Saw the video of you talked to Rock after the game, telling you how much you believed in him, how crazy it was that he was doing what he was doing.
What were you feeling in that moment.
That made you say that it stuff to him.
I don't know if I was feeling anything. I was happy. We want.
You were so young, you were a rookie the last time you were in the Super Bowl.
What what have you learned?
How did that experience shape you to what you are now? And how are you using whatever you learn for the younger guys.
It definitely you learn a lot going through a long season in nineteen and you don't understand it as much as a rookie how hard it is to get there, but just how hard you have to play and how locked in you have to be for the entire four quarters if you want to if you actually want to win.
And I've l I've learned that, and I'm gonna just relay to the guys that, uh, there has to be a different different level of effort, of intensity, of unselfishness that you have to get too for every single snap that you're in there?
Or does that a million years ago?
Because of COVID, it seems like a pretty good amount of time ago. Honestly, a lot has happened after that game that you were going to watch it. You didn't watch it.
Have Have you indeed watched it or been forced to watch it this week?
Yeah, I've watched it. Yeah, what kind of kind of feeling that bring up? It's definitely just start sweating a little bit. But uh, it's fun to watch. I mean, our defense a Super Bowl defense right there, and uh, and we got to take a page of that if we want to go win it on which one? Uh, I don't think they had the back view, but yeah, I'm sure Eric Fisher.
Defense is playing the level of that twenty nineteen.
In the Super Bowl.
So soon your current defense has been playing that intensity level that the twenty nineteen units playing in that game. I think we are just not as consistently as we need to be.
To stop.
They're running back runs really hard, and then all the other threats that Mahomes and everybody else create kind of open it up because you're not expecting as much of a run heavy game. And but yeah, they have a really good O line and I think Pacheco has kind of revamped their run game.
In the Super Bowl. How long did it take to kind of get pasted it felt fine? Or have you gotten to that point?
Yeah, I don't remember exactly, but I remember thinking a lot about it in Fort Lardale when we weren't allowed to do much of anything.
You come across as soft spoken and kind of easy going. But who in your in your guys d line room holds guys accountable to the kind of speed and effort energy you want to see everything every game.
I think Chris starts there and tap and uh, definitely me and Eric. We try to create a standard over the years that that effort is is what we do best and and we definitely need to keep that up. I think keeping him in the pocket as best as he can is one of the big things, just because he loves to improvise and do all that stuff and then full on effort. Kyle called it. Defensive line stamina is the key to the game.
Unselfishly. Have you dealt with players being selfish at.
All this season? No? No, not outwardly or anything like that. It's just the way you play the game. You have to You have to play with the mindset that you're the only guy out there. At times it's it's something you have to wrap. You don't just turn on and off when you're a backside player and the plays forty yards away from you. It's just human nature to slow down, or maybe it comes out of your vision for a second so you don't see it. You think three guys
are over there. It's a mindset of just going and going and going and going and going, and and that's what we need to do.
He wanted everybody to get their affairs in order, basically family, travel, accommodations, all the stuff that goes with What was that all done for you?
Or yeah, I don't deal with that, my mother does. And you readal about all that emotions and all that they he'll do. How does that challenge you guys with the defense? That's more of a back end type of thing question. But uh, he's a great game planner. I'm sure he's gonna have some wrinkles for us, and hopefully we could anticipate some of them and make the players when we need to.
He got here a little bit over a year ago. And how he is now, How have you seen.
His game change? I don't know if his game has changed. I think he's been playing at a high level ever since he's gotten here, and he's a valuable piece, a super Bowl winner, and somebody knows how to get it done.
Have a super Bowl like that on your defense.
Just experience, especially at corner where you're left on an island a lot, and just knowing knowing your technique and what to do and how to cover guys.
An emotional standpoint, what does it mean to face the same team, the guy's face in it, same coach, same quarterback, even the same color uniforms from that day. What does it bring.
It's definitely going to bring some emotion that I'm trying to hold back until we get get close. We still have a lot of time, so you don't want to burn out, but it's going to be an intense day.
About Taylor and Smith. When you watch them on film, Taylor's I think, leaves the NFL with a ton of penalties. Anything stand out when you watch.
Them, they hold a lot.
I just I just got stage.
I forgot.
You talked about, you know, coming out with intensity and effort on every single snow, how do you ensure that you do that next Sunday for four full quarters and not just you know a portion of the game. This is kind of in the case of the last couple of.
Weeks, I think it starts today. I think having two weeks is really good because you could kind of just ingrain the in your mind game plan wise this week and then just pile on repetitions next week. But yeah, it's just having that mindset and knowing that if I'm going to give everything I've got, I got to be able to get out of the game and the next guy has to be fresh and ready to do the same.
Okay, I've got it. So Christmas and there's been a lot to talk about kind of change things. They become much more balanced offensively. Would you say it's a I don't know from what they've shown from Christmas on a dramatically different type of style offense that they're running into what you saw in the Super Bowl.
I don't know if I've watched it in sequence like that. I have watched that game, I've watched the playoff game, but I don't know exactly how they changed recently.
Last year, Christian mccaffery's first game, What did you watch that game again? And that was that one was pretty one sided? What do you remember about that one?
Definitely some some things that I need to be ready for because they were definitely game planning me a little bit in that game, So some things that I need to be ready for Andy Reid to do, and and just as a defense, we were playing goodball. It's just about playing four quarters. Some of the cuts and some of the chips and stuff that I could be ready for.
Do you remember the first time that Kyle asked you to speak to the team and what kind of emotions that that generated in you? And have you literally spoken to the team every Saturday since then?
Yeah, Yeah, I don't remember the first time, which is surprising, but I usually remember traumatic experiences. Was I don't remember? But now it's it's been good for me. I've I've kind of enjoyed kind of dealing with the stress and and kind of facing and something that I'm not used to