Edgerton Hartwell Quotations

He definitely helped my career. I wanted to be a sponge. I wanted to learn from him.

People always ask what he taught me. I don't go too deep into it. We worked. We didn't visit too much outside of work. Some things that go unnoticed are just better off unsaid. That takes nothing away from anybody. He's a great guy. He's a great inspiration. He's done it. He's been successful.

My plan is two years from now people will be talking about me as one of the great linebackers that's played,

I think I am in that class, ... I have to go out and prove it every day, that I am a dominant middle linebacker and a complete player. Not just be a dominant player, but the monster in the middle that terrorizes offenses.

(What did he teach me) in terms of playing the game of football?

Every linebacker on that team had some bad habits to get rid of, and that's what he did, improved all our shuffling and our reads and made us all better, every last one of us - even Ray.

Sometimes you talk to coaches and they don't understand ... the things that happen at the snap of the ball,

That's not true. Things happen. Linemen get cut off, gaps get closed, backs don't run exactly where they're supposed to run, receivers don't run exact routes. (Singletary) knows that, because he's played through it and he understands when you tell him something that you only get through experience on the field. He'll make those adjustments so you can go out there and play.

It's nothing personal with those guys. We're all friends, ... But I've got bragging rights for the next year, point blank. I can brag. They can't.

I've got everything, ... The only thing I have that he doesn't is I come down and hit you in the mouth when I take on a block. He doesn't really care about doing that too much. I say you keep hitting that guy blocking you and blowing him up, they won't want to do it anymore. They'll slide away and say, 'Oops, I missed the block.' They didn't want to get it upside the head.

They came in here with the attitude that they were going to bully us around.

I know the type of player I am, ... People will see now that I'm in Atlanta.

I knew I wasn't going to have many plays, ... I wanted to make an impact early.

I really didn't see it as overshadowing me, ... He's been in the league so long. He's earned his stripes. I was a young cat coming up, doing the things I had to do to earn my stripes. I made my plays. As the years moved on, I earned my stripes. The fans knew who I was when I stepped on the field. When you play next to Ray, you have to do a lot of things to get noticed.