Whitworth … 8/19 … transcript … (AW is a good interview)

Rams OL Andrew Whitworth – August 19, 2020

(On how it feels starting his 15th year in the NFL)
“You know what, I’m just excited. It’s exciting to be out here. It’s exciting to get a chance to compete. Obviously, a crazy year and all of us, I think, are just amped up to have this opportunity to try and get football off. I think it just makes you appreciate it so much more. So, it’s been fun so far.”

(On how OL Joe Noteboom is doing)
“He’s doing a great job. I think we’ve continued to grow there and grow up front. We had a group last year that, in a good way, a ton of people got to play, in a bad way, unfortunately, we were really young and maybe not as efficient as we wanted to be, but got better and better as the year went. So, I think we’re excited. We’re excited for the challenge. We take that challenge, that we’ve got to set the tone for this offense. We’ve got a lot of young guys, who have bright futures, and we’ve just got to keep taking good steps.”

(On how he is personally adjusting to all the changes for this training camp)
“I think it’s been tremendous. In my opinion, I’ve argued for a long time, that really camp should start more similar to how it started this year. I mean, maybe that means camp has to start a little sooner, whatever it is. But to me, that acclimation period of actually getting guys here, acclimating them to lifting and really ‘above the neck’ type things, to where you’re understanding what you’re doing and taking care of guys, getting them in shape, running them a little bit, rather than just jumping right on the football field and practicing. I think it’s a much safer way to get guys in good shape and being healthy and eliminating a lot of soft tissue type stuff that happens with ‘hammies’ (hamstrings) and calves. You really get an opportunity for guys to be feeling really good when they step on the field for the live action. And so, I think to me, this is one of the greatest ways you could start it and something that’s really, hopefully, the league and the ‘PA’ (NFL Players Association) and everyone takes notice that this is maybe some way that we want to work this into the future as well.”

(On being at his own practice facility for training camp)
“I mean everything other than I’m missing that cool breeze that we’d get sometimes down at Irvine, I’ll tell you that much. You know, yeah, it’s great to be at your facility, but sometimes in those afternoon practices we’d get a nice little breeze there off the ocean. So, I was thankful for that. Out here we’ve got a little heat going on. It’s fun. It’s a challenge and it adds something else to the day.”

(On if he’s reached out to any older players to get tips on how to continue to be productive as he gets older)
“You know, I say this as humbly and respectfully as I can, I think I’ve outlasted most of them (laughs). I think they all stopped in their mid to early 30’s. So yeah, you know what, throughout my career, honestly one of the reasons I’m able to play at the age I am now, not really now asking, but when I was a young tackle in the NFL, it was really when (Jonathan) Ogden, Willy Anderson, even Orlando Pace, all those guys, their career was really starting to wind down. So when I got into the NFL, one of the reasons I stay so lean and try to do such a good job of staying on top of my shape is that one of the things I observed watching those guys, listening to them, and how they trained and did things is that I always kind of thought they could have done a little better job of taking their weight down and taking care of themselves when they got a little older to make themselves last. And I thought that was something, when I got to that point, I was going to be on top of it. So, I started really, right when I turned 30, I kind of a started a deal that I did ever year, that I kind
of wanted to make sure I reported to camp every single season a little lighter. And so that always kind of just told me I was managing my weight, keeping it in a healthy spot, and keeping in really good shape. And so, not letting myself get out of control in the offseason. So that’s something that, not necessarily asking them now, but I learned from watching them then.”

(On what his weight is now)
“Right now, I’m probably 315, 316 (pounds), something like that. You know, I played early at my career probably at 45 (345 pounds) or 50 (350 pounds). And really, I would say, when I started doing this, I was around 342. And just have every year, kind of taken it a notch or two down. And this year I actually reported a little heavier than normal, but that’s really just because, like everyone else, I had nothing to do all offseason but train, so I had put a lot of work in the weight room.”

(On how he loses weight)
“Really more lean body mass stuff. So, just trying to somewhat eat as good as I can and try to be mindful of my diet. Obviously, in the offseason you’re going to live a little bit better than you normally do in the in season because you’re in such a good regimen, in season. But in the offseason, it’s really staying active. I mean, I’m a huge golfer, you guys know that. I try to train in the mornings and then I golf all afternoon. Then at night, it’s usually a pickup game with the boys, with my kids. And you know, just trying to stay active, stay outside sweating throughout the whole day. My ideal day is I usually fall asleep because I just don’t have anything else left in the tank to do. So, that’s how I like to do it. I like to be outside all day. I don’t watch much TV or really ever sit down on the couch. I get a little too busy for that.”

(On if he used a bear hug as a peace keeping technique after things got intense at practice)
“Yeah, just trying to break things up. You know when guys get in a tussle there, it’s a lot of big humans that are mad. And so, you’ve got to make sure you get in there and break it up before anything happens to get guys hurt or rolled up on or any of that. So yeah, you know, I ran in there and just tried to do my best to keep things at peace. I think most of the time those guys, they get mad at each other and they realize about three minutes later, that’s why you don’t fight at practice because you’re exhausted for the rest of the day. So, you usually regret it. So the sooner you can break it up and get them to relax and get them to realize that’s probably the last thing you want to do right now, you know what, it’s for the better.”

