Featuring postgame quotes from the following:

Head Coach Mike Macdonald

Great, great win. Just talk about how we played. We pick each other up all the time. I thought our defense played outstanding. Their defense is a dang good defense. Averaging 12 points a game. I don't even know what the score was. We outperformed that. We obviously got to take care of the football. But the guys played hard. We responded to all the adversity. Affected the quarterback. Took the run away. There's a couple plays there at the end I probably could have called better plays to put us in better situations. But our guys fought. It's great to win at home. Definitely a point of emphasis. I'll tell you what, the 12s were on fire. Great atmosphere. Our guys are fired up. Our home crowd was just tremendous. We're thankful for them to keep showing up, keep supporting us. Told the team we come back after the bye, it's time to go, the last half stretch of the season. Playing a lot of really good football teams.

Talk about Ernest Jones, the sack, interception. What can you say about him?

I thought Ernest played a really great game. The plays actually I'm thinking of, they're getting down there in the low red zone, he's just scratching and clawing and fighting, making great plays there to bleed all that clock. Just an absolute warrior.

A lot of guys involved, but the short yardage run stuff.

I thought we had a good plan coming in. The guys are the ones that do it. Short yardage, it's not always going to be pretty. You got to win your one on ones and then some. Our guys did that. Big-time steps there on third-and-one and fourth-and-one.

On the first potential safety, the sack, what was the explanation you got?

Look, I don't know. I saw them signal safety. I thought it was a safety. All of a sudden it wasn't. I'd like more of an explanation. That's what happened. I saw them signal safety. We thought it was a safety. All of a sudden it wasn't.

How important is the importance of being resilient?

We talk about picking each other up for the whole 60 minutes. These games are hard games. Houston is a really good football team. So we got to pick each other up. Our offense picked our defense up against Tampa. We weren't able to close it out. We picked our offense up today on defense. That's how it's going to roll. That's how you have to win. Once we start to get all three phases rolling in a game, that's where you have games where you're not coming down to the last possession.

This mentality of don't let them in the end zone, how do you reinforce that?

It starts from the very beginning. It's the culture that A.D. helps create on defense. It's our veterans. It's how we practice. We take a lot of pride in how we practice. We've intentionally over the last couple weeks put our guys in some really, really difficult situations and have them respond to it. We get used to playing in those situations. Our guys have done a good job. Taken us a while to kind of get used to it. These are the things that we're learning as a program, how we build our guys, build our mentality. It's the players, man. They take a lot of pride in what they do, the standard they want to uphold. They do it. Just keep fighting.

How do you do that? Sudden change?

You name it. We call it death zone football.

You've been emphasizing getting hands on the football since day one.

Couple MOBPs, missed opportunities on big plays. We got to squeeze it, man. Have a chance to close games out. They got to start going to the Leslie Frazier School of Ball Skills.

On Riq Woolen.

Yeah, I mean, he's on his stuff. There's one that we could have played a little better. He came right to the sideline. He knew, I knew. That was good. Talking about plays like late in the down. The poise. 40, 50 yards down the field where he has no help, playing through the hands, playing the ball. Those are the things that he's been working really hard on and it showed today.

How do you balance the good and some of the sloppy plays?

We'll look at the penalties. There's a ton of penalties throughout the whole game. It's kind of a blur right now. Just seemed like there was a lot. Wasn't really a clean game. We'll look at it, get explanations for it. I thought our guys fought. Our guys fought really hard. Seems like the things that went wrong were kind of late in the down, what happened when the ball started being in jeopardy. We got to take care of the football.

Jones' interception, was that his assigned place?

Yeah, right in the paint.

Exactly where he was supposed to be?

Yeah. Where he's supposed to be. Right where the ball is.

How have you seen Jaxon grow as a person and player?

He's a Seahawk, man, how he operates, his determination, the pride he takes in his work. I'll tell you what, guy's a great teammate. The great ones are. I know everybody is out there supporting him. He fights like crazy for his teammates, as well. But he's obviously doing great. What did he end up with today? That's pretty good.

I don't know if you could see a replay of the skirmish on the sideline.

