LB Sione Takitaki (10.17.22)
On potential solutions for recent defensive issues:
“We emphasized a lot last week. Obviously, we are going to have to do the same thing this week. We are going to have to tighten up everywhere. I can’t pinpoint it as one thing. You kind of mentioned it, everybody is kind of taking ownership. I will take ownership too for myself. I have to play a clean ballgame, wasn’t excellent out there and had some mistakes too that I want to clean up. After the game, we had a great leader talk for our locker room and kind of just said we all have to lock in and be 100 percent committed this week. I feel like all of us are kind of feeling the same way. We have a [division] game so we have to be 100 percent committed this week, go out there and tighten up everything. I know it kind of sounds like a broken record and we are saying the same thing every week, ‘We have to tighten up, tighten up,’ but that is really where we are right now. We are going to have to do that because we want to succeed at a high level. That is what we are going to do this week. We are going to be 100 percent committed and get going.”
On if it feels like defensive issues may be snowballing:
“No. As a professional athlete, those guys are good, too. Obviously, we want to go out there and play a really great game and be legit in all areas. We let some stuff get away from us, It sucks. We lost the game again. We tip our hats to those guys and give them their flowers for coming out and playing a good game. We are going to have to emphasize all of those things this week and be actually committed and actually spend time outside of the building and inside the building doing more than what we usually do. That is for everyone, including myself.”
On if the emphasis on tackling in practice last week showed up during yesterday’s game:
“For sure. Obviously, you get what you emphasize. We still had a couple of missed tackles, but that is the game of football. Football is not always played super clean, but like I said, we are going to emphasize all of those things continuing going forward, and eventually, it is going to flow good for us so keep fighting.”
On if there is a not a need for major changes in order to fix the team’s recent defensive issues:
“Obviously, you want to work on all of the stuff that we are messing up. That is what I mean by tightening up. Just from my standpoint, I had some bad alignments that led to some big plays. That is what I mean by tightening up. That is what I mean by being 100 percent committed, not looking out but looking at the person in the mirror and doing my job. Going this week, I am going to be 100 percent committed on my job and going in and fixing all of my corrections that I need from the game and getting this thing right.”
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