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00:00 of you know, aggressiveness and pursuit
00:03 of those touchdowns, like the one that's a little bit
00:06 of a big pitch back the other way,
00:08 the, you know, the touchdown dump off to the tight end?
00:12 Yeah, I mean, I don't think they necessarily took advantage
00:14 of the aggressiveness that we have.
00:18 For me, I do believe that it was more so
00:20 just making our responsibilities
00:24 and being specific with those things that we're supposed to do.
00:26 You know, I gave up one when I didn't look up the tight end
00:29 or, you know, you have some people that, you know,
00:32 may have made some mistakes in the back end, right?
00:34 I think that it comes down to just doing our responsibility
00:37 and just being patient with our jobs
00:40 and make sure that we fulfill those.
00:41 So the 76 yard touchdown,
00:43 you're supposed to stick with the tight end on that?
00:45 Well, yeah, I mean, it's a combination of a lot of things,
00:47 but yeah, yeah, I think we all have to own those mistakes
00:52 and the things that we do to make sure the defense
00:54 just, you know, does our job.
00:56 You had a terrific season.
00:58 You're going to be extension eligible.
01:00 What are your thoughts about remaining
01:02 a key piece of this young core going forward here?
01:06 Yeah, I mean, I love Cleveland.
01:07 You know, I'm not a super party guy.
01:09 So, you know, you know, Cleveland is just a spot for me.
01:14 But nevertheless, I mean, I think a lot of the things
01:17 come down to, you know, what the front office wants to do.
01:20 Of course, you know, you know, in my 30 years,
01:23 I'm not sure how much, you know,
01:25 how much I do have at this point.
01:27 But I'll just be looking to see what, you know,
01:30 the front office thinks and then try to get whatever.
01:33 [inaudible]
01:49 I mean, I mean, it's hard to, I would say that it's hard to,
01:54 and, you know, this whole year has been us, you know,
01:58 it's been us against the team,
02:00 it's been us against the world,
02:01 it's been us against the league.
02:02 It's hard to take an individual, you know, praise.
02:07 It's very hard to, you know.
02:09 For me, I go back and look at that,
02:11 which I should have did better.
02:13 I apologize to the coaches after,
02:14 I apologize to the teammates after,
02:17 just because I think I could have done more myself.
02:20 So, again, I think it comes back to that
02:22 and just being accountable and, you know, saying,
02:25 hey, look, no matter what we did individually as a team,
02:29 you know, we came into this as a team,
02:31 we leave out as a team.
02:32 [inaudible]
02:47 I mean, yeah, I think it was a combination of a lot of things.
02:51 First and foremost, you know, you put it in a scheme
02:53 that allows a player to get vertical,
02:55 you, you know, have the players in front,
02:58 you know, the defense line didn't necessarily
03:00 get any sacks or anything, but if you look, you know,
03:03 they did keep those double teams
03:05 pretty well for us to get vertical,
03:06 so I give credit to them.
03:08 And, I mean, Coach Tarver did a great job
03:11 preparing us as linebackers
03:12 to be able to do those things,
03:15 specifically in those positions that I was in.
03:16 So, you know, it's credit to, you know, the coaches,
03:19 you know, my teammates, but also, you know,
03:22 a lot of the stuff that, you know,
03:24 they keyed in on and some of the patience things
03:27 that you can see, you know,
03:29 from the position that I was in.
03:31 [inaudible]
03:45 Well, I think the bad day really originates
03:48 from the nature of football.
03:49 You know, sometimes, you know,
03:51 you don't have necessarily those days that you might.
03:55 Sometimes you may come out still on top,
03:57 but for us, you know, that was one of the bad days
04:00 that we didn't come out on top.
04:02 So I think that, again,
04:03 it originates with the nature of football.
04:05 Some days you have great days, some days you don't.
04:07 Some days you execute, some days you don't.
04:09 I'm in the battle is to see how much
04:11 you can stay consistent with that
04:14 and overcoming that, so.
04:16 Looking back, was any momentum lost
04:18 from that broadcast?
04:20 I know I saw a lot of comments.
04:21 I usually don't look at Twitter stuff,
04:23 but I was on a little Safari thing.
04:26 I saw like a notification popped up
04:28 and it was talking about the Cincinnati stuff.
04:29 I don't think so.
04:30 I mean, I think that coach made a great decision
04:32 for allowing us to rest a bit.
04:34 A lot of players came out healthy.
04:36 Some didn't, but I think that coach did a great job
04:38 and a great decision on the questions.
04:40 Just to be clear, what happened on that
04:43 the long pass from tight end?
04:45 What was the breakdown?
04:47 Yeah, I think it was a combination of things,
04:50 whether it was my eyes, you know,
04:53 we got to execute on the tackling part, you know.
04:55 So, I mean, I think, you know, I'll, you know,
04:59 be the first to take the credit on my side
05:01 to say, hey, look, I should have did better on that play.
05:03 I should have kept my eyes on that man
05:05 and followed him, so.
05:06 Jeremiah, it's been a long time since a player
05:08 has such a close relationship with a player
05:10 that hasn't established it for a lot of people.
05:12 How do you sustain that when you have so much
05:14 turnover in a linebacker?
05:16 I was thinking about that yesterday, too,
05:19 just trying to reflect more on, you know,
05:22 sometimes, you know, a loss like that
05:24 can deprive, you know, the entire season.
05:26 And I was trying to let that, you know,
05:28 get a hold of me, even though, you know,
05:30 I probably wouldn't sleep at like 4 a.m., you know,
05:32 like, just still thinking about it.
05:34 And at the end of the day, I think that, you know,
05:36 culture originates with intentionality.
05:38 And since the, you know, the off season,
05:40 we had that intentionality and that, you know,
05:44 and to be honest, it's not just the intentionality.
05:46 It's about the organization of it, too,
05:48 like putting guys in the right position,
05:49 making sure that the personnel is right,
05:51 making sure that, you know, we have guys to be the anchor,
05:54 but also to do, you know, be the roles.
05:56 You know, it's so much to a football organization
05:59 that creates culture.
06:02 But all in all, I think that we were very intentional
06:04 and we organized well, so.
06:05 How do you transition then now in the off season
06:08 with the key set of culture,
06:09 you know, that sort of mentality you guys are having
06:12 against the Celtics, even though you're not going
06:13 to be around each other as much every day
06:15 like you used to be?
06:17 Yeah, I think what culture has instilled
06:18 is that it allows you to continue to be a certain way.
06:21 I think culture is actually what sustains, you know,
06:24 the society as we see it itself, right?
06:27 Once the culture is established, you know,
06:29 people act a certain way.
06:30 They live by a certain moral code,
06:32 a certain standard, and are able to continue
06:34 to be in that same mindset.
06:37 And I think overall, you know, even though we are off season,
06:40 the culture still lives within us
06:42 because all in all, where is the culture?
06:44 The culture is not out there, right?
06:46 The culture is inside of all of us
06:47 as individuals and as players.
06:50 How do you think this defense takes the next step?
06:54 What is going to be the key?
06:56 Yeah, I mean, the next step is just --
06:59 One, the next step is the best step, right?
07:02 The next step concerns fixing those mistakes, right?
07:07 Fixing the things that we did wrong.
07:09 At the end of the day, you know,
07:12 that's why we are a team, right?
07:16 I think a team has love for every individual
07:19 that's within that team.
07:20 And to correct those mistakes, you know,
07:22 we have to take an audit, whether, you know,
07:24 it's some of the man things we did wrong,
07:26 some of the zone things we did wrong,
07:28 some of the preparation things we may have did wrong, right?
07:31 I think that's the next step, is just making sure
07:33 that we get those things off our resume,
07:35 as Coach Schwartz was saying.
07:36 Do you think there's anything to, you know,
07:39 the lights being brighter, anything like that?
07:41 Do you think that --
07:44 Was it related to the performance yesterday?
07:48 No, I don't think so. I think it --
07:50 I mean, football is still football.
07:51 You know, a game is still a game.
07:53 But at the end of the day, at the playoffs,
07:54 it does require a certain amount of intensity.
07:58 I don't think that it was the lights that shocked us
08:00 or did not make me have a lot of fun.
08:03 Lacool was our starting quarterback, right?
08:05 I mean, he's been there, done that a bunch of times.
08:08 You know, we've had guys on the defense
08:10 that have been in the playoffs before,
08:12 guys that won Super Bowls already.
08:13 You know, we had, you know, Juan, Oboe.
08:16 You know, I don't think it was the lights.
08:17 I just think it was a matter of execution.
08:19 Can you put in or encapsulate,
08:21 sort of put in perspective just the impact
08:23 that Jim Schwartz had this year,
08:24 last year's defense, where he had a lot of issues
08:26 and he seemed to erase a lot of that,
08:28 other than maybe yesterday,
08:30 a few moments where things came out,
08:31 the impact he's had on his own,
08:32 but also you individually,
08:34 because you obviously had a great season.
08:36 Yeah, I mean, I think at the end of the day,
08:38 there's a lot of things that contribute to a team's success.
08:42 Coach Schwartz, obviously, on the defense side,
08:45 is a huge part of that.
08:47 And I think for him, like, we have things
08:48 that are already understood.
08:50 But for him, even those things that are understood,
08:52 he makes relevant, right?
08:54 Whether it's continuously, you know,
08:57 creating that repetition of, hey, the best players
08:59 have to be the most hardworking players.
09:01 Hey, you know, our weakest link
09:05 should be one of our strongest.
09:06 So I think a lot of the things that he will repeat.
09:09 Articulate up there.
09:12 Yeah, I know AWOC, of course, is a huge part of it.
09:14 AWOC is a huge part, not only of the defense,
09:17 but also of cutting off my interviews constantly.
09:22 This entire year.
09:25 So at the end of the day,
09:28 I think Coach Schwartz is an amazing leader.
09:31 And he's able to, you know, formulate his messages
09:35 in a way that gets people going.
09:37 And whether that, you know, is in a practice,
09:41 in a walkthrough, or in a game,
09:43 you know, I'm really grateful for that transpiring
09:46 amongst our defense and within myself.