- I think when people look back at my legacy,
the first thing that come to mind is work ethic.
If you didn't practice a certain way,
or you didn't do that repetition-wise over and over again
you wouldn't be able to make those catches like that.
Elevate into the air and attack the football.
I knew I had the type of speed that could
get me to the end zone.
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I think appearance is everything.
You know, I want to look my best.
I think it makes a statement, saying,
"Hey, this guy, he's a professional,
"and he's ready to go to work."
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What I really like about football is
the lives that you can touch by catching a football.
The fans are like your number one supporter.
They live through you on that football field.
You know, just to watch those fans
really get involved in the game,
and I think as professional athletes
we draw energy off that.
When you play professional football,
you know that you have to earn everything
and you're always going to have people watching.
If you don't set the right example,
or if you don't do what you're supposed to do,
then you're not gonna be on that team.
I think as a great player,
you are always willing to study film,
to add different things into your Rolodex.
So I think I never got to a point where I felt
I had arrived, that I couldn't learn anymore.
I was always willing to accept criticism from the coaches.
They could tell me that I need to run a route
a certain way to be able to get the separation
and I wouldn't get offended.
I think it made me into the receiver that
I was able to become,
because of the different little things that I worked on.
I think with Pelé, Gretzky, Michael Jordan,
all those guys,
the thing that they have is that
they make players better around them.
That's the mark of a champion,
because it could be just all about those individuals
and that's it, but to win championships,
those guys, they knew that they had to
bring their teammates along with them.
And that's the reason why they were able to
have so much success.
I spent so much time involving myself into my craft.
And when there was other things
that you could have been doing,
you might have been able to say,
hey, take vacations.
You know, relax just a little bit more.
But it was a sacrifice that I was willing to do,
and I think I got rewarded for it
because when I look back over my career,
never a doubt that I gave 100 percent and that I was able
to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish
when I played the game.
It was a Monday night game against the St. Louis Rams,
and John Taylor had two catches that was about five yards
that went for like, 80,
and guess who was leading John Taylor?
I got a chance to run all the way down field,
and I was a blocker.
(laughs)
It was so cool!
It was so cool because it was like, okay,
we talk about being a piece of the puzzle.
That piece for me was being able to
make that block for him twice, to get him into the end zone.
Yes, I had had a lot of games where I broke records,
and I scored a lot of touchdowns and all that,
but that gave me an opportunity to be the complete player.
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