Sometimes, the hardest things are just the simple things. Basically, get out of your own head and just go play the game you know how to play.
I've been overlooked, praised, questioned, lauded, labeled, celebrated, and derided - sometimes all in the span of a single week. That's life in the NFL.
I shouldn't have to come out and say, 'Hey, I should be a starter again.' There's a lot of guys that say that, that shouldn't be starters. The key is to go out on the field and lead your team to show people that, 'Hey, this guy is a good guy in the locker room. He can lead a team. He did it on the field. He's shown it.'
You could ask yourself, 'Hey, when you were 20, are you the same person?' You're not. You may have the same values, you might look a little older, you might have some things that are the same, but your heart, everything about you, starts growing, changing - good or bad. It just depends on how you approach life.
I grew up in the restaurant business, and that's always something I wanted to do.
I think the big thing is don't be afraid to fail.
I'm a laid-back Texas boy.
I've wanted to be a starter ever since I was a little kid, so I wasn't going to give up on that dream.
Third-string quarterbacks, fourth-string quarterbacks - they get their opportunities, and they shine.
That's something that's so often overlooked in this game - the dynamics of the locker room.
It doesn't matter if it's first-, second-, third-, fourth-, fifth-string snaps - any time you get a snap and get to go out there and practice, you build a database of information.
I ran a high-tempo offense in college. You don't really get caught up in it.
I think, as people, we deal with struggles.
Now, to be a father, that changes everything.
Getting all the things down game-management wise, that's what I want to excel at.
I think, as a quarterback and a leader, it's not necessarily what you do in the limelight. Obviously, you want guys handling themselves in an appropriate manner for the organization and the team, but you need to be who you are. If you're a guy who does that and can be a leader, and naturally that's what you want to do, awesome.
You keep adding things to your game. You never want to stay the same. You want to be consistent.
Everyone knows I'm sort of goofy. Some guys are really serious when they play. I'm not.
You just want to put the ball in play, whether I want to throw it downfield and it's not there, so I check it down, and it's a productive play and let the running back get a first down. Just keep the chains moving.
James Spader is a good actor.
