Rod Smith Guys Quotations

Some of those guys are going to have to grow up quick because in this business they are not going to wait on you. We still have to move forward whether you are here or not. You just hope they have a speedy recovery and they are out there showing their teammates what they can do, and when guys are not dressed out, it's hard to see.

We're not very good, not very sharp right now. We didn't do anything in the middle of the field. Our guys did a good job in the red zone, but we have to take that same mentality to the middle of the field.

We're a team. We just have a bunch of guys that love to play football, and we're playing together and for each other each and every week. 'Do it for me, I'm doing it for you.' That's our thing.

There are a lot of guys who might be the best, but I'd have to say Chris McAlister. I've played against him a few times and honestly he gets better each time I face him. He just seems to keep maturing in their system, and he's a talented guy. He's a guy who was voted to the Pro Bowl about one or two years later than he deserved to be because he's someone who they can put on the other team's best receiver and just expect him to hold that guy in check.

Special teams was huge; we talked about it all week. I talked about (it). Keith Burns talked about, and those guys came up with some huge plays on special teams, when you can get that kind of field position against that kind of football team, you've got to capitalize.

That's just me. I'm kind of nerdy like that because it benefits me it makes my job easier. At the same time it helps me keep my job I don't have to feel threatened by other guys. Now I do it to where I study coordinators I study those guys because they have certain tendencies and patterns of what they want to do.

For me, it's almost like it is back at Dove Valley for me. Guys are like, 'Rod, what do I do on this?' because they figure I know all (that's going on).

I loved playing with (Zimmerman). The guy had a separated shoulder in a game and didn't give up a sack. It's amazing. He's an amazing player, and one that young guys in the league can learn from from a know-how and toughness standpoint.

Injuries are part of the game. We always put 11 out there. And that is going to be our 11 for that play or that day. That's all we can work with. We can't work with who's down or whatever, we just have to hold it together until the guys come back. The season is long. We're just seven games in, and we've got a long way to go.

I just see the young guys come in every year, they want what you have, to go where you've gone. You know it isn't forever, but you want to keep going.

You've got those two guys, and both of them want to be the other one, but it's fun. That's the thing. Those guys know what they do and how they really make their money. They get the chance to go on the other side of the ball and mess around a little bit.

And it isn't always talent. There are lots of talented guys outside these walls who can't get in. It ain't just talent. Guys want to say it is, but it's only one piece of the puzzle. They learn that or they do something else for a living.