Josh Rosen – October 9, 2019
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Wednesday, October 9, 2019
QB Josh Rosen
(So Head Coach Brian Flores has said that you being the starter for the rest of the year is a settled issue. What do you think about that?) – “I think it’s awesome, but you can never treat it like that. I have heard – I have heard guys like Tom (Brady) mention like he feels like he is competing against someone every day and that is the sort of attitude that you have to have in order to continue to improve. So, it might be a settled competition but in my head I am always trying to act as if someone is behind me every single day.”
(Is there any – not solace – but does it make you feel better that you are not having to necessarily look over your shoulder game to game?) – “Yeah, maybe a little bit; but I have never really played like that. I am a pretty sort of – not like a free spirit – but I just kind of go out there, have fun and do my thing. Football is football. I try to stay as removed from the politics as much as I possibly can.”
(It has been a month into the season, about five months in since you have joined the team. Do you feel like this has been the most ideal or the best situation for you in your career and where you want to go?) – “I mean, like, up from since I have been drafted or since just coming here? Because I mean it is has been less than ideal overall. (We) haven’t won many football games. But I think there is definitely room to improve personally and over the course of my career. I mean, a little to the previous question – I try to stay a little bit out of the politics ever since I said there were nine mistakes ahead of me. (laughter) I’m just trying to basically play football and let everything take care of itself because I am a very confident person. I have just got to let my play show it.”
(Has football still fun for you over the last year and a half? Your NFL days, I guess?) – “Yeah. Like I am going to be honest, it has never not been fun. I definitely did have to ask myself a couple of those questions this offseason because I mean it definitely did suck, but that is part of it. This business is fun but the last couple games since I have been on the field – I mean even in the preseason getting on the field – you realize that this is still a game that I love to play and ever since Daniel Allen and his dad Jeff Allen convinced my mom to play football in third grade for the Torrance Panthers, so, it is just – regardless of whatever goes on January through July or whatever, once you get on the field, it is very refreshing to just have everything go away. I think that is why guys like Tom (Brady) and Drew (Brees) are continuing to play for so long, because they are so famous and the real world is kind of different for them; but once they get on the field, everything kind of goes away and they are one of the guys again.”
(Do you have that feeling that really once you are on the field, your world is right? You seem to be a guy that has a lot of interests off the field also, but do you get in that place?) – “Yeah, absolutely. I get into it with different external reasons, not because I am like (Brady and Brees), but it definitely — there is nothing like and there is really nothing better than sort of getting into that flow, getting into that flow state and kind of like when Steph (Curry) starts chucking up threes and it just seems like every single one goes in, there is really no better feeling of football than when you are ripping it in a game and it sort of feels like you just can’t throw an incompletion. So, I think a lot of it is competing up front, but a lot of it is chasing that sort of feeling of success and just fluidity and all of that.”
(Was it the uncertainly? In January or February you said you had some – dark days aren’t the right way to put it, but you had some stuff going on. Was it the uncertainty or was it just the way you played or what was it?) – “Maybe it was for the first time it is like – the opinions – I felt like there was sort of a differing of opinions with the locker room that I was in and the outside and as much as you try to tune out the outside, it finds a way to get in whether it be your parents calling you asking you what is this article or whatever. But yeah, (there were a) lot of ups, lot of downs; but I think for the most part, it is sort of you just have to keep the ball rolling and keep pushing forward.”
(The offense and the defense have both struggled quite a bit so far. How much of an overall relief do you think it will be if one of the units can kind of dig in a little bit and get a couple quick touchdowns early on in the game – the overall lift that it would give?) – “Yeah, we preach all the time that like we have to pick each other up, we have to play as a team. So ideally you are firing on all three cylinders – kicking game, offense, and defense – but even when you are not, it is about sort of picking another guy up. I think on offense, we can do a lot better because they always play into each other. When the offense is in rhythm and the defense is getting three-and-outs, you can kind of keep that rhythm and not be sitting down and vice versa. If you are on the field for a little too long, the (opposing) defense can get gassed so the longer you can string drives together, the more refreshed they feel. So it all plays into each other and I think on offense, we can definitely step it up; but I mean yeah, it all works together.”
(The last time we talked to Assistant Quarterbacks Coach Jerry Schuplinski, he talked about the link between footwork and accuracy. Can you kind of take me a little inside your game and some of the points of emphasis that you are constantly trying to remind yourself pregame and during the game – things that you want to make sure to remember to do from a mechanical element?) – “I sort of try to not think too much about that stuff come game day. It usually is sort of ingraining it through the week and certain plays have a little bit of a different kind of timing, so you might want to hit, even if it’s maybe a five-step drop, something maybe times out a little bit different off of some kind of play-action or straight drop-back or a route depth, or if the guy is pressed to cut it a little short so you have to be ready with your feet. A lot of that is seeing our game plan, mapping it out, and saying anything I need to do special this week, drill it out in practice and once I come to the game, I try not to think about those things and just hope that it sort of just – your body will understand it.”
(Have you at all kept an eye – I’m sure as a football fan you have – on those other quarterbacks from last year? It hasn’t been smooth sailing from mononucleosis for Sam Darnold to Baker Mayfield’s ups and downs and all of that. Have you kind of kept tabs on them?) – “Yeah, I am always watching around the league to see how certain guys are playing; but football is really hard, especially in the NFL. There aren’t really any other leagues, so the best of the best is playing in this one. It is really hard, so I mean we are all working and we are all trying to improve and I think in today’s day and age, we are very short-term focused and sort of drastic and abrupt and (have) quick opinions on things when really it is sort of about a body of work. I think we are in the process of building that body of work and in that body of work I think a lot is sort of someone’s mental fortitude to be able to stay steady even though all of you guys are reacting very aggressively to short-term ups and downs.”
(Well let me continue about that then. I’m not trying to be a jerk here, seriously. But you know with your guys’ record this season, you could end up with a high draft pick next season. Do you think about that? Do you think that you are a part of the future of this organization and is that something that has been brought up to you by other people or are you aware of what could happen in the draft?) – “I mean, I don’t think about it too much; but I am aware of it. The way I am sort of approaching this year is I feel like I am really just trying out for the team. I feel like I am auditioning and I am trying to put my best foot forward and prove to everyone upstairs and ‘Coach Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) and (General Manager) Mr. (Chris) Grier that I am the man moving forward. It is not like what you would – I don’t know, it’s a different circumstance than a lot of other quarterbacks have been put in; but it is the one that I have been given and I am taking it in full stride and I am excited to hopefully prove over these next 12 more weeks that I am their guy moving forward.”
(Is that what you think the window is – 12 more weeks? Or do you think it could extend beyond that?) – “I don’t know.”
(For the try out I mean.) – “Maybe. If I play well enough over these 12 (weeks), then hopefully they will make the decision; but if – technically, it is never over essentially, but I don’t know. It depends. I could be here seven (years and) after six good years and they could be like, ‘yeah, we are done with you.’”
(Can you put into words what a win would mean to this team?) – “Just sort of joy – life. I think it is tough coming in after a Monday and sitting in that team meeting and just – everything is just easier with a win. It just brings some of the joy back into the game. It makes you a little bit more – one percent, two percent – more excited to go to work every day, maybe a little more. It is kind of that extra little juice that keeps you coming back. It is the – yeah, I guess just sort of a spurt of life or I don’t know the right term for it, but yeah.”
(You played four playoff teams the first four weeks of the season – playoff teams from last year– and winning organizations even this year. This week, you are playing a winless team that just fired its coach. Do you – the Miami Dolphins – feel like this is a bigger opportunity, a better opportunity to come out with a win than the previous games?) – “Yeah, absolutely; but that doesn’t really change our approach. It is not like we weren’t really trying for those first four games and are going to put extra in now. I didn’t mean that in any sort of sarcastic way, but it’s just that every week, you are going to give it your all because even our roster is turning over a little bit less the last four weeks. So everyone really is sort of busting their butt and putting everything they have into every week. It is not like our approach is going to change based off of the probability of winning. So, we are going to – banged up, bruised – we are not feeling sorry for ourselves. Yes, no, we are going to put everything we have into the next 12 weeks we have got.”
