I recruited A.J. myself. And from the day I met him until now, he's been a competitor. He didn't just show up and become great. He worked extremely hard, and his competitiveness drove that. I've never seen anyone like him. He's in the weight room every day at 6 o'clock in the morning. A lot of people don't see that side of him, because he doesn't let them in. They see the glamour, but he's worked for everything he's gotten. |
I saw him out there running. |
It still comes down to blocking, tackling and making plays. |
They are complex. They do give you a lot of problems, and when you sit down and try to come up with a game plan against them, I think it is difficult. They do so many different things and provide so many different wrinkles, plus from game to game you're not really sure what you're going to get. |
To me the most important thing is when I look back on our defense was that they played together as a unit and they gave each other credit. We didn't have a bunch of individuals out there trying to draw attention to themselves. The focus of this unit was what I think was special with this group. |