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Press Pass | Johnson & Strange on Defense's Growth in Communication, Offensive Versatility · Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We'll go Ryan and then Justin.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Hey, Antonio. With playing 76 naps yesterday and losing some guys,
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: how much of your communication had to be up to
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: make sure everybody was lined up in the right spot?
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: The communication had to be at a premium yesterday.
• 0:20
  Speaker 4: There were a lot of guys going down with Caleb
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: and Eric going down in the safety room.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Just making sure that everybody was lined up.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: You know, make sure he's on the same queue with
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: the young, you know, with Rayon coming in as a
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: younger guy. But he did a great job of, you know,
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: knowing what he was doing and being on top of everything.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: How impressed were you with Wayne's fourth down stop there
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: to know where the marker was?
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: It was a great play by him.
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: Very, you know, not too impressed because, you know, those
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: are the type of plays that we expect him to make. But,
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: you know, to step up in a big moment like
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: that on fourth down to seal the game, is big
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: for not only the team, but for him as well.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Thank you. What's up, AJ?
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: My bad. Can you explain what the celebration, the DBs do,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: like this and the seatbelt and how it started, where
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: it came from? I've noticed this one.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: It started with Jarrion.
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: We was at practice one day, and he was like,
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: he said, like, we're going to fight each other, and
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: then we just go with the little silly.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: So we were like, all right, bet.
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: So when we got to the game, we played the Patriots.
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: That was the first time we was able to, you know.
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: I think that week we was talking about it, and
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: we did it in the game. That's something he came
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: up with, and we're just running with it.
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: Sure.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: And then I think we talked in training camp about this,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: but you've kind of, move through the ranks. Like you,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: when you first got here, you were a guy where
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: you were with one coaching staff and they wanted you
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to play one way. Now kind of fast forward through
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: three different coaching staffs, defensive coaching staffs. You're a vet
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: on the team, a leader on the team. Just how
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: have you taken to the responsibilities this year that Liam
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: and camp have entrusted you with?
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: It's been, it's been different for sure. You know what
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: I'm saying?
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: I've been one of the young guys in the room for,
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: majority of my career and then overnight to become the
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: second oldest in the room and having the second most
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: experience has been different, but, you know, still learning the ropes, still,
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: you know, taking it day by day, enjoying and, you know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: really just indulging myself in the role itself and trying
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: to learn still from, like, the younger guys and the older.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Men, Eric, Mary.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: And then last thing for me, Obviously, we don't know
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Eric or Caleb's injuries just yet, or their timeline just yet,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: but what do you think Husky can add for you
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: guys if he does get that opportunity to get called
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: up for his first game?
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: I mean, I feel like Husky, he's a great ball player.
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: He shows great physicality, and he shows good range in
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: a post. I'm excited to see what he can do
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: during the game. It was exciting to see him play
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: during this– Preseason, he played with a lot of energy.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: He was physical. I think he's going to do a
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: great job when his number gets called. He's going to
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: come out there. He's going to do what he has
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: to do to make the players that come to him.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: Appreciate it, man.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: We'll go DRock.
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: Antonio, a lot of times when a team gets a
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: lot of turnovers one season, it sometimes doesn't carry over
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: to the other season.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: But with you guys, it has. Why do you think
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: that is? I think it's just our style of play.
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: And the way that Coach Kemp has us playing, we
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: play very physical.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: And the way.
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: That our coverage and our rush match up together, it
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: kind of forces the quarterbacks to make decisions that they
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: don't want to make. If that's by speeding them up or,
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: you know, getting pressure, however we do it. And I
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: think we have a lot of great ball players on
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: the back end that attack the ball at a very
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: high level.
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: Do you guys take more pride in the turnovers and
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: stuff like that or the fact that you haven't given
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: up a touchdown in the first half of a.
• 4:39
  Speaker 6: Game this year? And I think it's only nine points
• 4:41
  Speaker 6: you've allowed. I think you go hand-in-hand with each other.
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: You know, I think we had two... Turnovers in the
• 4:50
  Speaker 6: red zone so far. Three turnovers in the red zone
• 4:53
  Speaker 6: so far. And that's just the part. We guard every
• 4:58
  Speaker 6: blade of grass.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying?
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: The offense, we're going to make them. They're going to
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: have to earn every blade. And that's just our motto.
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: And when we get into the red zone, we look
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: at it as an advantage for the defense because the
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: field becomes three times wider than it is long. So
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: now you got to really beat us. You know, it's
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: not like you just take shots if you want to.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: You got to really scheme those up. And I feel
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: like that's what would come alive.
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: Is everybody still buzzing about the move that Travis made
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: on Tee Higgins a day after?
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: Or has that kind of died down a little bit?
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: We've seen it today. It's still as crazy as when
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: I've seen it in person. Like you said, he's a
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: dynamic ball player, especially when the ball is in his hands.
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: He played receiver and he just turned to the receiver
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: and made a miss. And when he get the ball
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: in his hand, you expect him to make crazy plays
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: like that. So it doesn't surprise us, but it was
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: a crazy play that he made, honestly.
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: Awesome.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: Thank you. We'll go.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: With Justin.
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: Justin?
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I just remember Liam, I think it was
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: after the Denver game, said he talked with you for
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: a long time in his office. Having a head coach
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: that kind of isn't afraid to reach across the boundary,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: like he's obviously an offensive coach, but he doesn't mind
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: talking to you defensive guys and having in-depth and detailed conversations.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: What is that like?
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: It's different, honestly.
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: Spending that much time with Liam after that game, Just
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: seeing where his mindset was, and then also, in a sense,
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: the head coach wanted to see where he felt like
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: the team was at. So he knew how to approach
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: the team, and also he can get the coach-to-player perspective
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: of how he wanted to attack the week. So I
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: feel like, man, we was just talking about the game.
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: We was watching a film, and we were just talking
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: to each other about how we felt and how we
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: both felt how the team should attack the week. so
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: that when we get the opportunity again to come out
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: on Sunday, we approach it with that killer mentality like
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: next week. We knew we let one go, and we
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: just knew we.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: Had to come in and respond.
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: And we knew from day one, when we come back
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: on Wednesday, that was going to give the tale of how.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: We was going to respond for the rest.
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: Of the week.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: Appreciate it, man.
• 7:36
  Speaker 7: We'll go, Mark.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Hey, Antonio.
• 7:49
  Speaker 7: Going back to Travis's juke there after the INT, they
• 7:54
  Speaker 7: got called back. What was more impressive about it, the
• 7:57
  Speaker 7: juke that he made or the fact that he turned
• 7:59
  Speaker 7: and looked at the guy on the ground while he was, like,
• 8:03
  Speaker 7: right afterwards? That was, like, sick, right?
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I didn't even know that he did that while
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: he was on the field.
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: It was, you know, you've seen the videos later on
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: during the day. I feel like him just making the
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: play was the most impressive part when, you know, him
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: just showing the ball skills that he had when Joe
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: threw the ball up.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: It was a 50-50 ball with him. I think it
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: was T.
• 8:25
  Speaker 7: Higgins.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: And he came down with it.
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: That's the most impressive part, just seeing him being the
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: athlete that he is and attacking the ball.
• 8:33
  Speaker 7: What does the room look like or sound like when
• 8:36
  Speaker 7: that gets replayed?
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: Oh, what you imagine it to be?
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: Like, oh, it was a lot of laughter and, you know, excitement.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: Because he did make a miss crazy.
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: Whenever, you know, a player miss like that or get
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: juked like that, you're going to get the reactions, and
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: that's what it was like.
• 8:58
  Speaker 7: We saw your confidence soar last year when you were playing.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Regularly and making plays.
• 9:04
  Speaker 7: What do you think the last two weeks have done
• 9:07
  Speaker 7: for Travis's confidence last week with his first pick and
• 9:11
  Speaker 7: then obviously the way he played this week?
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: I feel like he came into the year confident, and
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: we had the confidence in him to come back and
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: be the same player that he was before his injury.
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: To have these two weeks back-to-back, having his first career interception,
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: then coming back and playing a great game against a
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: good receiver core, I think his confidence is right where
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: we need it to be as a team, and personally
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: for him as a player, because That's what we need
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: for this stretch before we go into the bye week
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: and then for them to keep building in the right
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: direction for the rest.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: Of the year.
• 9:50
  Speaker 7: Thank you.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Oh, last one.
• 9:51
  Speaker 7: Hey, do you think this defense is getting enough recognition?
• 9:54
  Speaker 7: I mean, you win week one and it's, well, Deshaun, right?
• 9:58
  Speaker 7: You win week three and it's... Drake May, right? You
• 10:01
  Speaker 7: win yesterday and it's, oh, they beat them without Jamar
• 10:05
  Speaker 7: Chase and T.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: Higgins.
• 10:06
  Speaker 7: Do you think you guys are getting enough credit for
• 10:08
  Speaker 7: what you're doing out there week in and week out?
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: Honestly, I don't think we really care about the credit.
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: We're going to go into each week and if you
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: don't look at us as an imposing defense, then We're
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: going to impose our will on you.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: So I feel like if you don't respect us, then
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: we're going to make you respect us.
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: So I don't think we really, I know personally in
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: the rooms that I've talked to the players, we don't
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: care about the respect.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: You don't respect us? Cool. We're going to make you
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: respect us. So we ain't even tripping about that.
• 10:38
  Speaker 7: Thank you, sir.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Antonio.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: What's up, man? Thank you for doing this. What does
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: it say about the offense overall that essentially going into
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: any week, anybody can have their day?
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: I think it just speaks to, you know, the playmakers
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: I have on this team, the coaches, how they call
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: it up every week. You know, they look to exploit
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: certain things, as every team does. We all do a
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: good job of communicating, you know, putting in the work
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: during the week and making it happen.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: And then I know obviously you had the hurdle attempt
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: and the fumble or whatever, but just kind of, what
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: does it say about Jacoby to have the wherewithal and
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: to be in the mind space, to punch the ball
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: out of, out of bounds right there and stuff.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: Smart heads up playing. He saved me, man.
