Q. You guys as a defense ended up leading the league in fewest points allowed. What does that mean to you guys?
JULIAN LOVE: That's cool. Thank goodness for Riley Leonard, Notre Dame man. Yeah, that was cool. That's a cool thing to accomplish, and it's something that we -- it's not something we like strive for. We just try to play football. To be number one is pretty cool.
Q. (Indiscernible.)
JULIAN LOVE: No, I didn't. I didn't. I didn't play with him. Like a hashtag, or not hashtag. He is like a slash Domer; he was at Duke before that. Yeah, we had crossed paths.
Q. How different is this week for you guys to throttle it down yet keep it someone intense for next week?
JULIAN LOVE: Definitely different. You know, today everybody is trying to get after it, get into that mindset a little bit, just working good on good, ones versus ones, twos versus twos.
I don't know. I just think we know there are things to accomplish, and so I think everybody came in pretty loose and focused today. It was a good practice overall.
Q. (No microphone.) How is that playing out right now?
JULIAN LOVE: I mean, I would hope you could see it on the feel for real. I mean, we've talked about it a ton. We're just a close group when you look especially on the defensive side of the ball. That's just my point of view.
Like you just see it's like nameless people out there just all playing kind of for the common good. It's easy to try to implement, it's easy to try to talk about it, but to really live that way, it's pretty cool.
And it takes a lot of selfless leaders and thankfully we have a lot in our room.
Q. You guys seem to have a lot of players that know the play is coming ahead of time. Demarcus on run plays, EJ, you, Devin, all those guys. How much information sharing goes on ahead of games and during games?
JULIAN LOVE: A ton. It's funny, my wife two days ago, three days ago, she was talking about she was watching the game and somebody on the offensive side of the ball, another spouse asked her, hey, how do you know if they're in man or zone?
My wife asked me, she's like, I actually never know that. I never knew what to look for. Can you explain that? I was explaining kind of if we see this, we call this, this, and this. She was like, you say all of those things before the ball snaps? I was like, yeah. She was like, wow. I had no idea.
That is kind of how it is. Everyone has their own nugget of information they're just trying to share with each other. D-Law, he has his key and he's trying to let everybody know as well as other guys on D-line. EJ has communication, and DBs are all communicating on multiple levels.
So everyone has their own thing. If you know something, you can share some knowledge across. If you know your one thing, then everyone knows it.
Q. In that vein, is there something to be said that teams will try to hurry up to shorten the amount of time or re-snap if you guys (regarding communication.)
JULIAN LOVE: Yeah, for sure. I think that's been one of the ways people try to combat our style of defense, is tempo, getting on the line, trying not to let us get in the perfect play.
That's just been a tool, but we've gotten really good at handling tempo, especially this year. Just signals, communication, alerting lettering things pre-snap, pre-huddle break in there, and so there is a lot of layers to it for sure.
Q. How often are you actually changing things up as opposed to, say, just being on the lookout for this, changing up coverage?
JULIAN LOVE: Yeah, depends on the game plan. Like the past say month of the season, a good amount. We have certain keys, certain tells, certain things that I was like, okay, we see this, we're doing this. It could change drastically.
And off that you're making several checks off the new thing that you're in. So it is a lot. Leading up to the games our Wednesdays, Thursdays are like everyone is like in a brain kind of fog of just trying to get it right, trying to sharpen it up.
By Friday we're rolling, and by Saturday we're super clean on it. But it takes like -- it's a big effort on everybody.
Q. Can you do that with hand signals or is there a risk that offenses can pick up on that?
JULIAN LOVE: Yeah, it's hand signals but it's also pre-snap alert. We get the call in, say, okay, somebody is firing off what we can possibly be doing, the situation, what we can get.
I think that's all Mike and the coaching staff. It's not just like, all right, this week we have this, this, and this up. Behind every install he tells why we have it up and what we're looking for. It's married up to we hear a call we say, this is what Mike is expecting. That's the hugest -- hugest -- biggest jump we made this year from last year. We're not just getting a call and playing ball. We understand why Mike is calling it.
He's letting us in on all that information. Night before the game we have a signal calling meeting. It started off maybe five guys in there, the main kind of quarterbacks of the defense, and now he's like 20 guys, 20, 25 just sharing the wealth, knowledge.
Q. How much of the success you have on defense do you attribute to just athletic ability, being great football players, and how much do you attribute to that kind of preparation?
JULIAN LOVE: Football IQ is a big part of it, but talent is also 80% of it. You know, I've been on teams that have been talented and couldn't get it right. Were missing that last 20%.
I mean, you just look at the guys we have, and everybody outside this room probably not the biggest names in the league, but when you really watch film and watch kind of the ball, we have some of the best players in the league on our defense, on our team.
So talent is -- you know, we're close, we're connected, we play, we're smart guys. Like guys are just dogs and that's what it is.
Q. Understanding what your coach is calling, how much does that help you in home games?
JULIAN LOVE: Yeah.
Q. The Rams game where it was really loud.
JULIAN LOVE: Yeah, it's levelled up for sure. I think we know that our home crowd is a weapon, but on defense we have to like -- yeah, defense it affects our communication being so loud. So we fine tune it. I'm sure you guys are out there at practice when they have all seven team speakers blasting. Not a fan of that.
