You have to believe you’re great. You have to have an air about you. My success wasn’t because I was a great talent, but because I wanted it more than anybody else. Every minute I step on that field, I want to prove I’m the best player in the league.
My wife, she still gives me a hard time, and says I hunt too much or I like to play golf too much. And she’s probably right, but it sure beats some of the things I used to do.
The town, the team, it’s a family. That has helped. For some people who have had to deal with some of the problems I have had to deal with don’t have football as an out.
Initially, I know that I handled it worse than she did and I think partly because I’ve always been… every bit of adversity I’ve faced up until the last year and a half is adversity I brought upon myself – or the opposing teams have given me.
You can lose a game but, I see guys every week including myself, you lose a game, it’s a tough loss, you’re down, two weeks later you forgot about it. You know it’s amazing how down you were, but all of the sudden you’re like it never happened.
With each game I play, with each season I play, I’m running out of chances. You’re never guaranteed next year. You’re never guaranteed the next game. You have to seize the opportunity when it’s there in front of you.
It’s been six years since I have had a drink and I have two girls, and my priorities are a lot different now and I just can’t believe I was that guy. And I would not go back, I would not trade the way I am now for anything.
