Josh Rosen – August 13, 2019
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Tuesday, August 13, 2019
QB Josh Rosen
(What did you take away from practicing against another team today?) – “I thought it was a lot of fun. I got to compete at a one-on-one period that was a little extended, so I got to throw against some different DBs. I got some different looks in team periods and I’ve got a lot to study tonight, but it was fun. I thought overall, it was a positive.”
(We noticed you out there with the ones for part of an 11-on-11. Is that a big deal to you? I know we make it into a big deal. Is that a big deal for you?) – “Yeah, sure. At any rep – As far as in training camp, a lot of what we do as a quarterback – it involves a bunch of things – but a lot of it’s just sort of assignment-based. Whether it’s ones, twos or threes, it’s ‘did we execute the right assignment given the set of circumstances?’ So yeah, it’s good; but I’m just trying to not think of it as too big or little of a deal because if I’m repping with the twos or threes, you don’t want it to be any kind of letdown. So I’m just trying to stay sort of consistent, (keep a) steady attitude through it all, and execute each play individually.”
(Would you like to get some work with the ones in the preseason before this competition’s decided?) – “That’s not really up to me. I’m just trying to – like I said – whether it’s ones, twos, threes, sixes or sevens, just try to execute each play as I’ve been instructed.”
(Is there value with the chemistry in respect to whether it’s with the o-line or receivers with you working team reps rather than just one-on-ones with them?) – “Yeah. The more reps you get with anyone, the better the chemistry. I would agree with that.”
(We noticed you had a deep completion to WR DeVante Parker today. What, if anything, do you recall about that particular play?) – “DeVante’s a special player. Anytime you get (him) one-on-one, you’ve kind of got to take it. He had a really good release, slipped off the line, I tried to hold the safety a little bit and threw a ball up and let him chase it down.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores told us just now that there were a couple times that maybe your body language maybe wasn’t what he wanted it to be. I assume that’s something he’s told you if he’s going to tell us that. What do you take from that and how do you improve that?) – “I think – especially when you get into competitive environments, you’re just – I tend to be very critical of myself. I’m very competitive, so I have always worked that throughout my entire athletic career since I’ve been a young kid – not letting my highs get too high or my lows get too low. I had some good highs with the throw to DeVante and a couple of lows. I think as a quarterback, in addition to the execution part of it, I think a lot of it is about leading and about trying to keep a steady ship and keep that forward momentum, regardless of what’s going on around you because a lot of people are looking to you to kind of be that rock. So I think that’s what Coach Flores was referring to. He wants me to kind of be steadier and just execute and be a positive force.
(Byron Leftwich is with the Bucs now. Define how your interaction was like with him last year and how he helped you.) – “Byron’s awesome. I love – I mean, a bunch of the staff – Coach B.A. (Head Coach Bruce Arians) brought a ton of his old staff that was with me (in Arizona) over with him here. It was really good to see a lot of old faces, reconnect and reminisce a little bit. Byron was – he’s awesome. I love him. He helped me a ton on and off the field. Your rookie year is full of a lot – football, not football and everything in between – and he helped kind of keep me steady and on-track. Football itself, he helped me. I’ve learned a ton. I was in-game seeing things I’ve never seen before and making adjustments, and he was breaking it down for me and helping me be a better player.
(How basic are these practices when you’re going against another team?) – “How basic?”
(Yeah.) – “In what sense? What do you mean?”
(Like you can’t really show a lot. You’re going against another team. You don’t really want to show a lot, so…) – “Yeah, but you’re definitely – every team’s got its core identity, and you’re going to run that. I think, I would – I couldn’t really put a number on it, but like a good 50 percent and more of your plays, at least in a game, are going to be pretty similar to what you ran the week before because you’ve got a good chunk of game plan plays that – we’re not really game plan for practice – a little bit, you do, obviously – but I don’t know. It’s not boring, I would say. I would say it’s very competitive, and it’s – we’re going to run what we want to run, and we’re going to try and execute the best. A lot of it in these kinds of settings come down to just one-on-one matchups, and that’s why I think the joint practices are so cool, because you get tired of hitting the same dude every day throughout training camp and the spring. It’s nice to change it up and see someone with a couple of different techniques and a little bit of a different body type and change it up.”
(You mentioned core identity in your last answer. Do you feel like you guys have started to develop that and what you want to be?) – “Yeah, absolutely, and preseason bullets aren’t live, but they’re definitely more live than practice. I think as you start to hit more and more sort of live-ish kinds of plays, that identity starts to reveal itself and you figure out what you’re good at. I think we had a really good step this last week against Atlanta. I think we’re taking good steps right now. We’ve got three of these (preseason games) left, and I think hopefully by the end of those, we’ll really know who we are and what we want to run with through the season.”
(QB Ryan Fitzpatrick was here last year obviously. You guys are competing, but he has this sort of reservoir of information of teams he’s played for, so how do you kind of weigh that sort of relationship you have right now while you’re competing?) – “I think – I mean, he’s been unbelievably helpful. He’s probably one of the best mentors I’ve had in the sport, and he’s been an unbelievable teammate and very selfless in helping me so much. It’s pretty impressive how he can just sort of walk up to the line and see it and just know what front, what coverage – everything they’re trying to do – and I’m just trying to get to that level. I think I have a sort of special skillset so that when I can put those two together, it can be special; but it’s going to be a long road, a lot of film, a lot of studying, and I’m just indebted to ‘Fitz’ for how selfless he’s being. He is being selfless and whatnot, but he’s still competing his ass off. He’s balling and when/if/and, whenever this or whatever shakes out this year, he’s going to absolutely fight his balls off. Sorry. (laughter)”
