We’re looking forward to going down to Miami this weekend.  Looking at film this week, there’s no doubt they’re better right now than they were in Week Seven.  But so are we.  A lot of people have asked me if it’s important that we beat Miami earlier this season.  I don’t know how important it is right now that we won that game, other than to say we’re in the playoffs because we won 11 games and that win in Miami was one of them.

Having played in four playoff games last year at Delaware, I’m familiar with the “one and done” routine.  Obviously, the NFL is much different than college football, but the playoff system I played in isn’t any different.

We’re going down there to win a game, stay alive and keep chasing our goal of winning the Super Bowl.  I’ll be talking to Drew at 8:30am on Tuesday.  I hope you all have a fun weekend.

I forgot to mention this on the air Tuesday but I wanted to congratulate Richmond for their 24-7 win over Montana in the Football Championship Subdivision.  The Spiders are from the CAA and they won the title of the FCS (formerly Division I-AA) by virtue of their playoff wins over Eastern Kentucky, Appalachian State, Northern Iowa and Montana.  Always great to see a CAA making big news!

It’s hard to believe that our final regular season game is here.  It seems like it wasn’t that long ago that we were playing Cincinnati in the first game.  We know what’s at stake on Sunday and we’re going to go out there with the same mindset we had in the Dallas game.  We have been working hard all week to get ready for Jacksonville.  We’ve watched enough film on them this week to see that they can do good things on both sides of the ball.  If we treat the game like we’re 0-0 and they’re 0-0, we’ll be fine.  It’s going to be a battle, we know that.

Enjoy the weekend and I’ll talk to Drew at 8:30am on Tuesday morning to review the Jacksonville game and talk about what lies ahead for us.

We all moved on very quickly from the Steelers loss.  I was back at the facility early Monday to watch film of the Pittsburgh game and then start preparing for the Cowboys.  Everyone I saw on Monday was already talking about Dallas.  We know sitting around and talking about how we lost to the Steelers isn’t
going to help us win this week.  The way to win this week is to prepare for Dallas and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes against the Cowboys that we did against Pittsburgh.

I’m feeling good, health-wise.  It’s been a lot of fun this year and we have plenty of football left to play.  I’ll catch up with Drew at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning  to talk about the Dallas game.  I hope you all have a great Holiday next week!

We’ve had a great week of practice in preparation for the Steelers.  I know it sounds like the same old, same old, but our approach hasn’t changed at all.  We’re not focusing on the team we’re playing - we’re focusing on our game plan and how we execute it.

I’m hearing there was a NFL highlight show that showed me on the bench in the late stages of the Redskins game giving my teammates some, uh, encouragement (is that the right word?).

Drew tells me a few of my words had to bleeped out — hey, it was a big win, what can I say!??  I was excited!

Everyone keeps asking me all week if it was really cold on the field last Sunday night.

Yes.

REALLY cold.

But it didn’t bother me at all.  Once the game gets going, you’re just not thinking about it.  The TV time-outs and all that standing around can make you a little stiff if you don’t keep moving…but for the most part, you’re too busy moving around and thinking about the game to let the cold affect you.

And yes, I’ve checked the weather for this Sunday.  Sunny and 47.  Looks perfect to me.

The team we’re playing doesn’t matter…what matters is winning!

I feel really good at the 12-game mark of the season and I have my offensive line and the rest of the guys who do the blocking to thank for that. The game is very physical and I’ve taken my fair share of hard hits this year but a big reason I’ve stayed healthy is because of the protection I’ve received.

We’re looking forward to Sunday night.  I hope those of you who are going have a great time at the game.  I’ll talk with Drew on Tuesday at 8:30 am.

Practice has been really good this week.  I think the guys are all feeling really good about where we’re at and we know we’ve put in ourselves in position to be responsible for our own outcome.  I think, as a player, you always want your team to control its own destiny and we pretty much do right now.  You can’t ask for more than that.  Now, we just need to go out and play good football.

I think the Thanksgiving holiday was a benefit for us too.  It gave us all a chance to stop thinking about football for about 8 hours and concentrate on our family and friends.  Now, it’s back to work.

Believe me, no one on our team is looking at the Bengals any differently because they have one win and a tie.  We’ve watched film on them all week.  They’re good!  In the NFL, if you don’t take every single team and player seriously, you’re in for a surprise.  We respect what they’re capable of and
we’re going to Cincinnati prepared for a fight.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  I’ll talk to you all next Tuesday with Drew at 8:30 am and I’ll see you next Sunday night when we host the Redskins!  Sunday night football!!  Good stuff…

I’m not sure about the status of Jared Gaither, Willie Anderson or Adam Terry for Sunday’s game but it will be a great opportunity for other players to step up and play and that’s a good thing for them.  David (Hale) and O’Neil (Cousins) both got some snaps in New York and even though it came in the 4th quarter I know they were grateful for the opportunity.  They’ve been working hard all year for their chance and as a fellow rookie, I felt good for them on Sunday when they got in against the Giants.  I hope Jared and Willie are both healthy enough to play again soon, if not this Sunday, but David and O’Neil will do just fine if called upon.

It’s going to be a lot fun over these last six games.  We’ve put ourselves in a pretty good position 10 games into the season.  We just need to keep having fun and stay focused and we’ll be fine.  I have a lot of friends and family coming down for the game so I need to treat them and the rest of the fans to a win.  I’ll be doing my best for all of you, that’s for sure.  Have a great Thanksgiving next week!

Other than Drew asking me about the experts out there saying the Ravens haven’t beaten a good team yet, I honestly haven’t heard anything about that this week.  I don’t really listen to the radio or watch TV or read the papers all that much.  I never did in college either (except for class!), just because I don’t need any kind of distraction at all.  I think most of our guys are the same way, actually.  We just focus on football and whatever people want to say about us they can.

We know this is a big game on Sunday because we’ve won four straight games and we’re playing the defending champions in their stadium.  But our approach hasn’t changed at all.  We have a game plan to study and we just need to keep our heads down, work hard all week and get ready for Sunday in New Jersey.

I hear some WNST listeners are going to the game.  We’ll do our best to make that ride home a little more enjoyable after the game.  Have a great weekend everyone.

I know this was supposed to be our bye week but maybe it’s good for us that we just keep
on rolling along and keep up the momentum we’ve established.  Obviously we are going to need to go to Houston and play well to sustain that momentum but it’s been a lot of fun the last few weeks and it seems like we’re in a real good rhythm.

Every week the coaching staff just reminds us to keep our heads down, study the game plan, practice hard and have fun on Sunday.  And everyone is doing that.

Personally, I feel very good right now.

We played 15 games at Delaware last year (12 regular season, 3 playoffs) so it’s not like I haven’t gone through a long schedule before.  One of the reasons I feel so good at this point in the season is because the offensive players have done such a great job protecting me all year. They’re a big reason why I’m healthy and feeling fresh early in November.  Believe me, I don’t take it for granted and I appreciate them.

So it’s off to Houston on Saturday.  I’ve never been there so I’m looking forward to getting to a new city, even though we don’t do much on the road except get ready to play the game.  That’s one thing I can say for sure about life in the NFL.  You go on the road, you get to the city where you’re playing at 3 or 4 in the afternoon on Saturday and then you start getting ready for the game.  Meetings, game plan reviews and all that stuff.  My road roommate is fellow-rookie Marcus Smith.  He’s a really good guy and we are just taking it all in and enjoying our first year in the league.  But a win in Houston would make the trip better, that’s for sure!

Hope you all have a great weekend and I’ll catch up with Drew at 8:30am on Tuesday to chat about the game and get ready for the Giants next week.

I keep on getting great protection from the line and the running backs and tight ends who are doing the blocking up front.  I know I say it every week but they are one of the biggest reasons why I’ve played the first seven weeks without any serious bumps or bruises.

We know this is a big game because it’s a division rival and we’ve won a couple in a row now so we want to keep building on that momentum.  We’ll be ready.  Who knows, we might even have a few more fun plays to throw out there on Sunday.

I hope my alma mater, Delaware, can turn it around and finish their football season on a good note.  They play Towson next weekend, which is always fun at UD because Towson brings some fans and the game has developed into a pretty good rivalry.  The CAA is turning out a lot of good teams these days.  It looks like 4 or maybe even 5 teams might make it into the playoffs from the CAA this year.  Maybe I’ll check out Delaware when they play basketball at Towson this winter.  I went to a handful of the men’s games when I was in school at UD and attended a lot of the women’s games.

I was glad to see the Phillies win the World Series in Philadelphia.  It’s good to win the championship anywhere, obviously, but since there hasn’t been a title in Philly since 1980, it was good that the home fans got to experience the whole thing there last night.

Have a great weekend and I’ll check in with Drew on Tuesday morning at 8:30 am.