Nick Emmanwori: "Anyone On Our Defense Can Disrupt The Game"

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Nick, to go from covering can one play, to rushing the passer and forcing a pick, to covering worthy 40 yards downfield, just kind of, how much does that game kind of flash your versatility in everything you can kind of do?

Nick Emmanwori (0:11)

I think it showed everything I can do. You know, lining up at defensive end, covering in the slide, you know, running, tackling, being aggressive. That's, you know, thanks to the coaches, letting me be me, building a good game plan that fits the whole defense and lets everybody play free, so.

SPEAKER_3 (0:29)

How much pride do you take in when you're guarding, what might be the fastest guy in the NFL when you're running with them downfield on a deep shot?

Nick Emmanwori (0:36)

You know, I think I would call myself, you know, I grew up playing defensive back, so like, you know, I'm not scared out there in space, you know, to cover guys, so, I mean, I know what the defensive coaches know what I can do. They know what I have, but other teams probably don't, but it's good just to put that on film. I mean, I like those plays, you know, I like to run, so I was looking forward, and it was great.

SPEAKER_4 (0:58)

Can you help us understand, like, what it takes throughout the week to get you ready to do all that, but you know, all the coaches who are working with you and all that?

Nick Emmanwori (1:06)

Yeah, it's a little bit of a process, honestly. You know, I feel like if you ask any of the coaches, they'll tell you it's a process, too, like, throughout the week, just making sure, you know, I'm getting all my reps all over the field, whether it's defensive end, nickel, whatever packages they have for me, like, make sure we get a lot of reps, but also keeping me limited where I'm not burning myself out mentally or physically. So, like, it's something new that I feel like they're going through, too, and we're steadily growing and changing stuff throughout the week, and it's just a different process that, you know, you wouldn't really know how it looks until you actually watch us practice and watch us in the meeting, so.

SPEAKER_4 (1:39)

Are you bouncing around in different meeting rooms?

Nick Emmanwori (1:41)

Yeah, you know, I go to the linebacker rooms on, like, Wednesday, D-line room on, like, Friday or Thursday, DB rooms every day. So, it's like, I'm in different rooms, different areas. So, I'm hearing a lot of stuff at one time, and just processing it the right way, so.

SPEAKER_1 (1:58)

You're not in the kickers room yet?

Nick Emmanwori (2:00)

Oh, no, not in the kickers room.

SPEAKER_1 (2:03)

When you ran down Mahomes on the interception of Cotterhead, did you sense he was surprised or didn't know anyone was behind him?

SPEAKER_3 (2:11)

He usually doesn't have anyone chasing him.

Nick Emmanwori (2:12)

Yeah, I mean, a lot of people saying, usually people don't chase him down, or, you know, people, he usually outruns people. That's what they're saying on the sideline. But, you know, knowing my speed, knowing my, you know, and on that play, I had, like, an inside bliss or whatever. So, like, it wasn't really my responsibility. Right when I see him pull the ball, I was like, I mean, it's on, like, it's a race to him. And kind of, I'll say, he made a bad throw or forced him into a bad throw with my pressure and my speed. And, you know, we got an interception off of that. So, I know he probably wants that one back.

So, yeah.

SPEAKER_3 (2:39)

You were listed as question hold on the end of the game. Was there much talent you were going to play?

Nick Emmanwori (2:44)

Yeah, just throughout the week, just, you know, you know, again, with, like, doing all these different positions and stuff, I get a lot of reps. So, just trying to find a good way to, you know, make sure I'm getting all my reps at whatever position I'm at and keeping me good for the game. So, it was just like a little bit of tightness that, you know, we solved and figured out it was good.

SPEAKER_3 (3:02)

And just overall, what you guys were able to do defensively, that team, that quarterback, obviously, Kent's having a great season to hold them to one field, a little bit of a first down. So, what can you say about the defense as a whole?

Nick Emmanwori (3:11)

I mean, we put on a clinic, you know, we, I know the defense, a lot of dudes were upset that we, you know, we didn't give them zero. Like, that was our goal.