Q. I think last year you told us you thought you were in trouble and you got called into Pete's office to find out you were a Pro Bowler.
DEVON WITHERSPOON: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Q. How did you find out this time?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: Um, I'm trying to see. I think Mike told me yesterday. But I kind of already knew, though, from somebody else, but I ain't going to reveal that information (laughter).
Q. What does it mean to you to get this two years in a row?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: I mean, it's special, you know. When the game recognizes who you are, you take that achievement that you got and it fools good.
Q. Where did your game make the biggest jump last year to this year?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: I don't know, I have to go back and re-watch the films to study myself, but I think it made a jump as far as bringing the team, the defense together and us playing as one, so we all played better together, so I think that's my biggest jump from last year.
Q. You talked about all year about how you don't chase stats, you're not looking at that, it's about winning and you still make the Pro Bowl. What do you think -- why do you think that happened?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: Because of my teammates, man, like I said. We play better when we're all out there on the same accord and when we go out there to dominate people, so my teammates make this come alive, man. It's not just me, so.
Q. You told us in training camp a big goal this season was availability. You missed a few games last year. On Sunday you're going to play your 17th game. What does that mean to you to get the whole season?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: That means a lot. I got through the whole season. I played well. So, like I said, that's one thing I wanted to achieve this year and I did, so congrats to myself for that, so I'll just continue to do it.
Q. How surprised are you that Leonard didn't make it?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: Say that again.
Q. How surprised are you that Leonard Williams didn't make it?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: Oh, yeah, that's crazy. I ain't gonna lie. They got to review that or something, bro. Like, they trippin'. I ain't gonna lie. They trippin'.
Q. You have gone against Tyler Lockett for two years in practice. We were just talking to him. What have you learned from him just practicing, being around him in the locker room, just to leader he is?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: My goal that I did this year, availability. He helped me learn how to take care of my body. Sometimes you got to take the best decisions for you out there on the field. Like I said, he helped me preserve my body, learned it from him, and the things that he -- not just on the field, off the field as well. He taught me a lot, learning from Tyler Lockett, that's special for real.
Q. The defensive stats really have improved a lot the last couple months. I guess what do you think the biggest reasons why that kind of happened?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: I kind of said this a couple games ago. I don't remember when I said, Mike locked in. He locked in and I think that's what did it, man. His game plan that he was laying out for us and we just went out there, executed and brought it to life. I think it speaks highly of what he knows how to do and how he gets his players involved in his scheme, so shout out to coach.
Q. You're the first Seahawk to play Pro Bowl your first two seasons since Russell Wilson did it and only four other Seahawks have done it. Obviously you're at the beginning of your career, but do you think about where you fit in in the history of this franchise and what's happened in the past?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: No, not yesterday. I don't think I have done enough to think about that yet so I don't really think about it.
Q. Can you appreciate the fact that it seems like with Pro Bowl voting a lot of times peel just look at who is leading the certain categories of stats in whatever and then they make their vote based on that. Can you appreciate that voters kind of looked beyond just the fact that you don't have any interceptions, one sack and still voted you in?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: Yeah, I do, and I think -- I feel like my game shows that when you watch the film and that the other coaches and players out there, they know that so shout out to them for being real considerate of me, man, like I said, I don't have the stats for real but that's a testament to show how I play, so.
Q. How has your relationship with Mike Macdonald changed over the season?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: Like I said, we grew. We got to know each other better and better and now it's like our relationship is tight now. We just joke around with each other more because I understand what he's trying to do and how he's trying to do it and then it's easy for me to play my part in that, so our relationship is great.
Q. What do you think the defense has not gotten as many takeaways this year considering how well you guys played in so many other parts of the game?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: I feel like we missed a lot of opportunities. A lot of that is on the players. Like I said, we have a lot dropped picks, missed fumble recoveries. We didn't take shots at the ball enough this year and stuff like that, but I think that's more so on us than it is anything else, so.
Q. You mentioned that relationship with Coach growing over the year. How much confidence does that give you in what this team can be capable of next year?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: Oh, it gives me a lot of confidence. Like I said, we already know what he's trying to do now, especially that we're a year in. It's like we got developed into the defense that he's running and so I think our confidence going into next year is going to be through roof, man, and I can't way to see what that's going to look like.
Q. When you know what he's trying to achieve, does that make y'all play faster, line up, pre-snap and play faster?
DEVON WITHERSPOON: Yeah, because you already know what's going on, situational football, where we are on the field, stuff like that. Like, okay, you're going to call this play in this area of the field. We already know ahead of time so by the time we get out there, all right, we know the adjustments we're going to make if they motion or if not. We're already ahead of the game, so.
MODERATOR: Anything else? Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports