What was supposed to happen and what went right for you to break free on your touchdown run?
Yeah, it was really just the effort of everyone finishing their blocks and not giving up on the play. it wasn't the prettiest look, but we made it work. the offensive linemen were finishing their plays, the tight ends. Mo (Moliki Matavao) stepped up, made a good block and my resilience is to keep on running and finding a crease and making something out of nothing.
What is that like to have a day like you had today after what you went through this season, what does that mean to you?
It's really emotional for me. But this is just a represent(ation) of the person I am, the people in my life around me. When you're knocked down, you just got to get back up. And it's a representative with this team been this whole year. We could have been the team that laid down, but we bring it every week. And we try to go 1-0 every week, and we play one game at a time, one play at a time. And I got an opportunity, and as this team has an opportunity, we just try to get the best as possible out of it.
What have you shown for coaches to stick with you the way that they have?
It's just really my consistency in practice. Just making sure that they know that I know what I'm doing. On third down, which became a big factor in my game, you got to be able to protect the quarterback and just be able grow every week. And that's what I pride myself in, be able go every year, every week, and I feel like that's what I did. And kudos to the coaches, coach Kellen (Moore) and coach JT (Joel Thomas) for trusting me and having me out there
What changed in the second half to kind of unlock the run game?
It's just second half adjustments. We came in this locker room and the coaches were riled up and everyone's riled up. We know that the first half that wasn't us, we weren't playing to our standard. And that's just what we did. We came out in the second half, played New Orleans Saints football, played to our standards, played physical. And it was really just a team effort. Like we came out, defense played their tails off. Chase (Young) made a great play going into the second half. But we just built off our momentum that we had, and we just kept on rolling
Has it been kind of tough to get a gauge where the carries are going to go? Is this a hot-hand situation?
I wouldn't be able to tell you that, but like you said, you never know. You don't know. I didn't know in this game if I was going to get 20 carries or if I was going to get two carries, it's just really stay ready whenever your time's called. You just got to be able execute and do whatever they need you to do
What does a riled-up Kellen Moore look like?
I want to say it's more Kellen (Moore), more everyone else, like Coach Nuss (Doug Nussmier) and the D coordinator. But he knew that we weren't playing our standard and he expects the best out of us and we expect the best of ourselves.
What is a game like this show you about Tyler Shough?
Man, the past couple of games, he's a resilient guy, man. He's a guy that I want to play for. He's the guy that will make you run through a brick wall. Like you can see him stay in the pocket, take those hits and still pop up and deliver. He is a great leader. He's a rookie. I know he just started five weeks ago. And just, if you didn't know that, you would think he'd been the man and starter for the past three years. But he's just a great guy. And I'm just excited to see the trajectory of the team behind him.
Does it do anything for the team to get in a shootout and you needed a response. Knowing that you have Tyler, does that give you guys confidence or did you sense the confidence because you guys have him?
Yeah, for sure. Like Tyler's (Shough) a poised guy. Like no matter what situation we're in, we know we can count on him to make a play. And this is the NFL. Every week is going to be a dog fight. And we have the guys in this locker room that are prepared for that dog fight, and Tyler is the one who's leading us, especially on offense.
How helpful is that for just as a group with Tyler being steady after the endzone fumble?
Yeah, just like I said, playing one play at a time. Like that play was a great play, but it didn't go our way. And just about how we respond to that, we responded pretty well in that situation.
You were with Bo Nix last year too, is that kind of crazy to you? How were you all these rookies?
It's great to be able to learn from Bo (Nix), see how he handles his minutes on a daily basis, and then come to Tyler (Shough) , and you see a lot of similarities between them.
