Speaker 1: Just because I'm sure you can figure it out. Receivers
Speaker 1: and TIFFs.
Speaker 2: Uh there. Uh Ki was just talking about Juwan in practice,
Speaker 2: you know, and just said the guy who were well,
Speaker 2: just like how a guy like he had to tell
Speaker 2: guys like that's just you know, how he blocks is not.
Speaker 3: To do anything dirty.
Speaker 2: What from a defensive perspective, are you like, buddy, it's practice,
Speaker 2: you need to cal him down a little or do
Speaker 2: you respect it because that's kind of your your tempo.
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know if I've ever seen him
Speaker 4: dump anybody in the gatorade in practice, but I mean
Speaker 4: that's just that's exactly who he is, throw and through.
Speaker 4: He plays the He plays a game exactly the way
Speaker 4: that that you wanted you wanted to be played, especially
Speaker 4: at that position. I mean, I've said it before. I
Speaker 4: think he's one of the best football players on our team.
Speaker 4: Uh you know, he doesn't get all the you know,
Speaker 4: the attention or the limelight, but you know he's gonna
Speaker 4: be there in the clutch situations when you need him.
Speaker 4: He's you know, steady eddy as it comes, you know,
Speaker 4: obviously with the run game stuff and also in the
Speaker 4: past game. He's just a very complete player, and I'm
Speaker 4: really happy he's on our on our side.
Speaker 1: Now compared to the guy.
Speaker 4: A lot better, you know, not to say that he
Speaker 4: wasn't good when when we played him back, you know,
Speaker 4: when he was with the Rams, But I think he's
Speaker 4: one of the best quarterbacks in the league right now
Speaker 4: with the way that he's playing. You know, I think
Speaker 4: he finished what top three in passing yards this season
Speaker 4: and uh, you know, I think his just the delivery
Speaker 4: of the football, his decisiveness. Obviously, with the amount of
Speaker 4: playmakers that he has on that side, I think he's
Speaker 4: the one, the one that's leading that group. Uh, and
Speaker 4: he's the reason why they're at where they're at right now.
Speaker 4: You know, you need your quarterback to be the leader
Speaker 4: of the of the team and the offense and get
Speaker 4: yourself in a position to be in a game like
Speaker 4: this German.
Speaker 1: And receiver Amara, what are your faults on that?
Speaker 3: And how are you gonna cover here?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I like him a lot.
Speaker 4: I I love the way that he plays the game.
Speaker 4: You know, I think I met him for the first
Speaker 4: time or.
Speaker 1: Was it last year at the Pro Bowl. I played
Speaker 1: with his older brother.
Speaker 4: Back in high school uh in LA when we did
Speaker 4: seven on seven. I always remember seeing his little brother,
Speaker 4: just a fiery little cat like who was really talented,
Speaker 4: went to USC had a great career there, and now
Speaker 4: being with the Lions, he has a.
Speaker 1: Chip on his shoulder. You know.
Speaker 4: I think he got drafted in the fifth round or
Speaker 4: something like that, fourth round, and uh, you know he
Speaker 4: took that personally and he's been able to assent himself
Speaker 4: into the top tier of receivers receiver play in this league. Uh,
Speaker 4: really early in his career. And so he does things
Speaker 4: the right way. He could tell he plays hard, he
Speaker 4: practices hard, does things the right way, and uh, he's
Speaker 4: somebody that we're for sure gonna have to be aware
Speaker 4: of when we play them.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: What challenge.
Speaker 4: Uh, I think it a lot of challenges. I think
Speaker 4: it starts upfront with their offensive line. I think they
Speaker 4: have one of the best offensive line groups in the league.
Speaker 4: They have big guys who are athletic, who play with
Speaker 4: the right mindset along with the rest of their team.
Speaker 4: But then also you add the two headed monster with
Speaker 4: at the running back that they have with Montgomery and Gibbs.
Speaker 4: I think it's a one two punch. You got your
Speaker 4: physical and you got your speed. Their quickness, you know,
Speaker 4: and that's that's where the challenges present because they could
Speaker 4: run downhill, they could hit you on the outside, so
Speaker 4: we have to obviously cover all areas. Look at their
Speaker 4: offense in general, do you see similarities to what you
Speaker 4: guys run here?
Speaker 3: Is there?
Speaker 1: Is that possibly.
Speaker 4: Helpful in terms of yeah, I do see similarities, you know,
Speaker 4: just in terms of what they what they run, personnel,
Speaker 4: what they're trying to do, a lot of different weapons,
Speaker 4: trying to get ball, get the ball on everybody in
Speaker 4: everybody's hand, to make sure that you can't just stop
Speaker 4: one thing, like you got to make sure you cover
Speaker 4: all your bases.
Speaker 1: Your third NFC game in a row, Championship game in
Speaker 1: a row, it will be the choice first.
Speaker 2: What role does experience play on a game like Sundays.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it could be used to our advantage.
Speaker 4: But at the same time time, you know, my first
Speaker 4: NFC Championship game back in nineteen was my first one.
Speaker 1: It was at home.
Speaker 4: I think that's more so the advantage is playing at
Speaker 4: home in front of our fans, the faithful, uh, playing
Speaker 4: on on our on our grass, knowing exactly you know,
Speaker 4: the environment that we're playing in. I think that's that's
Speaker 4: the advantage. I'm not I'm not really putting too much
Speaker 4: into them being there for the NFC Championship game.
Speaker 1: They proven they can win in the playoffs.
Speaker 4: Now, back to back games at home for them, So
Speaker 4: I think the advantage here is playing at home, right.
Speaker 3: Being such a high scoring first quarter offense, you know
Speaker 3: you guys always want to get the early stop.
Speaker 2: But is that a bigger emphasis this week?
Speaker 1: I wouldn't.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't put too much emphasis on that. I think,
Speaker 4: like you said, like you mentioned, I think that the
Speaker 4: goal is always to get stops early, to gain that
Speaker 4: momentum for our team. And knowing how explosive and how
Speaker 4: explosive our offense is and how quick they can get
Speaker 4: points on the board, the quicker we can get the
Speaker 4: ball out of their offenses hands.
Speaker 1: And into our offense. I think that that's the recipe
Speaker 1: that we want. Reporter seems to play with like some
Speaker 1: veteran trades, But he's rookie. What do you see when
Speaker 1: you watch him?
Speaker 4: I think you can say that about all the rookies. Honestly,
Speaker 4: I think they're all out in the exact right way.
Speaker 4: They obviously scouted and drafted guys that are made of
Speaker 4: the right stuff. I really like Laport's game. I think,
Speaker 4: uh in the past game, the fact that he's able
Speaker 4: to be what top three, top two in the league,
Speaker 4: and yards and uh savvy and his routes that you
Speaker 4: don't really see in young tight ends. Great hands, you
Speaker 4: can separate, can separate with the speed and quickness. Uh
Speaker 4: you know, he he's he's got everything that you want
Speaker 4: at the position.
Speaker 3: Out there for this defense, for your defense to accomplish.
Speaker 1: And what do you guys put on your plate to
Speaker 1: do your part to get through to the next round.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's plenty. Uh, you know the time for hey guys,
Speaker 4: let's get better. You know, let's get better this week.
Speaker 4: Let's let's let's get better. Like like that's kind of
Speaker 4: over with, Like you got to perform at your best
Speaker 4: now when when your best is needed, it's it's time
Speaker 4: to really put it out there and and and lead
Speaker 4: from the front. If if we want to win this game,
Speaker 4: I'm putting it all defensive hands. I'm saying that we
Speaker 4: all we need to do is score three on offense
Speaker 4: and we're we're gonna win it for us. You know,
Speaker 4: that's the mindset that we got to go into this week.
Speaker 4: We got to go into this week with and uh,
Speaker 4: you know the time, like I said, the time for
Speaker 4: I will, We'll get it right next week.
Speaker 1: That's over with.
Speaker 4: You know, we got to make sure we come out
Speaker 4: guns of blazing. We gotta set the tone right away,
Speaker 4: and we got to make sure we're coming out playing
Speaker 4: our best football.
Speaker 1: And then the rookies.
Speaker 3: I was chuckling reading back about when you were a rookie,
Speaker 3: and I think coach maybe the feedback that you were
Speaker 3: a little too loud on the field, that you could
Speaker 3: hear you from the sideline things, what other you know
Speaker 3: things have you worked out with him over the years
Speaker 3: and just can you talk about.
