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**Q: [When you were playing injured] in the last Titans game, the last play in particular, what was the response you got from around the league? Has that followed you?
TL:** I think so. People definitely recognized it. It was definitely not a publicity stunt though. My peers playing in games afterwards were just really basically wishing me well and hoping that I would get better, but really respecting me for still going out there and continuing to play. That is gone, that is over now. We are a new Patriots team. They are a new Titans team. Anything that happened in that previous game does not really matter.
**Q: How did having another bye week affect you and your injuries?
TL:** The bye week was definitely much needed, but I am feeling better. To say that I am 100 percent with no aches and pains—I can't. But at the same time, I am feeling good. I am definitely a lot better than in the last game we played, and I am looking forward to getting back out there on the field.
**Q: How have you and how has Tennessee changed since that first game?
TL:** That was a lot earlier in the season. We have played a lot more games since then, so hopefully we have grown as a unit, both offensively and defensively, special teams. We have a tighter unit team than we had in the first few games, and I think Tennessee did the same thing. You want to get better every week and to get to this point and be in the second round of the playoffs, we have to be two pretty good teams.
**Q: How have you guys been able to be so dominating, especially on defense?
TL:** I don't think that we necessarily dominated anybody. We played well defensively and, like I said, we play good as a unit. Everyone is looking out for each other and we know that everybody is depending on us. We just put up a good team effort and that is what it is all about. Every time we step out there on the field, it is a team. We always break as a team. We always get in the middle of the field if we have to get together and we break on 'team'. That is what our defense is all about.
**Q: Do you guys kind of feel like caged animals after you have been watching the playoff games? Are you anxious to get out and play?
TL:** You want to go out there and hit somebody. You don't want to sit around too long and lose the feel for the game. Of course yes we need a break, but at the same time we still need to keep ourselves in physical condition and mental condition to go out there and win a football game. We are eager to get back out there on the field and I think we will show that when game time comes.
**Q: You are tremendously competitive person. Did that come from growing up the way you did? Where did that come from?
TL:** I would have to start with my roots from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. We had a very strong program there. It was all about football. Of course yeah we played basketball and baseball, but it was a football town. Everything that I have learned about the game started right there in Aliquippa.
**Q: You have to feel a little bit of satisfaction in getting back to the playoffs.
TL:** It is overwhelming, especially winning the Super Bowl Championship and then not showing well the next season and not even making it to the playoffs. You understand, being in this league long enough, that it is very hard to get into the playoffs, first of all. Anytime you even get in as a wild card is a blessing. So to be where we are right now, it feels good. And hopefully we will continue to play well because, like I said before, no one will care about a 14-2 record if we don't go out there and play well and we are at home come Super Bowl time. No one will care.
**Q: You guys were 2-2 last time you played Tennessee. What does that mean?
TL:** I don't think it meant too much at that point in the season because it was so early. We knew we were a tough football team and we knew we could hang in there and play for 60 minutes, but I don't think it proved anything. I know Tennessee is not coming in here saying we beat them and they are going to lie down for us because it was a hard fought game, 38-30. It came down to the wire. Like I said, on any given Sunday anything can happen. We just have to go out there and play hard and hopefully capitalize on some of the opportunities that are going to present themselves in the game. I know they are thinking the same thing.
**Q: Ty when you look at Rodney Harrison's affect on the team, can you think of that one moment when you knew what kind of player he was? When was that?
TL:** From day one as soon as we put on the pads. He put a pretty good hit on Troy Brown, which raised a lot of eyebrows—'what are you doing, that is Troy Brown.' He just brings that intensity to the game and back there in the secondary I think he has even been a greater inspiration to Eugene Wilson. He wasn't the type to go around and hit people as hard as he does, but I think that is all Rodney right there. He has been doing it for a long time. It is nothing new. I am glad to have him on my team.
**Q: You got three new players in the secondary this year. How important was it to have him in that group to help you come together?
TL:** Well once you go through training camp, if everyone is willing to work hard, it is not hard to come together. When you are out there for two-a-days for four weeks, you have no choice but to get better and come together and play well, or try to play well. It was not hard at all. Our personalities got along very well. There was no clashing whatsoever. It is just great to have him here, plus I knew him personally and had played with him at the Pro Bowl and we always talked about maybe one day playing on the same team and that is one of the reasons why he did come he said, to get the opportunity to play with myself and Lawyer [Milloy].
**Q: What has his off-field impact been?
TL:** Everything. He is a fun guy—practical joker just like everybody else, so he fits in real well. I will say he was a little sensitive in the beginning because we are constantly joking around here, especially Willie [McGinest]. He was sensitive at first, but he fits in now.
**Q: What is he sensitive about?
TL:** Everything. Rodney would get sensitive if you talk about his sweater. He would get a little t'd off, but now he is the first one cracking jokes. He fits in well around here.
**Q: All the success that you have had, and being a defensive Pro Bowler, has this been your best season individually?
TL:** I don't think it has been my best season. I just have played pretty consistent to what I have always done. I have had seasons where I led the league in interceptions, but that is only one aspect of my game. I think that only tells one side of the story, my making interceptions. I think it is not about how many you have, but when you get them. I have always been pretty consistent with my tackles, so statistically I am where I have always been. To say this is my best season, I don't know. I have had some pretty good seasons in nine years so I don't want to put this above anything else, but I am appreciating this season a lot more because of some of the things that happened early on—being injured, losing my best friend in Lawyer, having a whole new secondary and everybody speculating that this is going to be my last year and things like that. It has been pretty gratifying from that standpoint, but other than that it is just another day at the office.
**Q: People are saying that Eddie George may have lost a step. What is your take?
TL:** He didn't look like he lost a step to me when he was running into Ray Lewis like that. Eddie George saves his best for last. He has been pretty consistent with his yards per carry. He runs very hard. He can go out there and play that hard with a separated shoulder. He doesn't lose a step. He plays through pain. He has played in 136 consecutive games. I think that is a testament to his will, his ability to play the game, his ability to endure pain and just the physical presence that he always is. By him on the injury report if there is 'questionable' or something, I guarantee you Eddie George will be there ready to play.
**Q: With jumping the bridge between regular and playoff play, how do you keep your adrenaline?
TL:** You just have to look at it as another game. Of course it is the playoffs and we all know that, but you just have to remember what it took to get to this point. You can't look at this as anything different than a football game. If you took as much pride in the regular season and just took that pride and enthusiasm with you into the playoffs then you will be okay
