Commanders - 23, Texans - 10
Q. Take us through your interception. It's your first career touchdown?
KENDALL FULLER: Uh-huh. I mean, just being able to study, being prepared, understanding the different concepts that they were going to try to run against us. And after that, it was just, you know, playing with good eyes, making the play on the ball and just -- it was only 30 or 40 yards to go. Just getting into the end zone.
Q. I'll admit I had assumed you had one somewhere along the way. It seems been a long wait. Has it weighed on you?
KENDALL FULLER: I remember Drew came up to me, he was like, that's your first one, like, what have you been doing? I was, like, yeah, I've been slacking. (Laughter) but I don't know why, but a couple of weeks ago I remember thinking that I haven't scored yet. So it's definitely fun to cross that off the list and just to set the tempo of the game for the team.
Q. Seems almost natural you would get one, because seems like your instincts and preparations are close, you're on the ball a lot. Has that been, not an improvement this year, but seems you're really on your game?
KENDALL FULLER: I think it's a matter of football. Being in seven years, I had times to where it was like you don't make those plays you want but you're close. You just keep fighting through, you know they're going to come your way. You just keep going on out there, preparing, competing. And they eventually start showing up. So that's all you do. You go in each week prepare yourself and it will show for itself.
Q. You've been here through a lot of turnovers, and the secondary has taken a lot, what is it about this current starting group that's clicking so well together?
KENDALL FULLER: I think we've just got a lot of guys that do a lot of different things well. We've got some veteran guys. We've got young guys. We've got guys like Juice that uses his size great. Guys like D-Fo that uses his speed and flying around. And guys like Cam who can play any position on the field.
Bobby's the same way, can use any position on the field, kind of controls the defense. Me, that's understanding route concepts and trying to go out there and make plays. We've just got a lot of different guys that do different things well. And everybody's playing to their strength.
Q. When do you think this defense this year started to find its stride or when this turnaround really happened?
KENDALL FULLER: I think every year, every defense I've been a part of, you get better and better as the weeks get on. Just from playing with each other, learning each other, getting different looks early in the season and preparing for them and seeing different things.
So, you know, I think for a lot of defenses it's not a lot of panic early in the season because you know week in, week out you'll start to get better and you'll start to gel and stuff like that. I don't think necessarily clicked for us in one week, it was we just kept on preparing, kept on knowing that things will work out and things will show for itself on Sundays.
Q. Is that how you feel about your game as well? Seems like your game has improved --
KENDALL FULLER: Like I said, seven years I've had seasons -- I think 2020 came out, started with like three, four picks in three games. And then had a little slump. But that's part of football. You prepare yourself to go out there, play your best ball for all 16, 17 games; but, realistically, that's not always the case you just keep preparing, and keep on pushing yourself to get better and it always shows eventually on the field.
Q. That 2020 group was really good. You guys are playing good football now. Do you think you're playing at an even higher level than you were the last time you guys were in the playoffs?
KENDALL FULLER: You just think week-to-week. I honestly don't think back to 2020. I know we have Atlanta coming up next. So you just focus on Atlanta, figuring out the things that you can do, the plays you can make to help you win on Sunday. That's where my mindset is.
Q. You know a lot of UVA people; you had the decal on the helmet. How does that resonate with you guys as a football player knowing --
KENDALL FULLER: Resonates a lot. I had two guys, two best friends I went to high school with, both played football at UVA, still two of my closest friends.
It's a lot just seeing a university go through that. I know Virginia Tech went through their own incident back ni the past. Definitely a lot. You never want to see lives lost that young. My two best friends, they knew some of the guys on the team.
It makes you grateful, and it makes you think about life in itself and how it's a blessing just to be here and just kind of makes me think about just my faith in God and just understanding that every breath I take is because of him and it's definitely humbling. You just pray for those families that they just can get some type of peace out of this. And I know it's tough times for those families and that whole university. So definitely my prayers go out to them.
Q. Obviously a good pass rush is going to help the secondary. For you, in particular, what has Allen and Payne pushing up the middle the way they do, how have you seen it help them seeing them play?
KENDALL FULLER: It means a lot. You see those guys' preparation and the things that they go through week in, week out to dominate like that on Sundays. And I say I remember I'll always go to them telling them y'all you all eat what I eat. And they will come to me and they say you eat what we eat. That's the mindset that both groups have. We want to see them eat and they want to see us eat. So we love it. It always works hand in hand.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports