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Skins Quotes 7/26/18: Alex Smith

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July 26, 2018

Quarterback Alex Smith


On if the Philadelphia Eagles changed the way team's look at quarterback depth:
"I think the importance of the quarterback room - in general as far as depth - certainly the back-up - I don't think can be understated. You're one play away from that. That's the reality of this league. That's at every position, but certainly the quarterback. So, I think the Eagles – yeah – were a great example of how important that is to have depth at every position, especially a guy who touches the ball every single play. You know - one snap away from that being the reality and it's important I think to have a competitive quarterback room that's deep and certainly guys that can play when needed. Absolutely, I think it's vital."

On having training camp in Richmond:
"For me, the older you get - it's funny I love going away to camp. You know, so to get down here and to get it started off I mean when you have kids and a family you get less and less time to hang out with the guys and camp is a time for that the older you get. I've really look forward to coming down and checking in, meal time, in between time, and certainly finding a way to ball and get out here on the field. It's nice to get the first one under our belt, I love that we just came out and started firing right away. So, I mean it's great and it's what we have all been waiting for, certainly. I think that the six weeks leading up to this you start to get that feeling in your stomach as you get closer and closer into summer and football season. It's such a great feeling, you know, to have that."

On QB Kevin Hogan:
“Yeah, it starts with just being a good teammate. I don't view it anything other than that. He's a young kid that I've been with two times now, but he's in the quarterback room and it wasn't that long ago that I kind of felt like I was in those shoes, and I know what that's like. You're getting limited reps and trying to get better - take advantage. So, I'm just trying to help him in any way that I can, and I think that just starts with being a good teammate though.”

On forming chemistry with players that are injured:
“Yeah, there's no substitute for just reps. I think I've watched a lot of the film a lot of these guys playing. I think here, hopefully as camp revs up. There is a system, I think, to bringing some of these guys back and continue to get work where you can. You know throwing with Jordan [Reed] on the side when I can - getting CT [Chris Thompson] reps here and there. So, I think all those are important. There's no substitute for reps, and I think as those guys slowly get back into game speed, we'll have time for that. So yeah, getting them in when you can and try to take advantage [and] make the most of the opportunities.”

On the challenge to foster relationship with injured players:
"I mean it's hard to categorize that, I think that the advantage that we have is all the guys that we are talking about are all veteran guys and have played and watched a lot of film and still doing it. So yeah I mean there will still be a little bit of a learning curve and an adjustment period but I feel like I have a decent understanding of what these guys can do and I've watched a lot of film of them doing it at a really high level. So, excited to get on the field and get through that first few steps and get up to speed."


On TE Jordan Reed:
"Really excited to start that process, like I said, I've watched a ton of film, played against him and I know what kind of player he is, you know, I mean, he is truly, truly unique, gifted special player, and it's hard to put it into words. He is a unique guy at the tight end position that can do so many things - route running with the ball in his hands after the catch. He is often times the guy that it doesn't really matter who's lined up against him, you know, linebacker, safety, corner, I mean he is a guy that I think has the skills set to win against all these positions so, yeah, we just got to get him back into full."

On his goals this season:
"I think this time of year - I think every team has lofty goals and talks about all of these end-of-the year things. I think the important thing this time of the year is to stay short-sided. We had our first day; we needed to have a great day. I felt like we did that. I felt we had great competition - the only way that we'll get to we need to be is through great competition here in camp. We'll be practicing against each other for the next couple of weeks and we got to have great work, we have to make each other better. And from a short-sided stand point, that trickles into pre-season and all this is gearing up for that opener. So, I think our focus is on that but really it starts here in camp. We have to have a great camp. We have to great work against each other. We need to make each other better."

On learning the offense and new terminology:
"I still feel like I'm learning every day, every meeting, still getting more and more used to it. I think that is a process that will continue, I don't think that process ever ends. You just continue to always keep working. It doesn't matter if you have been in the offense for 5 [or] 10 years. I think you're constantly making adjustments, tweaking things and trying new things so you're always working at that part of your craft as a quarterback. Yea that's part of it and reps certainly help with that. The more you practice things the more they innate."

On playing at a level this late in his career:
"Yea, I don't necessary want to put a label as far as prime or any of this. I still feel like my best football is ahead of me certainly, I still feel like I have been ascending. I still feel like I haven't reached my potential which pushes me [and] challenges me to continue to strive to get better. I still feel like I am a young 34-year old and I do have a lot of ball ahead of me. I am excited to keep pushing that - push that ceiling. I still feel like I haven't reached it."

On the skeptics involving his play:
"The longer you play the longer you realize there's always going to be naysayers, I mean you're never going to make everybody happy, there's always going to be people that aren't with you. I know that's the nature of the game that's the nature of sports though to try to expect to please everybody make everybody happy is unrealistic. I think you hear it. I'm not naïve to anything I think at the same time it's not why I'm playing I'm playing because of the challenges that faces every single team right now and every single quarterback and I have to be the best I can be for this team. So we can reach our potential and that challenge is the greatest challenge in sports I think and that excites me [and] that fires me up and fighting for that so I love being out here I love every single day every rep out there going against the guys mixing it up. I think you understand what's out there it doesn't--like I said--I think you have a better understanding and grasp of what reality is the older you get."

On the strength of his accuracy:
"Good question. I don't totally know. I feel like you try to work it off as it to your game, we try to work hard at everything. I mean there's so much that goes into playing quarterback. Certainly, I think a lot of times you're product of the offense. I think I've played a long time now in the West Coast offense and that's when you talk about the West Coast offense it's intermediate to short-passing game, it's an extension of their run game it's timing, passing it's spacing, precision. So, as a quarterback you're asked do that and essentially you're the point guard to run the system. That's a system I've been playing in a while now and I enjoy it, I do feel like it suits me. But, it's also I think a strength of the system and those all get tweaked certainly to your personnel and there's different flavors and no two offensive playbooks are totally alike. So, but yeah I do feel like going out there and I got to execute each and every play and that's all the different challenge especially based on what we're getting on the other side of the ball."

On difference between OTA's, training camp and regular season:
"Yeah, in the NFL I think its two days here. We get a chance to kind of gear up before pads and get the legs underneath of us so this is pretty much like an OTA or minicamp. But that's gonna change quickly. You know looking forward to getting into pads and it being real football. You're still limited right now in the run game, still limited in a lot of areas without the pads and it'll be fun to get along and get to the real football."




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