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Sam Darnold: "We're Continuing To Evolve As An Offense" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Alrighty.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, guys, I feel like I'm a broken record
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: at this point. But another great defense. We're going against man,
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: you know, Houston and and you know coach Demico Ryan's
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: over there. I feel like he has those guys rolling.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: You know, their defense is playing really well. They're playing
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: at a high level. Offenses too, obviously, but just all
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: the all the guys that they have on defense, man,
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: they have they have such great personnel, the guys up front,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the linebackers, the secondary. You know, they fly around,
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  Speaker 2: they know their scheme, you know, inside and out, and
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  Speaker 2: they do a good job, you know, whether they want
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  Speaker 2: to play coverage or pressure or play man a man,
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: you know, they do a really good job in that.
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  Speaker 2: And uh yeah, we got our hands full this week.
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  Speaker 2: But we're again, like I say all the time, man,
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  Speaker 2: we're we're really excited about this opportunity.
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  Speaker 3: What's the bounds like as a quarterback from you know,
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  Speaker 3: respecting early the defense of what they do well, versus saying, hey,
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  Speaker 3: you know this is what we do as an offense
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  Speaker 3: and we want.
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  Speaker 4: To do our stuff.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: I mean you're always you know, you always have a
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: game plan going into a game and understanding kind of
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: what coverages they like to play and you know, tendencies
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: all all those things play into it. But at the
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: end of the day, like you know, we're gonna run
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: things that that we know, you know that will not
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: only be good for us, but you know, hopefully work
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  Speaker 2: against them. So that's that's the you know, that's really
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  Speaker 2: the theme every single week is just understanding what kind of
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  Speaker 2: defense we're playing against and what we do really well
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: and how that can you know, complement the game the
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: game plan.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: What how do you assess your running game right now?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you guys rune it a lot and then they're
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: just committed to it that like the average per carry
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  Speaker 3: isn't super great statistically, but kind of how do you
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  Speaker 3: how do you look at that overall?
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  Speaker 4: This kind of where you run game.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Is and what you're what you're getting out of it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think like anything else, we're just continuing to
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  Speaker 2: evolves as an offense, We're continuing to work on things.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, we're just gonna you know, continue to work
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  Speaker 2: on it, you know, Monday through Saturday or I guess
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: in this case, you know, Tuesday through through Sunday, and
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  Speaker 2: uh yeah, we'll be ready to roll by the time
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  Speaker 2: Monday night comes around. But we're always you know, evolving
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  Speaker 2: as an offense and making sure that everyone's on point,
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  Speaker 2: whether it's the run game or the pass game.
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  Speaker 4: Do you ever notice characteristics of the coach and the
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  Speaker 4: position that he might have played, like Dimiko as a
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  Speaker 4: linebacker and this is a defense that you know best
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  Speaker 4: in play action defense, Like, do you see those things
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: that happen.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: In the UTL. Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, people talk about all the time,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: like you know, head coaches and the teams kind of
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: mirroring each other's personalities. I feel like, you know their defense,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they they fly around, they hit, they play
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  Speaker 2: really hard, they do all the things that you know
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  Speaker 2: your coach to.
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  Speaker 1: Do as a defense.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, again, like I said, it's really fun
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  Speaker 2: to be able to, you know, turn on that tape
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  Speaker 2: and see that, you know, understand that it is a really,
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  Speaker 2: really great opportunity for us to go out there and
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  Speaker 2: play against a really good defense and see what we
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  Speaker 2: can do.
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  Speaker 4: You played them last year as well, do you see similarities?
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  Speaker 4: Is there much changed from from last year?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they've They've changed a couple of things.
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  Speaker 2: You know, obviously personnel, some personnel things have changed a
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  Speaker 2: little bit, but you know, they got a lot of similar,
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  Speaker 2: similar guys out there as well, so and then some
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  Speaker 2: some scheme things here and there. But yeah, they, like
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  Speaker 2: I said, they do what they do and they do
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  Speaker 2: it really well.
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  Speaker 3: When you've got a guy.
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  Speaker 5: Like aging and last week that sixty one yacht or
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  Speaker 5: I think that was the first time he was targeted
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  Speaker 5: in the game, do you have to say anything to
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  Speaker 5: keep those guys in the game or do they just
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  Speaker 5: know the.
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  Speaker 3: Ball could come to the nity time?
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  Speaker 1: Not at all.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I think we have such a great group
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  Speaker 2: in the in the locker room. You know, all the
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  Speaker 2: all the skill position guys, tight ends, receivers, running backs,
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  Speaker 2: they all understand that, you know, it's it's their ball
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  Speaker 2: at any moment.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I just I go through my reads, you know, I.
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  Speaker 2: Do what I can to to help this help this
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  Speaker 2: ball club, you know, move, move the ball down the field.
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  Speaker 2: At the end of the day, that is my job
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  Speaker 2: and I just you know, I try to find the
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  Speaker 2: open guy.
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  Speaker 5: That play the AJ was a play action. You got
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  Speaker 5: the defense to bite on the fake. Do you feel
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  Speaker 5: like even as the run game numbers haven't been what
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  Speaker 5: you want. Do you feel like it's still having an
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  Speaker 5: effect on like having something of the desired effect on defense?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think.
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  Speaker 2: You know, at the end of the day, defenses always
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  Speaker 2: have to respect our run game, you know, and you
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  Speaker 2: know that's I think we've We've put really good stuff
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  Speaker 2: on tape, you know, just some of the little things
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  Speaker 2: that that haven't necessarily gone well are all things that
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  Speaker 2: we can control. So, like I said, we're just gonna
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  Speaker 2: continue to work on those things and get better.
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  Speaker 3: When you're looking at game plan and in film, do
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  Speaker 3: you ever take any other teams by week into consideration,
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  Speaker 3: as in the Texans are coming off their buy, so
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  Speaker 3: they could have done so Scout, they could have changed
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  Speaker 3: some things.
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  Speaker 4: Guys are healthier? Does that plan?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you know you're always thinking, you're always thinking
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  Speaker 2: about things like that. But at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we we got to go off of the
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  Speaker 2: tape that we see and the things that we see,
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  Speaker 2: you know, whether it's from this year, the or the
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  Speaker 2: you know, twenty twenty four, so you know, shoot, even
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  Speaker 2: some coaches go back to twenty three to see what
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  Speaker 2: they're doing. So you know, there's a lot of things
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  Speaker 2: that we look at you know, with this entire week
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  Speaker 2: that we've we've had to prepare, so you know, like
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  Speaker 2: I said, we're we're just excited. We're excited about this opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, if they want to, if they want
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  Speaker 2: to throw some some wrinkles at us in this game,
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  Speaker 2: we'll we'll be ready for it.
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  Speaker 4: There's got a couple of chance earlier in the season
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: to close out games and it didn't always go as
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  Speaker 4: you wanted. And this game against Jacksonville, there's a few
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  Speaker 4: chances where it wasn't going well. Defense give you a
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  Speaker 4: chance and you did close it out.
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  Speaker 1: Was that was that.
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  Speaker 4: Important for the offense?
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
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  Speaker 2: I think there's there's so many different ways to win games,
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  Speaker 2: as we're all seeing in the NFL. You know, it's
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  Speaker 2: I've seen it over the last you know, seven seven
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  Speaker 2: and some change.
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  Speaker 1: Years, So it's, uh, it's crazy.
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  Speaker 2: This league is insane, just the amount of different ways
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: that you can win football games. I mean, we saw
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  Speaker 2: it last night right in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Like you know,
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  Speaker 2: Aaron makes that incredible play and then Joe leads his
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  Speaker 2: team down the field to you know, kick a game
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  Speaker 2: winning field goal and then still even at the end
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  Speaker 2: of the game, Aaron throws a heill Mary and still
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  Speaker 2: gets it to the end zone. So there's so many
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  Speaker 2: different ways to win in this league. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: we're we're just prepared for all those situations. I think,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Coach McDonald does a really good job of,
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  Speaker 2: you know, making sure that we're really prepared for situations
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  Speaker 2: that come up like that. And we're just going to
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  Speaker 2: continue to practice hard and do what we can to
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  Speaker 2: get ready.
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  Speaker 1: For the game.
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  Speaker 6: When you look back at their downs against you, would you.
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  Speaker 2: See, yeah, I think, you know, first and foremost, I think,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I could do a better job of getting
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  Speaker 2: the ball out, you know, understanding kind of different pressures
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  Speaker 2: and things, you know, being able to find underneath guys
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  Speaker 2: that that even though they're you know, in front of
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  Speaker 2: the change, they'll be able to change. They'll be able
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  Speaker 2: to convert, you know, moving the ball down the field.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, just little things we can tweak, you know,
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  Speaker 2: here and there. But you know, at the end of
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  Speaker 2: the day, we just got to do our job.
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  Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta.
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  Speaker 2: See what the defense is presenting to me, understand where
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  Speaker 2: my issues are, and try to get the ball out.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: If they bring pressure when.
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  Speaker 6: They when they do show maybe pressure, maybe not when
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  Speaker 6: they show that. Are you sorting a lot of stuff
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  Speaker 6: out pre snap each time?
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  Speaker 2: I mean it depends depends what what uh you know
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  Speaker 2: protection is called. Could also run it in certain situations.
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  Speaker 2: So there's a lot of different things that that can
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  Speaker 2: come up on third down, but we'll be prepared for it.
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  Speaker 4: Again, good enough at diagnosing blitzes and pressures that they
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  Speaker 4: kind of hunt those opportunities. Do you feel like you've
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  Speaker 4: gotten to that point yet?
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, I think.
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  Speaker 2: Like I said, I think I can do a lot
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  Speaker 2: better job of being able to you know, see that.
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  Speaker 2: Especially when I look at that Jacksonville game, I felt
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  Speaker 2: like the one I got sacked on, I felt like
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  Speaker 2: I could have got the ball out on that one
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  Speaker 2: for a first down. So just learning, learning and growing
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  Speaker 2: from those experiences. You know, it's always nice to to
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: learn those lessons in a win, but we got to
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  Speaker 2: be a lot better in that area and we will be.
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  Speaker 5: What's it like as an opposing quarterback and an offense
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: to have to deal with the noise at lim midfield
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  Speaker 5: when it's really cracked up.
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  Speaker 1: That's tough.
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  Speaker 2: It's tough, man, It's it's something you know, I remember
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  Speaker 2: last year coming here. You know, when I was in Minnesota,
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  Speaker 2: there was I was under center and you know, my
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: O line had a hard time, you know, hearing me
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  Speaker 2: even under center. You know, for some reason, that place
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  Speaker 2: just echoes. You know, that's a huge, you know, huge
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  Speaker 2: shout out to our fans.
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  Speaker 4: Man.
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  Speaker 2: The Twelves do a great job of being able to
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  Speaker 2: make that play shake, and it's a it's a really
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  Speaker 2: really tough place to come and play, and you gotta
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  Speaker 2: be on you gotta be on your silent count.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: You gotta be on communication. As an offense.
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  Speaker 5: The drive where you threw the winning touchdown at the
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  Speaker 5: Jefferson at the a few plays before that, you're like
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: covering your whole trying here. What do you remember about
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: that drive and dealing with it on that drive.
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  Speaker 2: In particular, Yeah, I mean that was you know, I
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: think that play specifically, I remember my offensive you know,
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  Speaker 2: my center, I think coming up to me after the
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  Speaker 2: play and hey, we just heard the echo of your
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  Speaker 2: voice and we snapped it. You know, it was it
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: was so tough to hear in that environment. And again
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  Speaker 2: that's just credit to the Twelves.
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  Speaker 3: You mentioned last night's game Aaron Rodgers, who are like
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: seventy yards on that last play. How long did you
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: guys practice, did you I mean you practice plays like.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: That very often?
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  Speaker 2: Or yeah, I mean we're always walking through situations like that.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: You know, you're not necessarily practicing Hill Mary's all the time,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: but when we get an opportunity to be able to,
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: you know, walk through it in the indoor, we always,
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: you know, have those opportunities, especially on Saturdays and then
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: after practice every now and then I'll hit some long toss.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Make sure I'm always ready for that.
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: What's the furthest you've ever throw o at football?
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: Shoot, I don't know. We'll have to go back in
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: the archives for that, but.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I would guess probably like mid sixties,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: maybe touch in seventy.
• 9:05
  Speaker 6: Sure, though, do you know, like you guys on offense,
• 9:09
  Speaker 6: do you know how much of their stories?
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: Do you know, like their backgrounds on offense?
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's a it's a great question because
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: you know, there's so many guys, right, there's so many
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: guys on offense, so many guys on defense. You try
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: to get to know everybody, and it seems like a
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: long time, but it's really not to be able to
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  Speaker 2: really get to know people. I feel like our team
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: here does a really great job of just trying to
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: get together when they can. It's really hard for me personally,
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: just because you know, I spend a lot of time
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: throughout the week studying and doing my thing to to
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: try to nail this game plan.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: But you know, I know, I know a lot of guys.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I'm sure I don't know all of their stories,
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: you know, very in detail, but I know a lot
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: of the guys personally, and you know, I feel like, yeah,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: I'll leave it at that.
• 9:53
  Speaker 6: You value in it when you do know more about
• 9:55
  Speaker 6: a guy.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: For sure.
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  Speaker 2: I think you know the more the more you can
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: know somebody, the more I guess chemistry there is that
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: you have off the field. I feel like that's a
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: direct correlation to you know, how you connect with somebody
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: on the field as well.
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: Some teams excel at edge pressure. Some teams are better interior.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: As a quarterback, I mean, obviously you'd rather have no pressure,
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: But is there one that's harder to deal with than
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: the other?
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: It depends what you know, it depends what's called you know,
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: depending on you know, if we're in a six man
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: protection of five man protection. Sometimes we're in a seventh
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: So there's so many there's so many different factors that question.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: I would love to maybe go into in depth on
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: that at some point, but yeah, there's there's a lot
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: of different things that can kind of you know, uh,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: trouble or protection, whether it's interior or exterior pressure.
• 10:43
  Speaker 6: Going back to knowing your guys, I think Jackson had
• 10:45
  Speaker 6: mentioned he's one of the guys who came down to
• 10:47
  Speaker 6: l A. I think with the chemistry that you guys
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: clearly have, is that is there value in that, just
• 10:52
  Speaker 6: like knowing knowing him and his history.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, you know, I think being able to know people
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: kind of like I said, it just I think personally
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: it directs.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: You know it.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: It's there's such a correlation to how you know somebody
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: off the field and how you connect on the field.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: I think it's a no brainer. Appreciate you guys.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: Thank you