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Sam Darnold: "We're Knocking On The Door Of What We Want To Be" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, obviously a really good result today. You know, I thought,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: first off, you know, special teams defense, the way they
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: set the tone for this game, you know, and then
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: it kind of led to us having a really good
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: field position all day, and I feel like we did
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: a really good job of executing. Obviously we'd like to
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: come away with you know, a few more touchdowns or
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: a couple more touchdowns, you know, I thought we you know,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: obviously settled for some field goals there, but overall, guys,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, that was a whole team game,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: just the way like I said, we got you know,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: stayed on top of the field position all day, and
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: just really proud of our guys. Uh, proud of our
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: offensive line, running backs, everyone for for setting the tone
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and Tory Horton man coming to coming to work today.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: It was awesome to see him, you know, get that
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: part return, you know, and get a touchdown and doing
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: his thing in the past game.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: The way you started on offense each the last two
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: games and scoring, How does that what does that reinforce
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: to the game planning and all the preparation all week?
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's huge. I mean, just the preparation, like
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: you said that that we put in throughout the week.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: That's a you know, that's yeah, that's how you want
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: to start the game. You know, you go through your openers,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: and you go through certain things that you want to
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: do against their defense, and you know, sometimes, especially early
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: in the season, you're not necessarily sure exactly what you're
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: going to get from their defense. And you know, I
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: feel like our guys did a really good job of
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: executing no matter what the circumstances were, even if it
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: was a different look than what we practiced. I thought,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: you know, just execution was at a high level today.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: As you mentioned defensive special teams that you guys up
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: with great field positions several times. But to go four
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: for four in your first four possession to the red zone,
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: what does that mean for where the offense is at
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: right now that you guys are finishing at that time
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: of rent.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's huge. Obviously we got built out a little
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: bit on that first drive with the penalty. We'd like
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: to convert that third down, but yeah, just got to
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: continue to, you know, be really good in practice. I
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: think that's where it starts, is practice executing and talking
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: about it. You know, if if certain things, you know
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: don't necessarily work in practice or you know, we need
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: better timing. Continue to work on that and even throw
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: certain routes after practice if we need to. But that's
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: where it starts. It starts with the work that we
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: put in throughout the week, and you know, if that
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: continues to translate to on field success, you know we're
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: gonna be all right this year. Sound it sounds like
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Jackson was kind of sick for there for a little while.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: I think the last day or so. It didn't look
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: like it today, No, he didn't. Yeah what what that
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: that second play of the game when you scrambled and
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: then debated pressure that got it to him?
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Just I guess take us through that.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It was a big time. You know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: he's he's just such a good football player. So whenever
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: I get in those scramble modes and he's able to
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: kind of detach from his guy and make a play,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: I know that he's always going to be there along
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: with all of our other guys, but Jack's especially, you know,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: he's really good at you know, just playing ball at
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: that point and getting open quite a few players in.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: Where he throw accurately while you're moving your left which
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: I imagine it's not.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: He's what's the key to throwing accurately when.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: You've got to do it across her body like that?
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: I think just doing it a lot, you know, you know,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: getting reps at it in the off season, you know,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: understanding kind of momentum, Understanding like how fast I'm going, uh,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: and just being able to uh, you know, turn my
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: shoulders because I can be running as fast as I
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: need to be to my left as long as my
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: shoulders are turned, and I understand that, you know, going
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: to my left, that ball is going to pull a
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: little left as I'm throwing left. You know, just understanding
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: those details. But I think at the end of the day,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: it just comes down to getting those reps in the
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: off season. Even now you mentioned Tory already, but just
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: to see a rookie do what he's in the last
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: couple of games, to touchdown catchers, the humm returners.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: What stands out most about what you've seen from him?
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think just you know how steady he is.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: You know, even you know, having a good game in Pittsburgh,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: you know, catching that first touchdown, he was still you know,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: eager and hungry. You know, this whole last week, you know,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: wanting more and you know, just you know, asking a
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: ton of great questions, like I've talked about a ton
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: of toy But he's just continuing to grow and you know,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: I know that he's he's going to continue to you know,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: get better and want to get better. And I think
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: that's the biggest key as a young player, is just
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: having that want to get better and understand the offense
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: even that much more.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Sam, he started getting going in training camp pretty early,
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: despite missing the offseason stuff being all that and such.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Why do you think he was able to find a
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: footing so quickly and get going and kind of show
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: the side of him as quickly as he did.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, first off, he's talented. You know, he's
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: a really talented football player. He does all the all
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: the little things that you can't really teach really well.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: He tracks the ball well, he's got great speed, good hands,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: he's got length. So I think at the end of
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the day, like you know, his his work ethic is
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: what's going to set him apart in my opinion, you know,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: and that that starts with the entire room. I feel
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: like that whole receiver room does a really good job
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: of continuing to work and ask questions and do all
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: the right, you know, the little things to continue to
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: get better.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: You were allowed to talk in the offseason, but how
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: much have you guys all emphasized being better at home,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: starting fast at home, and winning home games.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you know, that's Uh, it's obviously a
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: key to to win at home. But at the end
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: of the day, like our goal is to just go
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: out there and execute, and you know, the winning is
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: going to take care of itself as long as we
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: go out there and play at one play at a time,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: and that's kind of our mindset.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: When Canine cut that run back, were you thinking about
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: throwing a block there? You looked like you were like
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: you were going to.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was Uh, that was a tough look for sure.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure exactly how it looked, but I know
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: I was kind of looking for a block and I
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: was like, ah, I don't think I should I don't
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: think I should block, but so I'm going to kind
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: of bail out of here, and then somehow still ended
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: up on my ass, you know. Uh, But yeah, it was, Uh,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: it was fun to kind of get out there and
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: you know, Canine so just the way that he cuts.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: I kind of knew or had a feeling that it
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: was going to come back to me, and uh, yeah,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: I got to have a better plan next time.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: I guess it's something that you have to make a
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: real business decision on, especially when you're considering the state
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: of the state of the game that he is right.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: No, yeah, I don't know. It was Uh, it was
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: just you know, at the end of the day, I
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: think I would love to go help my teammate in
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: K nine, go get a block for him. Uh, But
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: at the same time, you know, there were other guys
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: on that side of the field, and there were a
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: lot of big guys out there too, a lot of
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: D linemen, And uh, I don't know if I would
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: have won that battle had I chose to go out
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: there and get a block form.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: And what progress have you seen from this offensive life
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: in this three weeks?
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: What have you seen as a union?
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, they're they're continuing to talk. Uh, they're
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: continuing to uh, you know, get to know one another,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: get to know the calls, uh, get to know how
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: you know deep, you know their their past setting on
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: certain plays, you know, the run game communication on that
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: like I feel like they're just continuing to get to
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: know each other a ton that way, and you can tell,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: you know, there's there's still a lot of room to grow,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: not only in that area, but also as a whole.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: You know, all this GOI players me. You know, I
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: feel like the last couple of throws that I had
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: weren't weren't necessarily as accurate as I would have hoped for.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: But so we're just going to continue to learn, get better,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: and and grow as an offense.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: We've turned around to Thursday at Arizona. How do you approach,
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: especially at the stage of your career, how do you
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: approach planning for a game only a couple of days
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: rest differently than you would say, if you were getting
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: ready to plan Sunday.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it just speeds up, speeds up the
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: process entirely. You know, Tomorrow we're you know, I haven't
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: looked at the schedule, but I'm sure we're going to
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: be meeting quite a bit and maybe have like a
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: walk through or something like that. But yeah, it's it
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: just speeds up our process, you know, like Tomorrow's you know,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: a Wednesday, a normal Wednesday, and then you got Thursday, Friday,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: you know, and then all of a sudden, you know,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: you have the Friday and Saturdays one day on Wednesday
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: and you look and you're playing on Thursday, which is
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: now our Sunday. So it's everything is just you know, uh,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: it's just so condensed the time, and so you know,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: for us, we you know, we got to be ready.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: You know, we got to have our bodies right, our
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: mind's right ready to go by by Thursday, and we
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: know we'll have a really good game plan and by
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: the time you know, Wednesday night comes around.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Obviously, been a starter in this league, but you've been
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: a backup too, and there's a lot of work that
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: goes into that. Is it good in a game like this.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Let Drew get in or have Drew get in and
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: get some playing time? Yeah, it was. It was awesome,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: you know whenever Drew gets an opportunity to go in there,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: and you know, I know he's going to take full
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: advantage of it. So you know, like I said, I
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I wasn't a huge fan of my last two passes
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: that I threw in the game. It's kind of like
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: I was joking with the guys, but it was kind
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: of like, you know, if there's any hoopers in here,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: you go out there. You know, you don't want to
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: miss your last shot ever. You know, whether it's a layup,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: you want to you know, get the ball and bucket,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: you know, the last shot you take. So for me
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: to end it on two incompletions, you know that that
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: wasn't my favorite thing in the world. But you know,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: I know that he's going to go in there and
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: do a good job when he gets in there.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Through three games, how close do you feel like you
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: are as an offense to being just the kind of offense.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: That you guys have wanted to be. Yeah, I think
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: you know, we're right there. We're kind of knocking on
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: the door of what we want to be as an
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: offense and you know, executing at the level we want
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: to execute a But we just got to keep taking
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: it one day at a time and you know things
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: are going to fall into place, but we just got
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: to continue to have that worker's mentality and uh, you know,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: grow from this one. You know, watch the tape because
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of stuff to learn from on this
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: tape and you know, be ready to go by Thursday.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you guys,