(On seeing a lot of physicality over the course of his career and where the line is between it having a positive or negative effect)
“I think, you’ve got to be competing. You’ve got to compete, you’ve got to hit, you’ve got to, not really fight in a physical sense, but you’ve got to have some determination and some go-to and guys have got to be relentless about getting out there and competing with one another. You don’t really want to see them get to the point of fighting because the reality is in the NFL, as I well know, having been ejected twice, you don’t get to stay in the game if you fight. It’s one of those things that you want that competition, a little bit of a tussle or a push, just because you know guys are competing and it means something to them to win a rep, but you want to stop from there and guys have self-control to realize maybe you’ve lost your temper, that’s going to happen in a game as well, and you’ve got to be able to control yourself to do what’s best for the football team.”

(On CB Jalen Ramsey’s hit on RB Cam Akers)
“I think that it’s one of those things that you’re going to see some of that in practice because obviously on the edges with those guys, when you get out in space, it’s hard to know when your thudding or when you’re not tackling. You know, ‘Who’s going to thud who?’ and sometimes it’s like, ‘Hey, I kind of thought I was going to pull up on you and then the guy lowers his hat on him,’ and later in the practice there’s another instance where a running back, because of that play, lowered his helmet on a DB that thought he wasn’t going to do it. So, it’s one of those things where it’s tough for those guys on the edges. It’s a split-second decision. You’ve got to know the guys you’re practicing against and the competitors they are and a guy like Jalen (Ramsey) is such a competitor that it’s not a shock to see him want to hit and want to get involved. That’s what separates him, in my opinion, in a lot of top corners in this league. His physicalness and the attitude he plays with, you don’t see a lot of just man-to-man corners that are also guys who love to hit like he does.”

(On how he grew into a leader and when he in his career did he feel comfortable assuming that role)
“I had the opportunity as a young player. I got drafted in Cincinnati and they had Levi Jones and Willie Anderson. Levi had just made a Pro-Bowl and Willie Anderson was a multi Pro Bowler and All-Pro. Both those guys were so hands-on with me from the beginning and teaching me the game and so I kind of learned from them. As soon as those guys left after a couple of years of me being there, just as we brought in young linemen year after year. You know what, as an O-line group, you’re only as good as the group and the tight ends as well, all the guys that are blocking. So, whatever you can pour into those guys or just give them another thought of the way that they’re trying to get something done, to me that’s something I’ve always done. So here, usually when practice ends, I just kind of walk around and see guys that are working on something and try and pop in and just say ‘Hey, is there something I can help you with?’, or ‘What are you looking to do?’, and if you can give them an intention or just to a purpose to what they are working on and what they’re trying to get done, I think those little things for them can, one – be a boost of confidence for them for a veteran like myself to come talk to him and give him a little love. Then two – I mean, if there’s anything that I can just give them. Maybe it’s a little thing that I’m not even thinking would be that helpful but to say it and clear it up for them, you just never know. So, to me it’s like, always just show up, always just come to be the best version of yourself and try to help guys reach that for themselves and let’s see what happens from there.”

(On how he would access the team coming together as a group)
“You know what, it’s been great. It’s been tremendous to see guys compete. I think one thing this team’s doing right now is competing and that’s all we can ask. There’s a lot of energy, there’s a lot of guys running around, there’s a lot of competition, one-on-one’s, everything else. That’s all you can do right now, is show that will to compete, show the will to execute and I think that both sides of the ball have had moments of that in practice and we’ve just got to continue it. We’ve got to continue to press it. We need our leaders to lead. Come with passion and energy, every single day and you know what, we’ll be just fine.”

(On OL Rob Havenstein and the importance of him having a good bounce back season)
“Well, I think for him, man, you’re just so happy for him. He’s worked his butt off this offseason. I mean, the guy’s worked so hard. Him and I trained together all offseason and at my house and so we’ve been together a lot. I’ve seen the worked he’s put in and you couldn’t be happier for a guy to put in the kind of work that he’s done. He was working here, he was working in my house, he’s doing extra all the time. It meant something to him to come back healthy and over the injury and you know what, I couldn’t be happier to see him having some success and seeing some good things going and feeling good about his knee. Just continuing to see him try to find those steps every day to get better and better.”

(On if he is surprised players aren’t wearing the COVID face shields)
“Well, I kind of get the idea of it. I don’t really see how it would be beneficial. If you have ever been close to O-linemen when we’re sweating on a football field and exerting energy (laughs). If it’s got a hole, it’s going through there I can assure you because we’re exerting so much sweat and snot and spit and everything else. It’s a good idea, it sounded cool. But to me, I don’t think that some of the risks outweighs – as far as the Coronavirus stuff – but also the physical risk because you start really looking at, if you slow down tape and watch collisions and how much that helmet moves and those face masks move and the impacts, having something plastic against your face, especially kind of the material and all that, I would just worry about a cut, just scratches if it gets stuck in your face or your jaw somehow at the bottom of a pile. I just think guys weren’t really comfortable with, ‘Hey, that’s just something that, you know what, it looks neat,’ and maybe some guys will wear it. But I think overall, all the stuff you’ve got on, the impacts you’re going through, wearing something like that, I just don’t see a lot of guys being comfortable with that in the field of play.”