Braxton Berrios – October 16, 2023
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Monday, October 16, 2023
WR Braxton Berrios
(Simple question; What’s it like being in this offense?) – “Fun. Simple answer. It’s been really cool to see it from a firsthand perspective, see everything that goes into it. And then watching Wednesday, Thursday, Friday practice really come alive on Sunday, it’s been awesome.”
(Every week takes on its own personality with the team you’re facing, no matter the record. But when you face a team like this coming up on Sunday night, the atmosphere that is expected and obviously they’re one of the best teams in the league. What’s that like in preparation knowing that kind of game is coming up?) – “It’s fun. I don’t think it changes our preparation whatsoever. The preparation really starts and ends with us and what we’re trying to do and how we go about executing things. But these are the games you always circle, you always look forward to. It’s Sunday night. It’s a big game against a really good team. It’s obviously a benchmark game.”
(Your first two answers, I guess the key word is fun. What’s not so fun are Philly fans. I talked to some of your teammates yesterday in the locker room, they all said they aren’t looking forward to that. Your thoughts on Philly fans?) – “Nah, it’s fun. You go on road games expecting not to be liked. And then I guess it’s a little bit different of a feeling when you know you’re hated. So again, that’s pretty fun to me.”
(You know they’re known to throw things at Santa Claus, right?) – “Yeah. If I was Santa Claus, that wouldn’t be so fun. But luckily, I won’t be dressed up like that Sunday.”
(What would a win mean for this team in the broader sense? Obviously, just one of 17, but going toe to toe with the defending NFC Champs would mean what?) – “Yeah, absolutely. They’re a great team, and I think you said it, it’s one of 17. There are no moral victories. They all count the same wins and losses each game. Honestly, the week after that is going to be the same regardless if it’s one way or another. So obviously you go in there wanting to win. And we’re going to learn a lot from it either way and move on to the next game.”
(You’re a polished player, but what’s your big takeaway from working with Wide Receivers Coach Wes Welker? How has your game evolved? What sort of guidance has he given you that’s helped?) – “Honestly, a lot. I think I’ve said this before, but it’s one thing for a coach to talk about it and to correct it on film. It’s another to talk about, correct it on film, then pull up clips of himself doing it on film. That’s something that not many coaches around the league can do at their respective position. He made so many plays and did so many great things in his career and played for so long that literally he has a clip of him doing just about everything and every which way against every coverage. So it’s really cool. And it’s helped me see the game a little bit slower. And I think as you gain that knowledge and the game slows down, you can play a little bit faster.”
(You might have been asked this question sometimes in the last four or five years. But how often growing up as a teenager or at UM would you ever look at Wes Welker clips, sort of as a study tool? Is that something you ever did?) – “I didn’t. I was a huge football fan. I grew up a Dolphins fan. Of course, I’ve seen him play. But I was a football fan and I watched everybody. I really tried not to pick from certain people, but from everybody.”
(How rare is it in this offense, you look around the league, even the best of offenses struggle at times and have games where they don’t produce. You fall behind 14-0, a perfect example yesterday, and it almost seems like nobody seems to care in the sense of any panic. How rare is that at this level, where you just know, hey, we’re going to get back in this and score points?) – “Honestly, that was a good piece of adversity for us. When you sit on that bench and look around, that’s exactly how it felt. Nobody flinched. Nobody panicked. We knew we didn’t execute in the way we were supposed to. The kind of guys that we have on this offense, we knew that wasn’t going to last the entire game. To go three and out one series, shocking to go three and out two series a little bit more than that. Then again, we had an explosive play, got back on track and then it kind of – just everything restarted. We flushed the two series down the drain and the rest of them worked out pretty well.”
(Who in your position group is in charge of getting fluids in WR Tyreek Hill?) – “Everybody now. (laughter) Everybody. As long as it’s a cramp, we’ll be alright.”
(What’s your impression of WR Chase Claypool since he’s arrived?) – “Yeah, honestly he’s been great. Obviously trying to figure everything out, asking as many questions as he can and producing in practice. It’s been good having him as a teammate.”
(I have to ask you about the ‘Canes. What are your thoughts on the State of the Union right now?) – “It’s tough, it’s tough. You had a brutal loss two weeks ago. And they had a good first half in Chapel Hill, but then kind of lost it from there. I do have all the confidence in (Mario) Cristobal and they’re going to figure it out.”
(Were you watching the brutal loss two weeks ago?) – “Honestly, I was not at the end. My dad was on a flight. He was coming down for our game so I woke up to a text from him, and that’s how I kind of found out. He was not happy, so I looked on Google what happened, and was pretty stunned.”
(Was it a good thing that you weren’t watching?) – “It was absolutely a good thing. I was focused on my own game, and that might have thrown me off a little bit.”