We got to look at that. Didn't look good over there. I'm glad that he's okay and he made a smart decision in that moment. That's a really, really poised, smart decision.

5-2 going into the bye. You said you haven't played a complete game. Were you feeling fortunate, encouraged?

Yeah, it's kind of cool. We're finding ways to win games, which is, like I said, really difficult to win. You got to celebrate those things. Look, we could be 7-0 and have won every game by 30 points and trust we're going to find stuff we're going to want to improve on. When we watch the tape, we'll go back and regroup, self scout, try to get those answers for next week. It will be very clear on where we need to grow. The guys see it. They see it. They feel it. We got a great group of guys. I'll tell you what, they're going to be really determined coming out of the bye.

Tory Horton okay?

Tory? Yeah, had an ankle. Did he come back?

Yes.

I think he came back and finished the game, we'll see. I'll give you a hard and fast timeline tomorrow (smiling).

What did you think of the push you were getting in the run game? Leaned on it as much as you could have late in the game?

Yeah, we were searching for answers. Able to punch it in the low red was nice. We got the penalty at the end to close it out. But it would have been great to get a first down there. The one where we do pop, we get a holding call. We knew against this front it was going to take every down. You got to keep attacking. Eventually that's your chance to go get the run game alive. That was the mentality. I think we'll look at it and realize there's things we want to get better at. Our guys were playing really hard.

On Cooper Kupp's pass attempt.

It might go in the freezer.

On Ty Okada.

Really proud of Ty. Talk about another guy as we walk in the door, just does everything right all the time with a great attitude. His teammates love him. Just an absolute worker. He's tough, smart. We take a lot of pride in upholding the standard. That was one of the things our guys talked about last night. Ty is one of those guys that does it. He's done a phenomenal job. Hopefully we'll get Julian back. For the record, we should get Julian and Spoon back and D Hall after the bye, unless something changes. He deserves a major shout-out. He's worked his tail off for this opportunity. He's helped us win, what, two football games here in the last three games.

How have you seen the chemistry between Ernest and Drake manifest?

Drake, same thing we talked about all week. Ernest, him and T Knight are really tight. We've had some turnover in that room over the course of the year. But Ernest is the leader of that room. It will go as he goes. They just keep preparing. T Knight has done a great job preparing, too. You've seen what Drake is doing out there. Hard to take him off the field.

With the trick play, why take the ball out of his hands.

We just want to stay aggressive. We want to keep the foot on the gas. That's really where it came from. Trust Cooper. Have to trust Cooper Kupp, right? I think he's earned that. Look, you don't like the result of the play, but we want to stay aggressive, keep the foot on the gas.

QB Sam Darnold

What a weird game. Obviously I think the first half was really solid for us as an offense, then the second half, it was just a different story. I think we just got to hold onto the football. We can't turn the ball over like that. I can't turn the ball over like that. Again, our defense and special teams stepping up tonight was huge. So when you come out of here having a game like that offensively, and you still win the ballgame, can't ask for more than that. We're just going to continue to learn from our mistakes and get better.

What does it tell you about the potential for this offense?

When we execute, when we do our job every single play, the results kind of speak for themselves. We just can't keep shooting ourselves in the foot the way we have. I think Tampa, in that loss, was a pretty consistent performance from us. Still had some minor detail things that happened there. We just got to clean up the details. We will. We'll watch this tape, get better from it, enjoy this bye week. It's going to be huge for us to get some guys back and get healthy. We're going to enjoy the bye week and come back swinging in a couple weeks.

The sack in the end zone with the fumble and everything, something you should have done differently there?

I think at the end of the day I got to get the ball out of my hands. If I feel like nothing's there, understand where my check-down is, if he's covered, throw it at his feet. I think he was open, so I got to get the ball to him.

Does anything surprise you about Jaxon anymore?

It's not surprising because I see him come into work every day with the same mindset and the consistency. It's not just him, it's our entire receiver group, our entire group as an offense. We're going to keep getting better and learning from our mistakes in these games when we have that attitude. Like I always say, we're going to continue to grow and get better.

What sets them apart in his own way compared to Justin Jefferson?

