Dwight Freeney Quotations

We feed off each other. If (one guy) gets a sack, now I have to get one. So it makes everybody play a little harder.

Oh, yeah, I'm real eager, ... I want to go out there and do what I've got to do.

Obviously, you hear a lot of Patriots this, Patriots that. Rightfully so: They've beaten us every year since I've been here.

Obviously, Edge is a great player. We'd miss him, but we understand. It's hard to replace a guy like that. If it happens, it remains to be seen if his backup (Dominic Rhodes) can do the job.

Porter does a lot of talking, that's his game. He loves it.

He was a tough guy. We hit him with a lot. And he always popped up.

He's a tough guy. We hit him quite a few times, but he always popped back up. That should be very encouraging for him. He's not the type of guy you can intimidate.

I was like, 'What, we signed a free agent?' ... It's big. I think the owner (Jim Irsay) really sees the opportunity to move forward here and make that push.

Just turn on the film of the last game. We basically dominated, physically. You see a guy flat on his back, we're playing physical.

I thought the guy did a pretty good job, considering we'd heard he was playing hurt (sore shoulder),

Some games you're on, some games you're not as on, you're a little bit off.

We have to take our energy, store it up and explode on Sunday.

We didn't blitz a whole lot. We usually don't have to because we get good pressure from the guys up front. Our idea was to put as much pressure on him with our front four and drop everybody else back into coverage.

When you are coming full out and just exploding at an offensive player, ... you know before you hit him what you're going to do. You envision it and it's like he's not even there.

I'm going to prove the haters and doubters wrong. I like when the doubters try to say that I'm (not still) elite or that I'm too old. I'll use that.

My favorite part is that 1-on-1 matchup... Block out everything else and stare into that guys eyes.

As long as we win games and I harass the quarterback, however I do it, we're good.

I want to play my best, day in and day out. It's a pride thing for me. I'm going to go out there and dominate the guy I'm playing against every time.

Of all the things in sports, getting a sack is one of the hardest things to do. It's like a last-second, game-winning shot in the NBA. A guy hits the last-second shot, and the fans scream. For us (defensive ends), the sack is everything. It's hard to get there. But once you do, there's nothing like it.

There is no reason we can't be elite. But let's not talk too soon. We have to have a consistent thing going on before we say we're right where we need to be.

You have to be able to win games a lot of different ways. You can't just depend on your offense to score 35 points.

We're picking it up, but it's only the third game. We have 13 more games in the regular season. We have to continue this. Let's not get too excited too early.

We're going to be ready to do some big things. I really believe we'll be a balanced team.

You double (team) me all day and you double Robert (Mathis) all day, the more doubles you deal out means somebody is going to get a single. We won the battle and we were outnumbered.

Consistency on their protection and pass set -- the best linemen don't waver from it, regardless of what I do.

Ever since I've been here, people have gone crazy over our offense and said that our defense sucks, ... Well, guess what? We're making strides. The crazy thing is, now that the defense is finally balling, everyone's uptight because the offense hasn't been clicking.

Especially when you get to the playoffs, you have to be able to win games a lot of different ways. You can't just depend on the offense to score 30 or 40 points. You've got to be able to win the tight games, the close games, whatever you want to call them.

I understand that we have to really wrap up and tackle this guy. He's not one of those guys that is going to fall on the first touch.

The Steelers are who they are. They like to pound the ball. It's going to be hard for them to change much at this point.

This doesn't tell us; we've already known that, ... We expected that of ourselves before this even happened. This is just something to help us get there.

This defense is really predicated on getting a pass rush from the front four. When we go into the week, we're not thinking we have to carry the load. We carry the load every week.

This defense is really predicated on getting a pass rush from the front four. It's designed like Tampa Bay's with (Simeon) Rice and (Warren) Sapp.

They're the defending champs. They are the champs until someone beats them and knocks them off.

They're the defending champs, ... They are the champs until someone beats them and knocks them off.

It was definitely one of my better games,

It's an ongoing transition to become the defense we want to be. We're nowhere near where we need to be.

It's an ongoing puzzle that we're trying to solve. We need to send certain messages, like we're all fast but just don't come across the middle.

It's kind of funny out here, actually hearing some buzz about us. Being here for so many years, and before I got here, it was always about the big three on offense, and rightfully so. But, you know, it is good to hear a little about us, and we're playing a lot better.

It's classic, old-school, defensive football. I think it's just a matter of playing together, knowing the scheme and getting comfortable with the scheme. It's like being in your house for a long time.

It was old school, bloody. I love those types of games.

It's not about who the tougher guy is.

Anytime you step on the football field, you have to go out there to play to win and play hard. You have to have something inside yourself to respect yourself and the game and go out there and perform.

That's definitely a great stat, knowing their offensive line and their quarterback. Hopefully we can keep (the streak) going.

I'm kind of disappointed that we let them score at the end. That's why I think that we ought to do better defensively and hopefully continue this success. It's four games in -- when we get to the eighth or 10th game, we'll see how everything compares. It's still early. We are playing great defensively.

If you look at Tampa Bay when he was there, he had a great defensive line with (Warren) Sapp and (Simeon) Rice. And the Vikings, you saw (John) Randle and (Chris) Doleman.

I think a 10-3 score is a thing of beauty. I know a lot of people don't like it, but to me, it's beautiful.

Hopefully I can continue that little string I had going,