S Grant Delpit (10.25.23)
When you guys watch the film, do you feel confident that whatever didn’t go right in this particular past game you guys can shore it up pretty quickly and get back to playing the way you all want?
“Yeah, we have a lot of cleanup. We had a lot of mistakes this past game that we need to clean up. We have confidence that we’re going to be able to get that done and go in a hostile environment on the road. We need to get that cleaned up ASAP. They have a great team over there, so try and get prepared starting this Wednesday.”
What do you see when you look at Geno Smith? What makes him a good quarterback?
“He’s doing a good job of taking care of the ball so far. He has one fumble loss, something like that. So doing a good job of that part. He’s a seasoned vet. Like his 11th year, I think. So he’s found a home in Seattle with a good offense. They’re hot right now. So go in there, a hostile environment and try and take a win.”
Grant, was there a point in that game where you got angry? Looked like it.
“That I got angry?”
Yeah, after the first two touchdowns. The Colts touchdown.
“Of course you don’t like to see other teams score. I’m not happy.”
Were you angry at the way you were playing or something? Just picked it up or what?
“What do you mean by that?”
The touchdown by (Gardner) Minshew. The play fake and then run the ball.
“Yeah, we was just all discombobulated that play. Guys out of place, we were out of place. I got to make a tackle.”
You’ve been around Myles (Garrett) for a while. Does he still surprise you?
“Yeah, he’s a freak, man. He’s one of a kind, really. I think he’s the best edge rusher in the game. We’re going to see that throughout the whole season. Not too many guys I’ve seen guys jump over…that was crazy. He never fails to surprise me. So he’s playing championship ball right now.”
There seemed to be some other discombobulation. On that first TD, Denzel (Ward) went inside. It looked like Myles had jumped offsides. Did you stop or was that a communication breakdown or what happened on that?
“We was playing the coverage, really. Y’all don’t know what coverage it was. I’m not going to break it down, just playing the coverage.”
Largely due to Myles, but a big turnover day for the defense. Does that kind of justify all the yards? After a winning defensive performance, what’s in the mind of the defense after a game like that?
“No, I wouldn’t see it as a winning defensive performance. I think that we gave up too many plays with too many yards and we got to get better. But we did take the ball away and that helped our offense. So if you play it like that, I guess takeaways are going to help, but we need the takeaways and we need to play our brand of football.”
Grant, I know DK (Metcalf) is questionable this week so far. Obviously Tyler Lockett is a good receiver. Jaxon Smith-Njiba plays well. What’s unique about what you expect to see from Seattle?
“Well, their running game, first of all, is great. They had a good young running back in (Kenneth) Walker and they try to marry the run and the pass, lot of play action boots and stuff like that. Just looking at them the past couple of days, they’re a solid offense, solid group, and playing at home plays well. So we got our hands full. I think that (Jim) Schwartz will have a good plan for us.”
They have a good running back with Walker, the Colts had some success in the run. I guess, what did you see against the Colts that you guys have to clean up from a run-defensive perspective?
“Man, I think that tackling is okay, but it could better. This guy, Ken Walker, I think he leads the league in missed tackles, his tackle rate. So that’s something we had to clean up for sure. Gap integrity, staying in your gap. It just wasn’t brand of football and I think as we see that and we’re going to clean it up and come out with some fire.”
Did it surprise the defense with the RPO’s last week?
“No, we knew that was an RPO team, but they just executed better than we did. Clean it up, man, see what Seattle’s things are.”
Is this defense licking its chops to get back on the field?
“Of course, I think any great defense would be. Can’t have two in a row, we need to get back to our brand of football and what we do best, attacking, getting that ball and limiting offense, that wasn’t us. Well, it was us, we put it on tape, but we got to get better.”
So when you guys play as well as you did against the 49ers, but not so well against the Colts. So what is the challenge for you guys to stack games one after another like you played against?
“That’s the challenge. That’s the challenge. You just said it. Take a game like that and reverse it. You know what I mean? You know, we came out with a win, so I think coach (Mike) Tomlin said, I’m not going to apologize for winning, I took that line from him. But we got to better and I think we see where we messed up at. Correct it going to this – I’ve never been to Seattle. I heard it’s a great city, a great crowd. They say it’s the hardest stadium to play in, one of the hardest. So I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
What’s the challenge with these West Coast trips where you’re on the plane for five hours, to and from, stuff like that? And you mentioned the stadium and that crowd and things like that?
“Yeah, I’ve never been to Seattle. I know it’s a long flight, we play a lot of west coast teams this year. The flight man, I know it’s going to be killer. Wake up and play.”
Any other NFL cities you haven’t been to?
“A couple, probably. On the schedule? I got to think about it, man.”
Well, you’ll cross a few off the list this year, right, with the West Coast trips?
“Yeah, we play in LA.”
It’s often said that if you can find a way to win when you’re not at your best, that’s a sign of a really good team. How much when you guys watch this tape from this weekend, how much did you feel like you really had to clean up? Like there were schematic things wrong or things that desperately needed addressing versus now we got that, we schemed that right, we just need to execute it better.
“Yeah, well, we understand our scheme, so it’s nothing that we don’t understand, we just got to execute it better and process the plays they were running, maybe, and we were messing it up, too. So it’s not complicated on our part, we just got to do it better. Then we have to figure it out.”
When it comes to tackling, as you guys prepare the weekend practice, is it more like a mental aspect, mental game versus, I don’t know. I guess you guys go approach this week, like being focused on tackling?
“Yeah, it’s an attitude. Tackling is an attitude, I feel like. Football is a game of angles as well, and trusting your guys that your guys going to be there. So if you think you got somebody – let’s say you think you have somebody inside of you, you plant to your leverage on the outside, stuff like that. But just clean it up. We’ll be alright.”
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