Powers-Johnson, Koonce, Hobbs and Bowers Media Availability | Week 1 vs. Chargers

Nate Hobbs it's an amazing atmosphere honestly La is a place I love to play at it's a beautiful place though I love LA and then for it to be that many Raiders fans I feel like that's like it don't get any better than that atmosphere made obviously you know it's always team first but do you feel like you know you're going to have a better year than ever individually take your game to another level any any goals in that regard and like you said it's always team first but um I'm Haring I'm pushing myself to be the best I've been since I've been in this league and and I'm I got big expectations for myself um taking the ball away doing my job and being a leader for the team a lot of changes from that but you remember 63 21 we a't got to talk about that it's this year that was last year you walk in here on a Wednesday and there's a game on Sunday uh the first game of the season does it does it kind of take a sense of it's getting real yeah uh especially like you know what I'm saying this week like at week one like I feel like everybody has that feeling and if they if they don't they lying to you you know what I'm saying but you approach like a regular game I played in plenty of games so but just get to you know what was it like your first week one though in the NFL I mean you said you played in plenty of games what was that week like for you I was amp I was amped up I felt like I had a good training camp and I faced I didn't know I was facing like really the best like whether it was Hunter Waller Derek um uh that that office really prepared me for the first uh for the season more than I knew so it was good you mentioned uh taking the ball away more this year what what's the adjustment like that that has to be made or Improvement that has to be made at the nickel position uh to to create more turnovers for the defense um awareness um being uh priding your and being playing a game inside of the game so it's a game you know what I'm saying everybody say everybody sees that's physical but you got to it's chess not Checkers so like the quarterback going to mess with the defense we got to mess with the quarterback throw him off she looks and and really uh top TI Focus what's it been like now having kind of a solidified secondary seem The Familiar Faces over the past couple years like EPS Merrick Jack Jones and and joran now filling out um the secondary with you how's it feel kind of working with that group and coming up in the second year uh it's been great for real for real we got a chemistry that uh that I think we all feel and we got a bond outside of that chemistry on the field we got it we have it off the field so I think uh we play for each other point that period and uh just thoughts on Justin Herbert man I think I think he's All Pro Caliber player than he's a great player I love playing against him uh it's always uh it's always a great game at as y'all know except you know but other than always it's always a great he's a great quarterback bro period n what's the biggest difference between the team this year and last season at the start of the Year say it again what do you think the biggest difference between the team this year uh and you guys last year at the start of the season um I think we we're more focused and more uh of a team more more together you know what I'm saying then it started last year I think we were focused last year but got the glue than uh you have any concerns about Brock Bowers Sunday or you're feeling feeling good for that or I mean shoot I mean I think so we'll see what happens see what happens um I guess what were you able to do while you were away were you able to still you know stand in shape stay ready to go all that stuff yeah yeah I mean um I was working out hard every day trying to keep my condition up as much as I could trying to stay off um my feet too I mean trying to give a little rest but um yeah I mean just trying to stay in shape it's probably the toughest part just cuz you can't run so just hopping on the bike um doing a bunch different pool stuff so yeah how like how much sorry how much frustration was there in terms of like you know obviously you want to be out there you want to be practicing you're watching guys practice every day is it tough to kind of deal with that part yeah I mean I'm here to play football that's um that's all I want to do and so I mean not being out there with all the guys really just St seems like you're a guy that keeps on an even kill but you're also getting ready to to do something that you probably dreamed in your entire life um how cool I mean you give yourself a second or two to kind of think about that a little bit yeah I mean I've definitely thought about it a little bit I mean um I I don't have much time to think about it really because we're here the whole time and um just trying to get as much rest as I can at night so I mean um yeah but definitely here and there I think about it and think about how cool it is and how cool an opportunity is so I try to take advantage of it we uh I feel great um just trying to Malcolm Koonce take one day at a time I really focused on last year last year is last year so stting a new year new page so yeah how would you describe week one just like the anticipation of getting out there and finally playing a game that actually counts for something uh I mean it's always it's always exciting like he always wait till week one so it's nice to get back out there and start actually game planning for somebody and stuff so but again take one day at a time and kind of just don't get ahead of ourselves so what do Justin Herbert bring to the table that makes him kind of tough to to tough to defend oh he's a great quarterback he has amazing arm he's super accurate he's athletic everything on paper he's he's good so there's a lot of new looks on this team for the Chargers and the wide receivers running back and all like how do you kind of prepare for that when you really haven't seen a whole lot of tape of the new players on the offensive side uh I think it's just really trusting our coaching uh trusting our coaching uh trusting with the coaches got to say to us and stuff like that so that's pretty much it come on the same L like what do you expect out of a Jim Harbaugh lead team um I guess running I feel like he do that a lot in college so I guess that played a couple of times already in LA with Raider fans in the stands how much of a difference does that make and you guys like playing out there in Los Ang oh yeah it's always nice you always see Raider Nation out there and I don't know it's it's just a nice feeling when you walk out when you run out and see a whole bunch of black Jersey so you mentioned the hard ball you expect a lot of running from hard Ball's offense and uh you guys did struggle a little bit it was just preseason but you guys struggled with the run and preseason how do you feel the run defense is heading in to you know week one uh I feel like we're good we just got to trust our coaching can't get ahead of ourselves we can't we can't um try to do much that makes sense so and what's it do for you you know not just playing opposite of Max on the edge now but Christian on the inside what do you feel like that does for you uh I think obviously it's going to open up stuff for me so but um I'm not I'm not really focused on that I'm just you feel me just trying to take it one step at a time Christian was talking about the Synergy that he feels with this defense how have you felt about the growth in like just kind of camaraderie with the team and team oh definitely out of all my years I've been for the Raiders PHS we I personally feel like this is the close is I have I ever been with the team and it just the inside the building feels different he said he felt like one of the guys fostering that Gardner muu and then he has a real infectious personality now you've been around him a little bit you have any favorite uh stories or Encounters of I don't have no stories yet I mean they're probably coming but I have no story what do you think of he's definitely he's definitely different for me I'm more from like New York and stuff like that so he's a definitely a different vibe along with that cond and you look at Christian wiin do you have any good you know stories or just examples of what you've been able to see from him that really shows why he's a a good leader uh definitely how he attacks media is now at the podium gner mu is now at the podium his preparation and just uh how he attack today just how he sees the game or like even in like when we watch film just see like the little the little minute things that he pays pays attention to when it comes to like playing the run or even pass or just like even when we get on the field just little tendencies that he wants me to tell him or he'll tell me so stuff like that Mal Tesco said this uh Raiders team is completely different than last year's how would you compare this team and in what ways are they different than last year's um I mean I don't know I don't I don't know I mean I guess it's a a whole bunch of different faces here so not a whole bunch of different faces it's a lot of people that's uh that came back but I don't know maybe our mentality uh just the way we like approach approach things kind of look at things a little bit different I would say so yeah thanks bro Jackson Powers-Johnson app remember I W in college my parents love it my mom loves it so decided to bring it back so happy I got the opportunity to as you were kind of waiting these last you know couple weeks like couple months you're like 58 available like you kind of watching it or I mean it was in the back of my mind but it just kind of came up and I jumped on the opportunity so um obviously you know training camp was a little disjointed for you not being out there for a while how uh how difficult was that for you to kind of deal with uh it was really tough tough I mean not being able to go play football not being able to you know get the camaraderie with the guys it's it's really tough and uh you know just a tribute to kind of everybody here you're picking me up mentally picking me up you know physically and just getting me back healthy and you know excit to be back now so you feel like you're playing a little bit of catch up and uh how do you how do you kind of Chase down that train a little bit just working hard coming in every day you know establishing a routine and know sticking to the routine then also leaning to uh leaning on the people that are here you know there's so many resources and um so many people that care you know want me to get back so just leaning on them so I mean you're so you're so close to like obvious this dream of playing in the NFL and then you have to sit there and watch like what was that you know mentally did you have to lean on people like kind of talk to people and say you know how do I get through this uh yeah no definitely just lean on those people also you know leaning on some of the stuff I learned in college you know um old head coach coach uh Ling says you know everything you want is on the other side of hard so um you know I'm just going you know I think about that every day everything I want is on the other side hard whether it be an whether it be you know I'm tired it doesn't matter you know everything I want is on you know other side of heart so I've seen you working with a lot of the other offensive linemen like when you you aren't running a rep and see Colton talking to you quite a bit like what has that been like kind of developing that relationship with a veteran on the line here it's been great you know the Vets here have been absolutely amazing like I I could speak for all the you know rookie o line and all the rookies here we we feel lucky to come into a position where um you know the Vets all really help us out you know take us on another wing and you know show us ROP so um but no I I love those guys they've been great you know only bad thing is I have to you know take Andre's helmet back to Locker Every Day's he's awesome Utah gu I know he's it's it's been awesome the Vets have been amazing so going through what you went to um you know I guess if there's a silver lining it happened you know when it did not down so keep that in mind that it's a long season there's plenty of time get things course no I'm just going to keep working every every day Tak one day at a time I'm saying every better every day chop wood carry water and you know just keep coming keep showing up so look like when you first at a legion Stadium you were kind of taking it in just kind of stepping around really taking a look over what you the stadium was like your first experience in it what was that like for you well I I played two of those games in college and uh I both lost there so it was kind of more making my peace with the stadium like okay okay all right we're goodess so no but it's an amazing State got absolutely amaz how close to fully healthy do you feel now like a couple days away from the first game I I feel completely healthy it's just more conditioning so I'm just getting back into it you know just getting the jazz or size in so have you thought about what it's going to feel in the first first time walking on the field n feel it's going to feel great I mean it's a dream that I've had forever my family's had forever so you know I get to go and and represent my last name so they making the trip to La yeah of course never missed a game thank you appreciate you guys

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