Wednesday, October 25, 2000
Wednesday, we felt like we let one get away at home against Washington. We were like; let's get off this bad run! It's time for us to turn it around. Everybody was pretty upbeat Wednesday. Everybody said it's going to be tough going to Dallas, but we can do it. We were in pads for the first part of practice and out of them in the second half. It helped out because all the injuries people had could get well. We had a great practice on Wednesday and we felt pretty confident.
Thursday, October 26, 2000
Looking at Dallas on Thursday, they played a lot of two-deep safety. I felt that our running game was going to work because they didn't bring their safeties down to stop the run. I thought if we could establish the run we could control the game. Some of the players and myself were talking about how we could control this game. We had a solid practice Thursday and people were feeling better about it and walking around saying it's going to end this week. Everybody was saying it and everybody believed it. Thursday night I did not have to plan for my family coming to the game, because I had done that about two weeks ago. I just had to make sure that everything was in place. I made one phone call to my mom to make sure she had everybody and that the bus was coming.
Friday, October 27, 2000
On Friday, the Florida-Georgia game really made the weekend more exciting for us, seeing all of the college fans around. One side is pulling for Florida. One side is pulling for Georgia. You see all of the campers out there and you get excited yourself. I think it helped us out to get ready. We knew the atmosphere around the stadium was going to be electric from that game. Friday we had a great practice and that just carried over. When we walked off the field on Friday, we knew that we were going to win. After practice, I didn't go to any of the Florida-Georgia festivities. I just went home and relaxed. I try to stay out of that activity, because you'll be out all night. It's very exciting and I see why they call it the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party." I went home and checked some preseason hoops. That's what I was doing on Friday.
Saturday, October 28, 2000
On Saturday, going back home, I wasn't nervous. I just wanted to play well in front of my family. I knew I was going to see a lot of people. My wife and relatives were at the game and you try to give them some time, but you can't give them too much time because you want to stay focused on the game. When I got to the hotel I had a chance to talk with my relatives and wife and let them do their thing. Saturday night, I was just focusing on Dallas. It was also daylight savings time, so I had to turn my clock back. That was good. Since we were coming from the east coast to Central time, we even got an extra hour's worth of sleep and that helped out.
Sunday, October 29, 2000
It's real tough to play in Dallas. It's a carnival-like atmosphere. They were not playing well, but they had a great crowd. They have some die-hard fans and they continue to come to the games. Playing and having your family there helps you out. Knowing that you have some people on your side cheering for you makes you go out and want to play your best. Every time I made a play I would look up and just say that's for you guys for supporting me. We used Kyle Brady a lot and that worked for us. Dallas wanted to take out the outside receivers as much as they could. They left the middle of the field open, and Kyle worked the middle of the field and had a big day. We moved the ball as well as we did all year. The thing that we wanted to do was just finish them off. It took us overtime to finish them off, but we did. You have to give them some credit. In the second half, they came back and made it a ballgame. We were so determined and driven that we were not going to let this game get away from us. We wanted to come out of Texas Stadium with a win. Alvis Whitted stepped up and made the big play when we needed it. Jimmy (Smith) was out and Alvis stepped up big and you have to give him credit. His hard work during the summer paid off in a big way. In the locker room after the game, when the media comes in, we got to change up our answers and they asked different questions. We laughed at them and laughed during the interviews. It felt so good just to have a victory. We were so jubilant in the locker room just to get the monkey off our backs. We were, like, let's keep it off, because this feels great. We felt great and coach gave us two days (off) and that made it even better and makes you want to win every Sunday.
