Sam Darnold Interview Transcript 9/7/20

[Maxman]

Opening Statement…
Awesome to be back, looking forward to Buffalo on Sunday. Obviously divisional opponent, it’s going to be a fun game. We’re starting prepare, so yeah, just looking forward to it, we had a really good day of preparation today and you know, getting a lift and run in, so it was a good day, just got to stack the days and get ready for Sunday.

Chris Ryan, NJ Advance Media: Sam how different will it be preparing for Buffalo this week when you don’t have any preseason tape from them and you are kind of going off just what you knew from a year ago?
Yeah, it is what it is. I think for us like, you know, looking at the games that they recently played and looking at the games that you know we played against them, so there’s some tape there. Obviously, Sean McDermott and those guys you know, Coach (Leslie) Frazier over there, they’re going to have their guys ready to play. So, we just got to be ready, which we will be and we’re looking forward to the challenge.

Rich Cimini, ESPN: You obviously have a very close relationship with Josh Allen, when you found out the schedule, I guess it was in April or early May when the schedule came out and you guys were working out pretty much together a lot, was there any friendly banter back and forth about the opener?
Yeah, there was a little bit but nothing that’ll share. You know me and Josh we have a good relationship so we’re just going back and forth for a little bit, but obviously when we get on the field and it comes time to play ball that friendship goes out the window.

Mark Cannizzaro, New York Post: Sam, what is you comfort level with the team around you this year compared to last year. Obviously, Joe Douglas did a lot on the offensive line, you’ve got a new receiving corps in here, obviously you know much has been hurt during training camp here, but how much more prepared do you feel with the group around you right now?
Yeah, we’re excited we got a really good group, a group that is going to be really well prepared going into Sunday, and, you know, again we’re just really looking forward to the opportunity. Got a lot of guys who are hungry to get a W, and that’s all it really matters and when you got guys like that, guys that want to work every single day, prepare and practice really hard. You know, we’re always going to go with the mindset of just executing every single play. And hopefully that that’ll kind of take care of the result for us.

Dennis Waszak Jr., The Associated Press: Sam, do you think it helps in any way, given that it’s been such a strange offseason and without preseason and all that, it helps in some way that you’re facing a division opponent who you guys know so well to start the season off?
I think to an extent, but, obviously, I was just talking to some guys today, like it is kind of weird just kind of jumping right into the regular season, you know, not having any preseason games. But again, we’re just going to have to adapt and it’s going to be fun though, to be able to go out there and the first ones for real. And, you know, we’re excited to play and I know the fans are looking forward to it, you guys looking forward to it, so it’s going to be fun, you know we’re just going to be able to go out there and play football again.

Bob Glauber, Newsday: Is it reasonable to assume that given no preseason game, given really no offseason, that the quality of play might be a little bit rough for the first say month of the season?
I’m not sure, I think that’s to be determined. You know, I think whatever happens, happens, and obviously we’ll look at the tape, we’ll learn from it just like any other game. But, you know, it could be. But for me, we’re just looking forward to going out there, like I said, and trying to win a football game.

Mark Cannizzaro, New York Post: Sam, we were talking to Joe Douglas a little while ago and he was talking about, he really feels a vibe in the locker room with a lot of guys that are hungry to prove people wrong. Obviously, you know you’d have to be not on any media whatsoever to know that you guys aren’t getting a lot of respect this year. What’s your take on that and how accurate do you feel as a guy who was a leader inside that locker room, believes that is?
We’re not going to worry about what other people are saying. I think for us we just got to go out there, which this group is going to do a great job of, we’re going to go out there and do our job every single play. That’s what it comes down to and you know that’s football, any team can win any given Sunday, but we understand that as long as we do our job every single play, we can beat anyone.

Charles McDonald, New York Daily News: Were you skeptical at all that we would even make it to Week One when we first started training camp?
I think, just with everything going on, there were a lot of different things going on in the world at that time. And I think for me and a lot of the guys as well, we were just kind of going about it day by day. We had no idea you know what to expect, or how to go about it. We just knew, we have COVID testing in the morning and then we have weightlifting, it was just like a daily routine that we started to get into and then all of a sudden you look up and it’s like, ‘Oh, shoot,’ we have two or three weeks until the first game. So I think for us it was really just getting in that routine, going through all the protocols that they kind of set out for us for every single day. Once we kind of got to this point it’s like, ‘Oh, this is real,’ we’re going to start playing games here and everyone’s excited. Like I said, we’re just excited to get back out there and start playing games again.

Brian Costello, New York Post: Sam, with the injury’s you guys had at receiver in camp, Denzel (Mims) didn’t really get much time, (Breshad) goes down, even Jeff Smith, Vyncint Smith, how do you feel about your chemistry with that group right now, you know with the game coming up in six days?
Yeah, I feel great about it. You know all the guys got so many reps during camp. Obviously, the guys that were banged up didn’t get as many reps, but they got to, you know, watch the tape and learn from it that way, so whoever’s out there on Sunday, they are going to be very well equipped to go out there and execute to the best of their ability. No matter who’s out there, like I said, we’re just going to do our best to go out there and execute.

Bob Glauber, Newsday: Sam, you have had a revolving cast of teammates on offense in the last couple of years, and I know you don’t complain, you won’t complain, but could you just talk about how challenging that is to kind of acclimate yourself to different players really each year of your career?
Yeah, I think, for me as a quarterback, offenses, they’re designed for people to kind of, obviously you want stability but you know guys can be able to come in and out and, I mean, you’re expecting on a certain play for one person to be in in the right spot and at the right time and as long as guys are doing that, then I’m going to be able to, if one’s not there get back to two, if two is not there get back to three and expect that guy to be there, no matter who it is. And everyone in the NFL is talented, you know, so if you get the ball to someone and they’re able to make someone miss or go get YAC (yards after catch), there’s yards to be made all over the field out there, it’s just, everyone’s talented enough to do it. So, that’s how I look at it, you know as a quarterback, I just make sure I’m protected first and then you know go out there and try to get the ball to the most open guy.

Brian Costello, New York Post: Sam, is there a statistic in your mind that you want to see improvement in from yourself this year?
Completion percentage, always looking to improve completion percentage. I don’t get super into the statistics of what’s going on, the biggest stat is the win column, you know the wins and losses. But I feel like if I do get my completion percentage up, we’ll see more wins on the table.