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Jaxon Smith-Njigba: "We Can Always Count On Our Defense" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Good to see you guys. What a game. All glory
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: to God. It's great to be here with a new season,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: new team. Energy was great. Shout out to the 12.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: What an incredible game. I think a testament to our team.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Just having each other's back, offense, special teams, defense, never wavering.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Understanding that it's a four-quarter game, and that's why I
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: love this team so much, and I'm super proud of them.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: jackson obviously sam going out that quickly was a big
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: hit how did you guys handle that and how did
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: you get behind yeah yeah it's tough it's tough losing
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: 14 i mean he's the the head of the snake
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: but we have each other's backs like i said you
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: know we fully trust in drew lock to come in
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: and do his thing um done it time and time
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: again so um we just have to have each other's
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: back like i like i'm saying and um And like
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: I said, I'm just super proud of everybody. Can you
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: talk about the play call from Brian Fleury on fourth
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: down and what happened on that play? Yeah, I was
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: happy it was a pass play. And they thought it
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: was a run. I believe they sent a blitz. My
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: job was to find the zone, and Drew did a
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: great job finding me. And then after that, just do
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: what I do, just, you know, try to get upfield,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: protect the ball, and great upfield blocking by our tight ends.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: That's something that we preach heavily each week. We call
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: it eat, and it showed up to life. Jack, what
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: was Drew like in the huddle tonight? Very confident. Drew's
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: a ball player. I mean, you know, he comes in
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: and demands the huddle, and he wants to sling, throw
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: the ball around. So, like I said, full confidence in two.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: When your defense makes that play to win the game
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: and you have to watch out the sideline, they've done
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: that a lot. So how unsurprising was it and what
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: was kind of your response to seeing that? Oh, man,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's something I was praying to see on
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: the sideline and it came to fruition. And, man. They
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: had our backs, you know, right there. We can always
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: count on our defense, best defense in the league, just
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: hard nose. And I'm super happy for Joe, excited. I
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: was happy to see him go attack the ball and
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: keep his feet in, look like a receiver out there. Jackson,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: a number of procedure penalties for you guys tonight during
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: the game, you know, stuff about ball plays and such.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: How did you kind of see you guys work through
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: that and still find a way to be able to
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: come out with one in the end? Yeah, that's on us.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: That's on the players. That's on the offense. You know,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: I'll take accountability for that. You know, we have to
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: be better. We have to be better. No ifs, ands,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: or buts. No excuses. But first game, we'll grow from this,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: and we'll watch the film and learn where we can
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: get better, and that's how the great teams become great.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: How big was the belief you guys have built over
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: the last couple of years coming to play a game
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: like Oh, man, huge belief. Like, going into the game,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: I know our defense is going to give us the
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: ball and give us opportunities, and that's the best feeling,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: you know, to be, for me, in the offense, just
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: having that belief that, you know, defense has our back.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Special teams are going to go out there and do
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: their job. It's not all on me. We have Cooper
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Cupp making big plays. We have Shee making big plays.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: The young rookie was towing the rock tonight, and, you know,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: it's a team effort, and, you That's what gives me
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: the calmness and the spirit to just go out there
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: and just do what I do. You go against Josh
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Jobe and Nehemiah Pritchett in practice, and not as many
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: people know those names. Can you talk about what they
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: bring to the game? Oh, man. Going against the defense,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: you know, all the camp, it was hell, especially going
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: against Josh Jobe and his press technique and his just–
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: his awareness of the game and the position that he
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: plays on the other side. He got spooned. Nehemiah Pritchard
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: had a hell of a game today coming up with
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: a big-time pick leading to a score. So, you know,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: going against them just makes our offense and me a
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: ton better. And so I'm happy those guys are Seahawks
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: for sure. Jax, I don't know where you were on
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: the sideline, but the hit Julian had to start the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: second half on Hunter, like what did that do for
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: the sideline for you? Oh, electric, electric. I mean, we
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: want to feed the crowd big plays, and we want
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: the crowd on our side. We have the best fans
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: in the world, so we have to use them. And whenever,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: you know, you get a chance to pump up the
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: crowd and make a big play and let the other
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: team know, it's a benefit for us. I apologize if
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: you were asked this, but the fourth and one, that's
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: a situation where a lot of times you guys go
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: to the A.J. Barner tush push. What did you think
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: of the decision to put the ball in Drew's hands there?
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Like I said... I love throwing the ball on fourth
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: and short and third and short. There's a lot of
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: space out there, and I think Jude, like I said,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: did an incredible job just finding me and making the
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: right play. What was the message at halftime? The message
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: at halftime was, man, we knew coming in it was
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: going to be a four-quarter game, and that's a... That's
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: who we are. Like, we're going to fight. Like, we
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: know it's going to be a dogfight, and we love it.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: And whatever it looks like in the first half, second quarter, like,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: we're going to make it right. We're going to keep
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: fighting until, you know, the clock hits– triple zero so
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: um so i was just happy to to see that
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: and to see that continue going forward this year we've
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: got a lot of guys who got 10 at one
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: point what does it say about this team like i
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: said i mean we we don't waver we don't run
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: from adversity um that's just not the guys that we
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: are that's not who this team is we we love
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: it we make it right we just fight play after
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: play after play like this is a dog fight and
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: and we know that and you know We're a group
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: of guys that keep our heads down and then look up,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: like I said, when it's triple zeros on the clock,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: and it's been good for us. What should people know
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: about Drew Locke as a player and a competitor? He's
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: a playmaker. He's a playmaker. He loves... He loves to
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: be out there and ball out. You know, you can
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: just see it on him, and it's affectionate, whatever, on
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: the team and shit like that. And you can feel it.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: And it's exciting, you know, to see him ball out
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: and throw it around and demand a huddle. He ran tough, man.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: He ran tough and I'm super proud of him. I
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: thought it was a great first game. That first run
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: had a lot of juice in it and he's just
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: going to keep building. I'm excited to see how far
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: he grows throughout the season. Jackson, it's a long season.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: The two best teams in the league may be in
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: your division again. How much different is it watching tomorrow
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: night's game with W pulling this out of the fire
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: than it would have been the other way around? One
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: more time, sorry. How important is it to get this
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: win when you can watch two teams tomorrow? Oh, yeah.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, these days off is always better with a win.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: And sit back, relax, you know, get to watch Sunday football,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the game on tomorrow. I'm an NFL fan, so I
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: love to watch ball and see, you know, where other
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: teams are at. So we'll take advantage of these days
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: off and get better. Thank you, guys. Thank you.