Just My Type

TP: I wouldn't. But if that is a concussion, any football player has 50 to 100 concussions a year.

DP: Have you ever lied to get back into a game?

TP: Yes. For sure.

DP: How does that happen?

TP: There's so much built up about team camaraderie and sacrifice in football, and it's such a tough man's game. I think that's why it's so popular. That's why it attracts so many blue-collar people. A football player is no different from a guy who wakes up every day to go to the mines in West Virginia. You feel sore. You're legitimately injured. Where most people in an office might take three months out of work, we choose to play the following week.

DP: How crushing was the overtime loss to the Broncos in last season's playoffs?

TP: It was very disappointing. Any way that a season ends [is disappointing]. In my nine years only nine teams have been happy, and I was part of two of those.

DP: Was it worse because you got burned by Tim Tebow in overtime?

TP: It didn't matter. He's a very talented player. But I wouldn't consider losing to him [worse] than losing to any other player on any other team.

DP: Have you ever tackled anybody away from a football environment?