It’s hard to be a leader right away, but playing quarterback, you have to.
Ultimately, I’ve just got to keep playing football and try to do it the best I can and try to continue to be a high-level quarterback, and if I do that, trust that in the long run things will work out.
Playing quarterback, you rely on everybody. Everybody impacts you.
The ability to overcome pain can be a testament to the human spirit, and it’s oftentimes what sets NFL players apart from armchair quarterbacks.
Everybody thinks when I say a guy is a good game manager, that’s a negative, but I think it’s a real positive. You have the ball in your hand every time when you’re a quarterback. Whether you’re handing it off or throwing to somebody, I think that’s extremely important.
When we had a great defense at Tampa Bay, we always measured our defenses against the best quarterbacks.
The number of starting quarterbacks in the NFL from Texas speaks for itself.
If I’m Colin Kaepernick I have to prove myself. I would say, ‘I would love the opportunity to show that I am a championship-winning quarterback again, and I understand that I am not going to be handed anything and that I would love the opportunity to come back.’ If he said that it would open the ears of a lot of teams.
You don’t have to go out there and fit the mold of what a quarterback is supposed to be. Make your own mold and do the best at each role. If you can run with the best and throw with the best, you can be the best quarterback in your own version of the position.
Any defensive coordinator is worried about two things: a running quarterback and a deep ball. You know, don’t get beat deep and don’t let the quarterback run, because a big part of your defense can’t account for the quarterback as a runner, so he gets a free run.
In this league you might have a quarterback within your division that you’re worried about running all over the place, the next week it’s a running back, so to be able to have multiple answers for every situation is probably a benefit for everybody.
If any other part of your body has some weakness, you go, ‘Well I can probably manage.’ But when you’re a quarterback, and it’s your right hand, you’re certainly concerned far as being able to do your job.
As a receiver, you want to run through contact. That’s the biggest coaching point that most coaches give them. You’re going to get grabbed and you’re going to get into adverse situations. But if you run through contact and do not confuse the quarterback, more than likely you’re going to get the football.
