How would you rate tonight over all the days you have had as a Seahawk?
I thought it was pretty solid. Would have liked to finish that drive, I think it was kind of in the middle of the second quarter, with a touchdown. But for the most part, I thought it was pretty solid. Would have liked to score a few more points, but that is the only thing I would say.
It seemed like you guys on the offense started going more up-tempo and things started working a little better?
Yeah, we had a two-minute drive situation at the end of the half. That is something we work on a lot in practices. Those tempo, those two-minute, end of half, end of game situations, we spend a lot of time doing that type of stuff. It is something we are very confident in, something that we feel like is definitely a strength for our offense. I think everyone feels very comfortable when we go up-tempo.
Getting the actual game reps of that versus just doing that in practice, what do you get out of it going through it in a game.
I wouldn't say it's much different. We do a pretty good job of making the operation in practice pretty realistic. With the clock and utilizing the timeouts, we do a really good job in how we drill those things in practice. When we come out here in the game, it's really not much different.
You said the first couple practices of camp weren't what you wanted; what do you think you have shown in the first two pre-season games in the weeks since?
I'm just trying to be consistent and put good ball on tape. Complete the football and try to move my team down the field and score points. I'm just trying to be as consistent as possible, and trying to help this team win games.
The decision making in Ryan Grubb's offense, where are you at with that?
I feel pretty good. I feel like in both these two games I have made some pretty good decisions for the most part. I'm sure looking on tape, maybe we'll see some things I could have done differently. It's good to have things that you can improve on, so we will look at the tape and see how we can get better for next week.
You hit Easop (Winston Jr.) for the touchdown on the two-minute drive. How has that connection between you two grown? Seems like in practice as well he is a guy you throw to a lot.
Yeah, Sop (White Jr.) can play. I love Sop. I love getting to play with him. He's got great hands, great ball skills, some of the best ball skills I've ever seen. In practice he makes some ridiculous catches. He's great versus press coverage. He's got a great release package. When we were in the red zone today, they came up and pressed him and all I had to do was hold the safety a little bit and knew Easop was going to do the rest. He's a good player and I love playing with him. I love when he's in there for sure.
What does that tell you about the receiver depth here? That he's a guy doing all the things you just said yet battling for a job.
Yeah, me and (Jake) Bobo were talking about it today, we're deep at receiver. It's only my third year in the league, but I've never seen a receiver room this deep. Especially with the twos and the threes that we have. It's really impressive and a good problem to have. Unfortunately, every single guy can't make the team. That's the tough part about this business, but we got some really, really good football players in that room.
When your running game is like it was with (Kenny) McIntosh today, what does that do to the offense in your ability to use all your weapons that you have, tight ends, wide receivers, and even the backs?
It makes it easy. When you can be balanced on offense it makes it way easier to throw the football. It starts up front with our o-line. They played a really good football game. They were great in pass game. They were great in the run game. We were moving those guys off the ball. K-Mac did a good job running the ball, and all the backs did. When we can establish the run game early on, it sets the tone and opens everything else up in the passing game.
You probably couldn't tell any individual blockers in front of you, did you have any sense with how Anthony Bradford and Christian Haynes did as new guards?
Yeah, both of them were great. They both did a great job. Those two guys have been having a great camp. They have both gotten better each and every day. It's fun watching those guys grow. (They) are two young guys and two guys that I think both have a very bright future in this league. It's definitely fun to play behind those guys, because they are going to do what it takes to get the job done.
How has the team gotten closer and bonded over the week in Nashville?
That's a great question. It was a great idea to come out here and bring pretty much the whole organization. We had a great dinner Thursday night. The guys really got to spend a lot of time together and I think that's what builds a team. Spending time, especially away from home, on these road trips together is something that is really important to Mike (Macdonald). Building that culture, building that family-like atmosphere here with this team, and I think he's doing a great job in doing that.
What did you learn about Mike Macdonald and Ryan Grubb being with them on this trip?
They love football and they love this football team. They want to do whatever it takes to get this team to where we need to be. They want to win just as bad us players want to win. It's fun to play for coaches that really want it.
