00:00Christian, good morning. Welcome to the show.
00:03Good morning. Thank you for having me.
00:05Not, I'm sure, the way that you guys wanted to start the season off.
00:12Yeah, no.
00:15Obviously, a win is always what we're chasing for.
00:19So that was a little bit of a bummer.
00:22How difficult was it when, because we were talking about it in advance,
00:27and Wiggy and Tyler were talking about how tough it is to play out there.
00:31How difficult did you find the environment?
00:36Being on the defensive side, it wasn't nearly as bad as what, obviously,
00:40the offense has to go through.
00:41You know, for the most part, home field fans want to keep quiet
00:46when their offense is on the field.
00:48So for us, it wasn't bad.
00:51You know, for some of the special teams stuff, it got loud.
00:54But other than that, it was a lot of fun.
00:57It was a lot of fun.
00:59Christian, you guys were up 10-0.
01:00The defense did a great job keeping them scoreless,
01:03and then everything kind of flipped.
01:04When the game ended, what was the biggest thing for you
01:06that you felt like the guys, like, get away?
01:11I just think missed opportunities.
01:14I think starting from me, you know, there's opportunities where,
01:17you know, I raked at the ball and almost got it out.
01:20But, you know, maybe if I do it a second sooner or, you know what I'm saying,
01:25or we have, you know, missed opportunities to catch the ball,
01:29missed opportunities to keep them in third and longer.
01:32So, you know, then it gives our offense a better field position.
01:36It's always, you always got to look at yourself first.
01:38And I think there's areas where I need to improve
01:42and areas as a defense we need to improve to help our offense
01:46just get in scoring positions and, yeah.
01:49So, that was probably the biggest takeaway.
01:52Christian, is there anybody that is going up to Drake May after that game
01:57and sort of popping, you know, pumping his tires a bit,
01:59saying, you know, don't worry about it, get it next time,
02:01or do you sort of just allow him to, you know, process it and figure it out?
02:07Yeah, you know, we always have his back.
02:10At the end of the day, he's an amazing quarterback.
02:14So, for us as a team, you know, we have his back,
02:19and we're always going to ride with him.
02:22Christian, you had an awesome tackle in a massive hole
02:26on Janarian Price in that game.
02:28And your defensive linemen in front of you were playing great.
02:31How much fun is it playing behind guys like Milton William
02:35and Christian Barmore who create so much chaos?
02:39It's a lot of fun.
02:40They do their job really well.
02:42So, obviously, them and Corey and, you know,
02:46a lot of our younger D linemen, they've been playing really well.
02:49So, it makes, honestly, mine and Spills and the safety's job easier.
02:54It's because they do so much.
02:56They work so hard.
02:57And, you know, at the end of the day, they're fundamentally sound
03:00and they stay in their gap.
03:01So, it makes our jobs really easy.
03:04So, I love playing behind this D-9.
03:07Having a former player be your head coach must bring an interesting dynamic.
03:11What was his message after the game?
03:16It's a long season.
03:17You know, it's obviously we had a lot of opportunities to take over that game.
03:24You know, defense, if we don't let them score, they don't win.
03:27You know, offense, obviously, we don't want the turnovers.
03:31But, you know, things happen.
03:32That's what happens in the game.
03:33Like, they get paid, too.
03:36So, what are you going to do from here on out?
03:40I think that's probably the biggest takeaway.
03:42Like, what are you going to do from here on out?
03:45You know, we have next week.
03:47I'm pretty sure we got the Steelers.
03:49They're coming into town.
03:51So, I think that's our next focus.
03:54We'll watch them here this Sunday and move on.
03:57How old were you when Aaron Rodgers started playing?
04:03Oh, that's a good question.
04:05I think – what year was it?
04:07Do you know?
04:08I think it was – oh, two.
04:11I mean, it's oh, three.
04:12Curtis the Salad.
04:13He's oh, two.
04:14He's oh, three.
04:14I was four years old.
04:15Yeah, let me see the exact year he started so we get to the start.
04:182005.
04:192005.
04:20Oh, five?
04:21Okay, so I was six years old.
04:23Yeah.
04:25Yeah, that's crazy, right?
04:26That's crazy, right?
04:28Did your dad ever play against him?
04:30He was my first sack in the league, too.
04:31Yeah, he was my first sack I've ever had in the league.
04:35So, that's something I always like to think about, you know?
04:42It's always – that was probably my first game where I would say, you know, I felt like, you know,
04:49like, here I am, you know?
04:50Like, this is – I'm going to start taking it.
04:55But you are – are you one of 12 kids?
04:58Did I read that about you?
05:00Yeah.
05:01Yeah, I am.
05:01What?
05:02So, you have to spread out the tickets when it comes to family or do you have to ask for
05:06extras?
05:07Yeah, a lot of my siblings play.
05:10So, luckily, that helps it a little bit.
05:13You know, I have my older brother in New Orleans.
05:14I have my little brother in Denver.
05:17I have my other little brother who plays at University of Utah.
05:20So, a lot of the times, you know, us, especially being so far away from our family because we're –
05:26we call Utah home.
05:29We get visitors every now and then.
05:31But it's not every –
05:33Who pays – who pays for the NFL Sunday ticket for your folks?
05:39Oh, the – that's a good question.
05:42Not me.
05:45Christian, every time I hear you speak about this team, you're such a great spokesperson, especially for the defense.
05:52Do you feel like we know after one game what the identity of this defense is?
05:56The loss aside, how you guys played out there, how you showed up?
06:00Or have we not?
06:02And what is the identity if we haven't?
06:04Yeah, no, I think for me watching it, I saw guys flying around to the ball.
06:09I saw guys studying.
06:10I saw guys enjoying just being out there.
06:14At the end of the day, our identity is built on effort and finish, and that's what we try to
06:18do as a defense.
06:19And then off of that, obviously, we have our details, our technique, our fundamentals.
06:24And then at the end of the day, you know, stuff happens.
06:28Mistakes happen.
06:29And, you know, no matter where they line the ball up, no matter what happened in the play before,
06:33we're going to fight for every inch, every yard.
06:36And I felt like we did that even when they felt like they were giving up drive.
06:40We're giving up a good drive to them.
06:42We were able to bow up and shut it down.
06:47And then, yeah, so I was proud of how our defense played.
06:50Obviously, there's little fixes here and there that would help us even more to shut them out.
06:55But, yeah, I think our identity came out with the effort and finish especially.
07:01Is Christian Gonzalez going to take everybody out for dinner now after he got the big signing bonus?
07:08Oh, I'd like that.
07:09I'd like that.
07:11Yeah, no, we're super happy for Christian.
07:13He's well-deserved.
07:15Best corner I've ever seen.
07:17He's just so fluid.
07:18He runs the routes for the receivers.
07:22Yeah, so well-deserved.
07:23And I would not say no to a dinner.
07:26Same.
07:27All right, Christian Ellis, thanks for taking the time.
07:30And you got the opportunity, as you often do in the NFL, to turn it around against the Steelers.
07:36So we will talk to you again soon.
07:38All right, man, thank you.
07:39Yeah, appreciate you guys.
07:40Okay.
07:41Okay.
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