becomes a lot. And you know,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: not that I probably can't do it, it's just for
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: me and the way I see my results. It's about
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: me putting my energy into the team and the team effort.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: And you know that's kind of you know, what we
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: built here.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: We heard so when you guys said, we have each
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: other's back roun like you said a minute ago, we're
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: all on the same mission. Was it almost natural that
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: it kind of come naturally you guys, or was it
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: something hard to.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Work at sort of thing, or it's something that you
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: can easily fake, something that can easily be said and okay,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: he said it.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's you know who cares.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: But it's another it's another thing to go about it
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: every single day. And I think the leadership starts with
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: them and even the guys that we bring in the rookies,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: just the culture that they're bringing. Like we listen to
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: each other, you know, we, like I said, we understand we.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: Have something special.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: So just to protect that and move forward is something
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: that we're all on the same page on a.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: Lot of receivers get the reputation kind of being divas
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: and making about them. You just talk about how much
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: that's not who you want to be. Where does that
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: come from? Where did you?
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: Why are you different that way? Mama, I would say,
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: just growing up.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: I love playing with great players, and I love I
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: understand you know where winning can take you, and I
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: understand that this is the ultimate team sport, you know,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, And you know, somebody has to snap
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: the ball, and you have to throw, and you have
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: to get stops. You gotta I sit on the bench,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: you know, half of the game. So putting trust in
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: others is and putting trust and love into others is
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: something that you know, not only on the field, but
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: off the field, you know, I live by so m M.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: It's just kind of who I am as a person,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Brighton Hart, Like, what kind of head coach?
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Oh man, it's going to be exciting, young, energetic, moving coach.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm very happy for him. Haven't been able
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: to call him so but if he sees this, I'm
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: excited for him in his new step. You know, he
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: was awesome in my development and a bunch of development
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: uh players, young players that you know came through Ohio State.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: So I know he's going to do great things there
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: and I'm excited to you know, root for him and
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: watch him
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Anything else, like