(Can you explain why you guys remain so effective in bad conditions?)
I think it's just going out there and making plays. You know you can't control the conditions, you can't control the weather so you've just got to go out there and play regardless of the situation. So I think we've just been successful in it because we live here and we play and we wake up in the morning every day in it. But you still have to go out there and playm and I think we've been executing on all cylinders when we're out there in those conditions, because we see the other guys across from us, they're freezing a little more than we are.
(How do you dress for a climate like that as a receiver?)
I don't know how to answer that because I don't wear anything. I don't wear sleeves or anything like that so I just have my socks and pants and jersey on. That's it.
(Is that kind of a football thing where you don't change how you dress?)
No, I think most guys would be able to love to wear sleeves and all that, but me just playing so long in the game you just kind of get to a point where you don't want to wear sleeves because if you catch the ball, the next thing you know a guy punches it out because the ball is slippery because of those type of climates. But I just got to a point now, I mean, over the years I just stopped wearing sleeves.
(Are you more mindful of securing the ball in those type of conditions?)
Well, the ball is so hard so you've just got to make sure that you concentrate on it. If you don't look it in, basically you're going to drop it because the ball is slippery, regardless of how cold it gets. So we've just got to a point now, it's just we always talk about ball security here and you've got to make sure that once you tuck that ball you hold on tight and once you've got a free run, then you can run. But just make the catch and tuck it.
(What happened in Chicago and how do you learn from it to play in those type of conditions?)
You know, Chicago was one of those games we just didn't come out and play well. I think that was the whole thing. Everybody said it was the wind but we were still able to catch the ball well, but also we were unable to throw it because of the wind. We knew that going into that game the wind was going to be a factor. We knew that and I just think we didn't go out there and play well. I don't think the cold weather stopped us from playing. I think everybody, if you look at both sides of both teams, you're going to look at both of them by the heat, by those heaters. Everyone wanted to stay warm, but it was just a game that we made mistakes in and that cost us.
(Was there a point in the season where you started to believe you could make the Super Bowl?)
Yes, the first mini-camp coming back right after the season last year. We said that we had an opportunity because we played Chicago that last game of the season, we realized that we should have been in the postseason, but we weren't, and I think everybody kind of built off that during the offseason (and) said, 'We've got to get back to the postseason. We've got to get the NFC North title back to us,' and we did that. Once we got that back it was just maintaining now once we got into the postseason to get to where everyone wants to be, and that's the NFC Championship game.
(How many times in your career have you thought you had played your last game with Brett?)
Maybe three, four. He just keeps coming back so I don't know what to say. I think, regardless of what he does, he's going to keep coming back. I made a statement back in 2002 that everybody went crazy about. I said I thought he was going to retire and everyone went nuts, so my thing is that I'm just going to say he keeps retiring, he keeps coming back, so if that works for me, it works for him.
(Have you gone so far as to bid him farewell?)
No, we haven't even talked about it and I guess you could say that's a big surprise because me and him normally talk about all types of things but as far as him coming back, him retiring, we haven't even said anything about it. I think we're just worried about trying to get to the Super Bowl
(What does Brett mean to the people of Green Bay and this area?)
I can't even explain that because there's so many people that... I guess you could say he's basically the president in the state of Wisconsin because everyone loves him so much. Every time you go places you see people say 'Is Brett your friend?' and 'Do you know Brett?' I'm like 'Yeah, I see the guy every day.' But you always think what would happen if anything ever happened to this guy. The town would shut down. Nothing would move and I think that's the thing that everyone loves about him. The guys that play with him, I think he's just going to be part of their legacy. You know, when this guy gets into the Hall of Fame, guys will be able to sit back at home and say, 'I played with one of the greatest quarterbacks in the National Football League.'
(Is he enjoying this after being written off by some in the last couple years?)
He enjoys everything. You guys see just the outside of it. We see everything that goes on in there. He enjoys it because I think I could say he's kind of like me. When people tell you that you're not going to be able to do something you go out there and prove them wrong, and I think that's what he loves about the game, because people told him that he should retire, he should hang it up, but he keeps coming back to prove to people that he's the Ironman of the National Football League.
(What did that snowball say about Brett Favre?)
That he can't throw that good with a snowball. Mine was perfect. I was a little bit closer.
(What is like to be on the doorstep of your first Super Bowl?)
It feels good, but I talked to my receivers one night right before we played Detroit, and I told my guys, you know, I've had opportunities to be in the Super Bowl and we always seem to lose the first or second round of the playoffs to get to the NFC Championship game, and I told those guys, I said, 'All I'm going to ask you guys is to get me to the NFC Championship game.' and I said, 'After that I know you guys can get me to the Super Bowl.' I said, 'I don't have too many more years left.' I said my goal is to play five or six but you never know how that's going to happen, but those guys said that they're going to put it on their back and get me there, so my guys got my back. They know I've got theirs, so we're going to be able to go out there and do what we've got to do.
(What would that mean to you just to get to the Super Bowl?)
I don't know yet. I'll let you know Sunday.
(You guys were loose last week but is there a different feel this week?)
No, I think we're the same. I think we know once we get over this last hump and once we get there you're going to see a different tone from guys. Guys are going to be enjoying themselves a little bit more than what you've been seeing. I think we have to be loose and relaxed because we know if we get uptight then we're out there thinking we can't make this mistake or we can't make that mistake. We can make a mistake. We just gotta bounce back from them and I think that's the thing that's the big turning point in any game, adversity. It's just like last week. We had two fumbles early on. We knew that, hey, they scored too fast. That was a problem. We knew that we had a good offense that could put up points, we had a great defense that could stop everyone, and that's what happened.
(How has your role changed in the offense with the four and five wide sets?)
Not too much. I don't move anywhere. I'm still in the slot, still the guy to go across the middle. That's not going to change, but I think it opens things up for me as far as getting the ball in my hands because they don't know who to stop and if they try to stop the outside guys or Greg (Jennings) or James (Jones) or Ruvell (Martin) or Koren (Robinson) then they leave me 1-on-1 and I think that's what they don't want to do. So I'm hoping that's what they do start, doubling those guys and leaving me 1-on-1.
*(How do you prevent the weather from negating the advantage of your five
receiver sets against their secondary?) *
I don't think the weather's going to have a big (impact). As long as the wind's not blowing, then we'll be OK. We all know that Brett can throw in any kind of conditions. If the wind was blowing 100 miles an hour he could still get it to you, so I think we've just got to go out there and make the plays when it comes to us. That's our big thing. We know that they have a great secondary. We're not taking anything from their secondary. They have a great secondary, but we also feel like we have the best fab five in the National Football League, so we say we'll match any of our five wides against any five DBs in the National Football League and go at it.
{sportsad300}(Was the way you were messing with James Jones in the locker room part of staying loose?)
Oh yeah, but see James started that. James started that. James started pushing guys in the leg, so we start throwing stuff and now you can't do an interview without somebody messing with you or having fun. But I think that's when you have to have fun in this game, because if you start getting serious then you start making too much out of it. So I think that's exactly what we want to do.
(Do you like or dislike the idea of the cold forecast as a wide receiver?)
No, I'd have to say I like it but also dislike it, so it goes both ways, you know. You like it because you know that it's an advantage for a team coming in here that's never been in these type of conditions, but the disliking part is when you've got to focus a little bit harder on the ball to catch it. Normally, if it's warm climates, you just go out there and it's natural to be looking the ball in and catching it, but when it's cold you kind of hesitate on doing certain things, taking your eyes off the ball and all that. But I think that's our main focus all week long, is to make sure that we keep our eyes focused on the ball and coach Jimmy Robinson's been real good at telling us catch the ball first before we run.
(What challenge does James Jones present to the Giants secondary?)
When James came here he reminded me of Sterling (Sharpe). He's just one of those big, physical guys and he doesn't care who he goes against. He thinks everybody, if you hear him talk, he thinks every corner in the National Football League is trash. That's just the way he is. But he knows it's going to be a battle. He knows that he's able to go out there and do the things that he wants to do. James can only hurt himself and he knows that, and for him to go out there and play the way he's been playing all season long, that tells you he's going to have a great career in the National Football League.
(Are you aware of the injury situation of the Giants cornerbacks and does that make any difference to you?)
No, we haven't even worried about that. We'll worry about that on Sunday.
(Having been around for a while do you appreciate this game even more?)
Yeah, I'm so happy about it. I think I'm excited but I'm kind of like, I don't get too excited. It's always one of those things, you can't let your emotions get too much of you because then you go in the game a little bit too uptight. So that's why I think I just got to a point where I'm excited but once this Sunday comes I'll be able to calm down a little bit.
(How has Grant's emergence changed the passing game?)
It's been real easy now because I think early in the year we had to throw. I think Brett had to throw the ball 40 to 50 times a game. Now he's not having to throw the ball that much because of Ryan Grant and the running game of Brandon Jackson, those guys, and you have to take your hat off to him. For a guy to get his opportunity, come in and do the things he's been doing, it's tremendous, and in a short period of time he's showed everybody in the National Football League that he's one of the best power backs in the league, and he can run and he can do whatever he wants to do with it when he gets the opportunity.
(After all he's gone through has Grant's attitude impressed you guys in the locker room?)
I think the biggest thing with us is that we don't know his history. You only know a person's history if the person wants to tell you their history. But when he first came here I didn't know who Ryan Grant was and just to see what Ryan Grant has done when he came in, I guess you could say Week 2, when he caught a screen play and turned it up the sideline, he just reminded me of a running back that I used to play with here, and that's Dorsey Levens. And since then that's what I've always told him, that he reminds me of Dorsey, he runs like Dorsey. I just told him to get me to a Super Bowl like Dorsey.
(How do you feel the new surface has held up at Lambeau this season and has that helped you?)
It's been good. I don't really know the footing. I wear the same shoes all the time, so I don't care. I think a lot of guys say you can tell the difference, but for me, I can't tell the difference.
