Latest / Press Pass / Press Pass | Thomas Jr., Oluokun and Engram Speak on Facing the Jets
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: The first time.
- 0:01Speaker 2: So we had a like a one on one interview.
- 0:03Speaker 2: I asked you who you had your first jersey, have
- 0:05Speaker 2: NFL jersey with Aaron Rodgers. So what's it like, uh
- 0:09Speaker 2: knowing that this is your first time playing against him professionally?
- 0:13Speaker 1: Uh? Super excited. Uh. I was just telling my UH
- 0:16Speaker 1: coach hat earlier about I don't know how I was
- 0:18Speaker 1: gonna react out when I uh see him for the
- 0:20Speaker 1: first time.
- 0:22Speaker 3: Uh, but Uh, I'm super excited just to be able
- 0:23Speaker 3: to go up against him, and Uh, actually I have
- 0:25Speaker 3: this chance to play football against him, so it would
- 0:27Speaker 3: be ill be great.
- 0:28Speaker 4: Did you ever imagine that you'd be in this position?
- 0:31Speaker 1: Mr, I'm definitely not an I done. Mm what stands
- 0:34Speaker 1: out about the Jets defense? What really do well?
- 0:37Speaker 5: Uh?
- 0:37Speaker 1: They got two pretty pretty good corners.
- 0:39Speaker 3: Uh, they got a great front for uh for for
- 0:42Speaker 3: a good d linemen.
- 0:44Speaker 1: Uh, defensive tackles are really good. Uh.
- 0:46Speaker 3: Uh they're just a great or I mean it's just
- 0:48Speaker 3: a good t defense in general.
- 0:51Speaker 6: That's your approach when you go against like a a
- 0:53Speaker 6: a highly rated uh A top tier corner back. I mean, uh,
- 0:57Speaker 6: take us through your week of preparation when you go
- 0:59Speaker 6: in just to face.
- 1:00Speaker 1: The guy up just sauce for example.
- 1:02Speaker 3: Right, Uh, I prepare the same Uh, whether I'm going
- 1:05Speaker 3: against a number one corner in the league or whether
- 1:07Speaker 3: it's a m last.
- 1:08Speaker 1: Rate of corner in the league.
- 1:09Speaker 3: Uh I I feel like they have to prepare for me,
- 1:12Speaker 3: and uh I try to keep that a mindset.
- 1:14Speaker 1: Uh.
- 1:15Speaker 3: Just prepare myself the same way. I prepare myself each
- 1:17Speaker 3: and every week time. I prepare myself to go out
- 1:19Speaker 3: there and be the best.
- 1:20Speaker 1: And that's why I want. Yeah, from what you've seen
- 1:22Speaker 1: on the film, maybe what sort of stands out about
- 1:24Speaker 1: Saws and how he's been able to uh do what
- 1:26Speaker 1: he's done over the last few years.
- 1:28Speaker 3: Uh he's uh s really long. Uh, he plays hard,
- 1:34Speaker 3: plays with grace speed. Uh y Uh He's does a
- 1:37Speaker 3: lot of great things, and just uh just him his motor. Really,
- 1:40Speaker 3: that's what really stands out to me, the motor.
- 1:42Speaker 1: How much do you want.
- 1:44Speaker 4: The rookie receiving record yardage wise and catch wise? Is
- 1:47Speaker 4: it something that you really wanna set or is it
- 1:50Speaker 4: just something that happens for you during the season.
- 1:52Speaker 3: Nah, definitely, I really uh wanna set it. Uh, I
- 1:54Speaker 3: really wanna get that. Uh that's a big thing for
- 1:56Speaker 3: me now that uh I've his like came up, came
- 1:59Speaker 3: up uh at that point, So I really wanna do
- 2:01Speaker 3: that and achieve that goal for myself.
- 2:03Speaker 4: And then what's the goal after that?
- 2:05Speaker 7: A thousand?
