Will Anderson Jr. joins In The Loop from Radio Row in New Orleans

KILT-AM / SportsRadio 610

Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. joined In The Loop from Radio Row in New Orleans to talk  about the offseason and what he's endorsing ahead of the Super Bowl.

Transcript

00:00Will Anderson is on his way to the Exclusive Furniture hot seat.

00:03There is something not right about him wearing a jacket that says chunky.

00:07Well look, we got to ask him about it because joining us right this moment,

00:12he is about to sit down in our Exclusive Furniture hot seat.

00:16It's a man who, uh, it's a man who won Defensive Rookie of the Year.

00:20He plays for your Houston Texans and his name is Will Anderson Jr.

00:24He just took a little lean back in the hot seat.

00:30Yeah, he's getting that headset on.

00:31Now you're getting comfortable.

00:32Yeah, I'm good. I can do that now.

00:33Yeah, you just need a remote.

00:35Actually, yeah, go ahead. You can lean that joint back if you want to as well.

00:38Uh, my legs are too long. I'm going to hit the table.

00:40Yeah, that's true. That's true.

00:41You got to, you got to remember, we're normal size human beings.

00:44We're not used to being like, dude, like, in fact, it's kind of weird.

00:49As you were sitting down, we were saying,

00:50it feels kind of weird seeing the word chunky across your chest.

00:53Because you're anything but, you know what I mean?

00:57How you doing, brother?

00:58I'm doing fantastic.

00:59Thank y'all for having me as always.

01:00It's always a pleasure to be here with you guys.

01:02I'm doing great.

01:03Man, so you join us, obviously sponsored by Campbell's Chunky.

01:07And you grew up with a big family, right?

01:09Like, so I imagine like soups, those types of things.

01:12Like, did you have the experience of what's in the pots in the pot?

01:15If you eat, it's cool.

01:17But if you don't, that's up to you.

01:18No, let me tell you, no offense.

01:20I love chunky, but my grandma, she always made everything homemade.

01:23Oh, word.

01:23They made everything homemade, eh?

01:25She got all her, she vegetables in the garden and everything.

01:28She did it like that, yeah.

01:30Okay, so I see that that makes sense.

01:31Like, so we just do it wholesale organic and that's how we get to this place.

01:34Is that what's happening?

01:35Yes.

01:37All right, so let's talk a little football and we'll get into Campbell's Chunky.

01:39Because I know, first of all, let's start there.

01:42You are very familiar with some of the big names that have been associated with Campbell's Chunky.

01:46Like, when you started this relationship, you had to be going, what, me?

01:51I mean, how did that go?

01:52It was fantastic.

01:53It was great.

01:54I was excited about it.

01:55Just hearing all the former names that used to be a part of it.

01:57And then to be a part of something special like this.

01:59And then what they were doing for it as well, too.

02:01Like, you know, just going out there and getting sacks and helping raise money to, you know,

02:04feed families.

02:05You know, it was that, we raised over 1.3 million meals.

02:08But Chunky is just such a great, you know, a great, you know, product and thing that we're

02:13going to up it to 2 million meals.

02:14So I'm really excited about that, man.

02:16Get to feed a lot of families across America and, you know, make a lot of people's day.

02:21So I'm sorry, but last year we spoke with you, I believe, on Radio Row.

02:27And we were talking about some of the moves you wanted to develop.

02:30You did.

02:31Yeah.

02:31I mean, you improved.

02:32So what now?

02:33Same thing.

02:34It's the same thing.

02:34There's no time to relax.

02:36There's no time to feel.

02:36But anything specific?

02:38I'm guessing it's the Euro, right?

02:39We're still dealing with the Neil Hunter Euro spin.

02:41Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

02:43I'll leave that to Daniel.

02:44I'll leave that.

02:45Me and Daniel have two different Russian styles.

02:47No, I'll tell people all the time, like, what you see on my tape is not pretty.

02:51I'm not a type of dude that go out there and do all the fancy moves, all the cute moves.

02:54Like, I get right to the point of attack and try to get to the quarterback.

02:57And that's something I just want to do consistently and keep building off that.

03:01And, you know, my biggest thing this offseason is with my flexibility and stuff like that

03:05and really getting the right training this offseason to help me do that.

03:08But turn that corner tighter and just having more precision on the ball and getting some

03:12more strip sacks and fumbles and stuff like that.

03:14And that's where I want to take my game to the next level.

03:16We're talking to Will Anderson Jr. here in the Loop on Sports Radio 6.

03:20And I got to ask.

03:20I see you got the thing on the thumb.

03:22How's the thumb doing?

03:23It's doing good.

03:24It's OK.

03:25It's OK.

03:25I'm good.

03:26I'm straight.

03:27I feel you.

03:29Now, I mentioned to Neal, and I've always been super, you know, interested in that relationship.

03:34Like, now that you've got the whole season behind you, like, how do you look at the way

03:38that you guys rushed together?

03:39Because it felt like you guys were the best, if not one of the best duos.

03:42It was beautiful.

03:43Yeah, it was beautiful.

03:44He's a special guy, man, on and off the field.

03:47I have to commend the type of guy he is off the field.

03:50You know, when I first met him, I was like, I don't know how this is going to go.

03:52Because, you know, usually when you have two alpha dogs in a room, you know, it's usually

03:56somebody got it.

03:57But no, it was great working with him.

03:59Like, he taught me so much.

04:00He learned from me the system and stuff like that.

04:03And we were open to learning from each other and playing for each other.

04:07Like, he helped me.

04:08He gave me so much confidence just there.

04:10And just to look at him on the side and be like, that's who I'm out there going to war

04:13with every time we got on the field.

04:14It was a great feeling.

04:16I remember during training camp, you came over and visited us, and you were raving about

04:22Mario Edwards.

04:23Yeah.

04:23And just to be honest, afterward, I was like, I didn't know Mario was going to be that big

04:28a part of things.

04:29But those interior linemen, I mean, I know you want to give them some love, but what

04:34did they do in terms of like for you and Daniil?

04:36They did everything that we could possibly ask for.

04:39And we tell them all the time how appreciative we are of them.

04:41You talk about pushing the pocket.

04:43And before we even go to pass rush, you want to just talk about stopping the run.

04:47They handled that for us.

04:49You know what I'm saying?

04:49Like, they're a big part of the reason why we had a really great defense.

04:52Those big bodies in the middle, stopping the run, knocking people back, getting off blocks

04:56and then pass rush.

04:57You know, putting those guards and centers and everybody in their own lane.

05:01We rushed together.

05:02And I thought that's what I really loved about this group.

05:04Nobody was selfish.

05:05Nobody just was chasing stats.

05:07Everybody was like, we want to see everybody eat.

05:08And those guys made it happen.

05:09Yeah.

05:10Now, obviously, you talked about the way that you want to get better in this offseason.

05:13We watched this football team.

05:14And this defense was a monster.

05:17It feels like, I'm like, how do you get better?

05:19How does this defense get better specifically?

05:21We have to execute better.

05:22We have to execute better.

05:23There's so many times in the game where we let up big plays.

05:25We let up explosive plays.

05:26And we can't have that.

05:27Like, if we want to go to where we want to go, which is ultimately the Super Bowl, we

05:30have to do a better job of executing and being detailed and locked in, especially those critical

05:34moments, especially when it's coming down to the last minute.

05:36How locked in?

05:37How can we execute?

05:37How can we be better not to give up those big plays?

05:40I'm curious.

05:40You mentioned one of the things you're going to be looking at this year.

05:42And you're always working, trying to get better.

05:44You said flexibility.

05:45Yeah.

05:49Anything?

05:50Just more, like, hip stuff and stuff like that.

05:52I'm excited.

05:53You know, this offseason is a, you know, as you go in more offseasons, you get to learn

05:57and learn more and more about your body.

05:59And, you know, last year, I learned, like, I didn't have a set routine.

06:03You know, I didn't have a set regimen.

06:04I didn't have a set schedule.

06:05And this year, like, I already know my schedule.

06:08I'll be training, you know, everything like that, the things that I'm going to be doing,

06:10the things that I need to work on on my body to take my game to where it needs to be.

06:14So I'm excited about that.

06:15A little yoga in there?

06:16Yoga is most definitely a part of that.

06:18Yoga, Pilates, all of it's in there.

06:22Is that the biggest thing, though, that you learned about yourself this season?

06:24Or was there anything else?

06:25Oh, that's, like, one of them.

06:28That's really just one of them.

06:29You know, I'm such a competitor.

06:31And I'm such a perfectionist.

06:32You know, my coach always tell me, he said, Will, you got to enjoy the process.

06:35You got to slow down and really enjoy this process.

06:38You know, sometimes as athletes, we want immediate results.

06:41And, you know, it doesn't always work like that.

06:43You have to enjoy your process.

06:44You have to trust your process.

06:45And right now, that's what I'm going through right now is my process, man.

06:48I'm learning my body.

06:49I'm continuing to learn my game.

06:51And, you know, as fast as I want it to happen, I'm like, bro, it's going to come.

06:54You just got to stay consistent, stay persistent, and keep doing everything that you need to do to get there.

06:58Now, looking at, I mean, your running mate since you got drafted is CJ Stroud in this thing, man.

07:04The season was a little up and down, tumultuous for him.

07:07How did it, looking at it from your side and looking from your perspective,

07:10like, how did that season go and how did he handle it?

07:12How did it progress?

07:13Man, I think he handled it really well.

07:15You know, like, one thing I always talk about Coach Saban is,

07:19what I love about him so much that helped me out through all my seasons of playing football after him was,

07:23I asked him, I said, Coach, why do you love coaching football?

07:28Like, it's the challenge of a new season.

07:30Every season is going to be different.

07:31No season is going to look the same.

07:32You're not going to go 15-0 every season.

07:34You're not going to have the record that you think you're going to have.

07:36You're not going to have the season that you always going to think you have.

07:38And that's what keeps me going, that thrill, that challenge.

07:41And I commend him so much for that because I look at that in my own life.

07:43And I think CJ did the same thing.

07:45Like, every season is not going to look the same.

07:47You know what I'm saying?

07:48But the way he persevered through it, the way he played through it,

07:50he still led us all the way to divisional game.

07:53And you, that's not like, of course, you want the Super Bowl, but he's a young player.

07:57He's still learning.

07:57He's still enjoying his process and learning his process.

08:00And he can take us to how far we want to go.

08:02And I truly believe that.

08:03And I'm excited about it.

08:05So the streets are saying you kind of look like Brownie James a little bit.

08:09I don't know if you know that.

08:10Oh, wow.

08:14Do that again.

08:16I don't know how you feel about them accusations.

08:19That's my dad right there.

08:20OK, you just want to make sure.

08:23LeBron James is not my dad.

08:26You've heard that one before, I'm guessing.

08:28Hey, well, Will Landis is joining.

08:30We appreciate you sitting down with us.

08:32Campbell's Chunky.

08:33Anything else, any way that we also we need to go and shout out here?

08:36I thought we did good.

08:38We appreciate you.

08:39Hey, man, go out there, work on those Pilates, get more flexible.

08:42And let's go ahead and get even more sacks next year.

08:45How does that sound?

08:45Yes, sir.

08:46Will Landis Jr. joining us in the exclusive furniture hot seat.

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