William Gay Press Conference Transcript Wednesday February 2nd Super Bowl XLV
QUOTES FROM STEELERS PRESS CONFERENCE
CORNERBACK WILLIAM GAY
(on the advantage of having Super Bowl experience) “If you let that bother you, experience or no experience, then you are not in love with the game of football. On Sundays, it’s going to come down to playing what you love and what you’ve been doing for a long time. I think both sides have been playing for a long time, so it’s going to be a great game on Sunday and I’m pretty sure everybody is going to be ready for it.”
(on what he remembers from when the Steelers and Packers played last season) “All I remember is that we came out on top. That’s all you basically want to remember about that game. It was last year so it’s not relevant to this year, two totally different teams. I just remember we won and went home.”
(on if having Troy Polamalu this game will make a difference) “We want all 53 guys out there, no matter the name. We just want a totally ‘one effort’ Steelers team ready to go for the Super Bowl. That’s what we plan on doing. That’s what we’ve been doing all season preparing to try to get to our goal. Now we’re here and now we want to try to accomplish a win in the Super Bowl.”
(on if Aaron Rodgers is a different quarterback this year) “No, he was coming along. He threw for a lot of yards last year. This year they’re on the big stage and now we’re facing them again. It’s going to be a great challenge, a great offense, a great team over here. It’s just going to be good on good and what a great matchup for the Super Bowl.”
(on the Packers’ rhythm-based offense and on what the Steelers can do to disrupt it) “With any NFL offense, collegiate offense, high school, it starts off by getting pressure on the quarterback. If you do that, it will knock all rhythm off of what they have going on because if the quarterback can’t get the ball off, there’s no offense.”
(on Aaron Rodgers’ ability to move outside the pocket) “The bottom line, whatever the game plan is, however you blitz, whatever the Defensive Coordinator calls, you have to execute. Aaron Rodgers is a scrambler. You have to contain him and make sure he doesn’t scramble. On the back end, we have to make sure we cover long enough so those guys can get those sacks.”
(on the Packers having several slow developing routes) “That’s not new. They do that throughout the NFL. You have to be prepared for that. We’re just going to try to execute our plan to stop those guys.”
(on what he has seen from the Packers receivers on film) “A good group of guys who are willing to do anything for their quarterback, getting open, run after the catch. You like a group like that. Also, as an opponent, you like to go against good receivers like those guys.”
(on the Packers receivers being versatile) “They can do it all. It doesn’t matter where they are on the field, they do any position as far as within the receiving core.”
(on what he will be thinking when he runs out of the tunnel on Super Bowl Sunday) “It’s a dream come true. I’m fortunate enough, blessed enough to see another one, but, at the end of the day, after you run out that tunnel, it’s a football game.”
(on the Packers having five good receivers) “Once you have five receivers who are great, you kind of want them on the field. We don’t know what their offensive coordinator is going to do, but I can say that we’re going to be prepared for anything.”
(on if those packages will leave them vulnerable to the run) “It starts when you put a lot of receivers out there. Of course you have to cover them, but now we just have to put pressure on their quarterback so he won’t have a long time to throw the ball.”
(on what he has done this week to make it more normal) “Once you get down here, you definitely want to have fun. This is a reward for coming down here, for all the hard work you did from offseason training so you definitely want to enjoy it. At the same time, it’s business. As a professional, you need to know how to have fun and business all at the same time.”
(on if he has any superstitious routines during Super Bowl week) “I don’t have anything superstitious. I just go with the flow of the day. It really doesn’t matter like, ‘I need to eat this certain food like I did last week.’ I don’t need to do that. I just go with the flow because the bottom line is whatever God has in store for you, that’s what’s going to happen. You can’t do anything that God does not have in store for you. I kind of go along with my day and when Sunday comes, it comes and it’s time to play football.”
(on if he expects a high scoring game) “You just don’t know what’s going to happen on Sunday. I just hope we execute the best way we know how. We know it’s not going to be a perfect game but, like I said, I hope we execute the best way and come out with a ‘W.’”
(on if he thinks the defensive backs need to atone for their performance against the Packers last season) “We went through it just a tad bit but we know we’re a different team from last year. We never really paid that much attention to last year’s game. We kind of like to focus on what they did this year and leading up into the playoffs.”
(on James Farrior’s pregame speeches) “He’s a great motivational speaker. Every time he talks, everybody listens. I can say it gets me fired up waiting to hear him talk and when he talks, I know it’s game time.”
(on his favorite James Farrior pregame speech) “I’m going to keep that inside the locker room, but just know he has some good speeches.”
(on if Farrior might have a future as a paid motivational speaker) “Well, that’s bigger than motivating a football team, something that you’re doing. He probably has a possibility for a lot of things he can do.
(on what threat the Packers receivers present on the outside) “When you have a talented group like the Green Bay Packers receivers, they can catch, run, break tackles, they can do it all, score touchdowns. It’s just always a threat. Like I said, being on this level, there’s no easy task at hand. We expect that. We’re not going to back down from the challenege. We’re going to be ready for it. On Sunday, it’s going to be a great show.”
(on if there were any games that could serve as blueprints to game plan) “I’m not a defensive coordinator, nor is anybody on their team an offensive coordinator. We’re just going to go out there and do what our defensive coordinator says and they’re going to do what their offensive coordinator says. I don’t know if they’re marking anybody or not, but I don’t believe so because they wouldn’t be in the position they are now.”
(on if the Steelers game plan differently each game or do they have a general plan for every game) “It’s not even trying to stick to what we’ve done for the past few weeks. We stick with what we’ve done since training camp. Nothing has changed. He put the whole play book in day one of training camp. You can even take it back to OTAs. Everything he puts in, we run. It’s just a matter of what he calls on Sunday.”
(on if there are any trick plays for this week) “If you turn on any film from this year, you will see the same plays that we’ve done from day one when we got here.”