- 2:06Speaker 3: Uh just get as much as I can, whether it's
- 2:09Speaker 3: a thousand, twelve undred, uh eleven hundred, any just the
- 2:12Speaker 3: most as I can.
- 2:12Speaker 1: Yeah. Right.
- 2:14Speaker 8: Obviously, no game is bigger than than others or m
- 2:16Speaker 8: no matchup is bigger than others. But you look at
- 2:17Speaker 8: some of these kind of you know, going you're gonna
- 2:20Speaker 8: get some of the premier talents, these.
- 2:21Speaker 1: Kind of look at like benchmark.
- 2:23Speaker 9: Kind of games.
- 2:23Speaker 8: As a competitor, what you say, where you go up
- 2:25Speaker 8: against some of this in your premier talent? You know,
- 2:26Speaker 8: we be talking about the corners. You know, if you
- 2:28Speaker 8: look at these a kind of benchmark kind of uh games,
- 2:30Speaker 8: you as a competitor.
- 2:32Speaker 1: Uh, I treat every game the same.
- 2:34Speaker 3: I try to uh go approach uh each game the
- 2:37Speaker 3: same way. Uh and uh I just try to go
- 2:40Speaker 3: out there and put my best foot forward and be
- 2:42Speaker 3: the best that I can be here, whether it's a
- 2:44Speaker 3: whether it's top corner or like I said, the worst
- 2:47Speaker 3: for eady corner or whatever however that goes there.
- 2:49Speaker 7: Do you hear all of the outside commentary about get
- 2:52Speaker 7: Brian Thomas Junior the goal?
- 2:54Speaker 5: Uh?
- 2:54Speaker 3: I mean it's everybody hears it or whatever, but I
- 2:57Speaker 3: try not to focus on it.
- 2:58Speaker 10: Uh.
- 2:59Speaker 1: I just go out there.
- 3:00Speaker 3: I played the game the way I'm supposed to play
- 3:01Speaker 3: and do what I'm supposed to do and be ready
- 3:03Speaker 3: whenever the ball comes to me.
- 3:04Speaker 7: Mac was talking today about how you want it? Yeah,
- 3:06Speaker 7: and you you tell him you want it. He likes
- 3:08Speaker 7: that you want it.
- 3:09Speaker 1: Yeah, where's it come from?
- 3:12Speaker 3: Uh? I mean just me being out there playing. I
- 3:16Speaker 3: feel like I'm always open, so I'm always going the balls.
- 3:18Speaker 7: That Jamar Chase had the ball thrown at him eighteen
- 3:21Speaker 7: times of Monday Night football. Yeah, and Jack Taylor preus
- 3:24Speaker 7: his brother said you can't get it to him enough. Yeah,
- 3:27Speaker 7: just keep throwing at him. Would you like eighteen targets?
- 3:30Speaker 3: I W I would love I would love that, But
- 3:33Speaker 3: I mean I I'm I played a game the.
- 3:35Speaker 1: Way the uh, the way it's supposed to be played.
- 3:37Speaker 3: And I mean if the eighteen targets came out way,
- 3:39Speaker 3: I W I would love that, But I mean if
- 3:41Speaker 3: they don't i'm'a go out there and make the most
- 3:42Speaker 3: of what the targets that I do get.
- 3:44Speaker 8: Yeah, looking at what we saw between you and Mac
- 3:47Speaker 8: on Sunday and obviously you guys practicing together on the practice,
- 3:49Speaker 8: would you feel like you guys were kind of getting
- 3:51Speaker 8: the general to get a little bit more.
- 3:52Speaker 1: Uh.
- 3:52Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely feel like we grow each and every day,
- 3:54Speaker 3: each and every week. Uh, I feel like we get
- 3:56Speaker 3: better and better. W Uh just him uh knowing me
- 3:59Speaker 3: and mean getting to know him a lot better.
- 4:02Speaker 1: Uh, I feel like we're getting better each and every
- 4:03Speaker 1: week for sure.
- 4:05Speaker 6: Thanks Brian Aaron Rodgers.
- 4:09Speaker 1: He faced the ball twice in Atlanta? Is that right?
- 4:12Speaker 6: What?
- 4:13Speaker 1: Yeah?
- 4:13Speaker 5: Twice he face Thank you?
- 4:15Speaker 1: Yeah? What is it about him? What stands out?
- 4:17Speaker 6: You know, you're twenty in the league for him?
- 4:19Speaker 10: You know, obviously this knows a lot of football, so
- 4:21Speaker 10: he's able to diagnose defenses and uh understand where his
- 4:25Speaker 10: hot throws are. Uh, gets the ball out of his
- 4:27Speaker 10: hands quickly when he knows where he wants to go.
- 4:28Speaker 10: Obviously he has that game within the game with the
- 4:30Speaker 10: substitutions and the hurry up and everything. Definitely try to
- 4:33Speaker 10: control the pace on his own. Uh and then you know,
- 4:37Speaker 10: just being able to make all the throws off his
- 4:40Speaker 10: back foot and stuff at this age is really cool
- 4:42Speaker 10: to see. Uh, but you know, we have to be
- 4:44Speaker 10: able to uh accept that challenge beyond our our our
- 4:47Speaker 10: matches right away and then if the down does get prolonged,
- 4:50Speaker 10: be able to stay on our matches.
- 4:52Speaker 6: A bunch of four down stops last week take us
- 4:54Speaker 6: through that mentality on defense when all of a sudden, Hey,
- 4:57Speaker 6: they're out there, we're in the red zone.
- 4:58Speaker 1: They're going for it.
- 5:00Speaker 6: What do you guys talk about in the huddle or
- 5:01Speaker 6: is it just hey, we just gotta go make a
- 5:02Speaker 6: play here.
- 5:03Speaker 10: I kind of felt it was gonna be a four
- 5:05Speaker 10: down territory game just the way that the game was going,
- 5:07Speaker 10: and then uh knowing they probably just wanted to get
- 5:10Speaker 10: you know, all the the the points out of their
- 5:12Speaker 10: their drive. But you know when they go for it
- 5:13Speaker 10: on fourth down there, it's like an uh uh opportunity
- 5:16Speaker 10: to take all the points off the board. Instead, it's
- 5:18Speaker 10: just three, let's take all the points off the board.
- 5:20Speaker 10: So you get it to what fourth and two, fourth
- 5:21Speaker 10: and three in goal, Like, it's a lot of space.
- 5:23Speaker 10: Are probably gonna run some some pick flat type things.
- 5:26Speaker 5: Uh.
- 5:27Speaker 10: You know, Cisco was backside on that one uh throwback,
- 5:29Speaker 10: and then Savage was over there on the in the corner.
- 5:31Speaker 10: Like we were ready for a lot of things that
- 5:33Speaker 10: we always practice and practice, so uh kind of just
- 5:35Speaker 10: alerting different plays that they might run and then when
- 5:38Speaker 10: you do see them, uh, making the uh play on them.
- 5:41Speaker 6: When throughout the season there's been rotations, a lot of
- 5:43Speaker 6: different position groups, right, but on the back end, a
- 5:45Speaker 6: new starting lineup last week, so guys coming and going.
- 5:48Speaker 6: How much by this time of year, you guys probably
- 5:51Speaker 6: have that down though, right, the rotations on defense? How
- 5:54Speaker 6: challenging has that been this year?
- 5:56Speaker 5: It's you know, you just want to do out there
- 5:58Speaker 5: with what's best for the team.
- 5:59Speaker 10: Uh, guys press or whatever the coach sees in a
- 6:02Speaker 10: matchup or whatever, uh whenever your numbers called. Being able
- 6:05Speaker 10: to play and then you know, whatever you seek being
- 6:07Speaker 10: able to come back to the bench and and describe
- 6:09Speaker 10: it to the next guy in can to come in
- 6:11Speaker 10: and make the same play that uh you might've made
- 6:13Speaker 10: or that it's supposed to be made when.