They're both really, really good players. Great players, if you will. I think they are really different. At the end of the day they both know how to get open. I think that's the only thing that matters. They run routes in different ways. But they understand coverage. They understand the DB they're going against. Again, that's habits. That's both of their film study habits they have every single week, understanding the guys that they're going against, understanding the coverages we're going to see. I think at the end of the day it's them just understanding who we're going against and the preparation that Justin and JSN have during the week.

The trust on that touchdown pass, the window was about that big, remarkable.

Yeah, something that we work on. We worked on it a couple days in a row. We work on that throw all the time, going back to OTAs. Yeah, again, it's the work that we put in.

You know you're going to take a shot there. Is that the essence of being an NFL quarterback, to stand and throw that pass?

Yeah, my eyes are downfield, so... I can feel the rush. At the end of the day I got to throw it to the spot with the right timing. If I do that, and understanding what the defense is doing, it works out more times than not.

On the timing of the play.

Yeah, it's just my progression. I felt like the linebacker, if I would have thrown it to the flat, I think he would have gotten tackled, in my opinion, short. I just progressed up. JSN ran a really good route.

Have you seen defenses try to do differently or more to try to take Jaxon away?

He gets doubled sometimes. We see some cloud coverage. There's a lot of things that teams do to try to take away players like that. But again, with the guys that we have, other than JSN, all of our skill players, receivers, tight ends, running backs, you got to account for those guys, as well.

On Smith-Njigba's crossbar dunk.

That was surprising because we know that's a penalty. I haven't really talked to him about that. He got up, I know that. Yeah, we'd like to maybe not do that next time (laughter).

On the personal foul penalty on Houston being tackled out of bounds.

That was an interesting one. It is what it is. I was out of bounds when that happened. It was weird because I was inbounds when he first hit me. I don't know. That's just kind of what happened. We got the penalty and first down. That's all that matters.

Did you feel that on your back?

No. It was good. Got me into the game a little bit, so...

WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba

On playing against C.J. Stroud

It's great to compete against my brother. It's great to win against him, honestly. The relationship that we built is something that is special, something I cherish, and will cherish forever. He just gets all the praise from me. Just a great person, a person that's a leader. I'm definitely happy of the man that he has become, is becoming. I'm just super excited. He has a lot of great things in his future. Just blessed to have him a part of my life, so it's awesome.

On the feel of that game

It felt like we started off hot, kind of let off the gas. Definitely have a lot of things to clean up. We will, but it's always awesome to get these wins in the league. We're going to celebrate this one, get our rest, come back and clean up the things we have to fix, and on to the next one.

On the play on which Stingley Jr. got the interception

I was running my route. He made a great play on the ball. Ran over to the sideline, had a nice little stiff arm. Just some extra activity going on. Sucks to turn the ball over in that situation. Like I said, we'll get back to work and fix the things that we need to.

On whether he was concerned about being on the opponent team's bench

I told them I felt comfortable over there. It's Monday night, not really worried about anything when it comes to facing all that.

On the official covering him on the bench

We had a nice little conversation. I took a deep breath and tried to enjoy the moment as much as I could and run back to my sideline.

On his current streak of 100-yard games

A pretty good start. Like I said, my motive has always been to win games, get into the playoffs, get a ring, helping this team win. Anything that I can do I'm going to do.

On scoring 27 points against the Houston defense

That's great. We heard a lot about their statistics going into the week. It was good to put points on the board. Anytime we get down there, points are big. Our guys executed, we felt like we definitely left some stuff out there, some points out there. Like I said, we'll clean it up and make sure we're ready for Sunday night.

On the challenge of going against an All Pro corner

I love it. I love the matchup. Working in the offseason or training camp, I'm thinking about going against the best guys. He's definitely one of those. Much respected. It was a good night.

On whether the slam dunk celebration was pre-planned

No, that was very spontaneous. Definitely saw a lot of my favorites do it, but that was really on the spot right there.

