(on his friendship with Michael Strahan)
"Michael and I...I have a lot of love for Michael. He's on the same fence with me in terms of trying to grab one. It's been a long, long journey for both of us. As far as that goes, he understands that the best team will win. Who will that be? We don't know. We really don't, but it's so nice to see that he's doing well."

(on his reaction to Kevin Everett's injury in Buffalo)
"All we can do is pray and wish him well. Kevin was always in our hearts, and he still is. He still has a recovery that we hope will be full. To him and his family, our condolences go out to them because it's been a big year for them. To tell you the truth, we all win because of what he has been able to do in terms of his recovery. It aligns all of us."

(on if winning the Super Bowl would validate his career)
"Do I need a Super Bowl ring to validate my career? We all would love to have one, and when there's a chance to actually go out and play for one, I won't be able to answer that until after the game because that's hypothetical. It's here, I'm going to embrace it and I'm going to do all I can to help this team accomplish that for all of us. As far as the Super Bowl goes, yeah, this is the Super Bowl, but this is a special Super Bowl. We can hide from the fact that there's going to be another Super Bowl, but this special day, this special week, we can do something that can be here forever."

(on if he spoke with Jon Gruden after he retired about going to Tampa)
"Jon Gruden is definitely a good friend of mine. We did talk and he said to me that he has his #55. We kind of just chuckled at that and hung up the phone. I called him a jerk and went on (laughing). He's a great guy."

(on criticism of Patriots linebackers being too slow)
"We just keep winning. We can't control what the world may want to put pressure on or say about us. We're not going to play that game. We're not going to join in that. It only distracts us, so what we do is go on Monday, we look at films and we work for Tuesday and Wednesday to position ourselves to be better on Sunday. From there on, we're going to get judged, but at the end of the day and at the end of the year, the judgment will come on all of us. Hopefully it will be something that we can look back on and be proud of. So far it's been going good"

(on if he appreciates this Super Bowl more this time around)
"You may think that I would, but I appreciated the game when I was a rookie, and even back in the days in '94. I love this game and it doesn't change. I can't have more love than I did in '90 as opposed to '08. I can't. I'm embracing this. It's like embracing something when you know it's going to leave and you'll just do anything for. That's what I'm doing every day."

(on if he thought it would take this long to get back to a Super Bowl)
"When you're young, you think you're always going to have an opportunity. When I look back 181 games ago, I would never have thought it would be this long. We had an opportunity. We were young in San Diego when we went to that Super Bowl. When you look at it, you would think we would have a chance in the years to come, but it never came, and here we are."

(on his style)
"My flip-flops won't ever leave me. I don't go too far. I understand the journey. Staying humble and hungry is always going to be my key. What I've been doing during the course of my career is basically work ethic, perseverance and a lot of prayer. I embrace every day I have an opportunity to play or even just to grab a helmet."

(on journey of this season)
"This is the journey. To talk about the journey would be to rehash what we already did. The journey is on-going. The journey can be over or it could be alive forever come Sunday."

(on how long ago his retirement seems)
"When I first came here to New England, when I first got the call from (Bill) Belichick, he called me and his words were this: 'I have a position for you.' Other teams were saying they would love for me to be on their team, but that gave me a clue to mean they wanted me, but didn't really need me. Belichick called two weeks before the season and he said, one-on-one, 'I have a position for you,' and it changed my life.

(on if he has played in enough games to where he doesn't get nervous any more)
"If you don't get nervous before a game then you're not alive. That's the way it's supposed to be. The anticipation of the curiosity, the insecurities and the anxiety -- all of those intangibles play a role. If you are one that is so calm that you don't feel anything - trust me - you're not a football player."

(on when the nervousness ends in a game)
"It's different for everyone. It's different every week."

(on where his energy comes from)
"I love the game of football. Being part of the league for 18 years, working one day at a time, one game at a time, and one play at a time, that equals this journey."

(on what he remembers about the media obligations from his last Super Bowl)
"Again, the Super Bowl in 1994 was 181 games ago. I can't remember back then. I don't want to remember that. What I want to do is look forward. We have Tuesday Media Day to enjoy that with the rest of the boys, and then go from there. We're getting closer to game day, and that's very important for all of us."

(on if he would walk away from this game after Sunday)
"That's not important to us. This game is such a big game that it's bigger than what I'm going to do after the game. We can be hypothetical on whether we'll win or lose and try to put words into describing that. I'm not going to play that game. I can't do that because I don't know. I don't have that answer."

(on how many hats he owns)
"I probably have like 350 hats. I'm pretty sick with hats. The world hasn't seen this one yet, so I'd thought I'd throw it on."

(on motivational talks he gives to team)
"Our speeches in the locker room are basically for our family in that locker room. What we talk about is beyond just X's and O's. It's about life and what tomorrow may bring, and the consequences that this game can cause. There's a light there and it's just a reminder. That's all it does."

(on what makes Kevin Faulk so valuable)
"When you mention Kevin Faulk, I have to just smile because this is a man who walks onto the field on third down, the most important down of the series. We live or die on that series with Kevin Faulk. You know he is going to get the ball. You know that. That's what Kevin Faulk does, and he still wins. That's special."

(on how much business he's lost at his San Diego restaurant since New England beat the Chargers)
"The San Diego game was a bittersweet game due to the fact that I was happy for the city of San Diego and happy for the guys that I know and love on that team. Being able to share that with them at that time - obviously I was on the other side of the fence and I had to take the scenic route to get there - for the most part was special for all of us. It really was. As far as the restaurant, I'm not going to plug the restaurant right now. It's not about me."

(on how he is a different player in New England's defensive scheme compared to his days in San Diego)
"There's a system here and I always try to put it together in terms of how I would explain it. I've said it before -- it's like subcontracting a plumber or a roofer. Although you may be a plumber, (Bill) Belichick would say, 'go fix the roof.' If you worked on cabinets, we want you to go work on this tree in the yard. You have to be versatile and you have to be able to adjust. In this scheme, you have to be able to do more than just plug the 'A' and 'B' gap. You really do."

(on if he has the same load on him now that he did in San Diego)
"The relationship to what I was in San Diego and what I am here now is basically the same. You have to go after the guy with the ball. Someway, somehow you have to get him down. There are responsibilities with checks, alignments and everything else - being able to cover and stuff the run, obviously being a decoy at times, but it's all the same."