Charles Woodson
I've always wanted to be under the confetti as a champion, and the Packers beating the Steelers to conclude the 2010 season finally gave me that opportunity. It was so surreal, being able to bring my family onto the field, seeing my oldest son roll around in the confetti, having a chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.Collection: Family
Every player, when you get released, you feel like you still have a lot to offer. And that team is telling you, 'No, you don't have a lot to offer, so we're moving on.'Collection: Moving
You have to go through a lot of trials and tribulations as a player to be able to grow and learn from 'em and to become better.
Father Time is definitely undefeated, that's for sure. But does it feel good to have some people eat their words about what they said about me as a player? Yeah, that's fun.
Fifty career picks is a huge deal for me.
I fell in love with wine in Napa Valley. I fell in love with the culture and the restaurants and the way the wood tastes when you're drinking wine.
I know I haven't been the greatest student, but I do intend to get my degree. Otherwise, my mother will kill me.
The Raiders have been good to me, giving me a second chance to come back around and wear the silver and black.
Nobody can determine what your life means or how much your valued. You are your value.
No one can do anything by themselves. Sometimes you may need help and sometimes you will be offering it.
I've been to the top. I've also been at the bottom.
You could look at Tim Brown, you walk in the locker room and you knew you were going to get consistency with him as a person and as a player.
I grew up watching my older brother very closely who was a football player and a star in my hometown of Fremont, Ohio. My love of the game started early because of watching him. My neighborhood played a ton of football, pickup games outside in the backyards of the apartments where I grew up.
You can't say Charles doesn't know what he's talking about.
I think it is rare that one player really hates another player on a team.
I am a sore loser. I will be the first to admit that. When I get on video games I am not that good and when I play against somebody and they beat me, I want to rip the game out the wall, that type of thing. So, I really hesitate from playing them.
Eric Turner, may he rest in peace. When I first got in the league he was just a friend to me.
Eric Turner; man, that was my man a hundred grand.
When you're a player, there is almost automatically a respect you have for a person that has been in that fight, who knows what it's all about.
Practice, training camps to me are fairly easy.
It's always great for a young guy to have those examples, even though you may not follow 'em right away, it's great to have those guys in the locker room that you could look up to and see the right way to go about your business.
I was kind of wild. I enjoyed myself as a young man. I was moving 100 miles per hour - on and off the field.
Green Bay is a blue-collar community, and it's all about the Packers. I was able to go there, slow down and focus on the game.
As a young player, I never looked this far ahead. I never thought about how long I was going to play.
I just continue to fall in love with the game.
I want to portray myself as myself.
I think as long as you're authentic, people will relate to that.
I never wanted to be that guy that acted like I wasn't in the locker room and then all of a sudden I was an analyst. I played the game. I've been through the bumps and bruises, the politics. When I give an opinion, I want it to be real.
If a player hears me make a statement, I don't want them to be able to deny it.
I'm negative-three yards in the rushing department. Nobody wants to go out with negative-three yards rushing.
The time that I spent out of camp, I made sure when I sat out that I was in tip-top condition.
I'm a firm believer in that you've got to strike the iron when it's hot.
There'll be some opportunities for other things post-playing, but it's like, 'Man, I don't want to give this gig up.'
We need more people like me who are real and aren't afraid to take a little criticism.
For a guy not to want to listen to a Jerry Rice, a Tim Brown, a Charlie Garner, doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
I'm a champion. It's all I ever wanted.
Practice don't win games.
The one thing I do know about Oakland fans is it doesn't really matter where they are, in my opinion, I still feel like they're gonna be die-hard Raider fans because it's in their blood, it's in their DNA.
For the Raiders, I'm always going to be ready and willing to go there and talk to those players about whatever.
We all know what Al Davis means to the NFL, what he means to the Oakland Raiders. He is the Oakland Raiders.
Marvin Harrison was the best receiver I played against, especially being a young player and just learning the game at this level. He was already at a high level, and the job was made even more difficult because it seemed like every time we played the Colts it was in Indianapolis, where they played on turf - that old AstroTurf.
I love competition, but my approach to the game was to never make it personal. It was business. It was what I did, so it didn't matter who the opposing team was, or who the receiver was. I approached it as business and I never let myself get outside of that.
The Raiders took me fourth overall because they had a certain need, and that was for me to come in and play man-to-man, bump-and-run all day, to guard the best receiver. You understand your job going in, so that's what you focus on. Would I have liked to play receiver and go both ways? Yep, would have loved to have done that.
I never intended on playing as long as I have, but this is the way it's happened and I'm so grateful for it.
You know this is a great, great country that we live in to be able to play this great game.
I played in Green Bay. I look at their stadium, I look at the Packers Hall of Fame and all the things that go into that experience. I feel the Oakland Raiders are an organization that deserves something like that.
You can't talk about the NFL without the Raiders, the three Super Bowl championships, what Al Davis meant to the league.
In this life you make mistakes, and some people make more than others.
Jon Gruden just wants you to come to work, work hard and produce on Sundays. He's not really too much worried about babysitting or holding somebody's hand.
I don't know how to be hurt.