Speaker 2: Your relationship with them?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I just from that from that jump trying to
Speaker 4: play mike linebacker from coming out of BYU, never playing
Speaker 4: off the ball backer and never given calls before.
Speaker 1: You know, I had a great.
Speaker 4: Coach and Damiko Ryans, who obviously played the position at
Speaker 4: a high level, was one of the best coaches out there.
Speaker 4: And he he told me from from the start, like
Speaker 4: he's like, you need to be demanding. You need to
Speaker 4: uh say the calls with conviction when you're out there,
Speaker 4: and uh, I took that and I ran with it obviously,
Speaker 4: and I was screaming them. Uh, you know, but just
Speaker 4: little things like that. I think I've learned so much
Speaker 4: as as I've gone on, I'm still learning to this
Speaker 4: to day and just trying to be the best player
Speaker 4: I can for this team and and be the best
Speaker 4: team that I can.
Speaker 3: Remember self described to my best friend Brandon, and I
Speaker 3: just came in and talked about how it's big to
Speaker 3: get over the hump obviously last two years losing the
Speaker 3: NFC Championship game. Would you say the defense has the
Speaker 3: same mindset like trying to get over that hump that's
Speaker 3: been an issue.
Speaker 4: Last Yeah, I think, you know, the last two years
Speaker 4: are I mean, every year is unique in itself. You
Speaker 4: talk about last year and and uh in Philly, we
Speaker 4: went into that game fully with full confidence, believing that
Speaker 4: we were gonna win that game, and uh, you know,
Speaker 4: Brod goes down, We lose our backup quarterback and didn't
Speaker 4: have much of a shot. The year before that, nobody
Speaker 4: gave us a chance. You know, we barely slipping into
Speaker 4: the playoffs at the end of the year and then
Speaker 4: have to play the Rams, who obviously went on to
Speaker 4: win that Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: That was a type tight battle all the way through.
Speaker 4: It's just one or two plays in the game that
Speaker 4: that win or lose you the game. At this point,
Speaker 4: you know, it's the team that that plays the best
Speaker 4: for three hours. And uh, you know, I even this
Speaker 4: past uh Saturday will be the best team that played
Speaker 4: for the those three hours. I mean, we made one
Speaker 4: or two plays in the end to make it, to
Speaker 4: make it happen, you know. And so I don't know
Speaker 4: how this game is gonna go on Sunday. I know
Speaker 4: we gotta we gotta play our best football, uh when
Speaker 4: our best is needed, and whenever those one or two
Speaker 4: plays come, you gotta make them.
Speaker 1: But I know it's not the ultimate goal. But you
Speaker 1: said throughout the season, I think you said it after
Speaker 1: the game.
Speaker 2: Once you lose last year's NFC championship, you can't just
Speaker 2: snap your fingers to get back to the game. But
Speaker 2: what is the sense of satisfaction, if there is any
Speaker 2: just to be back here, one went away.
Speaker 1: From going back to the Super Bowl. Yeah, it's crazy,
Speaker 1: it's crazy to look at it, you know. I walk
Speaker 1: up here, I.
Speaker 4: See this this little uh, this little sheet behind me,
Speaker 4: and I'm like I can. I can blink and our
Speaker 4: remember getting up here, you know, getting ready for Philly,
Speaker 4: seeing that same exact banner, and like the fact that
Speaker 4: we're here.
Speaker 1: You work so hard all season long.
Speaker 4: We talked about it all season to be able to
Speaker 4: put ourselves in a position where we could play the
Speaker 4: NFC Championship game again and also do it at home.
Speaker 4: You know how big that is for us, and we
Speaker 4: did that. You know, we have that opportunity right now.
Speaker 4: So how can you not sell out? How can you
Speaker 4: not give your all to this thing? How can you
Speaker 4: not make sure you're playing your best ball for three
Speaker 4: hours on Sunday? You know, I know the type of
Speaker 4: team we have, the type of players we have in talent.
Speaker 4: I know if we play our best ball for three hours,
Speaker 4: we'll get the job done.
Speaker 1: Thanks guys,