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Ernest Jones IV On Being Named The NFC Defensive Player of the Week · Seahawks Press Pass

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  Speaker 1: It's going great, going good.
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  Speaker 2: You've been in a couple of different locker rooms, a
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  Speaker 2: couple of organizations. How does this organization differ in terms
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  Speaker 2: of how much focus there is on football versus other distractions?
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  Speaker 2: Maybe outside?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I mean I think here, I mean, you're
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  Speaker 3: in Seattle. It's not too much you can get into.
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  Speaker 3: Unlike the places I've been where La is La and
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  Speaker 3: Tennessee you got Broadway right down there. So Seattle there's
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  Speaker 3: not much you can get into. So players, it's either
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  Speaker 3: football or nothing. So that's why I think it's pretty
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  Speaker 3: easy to kind of do here versus other places.
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  Speaker 2: In terms of, you know, your leadership style, where'd that develop?
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  Speaker 2: When did you first kind of decide that you wanted
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  Speaker 2: to express yourself as a leader.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's always It's always been me. My mom she.
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  Speaker 3: Did not like follow it, like she you be your
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  Speaker 3: own man, be your own person, And I had no
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  Speaker 3: choice but to be a leader in situations and just
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  Speaker 3: the way I grew up, you know, that's what was
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  Speaker 3: needed out of me. So I think it's just come
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  Speaker 3: natural and just kind of how it was raised. What
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  Speaker 3: role did your.
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  Speaker 1: Teammates play And you're getting a NFC defensive.
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  Speaker 2: Player every week.
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  Speaker 1: Oh they played everything. Yeah, I mean they played everything.
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  Speaker 3: I mean d Law de Law's got a guy, you know,
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  Speaker 3: just taking him down and he throws it up. Joe
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  Speaker 3: makes a heck of a play and the ball pops
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  Speaker 3: up in my direction. So those guys, I owe those
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  Speaker 3: guys everything. But just how they you know, motivate me,
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  Speaker 3: keep me, keep me going, keep me, you know, upbeat.
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  Speaker 3: This is kind of you know, it comes from all
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  Speaker 3: of that, and these guys will helped me get you know,
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  Speaker 3: these picks and some So.
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  Speaker 4: Everything that he does and brings, how does he make
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  Speaker 4: your job easier?
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  Speaker 1: I think you just get It's like with a lot
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  Speaker 1: of God. But you have to worry about him.
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  Speaker 3: You got to put two hands on him, whether it
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  Speaker 3: be in the run game or in the past game.
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  Speaker 3: You got to focus on that front four. They're they're ferocious,
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  Speaker 3: they're dangerous, and you leave those guys unbothered, they're gonna
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  Speaker 3: wreck have it and then trickles down to me. Well,
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  Speaker 3: when you gotta worry about those guys, it's not enough
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  Speaker 3: people to always get to me. So it just makes
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  Speaker 3: my job easier and I'm just able to go play
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  Speaker 3: off those guys.
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  Speaker 5: You're fellow South Carolina product Nick emon Or is having
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  Speaker 5: a really good rookie season.
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  Speaker 4: What stood out to you the most about what he's
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  Speaker 4: doing right now?
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  Speaker 3: I mean it's everything Nick's u nixs A. Nick's a
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  Speaker 3: different guy man in every way. I mean, his personality.
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  Speaker 3: He came into this this uh, this team, this defense,
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  Speaker 3: and there's a lot of different guys in that room,
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  Speaker 3: but he fit in just perfect. And he's a freak man.
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  Speaker 3: The way we look at him and we're like, bro,
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  Speaker 3: there's no way you're six three, six four whatever two
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  Speaker 3: hundred some pounds doing the things that you're doing. But
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  Speaker 3: I think we've just constantly been motive when he has
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  Speaker 3: rough moments where they're with him, we've all been there.
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  Speaker 3: So to see where he's came from to where he's
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  Speaker 3: at now, you know, we expected it.
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  Speaker 1: Honestly. We talked to Mike about him on Monday.
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  Speaker 5: He said, he's playing in the corner, he's playing linebacker,
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  Speaker 5: he's playing nine and five, like kind of everything that's
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  Speaker 5: growing at him for a rookie to be able to
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  Speaker 5: handle all of that, how big a challenges that and
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  Speaker 5: to see him kind of excelling with all that on
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  Speaker 5: his plate.
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  Speaker 1: What do you kind of make of that.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's super challenging. I think it's pretty cool.
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  Speaker 3: Like you know, early in the week, everybody on his
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  Speaker 3: defense knows that Nick has he has more jobs than
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  Speaker 3: probably any of us. He's playing different positions, like you said,
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  Speaker 3: he's playing linebacker. He's having to learn technique linebacker wise.
