Q. This might be a little bit of a trick question, but you've had the same starting offensive line combination for the last two games, so is there a quantifiable measure of continuity?
ABE LUCAS: Geez, those are some big words. I would say yes, if I'm understanding your question correctly. I mean, when you can get consistency, even a little bit rolling, I think it just -- you learn about steps, the guys next to you, his footwork, how you fit into that, how he fits into your playing style. So it's good to have consistency going all around.
Q. You mentioned the guy next to you. What has Sataoa showed you the last couple games playing there?
ABE LUCAS: That he's really stepped up. We were all in his position once. I remember my rookie year, and he just keeps improving, has a good attitude about it. Just really a silent worker, puts his head down and goes to work, so just happy to be playing next to him.
Q. How have you felt the last four games getting back?
ABE LUCAS: As far as physically or mentally?
Q. Everything.
ABE LUCAS: My legs hurt. Mentally I'm a little tired. Who isn't. But I'm happy to be back. I'm grateful to be back playing. I'm here to play. I'm here to win. So feeling good about it.
Q. You spent a lot of time with trainers, rehabbing for a period of time. Talk about what it meant for you to have people working with you like that day in, day out and what they helped to you do to get back to where you are now.
ABE LUCAS: I mean, there was a lot of different things, and that stuff still goes on. Obviously you're never really 100 percent when you play. I appreciate them and the time they took with me. It was very long, very arduous, very painful at times, but all necessary. I really wasn't concerned about it because I kind of knew the plan coming into it. I knew it was going to be a longer thing, and I attacked it as best I could.
Q. When it comes to Zach Charbonnet and his style of running, not necessarily comparing it to Ken Walker, but what do you like about the way Zach either sees the game or runs?
ABE LUCAS: I think with Ken and Zach both, they both kind of have different styles of rushing. I would say Ken is a little bit more finesse in my eyes, and I love the way both of them compete. Zach is a hard-nosed kind of thudder, hitter. He loves contact. That's not to say that Ken doesn't love contact or Zach can't be elusive, but when you have two running backs that are that good, interchanging in and out, and then we've got guys like Kenny, as well, in the mix, it's tough to beat. It's tough to stop.
Q. What have you gotten to know about Scott Huff in the time he's been coaching you?
ABE LUCAS: What have I gotten to learn about him?
Q. Yeah, as you've gotten to know him.
ABE LUCAS: Well, he coached at UW; that sucks. He actually recruited me back in the day when he was at Boise. I like Coach Huff. It's a little bit too early, I think, to tell -- I don't think he's given up all the tricks of the trade just yet, but then again, it's the first year, so going into next year and the year after that and the year after that, hopefully we'll see just continued growth with him.
Q. This offensive line to come out of a game with a season high rushing yards and no sacks, how rewarding is that kind of performance for the five of you?
ABE LUCAS: I mean, it's great. It's kind of what we expect. I don't get too excited, I don't think. I just try to -- it's a game to game thing. Every front is different. Every team is different. Different players, different athletes. It's not just as simple as hey, just go run the ball a bunch and get a bunch of yards. There's different techniques and stuff you have to employ, and what it all comes together, it comes together. It's great.
Q. You see your defense every day in practice. What makes them so unique and so special?
ABE LUCAS: I think Coach Macdonald has -- he's obviously a defensive guy, but he's really brought the defense together and schemed up things based on their individual strengths, and it just -- things take a little while to get going sometimes, but they started firing on all cylinders and they have the past few weeks, and they're just going to continue to get better.
You've got guys like Jarran Reed and Leonard in the middle and then you've got Boye, D-Hall, Dre'mont off the edge and then you've got the secondary. Things are really looking up for that defense, and they're just going to continue to go upward.
Q. Curtis Jones said that you guys' playoff mode is sort of like the death zone, but fans sort of like death zone for the defense. Do you like that moniker for them?
ABE LUCAS: Yeah, that's fine. If that's what they want to call it, that's fine. I've got to go against them anyway, so...
Q. In an era where a lot of younger players are choosing to move over to the defensive side as opposed to being offensive linemen, I'm curious, why did you choose offensive line? Why did you stick with it?
ABE LUCAS: I don't know if I actually chose it. I just realized that defensive end probably wasn't going to work out for me because of my size, and then I had a wide frame and I put on a bunch of weight. There's not too many plus 300-pound defensive ends at all in the NFL or in college for that matter.
I don't know, it's something that just kind of finds you, I guess, in my case, and it's fine. I like my position. It was my last year of high school, kind of like okay, probably not going to be a defensive player, probably going to be an offensive lineman, so better get used to it.
Q. Are there tackles or right tackles or tackles in general that you watch or that you look to and you kind of admire their games?
ABE LUCAS: Yeah, yeah, there's a few. I know Brian O'Neill a little bit for the Vikings. He's a great tackle. I think Penei Sewell is probably upwards to the best, him and Lane Johnson from the Eagles. I really respect all their games. It's not just right tackles, I watch left tackles, too. I know Garrett Bolles for the Broncos. He's a beast. There's a lot of guys. Then I watch the guys on our team. I pick up stuff from Charles and Jason Peters and such.
Q. What are the things that you look at when you look at a tackle and you respect their game?
ABE LUCAS: Just efficiency, technique, what they do, how they do it, their attitude, hand placement, how they fit in their scheme. You can pick up different little tools from everybody. That's kind of the beauty of it is you don't have to stick to one sort of thing. You can just continue adding tools to your toolbox.
Q. D.K. Metcalf says he blocks like an offensive lineman. How would you rate his tenacity and his ability to block?
ABE LUCAS: I think D.K. does a great job blocking. I like his mentality. When he gets going, it's pretty hard to stop him. He's ferocious. He's not a guy that takes any crap from anybody, and you like that. I think he'd be a good offensive lineman if he was to play O-line.
Q. He'd have to put on a few pounds.
ABE LUCAS: Yeah, yeah. I kind of wish I looked like him, but...
Q. Speaking of D.K., he said yesterday that Mike Macdonald's defensive mind helps him understand offenses, cornerbacks in his position a little bit better. Would you say that's the same thing? I understand defenses I meant to say, but would you say that's the same for you from the coach?
ABE LUCAS: Like is that how I see Mike's mind working?
Q. Yeah, how I looks at it.
ABE LUCAS: I don't know what goes on in his mind. He's hard to read. He's a savant, like, genius. The way he kind of talks, he's a football guy for sure, and it makes -- I think it makes it easier on that defense, but also as an offensive player, just listening to him talk schemes and stuff and just rattle it off and just be like so on point and precise, it's easier for us, I think, as offensive players to be like, this guy knows what he's talking about and he's going to dial up the best plan for us. He obviously respects the offensive game. It makes it that much easier to follow. So I would agree.
Q. You guys have been running a lot of counters. You pull in on a lot of those plays. Talk about what that is like for you as a right tackle. Do you like blocking and moving, and what does that mean physically for the defense to have to see you kind of --
ABE LUCAS: I think you'd have to ask defensive players what it would mean for them to see me coming around. Some probably wouldn't care. Some maybe are freaked out. I don't know.
I mean, it's just call it, haul it, execution type of thing. If they call more, great. If they call other plays, fine. I'm not really -- do I get to pull? Yeah, it's nice to go, if I can crack some people, that's great, but if not there's other plays I can crack people on, too, so I'm not really worried about it.
DraftScripts by ASAP Sports
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports