That ain't During the week and a couple of weeks he talked about how how solid your defense has been and how good it's been, but that it can be great and a lot of that had to do with taking the ball away and was tonight's sort of an example of where you guys hope to be.
Yeah, it's it's funny because you know, Coach Wilkes, he said it last night, he said, you know, you guys don't know how good you truly can be. You know, you know, we see the talent in the room and what our potential is. But it's about doing it, you know, week in and week out. And to do it this game on this stage against a really good football team, I mean, it really meant a lot.
I think this sense to the rest of the week for team. This is yeah, I mean I don't know, obviously that were.
Dangerous, but it's not even about the other teams to us.
You know, it's all all about us. Every single game, it's all about us. You know.
We we understand the opportunity that we have and it's about just taking it one week at a time, regardless of who we're playing. We got to uphold the standard and play to the best of our ability every single game, and if we do that, then we'll like the result.
How much does that result impress you?
Pretty impressive? Pretty impressive. You know we talked about a dog fight, you know, lead going into this game. We knew Dallas was a really good football team, and uh, you know, when it's your night, it's your night to do it in front of the whole country.
It was pretty cool.
During the week. I know, you guys are playing other team's offense and say you're worried about yourself, But there was a lot of talk about Dallas's defense going into this game. Did that stuff get through to your guys ears at all? About how good their defense was supposed to be?
I guess the political answer would be not, we don't hear that stuff, But I mean, being being the competitor I am. Of course, I wanted us to be the top defense tonight, and I think we did that.
There's a good there's you know, there's a handful of guys in the NFL that people always talked about for NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Your teammates wide like a Parsons.
This kind of.
Seemed to be an audition tape for her resume, for you doing all those things, do you think of yourself in that light as being capable of winning ANFL Defensive Player.
Of the Year.
I mean, if so, if yet, I mean, if they put me in that conversation, great, you know to me, I know what, I know what I have to contribute to this team.
I know the calbery player I am.
I don't need anybody else's uh, you know, recognition or people to tell me how great I am. I want to be the best person I could be, best player I can be for my teammates and for this team. You know, we know what we have ahead of us and the goals that we've set out for ourselves.
All that other stuff take care of itself.
When you're just doing things the right way day in and day out, you know, it's it's uh, I'm I'm.
Just really grateful. And for this moment, seriously, did you think you.
Got a sense that you were gonna dominate the game and was becoming frustrating.
For them offense?
As soon as the offense went down on that first drive and scored, and I was like, we got them. You know, that's the way that they're the way that they're operating right now is unbelievable. You know, I've been a part of a lot of good teams since I've been here, but the way the offense is playing is unlike anything I've seen.
That that that they're right there just lets.
Me know, as long as the defense is doing our job, we're always gonna have a chance.
You guys got off to a similar start and it was pretty new for that group contending. I mean, and this year, how much do you feel like the last few years and then even twenty nineteen it's has shaped you?
And how different does it feel at this point? Yeah?
I think as you as you go through your career as a coach, as a player, you know, you you learn things along the way. Uh, you get scarred, you know, by by adversity and by you know, things that happened
in your path, and you learn from those things. Right, And so I think you talk about even going into season, how we said we wanted to get off to a fast start, you know, because of things that have happened in the past, and how we didn't feel like we needed to hit some adversity in order for us to be all the way locked in, all the way dialed in from the jump, you know, and so those things, those are things you learn as you go. And there's still things we got to learn, you know, as as
we continue through this season. To say that we're the team that we're gonna be in in December and January, I.
Don't think so.
I think we still have a long ways to go, and it's all about just living in the moment, taking it one week at a time, saying.
That he felt during the week of practice, he felt really good. How you guys were were practicing, h Did you feel that or did you Andrey need to get his sie or is everybody just locked in from.
A yeah, everybody was locked in.
I'm I'm really confident in h In our team, our leadership, the way that we operate day in and day out. It's no, it's not luck, right, Like, I think these things happen for a reason. And I mean we talk about the detail and at which we operate day in and day out, meetings, walk through practice, all of it is.
Uh, just for moments like this, right, Thank you? All right? Thanks? Got ready