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  Speaker 3: So I think us the biggest thing is we've just
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  Speaker 3: been constantly been there with Nick. Like Nick really feels
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  Speaker 3: good probably during the week on Fridays once he's able
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  Speaker 3: to grasp the whole game plan, see what spots he's
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  Speaker 3: gonna be in. But it's a constant work through progress
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  Speaker 3: because like you said, he does have a lot, and
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  Speaker 3: we sit there we tell him, like, bro, we understand,
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  Speaker 3: but that's what it takes for us to win, and
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  Speaker 3: we we all would do it if we had your
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  Speaker 3: same skill sets. So we just got to get to it.
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  Speaker 1: And just how well are those guys playing right now?
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  Speaker 3: How much Yeah, they're they're they're they're two of the
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  Speaker 3: best in the game right now. Both went into dominant
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  Speaker 3: just making plays, keeping guys off me, winning there one
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  Speaker 3: on one pass us moments when they get it, but
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  Speaker 3: not all the time. They're setting guys up. They're just
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  Speaker 3: playing at a really high level. And I think for
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  Speaker 3: our defense to be what we want to be, we gotta,
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  Speaker 3: you know, keep going.
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  Speaker 1: How much did you know about.
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  Speaker 4: Nick just from imagine you watch South Carolina games? Like,
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  Speaker 4: how much did you know about him before meeting him?
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  Speaker 1: I knew about him pretty well, Like I think Nick was.
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  Speaker 3: You know, a lot of my h I left early,
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  Speaker 3: so a lot of my teammates, closest friends were still there,
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  Speaker 3: so I heard often about Nick. Knew he was gonna
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  Speaker 3: be a good player, and of course watch the game
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  Speaker 3: so I could see.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I remember that.
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  Speaker 4: You were involved in the meeting when when he came
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  Speaker 4: out here? What what do you remember? And remember there
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  Speaker 4: was some sort of inside joke there, some sort of
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  Speaker 4: bet you remember about just the like how he was
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  Speaker 4: and what you guys all talked about.
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  Speaker 3: It's crazy now because it's it's the same guy that
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  Speaker 3: I that he is now.
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  Speaker 1: He came in there, he was just being himself.
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  Speaker 3: I think the biggest thing from that meeting was just
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  Speaker 3: seeing that coaches, you know, giving him criticism, telling him
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  Speaker 3: what he can do well, but telling them things that
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  Speaker 3: he could work on. And you could tell him like
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  Speaker 3: he was getting to the edge of his seat, like
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  Speaker 3: he loved hearing those things. He loved to that. You know,
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  Speaker 3: they weren't just filling his head up. They were telling
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  Speaker 3: him like, yeah, you could be a really good, really
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  Speaker 3: good safety, could do a lot of great things, but
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  Speaker 3: you got a couple of things you need to work
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  Speaker 3: on to get there. And you know, I think those
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  Speaker 3: things that coaches telling him attracted him and we were
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  Speaker 3: able to land them.
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  Speaker 1: So it was perfect. Drake Thomas.
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  Speaker 2: Every time going the locker room, he's looking at his
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  Speaker 2: tablet and studying tape, and every week he seems to
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  Speaker 2: make a tackle for loss. What's the connection there in
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  Speaker 2: terms of his preparation with how he's actually executing on
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  Speaker 2: the game day.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, that's that's that's that's it right there, Like
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  Speaker 3: his preparation is second to nine.
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  Speaker 1: He's made me like, am I doing enough?
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  Speaker 3: He's made me think that several times, And it's just
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  Speaker 3: a big push when you got somebody in the locker
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  Speaker 3: room like that that's able to dissect film, dissect you know,
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  Speaker 3: plays happening before they even start, and him just being
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  Speaker 3: the smart guy he is, those things come natural to him.
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  Speaker 3: So it's it's it's super fun having Drake by because
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  Speaker 3: he's able to, you know, make my job easier. I'm
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  Speaker 3: worried about a lot of things, so he calms me
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  Speaker 3: down and you know.
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  Speaker 1: We're able to go play well together.
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  Speaker 2: There.
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  Speaker 4: You kind of talked about.
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  Speaker 2: Living in the death zone coming down to the stretch.
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  Speaker 2: You guys are tied right now with the Rams, three
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  Speaker 2: teams in this division of nine wins right now? What
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  Speaker 2: just what are your thoughts on where this.
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  Speaker 4: Team is and what the next five whatch are gonna
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  Speaker 4: be like for for you guys.
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  Speaker 3: I think for us right now, we put ourselves in
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  Speaker 3: a good spot. But you know, so have other you know,
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  Speaker 3: a couple other teams have done the same thing. The
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  Speaker 3: NFC's you know, it's it's, it's it's a tough one
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  Speaker 3: right now. So we got to just go out there
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  Speaker 3: one game at a time. You don't help your case
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  Speaker 3: losing games, so of course you want to go win,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, we can only control, you know, what
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  Speaker 3: we do and then our outcome Sunday versus the Falcons.
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  Speaker 3: We can't control how other teams play, so we'll just
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  Speaker 3: keep taking it one game at a time.
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  Speaker 4: Other plays beyond like splash plays, like a turnover, anything
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  Speaker 4: like that.
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  Speaker 1: Other plays that you point to, like this is our
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  Speaker 1: standard on defense. Yeah, it's a lot of them. M
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  Speaker 1: you think from last.
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  Speaker 3: Month, trying to think of one because it's that play
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  Speaker 3: turned into it like a splash play. Cool.
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  Speaker 1: I'm thinking about de La.
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  Speaker 3: I think he showed everybody in that situation, if they
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  Speaker 3: had failed to.
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  Speaker 1: The ground, any of the starters of that group.
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  Speaker 3: Would have got up off their butt and ran to
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  Speaker 3: that ball. And I think that just shows what type
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  Speaker 3: of team we are, what type of defense, and what
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  Speaker 3: kind of standard we're building, and that no matter if
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  Speaker 3: it's year ten, eleven, year one, or two, you get
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  Speaker 3: knocked down, you get up, and you go get the ball.
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  Speaker 1: What does that standard get set the year? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know.
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  Speaker 3: I always tell people I think it's been getting set
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  Speaker 3: since list. Sure, I don't know how it was before
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  Speaker 3: I got here, but I know once I got here,
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  Speaker 3: they were headed in a pretty good direction.
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  Speaker 1: I could tell.
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  Speaker 3: And it just you know, needed time, needed to win
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  Speaker 3: some games, needed to lose some games in certain ways
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  Speaker 3: to you know, figure out this is the type of
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  Speaker 3: team that we have to be to win. So I
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  Speaker 3: think we're there and you know, continue to prove in
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  Speaker 3: that aspect.
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  Speaker 4: You said, Drake calms you down on Like, what does
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  Speaker 4: that look like?
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  Speaker 3: I'm crazy? Yeah, I'm I'm when I get out there
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  Speaker 3: on Sunday. Like I think I've said this before, a
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  Speaker 3: lot of people say, you can't switch.
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  Speaker 1: Is flip a switch like Sunday?
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  Speaker 3: That's really not earnest, Like I'm a totally different dude,
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  Speaker 3: Like I'm out there to hunt. I'm out there to
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  Speaker 3: to to be that guy. And you know there's instant
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  Speaker 3: instance in games where I lose my cool and I'll
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  Speaker 3: be a little fiy and hot headed and Drake's that's like, chill,
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  Speaker 3: just calm down, You're good. And when I hear that
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  Speaker 3: that that calms me down. So because at that point
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  Speaker 3: I know that I'm tripping.
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  Speaker 1: Like so is the switch flip? Shoot?
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  Speaker 3: I've been working through that because I feel like a
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  Speaker 3: lot of times I turn it on too early, so
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  Speaker 3: I'll be I'll be up Saturday, can't sleep, I'll be
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  Speaker 3: ready to go.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. So so this this past game.
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  Speaker 3: I flipped that switch right before I went out and
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  Speaker 3: it was perfect time.
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  Speaker 1: And so we'll try that again this week. A lot
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  Speaker 1: of people down there.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I have a good good few people down there.
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  Speaker 2: You've got a lot of different leaders different styles in
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  Speaker 2: that locker room. Leonard, you, Julie and all those folks.
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  Speaker 2: How does it all come together, Like when someone speaks
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  Speaker 2: up or someone else.
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  Speaker 3: I think the different leadership styles just kind of float
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  Speaker 3: into how we approach situations. So if there's a really
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  Speaker 3: hot headed situation, guys, certain guys aren't gonna be aren't
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  Speaker 3: handling those approaches. So situation that's pretty big, I'll probably
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  Speaker 3: I'll probably be in there in some form of fashion,
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  Speaker 3: something that's really chilled that you know, maybe maybe be
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  Speaker 3: too you know, too chill. I got to step out
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  Speaker 3: because I'm I'm I'm already you know up here that
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  Speaker 3: may be Leo's time to talk. So I think we
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  Speaker 3: just find our avenue, find our ways, and we've kind
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  Speaker 3: of combined each leadership style to be able to, you know,
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  Speaker 3: display that message and by whoever needs to.
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  Speaker 5: Does wing in the world, Like the NFL player, I
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  Speaker 5: mean that the player.
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  Speaker 1: Of the week is.
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  Speaker 3: Of course definitely for me. I mean, I think just
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  Speaker 3: finally getting some recognition. Finally, you know, people are finally
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  Speaker 3: knowing who I am. And I mean it just feels good.
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  Speaker 3: I've been playing this game for a long time, and
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  Speaker 3: i've been you know, in the back seat, So I'm
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  Speaker 3: ready to do what I gotta do, keep playing and
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  Speaker 3: get to that top.
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  Speaker 1: Anything else. Thank you, thank you, thank you.