New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker addresses the media during his press conference at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday, December 30, 2009. Welker was selected to his second consecutive Pro Bowl.
Q: Congratulations on another selection to the Pro Bowl.
WW: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Q: Do you ever set that out as a personal goal for yourself at beginning of the year?
WW: I really don't. For me, it's going out and playing hard every single week. Everything I can do to help the team win. I think whenever you play like that all these other things kind of take care of themselves.
Q: What was your reaction? Had you been curious?
WW: Not really. I feel like I had a pretty good idea it would probably happen, but you never know in this league and how things will turn out. I was definitely excited and glad to hear it.
Q: Obviously, this year, with the Pro Bowl in Miami you won't have that usual trip to Hawaii and obviously you want to be in the Super Bowl, so you might not even play that game. Is that disappointing?
WW: Not really. Yeah, I think it would be great to get to play in it, but we know what our ultimate goal is. If I'm not playing in it then that is fine by me.
Q: How much do you and the Patriots, as a team, owe the other teams battling the Texans for a playoff spot to give it your best shot and what did you think of the Colts decision to pull their starters last week?
WW: I think anytime being a professional you want to go out there and play to the best of your ability every given week. This is what we live for and we want to go out there and play every Sunday, and get that opportunity. We always look forward to going out there and playing wherever the case may be. Everybody has their personal preferences on that. For myself, I enjoy playing each and every week and I look at this week no different.
Q: Can you comment on the Colts' decision?
WW: Like I said, everybody's [entitled] to their own personal opinion, and for me, it's wanting to go out there and play. And that's just me. I can't really speak for the Colts or anybody else.
Q: This is your second Pro Bowl, did you learn anything last time or did you enjoy the experience for a particular reason?
WW: Yeah, I definitely enjoyed it. Getting to go out to Hawaii and hang out with the family and have a good time out there. It was definitely a lot of fun. I can't really say I learned really too much. We just had a good time and have a lot of fun. It's more of a relaxing type atmosphere and I just enjoyed myself.
Q: What is your reaction to Texas Tech Head Coach Mike Leach getting fired?
WW: I've had a lot of calls and things like that of everything going on there at Texas Tech. It's hard for me to really say anything about it because I don't have all the facts and I don't really know everything that went on. I just go off my previous experience from being at Texas Tech and coach Leach and the rest of the coaching staff was always great to me, to my teammateS and everything like that. I never really experienced anything that I guess went on or whatever. I don't really know what the case is or what happened, so I can't really speak on it. As far as coach Leach and everybody, he was always great to me and great to my teammates. It's unfortunate and we wish him the best.
Q: You were undrafted as a free agent and Tom Brady was a sixth round pick and now you are leading one of the top offenses, have you guys ever saID to yourselves that you proved everybody wrong?
WW: Not really. I think we will sit there and say what a hoax the draft is and things like that, but I don't think we ever have it out for anybody or things like that. We just give the evaluators a hard time and say, 'You did a real good job on this pick' - things like that. Other than that, I don't think we necessarily feel like we are out to get anybody or anything. We just want to go out there and play some ball.
Q: Do you think after playing you would want to be involved in either coaching or personnel?
WW: I don't know about that. I always think that about players I've seen, 'This kid's going to be good' or something and he'll end up being a dud. But I'm not going through the interview process or anything. For me, I enjoy the learning process and the coaching process. We'll see. Hopefully it's a long ways away and I don't have to worry about it until the time comes. We'll see.
Q: Do you think Randy Moss should have made the Pro Bowl and would it have been sweeter for you both to go together?
WW: It's the way the league works and there're always some people that should have made it and didn't. There're only so many spots and especially at receiver in the AFC, all of the top guys were kind of in the AFC, which is unfortunate. I wish [he was going, too]. I know how key it is to have him on the same team as me. It's part of it and he understands that. He's been in the league a long time and you just got to focus on the task at hand.
Q: [On the opposing teams having a hard time covering him]
WW: Yeah, it's always like a new trend in the NFL, whether it's new plays, new defenses or new ways to stop different teams and things like that. You're always trying to find ways to exploit the new things that they're trying to do and I think we do a pretty good job of trying to do that.
Q: You may not have even looked at it, but Marvin Harrison's record, you have an outside chance of breaking it going into Sunday. Have you looked at that at all and what would that mean to you to be able to get the single season record?
WW: Outside chance? No that's out there bud. Trust me, I'm just going out there [and] trying to play my game. I think I would have to get 20-something receptions.
Q: It would be 22.
WW: Yeah, 22, so unless we're running one man routes or one man reads the whole game. No, I'm just going out there and trying to play my game and trying to handle my business as far as that goes.
