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Sam Darnold: "There's Something Special About This Team" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Good.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Obviously, uh, ready to go for this one, you know,
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: obviously coming off last week, just you know, the emphasis
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: I guess this week would just be you know, continuing
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: to be efficient and be ourselves as an offense throughout
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: the entire game, and that really starts in practice with
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: our prep. But again just looking at these guys, you know,
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: a really good team, really good defense, you know, really
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: good scheme and their players, like I always kind of say,
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: but especially this week, you know, they kind of make
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: it come to life with the scheme that they have.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: And you know, we're excited about the challenge.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: The defense because totally yards allowed for a game looks
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: like it's up there.
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: But they're not a.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Lot of a whole lot in their run, right, Yeah,
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: I think you know, for us, it's just about going
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: out there understanding, you know, what they're in, you know, dissecting,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: communicating and rolling from there. Is there something that they
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: change on that front though that makes it more difficult
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: to run against. You know, they do a lot of
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: good things defense, you know, not just in the ring game,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: but in the past game as well. So you know,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: there's there's certain things that we just got to be
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: ready for and we will be.
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: You mentioned want to start faster.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: Obviously it didn't know the where you wanted last week.
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: But how encouraging is it that we've seen multiple times
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: this year, whether first or second half, the way this
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: team can score in a hurry and you know, thirty
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: point halfs I think four different times.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's you know, it's encouraging.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: You know, we're going to continue to harp on the
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: fact that, you know, if we can do it in
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: a half, why can't we do it all game kind
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: of thing?
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: So we just got to, you know, continue.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: To put together a very consistent four quarters of football,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: and you know we're working towards that, and we'll be
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: looking forward to to doing that hopefully this Sunday.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: On the field goal.
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: Drive you guys got right before halftime, the last play,
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: I think you had no timeouts left in eight seconds,
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: so seems like the only option is to throw to
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: the sideline. I imagine the defense knows that, and you
• 1:52
  Speaker 5: still get it. What's the key to finding a completion
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: like that when you imagine that the defense.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Knows it's coming.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's just practicing those scenarios for me,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: like understanding the kicker that we have you know where
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: where our field goal line is and understanding that, you know,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: if we don't necessarily need those five yards ten yards
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: to get a little bit closer, I just need to
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: be good about throwing it away and being good in
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: that situation and understanding it. And again, like you just mentioned,
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: like understanding kind of the defense that they're in. And
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: you know, once I you know, think that, you know,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: we might not be able to get the playoff or
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: they might tackle us in bounds to just throw it,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: throw it out of bounce for you get the.
• 2:29
  Speaker 6: Three rushing the tamps? What are up for you did
• 2:32
  Speaker 6: you see in terms of lanes and how does that
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: help the terms standing drive?
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think just you know, understanding kind of the
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: time clock in my own head and going through my
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: progressions and being a football player, you know, just going
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: out there and you know, if if I feel like
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: the pocket may be collapsing and I can't run around,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: maybe just being able to find a safe spot to
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: throw it away. But if I feel like I have
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: time in the pocket and you know, I'm just kind
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: of going through my progression and nothing's there, then I'm
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: able to make a play and get out of the
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: pocket a little bit. So I think that's what you
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: guys saw on Sunday.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: The last touchdown that Jackson in that game.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Were you kind of were you thinking about running there
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: and then you saw him or were you just trying
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: to kind of run to create something or.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was just moving forward in the pocket, you know,
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: trying to again just extended down a little bit, you know,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: and Jacks did a really good job of kind of
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: showing up for me there. Aj also did a really
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: good job he was wide opening the end zone as well.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: But yeah, trying to trying to I guess, you know,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: having the linebacker there as the whole player, just understanding that,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: you know, if he takes Jacks away, then I'm gonna
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: be able to walk in for a touchdown. And if
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: he doesn't, then I'll be able to just dish it
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: off to Jack's right there like I did.
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: How often do you pick something up from film that
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: you watch for yourself from a past game that ends
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: up being useful to to what you're doing doing in
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: the future.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, all the time, you know, I think, just understanding
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: that defenses are consistently watching my tape and understanding kind
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: of my tendencies of just picking up on little things
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: that I do every now and then and learning from it.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: You know. It's just like you know, the first you know,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: a few years of my career, you know, not necessarily
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: going the way that I want, but learning from those
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: experiences and making sure that they don't hurt me in
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: the future.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: What's the first thing that you look at when you
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: go back to look at your film from the previous week.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: I think it's just execution, you know, looking at kind
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: of the plays where I felt like, you know, I
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: maybe felt something, and then on the field it was
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: a different story. So yeah, just I think execution from
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: you know, my point of view, understanding how I can
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: be better, and just kind of going from there.
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: When you were a.
• 4:39
  Speaker 6: Young quarterback growing up, what did you take away from
• 4:41
  Speaker 6: Philip Rivers game?
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Philip Man, he's a He's a great player, an
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: all time player, you know, I think just one of
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: those guys that, you know, he wasn't necessarily known as
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: the most mobile guy, but he could just kind of
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: hang around in the pos can't make plays, and he
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: was really really good at dissecting defenses, understanding what they're
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: in before they're even in it. You know, pre snap
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: and yeah, it's you know he was especially being close
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: to my home being in San Diego for his you know,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: most of his career.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: You know, it was really it was really cool to
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: be able to watch.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Him, uh, you know growing up and uh, now you know,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: maybe play against him again.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: It's gonna be a great opportunity for us.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: Sam.
• 5:26
  Speaker 6: Where the down marker is when you're extending plays something
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: that team's practice. Well obviously as a quarterback, as you
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: come through that becomes something your awhere, how does that
• 5:36
  Speaker 6: become second nature.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: To Yeah, it's uh, it's something that you you continue
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: to learn as you go. You know, just kind of
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: where the down marker is and understanding, you know, where
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: the line of scrimmage is first of all to be
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: able to throw the ball or maybe tuck it and run.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: But then yeah, once you get going, you kind of
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: periff where the where the down marker is, using your
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: peripherals to kind of see where the marker is, is,
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: how much you need for a first down, stuff like
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: that before you got to get down. So there's a
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: lot of things that you can pick up on and
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: learn throughout the years of playing football.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: Cooper was talking yesterday about like one of the things
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: he's noticed on really good teams is how guys do
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: the things that don't show up on the stat sheets
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: different things. And obviously he's one of those guys. But
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: what have you got a sense that on this team
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: that there's a lot of guys who put in those
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: kind of.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Efforts for sure, Yeah, there's a lot of guys that
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: that don't care about stats. They just want to win.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: That's all of our guys on this team. You know,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: It's it's very rare, but it's it's something special about
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: this team, like like Coop had mentioned, But.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's there's a ton of them.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: The the one group that sticks out to me with
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: that is the offensive line, right because I feel like
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: the only time.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: They get you know, uh.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: They get any type of attention is when it's bad,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: you know, whether it's a false start, you know, the
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: announcers calling their name, uh you know, and then sacks
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: those show up in the stat sheet, but there's nothing
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: that really shows up unless it's like a big running
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: game and or you don't have any sacks on the game.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: But like there's there's nothing really where they get like
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: a ton of praise and so I think those guys
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: just the unselfishness in that room is unlike any other.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: So many like outspoken leaders on the defensive side of
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: the ball the offense, A lot of you guys are
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: kind of quieter leaders when the offense needs, you know,
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: a word. Who are the people that that kind of
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: speaks up?
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, No, there's a there's a lot of guys that
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: are able to speak up, and they speak up in
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: rooms where people aren't necessarily their cameras aren't there. So yeah,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: we got a we got a really good group of
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: guys in the offensive room that you know, have a
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: lot of leadership. But there's a lot of guys also
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: that just like to put their head down and go
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: to work and I'll always you know, be able to
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: play football.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Guys like that. She's been here a month and change. Now,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: how has that process.
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: Kind of gone for you? Trying to get a new
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: guy up to speed mid season and kind of where
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: do you feel that relationship is now that you've had
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: a chance to see how he moves and stuff and
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: kind of figure that all out.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, No, she's been great, you know, throughout the entire
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: time that we've had him here, just learning the system. Obviously,
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: being with Clint last year helps it helps a ton,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: But no, he's whenever I see him, he's always kind
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: of studying or asking questions about, you know, the game plan,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: so he's always on top of things.
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: Can you help us understand the difference between pure progression
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: reads and coverage reads.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so, I mean pure progression reads are It's really
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: most of the NFL is pure progression reads.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: The other one is.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Just like some you know split you know split reads,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: so like one one side of the field is versus
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: a certain coverage, the other side is for another coverage.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: But pure progression is really just using the whole field
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: and all receivers just built into the progression so that
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: you can just kind of click through it.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: And so when we say pere.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Progression reads, it just means going one to two to
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: three to four to your back essentially.
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: Does it sort of simplify things for the quarterback.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: In real time? Yeah? It does.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: You know, again, it's not it's not how we do
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: things all the time here, but it definitely it helps.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: You know, when when you got teams that are you know,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: disguising coverages really well, you know, you can just kind of.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Click through your progressions that way.
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: You've heard people say, get rid of the ball faster.
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: You've heard people say just take a sack. You've heard
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: people say just run the ball. Besides probably being annoying
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: to hear all those things, like how do you and
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: the that split second kind of assess all those different
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: options and how do you how do you like get
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: better and how you.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Look to do it. Yeah, I think it's washing tape.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: I think it's kind of grown from you know, what
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: you feel or what you see on the field and
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: how you see it on the tape, and how you
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: can develop kind of that skill of that feel of
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: kind of understanding different situations and understanding the weight of
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: that pre snap, but then just going out there and
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: playing football, because at the end of the day, like
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: you can't be thinking about all that, you know, while
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: the ball's getting snapped and while you're you know, trying
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: to evade rushers and going through your progressions like.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: We just talked about.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: So it's a yeah, it's definitely something that's a learned skill.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: But you know, again for kids and for me, you know,
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: people that have played football there entire lives, you know,
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: it's you have an innate ability to to just go
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: out there and make plays. But again, like like I said,
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: it's sometimes you don't need to go make a play.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Sometimes you just need to throw the ball away or live,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: you know, for the next down.
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: Was always kind of known for having a lot of
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: kind of goofy farm angles at times and kind of
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: get rid of well as a quarterback. Do you did
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: you ever try to copy that?
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: I didn't know if I you know, if I ever
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: tried to copy it, I feel like my friends would
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: kind of you know, uh, you know, give me some
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: backlash or make fun of me a little bit. So
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing, you know, the only time
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: I really felt like I was thrown like him was.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: If I had a really really big football.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: And I was a little kid, and I felt like
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: that was the only way I could actually get rid
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: of it.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: But no, he's dude.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, you watch his you watch all of his
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: tape that he's you know, had throughout his career. He's
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: he's made at work, and it's unbelievable the way that
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: he throws the football, and you know how accurate and
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: how how much arm strength he has, you know, with
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: that funky release, you.
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: Get a call at age forty four to come back
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: and play, would you.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: I don't know, man, that's ah.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: I'll probably answer that question, uh, you know, in fifteen
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: years or so when that comes up. But it'd be
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: hard to say. I mean, especially with how many kids
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: he has. You know, it's it's it's definitely ah. It's interesting, man.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: But I mean that's a guy who just loves football.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: And you know, there's you know, when you're when you're
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: out of it for four or five years and you
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: get that call.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Shoot, I don't know.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: I might be in the same boat, just you know,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: depending on where my body is and what I'm thinking
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: at that time.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: But that's a great question.
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: Have you had a number in mind in terms of
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: like how long you want to play?
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: I think about it every now and then, but I
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: don't have a you know, one number where I'm like, oh,
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: this is when I want to stop playing football. You know,
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: I'm just again right now, like just being in the moment,
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: I'm I'm very very happy and very grateful that I
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: get to just play football every single day. I get
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: to be in that locker room every single day with
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: the boys, Like there's no greater feeling than than playing
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: this game, and you know, I'll do it for as
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: long as I can, or as long as my fiance
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: or wife you know, at some point, uh you know
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: says otherwise.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Appreciate it, guys.
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: Sexs