By Richard Seymour On Tom Brady’s Return: ‘It was only an ACL…’
July 22, 2009 – 11:15 am by Bunk
Five Pro Bowl selections. Three All Pro nominations. And of course, three Super Bowl Rings. It’s been a nice start to the career of New England Patriots defensive end Richard Seymour. A year after being sidelined with injuries, Seymour returned to the field and to form in 2008. He played in 15 games and registered 8 sacks while anchoring a Patriots defense that had its ups and downs last season. Seymour joined WCNN in Atlanta to talk about the upcoming NFL season.
On how he’s feeling physically:
“I feel good at this point now, actually. I’ll actually be working out doing some d-line drills with [UGA coach] Chuck Smith. I feel good, I feel great, so I feel like I can have another nine years at this point.”
On why he thinks the Patriots organization is so well run and so successful this decade:
“Well I think back in ‘94 when Mr. Kraft got ownership of the team, I think he had a vision. And from that point, I think he wanted to start an organization from top to bottom with good people. I’m a firm believer that if you have good people surrounding you, you’ll be successful. And I mean good people to the core, not just talented individuals. Because a lot of teams have a lot of talent, but talent alone doesn’t win championships. I think you have to have a great ownership, I think you have to have great coaches, and obviously, you have to have great talent on the field to get it done. And I think we have all the ingredients from top to bottom. I think if you look at our organization, there’s really no stone left unturned as far as what it takes to get it done in this league. So, hats off to Mr. Kraft and what he’s been able to do. Coach Belichick is a heck of a coach, and if you look at the talent we’ve had on our roster – you can go back to Lawyer Milloy to Ty Law, Willie McGinest, Tom Brady, you name it – we’ve got guys across the board at various key positions that have been able to get the job done. We have a good mix of, you know, good young guys, old guys, veteran savvy guys, guys on the bubble who are just trying to stay in this league. So hats off to what we’ve been able to do over the course of the years. But as we all know, it’s what have you done for me lately and we haven’t won a Super Bowl in several years so it’s time for us to get back.”
On if he or others in the organization were reluctant to see Matt Cassell move on without first seeing that Tom Brady is ready to return at full strength:
“You know, at the end of the day, I think we have management that makes those kinds of decisions. And over the course of several years, they’ve done a great job with the scouting department and knowing who we need to put in at certain positions. So I’m confident that Tom can come back, it was only an ACL. I mean, you’ve had several guys come back within the same year sometimes from that injury. So it’ll be a year out when the season starts, it’ll be almost over a year’s time since the injury. So we’re fully confident that he can come back and do his job.”
Listen here to Seymour on WCNN in Atlanta
Tags: New England Patriots, NFL training camp 2009, Richard Seymour, WCNN
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