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I've been in the league 12 years. To sit on the bench and complain about the way things were, that doesn't get anything done. I don't know. I'm playing for a championship and trying to make the playoffs. My effort has never changed.

I think I just went into a system that was willing to utilize me and gave me opportunities and I felt fortunate to be able to go to Oakland and put the silver and black on. I wanted to prove to everybody that I could still play.

It's frustrating at times when you think you've earned a chance to play on the field and you're over there sitting on the bench. That's not the kind of player I am. I'm the kind of player who wants to be out there on the field and needs to contribute every minute of every game.

I was on the sideline with a knee injury and when I came back, I wanted to play at the best level I could. And that's the case for a lot of players, they want the chance to play against the best competition.

I wanted to go to the underdog team - I wanted to build something somewhere like a lot of the other guys who stayed home at Maryland, like Vernon Davis and players like that. I wanted to stay home and do it in front of my family and my friends... Those thing matter to me.

Even after I played ten years of ball, I still felt like I had to play well or somebody might take my place. They had plenty of players in the minor leagues who were good enough to come up and take your job, and I think that kept us going all of the time. I hustled and put that extra effort in all of the time.

I'm not saying I didn't have ample time to recover, ample time to get to my best, I felt this year I did fine. When I stepped on the field for the national team, I was ready and able to make an impact, to score goals, to create chances.

I earned the right to get in the team, and fought every game to be in it.

I loved coming up with players in scoring position and I had to drive them in.