WR Elijah Moore (10.13.23)
Can you talk about P.J. (Walker) starting this game? How do you guys feel about that? And what do you think the outlook is for the game?
“I’m super excited about that. What I harped on last week was the next man up. I feel like we all have been getting in tune in practice as far as putting our best foot forward and waiting on Sunday.”
How did the practice week go between you and him?
“It went good. I feel like communication was there. That’s probably going to be the biggest part as far as learning each other. But now I feel good about it.”
What are the challenges of getting used to three different quarterbacks in the span of three games?
“It can be a challenge. The only challenge it can be is communication. I feel like we throw him so he already knows and he watches film and sees the same thing that Deshaun (Watson) sees every single day. So I think it’s just communication speaking on what we see and what he sees.”
In terms of your role, do you still feel really good about that? Sort of the dual role of running the ball and get some touches…
“I feel good. I feel good about my role. I trust the coach’s plan. I know they’re going to put us in the best position. Every single team, every single week is different. So, I think that they put us in a position to help us for that week. So, I’m very confident.”
Just what challenges does that secondary present for you as someone who’s out there trying to make plays against them?
“Challenges, I think we focus on ourselves. I don’t really see a challenge. I think they’re a physical group who play together, and they respect it like how we respect everything that we play. But I don’t really see a challenge. I think that we have got to do our job. I think that if we focus on ourselves, execute where we’re supposed to execute, follow our rules, I think that will be fine.”
Do you watch some Deebo (Samuel) film to try and get a handle on that?
“That’s my dawg. I watch him, but I’m not 240, I’m not 230. I don’t know how much he’s a big dude. So I watch, you know, I watch everyone around the league, whoever makes plays, but I don’t particularly just watch every single thing he does because we’re not really kind of the same players.”
How would you categorize the mood in the locker room here? You don’t have Deshaun, you don’t have Joel Bitonio, Cedric (Tillman) not playing. So how are you guys, like, rallying around that?
“Yeah, I feel like we’re lifting them up. They didn’t die, so I think we’re loving on them. We see them, we’re in the building with them, and it’s next man up and they’re cheering us on too. So, I don’t look at it as a negative. I think we’re going to get them back at the perfect time.”
I couldn’t hear you earlier when you were talking about PJ. What have you seen from him this week, and how do you feel? Like he’s kind of stepped in there to really try and not just from a communication standpoint, even a chemistry standpoint kind of mesh with you guys.
“I feel like he’s done a great job. I feel like we’re confident in what he can do. I feel like the main part was the communication as far as what he’s seeing versus what we see because everybody’s different. But I’m super confident.”
That experience that he has, he started a handful of games. Do you think that will help him a little bit, the fact that he’s at least been out there? I think he started five games.
“Yeah, of course. I think that he knows what that moment is going to be like. I have all the confidence in the world that he’ll do what he trusts. He puts the same amount of work in as anybody else. I think that’s someone that works extremely hard. Everybody in this building, man, it’s hats off to them.”
I think before the bye week, we talked about your role like how you’re being used, running game, things like that. A game like this…I see a smile.
“Yeah, because she just asked me that [laughing].”
I didn’t hear you. I’m sorry. But just how excited are you to just – now that you’ve had a week to really dissect that? How excited are you going forward now that you maybe see where you guys can tweak and hang your hat on?
“Yeah, I feel good. I feel good about where I’m at. I feel good about what offense is at, what team is at. I feel good about everything.”
What can you just say about how good this 49ers defense is?
“Yeah, they’re a good group. They’ve been playing together for some time. You got to respect it.”
Early bye week, how do you approach it when normally, the bye week is, like, guys coming back fully healthy, and this week has kind of been guys dealing with injuries? How do you approach that?
“Obstacles come. You can’t count when they come, so you just got to put your best foot forward. I know everyone in the locker room, we hold that to us so, definitely respect that as well.”
Did you make any goals for yourself during the bye, or did you sort of try to reset a little bit? And if so, what are you coming back with wanting to do?
“Yeah, I mean, I feel like just want to play complimentary football. That was my goal. I want to see everybody do what we know we can, play together as a team. I think that’s the ultimate goal, so we can keep telling ourselves to win. I think that was just my plan.”
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