“Every quarterback can throw a ball; every running back can run; every receiver is fast; but that mental toughness that you talk about translates into competitiveness.”

With football, you can have up to 28 guys you consider starters, and if they can pick up the slack when some aren’t playing so well, you don’t have to turn those two-game losing streaks into six-game losing streaks.

I think sometimes in life the biggest challenges end up being the best things that happen in your life.

Football is unconditional love.

Fortunately for a quarterback, you can play for a long time because you don’t get hit very often.

I think it’s a feeling like I’ve got it all figured out. There’s nothing that can shock me anymore. There’s nothing I haven’t anticipated; so at that point, there is a calmness.

I think you can just go out and try to be the best you can be, deal with people with respect, with honesty, with integrity, have a high moral standard. I’ve always really tried to exemplify that as an athlete. I’ll continue to try to do that.

I’m not a person who defends myself very often. I kind of let my actions speak for me.

I knew I became a professional when I stop paying attention to what time it was.

Sometimes some of the toughest things you deal with end up being the best things because you realize the people that you can rely on, that love you and support you through it.

So many guys are so conservative with their hair, and I always joke with all my buddies when they mess with me, and I’ll say, ‘That’s right, keep the same haircut for ten years.’ How fun is that?

My sisters like cooking at my place. It has a bit more room, and the food tastes a little bit better. A big pot of spaghetti and sauce, some warm French bread – works all the time. I think I’ve been eating pasta for 26 years.

My job is to evaluate the field, pick the guy that I think is most open and make a good throw.

I approach every week the same. I think I’ve always tried to be very professional to how I approach the game, my preparation. Every game is important.

When you lose, talk little. When you win, talk less.

I think I have a certain respect for people, you know. And I guess a lot of times I expect that respect to go both ways.

I can’t do anything with what’s happened in the past. I have to just go forward with the most awareness I can going forward and trying to be the best I can be for our team.

You can’t always be the most talented person in the room. But you can be the most competitive.

Competitiveness is really what it costs you per man-hour to get you what you want. In other words, there’s an education level that plays into the mix and so if it’s inexpensive to buy an hour of real good education in places like China versus the U.S., that factors in.

Competitive strategy is about being different. It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value.

Strategy is about setting yourself apart from the competition. It’s not a matter of being better at what you do – it’s a matter of being different at what you do.

In today’s competitive economy, to stand still is to die.

The U.S. is facing a structural competitiveness problem that is leading to the weakest economy we have seen in generations.

I release any feelings of competition or comparison. I simply do my best and enjoy being me.

A competitor continually sets new goals. He feels the need to keep raising the bar. If the fist goal is to make the team, and he achieves it, he immediately resets the goal to: I want to be a starter.