Transcript: Center John Michael Schmitz Jr

Center John Michael Schmitz Jr

Q: How has your adjustment been with (offensive lineman) Marcus (McKethan) being on the right side now?

A: Marcus, I feel like he's been a great addition. Stepping into his role, competing, yeah.

Q: Did you play much next to him in training camp?

A: I'm not going to comment on injuries or stuff like that, but he was just getting involved with that. That's all I'm going to say.

Q: Just having so much rotation next to you for a rookie, is that difficult? Not having it set, sort of, the two guys next to you?

A: You've got to be able to adjust. You never know what's going to happen. You've got to be ready to just go out there, whoever the five that are out there, and go and compete.

Q: Have you started watching film of Seattle yet?

A: Yes. Yes, I have.

Q: Very good run defense?

A: Yeah, I mean, really good defense. The games I've watched already, we're going to have a tough battle against them. Just ready to go compete and put our best foot forward.

Q: With the focus being a day-to-day, play-to-play kind of thing, as you've kind of said, when you know that you're going to take the field on Monday night and it's already October, does it feel like a month of your career has gone by so far?

A: I was always told just to live in the moment. To answer your question, no. I mean, it's just been… Yeah, I don't know.

Q: How much communication has there been on the sidelines when the defense is on the field among you linemen? Obviously, getting on the same page—I'm not saying you're not on the same page, but making sure you're on the same page and that sort of thing.

A: It's my responsibility to communicate on the line, making sure everyone's on the same page. We're seeing five as one, know who we're blocking, know who we're going to, our assignments. When you get on the sideline, you talk about it, you say, 'This is what they did,' and at the end of the day, we want to get things fixed. There are no pointing fingers. Not saying anyone did anything wrong, we just want to get it fixed so we can get things rolling.

Q: One of the things that seemingly has been missing for the offense is getting going in that first half. Is there a common theme that has been missing?

A: We've just got to start fast. That's it. We've just got to start fast. We've got to come out with great energy. We've got to execute at a high level. We've just got to go.