A long time ago I made a pact with myself that if you can't do it, you can't do it anymore and you have to leave the game. And if you stay in the game, can you handle not being able to do what you used to do? And I can accept that. And I also decided that I wanted to be here. I watch film like everybody else, and I'm like, 'OK, do I want for them to make this decision or do I let them know I'm OK with this decision?' And that helps. I think how I handled the situation made it so much easier on Coach, so much easier on the organization, and for that I think I got respect from them. |
Coach Martz and me, we've shared some great times, some all-time highs. But we're all realists. We understand the situation. |
Everything is out and people are going into survivor mode, |
I couldn't tell what part was which and I'm growing up down there and it's not a big city, so I'm pretty familiar with it all, ... With all the water you just couldn't tell parts apart. |
I find myself going between the game plan and what's going on down in New Orleans while sitting in meetings, ... I'll see what kind of challenge it's going to be. I've never had a distraction like that. |
I think as a kid I never really understood the magnitude of a hurricane and what it could do, |
I think it's unfair to even speculate on any decision because I haven't made one. Honestly, I haven't given any thought to that. |
I think that in a sense you just have to be honest with yourself and what you can and can't do and understand what you want to get out of this game and what you want to do. And I want to win. My personal accomplishments aren't as important to me; winning is. I think the combination of myself and Steven gives us, as a team, a better opportunity to win. With the work that he's going to put in, he deserves to be the starter. |
I think that sometimes the whole upbringing thing, people want to make a story out of it, |
I try to tell the kids, I'm not trying to run away from where I came from, |
I was probably being a little paranoid, ... In past years I would've worked through something like that and kept right on pushing ahead. But I'm just so excited about this season -- I just want everything to be perfect, because I think it can be a special year for us -- and I want to make extra sure that nothing slows me down. |
I'd not only be cheating myself, but I'd be cheating my teammates if I continued to make the money that I was making and wasn't producing or putting out to the level of payment that I was receiving. That's just me. |
If you're from here, and you watch it on TV, and you can do something about it, you're going to. |
In my mind and my heart, I feel like I'm the better player. But I feel like I'm better than anybody who ever played the game, but that's just how it is, that's the only way you can succeed. And in his mind, he (Jackson) feels like he's the better player and the best player who has ever played the position. You have to have that attitude to succeed, but you can't have the ego to the point where you don't understand how him starting and me playing the role helps the team. |
Is it hard? It's hard. I mean, it's not easy. There's some work that's involved. But it's just like everything else -- you work for it, you get it. And if you sit down and you talk about it and you make it like, 'Oh, it was rough. It was tough.' There are kids at home scratching their heads like, 'Oh, boy, I don't have what it takes to make it because I can't run the football like he does.' That has nothing to do with it. When I talk to kids, I let them know it's not about that. You can do it. You don't have to be a football player to do it. |