Q: How were these past couple days getting stuck in Appleton?
A: It was whatever. There was a lot of time of sitting there and thinking to yourself, doing a lot of self reflecting. I took a lot of time to look at myself and try to realize things I can get better at and ways I can help the team just to put us in a better position mentally as well as physically.
Q: How do you feel about a coaching change if you don't make the playoffs? A lot of people have been writing about that:
A: That's not something I think that I really respond to. The outsiders don't matter at this point. They can say whatever they want to say. It's all about this organization and what happens here. If we go out and perform on the field, none of those questions will be brought up and that's the way I look at it. We have to do a better job of going down on the field and performing.
Q: Is it hard when you realize that you guys had everything wrapped five quarters ago and now certain scenarios need to play out that are out of your control?
A: Of course. It's devastating. At the same time, no one put us in this position but us. We can't fault anyone but ourselves. We had it in the grasp of our hands, and we didn't take advantage of the opportunities. Now, we have to leave it in the hands of something else. It's something in this league that you never, ever want to do. You don't ever want something else to try and control your destiny, you always want to have that control yourself.
Q: Last year ended so badly for this team that a lot of people just want to end the year on a positive note. Is there any way to look back on this season positively if you don't make the playoffs?
A: I think, as every season, there's going to be a lot of positives you can take from it but also a lot of negatives. The negatives, those are things you try to work on in the offseason as a team and get better at and make sure those things are focused upon come next season. This is a good team, and going out 10-6 if it happens on Sunday isn't necessarily a bad thing but it's not a good thing either because we're not where we wanted to be. That's just how you have to look at it.
Q: Will you be watching the scoreboard a lot on Sunday?
A: No, I won't spend any time watching the scoreboard. We had a chance to close it out on our own, and what happens with Chicago and Green Bay happens. I'm going out there and I'm playing. I'm trying to put on my best performance I've had all year and just try to be the player that I know I can be and make sure the troops are on board also. I know we're going to go out there and play great football.
Q: This locker room was tumultuous in the beginning, then settled down, and now things a little unsettled again. What's happened?
A: Things are going to take a course throughout the football season. There are going to be some ups, there are going to be some downs. Like I said, you can't pinpoint one particular thing and say ‘this is the problem.' I think a lot of things are pretty much domino effects, and we just have to play our way out of it. We dug a hole for ourselves and we have to climb our way out. We'll do so. We're a great football team, and we have a lot of great things going on here and we're going to finish out with a bang.
Filed under: