My Favorite Ring is Always the Next One
I think that at the start of a game, you're always playing to win, and then maybe if you're ahead late in the game, you start playing not to lose. The true competitors, though, are the ones who always play to win.
Football is unconditional love.
I have no knowledge of anything.
A lot of times I find that people who are blessed with the most talent don't ever develop that attitude, and the ones who aren't blessed in that way are the most competitive and have the biggest heart.
I got a few Mrs. Bradys in my life.
I could talk food all day. I love good food.
Life is not living in the suburbs with a white picket fence. That's not life. Somehow our American culture has made it out that that's what life needs to be - and that if it's not that, it's all screwed up. It's not.
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 didn't alter the footballs in any way
I'm a pretty good winner. I'm a terrible loser. And I rub it in pretty good when I win.
I don't put any thought into the footballs after I choose them. When you're out there playing in front of 70,000 people, like a home crowd, you don't think about it. You're just reacting to the game.
Certainly I accept my role and responsibility as a public figure and a lot of it you take the good with the bad, dealing with different adversities in life, you just try to do the best you can do.
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?
If you waste your time and energy on things that don't matter in the outcome of the game, then when you get to the game you're not going to give your teammates the best that you have to offer.
You go through high school and college the same way: never listening to your coaches because you're the best. But when you get to the pros, all that stops because everybody there has talent.
Football is a contact sport and there's a lot that goes into it. But I have committed myself for a long time to doing it, and because I love doing it so much I want to make that commitment.
Everyone is dealing with something. This is life; this is not just a piece of cake. You expect that when your teammates are doing their jobs, so you got to compartmentalize and do your job.
We all have experiences in our lives that change us, and we all learn from people, like my dad, but at the end of the day, it's only us. And we're only responsible to make ourselves happy.
I think any man who lets a woman pick what he should wear... I mean, you gotta draw the line somewhere as a man. I see these guys, 'My wife told me to wear this!' And I just shake my head.
As an athlete, when you are on that field and the fans get really engaged and you can feel their energy and passion and true love of the game, it is absolutely a spiritual experience.
A guy like Malcolm who makes that type of quick, instinctive plays, that's one of his strong suits. I don't think it surprised any of us players because that's what his skill set is.
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.
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.
I think I've been fortunate over the years to be at a point in my career where I really get to choose the partnerships that I really want to take on and they're a perfect fit.
My mom was a great tennis player, and I remember being six or seven years old watching Steffi Graf and Monica Seles in Wimbledon in my house. I've always been a tennis fan.
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.
To me, football is so much about mental toughness, it's digging deep, it's doing whatever you need to do to help a team win and that comes in a lot of shapes and forms.
My job is to play quarterback, and I'm going to do that the best way I know how, because I owe that to my teammates regardless of who is out there on the field with me.
It's never come easy for me. I don't think my mind allows me to rest ever. I have, I think, a chip on my shoulder, and some deep scars that I don't think were healed.
