Speaker 1: What's new? How do you how do you know you
Speaker 1: were ready when you haven't played a lot you have
Speaker 1: in practice a lot. Yeah, you know, well the whole time,
Speaker 1: all along, it was just getting ready for whenever this
Speaker 1: this time would come. UM, and you know I knew,
Speaker 1: I knew I was ready. You know, I knew I
Speaker 1: was taking the mental reps being out the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, even going into the first game, UM, the
Speaker 1: first preseason game. You know, I felt very confident, felt
Speaker 1: like I've developed um at a fast pace. And UM,
Speaker 1: now it's here, you know, now it's here, and I'm
Speaker 1: really confident in myself and confident in this team, and
Speaker 1: I'm excited for it. You were the starter for game one? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. Uh, it's actually funny. I was actually laying
Speaker 1: in the middle of a cornfield hunting um when that happened.
Speaker 1: So I got the call, and UM, I was obviously
Speaker 1: very surprised, UM, but instantly I was just really excited,
Speaker 1: you know, I was, UM, a lot of excitement going on,
Speaker 1: and UM we quickly cleaned up and got out of
Speaker 1: there because there's just so many emotions going on and
Speaker 1: it was with my family and stuff. So UM, you know,
Speaker 1: now it's just kind of down to the business, you know.
Speaker 1: And UM, but I can tell you I'm very confident
Speaker 1: and I'm very excited to get this opportunity hunting geese.
Speaker 1: Hunting some geese in Jersey. Okay, so somewhere in Jersey
Speaker 1: we were hunting. Um, So we knew today technically, UM,
Speaker 1: but we knew kind of going forward, Um, last week
Speaker 1: it would have been pretty close, um being able to
Speaker 1: play it just you know, it wasn't worth the minor
Speaker 1: risk there was. So we kind of knew right when
Speaker 1: that game was over, Um, when week one rolled around,
Speaker 1: we'd be ready to go. And UM, so it got
Speaker 1: technically cleared today that you were ready. Um, not really,
Speaker 1: you know, not at one specific moment where I think of,
Speaker 1: but you know, I just knew ever since OTAs this summer,
Speaker 1: you know, diving into the playbook, um, and then going forward. Um,
Speaker 1: really that preseason game, I guess I walked away feeling
Speaker 1: really extra confident with it. You know, it wasn't prettier
Speaker 1: by any means, but I didn't feel overwhelmed or anything.
Speaker 1: Just felt very confident with it. And you know, now
Speaker 1: now it's here, we're good to go. We're we're healed
Speaker 1: and ready to go. Um. You know that was almost
Speaker 1: two full weeks ago. Um, so we're we're healing and
Speaker 1: ready to go. Quarterback as bumps of the road and
Speaker 1: things don't always go as a plan, how prepared do
Speaker 1: you feel for you know, the downtimes, interceptions, you know,
Speaker 1: when things don't go well. Yeah, you know that's that's
Speaker 1: the way life is, That's the way the game of
Speaker 1: football is. Um. Like you said, especially young quarterbacks usually
Speaker 1: experienced some bumps in the road. And I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: take him and stride. You know, I'm gonna learn from
Speaker 1: my mistakes and I'm just gonna keep getting better and
Speaker 1: keep putting this team in good situations to win some
Speaker 1: ball game. Yeah. I actually reached out to him, UM,
Speaker 1: spoke with him. You know, I just thanked him for
Speaker 1: everything he had done, Um, helping me and really being
Speaker 1: a mentor to me. Um, and really wished him luck.
Speaker 1: And you know, we exchanged some some nice words, and
Speaker 1: so I appreciate everything he did for me while while
Speaker 1: we were here together. It was really none there's really none.
Speaker 1: Ribs are ribs are feeling really good? Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: almost all quarterbacks always do. So I had one on
Speaker 1: when when I broke the ribs too, So it's just
Speaker 1: one of it was one of those fluky plays. So um,
Speaker 1: but yes, I will be wearing a flat jacket like
Speaker 1: always to handle the pressure now that comes with being
Speaker 1: started quarterback. Yeah, you know, it's it kind of just
Speaker 1: what it is, you know, you inherit the pressure. I
Speaker 1: really just block it out. It's just just a game
Speaker 1: of football. And I'm ready to go out there and um,
Speaker 1: play with him myself, play within this system and really
Speaker 1: lead these guys. Um and you know, the pressure and
Speaker 1: all the outside everything, it's just game football and that's
Speaker 1: how I view it. And you know, I'm just ready
Speaker 1: to attack it and do my best. To tell you
Speaker 1: that you were the starter. Was that also how you
Speaker 1: found out about the trade or was there some time
Speaker 1: in between? Uh? It was there was a little gap,
Speaker 1: but it was kind of implied right away and then
Speaker 1: we had we had spoken um to kind to clarify
Speaker 1: it again. And um, so yeah, just getting the playbook,
Speaker 1: really get I should say, getting the film room and
Speaker 1: study the Browns. You know, we gotta we had a
Speaker 1: little jump start on them, you know, going back last
Speaker 1: week and um, you know, really just got to prepare
Speaker 1: my tail off. Who knows what what they're gonna do
Speaker 1: being a young quarterback and all, we'll see what they
Speaker 1: want to do. Um, but yeah, just go prepare and
Speaker 1: get on the same page with with the O line,
Speaker 1: the whole offense. And I'm excited for a lot of
Speaker 1: young guys haven't had success recently, Luck and Matt Ryan
Speaker 1: and flat Go RG three who you will see Sunday.
Speaker 1: Does that give you some comfor level that a lot
Speaker 1: of guys have been able to do this from the
Speaker 1: get go? Sure? Yeah, I mean it's it's one of
Speaker 1: those things. I think everybody's different. Everyone's got their own scenario.
Speaker 1: Everyone comes from a different background. Um, everyone's got different
Speaker 1: pieces around them. And you know, I'm just really excited
Speaker 1: for my opportunity, and you know, I feel very confident
Speaker 1: that that we will be successful here this year. What
Speaker 1: did you learn from that when you trying to not
Speaker 1: give up on the PLA? What would you do differently?
Speaker 1: It was just a learning experience just to communicate, communicate,
Speaker 1: you know, when I was hot with with my running
Speaker 1: back when I get the ball out, you know, it's
Speaker 1: just kind of a miscommunication thing that I just have
Speaker 1: to kind of be more demonstrative and express the communication.
Speaker 1: So I learned from that, and um, it won't happen again. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I feel you know, going back to even
Speaker 1: when I first got here, I feel like I've earned something.
Speaker 1: I've earned respect, Um, just how I go about my business,
Speaker 1: how I carry myself. Um. But you know, there's nothing
Speaker 1: different that I gotta do now. It's just it's still football.
Speaker 1: Just kind of still be the same guy, um, you know,
Speaker 1: and just just play ball. And I think those guys
Speaker 1: believe in me, and um, you know, I'm excited for it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, we just really talked about business, talked about
Speaker 1: how we're gonna approach the week and um, how we're
Speaker 1: gonna approach it going forward. We didn't really talk about
Speaker 1: the details. There's you know, we're both on the same age.
Speaker 1: And you know he's been great even just today just
Speaker 1: being a mentor even further now, um, and another set
Speaker 1: of eyes for me and everything. So that's been really
Speaker 1: good so far and I'm looking forward to that continuing.
Speaker 1: Thanks everybody,