But we just work all week. We know that that's just an advantage, but we have to make it an advantage. It's not something you can wake up and just do. It requires an extra effort defensively to be locked in.
Q. And after the Rams game, they were talking about some of the communication issues. Was that part of it, the crowd noise?
JULIAN LOVE: No. I think just we need to be sharper on details. Have a lot of moving parts, moving pieces. The Rams are presenting some things that now looking back on we just needed to be cleaner on.
Q. Leo mentioned after the game that you guys shared a moment. Do you think maybe -- there is probably young guys. Do you think guys like you and Leo appreciate this even more?
JULIAN LOVE: Yes, 100%. I mean, it was like week four where -- not even close, like training camp where I'm telling -- me and him are talking to a young Nick. I'm like, we understand you're a rookie but there is urgency here. A lot of guys, I guess myself included, it's like you go years in a career just trying to grind to make a playoff spot.
Now we got a shot to do something special. You're going to be a part of it, but we need you to be a part of it this year. There is no weaning process. And so that's just what it is.
We embraced and just said, man, thank goodness we got here. John walked by and he just shouts out, you're welcome, guys. And so it's -- I know me and him, obviously we're close and it's special to be in this moment.
Q. For you guys to play the way you do in nickel as much as you are, two high safety as much as you are, how good does the line have to be? What's your view from the back end seeing what Leo and those guys up front are doing to allow you guys to do that?
JULIAN LOVE: I mean, we got killers on our defensive front. This past game is a perfect example. I'm watching it all unfold and nothing is even coming close to my -- like especially in the run game -- getting close to where I am on defense. I think just with the front is -- and it's not just our stars. It's the depth we have. Guys are coming in and playing a big role.
Off that, Drake and EJ are playing at a really, really high level. So then you see 'Spoon and Nick also on the second level making plays.
So, yeah, our front is pretty special. To do that out of sub is something super unique.
Q. And to not have a 100-yard rusher in 26 games.
JULIAN LOVE: Yeah, that is pretty cool.
Q. What does that speak spook to for you guys?
JULIAN LOVE: That's pretty cool. Again, we are not like, all right, we got to hold them to 100. It's cool because we played a lot of good backs this year and we're going to play more down the stretch.
You know, it's just a play might break, something might happen, stuff might hit the fan. It's kind of the next-play focus. All right, they got to earn it. This past game was a prime example. Like they might hit a play or two but they're still going to have to earn everything they get.
Yeah, that's what it is.
Q. You got experience as a slot, a corner at times. When you see a guy like Nick and Devin at totally different ends of the physical spectrum playing that position, what does that look like for you watching that happen?
JULIAN LOVE: It's fun. You're around the ball, you can be involved in so many things when you're a slot, but it's daunting. It's a lot. It's a lot of space. It's a lot of communication on different levels. You're working with pretty much every area of the defense and you're asked, especially in this defense, to do a lot.
I think the biggest thing for Nick, Nick's success, has been seeing 'Spoon go to work each day. 'Spoon is loud. 'Spoon is himself unapologetically, but he plays like no -- his motor is crazy.
So to see that out of a guy that you look up to, I know it's made Nick's game develop. He has a talent. He is special. But the work has come from I think seeing 'Spoon.
Q. You guys played the Ravens in 2023 when Mike was the coordinator there.
JULIAN LOVE: Yeah.
Q. I know you heard about Lamar and the offense in that game, but did that defensive performance leave an impression on you?
JULIAN LOVE: Yeah. We got whooped. We were just talking about that. I think that was Leo's first game over -- yeah, we were, whatever, maybe something one, maybe lost a game or two at that point.
I'm like, Leo, we have something going. I'm so excited for you get here. We are winning. We get the breaks we off of (?) and I'm like, oh, man, I'm sorry.
But, yeah, they obviously had a good game plan. Seeing when we learned Mike's scheme, seeing some of those clips from that game, like the other view, his defense, how like the common install was against the Seahawks' old offense back then was definitely -- you know, it was eye opening. We were excited. We been excited just to keep levelling up the defense.
Q. You guys haven't allowed a lot of plays over 20 yards the last two games. How much pride is it, especially as a safety, but just as a defense the way you guys are controlling...
JULIAN LOVE: Yeah, that's big time. It's keeping things in front of us and also tackling check downs. I mean, our tackling has been really at a high level these past few weeks.
And, yeah, it's just like getting to the ball. Like you just want to be like hungry dogs. Just getting to the ball wherever it's at and having your guys' backs, so then you can shoot and play confidently.
Again, we just limit explosives. That's cool. That's a cool stat, but -- not but, and it's a part of the game, limit explosive.
Q. Why do you think your tackling has been as good as it has?
JULIAN LOVE: Yeah, I think we just work on it every day. Like every day we're working on it, every coach, multiple levels, and guys are staying after practice to work on it. Because we can tackle efficiently. That's part of it. If we take away the deep part and it's all check downs we're at our best when we are flying to the check downs and tackling them. So we just work on it.
Fastscripts by ASAP Sports...
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports