Derby Trail Forums - thomlinson..is he the best

Oh I forgot there was A David Boston for a year w/o Gates to take attention away.

(More of the interview of 2004)

Despite the fact that you’ve put up big numbers, the plain truth is that your supporting cast in San Diego has been, shall I say, less than spectacular. This year, you might have a rookie QB starting and your WRs corps lost David Boston. Are you concerned that the supporting cast might limit your production?

LT: Well, I am concerned about the supporting cast, but I’m not concerned about it limiting my production. I think we’ll have a good enough supporting cast where we can still get things done. I think it’s going to definitely hurt us not having Boston because he did draw some attention, and that made it a little easier on me. But I think you still have to go out and perform and I think a lot of guys in the NFL in the past have not had a lot of support. You think about Barry Sanders; a lot of Walter’s (Peyton) years he didn’t have a lot of support. So I think it depends on the player and if he can handle it.

So, in a year or two, let’s assume (QB Phillip) Rivers is starting, your receiving corps is improved, and your line is looking better, could we possibly see even better things from you?

LT: I don’t think there’s any doubt. If our team gets better and some of the attention gets drawn away from me, it will make me even better and make my job a lot easier. So I think, definitely, that’s a possibility.

Personally, I don’t see any flaws in your game. You’re a terrific inside-outside runner, an excellent receiver, and a very effective goal line back. But you’re been in the league only three years. Are there any areas you think you can improve upon?

LT: Absolutely. I always want to improve on just being smarter and working on recognition as far as the defense is concerned. That’s a thing that’s overlooked. The faster you’re able to recognize the defense, the better off and the better runner you’ll be. Being able to determine what’s going to happen on the other side of the ball will make you that much better, so I think I can get a lot better in that area, and also in being able to dominate as a blocker and make the guys I’m blocking not want to come back.

When you entered the league, did you ever envision yourself catching as many passes as you have?

LT: Actually, I didn’t. I never thought about catching all these passes. This was something Drew (Brees) and I talked about a couple of times I remember my second year Drew was like ‘I’m going to get you 100 passes,’ and I was like ‘yeah, alright, cool.’ But I really didn’t think about it and I ended up with like 79. And then this past year, Drew was like, ‘this year, I guarantee you get 100’ and I was like, ‘Okay.’ But you know at the same time I’m just thinking it’s just talk, but sure enough I came up with 100. A lot of that had to do with the production of our receivers, you know. We had guys in and out of the lineup, people were hurt, you know, so Drew never really had a guy he could depend on because of the injuries, so I guess I was kind of that guy who was there every game that he could depend on.

Favorite all-time NFL player?
LT: Wow. Walter Peyton.