LB Sione Takitaki (8.7.23)
Is Philadelphia week, any target for you to get back in team drills? And is it reachable or what’s your timetable?
“It’s reachable, but we’re taking it day by day. Listening to the staff and just feeling it out as the weeks go on.”
You’re still confident you’ll be playing in September?
“Yeah, I’m really confident. That’s the aim date, but we’ll see when we get closer.”
How grateful are you that back in the day, even eight, 10 years ago, if you tore an ACL, it was catastrophic, but it just has come so far, right? And what kinds of things do you do to make this speed up and how happy are you that you can do that?
“The surgery now, like you said, is much better. A lot of upgrades, better surgeons and the medicine too that they have nowadays, and the workouts and stuff to help guys come back have definitely skyrocketed now. Still, a very hard injury to come back from, but if you do the right things, you could definitely come back in better shape and be strong. So pretty confident in it.”
And what do they tell you now? Do they say nine-month injury?
“I know when the first game comes around, it’s going to be like, what, nine months and what, a week? So it’s that nine to twelve-month window. So I feel like we’re going to be just fine. We’ll just see how it plays out as we get closer.”
Sione, you and A-Walk (Anthony Walker) have sort of been working together as you guys have gotten your recovery. How much has that kind of tightened the bond? Because Anthony was talking back in West Virginia, you mentioned early on that maybe the relationship was competitive and everything. How much has that grown just going through this together?
“You got a lot of competitive guys and a lot of alphas in the room, so we would get into it a little bit before, but I feel like both being injured definitely bonded that relationship. We were able to grow, was able to learn about him, he was able to learn about me. And we were working out together, so that’s very motivating too and I was able to see how he works. We hung out together and it was a good time, man. We definitely built a bond that’s going to last forever.”
What did you learn about him? What have you learned that maybe you didn’t even know?
“You know, we’re both hard workers. I’m kind of one of those guys, let’s knock out what we got to do. Anthony is very detailed. Everything he does from like 5am to 9pm is going to be very detailed out. And some days, just whatever is thrown at me, I’m kind of go with the wind. But Anthony, he’s got this on his 5pm schedule, he’s going to knock it out, you know what I mean? So a very detailed guy. As you could tell, man. He’s a pro, he’s a vet. So that was definitely something I learned about him. ”
So will you break down this Jim Schwartz defense for us?
“No, we’re going to keep it in-house, you know what I mean?”
How does it suit you, though? And how do you think it suits the personnel that you got?
“We got a bunch of guys that just played downhill. You guys have heard about it, it’s an attacking style. I feel like the linebacker room D line to all the guys that they brought in. I feel like it fits this style of defense that Schwartz is bringing. And they brought in Z (Za’Darius Smith), DT (Dalvin Tomlinson), drafted some guys, some big dudes and so they’re going to make our jobs a lot easier, the back seven. And then we’ve got good guys that can cover, so we’re going to make it work.”
Is it drastically different, or does it I mean, in the way that it suits you? Do you like playing that style? To be aggressive and kind of downhill?
“Yeah, in high school and college if I was coming straight out of college, I’d be like, ‘Yeah, I want a system like this.’ But I learned the other system where you have to be a little bit more patient, put a lot more on linebackers. But I definitely like this style, man, where they’re going to unhandcuff us and we’re going to just fly around and make plays. So I’m excited.”
You have a new defensive coordinator. You have a new special teams coordinator. You’re two specialties – you have to be anxious to dive in there by now, aren’t you?
“Yeah. I feel like through this whole process, I had to learn how to be patient. I’m not a very patient guy, you know what I mean? I’m a little impatient, so I’m excited to get back. I’m happy that I was able to come back and start running around with the guys and I’m excited, man. I’m pretty happy where we’re at getting back.”
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