Head Coach Vance Joseph
(On what he's expecting from the Seahawks, considering offseason changes) "Well, defensively, it looks the same. Obviously, they've lost some of the frontline names from the past, but when you watch the tape it looks like a Seattle Seahawk defense. It's a single-high, double-pressed corners, every player in the box is loaded and everyone is playing hard, and everyone takes the ball, so I didn't see a difference whatsoever when it came to how they played. Honestly, if three or four guys in the past that were frontline names that are not there any longer, but how they play – it's the same defense I've watched for the last five or six years. The culture of what they've done there has not changed."
(On his reaction of the return of Earl Thomas) "I didn't have a reaction to it. I kind of assumed Earl was going to show up this week because he loves to play, and I couldn't imagine Earl not being there for his teammates. I'm sure he feels the same way. As we game-planned and looked at the defense, we didn't consider Earl not being there. That defense is exciting, they play hard and the culture doesn't change much."
(On expectations for Von Miller this Sunday) "Von's a special player, so I expect Von to come out Sunday and for him to be Von. It's going to take more than Von to contain Russell Wilson – it's going to take our entire defensive front. Von alone can't contain Russell. It's going to take all of our guys having a sound, disciplined rush play, our outside guys not rushing past Russell and our secondary guys obviously, covering those guys twice with the ball snap (and) covering the first route, and having the awareness to cover the second route, which is the scramble. We're going to try to contain Russell as much as possible, but he's going to escape from time to time. It's going to take our entire defense to contain Russel Wilson."
(On stopping the Seahawks run game) "Your first question, I mean, (Chris) Carson and (Rashaad) Penny. That's two big backs and I think Coach (Pete) Carroll wants to run the football. I mean, they're winning culture has been established on playing defense and running the football so I get it with that part of it and it's going to be a chore for us to get that run game contained with those two big backs, but with that being said, that's what our defense is based off. Obviously, stopping the run and then getting teams into longer third downs and playing with the lead. If we can do that, that will definitely help our pass rush but we are going to have a challenge getting the run game stopped – and also, when you add Russell (Wilson) to their run game with the belly-read stuff and the scramble plays, that makes it even more difficult for us."
(On the challenge Michael Dickson presents) "It's tough, because that guy, I mean, he's special. He grossed like, what, forty or forty-five yards and he netted forty-three in the preseason? That's special. With a defense like the Seahawks (defense), if you can flip the field with your punter, that's a perfect compliment. It's going to be a challenge to obviously move the ball so we can have a fair field position all day because with that guy, having to go eighty (or) seventy yards each drive is going to be tough but he's definitely a special player and he's proven that so far in his short career."
LB Von Miller
(On the challenge of facing off against Russell Wilson) "Oh, man. I'll tell you what, I don't think any pass rusher likes going against Russell Wilson. He's just a handful. He's elusive, he makes plays with his feet, arm, everything. I'm sure that if you did a poll around the league right now, if you asked how many guys would want to go against Russell Wilson, nobody would raise their hand. He's just a tough cookie, an elite player, Seattle's all-everything quarterback."
(On how much Russell Wilson's style changes a pass rusher's approach) "You've just got to run and you've just got to be confident of where you're rushing and how you're rushing. You just want to rush. You just want to be great in the rush and really form a pocket around him and try to keep him in the pocket. He's going to get out of the pocket regardless, so you can't really put too much into it. Just got to pursue, try to get him down, try to make plays, and just stay in it."
(On communication during rushes to contain the quarterback) "Like I just said, you've just got to run. You can't put too much into 'you need to be here, you need to be here, you have to have a guy right here.' You just got to run. It's the pros. All the guys know how to rush. Everybody knows what type of quarterback Russell Wilson is. He's going to get out of the pocket regardless, even if you have a great rush plan. You've just got to keep playing and try to keep him in the pocket."
(On if he knows Germain Ifedi being that they both went to Texas A&M) "I know of him, I haven't met him or talked to him. At least the Seattle Seahawks got one good guy on their team. They got an Ag (Aggie) over there, so it'll be neat to play against him especially being at right tackle. So, we'll see a lot of each other and I'm looking forward to it."
(On the new Seahawks offense) "I mean, honestly, I expect to see the same Russell Wilson. I'm sure they're not going to change up some of the great things that he's been doing. He's an elite quarterback and I'm sure that they'll stay true to some of that stuff. You don't want to just come in and totally change his game so it's going to be the same Russell Wilson. He's going to be the same elite quarterback that we've been going against over the years."
