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Sam Darnold On Preparing For Week 5, Offense's Progress Through Four Games · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: Good, good.
• 0:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, these last couple days, you know, stacking some good
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: days together, obviously preparing for a really good 49ers team. So,
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: you know, just doing everything that we can to prepare
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  Speaker 3: ourselves for Sunday and putting us in the best position.
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  Speaker 1: Their defense is, I think, best in the league at
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  Speaker 1: limiting explosives.
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  Speaker 2: What do you see that makes.
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  Speaker 3: Them so good at that?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, they do a really good job.
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  Speaker 3: I think, you know, obviously getting into the nitty-gritty, like
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  Speaker 3: just their backers, their– you know, their back end and
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  Speaker 3: then obviously their rush all being tied together. They do
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  Speaker 3: a really good job with that and really just keeping
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  Speaker 3: everything in front of them. And they do a really
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  Speaker 3: good job of tackling as well, which I think helps
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  Speaker 3: limit those explosives.
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  Speaker 4: You've got a team that limits explosives like that. How
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  Speaker 4: do you balance like being aggressive and not letting them
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  Speaker 4: just take it away with making sure you're taking what
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  Speaker 4: they give you?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, there's always, you always want
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  Speaker 3: to stay on schedule as a quarterback, right? Like first
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  Speaker 3: and second down, staying on schedule, keeping the ball moving
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  Speaker 3: forward and, you know, explosives will come. You never, I
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  Speaker 3: don't think you're ever really hunting explosives. They just kind
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  Speaker 3: of come naturally within the game plan. So that's going
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  Speaker 3: to be my mindset. That's going to be our mindset
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  Speaker 3: going out there.
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  Speaker 4: What have you seen out of Emmanuel Wilson since he
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  Speaker 4: kind of stepped in this bigger role?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, E-Man's been great, man.
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  Speaker 3: He's just really mature. I think that's the best way
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  Speaker 3: to say it. Like, he attacks every single day as
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  Speaker 3: its own. And, you know, he's never too high, never
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  Speaker 3: too low. If he's not sure about what to do.
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  Speaker 3: He's always asking questions, asking the right questions. But yeah,
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  Speaker 3: I would say he's just very mature and he's a
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  Speaker 3: really good leader for that group.
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  Speaker 1: What comes into play in the short yardage situations, particularly
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  Speaker 1: the design runs?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, a lot of time and
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  Speaker 3: effort is spent into, you know.
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  Speaker 2: Going over those plays.
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  Speaker 3: And for the coaches, like being able to game plan
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  Speaker 3: those plays, they do a really good job of all that.
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  Speaker 3: So again, it's up to us as players to go
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  Speaker 3: out there and execute and do our job every... not
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  Speaker 3: only on short yardage, but every single play.
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  Speaker 4: You tied for fourth most comebacks, fourth quarter, over time.
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  Speaker 4: What is the key as a quarterback and even demeanor
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  Speaker 4: in those situations?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, I think, I think first and foremost,
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  Speaker 2: it's really practicing it.
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  Speaker 3: I think we do a great job here in Seattle,
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  Speaker 3: Coach Mike, understanding how important situations are. And so just
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  Speaker 3: being able to practice those situations all the time really
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  Speaker 3: gives us an advantage that way and And then for
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  Speaker 3: me personally, like just understanding the situation, right? Like how
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  Speaker 3: many timeouts do we have? What's the, what's the time
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  Speaker 3: on the clock?
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  Speaker 2: Like, what do we need? Do we need a field goal?
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  Speaker 2: Do we need a touchdown?
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  Speaker 3: Like being able to factor all those things in and
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  Speaker 3: being able to weigh my options down the field. And
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  Speaker 3: if I don't like it, get it down, get it
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  Speaker 3: down to a check down. Obviously if the time, time
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  Speaker 3: lets us do that. So it's just, obviously there's a
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  Speaker 3: lot to think about, but again, we, we practice it
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  Speaker 3: so much that it becomes second nature and, But yeah,
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  Speaker 3: I've coached Mike to thank for that, you know, just
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  Speaker 3: for how much time we spend on it.
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  Speaker 4: It was reported that you're getting a little more, you've
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  Speaker 4: gotten a little more input in the offense and with
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  Speaker 4: Brian Fleury. How much of that is like about throws
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  Speaker 4: you like to make versus plays that you like to run?
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  Speaker 4: Just curious.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, there's a lot, obviously a
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  Speaker 3: lot that goes into game planning. And our coaches spend
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  Speaker 3: so much time watching film and going over things that, that,
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  Speaker 3: you know, their defense struggles with, or maybe our offense
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  Speaker 3: is really good at. And so there's like a good,
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  Speaker 3: there's a good balance that always comes between like, all right,
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  Speaker 3: what do we like to do? And what does their
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  Speaker 3: defense struggle, you know, covering or even in the run game, like,
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  Speaker 3: you know, what runs attack them.
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  Speaker 2: So it's, you know, there is a, there's a balance there.
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  Speaker 3: And I, I, you know, if, if we tend to
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  Speaker 3: lean one way or the other, you know, I just
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  Speaker 3: like to remind not only our coaches, but our players
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  Speaker 3: as well. Like, let's just, you know, continue to get
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  Speaker 3: back to the stuff that we like and that we
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  Speaker 3: know from, all the way in training camp and OTAs.
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  Speaker 1: Sam, they like to drop seven or eight back in coverage.
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  Speaker 2: They don't blitz a lot with Raheem Morris.
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  Speaker 1: As a quarterback, what are the biggest points of emphasis
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  Speaker 1: for you when you're playing against a team that is
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  Speaker 1: maximizing on the number of guys they have back in coverage?
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  Speaker 3: I would say they do a really good job of
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  Speaker 3: just mixing it up. Whether they drop eight, drop seven,
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  Speaker 3: rush five, drop defensive ends. Raheem and that staff, they
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  Speaker 3: do a really good job of making sure that they're
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  Speaker 3: keeping the offense off balance and they try to play
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  Speaker 3: defense from an attacking perspective, kind of like what we do.
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  Speaker 3: So I think as an offense, it's just, as a
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  Speaker 3: quarterback especially, it's about just understanding kind of what gives
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  Speaker 3: us trouble in every single play and being able to
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  Speaker 3: ask questions throughout the week and being able to understand
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  Speaker 3: where our outlets are in those plays.
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  Speaker 4: Back to the game plan question, your input, is it
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  Speaker 4: just a few plays a week?
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  Speaker 2: Is it a decent size amount? Yeah, I mean, I just.
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  Speaker 3: I really like to, you know, let our coaches do
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  Speaker 3: their thing, and I don't try to do too much.
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  Speaker 3: I just, if I see something, I'll say something. If
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  Speaker 3: I see something might be wrong with a play or,
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  Speaker 3: you know, someone doesn't necessarily like something, I'll just bring
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  Speaker 3: it up because, you know, there's no secrets in this building.
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  Speaker 3: You know, it's important for all of us to be
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  Speaker 3: able to communicate, and I try to do that every week.
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  Speaker 4: Your work you put in with Rashid Shaheed, I'm curious, like,
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  Speaker 4: how are you seeing that show up week to week,
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  Speaker 4: getting more comfortable with him, just, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, she's a he's a great dude. You know, he's
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  Speaker 3: he's an easy guy to work with. I think first
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  Speaker 3: and foremost, like he's he's just fun to be around, too.
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  Speaker 3: So it's easy to spend time with him. You know,
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  Speaker 3: it's just like all of our skill players, really our
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  Speaker 3: whole team, a lot of good dudes. And so whenever
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  Speaker 3: we get a chance to to, you know, talk about
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  Speaker 3: a route or even talk about life, like we always
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  Speaker 3: get that opportunity to just, you know, chop it.
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  Speaker 2: Up a little bit. And what have you thought about it? Zach,
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  Speaker 2: the first couple of days of him being back out
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  Speaker 2: there with you, we don't get to see it.
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  Speaker 4: So what's kind of the impression he gets to, he's
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  Speaker 4: made with you guys so far?
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  Speaker 3: He looks great. You know, he's, he's sharp. He's, he
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  Speaker 3: looks fresh, which he is. Um, but no, he looks
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  Speaker 3: really good, man. He, he's doing his thing.
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  Speaker 1: When you see Nick him and worry making plays from
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  Speaker 1: all over the field, both at practice and then what
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  Speaker 1: he did on the game. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, he's, he's a problem, right. For a lot
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  Speaker 3: of offenses. And he, uh, caused us a lot of
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  Speaker 3: problems in training camp. So I know it, uh, firsthand.
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  Speaker 3: So it's, uh, it's good to see him out there
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  Speaker 3: on our team.
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  Speaker 1: Well, how distracting would that be in the course of
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  Speaker 1: trying to game plan and identify? I would think that
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  Speaker 1: takes a fair amount of concentration when you're game planning.
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  Speaker 2: No doubt.
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  Speaker 3: You know, whenever you've got a guy like that who
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  Speaker 3: can play multiple positions and do a lot out there,
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  Speaker 3: it makes it tough game planning.
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  Speaker 4: What's your read on where the offense is right now
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  Speaker 4: four weeks in, and would you like to see it step.
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  Speaker 2: Forward a little bit?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, for us it's, you know,
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  Speaker 3: continuing to, you know, I think the details are, you know,
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  Speaker 3: that's kind of what we're always chasing. We always got
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  Speaker 3: to be more detailed. And, you know, we're always going
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  Speaker 3: to chase that, you know, all the way to the end.
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  Speaker 3: But I think for us too, especially for myself, like
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  Speaker 3: the turnovers, like being able to protect the football, you know, because,
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  Speaker 3: you know, when you're protecting the football, you always got
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  Speaker 3: a chance in this league and in these games. So
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  Speaker 3: for me, I got to protect the football a little
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  Speaker 3: bit better. And as an offense, I think we just
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  Speaker 3: got to continue to chase those details as we do
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  Speaker 3: every single week.
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  Speaker 1: I've got a question about communication with the coordinator in
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  Speaker 1: between plays. I guess they're not conversations because they're one way,
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  Speaker 1: but what is being said before the actual play is called?
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  Speaker 3: It's a great question because a lot of coordinators are different.
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  Speaker 3: For us, me and Brian continuing to get to know
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  Speaker 3: each other, how much information do I really want pre-snap?
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  Speaker 3: For us, it's really just talking about the play that
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  Speaker 3: we're running. If there's a certain look that we're chasing
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  Speaker 3: but you know for the most part like we talk
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  Speaker 3: about all these things throughout the week so a lot
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  Speaker 3: of it's you know when he calls the play I
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  Speaker 3: already know exactly what he's kind of thinking so but
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  Speaker 3: yeah you know special situations too like when we get
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  Speaker 3: to two minutes and stuff he does a really good
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  Speaker 3: job of communicating with me kind of what we're thinking
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  Speaker 3: you know where maybe where like the kick line is
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  Speaker 3: like if we're you know on the 50 like how
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  Speaker 3: many yards we need to to get a field goal
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  Speaker 3: so um you know that's kind of what we're always
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  Speaker 3: chasing as a you know, communication between offensive coordinator and quarterback.
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  Speaker 1: And that always happens before the play is called, I imagine, right?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you know, most of the time there's
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  Speaker 3: no conversation there. It's just he's communicating the play to me. But, again,
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  Speaker 3: like special situations, he'll say something.
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  Speaker 4: Where is he on the spectrum of the coordinators you've
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  Speaker 4: had in the league that talk and not talk and
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  Speaker 4: quiet or minimal?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, like I said, you know, with him, it's,
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  Speaker 3: you know, a lot of coordinators I would say don't
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  Speaker 3: talk a lot. You know, it's really just getting the
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  Speaker 3: play in and out because there's only so much time to,
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  Speaker 3: be able to get the play in. And I know
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  Speaker 3: that he's thinking so much about what play he wants
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  Speaker 3: to call and who knows how long that takes. So
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  Speaker 3: once he gets the play in, it's like, we're rolling,
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  Speaker 3: you know, and there's not a whole lot of time
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  Speaker 3: to chit chat, but, um, yeah, I would say most coordinators, um,
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  Speaker 3: I feel like are very, just get the plan and out.
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  Speaker 3: And then, like I said, special situations.
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  Speaker 1: Does he ever ask you like, Hey, do you like
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: this here?
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  Speaker 2: And you like, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Uh, I mean, you know, there's sometimes on the field, um,
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  Speaker 3: where we might communicate that way, but all those, all
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  Speaker 3: those details, I'm probably not going to tell you guys,
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  Speaker 3: but there are, you know, there's some, there's sometimes where,
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  Speaker 3: you know, we're communicating on the field or he's trying
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  Speaker 3: to talk to me and then I'm trying to talk
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  Speaker 3: back to him. We'll see how long it takes for
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  Speaker 3: the quarterbacks to get a little button that we can
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  Speaker 3: talk to the, to the coordinator. I'm not sure, you know,
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  Speaker 3: how many coordinators would love that, but you know, that,
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  Speaker 3: that might be something in the future.
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  Speaker 1: Chris, what do you have?
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  Speaker 4: 49ers stunt more than any other defense. How much is
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: that something that you pay attention to versus just leaving
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: that to Jalen and the line?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's always, you know, taking care of
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: stunts and taking care of the defensive line. Like, that's
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  Speaker 3: always something that the offensive line does a really good
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  Speaker 3: job at throughout the week. That's something that I can't
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  Speaker 3: really worry about as a quarterback. But, again, that's a
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  Speaker 3: credit to their defense. Like, getting offenses and second and
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  Speaker 3: longs and these drafts back situations, third and longs to where,
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  Speaker 3: you know, they can kind of work their stunts and
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: put more guys in coverage.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: What do you feel like about Rashida at the backfield?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, he's just a weapon, kind of like Nick,
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: you know, on our defense. He's a guy that you
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  Speaker 3: can put in a ton of spots and, you know,
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  Speaker 3: use in a lot of ways.
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  Speaker 1: How do you see defenses– Responding to that, because obviously
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Jackson's played a fair amount out of the backfield running
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  Speaker 1: routes and stuff too.
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  Speaker 2: How do you see.
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  Speaker 1: Defenses alter that when you've got one of those guys
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  Speaker 1: back there rather than.
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  Speaker 2: A running back? It's up to them.
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  Speaker 3: Whether they want to have a check or two plays
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  Speaker 3: called or get to a certain thing when she's back there.
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  Speaker 3: At the end of the day, we have a plan
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  Speaker 3: for it all and we go from there.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you.