- 6:15Speaker 5: It comes back up.
- 6:16Speaker 10: So it's been it's been good communication wise, and then
- 6:18Speaker 10: everybody's growing. I think that's uh, definitely important, especially this
- 6:22Speaker 10: part of the year. Just keep growing and being able
- 6:24Speaker 10: to play together, making the right calls within the calls.
- 6:26Speaker 10: I think everybody on the same page is always gonna
- 6:28Speaker 10: be the best part, uh, going in this later year,
- 6:31Speaker 10: seeing a lot more cohesiveness in the beginning of the year.
- 6:33Speaker 2: I was speaking of calls. I know Josh said post
- 6:37Speaker 2: game he felt like there was a concerted effort to
- 6:39Speaker 2: get the call in early, that you were trying to
- 6:41Speaker 2: get the call to everybody as quickly as possible. That
- 6:44Speaker 2: acco was that a conversation during the week. Was that
- 6:46Speaker 2: something that was a point of emphasis.
- 6:47Speaker 10: Yeah, definitely just been a point of emphasis. You know,
- 6:51Speaker 10: a lot of teams u uh with going in after
- 6:53Speaker 10: a first down conversion, try to s get lined up, uh,
- 6:57Speaker 10: make sure they keep you in whatever personnel you're in,
- 6:59Speaker 10: so it's getting a call and be able to play.
- 7:01Speaker 10: You know, whatever formation they line up in is is
- 7:03Speaker 10: uh name of the game when they do that. And
- 7:05Speaker 10: then just making sure that we can get our calls
- 7:07Speaker 10: within the calls. I think that's always been important to that.
- 7:10Speaker 10: You know, on defense, we had one call, a lot
- 7:13Speaker 10: of things happen within that play. Making sure that the
- 7:15Speaker 10: backside understands what the front side is doing. Cause everything
- 7:18Speaker 10: ties into each other. So, like I said earlier, growing
- 7:22Speaker 10: and playing cohesive football, Uh, it's definitely cool to see
- 7:24Speaker 10: what we're doing a better job at debt.
- 7:26Speaker 2: Where would you evaluate the communication last week?
- 7:28Speaker 5: Compare best?
- 7:29Speaker 10: Yeah, the best the best best UH for the UH
- 7:32Speaker 10: year and there's still a lot.
- 7:34Speaker 5: Of room to grow.
- 7:35Speaker 2: So speaking of last week, does the win against the
- 7:38Speaker 2: Titan spark anything at all?
- 7:40Speaker 8: During practice this week?
- 7:41Speaker 9: In preparation for the Jets?
- 7:43Speaker 5: Keep preparing UH to win a game? Uh spark. We're
- 7:47Speaker 5: We're motivated every week to win a game.
- 7:50Speaker 10: Obviously, it's good to see all your hard work, you know,
- 7:53Speaker 10: come up on a on a winning column. But just
- 7:54Speaker 10: use that as motivation to keep working, uh in order
- 7:57Speaker 10: to get more wins out of the year.
- 7:59Speaker 5: Obviously, you know the year is what it is, but
- 8:03Speaker 5: let's try to make the best of UH what we
- 8:04Speaker 5: have left.
- 8:05Speaker 8: Does it feel lighter at all?
- 8:07Speaker 5: You know as far as UH it just what do
- 8:08Speaker 5: you mean, like, oh, like happier?
- 8:10Speaker 8: Yeah?
- 8:10Speaker 5: Yeah, do you go? Oh?
- 8:11Speaker 10: I mean yeah, We're happy to win for sure, we
- 8:12Speaker 10: want more wins. So I might be the wrong person
- 8:15Speaker 10: to ask about happier and lighter and stuff.
- 8:16Speaker 5: I'm not a l you know, I'm tryna win every game,
- 8:19Speaker 5: so I definitely good energy though good positivity.
- 8:22Speaker 10: Uh, let's continue to stack it and and get back
- 8:24Speaker 10: on on the horse to you know, get another win.
