Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald

On flying under the radar:
“I like it. You guys know that, the people here locally know that and this is part of the obligation. I don’t want to get fined anymore, so I’m going to do what I’m told to do.”

On not liking the media attention:
“I’ve never been about that kind of stuff. I just love to play and I just want to go out there and compete and win – that’s what’s fun to me.”

On whether he wants to be the best:
“Definitely. If you’re playing this game and you don’t want to be the best, then I don’t understand what your motivation is. Anytime you step out onto the field, you want to be dominant and you want to be the best player on the field. I don’t think anybody in our locker room doesn’t feel that they want to do that every time they step onto the field.”

On whether he is a dominant player yet:
“I still have a lot of work to do. I’m not complete yet. There’s a lot of things I have to continue to work on and I’m going to keep pushing.”

On the first game against Philadelphia:
“We just came out flat. We ran into a team that was extremely hungry and had their backs against the wall. They were playing at home in a big game and we came out flat and they jumped on us. That happens sometimes in this league, if you don’t come out ready to play, sometimes teams jump on you like that. But this is a different game, we’re playing at home, we’re well rested and we’re ready to go. We just expect to come out there and start off fast.”

On whether the team is surprised by its success:
“Nobody in this locker room is surprised by anything. This was our goal. When we started off in minicamp, this was our goal; to be in the position we’re in now. Nobody is surprised. Everyone outside of this locker room and outside of this building might be surprised, but none of us in here are. This is what we worked so hard for in the summertime. We’re not finished – this is not where we want to be. We don’t just want to go to the NFC Championship Game, we want to continue playing and that’s what we’re motivated by.”

On getting the ball:
“When you have a veteran quarterback like Kurt (Warner), I kind of feel like when you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, you’re getting the right leverage and getting the right look, you’re going to get the ball. That’s just what Kurt has been taught to do and that’s what he’s done consistently over his career. So as receivers we know if we beat our man that’s covering us and it’s the right coverage, we’re going to get the football and that’s the way everyone is thinking.”

On whether he expects to see double or triple coverage on him:
“You never know what to expect with Philly. Their defensive coordinator is probably the best in the business and whenever you’re playing against them you have to have your head on a swivel and know exactly what’s going on, because they’re flying all over the place.”

On the possibility of having Anquan Boldin back:
“Having ‘Q’ back is going to be great. He just adds another dimension to what we’re trying to do. He does so many things well in terms of the running game, the passing game, quick screens and he’s so interchangeable – he can play any position. So when you get a player like that back in your lineup, it just opens your playbook up so much more and makes the defense pay attention.”

On Kurt Warner:
“It’s great having Kurt. We all see the pictures – we’ve all seen Kurt holding that Vince Lombardi trophy over his head on that podium and thanking the fans. He’s been there – he’s been to where we’re all trying to go right now. So when he talks in the locker room, when he talks to me, you definitely pay attention to what he’s saying because he knows what it takes to get to that position. He’s the leader of this team.”

On the relationship between Edgerrin James and the coaching staff:
“I don’t think it has changed much. Edge is a consummate professional. When he was demoted a couple weeks ago, nothing changed about Edge. He came to work, he practiced hard and he was finishing his runs like he always does. When you’re a Hall of Famer like Edge, he just does his things the right way in terms of what he does in the meeting rooms and how he prepares and takes his notes and does it the professional way. We’ve seen that paying off here in the postseason for us.”

On being more emotional during the playoffs:
“I just get a little excited every once in a while. I try to control it and keep a calm demeanor, but sometimes it gets the best of me. When you know what we’re playing for, the implications, the magnitude of these games, sometimes your emotions will get the better of you.”

On Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie:
“Dominique is a phenomenal talent. He’s gotten better week-in and week-out and I’m really happy to have him here, because he’s going to make me elevate my game to the next level. He’s going to push all the receivers in here to be the best because he’s going to challenge you that way. I think he’s one of the better guys I’ve already faced in the league and it’s just his first year. He still doesn’t know everything – he still doesn’t know splits and there are a lot of things he still needs to learn. But as he continues to improve on that, his athleticism is off the charts. It reminds me of Randy Moss when I was a young kid in terms of nobody being able to duplicate some of the things he was able to do.”

On what he’s learned from Cris Carter:
“Cris is probably the best mentor I’ve had growing up. He was always there for me, whenever I would call him he’d pick up my calls and he just tells me to stay in the moment. ‘Don’t worry about Sunday – make sure that Thursday you’re the best Thursday. When Friday rolls around, make sure you’re the best on Friday. Saturday walkthrough, make sure your assignments are proper. And when Sunday comes, you can just free yourself and go out and play ball because you’ve covered all your bases.’ Just good things like that, that he’s given me throughout this week.”

On Carter saying he isn’t the best receiver in the NFL and if he said who was:
“No – he didn’t tell me who is. But that’s not really that important to me, I just need to go out there and make sure I focus on what I need to do to help this team get to the next level.”

On spending time with Coach Whisenhunt during his contract talks:
“I think we definitely did bond during that time going back and forth about the business aspects of the game and I really saw a different side of him. I saw a man I really believed in and a man I really could go out and play for, someone who went out and fought for me to come back. That’s one of the main reasons I re-signed, because I knew he was going to be here and knew he was going to be getting this program turned around in the right direction. I’m really happy to have him as my coach and hopefully we can get him a new contract soon.”

On Coach Whisenhunt pushing the organization to get him a new deal:
“I know he was in here pushing, pushing and pushing to get me to re-sign. But he also asked me, ‘Fitz, you’ve got to be aware that this is a team. There is a salary cap and we’re trying to compensate you happily for what you’re worth, but we also have other guys who need to be taken care of.’ And I really understood that and this is not about me, or about him, it’s about building this team and going in the right direction.”

On Philadelphia fans hoping he’d play for the Eagles:
“I have no idea. I know I was an Arizona Cardinal and I was happy to be an Arizona Cardinal and I’m just happy I’m going to be an Arizona Cardinal for a couple more years.”

On the East Coast teams just now realizing the type of player he is:
“I have no idea about it. I could really care less. I just want to be the best player I can be and help this team go as far as we can and that’s pretty much my only focus.”

On Jim Johnson protégés holding him to more modest games:
“I think one of the bigger issues we had this year was we weren’t that familiar. When you’re playing against the Rams, the Seahawks or San Francisco, you have an idea of what’s going to happen. You play against them two times a year, every single year. But we haven’t played the Eagles since 2005 – the first time I played them. You don’t have that good familiarity with them and you watch the tape, but you don’t know the personnel that well. They do so much, they give you looks and at the last second they rotate. They do a good job of using techniques at the cornerback position and they just do a really good job of trying to disguise their coverages. When you’re not used to playing against them, I think they can throw you a curve ball.”

On similarities between the Giants and the Eagles:
“They do a lot of things to disrupt you at the line of scrimmage to try and take the timing away from you. You definitely see a lot of similarities from any of those teams.”

On the 2004 draft class:
“I remember talking to a bunch of guys at the rookie symposium that year – we wanted to be the best class ever. You look at some of the players in that class: Steven Jackson, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, the late Sean Taylor and you can go on and on down the line. I think that class – we felt like we could take it to the next level. We had to carry the torch and especially with four guys: Antonio (Smith), myself, (Darnell) Dockett and Karlos (Dansby), I figured we had something really special. I felt like we were one of the key pieces of the foundation here that got us turning around and I’m just happy to be a part of that and I’m just happy those guys are still here.”

On not letting the pressure affect the team:
“I think us never being in this position is helping us, because maybe we don’t understand the magnitude of this game. We’re just going to stay in our regular practice routine, we’re going to stay doing the things we’ve been doing throughout the season and we’re not going to change anything. We’re going to continue to be the same guys that we’ve been and nothing is going to change. We’re going to go out there and play hard, play fast and hopefully come out with a win.”

On how much better he can get:
“I have to continue to get better. I think Coach (Todd) Haley talked about this a couple of weeks ago – now is not the time to reflect. When we’re sitting around in March or when you’re retired and my son is older and he’s playing in high school and saying, ‘dad, I’m making better catches than you,’ – that’s when I’m going to show him the tape. That’s the time to reflect, not in your fifth year playing for the NFC Championship. It’s not time to look at this or that or where I need to go. I just know I need to be on at my best on Sunday to help this team win.”

On him contrasting the more boisterous players in the league:
“A lot of the better players at my position are kind of vocal guys, but I’m just different. I don’t really look to be in the spotlight. I’m comfortable in my own skin, under the radar and that’s perfectly fine with me.”