On the defense being resilient

Man, it's great. We know that the defense has our backs. For me, just going into the game I don't like to put a lot of pressure on myself because I know my guys have my back. That's a big relief for me. For me and the offense and the rest of this team, that we have all three phases doing their thing, ready to play. For me, that feels great. Our defense is great, and they showed up tonight.

On how he has developed as a receiver since he came to the NFL

Just learning, growing. I came into the league at 21. I knew that I had a lot of potential and I don't want to waste it. I want to get better every single day. We'll see where it takes me.

On quickly going out to Jason Myers after the PAT

Like I said, all three phases got my back, and that's a big relief. I appreciate Jason coming up clutch.

WR Cooper Kupp

Seemed like a weird game. Looked like you were on the verge of blowing them out, ends up being close. What was your take on that

Yeah, just losing football offensively for the second half there. I think Jax (Jaxon Smith-Njigba) did a good job making some plays for us. We were just losing football. A lot of that, when we came out the first few drives, did a great job moving the ball down the field, finishing in the red zone. Then from then on it was pretty poor. You love coming out of these hard games with the W as we did. Do everything you could offensively to lose it. Defense just played great. There were guys throughout the course of the game stepping up offensively. As a collective unit, that was just losing football. We'll make some corrections and be ready to come out and respond to that.

Despite that, most (points) scored on Houston all year. What does that tell you about the potential for this offense

There is. We know that. We know our standard's much higher. Shoot, when we can put together all three phases, complementary football, I think we can be a really, really dangerous football team. Then, offensively still being able to come up with points and things like that here and there, I think the defense put us in some good spots. There's good stuff today. I'm not saying it's all bad. There's good stuff on tape. It's just being able to do that consistently, just play our brand of football play in, play out. Yeah, we'll be better.

On Jaxon Smith-Njigba being able to cause problems for opposing defenses

Yeah, I mean, he's done a really good job. You've seen his ability to move around in the offense. He's done a great job being able to make guys pay across the field, wherever it is. He's been able to come alive in all three phases of the pass game. That's been really cool seeing it. You slot him into a certain slot. He can play across the board. He's shown that. Yeah, he's going to continue to do that.

Has excellence become the standard for him?

Yeah, there's nothing routine about what he's been able to do productivity-wise. It's very difficult. That's difficult. Takes a lot of work to be able to do that. I think that's the standard. Whatever it is, man, whenever the number is called, you want to make the play. That's our room in general. When your number is called, go out and make the play. He's done a really good job of that.

He was calm and poised over on the sideline?

Yeah, that was a really good job. I mean, awareness that he's outnumbered. Only a couple of us that were able to get in there to try to help him out. Good call keeping his calm there, being able to draw the 15-yard penalty.

On the sideline scrum

No, I was talking to the official. I was like, 'Hey, still a flag because he just got shoved into the bench.' He's like, 'Yeah, I know.' He couldn't throw the flag because he had his hands on the bench. We had a good little discussion over there. Got out of that. I'm glad Jax is all right.

Can you take us through the passing attempt?

Mine? It was just a bad play. Just a bad play. Don't have a good record when it comes to throwing footballs in the NFL right now, so...

DE Leonard Williams

On the depth of this defense

I think it all comes down to a mentality that we play with on defense. I was saying that on the sidelines to Murph and some of the guys next to me that this has been the best defense I have been a part of, not because of stats or anything on paper, but just like the type of mindset that we have. The togetherness, the brotherhood that we have on this defense is really special. I think that allows the next man up to really take in his position and what he has to do on the defense because he knows that everyone on the defense has his back.

On the importance of Ernest Jones IV

He's really important. He's pretty much the quarterback of the defense. He keeps everyone calm. He hypes everyone up. He also knows that he has to communicate, especially here in Lumen when it's really loud. He does a good job of getting everything out.

On what goes into playing rush defense as well as they do

I think it's another mentality type of thing. We've got some big guys up front, a lot of guys we rotate. I think we pride ourselves on being able to stop the run, especially with two high safeties. We know that that allows our defense to open up. If we have to put a safety into the box that kind of limits certain types of things that we can do on defense, so we take pride up front on being able to run what we want to run on defense because we can stop the run.

