“It’s understandable, and as I’ve already stated, I want to participate and support the team in winning, but at the end of the day, this is a muscle that I actually need in order to compete and perform at my best. I can appreciate his perspective; all we need to do is make sure we proceed according to the plan.”
Based on what you feel like or felt like after that hit, are you fairly confident it didn’t get any worse or are you just totally not sure?
“I hope and pray that it was not worse. All I can do at the moment is keep up my prayers and wait to see what occurs tomorrow.”
How did it feel after the two straight days of throwing in practice on Thursday and Friday? Did you feel good when you came out today and the game started?
“Yes, I felt good, but practicing and playing a real game are not the same things. In practice, everything is essentially under control. We went into it with a positive attitude, and after testing it, I was unable to complete it.”
Can you talk about P.J.’s (Walker) moxie on that last drive and bringing you guys down and getting the win?
“I mean, ask P.J. (Walker). He’s a professional and has been doing this a long time. He has a lot of experience but even throughout the week me, P.J. and DTR (Dorian Thompson-Robinson) – everything that me and Kevin (Stefanski) is meeting on, I make sure P.J. is meeting on it. There are different things that Kevin is explaining to me throughout the week I go over and I tell P.J. ‘Hey P.J., do you see this? Hey, they might do this protection, you know this that and the third.’ I just make sure we are all on the same page because if something like this, you know but if something like this was to happen I was going to make sure he was ready and prepared and is seeing the same thing I was seeing, the same thing I’m communicating with the receivers and the o-line so we can all be on the same page so we can do what we did today and go out there and win.”
Is this going to be a question of if like before whether you could drive the ball and make all of the throws this week or do you feel like you are kind of ready to go?
“To be honest, I won’t answer that question by sharing. After we go through all the processes, testing, and other procedures, I’ll have more details by Tuesday night. I’m not sure right now, but maybe we can sort of address that subject on Wednesday and Thursday.”
How disappointing is this to you given this isn’t what you were expecting?
“It’s really disheartening. Naturally, I will always be pleased for the squad and our victory—not for the W. In terms of a personal level, it is undoubtedly rather disappointing. I had spent the last three or four weeks working extremely hard to reach this point, but it was not enough. It’s back to the drawing board immediately, which is, I suppose, all part of the fun. You simply have to face the hardship, but I’m going to maintain my composure, keep working hard, train, and support my teammates.”
Do you feel like everybody always wants to play, you guys are competitors, but do you feel like you pushed a little bit and came back a week too early?
“I’m not certain. Hard to say, really. Everything is day-to-day and basically going on feel, as I previously stated. We believed that I would be able to complete the game because I was feeling pretty good throughout the last few days of practice. However, the physical aspect of the game and getting struck are important considerations. It was just one of those plays where I was hit and knocked down without really thinking about it.”
Was it the hit or how you landed on it?
“Having not even seen the play yet, I assumed it to be the hit. I was hit, as I mentioned, and I tumbled backward. It transpired exactly like that. I’ll have a more insightful response once I view it with the team.”
