Seahawks, 40 - Jets, 3
Q. Just after the offense had a few struggles the last couple weeks, how good does it feel to get back out and function at this level?
RUSSELL WILSON: I thought we were really on top of it. Out tempo was great. We were in and out of the huddle. We were making plays. Guys were getting -- great job catching the football. DK had a great game. Swain made his touchdown. That was awesome. He's been working extremely hard. D-Mo scoring his touchdown. Dissly getting back in the end zone. Obviously Chris Carson had an unbelievable day, and Carlos was running hard, too.
It's just a great thing, a collective effort on offense. We all were doing our part. Also too as well the offensive line did a tremendous job of trying to slow those guys down. Their rush defense is really good, and also in our pass game they tried to do a lot of different covers, looks, different things, and we were all over it.
Q. You mentioned last week kind of when the offense and defense get going he at the same time you can be dangerous. Is that what this team can look like?
RUSSELL WILSON: Yeah, felt like -- I go back to 2012, that moment where we had some -- where the offense and defense were really married up together. I think we went to Buffalo and then we came back home maybe against Arizona or something like that.
We just felt like we were all together, and there were so many other plays that we could've had we felt like on both sides. We stayed the course, we were ready, we were prepared, we took on the challenge, kept our heads down and just stayed focused on what we needed to do and execution, and was it a great day today.
Q. The receivers gave DK an all-expense trip for his birthday I guess. Were you in on that, too?
RUSSELL WILSON: No, it's all the receivers. That was all the receivers. I've taken DK to Cabo, Mexico. I'll give him another trip maybe one other day soon. That was all receivers.
Q. So what was it like just watching for the final quarter? Been a long time.
RUSSELL WILSON: Yeah, it was kind of crazy, because Austin, quarterback Coach Austin came up to me and said, We're going to let Geno go in, and then Coach Carroll came up as soon as that was happening, too.
It was, I don't know, probably three minutes to go in the third, maybe even more. I don't know. Still third quarter. So definitely rare. Geno deserves it. He's worked extremely hard. He's been a great friend, a great quarterback, and just great to have in the room. So much knowledge of the game and he's just -- I love him to death.
Like I said, he's a great friend. He works so hard every day. He definitely deserves to get in there and make plays for us, and he did a really good job when he was in there.
Q. Two things. Did Brian let you call any plays in the fourth quarter like the pre-season in the past? And then it seemed like it was a more concerted effort with some shorter or quicker throws earlier in the game. How much of the game plan was that today?
RUSSELL WILSON: You know, to the play calling thing, I didn't call any plays in the fourth. Schotty was calling those. He was on it all day. He had called a great game, coach Schotty did. He's tremendous on his stuff and he was really ready for this week and really to roll. Had a great week of prep.
In terms our game plan, we knew that obviously with maybe new defensive coordinator everything else we knew they were gone do a lot of different things probably and we weren't really sure what they were going to stick to. Sure enough, they did everything. They blitzed, they rolled coverages, they played two, they played three, they played 33 Tampa Cloud, all these different coverages, man to man, pressured, and brought safety.
So they did a lot of different things, which we're used to seeing and seeing teams that try to challenge coverages and stuff like that, so we were on top of it. I think we mixed up our game plan in terms of running and passing and throwing it quick and deep and throwing it in between.
We hit some really good things. I think Tyler had some key third down conversions. That was huge. We did a really good on third down.
To be able to do -- I think we were 5 for 7 or something like that on third down early on. I think that was key, just to keep getting those first downs.
And then any time we get in the red zone, let's light it up and run it, throw it, let's score touchdowns. One of the things I always tell the guys, touchdowns only. Make sure we're scoring touchdowns, and that was really key for us today.
Q. Was there any sort of mindset shift in this game, whether it's tempo, trying to pour it on, or was it strictly an execution thing?
RUSSELL WILSON: Mind shift from what? What do you mean?
Q. Just in terms of mindset of trying to go more tempo, get to the line, move, keep things going, and then just keeping the foot on the gas so to speak?
RUSSELL WILSON: Yeah, I think there was -- what we wanted to do was stay on the gas. We wanted to keep the tempo in and out of the huddle. If you noticed I was going a little bit quicker and making sure we were getting all the plays. I was at the line of scrimmage calling plays.
I think that always helps us. I think we had an amazing two-minute drive, be too, right down the field. Those moments are really good for as a well. Really challenges the defense, especially when they want to be multiple and do all these different things. Really makes it difficult for them as well, more so than anything else.
We've got such great receivers and tight ends and running backs that it really makes it difficult for them. So I think the tempo thing was a concerted effort. Also too, as well, for us just to execute and do things right and be on it and be on it, make an all the right calls, everybody just be on time and on the money and just make our plays, and we did that for pretty much the whole night.
Q. You were maybe under a little more scrutiny this week after last week. Did you feel that and feel like you had to respond to that? How did you feel about your performance overall?
RUSSELL WILSON: I don't really worry about the scrutiny. I think more than anything else it's part of the job, right? When you want to be the best in the world, if you don't have your best day, people are going to say you're not the best in the world that day.
It's part of the process. You just keep believing. You keep just striving for greatness, making the next shot, next moment, next game, next win.
Stay simple minded in that sense. I don't get too high, get too low. I told you guys all the time I remain neutral. There will be a lot more great days than tough days. When we do have a tough day, there is a better day ahead.
I think that's my whole thing around the neutral mindset part of it for me. I don't waver. I know who I am, what kind of player I am, and the consistency that I bring, how much work and how many hours of film I spend on it.
