Wednesday's Quotes: James Farrior

The NFL is generous, nearly to a fault, in providing transcripts of the media sessions conducted by the players on both teams. Because we do not have to worry about things like "column width" or "advertising revenue" we can pass these along unedited (except for some formatting) and unfiltered.

In that spirit, here are comments made by James Farrior to the media on Wednesday.

(on cutting down on his weight): “I don’t know if there was an exact strategy to do it, it just happened that way. In the offseason, I just slimmed down. I was trying to get as strong as I could.”



(on the money and events surrounding the Super Bowl): “We don’t really think about stuff like that. That’s out of our hands. We can’t control anything like that. It’s not going to help us win the game. Other than just the trivial things, we don’t really care about that.”



(on family nature of team versus business of football): “We all treat each other like family. We respect each other and care about each other. At the end of the day, it’s all about business. That always comes first.”



(on where the current linebacking corps fits in to history of Steelers’ defense): “I’m not sure about that. That is going to be left up to you guys. I feel like we have a good group and a bunch of good athletes and playmakers. We will let you guys decide all of that stuff.”



(on being the backbone of the defense): “We take a lot of pride in that. We all know of the great tradition that the linebackers have had here throughout the years. We just want to uphold our end of the bargain and be accountable. To have those guys looking down on us, it really makes you want to step your game up and play well. I hope we make those guys proud because we look up to all of the former linebackers and we appreciate the work that they put in. We hope that they think well of us.”



(on the chemistry among the linebackers): “I just think we work well. We have a great chemistry together. We all pretty much know what the other is going to be doing. I think we have a good mix of veteran guys: me and [Larry] Foote and James Harrison. And we have the young guys like [LaMarr] Woodley and [Laurence] Timmons. They’ve been coming along great all season. I think the mix of the young and the old is a pretty good combo.”



(on Mike Tomlin’s comments that “it all revolves around Farrior”): “It’s a good feeling to know that you run the ship out there. I take a lot of pride in that. I know that I have a lot of responsibility. At the end of the day, I have to get those guys lined up and get them to do what they do best.”



(on the Cardinals showing more offensive balance in the playoffs): “When you go into the playoffs, you have to have balance. You can’t be one-dimensional. Every team that got into the playoffs all tried to run the ball. If you have that good balance where you are able to run the ball and complement it with the play-action pass, you will be successful. I think that’s what they started doing in the playoffs.”



(on the Cardinals’ running style): “The jab and the counter, those are their two main plays. We have a lot of history with Russ Grimm and we know he likes the jab play. I’m sure he’s going to try that play. The counter will probably be their next play.”



(on if it’s different to play a Cardinals team that isn’t “smashmouth” like the Ravens): “I don’t think so. I think we are going to play the same way regardless of who the opponent is. We are going to try to make it as physical a game as possible.”



(on the Cardinals presenting a challenge): “It will definitely be a challenge for our defense. I don’t think the guys on our side of the ball would have it any other way. We want to be considered as one of the best groups that ever played the game. So why not go up against the best?”



(on the Steelers’ linebacker history affecting his decision to sign): “I didn’t really think about it too much. I was just looking for a job basically.”


(on the departure of Joey Porter): “It just changed the leadership roles a little bit. Joey was our vocal leader as well as our team leader. After he left we lost a lot of that, but I think everybody did a good job of picking it back up and holding everybody accountable.”



(on if he is the vocal leader): “A lot of guys might say that. I’m not really a vocal guy. I don’t really do a lot of talking. I just go out and play and try to lead by example.”



(on if he has studied the Steel Curtain): “I haven’t studied them. I just look at the stuff that comes on TV. I know they had great defenses. I’ve never really sat down and compared our teams.”