A.J. Terrell, Justin Simmons, & others speak on excitement for regular season | Press Conference

S - Justin Simmons a Monday first Monday of the week one yeah I'm excited um yeah there's a lot of new but uh the guys here have been great and uh the coaches have been awesome um you know the acceleration process of you know learning the defense learning how the guys communicate has uh has been awesome and um you know Jesse AJ Mike I mean the whole room have just done a great job kind of getting me up to speed and I'm fortunate as well cuz I played in um similar scheme different verbiage with similar scheme to this one so everyone here has been awesome and um yeah I'm looking for for to to Sunday in this short amount of time what's really stood out to you about this team yeah I think the togetherness um you know I think ra has done a good job uh since he got here right and and obviously Terry and and getting the guys in the building the right guys in the building and um you could just tell as soon as I got in here man the the work ethic and the togetherness of the team is has been something almost like I've never seen um you know these guys have rallied around each other and and the vision that um you know coach raw has for them and um I'm just excited to be a part of it and looking forward to contributing in any way that I can does who take snaps for the Steelers I know bris Wilson's the starter but does it matter who they put in there to take snaps your concern yeah no it won't matter and I'm sure um you know knowing coach Tomlin and how well he's he's done there I'm sure that there even if Russ goes out and start there might be packages where you know Justin Fields comes in and and with his ability and um you know Russ is a proven veteran in this league and obviously had the the pleasure of being his teammate you know the last few years in Denver and um you know he's going to be prepared and he's going to be ready he's going to have those guys going and so uh we have our work cut out for us defensively and um you know one that I think uh you know we'll answer the bell with but um you know we got our work cut out with us they got great receivers Great Run game so we're going to have to be able to uh to do our thing physically how's the ramp up process been for you so far and how much do you expect to be able to play yeah yeah no ramp up period has been great um they just answered a little bit of that uh earlier the uh the acclamation to catch up here has been seamless um from you know the strength staff to the training room uh to the meeting rooms everyone here has been topnotch and um has really worked with me in order to get me where I need to be and so uh you know come Sunday man I'm I'm just looking forward to letting loose and and playing good ball and you know Finding ways to contribute to the team to help them win obviously the the focus is on the field but I'm curious how you've been settling in Atlanta how's that process been for you yeah it's been it's been good it's been easy um you know another aspect that I think uh makes this place special um you know the the front office and everyone that works kind of behind the scenes has uh from a player you know Personnel standpoint has made this uh really seamless um you know thankfully I haven't had to get my hand too much into it you know my wife has been in contact with a lot of them but uh it's been really easy um it's been really easy The City Is Awesome um the fan base is really excited they should be but uh we also have to go earn you know the right to to have them excited right and so our first test is Sunday at home with Pittsburgh and looking forward to that going into another week one this season with a new team do the emotions change at all or is it that excitement every season no the The Emotions Don't Change I think from a selfish standpoint you know is a new team and um there's so much to prove here you know Atlanta doesn't know me um you know they may know me from you know games played prior But ultimately like being a being a player here and and an Atlanta Falcon like I'm not known and so uh for me that excitement level is exciting cuz I have a chance to prove myself all over again right and um that's what I need to do that's what I want to do and I'm excited for that but Al also like just being here in a new spot and getting to play football man I mean you get excited for that every year so that I'm really looking forward to um you know I always have to keep keep the Jitters at an all time low during during this time because you want you're so ramped up and you want to go but you know Sunday's a long way away how do you go about keeping those Jitters at a low because obviously they're going to come what do you kind of do to just keep your mind at ease yeah I a bunch of different things right I think uh obviously family time is important I'm big into the community so that helps too right like just going out um hanging out with like high schoolers or you know visiting veterans um you know there different things that kind of take your mind off a ball a little bit um and I feel like you need that it's a good reset every now and then but ultimately throughout the week um you know those things are going to happen you're going to get excited you're going to get hyped especially on game day and um that's okay you learn to learn to deal with those emotions and um I think the best players and the best teams deal with those emotions in the right way and um that's what I expect here how much can your knowledge of Russ kind of benefit the secondary in this defense how much can you kind of share with it yeah I mean I can obviously give my insights on you know what I've seen uh you know the past few years and obviously playing against him when even when he was in Seattle and you know there's a lot of guys here that have played against them and so they know as well but um there's obviously some advantages there but for them too right um you know Russ being able to share maybe some insights on U what it was like playing against his defense again it's similar to what he's seen in years past and so um you know there there's pros and cons to both and um you know for me knowing the type of competitor he is man um yeah he's going to be ready and um you know that's that's pretty much the message to the guys is um I've seen it um firsthand he's going to be ready and so we have to be prepared we have to be ready and we got to put our best foot forward you spoke earlier uh about CB - A.J. Terrell loving this particular scheme that you guys are doing defensively uh versus years past and you having a lot more flexibility to use your instincts um can you speak on that a little bit more yeah that's the main thing just being able to uh Have Eyes on the ball at all times um also be aggressive with that and just playing complimentary Ball but also being aggressive so that's that's really the main thing just trying to get the ball turn the ball over and that's what it's all about just the ball and giving it back to our offense and and we can go score ourselves but um giving the ball back to the offense so they have opportuni to go put up points absolutely we'll do two more obviously you're you're you're starting four is strong how do you feel about the depth that they added to the group the additional guys uh for rotation yeah it's good you know we got a lot of um young Talent vet talent and all that work hand to hand just being able to pick each other's brain and see what's what and uh the the philosophy for the scheme that we have um allows everybody to you know be a a factor in the defense and that's that's what you want as a defense everybody being you don't know what's what so um playing a little bit of chess with it there you go last question man how was the Jersey retirement ceremony for you it was good um I got I went to West like all four years my sister went before me my sister went after me my little brother went all the way through so it's always been love through Westlake I grew up going up there watching cam play before me and it's crazy um you know when I was in high school I seen his jersey retired on the wall and it was always just a dream to be able to be in that position and it came so I definitely you know take that as an honor you know thanking wesle thanking God and you know all the hardworking stuff I put in just to be able to you know receive that award that's a you know Lifetime and I'm I'm just thankful there you go congratulations man how does it feel going into week one what WR - Casey Washington emotions are you feeling right now I'm just grateful for the opportunity um you know I've dreamed for this moment my whole life and just to be here right now and be around the guys my teammates now um it's just a blessing so I'm excited lot of expectations a lot of weapons on this offense how does it feel to be part of that how excited are you to kind of take that against you know real action against an opponent yeah I'm honored to be a part of it um I'm just going to take it one day at a time you know try to be the best version of myself um all I can do is control the things I can so um just come here day in and day out um with a good attitude and and see where where it goes for you is it more about the Steelers defense or is it more about just executing you know what you've been told and what you've learned to this point what kind of is the focus for you I feel like there's a balance to that um uh the biggest thing is making sure that I got everything that I need to do um to make this the best week possible that I can for the team um but at the same time doing the um the breakdown of the players and who they have over there but um yeah definitely a lot of respect for for Pittsburgh and what they got going on but um just taking it one day at a time and trying to be as intentional as possible are there any Jitters going into week one and if so how do you kind of try and combat that just deep breaths uh yeah it's definitely um I mean it's just football you know I've been doing it my whole life so um I've I've always gotten nervous before games but uh my dad used to say that's a good thing so um yeah I just get out there there and and breathe and and play football what do you think is biggest thing you learn in training camp and that you'll take into the season just being patient with myself uh you know coming into this league um there's a lot of things that you learn and you know to know that I'm still learning um going into the season obviously that can it could be a little nerve-wracking but um just knowing that you're exactly where you need to be and um just like I said taking it one step at a time