Transcript: FB Tony Richardson, 12.7
On how much football he watched this weekend…
I watched a few games. I was actually moving around a lot yesterday, so I didn’t get to see all of the games. I saw the highlights. There were some situations and things that could eventually help us out. Our biggest thing and the bottom line is that if we don’t keep winning, the rest doesn’t matter. It was good to be off yesterday and kind of lay around and watch a little bit of football.
On playoff possibilities…
When we were struggling and losing a few games, things did seem a little bleak. The biggest thing is what Coach Ryan kept telling us is focus on one game at a time and one week at a time. That is the only thing you have control over. It’s one of those things where at the end of the year after we finish it all up, we’ll tally how many games we won and how many we lost and see where it puts us. That’s the mentality that a lot of guys are taking, just kind of keep your head down and go to work. I’ve been a part of a lot of football and seen things happen. We set a goal for ourselves going into training camp and that goal is still attainable. We’re going to keep working and believing in each other and keep playing hard.
On if he’s had similar situations to this…
I don’t think it’s happened in my personal career. I’ve seen things happen, for example playing in the AFC West for a number of years. I remember we were rolling in Kansas City and Denver, seemed like they were a long-shot. They ended up coming into our house and beating us in the playoffs, win every game on the road. That’s not the way it seemed that the season would unfold. That is the year that Anthony Lynn was their running back coach and they stormed through the rest of the season and kept their heads down. People said they couldn’t do it and they ended up winning the Super Bowl and went back-to-back. I’ve been on three 13-3 teams with home-field advantage through the playoffs. All you have to do is win two games at home and all three times I’ve lost those games. I’ve been on the side of things where everything is working in your favor and you have the playoff scenario where you want it. Things that I’ve learned through that is you don’t have control over a lot of situations, but you just want to make sure that you’re playing well in November, December and hopefully, you’re playing in January. Those are the teams that we are going to focus on right now.
On how encouraged the offense is with Mark Sanchez and him having less interceptions…
With Mark everyday is a new day. We support our quarterback 100 percent and we support our coaching staff. I’ve never coached that position, so I don’t want to get into certain things. It’s one of those things that is about decision making. He is learning that and sometimes it takes a little bit longer for a younger quarterback because he (thinks) he can make all of the throws and sometimes you say, “I can get that ball in there.” I think that Mark realizes that guys we’re playing against are very talented and guys can make plays too. Those come from learning. I like the fact that if it is not there to tuck it and run or throw it away and live to fight another day. I think with Rex, Coach Cavanaugh and Coach Schotty (Schottenheimer) I think he is getting better and that’s only going to help him on this football team.
On urgency to perform well…
You should play with a sense of urgency anyway. Injuries are a part of our game. There are so many different scenarios. Watching the Vikings game last night, one of my good buddies E.J. Henderson goes down. Any time you go out and play the game, there is always a sense of urgency. You don’t know when it’s over. For me, like you said, I might have one more year left and maybe this will be the last year. Who knows? You have to go out there with a sense of urgency because the NFL always stands for Not For Long. We look around at our own locker room and I’ve never been on a team where the exact same team was together the following year. When you have as much talent and good high character guys that you have around you, you can’t take that for granted. When you have that opportunity in front of you, you have to make the most of it. Like I said, there is always change because of free agency and different things, you never have the same exact team. I like this team, I love this team and I think we have a chance to do something special as long as we continue to keep playing together.
On what they’ve done to be ranked number one in rushing…
I think it is a combination of a lot. It’s a credit to our coaches. Coach Bill Callahan, Anthony Lynn and Schotty (Brian Schottenheimer) and (Mike) Devlin who put together our running game. We’re seeing some tough situations. We’re seeing looks in the running game that I’ve never seen in my career where guys are like, “You can’t beat us with your pass, so we’ll stop your run.” To still be up there and the number one team in rushing is a credit to our offensive line and Thomas (Jones), when Leon (Washington) was here, and the way Shonn (Greene) is running the football. It says a lot because I’ve been around some good rushing teams and one of the hardest things to do is rush the football when teams know you’re going to run it and they can’t stop you. It demoralizes teams and that is the thing that we are going to keep focusing on. We want to have a balanced attack, but the way Thomas is running the ball and the way our offensive line is blocking, we’ve been having success so far.
On unique looks he’s seen this season…
It’s everything. What they’re doing is there have been occasions where there is a nine-man front where they are playing man-to-man going to run outside and saying let’s see if you can get off. What you are starting to see is that all of the safeties are at linebacker depth and they’re slanting and moving. It’s crazy looks, running people through. There are some things that you’ll see on occasion, but we see it pretty much every down. Linebackers are pretty much in there with the defensive line just hitting gaps and breaking down a lot of the angles especially in our zone running game. Our coaches do a great job of making adjustments because we see some crazy looks in the first half and when you watch our games you think why do they keep running the same play if it is not working? It’s one of those things where if you keep sawing away like TJ at the end of the game last week. We ran that play maybe five or six times and they were doing a good job of stopping it. All of a sudden, boom, he’s out and makes the right cut and he’s out and probably would have scored if the game was on the line. He was able to get a good run. We see different looks, linebackers coming through. We see things that teams won’t usually do to you because they’d get the ball going over the top of their head. Teams aren’t really playing us like that.
On how much pride he takes in the running game…
You take pride in it, but at the end of the year that is when you kind of look back on those kinds of things. We’re doing everything we can to help our football team win. It’s funny that we’re having this conversation about being number one in the run because I remember out of training camp everything was written, “You guys can’t run the ball. Thomas is getting old,” and all of a sudden we’re number one in the League. You just have to keep doing it and at the end of the year you look back on it and that’s something. At the end, if you’re not winning games, it doesn’t matter. Even when we had the (first) 300 yard game first against Buffalo, the fact that we didn’t win the game that takes a lot away from it. Keep working hard and keep sawing wood.
On his carries against Buffalo…
(Laughing) I don’t get the chance to carry the ball too much. The thing I tell guys, especially the young guys, a lot of these kids, I call them kids, that I am playing with now, were in elementary school when I was playing in Kansas City. I told them one time I was the primary ball carrier. Don’t get it twisted. I’ve had 100 yards rushing before. Every chance you get to run the football, the coach gives you the confidence to do it, make the most of it. Especially for me, Thomas can get 10, 15, 20 carries and if he misses a read it’s okay because he gets it again. For me, if I miss a read it’s a wrap. They might not give me the ball the rest of the day. I try to make the most of it. The offensive line did a great job, especially on that trap play we were running. I had Damien Woody out there pulling and he kicked the guy out both times. I looked up and there was nobody there except the safety. It was a great play design. If they give it to me I am definitely going to run it and do whatever it takes to help this team win.
2 Responses to Transcript: FB Tony Richardson, 12.7
-
PickSix says:
absolutely agreed.
You are a great player Tony and I hope you come back next year.