Sports Radio Interviews

Antoine Winfield: “It Took Pressure Off Everybody Yesterday Knowing that Number 4 Was Back There”

SRI continues to work in new writers.  This post is courtesy of Chris Fedor of WKNR in Cleveland.  Even though he’s just 5’9, Antoine Winfield is still one of the better cornerbacks in the NFL and arguably the best tackling corner in the league.  Now he may not get all the headlines like some of the other defensive backs in the NFL, but he probably should.  Before last year, Winfield may have been one of the most underrated players at his position. He had a strong season in 2008, made it to his first ever Pro Bowl, finally got the recognition that he deserves, and then was rewarded handsomely by the Vikings with a brand new contract.

Before training camp in the NFL started, the Vikings were one of the hot picks to make it to the Super Bowl.  They made it to the playoffs a year ago with the likes of Gus Frerotte and Tarvaris Jackson under center.  The Vikings dominant offensive line, their incredible running game led by Adrian Peterson, and the most dominant run defense in the NFL led the Vikings to an NFC North title and a trip to the playoffs.  Now, with the addition of Brett Favre at quarterback, many consider the Vikings the favorites to come out of the NFC.  They’re off to a good start this season as they have gone on the road in two straight games and walked away with a win in both. This weekend they welcome the undefeated San Francisco 49ers to town for the home opener in what will be their biggest test of the season so far.

Antoine Winfield joined KFAN in Minnesota to talk about their 2-0 start, playing against Calvin Johnson this past week and the impact that Brett Favre has had on the Vikings.

On what is contributing to the Vikings slow first half starts:

“I’m not really sure.  Usually when teams play at home they usually start fast.  Cleveland did a great job and Detroit did a great job yesterday in the first half.  Both of those games we were down by three at halftime, but we came out in the second half and did what we needed to do to come away with a W.”

On playing against Calvin Johnson:

“He’s a good player.  Very big.  You watch him on film, his size is unbelievable.  He’s like 6’5, he runs a 4.2, has great hands and Detroit did a good job trying to move him around and get him the ball in different areas.”

On the impact of Brett Favre on the team:

“He’s getting comfortable.  He had a great day yesterday.  He didn’t have any turnovers, made the throws that he needed to make, controlled the game and moved the offense down the field scoring touchdowns, which gave us the lead in the second half. I believe it took a lot of pressure off everybody knowing that number 4 was back there.”

On the run defense this year as opposed to last year after yesterday’s game:

“I’m not really sure right now.  We will watch the film probably in another 2 or 3 hours.  They did a great job. Kevin Smith is a really good running back.  I think they were doubling Kevin (Williams) and Pat (Williams) and we were playing a lot of zone, so we only had seven men in the box at times and they did a great job.”

Listen to Antoine Winfield on KFAN in Minneapolis with Paul Allen (33 minutes into podcast)

Tags: Antoine Winfield, Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings, NFC North