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: He saved me from really getting chewed out and, uh,
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: I just gotta be better. You know, I gotta be, uh,
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: smarter cause it could have really been a costly mistake and, uh,
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: something to learn from for myself. And, uh, So, you know,
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: just out there, you know, trying things, you know, just
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: trying to make a play. But, yeah, I don't have
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: to press for.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: It that hard.
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: I can just use my athletic ability and do what
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: I usually do and.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: Run them over.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Thank you, man.
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: Hey, Brenton, at what point during the hurdle did you
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: realize this was probably not a good idea?
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: You know, usually when I try to jump over people,
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: I haven't tried it in the NFL, but usually when
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: I try to jump over people, the thing that I
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: do is I predetermine it. So I was already set
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: on trying to jump over whoever was going to try
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: to tackle me.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: Usually, I mean, smaller guys, they try to wrap your
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: ankles up and they go down.
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: But getting some tips from, you know, some guys, even
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: though I'm done, I'm done trying to hurdle, but, you know,
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: get some tips from some guys that are, pretty athletic
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: on the team and that, that can do things like that.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: I guess I, I, I, uh, started chopping my steps
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: up and that's a tell for the DB and he, uh,
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: he made a good play. I mean, the ball hit
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: his helmet and we got lucky. Jacoby hit it out
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: luckily and he saved us.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: So which guys did you talk to, to get tips
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: on that? I'm just curious. Sounds kind of fun. Yeah.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: I mean, we were just, uh, in, uh, weight room
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: in the weight room you know getting our lift in
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: today and we're talking about everything and it was just
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: me Travis and BT you know kind of making jokes
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: out of it and everything funny because we got the
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: ball back and everything but uh yeah it was just
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: me Travis and.
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: BT okay this offense you know you talked a little
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: bit about it before about how anybody can really kind
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: of have a day is that make it harder sometimes
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: not to stay focused but like you go into the
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: game not knowing what your contribution is going to be?
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: Does it make it harder sometimes to.
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: Maybe not be mentally focused, but, you know, just kind
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: of wait for it to happen, I guess?
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: No, I don't think so at all.
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: I mean, you know, I think when you go into
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: a game any week, you really don't like you, you
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: have some teams have tendencies or whatever it is, and
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: you kind of know what to expect. But I mean,
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: I think it's a good thing, honestly, you know, you got,
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: you got guys that can stretch the field, you know, uh,
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: playing amid the underneath range. And it's just, it's a
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: good thing to have that problem. I would never say
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: that thing.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: We'll go Ryan and then Mark. Hey Brenton, we talked
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: a lot during the off season training camp about you
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: benefiting from more versatile tight ends. Has the reality played
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: out like you hoped it would in terms of being
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: in 12 and some 13 and opening some opportunities for you?
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I would say so. And I would say it's
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: just the beginning of that. I mean, I think that
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: you guys saw Tanner get on the field a little
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: bit yesterday. And that's a good thing. You want to
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: have many multiple guys that are dynamic and block or
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: catch the ball.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: It's a good thing for that to happen.
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: And I think this is just, you know, we're just
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: scratching the surface of what we can do. And as
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: a tight end unit, we want to continue to get
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: better every single week. And that's the goal. And that's
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: the mission coming in this building every single day. So
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: I'm just excited to, you know, continue building on that
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: because it not only opens up things for me, but
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: it opens up things for offense. And that's not just
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: the tight ends, but that's the running backs, that's the receivers,
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: and that's everybody that's involved.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: And then last one for me, you've made this trip
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: coming up a couple of times over to London. If
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Tanner and Nate say, hey, what's the best way to
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: get through the flight and make sure you're ready to
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: go for Friday?
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: What will you tell them?
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: Man, I would just tell them, you know, try to
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: sleep as much as you can on the flight. Take
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: your Ambien. Once we get over there, you got to
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: stay up the whole entire time. So, yeah, that's. That's it,
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: it's a grind for sure going over there, but once
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: you're settled in and you're adjusted to the schedule, it's
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: just like.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: All right, thank you.
• 16:12
  Speaker 7: Hey, Brandon. You said you were chatting in the locker
• 16:16
  Speaker 7: room or today in the weight room with Travis? how
• 16:20
  Speaker 7: much what's the conversation look like a day later on
• 16:24
  Speaker 7: the move that he put on T Higgins after that
• 16:26
  Speaker 7: interception was called back?
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, man, he's, he's an explosive guy and he's a
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: very twitchy guy. You guys see it every day in practice,
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: you know, in the games and stuff. So that's what
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: we expect out of, out of Travis. You know, he
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: does things like that every single day. It kind of
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: makes you be like, wow. Uh, But, you know, that's
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: just like, it's like routine for us now. Like, we've
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: seen it so many times. Like, it's not surprising that
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: he does something like that because he comes out here
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: every single day and that's what he does.