There are times when I'm watching an NFL quarterback struggling to get through the game, and I get bitter to some extent.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
My advice to the next quarterback that misses an entire year is to understand there is a little difference going out on the road again. You miss that. When you're hurt, you do not feel like you are part of it.
In the NFL a lot of times everyone gets caught up in the business side of things. For them it's all about money and it really leaves a sour taste in your mouth.
If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a quarterback who thinks playing quarterback is just about passing.
You realize that you can't win 'em all. You try to win 'em all; you get frustrated, but you gotta have a short fuse either way. Success in the NFL is just as deadly as allowing yourself to kinda wallow in sorrow. It works both ways.
One of the reasons I loved playing quarterback was that I got to call the plays. The cancer put me in a position where I really wasn't in control anymore.
Everybody's watching when you're the quarterback. The other players see how much you want it.
When I go back to NFL functions today, I feel a bit on the outside looking in. I played 13 years in the NFL, and I loved it - made a Pro Bowl and went to the playoffs - but I always felt like I was having to knock the door down to get in.
I feel like too many guys get wrapped up in this image that a quarterback is supposed to have, and I've never bought into that.
We talk about toughness as a quarterback: it's not sometimes the physical part that you see; it's the mental toughness and the 'I'm going to stand in here, take this shot,' and 'I'm going to deliver it to my guy.'
That's what I love the most about being a quarterback. Everybody looks to you to make a play. They look to you to say something that's going to spark the team. I take full pride in that every single day.