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Drake Thomas: "We Have A Willingness To Fight No Matter What" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: How's it going. I'm doing well, doing well. Yeah, yeah,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: first first trip.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: What have you noticed about the conversations or the resolve
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: from your teammates after Sunday's game.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I would say, I mean, everything kind of just stays
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the same no matter you know, what what the week
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: looks like and what the opponent looks like. We stay
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: consistent in our process and who we are. Obviously, we
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: look at the film and we correct the things that
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: we need to correct, and we may put emphasis on
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the things that we want to improve on. But at
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, when we're when we have
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: such a solid, strong foundation, we don't have to change
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: anything about who we are. We already know, we already
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: know that we have an identity and we just kind
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: of got to lean into that.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: What was the most impressive thing when you went back
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: and watched the film that the defense did on Sunday.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think I've seen it all season, just
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: like the willingness to just fight no matter what. You know,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: we're going to defend a blade of grass, and we
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: talk about that as a defense, and I feel like
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: we bring it to life in certain situations.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: You guys have been so good against a round a
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: lot of times playing what you know, Nikole or even die.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: What are the guys upfront doing that makes that work?
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: They you know, they're really strong on double teams, they
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: split double teams. They play very selfless football and as
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a linebacker you always really appreciate that. And they're playmakers,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: so you know, they're very disruptive up front. It's it's
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: really hard to to move them, fool them, whatever it is.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: They just play really good football. They're really physical too.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: What did it mean to get.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Just a week?
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: It was great getting him back down on the field.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: I know, you know, regardless of who's out there though,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: everyone's gonna be ready, everyone prepares like they're going to start.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: But it was fun having EJ back out there.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Yes, So what either changed or that easier for you?
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Do you see differently having gone back to the position
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: we've seen you in.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously, when you had the green dot, you
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: got to communicate the calls, So like the main difference
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: is listening for the calls versus being the one communicating them.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: But I feel like no matter what, like you're still
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: you're still hearing it from somewhere, You're still processing it.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: It's kind of the same process, you're just hearing it
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: from a different person.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: He tackles for loss and seven stars. What's allowed you
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: to find yourself from the backfield and make those places.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Teammates and coaches doing their job set me up to
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: being good positions, preparing me through the week to know
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: what's coming and to be able to anticipate plays and
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: play aggressively. I would say that.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: In those short yardage when you guys get those ups,
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: like how excited are you guys when when it's third
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: and one, fourth one and at least you think a
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: team can run it on you in that chance to
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: stop them.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: I feel like our defense kind of lives for those moments,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: those short yardage moments. I feel like a lot of
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: people expect the ball to you know, cross the goal
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: line or you know, for them to convert on the
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: first down. But like I'm going back to the just
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: defending every blade of grass. You know, we really uh
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: embody that mentality and the energy I feel like everyone
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: sees afterwards. It kind of shows how we feel about
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: that situation. I mean, it's exciting place and a big
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: time plays for our defense.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: If you do stop and reflect much about like the
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: totality of your journey from undrafted, serious knee injury now
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: starting on one of the league's top defenses.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like reflection is important. I try to
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: live a life full of gratitude and seeing everything that
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: I've gone through and everything that I yeah, everything I've
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: gone through to get to this point, it helps me
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: live a life of gratitude. I'm super grateful and I'm
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: super blessed to be in the position I'm in, and
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: I feel like everything that I've been through to get
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: to this point has just built me up and prepared
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: me for the situation that I'm in now even more.
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: What was it like coming back from the knee injury?
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: How different physically does it feel being two years to remove
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: from as opposed.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: To one Physically? I mean, I feel fine, you know,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: like the knee doesn't doesn't create any issues for me
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the initially coming back. I feel like the biggest struggle
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: was probably mentally trusting it again, not having the reps
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: under my belt and kind of getting thrown out there
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: into the fire a little bit. Uh. There was there's
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: a lot of times where like I didn't feel like
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: myself on the field, and that was really frustrating, and
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: it was you know, I had to I had to
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: fight really hard to get to the spot where I
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: wanted to be and where I felt like myself and
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: was playing with a lot of confidence again like I
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: had always done prior to that.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: How many times in your career have you even told you're
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: too small to play?
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Member every level high school? You know, you get college coaches,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: recruiters come in and tell you what you can and
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: can't do, You prove them wrong, and then you're you know,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: getting ready for the next step and all you hear
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: is like the he was a good college player, but
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: he's not you know, able to do it at the
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: next level, and then you know, to be able to
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: overcome that. Again. It's been a lot of fun, but
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: also that's kind of that's not really like my main
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: you know, focus is like not to prove anybody wrong.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Who because it's like the norm, right you see, you
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: see it all the time. It's really hard to do,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: so it's not necessarily proven anyone wrong. I don't think
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: that's my mission or goal. But yeah, it's happened. I'd
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: say a lot at every.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Level where do they want to potentially move YouTube.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: As far as position. You mean, I mean it was
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: always it was always linebacker. No one. I don't think
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: I said they'd try to move my position, but if
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I did, it's my mistake. But it was always linebacker.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: I was always going to play linebacker, But there were
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: some schools who would try and say that I wasn't
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: big enough to play linebacker at their school.
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: The Reggie White move that you pulled off on the
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: sack and Jacksonville, how long have you had that in
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: your arsenal.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, I've worked it on like one on one
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: pass rush stuff. I've never done it in the game.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: It's kind of just like a reaction, like using momentum
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: and recognizing something and just trying to, you know, counter
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: and be effective. It's kind of just instinct, honestly, I've
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: never never done that in the game.
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: Anything else.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys,