Billy Bowman Jr. & Leonard Floyd excited to tackle Week 1 | Atlanta Falcons vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Billy Bowman Jr. & Leonard Floyd excited to tackle Week 1 | Atlanta Falcons vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers

game in the books, preseason in the books. How How good does it feel to to get to game week here? Feels great uh to finally get to game week. Uh dreams right in front of your face. It’s it’s amazing and I’m just I’m so ready to put forward my best foot uh for my coaches and and my teammates. Um it’s been a long journey, but ready to roll. Obviously, you always stay ready, you know, feel like, you know, expect to be on the field, but when this journey started for you, did you expect to be in this spot? One of four rookies starting on defense this this Sunday. Yeah, I did to be honest. uh I could really go back and say that I’ve really, you know, gave it my all um since I’ve started playing this game and um that’s where it’s put me in this position I am today. So with that hard work and and the Lord Christ um I wouldn’t be here. So yeah, I do. How helpful is it to be doing this alongside Xavier and Jaylen and James on Sunday for the first time? It’s great. Uh you know, we all came in the same time. We’re all becoming closer and closer. Um you know, me and Jaylen trained together in Texas. um throughout the process. So, we got close during that and then me and X, you know, uh same position. So, you know, we were competitors against each other. Uh but um it is great to be here around some of those guys. Uh really elite guys and you know, we just talk to each other all the time. You know, uh it’s rookie takeover, so we we trying to do something. Leonard was saying the last time that happened for him, four rookies starting on defense was when he was a rookie starting in his first game. Any words of wisdom from the older guys in the room going into Sunday? Yeah. um you know, you going to you’re going to, you know, mess up at times. Um is mainly what they’re saying. But um as long as you continuing to, you know, next play, next rep uh focus on, you know, what’s to come next, um that’s the only thing that matters. So just, you know, being able to, you know, put the good, the bad, the ugly behind us and move moving forward. You’ve had so many first games of the season, you know, throughout your entire life. You know, what is it for you that week, those few days leading up to that first game, that season opener? How do you describe it? It’s like it’s just butterflies in your stomach. It’s like you’re ready. Um you’re not necessarily anxious, but you’re you’re just waiting for it to happen. Um uh necessarily just, you know, it’s so much excitement. Um but for me, it’s just I try to I try to, you know, be simple, calm it down. Um at the end of the day, it’s still football. It’s still a game that I’ve played over and over again. So, just I just try to, you know, tell myself own self to relax. I know you can’t control the schedule and every single one’s a big game, but when you start with Tampa, I know you’ve never been a part of this, but the guys in the locker room, the urgency playing that team week one, what what does that do? What is the takeaway from that going into that? Yeah. From from everybody around here, um even outside the building, you know, you hear about the game with Tampa and you hear about the game even with the Saints. you know, those type of games are our big games and it’s crucial for this locker room, the um fan base, the um staff and it’s crucial for us to start one and 0. Um so it could be whoever it is, but we want to start one and um it’s going to be it’s going to be a good matchup. Um you know, they got people everywhere. Um so not um not going to go down that route, but yeah. Yeah, it’s it’s a big game and we got to go out there and accomplish. What would be the biggest surprise from this experience for you that you weren’t expecting at the beginning of training camp that kind of surprised you along the way that you know you maybe weren’t expecting? What do you think? I mean, you hear about it, it being a business and stuff like that is just, you know, um just just seeing guys in one day and and out the next. It’s like uh it’s a hard thing to do and it’s like the more and more I see it, the more and more it’s like, damn, I I feel I feel I feel that for them. Like do truly suck. But just being able to build a bond with some guys or a rel relationship and you know start to chop it up especially being a younger guy and some of those guys are older just trying to get game from them and then you know next day they up and gone it’s like dang I got to send them a text message hey I I appreciate you and I’m wishing you the best. Yeah. And you run out run out of that tunnel a couple times already but not not as a starter for week one. What’s that feeling going to be like on Sunday? It’s going to be surreal. Um it’s going to be it’s going to be a deep feeling. I don’t I don’t think it’s a surface level feeling. It’s going to be something inside that, you know, get that fire going and it’s like you made it, but there there’s so much more to be to be done. So, um it’s it’s just going to be an very exciting moment. Um you know, one that I’m grateful to share with my family and stuff. Cool. With Caleb now out for the year, do you guys look at that as a defense as as a challenge asked of you to to maybe even do more and and and focus on all the things that you guys do so well? In general, as a defense is our job to stop the opposing team’s offense. So, that’s the goal and that’s always going to be the goal to go out and stop their offense. What’s kind of unique about opening up against a division rival like Tampa in week one? Uh, it’s a big game. You can’t treat it lightly. You got, you know, they going to come out to play. We got to come out and play too and uh just execute. Been around the game Oh, go ahead. No, go ahead, Luke. I was going to say you’ve been around the game a long time. First games happened every single year since you were in peewee football to now. What’s that feeling like for you going into that first week? Uh try to be hot early. Got to be at your best with the first snap. So that’s the goal. Is there a learning process of kind of t taking along these younger guys in terms of getting ready for that week one game? Is that a message that you give to them a lot even though they have played a couple preseason games so far? I believe they young. They going to come out and play hard anyway because they young players and uh it’s about them executing at a high level and being consistent, but yeah, they’re going to come out and play hard. Hey, where are y’all at as a um a group building that continuity as a unit that y’all y’all need on Sunday? I mean, we can’t know until it’s it’s time to get out of the quarterback. So, it’s it’s it’s time to show now. You feel me? So, can’t we can talk about it all day. It’s now it’s action. Uh-huh. You feel um confident that the it’s action time. Y’all going to be able to do the action. Now, we going to jinx it now. Okay. Okay. We just got to let it play out. We got to We got to go to practice Wednesday first and continue our game plan for the team. Yeah. Do you sense some of you looking to you? You’ve been in the league a while, been uh uh doing your thing. Do you sense that? Um they’re like, “Okay, Lynn’s going to lead the way for us.” I mean, I hope I hope so. But I lead by example, so I got to go out and just play. But do you feel you sense that they, you know, they know you not around? You know, you do you do your way, but I mean kind of Yeah. I I think they starting to become pros day by day. Four four rookies on defense. Have you ever dealt with that something like that in your in your career now going into this opening game with with four guys starting in their first NFL game? The only time I did was when I was a rookie coming in. So I can’t really explain the feeling. But yeah, that’s about the only time when I came into the league. I came in as one of the four rookies in Chicago. What are your memories from that that first game in Chicago? I mean, I was nervous. You know, it was my first NFL game, but I got a sack my first game, so I felt good about that. But yeah, it felt great. It felt great.

Atlanta Falcons Billy Bowman Jr. and Leonard Floyd speak with the media ahead of the Atlanta Falcons’ Week 1 matchup vs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@AtlantaFalcons

#AtlantaFalcons #RiseUp #NFL #Falcons