QB Avery Johnson
On his performance so far…
“I look to make bigger strides as the season goes on, especially from Week 2 to Week 3. That’s where some of the biggest strides are made. I’m still young, and I still have a lot of improvements to make, but I’m still really confident in myself — 3-0 as a starter, so [I’m] confident where I’m at with my team.”
On playing a day early…
“Everything gets kind of sped up and squished. A little bit is different because we’re in the building on a Sunday, which is not typical … We played a full four-quarter game on Saturday, so the coaches are just trying to take care of us. We’ll just have to be more mentally locked in.”
On playing under the lights…
“I think that it’s going to be a great opportunity because we’re one of the only teams playing on Friday. And it’s on FOX, so it’s going to be for everybody to see. It’s a really special opportunity for us, we get to play at home and our home crowd is like no other. It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to be different because I never played a game this late.”
DT Damian Ilalio
On playing a mobile QB…
“One of the most important things is just to stay disciplined in your rush lanes. If you’re going to take shots, make sure that those shots are going to work. You have to put a lot of confidence in yourself … you can’t be scared out there but you also have to stay disciplined in your job.”
On playing at home…
“The crowd is electric. I think we have the best fans in the nation, so they’ll give [Arizona’s] offense a really hard time on third down and throughout the game, it’s going to be hard for [Arizona] to do their checks.”
Safety Jordan Riley
On facing Arizona’s star WR…
“We know that quarterback wants to air it out to No. 4. We’re not going to make a whole game plan just for one guy, but we know we got to make sure we keep them in mind throughout the whole game.”
On experience with unique kickoffs…
“We played a lot of games on Wednesdays and Thursdays [at Ball State]. Weird schedules … I feel like we always had quick turnarounds. I’m really looking forward to playing Friday. And it’s not really messing up my process in which I go about this.”
OL Taylor Poitier
On improving the offense’s production…
“Confidence. A lot of us haven’t really played with each other a lot, so just keep being confident every single week. I believe in our O-Line. It’s never going to be easy. We’re working every single week, we’re learning every single week.”
On dealing with injuries on the O-Line
“Next man up, for sure. “We got a lot of guys we’ve been rotating it out, trying to keep guys fresh. I’m not afraid of putting [Andrew Leingang, Michael Capria or John Pastore] in there. So I’m really excited to see what goes on [Friday].
On success blocking for the RBs…
“It was cool seeing [Dylan Edwards] getting in [the endzone]. I told him after the game, ‘I’m really happy that you came here. I’m really blessed that you’re a part of this team.’”
“I get a little emotional when I talk to these guys because I love every single one of these guys and I’m proud of them for being a part of this team.”