SAM DARNOLD: You guys can just go ahead.
Q. How you feeling, Sam?
SAM DARNOLD: Feeling really good. Feeling really good this whole week. Feel like the process is going right along where it should be. Feel really good for Sunday.
Q. How helpful is it to have a process, right, to have it so late in the week? (No microphone.)
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, I think just, again, like I said earlier this week, but just having a really good rehab process, you know, the guys in the training room do a really good job with everybody, myself included.
Yeah, we're just taking it day by day and making sure I do all the things I need to do to get ready for Sunday.
Q. How much was today closer to normal, at least for you?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, felt really good out there. Leave it at that.
Q. What does Elijah Arroyo bring to the offense?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, Elijah has been great. Last couple weeks he's been stepping up a ton on the scout team. To have him back feeling really good, it's going to be fun to see him rolling on game day.
Q. What about George?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, no, George is -- he's prepared. He's been preparing for this moment the whole season. He stepped up in a big way for us early on and even in the preseason made a lot of really good plays.
So we have a ton of confidence in George not only with his ability to go out there and make plays, but how smart he is and how he can handle everything in the system.
Q. With those two coming back, what's it take to reset the chemistry with them, getting back on the field with them having not seen them in six weeks or whatever it's been? What's that process like and how long does it take to kind of like restart it again?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, this late in the season I think it's a lot easier to do than if we were -- they were to come back midseason. Then they got to get their legs back and all those things. It's a lot easier this late in the season.
Q. With Zach out now, do you spend any extra time with some of the backs on communication and some of the two-minute drill stuff as well?
SAM DARNOLD: For sure. I think the communication is at an all-time high. You know, Charbs is really good and smart with protections and all those things, so just getting everyone glued into what we need to do and how we communicate up front and going from there.
Q. You talk about keeping the process is the same every week. Was there a time -- do you have any experience when you didn't do that or you kind of learned like I've got treat every game the same and not make anything bigger than it is?
SAM DARNOLD: I think, yeah, just going through different experiences you learn from everything. Whether you have a good game, bad game, you just learn. You continue to learn as you go throughout not only in football, but in life as well.
So we'll just continue to stack these experiences and go from there.
Q. Is there something that you guys have been able to tap into with Cooper Kupp, him having been through this very thing a couple times?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, for sure. I think having a guy like Coop being as experienced as he is in the playoffs definitely helps. His leadership, as I always talk about, is crucial for our team.
Q. (No microphone.)
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, should be pretty similar.
Q. How have you seen the team show up this week for this opportunity and what leadership have you embraced -- probably the same -- how has that shown up this week?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, I think it's no different. I think that's kind of the theme of this week. Obviously it's a big game. We understand the implications.
But we have our same process and we do everything the same as we have been throughout the entire season.
Q. What do you think the atmosphere will be like Sunday?
SAM DARNOLD: It's going to be incredible. I don't know how you top last week, but I'm sure the 12s will. They always bring it for us so we're excited for them.
Q. Being the home offense do you think you can appreciate it more because you're not having to deal with it, you just get to sit back and listen to it on the sideline?
SAM DARNOLD: For sure. No, and I will say, too, the 12s are really smart football fans. They understand when to be quiet and when to be really loud.
I feel like some fan bases, sometimes they get loud when their team is on offense. Like if they make a big play they'll continue to cheer when the team is in the huddle. Our fans do a really good job of understanding when to actually make noise and when not to.
Q. As you guys are debriefing on the sidelines in between series, is it hard for you guys to communicate at home?
SAM DARNOLD: At times. At times, yeah. But there are some moments - the fans might crush me for this - but there are some moments when it dies down a little bit to where we're able to communicate with each other.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports