Speaker 1: Take me through the one day you forced the Monday
Speaker 1: ninety and how that feel about. They just run a
Speaker 1: screenplay that you know everybody else in the league runs,
Speaker 1: and UM, I found myself behind the ball care and
Speaker 1: basically so I'm in a blind spot where he doesn't
Speaker 1: see me. So that's an opportunity where you can punch
Speaker 1: at the ball. And you know, when when a guy
Speaker 1: sees you coming, usually they tightened up and they'll protect
Speaker 1: the football. But if they don't feel you there, um,
Speaker 1: usually that ball is a little loose and I just
Speaker 1: punch at the you know, his elbow and the balls
Speaker 1: in the ground. Then you got other guys that are
Speaker 1: a rounding football because they're trying to make the tackle. Demiko,
Speaker 1: there's a good job of jumping on it, protecting the
Speaker 1: ball into the pile and coming up with it. Twas
Speaker 1: a game coming into the season, how big of a
Speaker 1: goal was that for you guys to focus on? That's
Speaker 1: it's probably the number one thing we wanted to do
Speaker 1: is take the ball away um at an alarming rate,
Speaker 1: and three is really a high bar we talk about
Speaker 1: per game, but um, obviously it's something that we feel
Speaker 1: like we can accomplish and especially with as much emphasis
Speaker 1: as we put on the throughout the weekend, during training
Speaker 1: and training camp and offseason. We feel like, um, if
Speaker 1: we can if we can accomplish that as a defense,
Speaker 1: we give our team a really good chance of winning
Speaker 1: the game under And you know, when you get to
Speaker 1: the point that maybe both of them were able to
Speaker 1: play with in that edge of the defense. I mean,
Speaker 1: whenever you get players and their caliber backe, it just
Speaker 1: makes you better. Um, you know so. But we also
Speaker 1: had guys step in and play huge for us, Jordan
Speaker 1: Hicks being the main one. Um Nizigel came in to
Speaker 1: play well for us, and especially with Demiko Uh, I
Speaker 1: don't know what his status is, but having a tweak
Speaker 1: of his hamstring or whatever it is, to get those
Speaker 1: guys kind of back into the mix is obviously good
Speaker 1: for us. What do you see for from your perspective
Speaker 1: or why that's I think we take it personal. I
Speaker 1: know I do. As a you know, as a safety,
Speaker 1: we are usually the ones in coverage against tight ends, um,
Speaker 1: and you know you don't want that guy to have
Speaker 1: a great end, and so we do a good job
Speaker 1: of our technique and matching up well. We got linebackers
Speaker 1: that cover well when we want to use them on
Speaker 1: the matchup, and um, I just think we match up
Speaker 1: well when we want to get a man and man
Speaker 1: and play one on one. I think we do a
Speaker 1: good job at it. And and usually when you talk
Speaker 1: about tight ends, it's your safeties and your linebackers, and
Speaker 1: we have athletic linebackers that really don't get mismatched at all,
Speaker 1: and our safeties obviously do a good job covering as well.
Speaker 1: What do you seem from along on the table? Is
Speaker 1: he any different than a tenda? He's definitely different. He's
Speaker 1: one of the better tight ends in this league, and
Speaker 1: obviously he's getting a lot more targets. He's probably their
Speaker 1: best receiver on their team, and he's uh when they
Speaker 1: want to get some things going, he's who they go to.
Speaker 1: And you saw a last game in Seattle or you know,
Speaker 1: him and Cam Newton pretty much took that game over UM,
Speaker 1: and so you know you look forward to those kind
Speaker 1: of matchups. He's been one of the top tight ends
Speaker 1: in this game for a long time. UM. He's savvy,
Speaker 1: can run routes to catch as well, U and so's
Speaker 1: He's definitely somebody we got to look out for. I
Speaker 1: think we just we both want to be great, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, he's a smart player, hes a veteran, he's
Speaker 1: played football in this league. Um, you know, he looks
Speaker 1: to me for some of because this is the first
Speaker 1: year playing safety. So just some of the things that
Speaker 1: I know and can teach him, he learns from me.
Speaker 1: And then there's things that he just naturally does that
Speaker 1: I try to pull from him. And then we're constantly
Speaker 1: competing against each other to see who can pretty much
Speaker 1: make the same play the most plays. And I think
Speaker 1: that just makes us better and um, you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's just fun playing next time. Uh well, I thought
Speaker 1: Seattle did a really good job of defending him until
Speaker 1: the last two drives of the game. You know, he
Speaker 1: really didn't do much the whole game. Um, and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, the last two drives. If you
Speaker 1: turn it on, he's a totally different quarterback. He made
Speaker 1: probably about nine throws that were you know, really good
Speaker 1: and show um the you know, the ability that he has.
Speaker 1: And I think he's I mean, he's obviously a quarterback
Speaker 1: that can run, but he's doing that less and less,
Speaker 1: and he's he's got a big arm. But now he's
Speaker 1: doing a good job of delivering the ball. The biggest thing,
Speaker 1: he's taking care of the football. He's not turning the
Speaker 1: ball over, so he's not putting his team in hard
Speaker 1: harm's way by trying to um, you know, push to
Speaker 1: get a play. He's just taking what's there. Um. And
Speaker 1: then obviously when the game's on the line, he does
Speaker 1: a good job of making plays on his own. Secondary
Speaker 1: is it or how difficult is it to stop him
Speaker 1: when he extend his plays and says, guy's actually trying
Speaker 1: to get it. And if you if you you can
Speaker 1: put my grandmother out there and have her run route,
Speaker 1: if she got six seconds, she might catch it. You know.
Speaker 1: It's like, uh, it's really hard to cover somebody for
Speaker 1: that long. And so if he can extend to play,
Speaker 1: that's where a big plays happening. And regardless of who's
Speaker 1: a quarterback, but especially him. You know, if you give
Speaker 1: him that long to to find an open guy and
Speaker 1: then with the speed that they have on the outside, um,
Speaker 1: that that'd be that'ld be dangerous for us. So we
Speaker 1: definitely got to keep him in the pocket. We gotta
Speaker 1: make him get rid of the ball. Um. And if
Speaker 1: he does hold it, we gotta get him down. Uh.
Speaker 1: As far as versatility, he's the only he's the only
Speaker 1: safety I've been matched up with that's played corner. Oh,
Speaker 1: he is a corner and now he's playing safety, and
Speaker 1: so Um, he's probably the most versatile player I played
Speaker 1: next to. Um obviously similar to my storyline being a
Speaker 1: corner and moving the safety UM. And I think from
Speaker 1: that standpoint, we both kind of see the position from
Speaker 1: a similar viewpoints. But he's definitely probably the most verse
Speaker 1: ago I played with. He thinks Jordan Hicks is Do
Speaker 1: you see any similarities with him in Deniko. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: call Demiko Mofossa and Jordan's December, you know, because and
Speaker 1: this is actually pretty amazing for him to be a
Speaker 1: rookie and to have the understanding of the defense, of
Speaker 1: what everybody's doing. UM, to have the respect and command
Speaker 1: of the huddle, UM, you know, is that's something that
Speaker 1: usually takes a while to develop, especially with young guys,
Speaker 1: but you know, he hasn't. And and when Demiko went
Speaker 1: out the other night, UM, you know, I just told
Speaker 1: Jordan it's your show, you know, run it. And and
Speaker 1: he's very very comfortable with that role. And has been
Speaker 1: doing a great job for us with his ability the gold.
Speaker 1: He allows us to the matchups that we want. And um,
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of the storyline of our entire secondaries,
Speaker 1: that you've got guys that are all versatile, that can
Speaker 1: play different positions, and so we can match we can
Speaker 1: match up. You know who we want. We play the Saints.
Speaker 1: We wanted to put me on spiller and that that
Speaker 1: means that AJ has to play the nipple. Um. Last
Speaker 1: week they wanted me in the slot, and so that
Speaker 1: means that J's playing a dime. You know, we can
Speaker 1: just move guys in around to give the matchups that
Speaker 1: we wanted to put us in the best position. And
Speaker 1: you know, it's it gives you an advantage as a
Speaker 1: defense when you don't have to, you know, worry about
Speaker 1: one guy only knowing one position and then you're stuck
Speaker 1: with packages that you don't like nine times last years. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I know offensive line is different. What can
Speaker 1: you take for that game? I mean it's you can
Speaker 1: you can look at what worked, but like you said,
Speaker 1: there's a different offensive line. Um, I'm sure they're not
Speaker 1: going to come with the same exact game plan. Um,
Speaker 1: but I think what you do look at it is
Speaker 1: m that game got out of hand really early, and
Speaker 1: so they really had to abandon all the run game
Speaker 1: that we had to prepare for, and it became a
Speaker 1: pass only game. And with our defense, if it becomes
Speaker 1: a pass only game, you know, that's when we can
Speaker 1: pin our ears back. And that's when I think some
Speaker 1: of those, um those plays will come when they have
Speaker 1: to stretch the field, he has to hold onto the
Speaker 1: ball a little longer, and we allow our fund to
Speaker 1: just pin their ears back. And so but first things first,
Speaker 1: we gotta we gotta take care of this run. You know,
Speaker 1: if our offense doesn't jump up big, then it'll be
Speaker 1: you know, three yards in the cloud of desk type
Speaker 1: of game. And then obviously they'll take their shots down
Speaker 1: the field. But um I, we gotta get rid of
Speaker 1: ready for this run game. So that film, you just
Speaker 1: look at it, you know, that's the best case scenario.
Speaker 1: You know, our offense puts up a bunch of points
Speaker 1: early in the game and they just have to throw
Speaker 1: out the playbook and pass all day.