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Skylar Thompson – August 19, 2023 (Postgame) Download PDF version

Saturday, August 19, 2023
Postgame – Houston

QB Skylar Thompson (transcribed by Houston Texans)

To go from two interceptions in the last game to no interceptions and three touchdown passes in this game, what do you think changed?

“Just not living in the past. I think the best thing for me, in my mindset, is when adversity hits, which obviously the first preseason game didn’t go how I would want it to go – that’s when I just tried to get stronger and not let it affect my confidence, affect my belief in myself. That’s all I did today. Just when I stepped out there, I just had belief and confidence in myself that this is a new game, new opportunity, and a new chance for me to just play the game that I love. Just try to make it simple and have fun out there, and it definitely worked in my favor today.”

Did you know that you were going to play most of today’s game following QB Tua Tagovailoa?

“Yeah, I knew I was going to play after Tua [Tagovailoa]. I didn’t quite know what the situation was going to look like. Once Mike [White] went through the same deal that I did, so they just informed me that I was playing the rest of the game, so I was happy to get more opportunities there.”

Did you get any explanation as to why you played the rest of the game instead of QB Mike White?

“I don’t know what took place with Mike [White]. I was just told that I was playing the rest of the game, and that I was going to finish it out. I have yet to know what exactly happened. That’s just what the coaches told me at the time, and that’s what I did.”

Where do you think you’ve grown the most from your first preseason games last year to today?

“I think just the language of our system. As Tua [Tagovailoa] kind of showed earlier in the week, it is a complex system that we do a lot of shift trade motion, do a lot of stuff that affects the defense. Last year, I was really just very vanilla on the system, as far as executing it and getting guys in the right spot, have this motion, have this motion, but now I feel like I’m getting better at being able to understand why we’re motioning, why we’re doing the things that we’re doing to kind of give me indicators of what the defense is doing. It just allows my process pre-snap to have an idea of what’s going to play out after the snap. That’s the most important thing as a quarterback is to have a plan, and being able to predict what you think the defense is doing but also being able to react, but just having an idea pre-snap that allows me to play faster and play with confidence, and I think that’s helped me going into year two here.”

Being around QB Tua Tagovailoa all the time, you probably have a sense of what it means to him to return to the field after 237 days. What’s your perspective on that?

“I was happy for him. Tua [Tagovailoa] is a guy that is full of joy. That’s the best way to describe him. He’s always upbeat, always positive, always has a smile on his face, and you can tell he loves the game of football. Just last week, you can tell he was frustrated he didn’t get to play. He’s a competitor. So, when he got that opportunity to get back out there and get back on the field, I know that was big for him. Everybody in our locker room, everybody in this organization supports him and was excited for him. You could tell he was happy to get back out there and get in the swing of things and get back in the routine of playing ball.”

I saw QB Tua Tagovailoa yelling at you to change the play. What did he want to change?

“It’s just an inside joke. We ran this play that we scored on against the Texans in practice, and Mike just made a joke because Tua had that play. Just to read it out, it was an inside joke and happened to throw a touchdown on it. It was Tua just being Tua, just having fun.”

Which touchdown was that?

“It was the first one to ‘Salvie’ [Salvon Ahmed].”

Can you take us through the touchdown pass to WR Braxton Berrios?

“That was just a backside route there that he’s really a place holder trying to hold the safety there, so we could hit what we were trying to hit on the front side. The front side was covered, so I kind of took a step back and just played football. I stepped back there. On paper, the ball was hardly ever going to go there, but as I retreated back to buy myself some time, I felt him make a great play, kind of a scramble drill type of thing, cut loose, and made a great football play there.”

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