It’s not so much about killing an animal, it’s being at peace and you don’t have to worry about all the other things that go on. That’s a couple of hours a week that you get to escape but it’s nice to do that.
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.
Just, you never know what the next day is going to bring. That goes for football, goes for off the field, and I gave up a long time ago trying to predict the future and trying to deal with things I couldn’t deal with.
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.
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.
I consider myself more of a loner now and I think when you get older, especially in this game, and just talking with other players who have come and gone, I see what they were saying when I was a young guy in the locker room.
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.
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.
I’m thankful for all the things that this job has given me and my family. But probably the thing that I am most proud of throughout my career is that, not only myself, but my family and the people around me have just been regular people, which we are.
In the NFL a lot of times everyone gets caught up in the business side of things. For them it’s all about money and it really leaves a sour taste in your mouth.
Well even before she was diagnosed with the cancer, I would have said that she was a lot tougher than me and most guys would probably say that about their wives and it’s probably true in most cases.
God, he deals you blows that at sometimes you think you can’t handle and in the last year there have been things that we thought we couldn’t handle but we’ve dealt with it up until this point.
I didn’t know what to expect coming into this year. There were a lot of question marks, and I think that’s obvious now. Can we overcome it? Time will tell.
