Seattle - 35, New England - 30
Q. How big was it for you guys as an offense to bounce right back after the early interception to go down and get that touchdown and kind of get going?
RUSSELL WILSON: Well, it was just one moment in time. We kept moving. We kept playing. We knew we had a great game plan. I think Coach Schotty did an amazing job of calling plays. The ball was spread around which we've always said we wanted to be able to do. So many guys making plays. Tyler had a great game. DK had a great an unbelievable game. That's a great corner in Gilmore. DK just keeps showing up. And then you have guys like Freddie Swain getting his first touchdown, David Moore making an unbelievable catch, and then Chris Carson.
So it was a special game because we kept battling. We knew it was going to come possibly down to the wire just because of the style of game and just all of the different things that we were going to have to face and there was a lot of great moments in there. So it's a very important, I've always said this to you guys, it's very important to be able to win games like this, to constantly win games even though it may be tight, even though it's close. It's the NFL and it's never going to be easy, so I'm proud of what we were able to do.
Q. What can you say about DK going up against Gilmore and then ultimately getting the upper hand against the reigning defensive Player of the Year?
RUSSELL WILSON: I thought DK was unbelievable. He came into the week very focused. He is such, we spent so much time together in the off-season, just quality time, the hours upon hours, isolated in a way, just spending time together and it's showing up for him and it's showing up for us as a team. So the great thing is that we got so many guys that can make plays like you saw tonight. So I think DK's work ethic, I think DK's professionalism, his focus, all the way from the Zoom meetings to us preparing one-on-one together, all the way to just who he is as a person, high character, just obviously as to his talent, as well, and it all comes together as one.
Q. Obviously DK has made this kind of laughable, but there's usually a learning curve at the receiver position and yet Freddie Swain, you just mentioned him a second ago, he's come in last week, recovered a fumble on special teams, made his first catch, and then gets his first touchdown today. What have you seen from him? It just doesn't seem like the stage is too bright for this kid as a sixth-round pick and he's been to come and be an instant contributor for you team?
RUSSELL WILSON: That's a great question. The first thing that popped up, popped up in my brain was, when you were talking about that question, was I thought about the off season. As soon as we drafted him, I mean, all the time that we spent on the Zoom calls. I spent an hour before and an hour after. He was in every single one of them dialed in and taking notes. We were on group message with the rookies and he was helping lead that conversation with DeeJay Dallas and other guys. And I think that who he is, how he played in college, he's transferred it to the game. Football is just football. He knows it. He understands it. He processes it. He does a great job. He takes it very serious on offense and defense -- offense and special teams, I should say. And then I think more importantly too is that he's got great guys in the room with him. You got guys like DK, Tyler, David Moore, and just great group of men in that room and I think that he's molding unbelievably well. He's made some special plays for us in the past two games.
Q. So one of the things David Moore told us after the game that he finds so great about you is how you always believe. No matter what, you're the one picking players up. When you start the game, though, with a pick six, how do you mentally get back in gear, put that behind you, to the point where you can also encourage the rest of your receivers?
RUSSELL WILSON: I think that's a great question. I think obviously that one play wasn't what we wanted, but there's a lot of game left. I go straight to neutral. I've always talked about it, but being neutral, not being too high, not being too low, understand that neutrality is going to allow me to be successful, allow me to be successful more times than not. I'm such a big believer in it and I think it's helped my career, my life, everything else from the greatest moments to the toughest moments and just being, to remain neutral allows me to just focus on the next play, the next moment, you know, and just being in it, you know. And I think that's been a key component of it and that's -- well, I've started a business and everything else around it. I really believe in it. And Trevor Moawad and I have spent so much time around this concept, that thought process for the past, I don't know, 10, 11 years. And I think, ultimately, too, I think belief comes from experience as well. It comes from having tough times in life. At times when you don't have much or whatever it may be and to realize that this is a game. When you're dad's on his death bed, there's an understanding that, you know what? This is a gift, and why would I not believe? Why would I think any other way? So I think that's a big component of just who I am. I think just God gave me that belief every time. And so I think for me, just continuing to try to speak life into guys, speak life into the situation, continue to talk about it. And I'm just grateful I get to do it with these, with this group of men.
Q. We heard you on the Dan Patrick Show yesterday. It's quite a way to make your point, on Sunday Night Football?
RUSSELL WILSON: No, I think that Dan asked me great question about what do I think. I think that, you know, I don't come to play this game to be second place. I think that if I'm not thinking that way, I'm crazy to, because if you want to be great you have to believe in who you are and what you have and all the things that you do. I put tons of work in this game and I want to be the best in the world, but I can't do it alone. It's all the guys that we have around me and just they have done a great job of making plays and it's really special group of men that we have on offense and defense and just I'm grateful to be able to play with such amazing guys. Like I said earlier, I think it's all part of the process and there's so many great guys. So many great quarterbacks. I mentioned obviously guys like Patrick Mahomes, I mentioned guys like Lamar and guys like Drew and guys like Tom, that I have a lot of respect for. But if I'm not believing in taking the shot, you know what I mean, then you're never going to hit it, you know what I mean? So I think that's always got to be your mindset.
Q. You talked about how you feel like you're the best you've ever been in your career at this point. I think you said something about 70 percent of your potential or whatever. Just right now, nine touchdowns through two games, just really stellar efficient play, do you just feel like you're in a zone right now? Just take me through how, just your zone. Do you feel like you're in another gear right now to start the season?
RUSSELL WILSON: Yeah, I think that, definitely in the zone. Locked in. Focused. Dialed in. My teammates are too. It's a great group of men, like I said. I've been ready to play since the last time we had our last game in Green Bay. I've just been, every day it's, my mindset, just my performance team and everything else, just everything that we put into it is just getting ready and trying to be great. I think that I have an obsession with this thought process of always trying to find more. There's always -- be on this constant quest for knowledge, be on this understanding that I want to continue to push myself in just the fundamentals, the simple things of the game all the way to the fun parts of throwing the ball in certain spots and all that stuff too. But I have a love and passion for this game. Hours and hours and hours and hours of film, hours of time and just focus in the off-season and everything else, it all adds up. Nothing happens by accident, you got to put the work in and I think that it's just the start, I haven't done anything yet, so it's just a start we got a long ways to go and we're just focused on the next opportunity.
Q. I think that's the most touchdowns in a two game stretch for you. What's working, maybe perhaps more than in the past?
RUSSELL WILSON: I think guys are just making tremendous plays. I think that Coach Schotty is doing an unbelievable job of calling plays, we're mixing the ball up in terms of who is catching it, who is touching it, in terms of the running game and everything else. I think the guys up front are doing a great job, man, they're giving me time to make throws and allowing me to try to make some of these throws and stuff like that. So I just think that it all comes down to the kind of guys you have in the room, on the field and everything else. Like I said, I think Coach Schotty's doing a great very good job of calling the plays and the QB room is great with Geno and Danny and Austin Davis and we spend a lot of time together. Guys like Dave Canales, we spend a lot of time together just working on it and just spend a lot of time trying to be great. So like I said, I think that it's just a start, and we want to continue to have a hot hand, we want to continue to deliver the ball to the right guy at the right time.
Q. We saw DK get physical and kind of mix it up with Stephon Gilmore tonight, have you seen that kind of nastiness from him before?
RUSSELL WILSON: Yeah, for sure. I think that since the moment DK got here he's always been passionate about the game always been tough as nails, always been focused on being the aggressor and owning his space as a player. Also I think also in the passing game he wants the opportunity, he wants to be great, he wants to be the best in the world at what he does. I think that we got some of the top receivers in the game with Tyler and DK and honestly they need more respect in terms of just what they have been able to do consistently and over and over again. DK's been unbelievable in what's been able to do as a rookie coming in last year and then obviously what he's been able do this year so far. And then guys like Tyler Lockett for the past I don't know however him years we have played together, it feels like forever, but he's been unstoppable. So just like I said though, to be honest with you, obviously they're super talented, but it's the men they are, it's who they are and it's the work that they put in. It's the attention to detail and it's their faith in it all. So it's been a pretty cool process to have such great receivers that I get to be around.
Q. What's it like to, what's the feeling like when you put a ball up there for DK Metcalf in full stride against one of the great defenders in our game and it falls perfectly where you want it and he goes on and scores and then do you it again in a little corner of the end zone by the pylon, to a guy who was a 7th round pick. How hard have you worked to make throws like that and what's the feeling when it actually just converts?
RUSSELL WILSON: I think that's a great question. People talk about 10,000 hours to be great, I feel like I spent 30,000 hours, I mean, just on those type of plays. And you spend so much time in the off-season and just, like I said, the obsession with doing it over and over and over and over again and just working at it and working at it and perfecting it. If it's not perfect let's do it again. Let's get that rep again, let's do this right, let's do this. And those guys have completely bought into the thought process of it all, they have completely bought into the work ethic of it all, they are who they are in terms of men as I said earlier. And I think ultimately God's given me a gift and just I want to continue to use it and just give guys a chance to make a play and they keep making plays and it's a lot of fun. I always think back to baseball, people always ask me what's a greater feeling hitting a home run or throwing a touchdown. I've thrown a lot more touchdowns in my professional career than home runs, but both feelings are amazing and I think -- I just love winning. I really, I love winning. I love the process of winning, I love the process of the week, I love that more than the end result even. So that's where I think it all comes from.
Q. Last possession you guys were third and one, you went deep to Lockett, overthrew him. Take us through that play. Pete said that there were a couple of options you had on that that went away and the Pats took the defense away. Can you explain how that play went?
RUSSELL WILSON: We almost had it, it was so close. We have hit that many a time before in the past. So we just barely missed that one. That would have been a pretty special play too, Tyler made so many plays all day and so I tried to give him a chance. So they went cover zero, we almost had it and that was basically it. They made a good play and so we took our chance and we almost had it.
Q. With the incredible touchdown passes that you had and then the game ending on the one-yard line, what was missed with no fans in the stands tonight?
RUSSELL WILSON: Not having any fans is tough here, just you miss the fun of it all, you miss -- this game is meant to be played in front of thousands and thousands of people, it's so special. But at the same time no matter where you play you got to love it just as much and the feelings and the emotions and everything else just it all comes out of you just playing the game. So I think that today with Sunday Night Football we're so used to having so many people out there and fans going crazy and everything else. And we obviously miss our 12s and how much they mean to us -- they always travel so well too -- obviously at home games they're always the best in the world. So just praying for healing, praying for a way to see our fans again, just because that's the fun part of this game too as well. And I know it's fun for entertainment and everything else, but just praying for the world to get better and make that happen fast. But I think it's just been, it was a great game today, like you said. I think as we talked about, just earlier, that last play, our defense making that stop was an unbelievable stop in a key moment. We needed that, that's championship caliber football when you have to make a stop and sure enough we did.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports