Super Bowl XLVI – Saturday, January 28, 2012(on the Patriots’ defense playing with confidence) “Coming here, obviously we have a great opportunity and there has been a great tradition of winning. When you get here, Bill (Belichick) is only going to play the best guys and the guys who are going to contribute the most. Coming in in 2009 (with the Patriots), if someone told me I was going to be the starting linebacker for the Patriots in two years, I don’t know if I would have believed them. Everybody has been working really hard all year. We’ve had our ups and downs on defense and obviously, we gave up some yards that we didn’t want to give up. At the end of the day, we did great in turnover ratio and we really stayed together as a group. We fought through the whole season and worked hard. Once the regular season was over, we knew it was a one-game season in the playoffs. We prepared the best we could each week in the playoffs. Whoever we had to face, we were going to be prepared for them.”
(on the team having a motto this year) “No. We’re all working really hard. The one thing about the group is that there are a lot of guys who came from free agency or a lot of guys who were cut and had a lot to prove. I think when you go through that route of getting cut, not having a roster spot, wanted to only be a special teams guy and trying to break into the roster on that aspect, it’s kind of tough. Coming here, it’s really been a blessing for a lot of guys. You take every moment and every opportunity you have and you make the best of it.”
(on being told he could only play as a long snapper with the Saints and how he’s used that as motivation) “When (New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton) told me I was a long snapper, I didn’t think he was seeing me in the right way as a football player. I think that was my only opportunity to be on the team and that was it. He told me my only chance of making the team was as a long snapper so I just went and snapped a ton of balls. I tried to improve on that. At the end of the day, it didn’t work out there and I came here. So it was just my fate to come to New England.”
(on why New England is a good fit for him) “I think they gave me the opportunity and the way they play their defense, they are really an “edge” team. You have to have bigger guys on the outside as linebackers who set the edge. Bill (Belichick) has always preached setting the edge and stopping the run. If you do just that, that’s one area of the game that he emphasizes. Coming in here, I was able to do that.”
(on what it is like playing close to his college of Purdue) “It’s pretty nice being 45 minutes away from Purdue and about two- and-a-half hours from home. So, yes, it’s pretty cool. The family could just jump in the car and they didn’t have to get on a plane or anything like that.”
(on how many tickets he had to secure for his family) “Just my family. My mom, dad, sister, nephew and finance. That’s it. Once you give a ticket to a cousin, everyone else wants one too. I can’t open the flood gates.”
(on having an extended family) “Yes, I have a big family. They are all going to be watching and cheering for me.”
(on the success of Purdue’s alums in the Super Bowl) “I think Purdue is obviously a great program. We have a lot of guys in the NFL and a lot of defensive ends that were a little bit undersized and moved to the outside linebacker spot. It’s a great school and I have great memories of being at Purdue.”
(on playing at Joliet Junior College prior to playing at Purdue) “That was an experience. Coming out of high school, I wasn’t the biggest guy. I had to put on some weight and really develop and mature. The best option for me was to go to JJC. That made you appreciate everything. I had my high school pads, had to buy my cleats, had one pair of gloves all season and had to drive to practice every day and the games. So, it really made me more hungry to continue. I have great respect for Coach Bob MacDougall. He called me up and I really didn’t think to go to a junior college. He called my house, talked to me and made me go that way.”
(on playing football in junior college giving him more motivation to succeed at the next level) “I’ve always had to prove people wrong. My whole life, guys have been turning heads and overlooking me. You have to go out there and perform. Your performance is what defines you as a player. The more plays you make, the more people recognize you. When I was at junior college, I made a lot of plays. I decided to go to Purdue even though they had a lot of starters there. I thought if I went in there and competed well, I’d have an opportunity. Coming into the NFL, I knew that I’d be a special teams guys and I’d have to do whatever I could to get on defense. Once I got on defense, I had to make a name for myself.”
(on having success in college against Indiana University) “Yes, I think IU helped me get to the NFL. I had eight sacks in two years, which isn’t too bad.”
(on working construction prior to starting his football career) “Right before I went to junior college, I worked a couple weeks of nights. From 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. I did iron work with steel and things my dad has done for 30 years now. It was on a bridge off of Interstate 57. I was over water and it was kind of scary. I opened up my eyes to knowing I didn’t want to be an iron worker for the rest of my life. I’m not a big fan of heights. Looking up (at Lucas Oil Stadium), someone had to put that up there. I don’t think I could have done it.”
(on being from an area where tough football players have come from) “Getting to the NFL is a lot of work. All of the time and effort put in to getting to where you are right now. You have a great appreciation for it. I look back at the years I’ve played and I could write a book about it. Just the ups and downs and the injuries you have to get through. Rehabbing for eight months after a knee injury. Emotionally, it’s tough. You want to be playing, you know you have the skills to play, but you just don’t have the opportunity. To anybody who is listening and looks at my story, work hard and once you get your chance, make the best of it.”
(on his junior college football program being taken away) “Joliet Junior College – they took its program away. I think it’s sad for the kids who need that step to get to the next level. Obviously, if I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t be where I’m at right now. I feel bad for those kids who won’t have that there for them. I think there are other places that they can go. Just for guys in this area, it kind of takes away some of their options.”
(on selecting Purdue coming out of junior college) “Coming out of junior college, I had a lot of Mid-American Conference offers. Toledo (was one). Iowa said I was a little small for them so that wouldn’t have worked out for me. Illinois offered me a scholarship as a long snapper and I didn’t want to do that either. Purdue was really my only offer. My goal was to go to the Big Ten.”
(on what kind of player he thought he would become as he developed) “When I first started playing football my freshman year of high school, I didn’t know anything. That was my first year of playing. I was playing offensive guard and I was terrible. I didn’t know the game. There were tapes of my pulling and guys completely running past me and just killing the running back. I had a lot of learning to do so they just moved me to defense the next year. It’s something that fit me well. Chasing the ball and the pass rush stuff was natural for me. It’s been a long road, but defense is 100 percent. When I went to Purdue they offered me a scholarship, but they didn’t have enough scholarships on defense so I signed as a tight end. On the first day of two-a-days, I asked to play the first practice as a tight end and the second as a defensive end.”
(on the NFL being a realistic goal for him) “That’s always in the back of your head when you’re in college. That’s your projection. You want to get in the NFL and that’s your dream. Not until after my senior year was over did I realize that this was really going to happen. With agents talking to me and telling me I had a chance to get drafted. That was the first time I knew it was going to happen for me. It was a pretty cool feeling.”
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