On the impact of having "Tank" in there

I've said this before, I'm going to say it again, I'm sure everyone's heard it, we jokingly call him the crash hut, because of how he throws his body around out there. You respect guys like that. He's year 12 I believe now, he's still putting his body on the line every play. He plays really hard on the run.

On getting a win tonight

Big Monday night game, back at Lumen stadium, and it was a big win.

On where this team is going, heading into the bye

I think we got our bye at the perfect time. It's almost midseason right now. I think we're going into it feeling good about what we've accomplished so far. There are obviously some areas that we have to clean up, but I think it's a great time to recover, figure out what we've got to clean up and get back on the road.

On how much better the team can get when they get Love and Witherspoon back

Just in general, I think our team has a lot of potential. I don't think we still have played a full game where all three levels are playing the way we know we can really play. There are times when the defense is not playing so well and the offense is playing great. I think when we get all three phases going, we've got a great team.

On whether Uchenna Nwosu was back to his old self

You could just tell from his energy. He's always been a leader, even when he was injured. Now that he's back, just having his presence on the field, he's a good communicator. I love playing with him outside of me. I've known him since USC. There are times where he'll say some small stuff that only me and him know and the offensive line is not going to understand what we're doing and we play off each other pretty well. It's amazing to see him play like this right now.

On why Mike Macdonald is so good at turning defenses around

I don't know. He's pretty smart at what he does. He knows how to put guys in position. Even when we're making plays out there on the field, and we're running off the field and we're congratulating Mike and saying 'great call', because we there are times where he is understanding the game, understanding what the offense is going to do and he is calling plays to set us up for success.

LB Ernest Jones IV

On the defense's big plays

Those are the most fun. Just being able to make those plays, whether it's fourth and one or third and one, being able to make those plays and change the game, we all live for those moments. To have a few of those moments and then come out our way is a big boost for us.

On whether Houston could have expected his interception

I mean, I'm usually there. Usually when deeper routes develop, I'm holding down the middle of the field. This one here caught me off guard a little bit. I didn't see it until the last moment; just glad I was able to come down with it.

On how he couldn't see the ball during his interception

I think I had slipped and then by the time I slipped, the only thing I could do was put a hand out and God was with me.

On the defense's ability to not only cover but get their hands on the football

That was big. I know for us in the past when those opportunities have presented themselves we didn't always make those plays. So to have Riq (Woolen), (Josh) Jobe, and E-man (Nick Emmanwori), stand up the way they did outside with guys down, that means everything. Those guys, they've been working their butts off and to see them win these battles today, that's a big boost for us going into the bye week and the end of the season.

CB Riq Woolen

On how he felt to be back on the field

I still feel like the same person. I've just been working each day. I'm just happy we won. I'm happy that I can contribute and that I can do it in front of my family today.

On heading into the bye week at 5-2

It feels good because we can recover and get healthy. We got guys out, so getting back and healthy as well. Everybody can rest their body. But it's always a great feeling when you're going to a bye week after a win because it sucks when you lose and you've got to wait 14 days. But, I'm just happy we got the win going into the bye week.

On what has allowed the defense to limit teams to less than 20 points in six games this season

It starts in practice because we've been grinding. Shout out to everybody on the team. I'm just happy. We've got some dogs on our team. We compete our butts off in the game and on the sidelines.

LB Boye Mafe

On the mentality to keep them out of the endzone

At the end of the day we tell ourselves. We know who we want to be, everybody. We have a standard on our defense. We have a standard for who we are and what we want to be. No matter what happens, always keep going. No matter what happens on offense, special teams, any situation; the defense has a standard to it. We're believing in each other and understanding that when we go out there, it's 12 as one. We're all together, we're all brothers, no matter what the situation.

On how much physicality runs in the DNA of the defense

It's everything. You sacrifice for your brothers. We got to go. Because if you're not going to do it, you've got to understand, with us, we think of it as everyone's going for each other. I got to go my hardest for my brother to my right. I got to go my hardest for my brother to my left. We have that mentality.

On how it feels to get a win going into the bye week

It feels good. It gives us time to get our bodies back. We're going to make it up a little bit, some guys are down. This is going to give us time to get ready for the next opponent, gives us a couple days to get ready for that.

S Coby Bryant

On the overall performance of the defense

We're playing complimentary football. We plan on stopping the football and coming together and communicating and getting on the same page and just competing.

On the defensive line play

They're doing a great job. We appreciate those guys. Like I said, they're leaders on the defense. They come in and work every day, and we appreciate them.

On the win and being 5-2 going into the bye

Every win is big. We cherish it, but it's going into a bye week so we get to relax and then come back to work.

DT Byron Murphy II

On how the love for each other show up on defending the run game

It requires everybody doing their job and trusting the guy next to them. It shows up a lot. Stopping the run, all that plays part and it shows. Having each other's backs. Balls to the wall. Going all in no matter what you. Whoever have a bad play or anything, we pick our guys up; that's what we do.

On the team being 5-2 going into the bye week

I feel like we're in a good spot right now. Take a week off, enjoy the bye week and come back to work, ready for the Commanders.

On his third-down stop before DeMarcus Lawrence's fourth down stop

Leverage and getting off the ball. Having that mindset. Telling myself and telling my teammates, 'We hold them on the run,' that's what that was.

On what the standard on the defense is to him

I don't want to allow anybody to run the ball. We're going to play hard and physical every play. No matter what happens. We all run to the ball. Whoever touches the ball, they get hit. Whoever it is. Working as one. Everybody communicates and stand on the same page.

S Ty Okada

On wanting to prove how good their defense is with the Texans having the number one defense coming into the game

Yeah, absolutely. And I don't think that had anything to do with the Texans. I think it was just about proving ourselves right and what we know we're capable of on defense. Week in and week out, we're going to have that mentality that we're the best defense in the league. No matter who steps out there on the field for us, we're going to hold that same high standard and expectation that we expect that we're going to be the best defense in the league. And that has nothing to do with the Texans but everything to do with what we expect out of ourselves.

On his sack and the play call from Mike Macdonald

I'll tell you what, Coach Mike dials it up. It's awesome when you can be a DB, a linebacker, a defensive lineman on this team and you can just let his call kind of speak to you. It'll let you know kind of situationally what to expect just based on what he calls. And you know he's always going to be dialed in. It's awesome. And he is absolutely a mastermind back there.

LB Drake Thomas

On his performance tonight

I'm pretty critical of myself. Honestly, I feel like there's so many things I can do better. Two tackles I specifically think of that I just need to make. There's good and bad. I feel like that comes with it, but it's a great win and a great defensive performance as a unit and as a team. Team win. So that's all you can ask for. But I feel like ups and downs for me, I know I can play better. Just keep on working to get better too.

On what has been making the defense thrive

I feel like we're just like one. We're a unit. We play together. We fed off each other. We all bring good energy. When one person gets hot, another person feeds off of it and wants to go make a play. We feed off of each other, and we build off of each other, and I feel like that's why you see so many different people making different plays.

On how defense got back-to-back stops on the last drive

There's no flinch. It's just a next play mentality. We harped on that after the Tampa Bay game, and we knew we needed move on to the next play. Don't let that last play beat you on the next play. So, moving on to the next play, no flinch, and just playing the next down, that's how we're capable of playing.

LB Demarcus Lawrence

On limiting the Texans offense

I feel like it goes to show, that's the type of defense we have. We have grown men that love to play this game, love football. We go out and attack it every day that we get an opportunity to. On top of that, we have a great defensive-minded coach that put us in great positions to make plays. But we had a lot of plays out there that we should've made.

On the run defense

Shoot, I mean, it's the same run defense we have every week. We make sure we're playing in the backfield, we live in the backfield. We're just so stacked up front. Shout out to my d-line, shout out to my linebackers. The front seven has been playing amazing ball. We just have to capitalize on this and get back in the film, learn from our mistakes and continue to grow as a team.

On the Texans having the number one defense coming into the game and wanting to prove they're a top defense

It's not about proving to other people, it's about proving it to ourselves. We know what we prepare for, week in and week out. We know what type of team we have inside this locker room. It's all about us. We proved that tonight.