You can't put a running back in there and have him not know who to pick up. You can't get your quarterback hit.
I don't know that the referee can be watching holding on the offensive line and get back to the quarterback. I think watching the quarterback is a full-time job.
I know how important it is to have your quarterback standing upright. Matter of fact, I know how important it is not to allow someone hit on him period because I want him to think that this pocket is completely safe, no one is going to get to me and I got all the time in the world to make whatever decisions I need to make.
The quarterback is the most vulnerable one on the field. He's in an awkward position a lot of times when he throws the ball. So he does have to be protected. You lose a quarterback, you're in trouble. I don't know if they can make it too safe. I think health becomes an issue.
I'm a great pass catcher. I'm excellent in pass protection, which is the most important thing. You can't play, you can't get on the field if you don't protect that franchise quarterback.
Fortunately for a quarterback, you can play for a long time because you don't get hit very often.
Back in the '80s and '90s, you could hit the quarterback low, you could hit the quarterback high. You could hit him pretty much late.
We need to let the referee's sole thing be to protect the quarterback and get those late hits out of there. They even have a stat on television that says 'knockdowns.' Knockdowns means that you knock him down after he throws the ball. The assumption is, if it's legal, we'll make excuses for them.
The quarterback gets plenty of protection in the pocket, and he picks up protection out of the pocket; he's got protection down the field on his slides.
Some people get nervous when I run because quarterbacks, they gotta go down and stay healthy.
My job is to make the quarterback position as easy as we can.
The best advice I try to give a young quarterback is, you need to know what you're doing. You need to know what you're doing, because if you know where to go with the football, you can get rid of it and throw it and you won't get hit.
Quarterbacks are untouchable nowadays. If you hit a quarterback too hard, or if you fall on him with too much weight - which is a judgment thing from a professional standpoint - you're going to get flagged.
I'm not worried about sacks in the preseason.
It is relatively easy... to determine whether or not a blow to a quarterback was deemed excessive or incidental. So I'm discouraged that there have been a number of games that are influenced - not that the outcomes are in question - but a number of games influenced based on the protection of the quarterback.
