Latest / Seahawks Press Pass / Sam Darnold: "We're Ready To Roll"
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: I feel like it's been a really solid week so far.
- 0:02Speaker 2: Obviously, you know, getting going today on on third down day,
- 0:06Speaker 2: and yesterday I thought was a really good day, just
- 0:08Speaker 2: executing first and second down stuff and obviously really tough defense,
- 0:14Speaker 2: you know, a tough challenge in San Francisco, and you know,
- 0:17Speaker 2: everything that they bring from the d line to the
- 0:19Speaker 2: backers to the back end as well. I feel like
- 0:22Speaker 2: those guys just fly around and they do what they
- 0:26Speaker 2: do exceptionally well. Obviously Coach Sala being there now as well,
- 0:31Speaker 2: so excited to you know, have that opportunity to go
- 0:33Speaker 2: against a really tough defense and a really tough team
- 0:36Speaker 2: before about how your.
- 0:37Speaker 3: Time in San Francisco changed you as a quarterback. What
- 0:40Speaker 3: do you were flecked on as you.
- 0:42Speaker 4: Face them again?
- 0:43Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think I think the biggest thing,
- 0:47Speaker 2: like I've I've always you know, understood what that time
- 0:51Speaker 2: meant for me, you know, as a not only as
- 0:53Speaker 2: a person, but as a player as well. And uh,
- 0:56Speaker 2: you know, I've I've always you know, I always really
- 0:59Speaker 2: enjoyed my time in San Francisco. But being here now
- 1:02Speaker 2: in Seattle, I'm excited to have that opportunity to go
- 1:05Speaker 2: against them. Like I said, it's a really good, good organization,
- 1:08Speaker 2: great players, great coaching staff over there.
- 1:10Speaker 1: So I'm just excited for the opportunity one series in
- 1:14Speaker 1: the preseason.
- 1:14Speaker 5: Just how excited you to see what this offense can
- 1:16Speaker 5: do playing a whole game together.
- 1:18Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, we're ready to roll. Man.
- 1:19Speaker 2: It's it's been a fun It's been a long lead
- 1:22Speaker 2: up to this first game, as it has been for
- 1:24Speaker 2: most every team in the NFL.
- 1:26Speaker 1: But we're really excited.
- 1:27Speaker 2: We're excited to just roll the thing out there, kick
- 1:30Speaker 2: it off and get the season underway.
- 1:32Speaker 4: You got to play against this defense last year in Minnesota,
- 1:35Speaker 4: and Fred Warner in particular, like Superman out there sometimes
- 1:38Speaker 4: full stretch. How do you count for a player that can.
- 1:41Speaker 1: Do things that nobody else can do in the middle
- 1:43Speaker 1: of the field.
- 1:44Speaker 2: Yeah, Fred's Fred's obviously an incredible player. You know, you
- 1:47Speaker 2: have to give your respect to him. But you know,
- 1:50Speaker 2: they got a lot of great guys you know, around
- 1:52Speaker 2: him as well, obviously on the d line and in
- 1:55Speaker 2: the back end. You know, I feel like, you know,
- 1:57Speaker 2: obviously with Demo out there at corner, you know, you
- 2:00Speaker 2: got some other guys that made some splashes last year,
- 2:04Speaker 2: and they got some you know, really good rookie talent
- 2:06Speaker 2: as well, So we gotta, we gotta, you know, our
- 2:09Speaker 2: hand hands full a little bit going into this game.
- 2:12Speaker 2: And again, like I keep saying, man, we're we're just
- 2:14Speaker 2: excited to go against them, excited for the opportunity and
- 2:16Speaker 2: the challenge that they bring.
- 2:18Speaker 4: Sam, we talked about it is throw down day, but
- 2:20Speaker 4: how important is it to win first down?
- 2:23Speaker 3: And how do you win first down?
- 2:25Speaker 1: Yeah?
- 2:26Speaker 2: I think I think that's gonna be a huge key
- 2:29Speaker 2: is staying efficient on first and second down as it
- 2:31Speaker 2: is you know, every single game, but especially against these guys,
- 2:35Speaker 2: it's it's a huge key to to you know, stay
- 2:37Speaker 2: efficient on early downs, not having any negative plays, not
- 2:40Speaker 2: having any you know, penalties, false starts, holdings for me,
- 2:45Speaker 2: being able to get the ball out of my hands.
- 2:46Speaker 2: So you know, it's just all those key things are
- 2:48Speaker 2: going to be huge in this one.
- 2:50Speaker 4: You played well under center play action. A lot of
- 2:53Speaker 4: quarterbacks aren't comfortable with their back to the defense. What
- 2:56Speaker 4: what about that has worked for you? And when did
- 2:58Speaker 4: that start clicking for you?
- 3:00Speaker 1: Yeah? I think the biggest thing for me is is
- 3:02Speaker 1: my feet.
- 3:02Speaker 2: You know, as we say, listen to our feet, Uh,
- 3:05Speaker 2: you know, that's kind of the key for me in
- 3:07Speaker 2: you know, drop back or play action game. And I
- 3:10Speaker 2: think I think at the end of the day, like
- 3:13Speaker 2: just understanding kind of.
- 3:14Speaker 1: The coverages that we're going to see.
- 3:15Speaker 2: Obviously it's kind of tough in this first game, you know,
- 3:18Speaker 2: with solid going back there and you know, you have
- 3:20Speaker 2: a you have a ton of film to watch and
- 3:23Speaker 2: you know a bunch of different things that they can
- 3:24Speaker 2: bring a bunch of different coverages, pressures. But I think
- 3:28Speaker 2: just being prepared for what they could potentially bring, because
- 3:32Speaker 2: when you do turn your back to the defense, you
- 3:34Speaker 2: just got to be ready for you know, is it
- 3:36Speaker 2: going to shell, is it going single high? Are they
- 3:38Speaker 2: playing man? Are they playing like a match coverage? Are
- 3:41Speaker 2: they bringing pressure? So there's a lot of different things
- 3:43Speaker 2: that go through your mind, but by Sunday you would
- 3:47Speaker 2: like to have that narrowed down and have a really
- 3:48Speaker 2: good idea of what we're going to see when we
- 3:51Speaker 2: get out there.
- 3:51Speaker 5: Sam, in a conversation about leadership and accountability with Marshawn
- 3:54Speaker 5: on this pod, you were use the example of like
- 3:57Speaker 5: my receiver runs the wrong route, I throw a pick,
- 3:58Speaker 5: I'm gonna eat it. Basically, Yeah, have you always been
- 4:01Speaker 5: like that, and so why like that version of accountability.
- 4:04Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, you know, at the end of the day,
- 4:07Speaker 2: that's a whether it was my fault or not, whether
- 4:11Speaker 2: nobody really knows, you know, it was kind of a
- 4:13Speaker 2: combination of the two. I think the biggest thing is
- 4:16Speaker 2: just taking accountability. That's that's the biggest thing that you know,
- 4:20Speaker 2: I've not only for my teammates to hear, but also
- 4:23Speaker 2: for myself. You know, I feel like if something goes
- 4:26Speaker 2: wrong in a play, what's you know, what good does
- 4:29Speaker 2: it do to just say, oh, I did my job.
- 4:31Speaker 2: You know, I feel like I did everything I could
- 4:33Speaker 2: to make that play work.
- 4:34Speaker 1: It just didn't work.
- 4:34Speaker 2: It's like, No, I think you can look in the
- 4:36Speaker 2: mirror and understand that everything can can be better. And
- 4:39Speaker 2: that's just the kind of that's the kind of not
- 4:41Speaker 2: only myself, but I feel like that's the kind of
- 4:43Speaker 2: guys we have in the locker room, and it's fun
- 4:45Speaker 2: to play with guys like that.
- 4:46Speaker 5: You've seen that version of leadership and accountability, Like, have
- 4:49Speaker 5: guys giving you feedback about that, like teammates that they
- 4:51Speaker 5: appreciated it.
- 4:53Speaker 2: No, I think I think at the end of the day,
- 4:55Speaker 2: like we just appreciate each other.
- 4:57Speaker 1: You know.