- 8:27Speaker 5: Yeah, thank you.
- 8:28Speaker 1: What's the chess match like for?
- 8:30Speaker 5: Uh?
- 8:30Speaker 1: For your defense?
- 8:31Speaker 8: Obviously going up against the guy that's seen a lot
- 8:32Speaker 8: of football and it's probably seen everything you could possibly
- 8:35Speaker 8: throw out.
- 8:35Speaker 10: It's really focusing on ourselves because you know, if you're
- 8:37Speaker 10: in the wrong spot. I feel like that's what the exploits,
- 8:39Speaker 10: and he knows, uh what looks to to expect, especially
- 8:42Speaker 10: you put up so much film out this part of
- 8:44Speaker 10: the year, So just owning our calls. I think it's
- 8:46Speaker 10: always gonna be important against a very witty quarterback and
- 8:49Speaker 10: then being in the right place and tackling. I think
- 8:51Speaker 10: tackling keeping you know, to second along, third along on
- 8:54Speaker 10: check downs, but I know he knows when to throw
- 8:56Speaker 10: that check down.
- 8:57Speaker 5: Uh, and then you can, uh, you.
- 8:58Speaker 10: Know, take advantage of the pass rush if the if
- 8:59Speaker 10: we got some dialed up, get him off the spot.
- 9:02Speaker 10: I think that's the way to win the game.
- 9:03Speaker 8: Is there like a sort of like a balance you
- 9:05Speaker 8: have to find between pressure and patience, knowing obviously if
- 9:08Speaker 8: he can kind of get loose, he can kind of
- 9:09Speaker 8: hurt you downfield.
- 9:11Speaker 5: Is to play I I I'm one more time, I'm.
- 9:16Speaker 8: Sorry, Like is there is there like a balance between
- 9:18Speaker 8: you know, obviously pressure and kind of being patient knowing
- 9:21Speaker 8: that if you know he gets off the spot sending
- 9:23Speaker 8: plays and things like that.
- 9:23Speaker 10: Yeah, it's big plaster. I mean earlier in the cares
- 9:26Speaker 10: where he hurt a lot of people. He's a lot
- 9:27Speaker 10: more mobile than you want him to be. But he
- 9:29Speaker 10: still has all that arm talent and stuff. So you
- 9:31Speaker 10: come out of uh coverage a little too quick, he's
- 9:32Speaker 10: gonna be able to hit something down the field. And
- 9:34Speaker 10: so they have all their little scramble rules where they
- 9:36Speaker 10: can actually turn it up and go cause he has
- 9:38Speaker 10: all that arm talent, so a lot of times letting
- 9:40Speaker 10: the rushers rush. And then you you do your job
- 9:43Speaker 10: on the coverage. If you can pull up the lad
- 9:45Speaker 10: or something, your your coverage is black, and then you
- 9:47Speaker 10: can go to it, but make sure cause they are
- 9:49Speaker 10: a lot of screens on a second a long too,
- 9:50Speaker 10: so really just doing your part of the play and
- 9:52Speaker 10: then uh letting your rushers rush, right, but like just
- 9:56Speaker 10: that he's been.
- 9:57Speaker 2: In the lead for so long in that regard, just
- 10:00Speaker 2: you're in the field again.
- 10:00Speaker 9: With a guy like Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, I mean, I
- 10:02Speaker 9: think he's uh definitely one of the best ever play
- 10:05Speaker 9: talent wise for sure.
- 10:08Speaker 5: Uh.
- 10:08Speaker 9: Everybody likes to debate that kind of stuff, but in
- 10:10Speaker 9: my eyes, he's definitely one of the most talented quarterbacks
- 10:13Speaker 9: to step foot in this league. So definitely appreciate games
- 10:16Speaker 9: like that against uh, great players in this league. And
- 10:19Speaker 9: uh to be able to share the field with great
- 10:21Speaker 9: players like that is uh is pretty cool as well.
- 10:24Speaker 1: Which thing is that stands out about the Jets secondary you?
