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Q:** You've played with Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning and you've played against Tom Brady. Is there a common thread you see between the three of them?
RW: Yeah, they're all really good quarterbacks. Their main objective is to win games. When you're a quarterback, you're going to get that leadership role and as a receiver, as a teammate, when your quarterback has that trait, has that halo around him to go out there and win games, you can't do nothing but go out there and give everything you possibly can give. You just want to do everything to do everything possible to add your two cents in. When you've got those three guys, that's what you see. There's nothing but winning and doing everything possible to get it done.
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Q:** How do you guys view this game? Is this a good measuring stick to see where you're at in the AFC?
RW: I believe every game is a good measuring stick for us. We're fairly young still. There are still some things we need to learn. But this will definitely be a great opportunity for us to go up against a top-notch team in the AFC. To a certain degree, it is a good measuring stick. But it's a big game because it's the next game. We all know the magnitude of these two franchises and what they do. But there are a lot of guys on this team that don't know anything about the history. I believe it's a great opportunity for us to go out there on national television again and just show the world, show the nation what we're capable of doing.
Q: This game has playoff ramifications. Is that something that's talked about in your locker room at all?
RW: Honestly, it hasn't. I think it's understood. We do understand where we are at this present moment right now as far playoffs and we do know that New England is sitting at the top of the throne. As far as where it can be down the line and all that stuff, we haven't really haven't looked into all that. The only thing we did is just focus on this next opportunity, this next game. Like I just said a minute ago, it's a big game, but it's a big game because it's the next game. That's been the approach we've been taking all year. What we do know is it's a great opportunity for us to go out there on national television and play against a great opponent and show everybody what Colts football is all about. Hopefully we can go out there and put our best foot forward and make things come to life.
Q: When you look at the Patriots secondary, what do you see? It's changed a bit since last year.
RW: It has. Actually, this secondary here is, in my 14 years of playing New England, this has probably been the best complete secondary. I think it allows them to do more things up front with the front seven guys they hadn't done probably during the past years. They're very talented. They're ball-hungry. They're definitely talented. It gives them a little bit to where they can be more risk takers with blitzes and things of that nature. It's definitely going to be a challenge for us: receivers, tight ends. It's a challenge that we look forward to and hopefully we go out there mano-a-mano and see who can win at the end of the day.
Q: How have you fended off Father Time? Not many guys last as long as you in the league or at the receiver position.
RW: It's just the wins. I just want to win. I dealt with an ACL last year, did a lot of rehab and did a lot of thinking. During that time I realized I still love this game, I still love the game of football and I want to go out and play the game that I love. I've been dreaming of being an NFL player since I was seven years old and I'm still having an opportunity to fulfill that dream. That's what makes me – I wouldn't say I've beaten Father Time. He's jabbing me, don't get me wrong. It's definitely an opportunity for me to just do the things that I love and football is one of them. Being a young team, I enjoy playing with these guys. They keep me on my toes, they keep me laughing. It doesn't feel like a job. It still feels like I'm living the dream. As long as I feel that way, I'm going to do my best to continue to play.
Q: Does Father Time look like it's jabbing Tom Brady?
RW: Not at all. I think he's jabbing Father Time. When you sit back and you watch him, it just seems like the same calm and collected guy that sits back there, he takes what the defense gives him and he just picks you apart. That's one thing that I think our defense realizes, that if we're not on our 'Ps and Qs' it can get ugly real fast. We all saw what New England did to us in the playoffs last year and two years ago when we went to New England. It's one of those things that if we don't go out there and play this team without committing any turnovers and things like that, it can get ugly pretty fast. That's what you don't want on a nationally televised game. We kind of had a little taste of that when we played Pittsburgh a few weeks ago. Hopefully we can go in with that mindset that we're not going to have that happen on a nationally televised game and it will be a different story.
Q: Having gone through an ACL injury yourself last year, how much respect and appreciation do you have for what Rob Gronkowski has been able to do coming back from that same injury?
RW: It shows you can't take anything for granted. I've been blessed, man, at one point in time I played 189 games in a row. At one point in time, I went seven years and didn't miss a practice. So you kind of take that stuff for granted thinking it's going to be there all the time. Then all the sudden you get hit with an injury that's a season-ending injury, you're like, 'Damn, maybe I should have watched a little extra film, maybe I should have stayed and did a little extra work on the field,' because you never know when that day is going to come, that anything can happen. Then you look at Coach [Chuck] Pagano and his situation, when he had to battle leukemia. He's been coaching for 30-some years every game and then all the sudden something that he loves and he takes pride in doing is taken away from him without his opinion or decision. It's things like that that you realize that you can't take anything for granted. You have to live in the moment and just treat each day, each practice like it can definitely be your last.
Q: With so many new faces in the Patriots secondary and in your receiving corps from when you played the Patriots last year, how helpful is it to look at last year's game? I know you didn't play, but how much can you glean from that game as a receiver?
RW: You look at that game. It's still New England. They still have the same coach. They could come in with a whole different game plan, but you still want to look at that game and see what they did just in case that stuff pops up again. Now you know how to counterpunch off of that. That's something that's definitely on our iPads that we look at. We know that a Coach [Bill] Belichick coached team, they're not going to keep giving you the same thing. But at the same time, you do want to look at the prior games just to see what they did successfully so you can be ready for it just in case they do it again. That's something you do against New England, against all the other 30-some odd teams in the league. You don't want to say, 'Alright, I'm not going to look at last year,' and then all the sudden you play them and they do it exactly the same as they did last year. You'd look crazy. So you look at every game they've played, every game you've played against them and you take it, you watch it and you try to get better from it.
Q: When you were a free agent a couple years ago, was there any part of your mind that wandered toward potentially playing for the Patriots?
RW: No. I was Colts Nation all day. I'm almost color blind; it's all blue and white. That's the only thing I can see.
Q: I think there were reports the Patriots were interested in you.
RW: That's something you have to ask New England. That's something you have to ask them, if they were interested in me. The only thing I know, it was an experience for me. It was the first time I was able to reach free agency. I wouldn't say it was the best time of my life. It was definitely a new chapter in my book that I had to experience. But everything worked out. I was able to come back here, finish up my career and I'm still pushing, I'm still running to that finish line each day. We'll go from there.
Q: Are you kind of a homebody? I ask that because a lot of guys would have done the whole free agency tour.
RW: Man, I don't have time for that. I'll be 36 on Monday, man. I'll be 36 on Monday. At that time, I was 33 years old. I'm cool with all that. I didn't need all that. That's almost like you being a senior in high school and you have five recruiting visits. Even at that time, when I was a senior, you have five recruiting visits, I only took three. I don't have time for that. I found a school I wanted to go to and that's where I ended up going to. I found a team that I wanted to play for and a team I was already playing for, and I'm here now.
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