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Leonard Williams: "We Want To Win Games With Defense" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Real close in here. Yeah. Real family. What up? All right.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Does it now, after a few years of this, feel
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: like almost a script that your defense is going to
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: keep you guys in games and even when your offense
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: doesn't start.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: It's going to end this way? I mean, I think
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: that's something we've tried to create in the defensive room
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: from the start of Mike being here is like, we
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: always talk about being the tip of the spear and
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: then even taking it further than that, the D-line talks
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: about being the tip of the spear of the defense and, uh,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: You know, we really believe in the offense, obviously. They
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: obviously got the job done, had some great drives. But
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: we feel like, you know, we want to win games
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: with the defense.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: I think they only had a handful of first downs
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: after their touchdown. What did you guys do to really
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: lock it down after they scored?
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think we did a great job of just, like,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: locking in the details at halftime. There was a few
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: things where they were, you know, running the ball to
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the boundary, you know, getting on the edge and things
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: like that. And we switched some things up and were
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: able to stop it. And, you know, we stopped their offense.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: The way you guys just play so physically kind of
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: on both sides of the ball, it seems like, I mean,
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: today looked like a game you guys kind of just
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: wore them out physically.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's our identity. You know, you
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: can hear Coach Mike talk about it a lot. We
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: want to be like a boa constrictor. That's how we
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: want to win games, meaning like we slowly just, you know,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: defeat teams, out physical teams, and towards the end of
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: the game they're just going to tap out. And, you know,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: I think we've done a great job of creating that
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: identity and it shows up on tape. You guys have
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: won 12 in a row now, too.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: I don't know if that's something you think about that
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: you guys have me spend, you know, 10 months since
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: you guys lost a game.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Do you think about that? I honestly haven't thought about it,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: and I think that's what is so beautiful about this team.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: I don't think anyone's thinking about that. I think we're
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: so honed in on just being who we are, you know,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: setting the standard, being the standard, continuing to grow, chasing
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: edges and all of those things that it's like we're
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: never looking behind us at what we've accomplished. We're just
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: always looking ahead. And, you know, a lot of times
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: we're not even looking ahead at other teams. We're just
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: looking ahead of how can we become better. And I
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: think that's why we have such an identity on tape.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you're too busy out in the
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: sideline getting ready for the next position, but do you
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: ever get to just sit back and watch Jack's work
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: and appreciate what he's doing out there?
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, all the time. I mean, you know, we're
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: sitting over there on the D-line, on the sideline, and,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: you know, when he catches the ball, we're just like, man,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: this guy is a wizard. It's nice to have big
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: playmakers on offense and, You know, we have long drives
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: on offense that allows the defense to rest. It's really
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: complimentary football when you can be able to play like that.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Your sack, it looks like you basically, like, bench press
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: the double team into the quarterback. Like, how much satisfaction
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: do you take from winning in that way specifically?
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: A lot, because I think I take pride in, like,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: allowing the edges to play off me as well. So
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: I feel like even if I'm not getting the sack,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: that's something I do is I burn the B-gap. I
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: try to take two guys with me to the quarterback.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: A lot of times that frees up the outside guy
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: to wrap around me and get the sack. This time,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Dante wrapped around. The quarterback felt the pressure from him
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: and stepped right into me. It goes vice versa sometimes.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I'm the sacrifice and sometimes they force the quarterback
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: into me. That's rushing as one right there.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Do you have a preference whether you like the three
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: or the end?
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Do you play a lot of end?
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: I definitely like the end. I want to work at
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: it a lot more. I'm getting more comfortable out there.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I feel like You have more opportunities to get one-on-one
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: rushes and things like that, avoid the center slide and
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: things like that. But I'm definitely more comfortable playing three technique.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: That's what I played my whole career, and I think
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: I still prefer it. One more, one more.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: So EJ last year had his comment in support of Sam.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Sam said that really meant a lot to him, and
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: I don't think you guys lost a game since he
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: made that comment. Do you then as a defense learn, like, hey,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: let's pick up Drew the same way? Because we can
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: see how even us guys on defense can really impact
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the offense that way. Is that something you guys think
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: about when you think about all three?
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. Before this game, when he had to
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: step up last game, that was something we already addressed
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: at halftime. We were like, man, we got Drew's back.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Let's finish this game. Let's make sure that we finish
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: this game for Sam as well. And I think that's
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: another picture of what this team is about. We're going
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: to support the next man up. And it's been done
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: so many times throughout since Mike's being here is– You know,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: one man goes down and the next man steps up, and,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: you know, everyone is capable of holding it down. Thanks, Leo. Yes, sir.