- 10:27Speaker 5: Uh?
- 10:27Speaker 9: I mean, honestly, their whole defense just plays really well together.
- 10:31Speaker 9: They play violent, they run to the football, they're physical,
- 10:36Speaker 9: and they're athletic in the back end. I mean, they're
- 10:38Speaker 9: athletic all over the field, honestly. Uh. They cause problems everywhere.
- 10:41Speaker 9: So we're gonna have to We're gonna have to come
- 10:43Speaker 9: prepared to be physical, to be explosive, uh, and to
- 10:47Speaker 9: have great finish all game uh to be successful against them.
- 10:51Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, w what difference, if any have you
- 10:53Speaker 8: noticed in in Mac just the way he's kind of
- 10:55Speaker 8: carried himself for the last.
- 10:56Speaker 1: Couple of games.
- 10:57Speaker 9: Uh just uh, just kind of letting it loose. I think, uh,
- 11:01Speaker 9: you know, we had some we had a rough couple
- 11:04Speaker 9: of games as a offense, and you know that can
- 11:06Speaker 9: that can kill confidence, that can uh you know, create doubt.
- 11:10Speaker 1: But uh Mac is persevered. Uh, we all persevered, and.
- 11:14Speaker 9: I think we really just you know, stick together in
- 11:16Speaker 9: that and continue to push each other forward. I think
- 11:18Speaker 9: Mac has been a great example of uh finishing. Obviously
- 11:23Speaker 9: there might be times or you know, you don't wanna
- 11:24Speaker 9: start the way you wanna start, but it's how you finish.
- 11:26Speaker 9: And I think, uh, you know, ever since since Trevor's
- 11:28Speaker 9: been down him coming back up, he's been able to
- 11:32Speaker 9: you know, play with more confidence, understand that you know,
- 11:34Speaker 9: there's gonna be some misshots, uh, but stay in the
- 11:37Speaker 9: game and then we'll get gone. And he's he's shown that,
- 11:40Speaker 9: he's shown proof of that.
- 11:41Speaker 1: For sure.
- 11:42Speaker 4: Whose ease turned out to be a good thing, right
- 11:45Speaker 4: for like the school school?
- 11:47Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
- 11:52Speaker 9: Shoot uh nah, I honestly, you know, definitely ready to
- 11:56Speaker 9: move past all that everything that happened, but definitely a
- 12:01Speaker 9: great cause benefit for sure. Got a lot of tweets
- 12:04Speaker 9: and a lot of mentions on social media about pit
- 12:07Speaker 9: fans and people donating to the school, and honestly, uh,
- 12:12Speaker 9: they're donating for what happened on the field, but if
- 12:14Speaker 9: they really you know, I you know, I probably assumed
- 12:16Speaker 9: they went and did their research and saw what they
- 12:19Speaker 9: were investing in and you know, helping out. Uh it's
- 12:22Speaker 9: a great cause. It's a great place. They do great
- 12:26Speaker 9: things every single day and any help is as well appreciated.
- 12:30Speaker 9: So definitely, uh, definitely, very very blessed and grateful for
- 12:35Speaker 9: uh whatever whatever did take place led to something really
- 12:38Speaker 9: good for sure.
- 12:38Speaker 4: Should number ninety nine though, right, that would have helped
- 12:41Speaker 4: a little more for sure.
- 12:43Speaker 9: Yeah, Nah, it was cool with a lot of seventeen donations. Uh,
- 12:46Speaker 9: definitely a shot out to all the people who did donate.
- 12:49Speaker 9: Like I said, it's going to a really good cause.
- 12:51Speaker 1: What about the throwback uniforms.
- 12:54Speaker 9: Yeah, no, it's uh those are beautiful. Honestly, been uh
- 12:58Speaker 9: been having this one circle for a while to get
- 13:00Speaker 9: back in those and uh we won the last time
- 13:03Speaker 9: we were in them too, so hopefully we'll keep that going.
- 13:06Speaker 1: Thanks having Thanks