Q. You were around John. Did you get a chance to talk to him or interact with him a little bit?
TYTUS HOWARD: I haven't gotten to talk to him, but he seemed like he's in good spirits. If he's happy, it's good for me and good for him.
Q. What does it mean to have him out there?
TYTUS HOWARD: It means a lot, man. He's going through a lot right now. The testimony to him that he's out here supporting us, whatever we've got going on. It was good to see him, and I hope I'll get a chance to catch up with him in the locker room.
Q. How did it pump you guys up?
TYTUS HOWARD: It pumped us up pretty good. It's the last preseason game of the year. We got to set a tone. We're looking to go 3-0. I think the team is excited going into the weekend, trying to get a win.
Q. How much does seeing John Metchie out here help you?
TYTUS HOWARD: That's what I was saying. It felt good to see him out here. He pumped us up so we can have a good game this weekend. Hopefully we can go out and get the win for him this weekend.
Q. (No microphone). You've been in their shoes, playing in your first game and being a first round draft pick. What would you tell them?
TYTUS HOWARD: I would say be calm, man. We've been playing this game for a long time. Yeah, the level gets harder and harder as you increase it. Kenyon is a good player. There's a reason he was taken 15th overall. He needs to go out there and play his game, be calm, just let the older guys talk to him, get him going. I think he'll do a good job.
Q. You guys have watched Dameon run. What's it feel like to watch him run and see Dameon Pierce working?
TYTUS HOWARD: Dameon is going to do a lot of special things for this team. I remember being on the sideline -- I wasn't here when he made those runs in the first week, but I was excited. We haven't had a 1,000-yard rusher here since 2019 with Carlos Hyde. To see a rookie come in and make those type of plays the first time he get the ball, he's going to be something special.
Q. Not to put down anyone on the first team offense working through preseason, but to have guys like Laremy and Justin out there, how does that help?
TYTUS HOWARD: It's always good to have two of your players out there, two older vets. J.B. has been the center here for the past two years. He's going to set the tempo. Laremy is a great player. He's going to lock down whoever is over here.
To have the whole starting offensive line out there, we should have some elite play out there this weekend.
Q. You mentioned having two of your buddies out there. It seems like you and Laremy Tunsil are like legit buddies. What's that relationship like?
TYTUS HOWARD: We're friends here and outside of here. It's always good to develop friendships outside of football, and I think me and him got that. It only helps us when we're on the field. Like I said, you can get criticism from your coaches and stuff like that, but nothing is like when your teammates can critique you and help you with stuff.
I think it just feels different when you get it from your teammates, pause. Yeah, man, me and Laremy, we're good friends. He's helped me a lot since he came here early on in my career. So it's good to have him here.
Q. What would you say is the biggest lesson you've learned from Laremy as a tackle from football standards?
TYTUS HOWARD: I would say the main thing is don't try to change my game to try to be like somebody else. Just develop my own game, be my own self when I'm out there on the field. I think that's something I've honed in on since I've been at tackle, just developing my own game, being myself, and letting it come to me.
Q. How does it feel to get those reps in that position?
TYTUS HOWARD: It feels good. I was just telling them I'm excited to get out there and prove that I'm one of the best in the league. I think that this preseason I'm getting a chance to show that.
I think this season is going to be a good testimony to show you all that I'm one of the best.
Q. On Thursday you mentioned the preseason, how can it actually set the tone for this upcoming season?
TYTUS HOWARD: It's always good to win. By going 3-0 in the preseason, it just gives us confidence -- I mean then with the ones and twos there, we can get a lot done as a team. Our defense has been playing great all preseason.
So offense, I think we can do a better job of putting more points on the board, eliminating turnovers, running the ball better. I think we keep on building this momentum for the preseason, it's going to just go in for week 1 against the Colts.
Q. When you go back and look at that final drive on Friday night, when you see the throws that Davis has been making, the way the offense has clicked, how does that set the tone going into the regular season to know what's possible?
TYTUS HOWARD: I think the number one thing when I see that, if we give him time, he can make all the throws. If we're doing our job up front, those guys that coach put behind us, they're going to get the job done, but it starts with our front. Whether it's offense or defense, we've just got to win our front first.
Q. So it's important for you to have clean blocks and pass protection as it is for him to make the right reads?
TYTUS HOWARD: Yes, sir, no doubt.
Q. Where does the nastiness come from? It's not good enough just to block someone. It seems like you're always trying to put them in the dirt?
TYTUS HOWARD: I've just always been like that. I had an older brother when I was a kid. Everybody knows when you've got an older brother and you're the younger brother -- I was smaller than my brother growing up. So I had to have that little extra oomph in me to fight with him and stuff like that.
I just carried it over to football. It's all about finishing. When you finish people and you block them and get a pancake, it just gives you more momentum for the next play. So I try to get those type of plays to give me more momentum to finish the game out even stronger.
Q. Tytus, what is it this year? Do you feel you have a point to prove coming from an HBCU? Some people didn't think you deserved to be picked where you were. Do you still feel like you have something to prove with that?
TYTUS HOWARD: Obviously I have more to prove to myself than what people have to say because I really don't care what people have to say about me. All I care is what my coaches feel and how I feel as a player.
When I look at the film, I critique myself, my coaches critique mow. That's more of the thing I need to improve on. I really don't care about what they say, you know what I'm saying? So probably not.
Q. You and Laremy have a very close relationship off the field. What's one thing you like to do together? Do you have a friendly competition you kind of wager on?
TYTUS HOWARD: We like to play cards. We love playing cards, play tonk, play spades. We get the chance to vibe, talk, have a good time. So I think that's probably the one thing we like to do.
Q. Can't get him on the ping pong table?
TYTUS HOWARD: He can't play ping pong with me. I'm a demon.
Q. Is cards a way to help you connect? What is it about these games that can help you?
TYTUS HOWARD: I don't know if you ever played card games when you were growing up, but when you're playing cards, you get to have fun, talk about stuff that doesn't have anything to do about football, just talk about real personal life stuff. When we play cards, we're having a good time, just be chilling, vibing, getting a mental space outside of football, and I think that's good for us.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports