Casey Hampton Quotations

We're playing in the Super Bowl, so how can we have a letdown? I can't see how that can happen.

He gets us fired up. He's our emotional leader. He talks but he backs it up with his play.

I ain't never seen a game won or lost off the field. We know what we can do and they know what we can do. Maybe they're just trying to talk themselves into it.

He likes to pick a fight. But in so doing he gets us fired up, too. He says things a lot of guys are thinking, but just don't say.

I was joking with Hines about that. I was like, 'Man, this is kind of like a consolation prize. With the MVP, it doesn't really matter what people think of you on other teams, it's about what your teammates think of you, and obviously our teammates think very highly of us.

Knowing that they think that much of me makes it extra special. It's kind of a consolation prize for me.

Jerome's our guy. It wasn't even his idea to do it. We support Jerome, and we did all we could to get him back to end his career here. That's the type of team we have. We're very close. There's no 'me guys' on the team. We all support each other.

Our run defense is our bread and butter, ... That's what we do: Stop the run. I think we're getting right where we need to be, at the right time.

We haven't really played anybody that played like that.

You know, I can't really say it, what (Porter) says before games. You'll hear anything out of Joey, he'll say anything. He's got to pick a fight to get going, that's just him. He gets fired up. . . . I think that spreads to everybody.

We played a lot of nickel in that game and they ran the ball very well against our nickel defense. That's what they do ? they get you out of what you're used to doing.

To be a nose tackle and to play in this defense, you couldn't want anything else. I'm built for this type of defense.

We're all going over to Mrs. Bettis' house for dinner. But we're wearing our white uniforms on Sunday, so I'm going to have to watch myself.

We've been playing like we're in the playoffs since the last month of the season. We had to win.

We've been celebrating and having fun the past few days. Now it's time to rest. Kind of kick back and relax and enjoy myself a bit.

You can joke with him and tell stories. He's an older guy, so he wears his pants up real high. We were making fun of him one day. He came back the next day and said, 'Hey, what do you guys think?' He had the pants about an inch lower.

We just played a pretty good offensive line in Denver. Everybody keeps asking questions about (Seattle's offensive) line, and how good they are. They are a great offensive line. But I like our defensive line.

We try to start fast because we feel that if we get up on somebody we're in good shape, and then we go after them on defense. We try to smother them on defense and stay up on them. A lot of times when you blitz like we do and the team is down, they get to panicking and it's tough for them to come back.

Everybody worried about him and I just snuck in through the back door and got mine. There wasn't a lot of attention on it. That made it easier to get because all the concentration was on him.

The whole thing is winning the game. It doesn't matter how we did it.

I've been able to just focus on helping our guys make plays. I want to make an impact every time I'm out there.

Coach (Bill) Cowher takes care of us. This is a football city. You wouldn't want to play anywhere else.

Denver kind of kept the same thing going. He's a good coach who teaches the right techniques, so you've got to kind of have good technique to do it.

A lot of times you can end up playing on one leg and hopping around out there until you get confident. You can always tell yourself it's good, but your body doesn't let you go full-tilt at first. You've got to get hit on it or you've got to get used to being out there again.

This is the place I want to be.

It's not that simple. It's tough. It's total reconstruction of the knee. It's a tough injury. But, with today's technology and the way they have rehab set up, it's the kind of injury guys can come back from and be just as strong.

It's kind of funny. I was joking with Hines about that. I told him it's the consolation prize for us. We didn't think it was rigged, that they just gave it to us. I was just messing with him. It just shows you what kind of players we have on this team. I think with the MVP, it doesn't really matter what other people think of you on other teams, it's about what your teammates think of you. Obviously, our teammates think very highly of us.

It's pretty wild, all the people around. It's a good thing, though. We're here at the Super Bowl trying to win a big game and people want to know about us.

It's not going to take some super-human effort. Obviously, everybody has to do their job. I'm confident in our defense, and, if we play the way we can, we can get the job done. We don't have to have one person do something extraordinary.

It just wasn't us out there. We came out flat. Everything we did in this game, we did to ourselves. I'm not taking anything away from Detroit, but we made a lot of mistakes.

It's hard seeing your team out there, especially when your team is doing good. You want to be out there helping them. That's the main thing. You want to play so bad, you feel you let them down.

They can talk about that all they want, but they still haven't really done anything.

They have problems because we come at you from so many different kind of ways, they don't know where the blitz is coming from. I think that's the main thing that causes problems (for the offense).

That might be a good strategy for a video game. But you don't question him. He's a great coach. From the standpoint of me being me, I'd feel we would stop them and block the field goal.

I'm not even worried about that, man. That's kind of crazy, to sit there and cry about the officiating and stuff like that. It is what it is. We got the championship, and two years from now, no one will even be thinking about what they're crying about. They'll just remember that Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl.

I followed in his footsteps, ... To be a nose tackle and play in this defense, you couldn't want anything else. I'm built for this type of defense and it's fun for me to play.

I noticed that when he's going down, he's still looking for receivers. He's always trying to throw the ball; that can be a good and bad thing. When he's trying to make plays, that gives us a chance to make a play too.

I play nose tackle, so I don't get the stats and things like that. I felt like I played at a level that I should have went, but it doesn't surprise me that I didn't get voted in.

I really can't understand how the Jets let him go like that. We knew how good James was. He's a smart guy, can run fast. I mean, what else do you want?

Hey, it doesn't matter how you get it done, as long as you get it done.

He's the emotional leader of this team. You can't take that away from his game. That's who he is.

(The injury) is still in the back of my mind, but I'm feeling really comfortable out there, ... get into their heads.

All that is overrated. You play, and it doesn't matter if you've been here. You forget all about the Super Bowl stuff when you get out there on the field. You've got to be ready to go no matter if you've been here or not. Then, you've got to go.