Howdy George.
Is the is the constant drum beat of disrespect for Brock. Do you think a good thing maybe for him just to he seems like he's a guy who admits that he plays with a chip on his shoulder, you will have a positive effect.
I don't think it'll have a negative effect. I don't think broccerly listens to too much. Like I don't think he uses any type of social media very much. And you know, I think he's kind of like me. You don't really read anything unless your mom sends you it, So, you know, I think Brox is going to be dialed the way that he has been all season the last two years for us, and you know, people can say whatever they want to say, and he's just gonna go
out there and be Brock. Or it's like the four teams left all will like pretty heavily on the tight end.
That they do. Is that what do you think or is something about the position or what do you think of it?
I feel like if you look back at you know, most of the last Super Bowl winners, every team has like a very very talented tight end that they use, you know, whether that's run game or in the past game. You know, Titans just they give you an ability to mismatch different you know, you get on linebackers, you go in safeties, you want to use two guys to cover them, it doesn't matter.
It opens up other people.
So you have someone that can dominate the middle of the field, makes a lot easier on your quarterback.
Obviously know him pretty well. What I mean.
Sam's fantastic. His film speaks for itself. He's second team All Pro Pro Bowl in his first year as a rookie. That's really hard to do, you know, not very many people do that. He's planned at a high level. He's in an offense where you know, the quarterback trusts him, they throw him out there on third down. He's running wide receiver routes, he's inside dominating the middle. He's doing everything that you wanted to do as a rookie and
more so. Yeah, I'm very proud of Sam, and uh, you know, I hope he doesn't have a great game in s So.
You're a pretty big supporter of his throughout the pre draft process over the summer.
Yes, is there just anything that's even surprised to you? Maybe about the success he's had given the difficulty of adjusting to that position.
No, not really. I mean, like I worked out with him a little bit this offseason. Uh, picked his brain a little bit. He's super smart and just like watching him work out, I could tell, you know, like he was ready for it. He's got to stick forward, lean to him. He knows how to run in and out of cuts, catches everything with his hands. Like I knew he was a player just watching him. You know, you could see it in college, but just working around it,
like when he's working out with all these other NFL guys. Sorry, you could tell like he didn't stand out in a way like, oh, this is a college kid. Like he looked like he was a guy who understand what he was doing. So he has an understanding of the game. He has understanding what the Lions want from him, and you know when you put him out there with you know, coach Campbell and like their mindset, I think he fits the mold perfectly and he kind of adds to that
mold himself. So I mean he's everything that you want in the tight end that can do everything.
You know, this is your fourth NFC championship for five years.
Is there a different.
Vibe to it or confidence or hunger compared to those past months. No, I've been pretty hungry at all of them. You know, I won one lost too. It's not really fun to lose those games. So no, I've been pretty hungry for him. I think the whole team is, the whole vibe is you know, we have a confidence that we've built throughout the season. You know, it's not a fake confidence, it's a you know, we've played football at high level this long. Let's just keep going out there
and play football at a high level. Play a team game this weekend, and you know, a huge fan of our game plan this week. I think coach Shanahan's definitely uh, he's working and I think that's great for us.
So now, I don't know.
If the vibe is different, it's a it's just a vibe that we understand. H I don't know what, not the pressure of the game, but just you know where we are, like the situation where the NFCA Championship game, and you know, all we're going to do is go out there and play our best football and see where it takes us.
How difficult it is to make this climb four times in five years to get to this.
Point, yeah, I mean it's really hard. I mean, like everything has to kind of go your way. You look at twenty nineteen and you know that season, you can't really even compare it to this year, and you know, we go to the super Bowl, lose, and then twenty twenty are like, hey, we got all these players back, We're out there and win, and then ball doesn't bounce our way and we you know, have a bunch of injuries,
you know, and things you can't control. So in twenty twenty one, probably week six, no one really thought we're gonna go anywhere and ended up somehow back in there again. And every year is just so unique. That's what makes it so difficult. You might have similar players and guys who know how to win football games, but when you look at you know, as a role players and stuff like that, it's changing. You know, you can't keep everybody,
you can't pay everybody. You have to fill gaps, you have to bring new guys in, you have to try to keep your culture. There's just so many things that go into it. We lose our run game coordinator, lose our office coordinator, lose defensive coordinator. Like there's just so many interchanging parts and so to continue and sustain winning you know, you know, as many regular season games as we do and you know, make it into the playoffs.
It's very difficult. But at the end of the day, you got to continue to win all the other ones. And you know, we haven't done that yet.
Understanding the pressure of the situation, but what does what does it do when you maybe haven't got over the home yet in terms of hey, how many more opportunities are we going to get to be in this spot?
I turned on to think of it like that. It's just, hey, here's the opportunity. It's right in front of us. This is what you know since the end of last season. This is where Hey, what are we gonna do to try to get back there? And you know, try to win that game. And all the effort you've put in throughout off season, OTAs, summer training camp, every single day, every decision that you make kind of leads to this moment.
And hey, we're here.
We made all the right decisions and we've done the right things, and so what are we gonna do as a team to win this football game? And I have a lot of belief in our team that we're gonna go out there and do all the right things the.
Division in front.
I guess how impressed have you've been with the way Kyle is city You've lost a lot of guys.
Impressed if you've been with the way Kyle has brought new people in and and sort of kept thinking seamless. I mean, it's pretty incredible, and I mean it just it really speaks for itself with him and John have done just filling in gaps, bringing in new guys, giving
people chances. And I think what Kyle just does such a great job of is you know, he looks at what he has available to him, no matter what it is, no matter what the injuries are, and the way he can build game plans around people to put people in positions to succeed, it's pretty incredible. And just to be a part of this offense, to see how it's grown, to see like how his play calling has kind of changed, or how it's evolved, whatever you want to say it is.
It's just really fun to be a part of that and for him to be able to constantly fill gaps, bring the people in, but at the same time keep the culture the way it is, keep the mindset the way that it is be as physical, be as fast as possibly can, and go out there and play at your best ball. He does a pretty damn good job for that, and I'm actually pretty disappoint he hasn't been Coached of the Year yet.
With regards to your dad's pre game letters, does anything surprise you anymore?
And do you expected to him? Like do you know what's coming? Or is it something different? Every time?
Usually, like the the bigger the game, the more aggressive it is.
So I'm always a huge fan of that.
You know, there's times where he's kind of like, uh, what is it the turtle from Kung Fu Panda?
You know, very wise, very like sage like.
And then there's times where it feels like it's you're getting a speech to go into a bunker, you know, with your boys, and you know there's bombs coming down around you. Like the mindset's very very different, you know, game the game, And I really appreciate that from him because he either adds to my mindset or he gives me another thing to think about in a good way.
And it's part of the switch that his flipped.
George Kirby, Joseph and CG. Gardner Johnson, these guys you know, they play, they're super physical and they're taking big hits. Do you guys feel the need to match their physicality in this game or is it not about that?
Hmm?
I think what the forty nine ers put on tape week in and week out is that we're one of the most physical teams in the NFL. I've been up here countless times I've said that, So I don't They're a very physical team. They go out there and they hit, they do all the things that they're supposed to do, and I feel like we do the same thing. So I don't think we need to match it as as well as we just need to play our game.
Kind of energy did Depot give you today? Being on the practice field, Deeple was always great. He just excited for him to be out there.
He's just such a you know, huge part of our offense and everything that we do, and just his energy itself is infectious and he gets guys going, gets some confident him. NBA together is its own, you know, it's its own thing entirely. So very excited have Dbo out there and looks great.
Thank you, Hi, Nick. Not mine