I know how many times I get up early in the morning every day and all I do is think about the game and how we process. And so this is what I love to do. If anybody is a critic of anything, it's me more than anything else.
I always want to be the best. You want make every play, every throw, every moment. It's not going to always happen, but I'm going to move on to the next one.
I think that's one of the things that I definitely do really good job of, is I'm not going to waver. I'm always going to move on to the next moment, next situation, next game, win or lose. And we've won a lot, so definitely know how to do that.
I don't like losing, that's for sure. I hate losing. But it's part of the process sometimes, and I think it continues to build you up. So I think the big thing for us is -- I'm not trying to get all biblical on you guys, but I was reading a scripture this morning, and Jesus says, Don't be afraid; just believe.
To me it's like one of those things that you can't be afraid trying to be great in life. If you ever want to be successful, whatever you want to do, there will be some tough moments along the way, some things.
But just believe. So that's just kind of been my mentality. I'm grateful that God has given me an opportunity to do it.
Q. The four touchdowns today you pass your own record for most in franchise history. What does that mean to you, if anything? And then on top of that, much how much can a game like this kind of re-springboard the offense from a confidence standpoint to get you guys back rolling again?
RUSSELL WILSON: I think our offense is feeling great about what we're doing. We had a tough game last week obviously. We felt like we were getting in the groove. We played Arizona. We won against them. Played really well.
Went to the Eagles. We felt like we had some more touchdowns in there. We had probably three more touchdowns in that game, so that would have really catapulted us. And then obviously we had the tough one last week.
But like I said, we can't get too high, too low. Obviously to be able to throw four touchdown passes and for us to run one, too, with Chris, that was huge for us, and just keep that momentum going.
We're excited about where we are and where we're headed. We got a tough game this upcoming week obviously with the Redskins and all that, so it'll be a great matchup. I've got a lot of respect for them and I know Coach Ron Rivera is as good as it gets at the game.
So we know it'll be a battle. We're going enjoy this tonight, celebrate it, and we're going to just be with our families and stuff like that, but I think it's a great time just to stay focused on the mission. The mission is to win it all. There is no easy trip. No easy game. No easy moment. Every game is a championship game.
We'll be prepared, ready, and we'll keep going.
Q. Your longest completion was 20 yards, but you killed it on the intermediate routes. How much of that was design?
RUSSELL WILSON: I think they were playing for some of the deep routes. They were trying to cover all the deep stuff. So we just hit everything intermediate and stuff like that, and that's what we can do. We can do it all. We can hit the short stuff, we can hit the intermediate game, the long game. We almost had that long one down the sideline with D-Mo. He's going to catch that next time, and we know that.
So those are great things for us. I think we were so good in the running game and so good more so in the red zone than anything else with the football. I think that was really huge for us today, so exciting night for sure.
Q. What was most assuring about today for all that you guys accomplished coming off last week? What do you take going forward.
RUSSELL WILSON: I think the best thing we can take is our mindset, being neutral and not being too high, too low. The second thing is I would say just believe. We know who we were, what we're capable of being. We know what we can do. We're getting better.
Sometimes it doesn't always feel like that along the way. I think back to all the years we've played here. I've been here for a long time, and there are some moments in there that sometimes you're like, Dang, how did we lose that game, that moment?
But it catapults you the next moment and gets you ready for the next thing, and so I think for us, the best thing we can do is stay high in our energy. It's tough. We don't have the fans. We don't get to feel them as much as normal. We don't get to see people in the street as much when we drive around the city or whatever it may be.
As athletes we feed off that too a little bit. So it's keeping everybody staying focused on the mission, staying healthy, and then also preparing to be the best in the world.
There is a lot of great teams and things that we're trying to do and it's not an easy mission. I think the things we can take is we're always responsive. Always responsive along the journey, and I think that's because of our mindset.
Q. You touched on it, but what was working so well for the run game today?
RUSSELL WILSON: I think that we were hitting the downhill runs. We were able to get first downs. Our running backs were physical. Offensive line did a great job. All five guys up front did a great job keeping positive runs going.
Key is not having any negative runs along the way, right? You don't want to have minus two, minus three, or minus one yard runs. We kept getting three, four, and that's a key part in the running game. It really helps us out, so I think that was a key part along the way.
Q. You guys obviously got win No. 9 today. With that victory you're now the first quarterback in history to get a winning -- to have a winning record in each of your first nine seasons. What does it mean to you accomplishing that, like just that reputation you've established?
RUSSELL WILSON: I think it means everything. I think the whole purpose of why we play, why I wake up and play this game is to win, get up and help our team win. I think that super important. I think that's the No. 1 important record. That and Super Bowls. We want to win Super Bowls, too.
So I think I'm grateful. Obviously having great teammates along the way, I think putting the work in. You know, I love this game. I spend so many hours. If people only knew how many hours I spend on it. It's fascinating. How many hours I spend on just taking care of my body so I'm available every game and prepare with my performance team or how much film I got to watch and how many things you got to do.
It doesn't just happen. Nothing happens by accident. So the mentality you got to bring every day, in the off-season, on the field, when it is going your way, when it's not going your way, it's critical. It's critical to success. I think for me, remaining neutral, remaining believing in who am and what I can do, and being available. That's a key part of it. To be able to play every game is a really important thing. You don't take that for granted.
I thank God every day. At the end of the day for me, I thank God that he's given me this opportunity to play this game, the game I love in a great city with amazing fans and great teammates. It's a blessing for sure. So I feel like it's just the beginning.
So got to keep going.
Q. Thank you.
RUSSELL WILSON: Thank you, guys. Go, Hawks.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports