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Sam Darnold: "We're Excited About This Challenge" · Seahawks Press Pass

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  Speaker 1: Coming on guys. Good.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, obviously, you know going to the East Coast. Got
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  Speaker 2: a great opponent in Jacksonville. Obviously got to watch their
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  Speaker 2: game on Monday night. I felt like, you know, they
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  Speaker 2: played a complete team game in that game against a
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  Speaker 2: really good team in Kansas City. So, you know, we're
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  Speaker 2: excited about this challenge again. I feel like I say
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  Speaker 2: it every week now with the defenses that we're facing,
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  Speaker 2: but just another great defense that presents a lot of
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  Speaker 2: different problems and pressures, coverages and you know, the guys
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  Speaker 2: that they have tying it all together. So yeah, got
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  Speaker 2: a great challenge in front of us, and we're excited
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  Speaker 2: about the opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: You guys are going to focus.
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  Speaker 3: On ball security every week, but when you're facing the
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  Speaker 3: team that's taking them all away like they are, is
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  Speaker 3: there any.
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  Speaker 1: Added empisides or do you feel like you're kind of
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  Speaker 1: doing everything you need to every week anyway?
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  Speaker 2: No, we're always you know, we're always focused on ball security. Myself,
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  Speaker 2: protecting the football whether it's in the pocket, being smart
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  Speaker 2: outside the pocket, and just taking care of the football
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  Speaker 2: in general from myself, but also everyone has an offense,
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  Speaker 2: you know, even kick return, like everybody just forcing themselves
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  Speaker 2: to have have really good ball security, not just this
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  Speaker 2: week but every single week. But obviously they do a
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  Speaker 2: great job of taking the ball away and we know that.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, fourteen takeaways a pretty crazy number.
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  Speaker 3: What are they doing?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they do a great job when when
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  Speaker 2: ball carriers are out in space of punching the ball out,
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  Speaker 2: you know, just attacking the football. You know, you see
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  Speaker 2: them all over the tape just again like tying, tying
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  Speaker 2: their pressures and with their coverages understanding you know where
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  Speaker 2: you know, passes are where they're more vulnerable as a
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  Speaker 2: defense with their pressures, and I feel like their dbs
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  Speaker 2: and linebackers do a really good job of you know,
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  Speaker 2: getting into you know, getting.
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  Speaker 1: Into those certain spaces.
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  Speaker 2: And so they've been doing a really good job, like
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  Speaker 2: you said, of taking the ball away, and we're just
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  Speaker 2: going to continue to, you know, do our part to
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  Speaker 2: to limit those turnovers. Certainly shows up in the stats,
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  Speaker 2: but when you watch film, how does he show up
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  Speaker 2: on tape? Yeah, he's uh, he flies around. You know,
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  Speaker 2: he's a really good player. Both their backers are really good.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we got our hands full there, but again,
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  Speaker 2: they do a really good job and you know, making
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  Speaker 2: everything look the same, especially in their third down packages.
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  Speaker 3: You get a chance to watch a opponent you're about
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  Speaker 3: to face the other day, how do you watch the
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  Speaker 3: game off TV?
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  Speaker 1: What?
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  Speaker 2: What are you looking for? Yeah, it's a great question,
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  Speaker 2: right because you can't really see the back end of it.
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  Speaker 2: Uh you can't see you know, what's going on back there.
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  Speaker 2: But just uh, just how hard they play. I mean
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  Speaker 2: you can feel it, you know, come off the screen
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  Speaker 2: that way. And then you know, obviously you can tell
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  Speaker 2: they're really well coached, not only as a team, but
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  Speaker 2: you know, on their defense as well. Like I said,
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  Speaker 2: kind of you know, forcing the issue in terms of
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  Speaker 2: trying to take the ball away and just being being
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  Speaker 2: really disciplined in other areas of their game as well.
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  Speaker 1: What was your thoughts seeing that touchdown from Trevor at
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  Speaker 1: the end?
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  Speaker 2: Oh god, yeah, well I was, you know, uh, just
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  Speaker 2: watching it. I was thinking, get up and throw the
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  Speaker 2: ball away. But man, he did a great job of
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  Speaker 2: being able to get up and kind of scramble and
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  Speaker 2: find his way into the end zone. So we've seen
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  Speaker 2: you make some pretty impressive plays under pressure, including last week.
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  Speaker 1: What did you have to learn about.
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  Speaker 2: Feeling the pressure and when to escape and when to
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  Speaker 2: throw the ball away. Yeah, I think, you know, that's
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  Speaker 2: that's kind of the dichotomy I guess of playing the
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  Speaker 2: quarterback position is like when you when you have an
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  Speaker 2: opportunity to scramble and make a play, you know, you
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  Speaker 2: don't always have to make a play. You know, sometimes
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  Speaker 2: it's smarter, especially on first and second down, to just
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  Speaker 2: throw the ball away and let our team, you know,
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  Speaker 2: fight another down. And I think that's really important to understand.
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  Speaker 2: And so I'm always kind of fighting that the airs
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  Speaker 2: to try to go make a play, but also you know,
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  Speaker 2: letting our football team, you know, get to the next
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  Speaker 2: down without hurting ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: You guys are.
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  Speaker 3: Toward the top of the league and red zone efficiency,
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  Speaker 3: converting red zone chances to touchdowns. What's been working for
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  Speaker 3: you guys in the red zone?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think just execution.
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  Speaker 2: I know that's very very vague, maybe not the answer
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  Speaker 2: you wanted to hear, but I feel like all eleven
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  Speaker 2: guys just doing their job on that play, and I
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  Speaker 2: feel like we're very glued in. I feel like the
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  Speaker 2: coaches are doing a great job of you know, just
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  Speaker 2: installing and understand, you know, allowing us to understand the
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  Speaker 2: why behind every single play and what defenses were attacking.
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  Speaker 2: So I feel like not only all the players, but
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  Speaker 2: all the coaches as well are doing a great job
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  Speaker 2: with that. I think when you first got introduced as
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  Speaker 2: the QB here, you talked about those final two games
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  Speaker 2: in Minnesota, the Rams and.
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  Speaker 1: Then the Lions.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, kind of how you what you learned about you
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  Speaker 2: know yourself, I guess your game in those games.
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  Speaker 1: Do you learn anything from the Jacksonville game last year
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  Speaker 1: as well?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, I appreciate you bringing it up. No,
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  Speaker 2: uh no, that was a that was a tough game
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  Speaker 2: for sure. Again, I think just for me, just being disciplined,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I think that's what it comes down to.
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  Speaker 2: Being disciplined in my reads, understanding what coverages they're running,
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  Speaker 2: what they're trying to take away, and you know, understanding,
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  Speaker 2: you know, if one and two aren't there, just you know,
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  Speaker 2: being quick to get the ball down or get to
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  Speaker 2: my third third progression?
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  Speaker 1: Friend, is this defense from last year's with the new staff?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they do some different things, you know, some similar
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  Speaker 2: things as well. I mean it's uh, you know, all
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  Speaker 2: defenses are kind of not all of them are running
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  Speaker 2: similar things, but they're they're doing a lot of the
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  Speaker 2: same things, and I think just what makes us defense
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  Speaker 2: unique is you know, their ability to to be able
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  Speaker 2: to get to their pressures not only on third down,
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  Speaker 2: but in first and second down as well. So, uh,
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  Speaker 2: we just got to be prepared. And and that's what
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  Speaker 2: days like today are for.
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  Speaker 3: I know we asked you about quitting about Jackson every week,
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  Speaker 3: but given that you guys only played five games together,
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  Speaker 3: how much how much more can your relationship on the
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  Speaker 3: field grow, you know, and how much more can.
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  Speaker 1: You guys kind of get to you Oh, yeah, it can.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's it's always growing, you know, our relationship
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  Speaker 2: to be able to you know, play our best football,
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  Speaker 2: it's always you know, just the conversations that we just had,
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  Speaker 2: you know, at our walkthrough, you know, those conversations go
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  Speaker 2: a long way. They continue to help us out there
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  Speaker 2: on the field, and we're going to continue to grow
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  Speaker 2: as a you know, as a connection.
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  Speaker 1: You uh, you know, got.
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  Speaker 3: Run into the starting positions for the Bakings last year,
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  Speaker 3: had a lot of quick success, Clint Kubiak, you know,
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  Speaker 3: had a lot of quick success in New Orleans last year,
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  Speaker 3: and you guys are now having quick success together here.
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  Speaker 3: You know, a lot of teams take a while to
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  Speaker 3: get to that. Why why do you guys think you guys.
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  Speaker 1: Have clicked so soon.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's a lot of hard work that's put
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  Speaker 2: into the off season, not just by us, but everybody.
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  Speaker 2: You know in this building, defense included, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: guys on offense, the offensive line, tight ends, running backs, receivers.
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  Speaker 2: I can go down the down the list, the coaches
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  Speaker 2: as well. Like you know, there was a sense of
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  Speaker 2: urgency when we got here in March and April to
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  Speaker 2: be able to just put our best foot forward and
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  Speaker 2: do what's best for the team. And so when you
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  Speaker 2: don't have any ego involved in anything and you can
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  Speaker 2: just attack every single day and be honest with each
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  Speaker 2: other and you know, have that open conversation, open dialogue
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  Speaker 2: about you know what works, what maybe we can do better.
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  Speaker 2: You know, things kind of go a long way and
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  Speaker 2: they and they move fast. And I think just that
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  Speaker 2: sense of urgency that we had early in the in
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  Speaker 2: the off season helped us get off to this start,
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  Speaker 2: and we just got to keep it rolling by taking
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  Speaker 2: it one day at a time.
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  Speaker 3: Sam, how's your mind game?
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  Speaker 1: You averaging one hundred and fifteen y inch a game.
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  Speaker 1: How's that helping the fieldverall offense?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's that's a huge key to the
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  Speaker 2: offense is being able to get the run game going,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and continuing to push it, you know, even.
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  Speaker 1: Late late in the game as well.
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  Speaker 2: So, yeah, having a great run game is always gonna,
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  Speaker 2: you know, help our success as an offense. And uh,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we're we're just going to continue to work
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  Speaker 2: on that and do what we can days like today
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  Speaker 2: to continue to get better at that.
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  Speaker 1: You're one of the.
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  Speaker 3: Best sacked quarterbacks in the NFL this year in no
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  Speaker 3: sacks last week.
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  Speaker 2: But what can you say about the guys up front
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  Speaker 2: what they're doing past protection with Yeah, I think you know,
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  Speaker 2: I said it after the game, but or maybe last
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  Speaker 2: week in the presser, but just their communication that they've
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  Speaker 2: been having up front and to be able to hear
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  Speaker 2: that as a quarterback, it's very.
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  Speaker 1: Comforting, you know.
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  Speaker 2: And again, there's there's kinks that we're gonna work through
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  Speaker 2: every single week, but to be able to work through
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  Speaker 2: those kinks during the week and not on Sunday, I
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  Speaker 2: think that's the key. To be able to see every
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  Speaker 2: single look with every single protection that we have and
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  Speaker 2: be able to you know, figure out kind of the
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  Speaker 2: issues and the problems that we might have with the
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  Speaker 2: defense that we're playing. So you know, we we go
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  Speaker 2: through all that with a fine tooth comb and we're
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  Speaker 2: just going to continue to do that as an offense.
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  Speaker 1: And and just.
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  Speaker 2: The way that those guys have, you know, their relationship
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  Speaker 2: I think with with one another is really the the
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  Speaker 2: key thing that I see with everything is just those
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  Speaker 2: guys in that room are so close, and the closer
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  Speaker 2: that they get, the better that they're going to continue
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  Speaker 2: to play.
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  Speaker 3: Any games you guys lost had there was a couple
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  Speaker 3: of turnovers, and there's been a turnover at.
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  Speaker 1: Least one in every game. How do you guys get to.
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  Speaker 2: Zero in that in that met Yeah, I think, uh,
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  Speaker 2: you know, it's it's everybody you know, straining to finish.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's that's the biggest thing.
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  Speaker 2: I think the the you know, takeaways that you see
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  Speaker 2: on tape, especially with this team that we're playing, you know,
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  Speaker 2: they're they're teams going forward with the football and maybe
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  Speaker 2: guys in the back end or linemen that are you know,
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  Speaker 2: maybe trailing the play aren't necessarily running as hard because
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  Speaker 2: they think the play is over, the guy's just gonna
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  Speaker 2: go down. But sometimes when you're trailing, you know myself included,
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  Speaker 2: if I hand the ball off and I see Ken
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  Speaker 2: cut it back, I might be a little you know,
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  Speaker 2: I might be eager to kind of follow him just
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  Speaker 2: in case. So you know, it's just little effort every
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  Speaker 2: now and then, and and straining every single play. I
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  Speaker 2: think we'll we'll, uh, you know, help that number get
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  Speaker 2: to zero.
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  Speaker 3: A has already got as many touchdowns this year as
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  Speaker 3: he had all of last season. What is it about
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  Speaker 3: him being an option for you, Dann near the goal
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  Speaker 3: line that that brings and added something to.
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  Speaker 1: The offense for you get Yeah, it has been great.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, obviously there's there's a lot of focus on
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  Speaker 2: you know, guys like Jack's Coop Tory, and then you
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  Speaker 2: have a j kind of in there with the line
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  Speaker 2: and you know, certain guys guarding him. It's a He's
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  Speaker 2: a great weapon to have as a quarterback. And I
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  Speaker 2: think at the end of the day, like the ball
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  Speaker 2: is just finding him. You know, I'm gonna go through
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  Speaker 2: my progressions and do what I can to try to
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  Speaker 2: get the ball at the end zone no matter what,
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  Speaker 2: and the ball's fin him right now.
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  Speaker 3: On the on the direk play, did you feel like
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  Speaker 3: you had a free.
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  Speaker 2: Play on Sunday on which one roll and left there
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  Speaker 2: was a hole.
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  Speaker 3: I think there was some flag that you play free play.
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  Speaker 1: No, I was.
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  Speaker 2: I was keen to that just because I saw the
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  Speaker 2: I just saw the safety come down and cut the crosser,
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  Speaker 2: so I knew there was no one in the back end.
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  Speaker 1: So I thought.
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  Speaker 2: I knew Rieke was one on one, so I you know,
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  Speaker 2: he makes hundreds of plays out here all the time,
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  Speaker 2: and he made him a ton in the preseason, so
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  Speaker 2: I figured give Ric a shot, and you know, he
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  Speaker 2: made a play.
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  Speaker 1: It's awesome to see appreciate you guys.