- 4:57Speaker 2: We we love you know, coming to work every single
- 4:59Speaker 2: day with each other, and we love the accountability that
- 5:02Speaker 2: everybody you know takes for you know, their mistakes, or
- 5:05Speaker 2: even if they didn't make a mistake and they think
- 5:07Speaker 2: they did, you know, most guys will be the first
- 5:09Speaker 2: ones to own up to it.
- 5:10Speaker 3: You've obviously been through this before going into a season,
- 5:13Speaker 3: you know, with the benefit of experience. I'm just curious,
- 5:15Speaker 3: you know, how you feel different after seven years, after
- 5:19Speaker 3: five teams, Just kind of what's the benefit of experience
- 5:21Speaker 3: for you? How do you feel most prepared and confident?
- 5:24Speaker 3: What's different this year than maybe previous years.
- 5:26Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think that's that's a deep question
- 5:29Speaker 2: that I really haven't had a ton of time to,
- 5:32Speaker 2: you know, look back on my career and think about
- 5:34Speaker 2: I think at the end of the day, you gain
- 5:36Speaker 2: so much knowledge just from experience alone. I had gained
- 5:40Speaker 2: a ton of experience from the six years previous to
- 5:42Speaker 2: last year, and then obviously gained a ton of experience
- 5:45Speaker 2: last year, and so you just continue to stack that
- 5:47Speaker 2: up over the course of time, and it just you know, obviously,
- 5:53Speaker 2: defenses start bringing new things and they show you different
- 5:56Speaker 2: looks and different pressures with different coverages, so there's always
- 5:59Speaker 2: something new defensive coordinators like to keep quarterbacks on their
- 6:02Speaker 2: toes with. And I think that's the fun part about
- 6:06Speaker 2: the game, though, is it it's you know, ever evolving
- 6:09Speaker 2: and it's changing all the time, and it you know,
- 6:11Speaker 2: it's not like I've been seeing the same coverage as
- 6:14Speaker 2: the last eight years. You know, there's different coverages and
- 6:16Speaker 2: different pressures that coordinators are figuring out. I mean, just
- 6:20Speaker 2: you know, check out Mike and his defense and his
- 6:22Speaker 2: scheme that he rolls with. You know, even last year
- 6:25Speaker 2: some of the stuff that we had to prepare for
- 6:26Speaker 2: in Minnesota preparing for Mike and all the different pressures
- 6:29Speaker 2: and coverages they could bring. It's you know, it's challenging,
- 6:32Speaker 2: but it's really fun. I think that's the fun part
- 6:34Speaker 2: about football, is it challenges you in such a great
- 6:37Speaker 2: way and for all eleven guys to go out there,
- 6:42Speaker 2: see a tough look, pick it up, you know, score
- 6:44Speaker 2: a touchdown or even just gain five yards on a
- 6:47Speaker 2: third and four. You know, that's that's the beauty about
- 6:50Speaker 2: football and sports in general.
- 6:52Speaker 3: Following that up, what are defense is doing that are
- 6:55Speaker 3: different now from eight years ago when he came to
- 6:56Speaker 3: the league.
- 6:57Speaker 2: Shoot, I mean there's a lot of different pressures, you know.
- 7:00Speaker 2: I think that'd be an interesting question to see how
- 7:02Speaker 2: Mike would respond to that. You know, I'm not sure
- 7:05Speaker 2: you would get two in depth with you, but you know,
- 7:07Speaker 2: there's there's a ton that defenses are doing that are
- 7:10Speaker 2: trying to beat certain protections, doing certain things on you know,
- 7:14Speaker 2: get back on track downs which are second and long
- 7:17Speaker 2: and you know, third downs especially. So it's, like I said,
- 7:20Speaker 2: that's the fun part about football, and we're just continuing
- 7:23Speaker 2: to try to get better as an offense and pick
- 7:25Speaker 2: all that stuff up.
- 7:26Speaker 4: I say, just one game out of seventeen, but it's
- 7:28Speaker 4: still the first one where you're really making a first
- 7:30Speaker 4: impression to a lot of fans out there.
- 7:32Speaker 3: How much emphasis do you think about that or how
- 7:34Speaker 3: much do you kind of.
- 7:34Speaker 4: Weigh into that given that this is the really the
- 7:36Speaker 4: fans first chance in a regular season game to see
- 7:38Speaker 4: you've play.
- 7:39Speaker 2: Yeah, it's incredible, I think, you know, just the opportunity
- 7:42Speaker 2: that I get to be able to play in front
- 7:43Speaker 2: of these fans finally, as you know, our fans. You know,
- 7:46Speaker 2: I feel like I've been coming here the last few years,
- 7:48Speaker 2: and it's it's nice to have them on my side now,
- 7:50Speaker 2: and it's it's incredible. I know the energy that the
- 7:54Speaker 2: twelves are going to bring out there on the field,
- 7:55Speaker 2: and you know, we're we're really looking forward to playing
- 7:59Speaker 2: in front of those those fans. And but I don't
- 8:02Speaker 2: I don't put much pressure on myself to answer your question.
- 8:04Speaker 2: I think at the end of the day, I you know,
- 8:06Speaker 2: I prepare so much throughout the week to just go
- 8:10Speaker 2: out there and you know, let it rip, have fun,
- 8:13Speaker 2: be loose, and be myself.
- 8:15Speaker 5: Kind of building on that. What as you've gone through
- 8:18Speaker 5: your experiences, what have you learned is the things you
- 8:20Speaker 5: need to do in a game week in order to
- 8:23Speaker 5: be ready and have success on a Sunday.
- 8:26Speaker 1: Yeah, I think just kind of visualizing.
- 8:28Speaker 2: I think visualizing the plays that we're running against certain defenses,
- 8:33Speaker 2: you know, and just every single play that we have,
- 8:35Speaker 2: like kind of, okay, we're attacking this.
- 8:38Speaker 1: Coverage, but what if we get this.
- 8:40Speaker 2: I think that's that's been kind of the you know,
- 8:43Speaker 2: the last few years. I feel like continuing to harp
- 8:46Speaker 2: on that while I visualize and do my homework outside
- 8:49Speaker 2: of the facility, Like that's those are the kind of
- 8:51Speaker 2: huge steps that I've been making as a player. I
- 8:53Speaker 2: feel like, just you know, worst case scenario, what do
- 8:57Speaker 2: I do on this play if things go wrong? And
- 9:00Speaker 2: you know, I feel like continuing to think like that
- 9:02Speaker 2: as a quarterback, you know, will continue to help me
- 9:05Speaker 2: in the future playing with one of the.
- 9:07Speaker 5: Game prep process, the operation and how you get the
- 9:12Speaker 5: game play when you get it.
- 9:13Speaker 2: What's different here than you Yeah, there's there's some different nuances,
- 9:17Speaker 2: you know, different things in the schedule, But at the
- 9:19Speaker 2: end of the day, like I'm going to prepare the
- 9:21Speaker 2: same way I've prepared, doing everything that I can to,
- 9:25Speaker 2: like I said, visualize all these plays against different coverages
- 9:28Speaker 2: and and how we're you know, attacking the defense and
- 9:31Speaker 2: what we're gonna do if you know what we're scheming up.
- 9:34Speaker 2: Isn't necessarily there nuances different with what in the.
- 9:40Speaker 3: Gaining process preparations.
- 9:42Speaker 2: Just I mean, anytime you go to a new team,
- 9:44Speaker 2: there's gonna be things that are a little bit different,
- 9:47Speaker 2: but they're all great things, you know. It's all it's
- 9:49Speaker 2: all you know, opportunities for us to come into work
- 9:53Speaker 2: and take advantage of the time that we have with
- 9:55Speaker 2: each other, and uh, preparing the way that we do.
- 9:58Speaker 4: Arguably the best receiver in football. Ass you're in Justin
- 10:00Speaker 4: Jefferson and some people look at the seats receiver room
- 10:03Speaker 4: and have question marks. How could you think JSN can.
- 10:06Speaker 2: Be I think Jasn can be really good. I think
- 10:09Speaker 2: he I think he is really good. You know. For
- 10:13Speaker 2: for anyone that doubts him, I would love for them
- 10:15Speaker 2: to just turn on the tape. You know, at the
- 10:17Speaker 2: end of the day, I feel like he does incredible things.
- 10:19Speaker 2: He's been doing great things. I think for all of
- 10:22Speaker 2: us though, it's it's it's about what we're doing now,
- 10:24Speaker 2: what we're gonna be doing in practice today too, you know,
- 10:28Speaker 2: to get ready for this this Niners defense, and that's
- 10:31Speaker 2: all we can control, and that's that's what we're gonna
- 10:34Speaker 2: worry about.
- 10:35Speaker 5: You said, today's like they're down this type of stuff.
- 10:38Speaker 5: Correct me if I'm wrong on this. But it seems
- 10:40Speaker 5: like there's some schemes that with the quarterback when there's
- 10:42Speaker 5: pressure coming, you have a lot of a ton of
- 10:43Speaker 5: me to like move stuff, go to max protection stuff
- 10:46Speaker 5: like that. Like this scheme is more like the hots,
- 10:48Speaker 5: a kind of more built in take the pressure off
- 10:50Speaker 5: the quarterback. That's true. What are the pros and cons
- 10:53Speaker 5: maybe of the way this scheme looks the quarterback handle pressure?
- 10:56Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's there's pros and cons to everything.
- 10:58Speaker 2: I feel like, you know, our offense is, you know,
- 11:02Speaker 2: ever evolving. We're going to continue to look at, you know,
- 11:05Speaker 2: the best ways to attack defenses, defenses that we're going
- 11:08Speaker 2: against that week. We might do it differently than what
- 11:10Speaker 2: we've been doing, you know, all of training camp.
- 11:12Speaker 1: And that's great.
- 11:14Speaker 2: As long as it gives us an edge to be
- 11:15Speaker 2: able to go out there and be the best offense
- 11:18Speaker 2: we can be, We're gonna do that.
- 11:20Speaker 3: There's a report that.
- 11:21Speaker 4: Abe Lucas signed an extension of team thoughts on that
- 11:25Speaker 4: and then, I don't know, what do you see from
- 11:26Speaker 4: quarterbacks perspective?
- 11:27Speaker 1: And that's awesome?
- 11:30Speaker 2: Man, you know, I'm so happy for Abe, happy for
- 11:33Speaker 2: him and his family.
- 11:35Speaker 1: You know, it's just incredible stuff.
- 11:36Speaker 2: Whenever you can see something like that go down and
- 11:39Speaker 2: you know you get to congratulate him in person, it's, Uh,
- 11:42Speaker 2: it's an incredible thing.
- 11:44Speaker 1: And what was your second part of that question? What
- 11:46Speaker 1: do you see from him there? Yeah?
- 11:48Speaker 2: Yeah, Abe's always He's always brought such a positive attitude,
- 11:53Speaker 2: you know, even in a funny joking way. You know,
- 11:55Speaker 2: even when it's super hot out there and he's out there,
- 11:58Speaker 2: you know, with the cold towel on his head saying
- 12:00Speaker 2: love this, and you guys can fill in the blank
- 12:02Speaker 2: on the next word that he says. But uh, it's
- 12:04Speaker 2: a It's an incredible thing, man, just to see Abe
- 12:06Speaker 2: go to work every single day. And you know he
- 12:08Speaker 2: deserves every penny of that word.
- 12:10Speaker 5: With Clint in San Francisco obviously, now you've been with
- 12:12Speaker 5: him here for the build up of this season, what
- 12:14Speaker 5: stands out about him as a coach.
- 12:17Speaker 2: Yeah, first of all, I think Clint's very relatable. You know,
- 12:21Speaker 2: he he gets along with all the guys. You know,
- 12:24Speaker 2: he he gets up here and and you know he
- 12:27Speaker 2: talks to the offense every single day. But I feel
- 12:29Speaker 2: like every single day he has, you know, a new
- 12:31Speaker 2: little message for us and how we can get better
- 12:33Speaker 2: and how we can attack the day. And you know,
- 12:35Speaker 2: I think that's a great part about Clint. And you know,
- 12:37Speaker 2: just his football mind, all the football that he's been around,
- 12:40Speaker 2: you know, different systems and the things that he's seen.
- 12:43Speaker 2: There's there's so much experience and I think guys respect
- 12:46Speaker 2: that a ton about him. But yeah, I would think
- 12:49Speaker 2: that the biggest thing is just he's he's very relatable.
- 12:51Speaker 2: He's one of the guys, and you know that's what
- 12:54Speaker 2: That's what a lot of guys love about him.
- 12:56Speaker 4: Mike McDonald said that you never want to take the
- 12:58Speaker 4: playmaker out of the player, And I'm just curious for you,
- 13:01Speaker 4: are there different situations where you change the risks you're
- 13:04Speaker 4: willing to take, whether it's red zone or down wherever
- 13:07Speaker 4: it might be.
- 13:08Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, you know, to give you an example,
- 13:10Speaker 2: like I think on a fourth down in you know,
- 13:14Speaker 2: games on the line, obviously you got to throw it.
- 13:16Speaker 2: You know, you're not too worried about your stats at
- 13:17Speaker 2: that point. You're not too worried about throwing a pick
- 13:19Speaker 2: or you know, turn the ball over because you know,
- 13:22Speaker 2: at the end of the.
- 13:23Speaker 1: Day ball if if we throw it away, that's.
- 13:28Speaker 2: Maybe one of the dumber plays in football that you
- 13:30Speaker 2: can make, in my opinion, throwing it away on a
- 13:31Speaker 2: fourth down. So there's definitely certain situations where you don't
- 13:35Speaker 2: want to you don't want to risk that, Like if
- 13:38Speaker 2: it's first or second down, nothing's there, it's definitely better
- 13:41Speaker 2: to throw it away than to do that.
- 13:42Speaker 1: But so, yeah, every situation has.
- 13:44Speaker 2: Its has its own kind of flare to it, and
- 13:48Speaker 2: I think for us it's it's for me personally as
- 13:51Speaker 2: a quarterback, it's about weighing those those risks and weighing
- 13:54Speaker 2: the rewards and going from there.
- 13:57Speaker 1: When we talked to him, he seems very no nonsense.
- 14:00Speaker 1: Is he the same way behind the scenes or is absolutely? Yeah,
- 14:03Speaker 1: he's very very dry.
- 14:05Speaker 2: You know, he gets to the point and you know,
- 14:08Speaker 2: it's it's funny whenever he does, you know, crack a
- 14:10Speaker 2: joke or crack a smile, I'm.
- 14:12Speaker 1: Like, what was that? You know, he rarely shows that,
- 14:15Speaker 1: so it's, uh, it's great.
- 14:17Speaker 2: Whenever Clint can, uh, you know, crack a smile or
- 14:20Speaker 2: say something funny and always gets the guys going. But no,
- 14:23Speaker 2: he's very he's very straightforward, very to the point, which
- 14:25Speaker 2: is again, like I said, it's kind of another thing
- 14:28Speaker 2: that I think guys appreciate having.
- 14:30Speaker 5: Gone against Micdonald's defense for last month or so, what
- 14:34Speaker 5: do you anticipate will be give the other teams trouble
- 14:37Speaker 5: on Sundays.
- 14:38Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm obviously not going to go into too much
- 14:39Speaker 2: detail on that one, but you know, mix it up
- 14:43Speaker 2: pretty good, and you know they I think the biggest
- 14:47Speaker 2: thing is the players, right. I feel like, you know,
- 14:51Speaker 2: coach lets the players play, and you know, we got
- 14:54Speaker 2: a lot of good players and I'm excited to watch
- 14:56Speaker 2: them play on Sunday.
- 14:57Speaker 1: You know whose idea it was to make the shirts
- 14:59Speaker 1: and hats with listen to your feet. I think it
- 15:03Speaker 1: was Andrew Jinoko, a quarterback coach.
- 15:06Speaker 2: So you guys, whenever you get to talk to him next,
- 15:08Speaker 2: which probably won't be for a while, but you guys
- 15:11Speaker 2: will be able to ask him about that, it'd be great.
- 15:15Speaker 1: Appreciate it, guys,