LaDainian Tomlinson MVP Transcript

Thursday, Jan 04, 2007 , Chargers.com

How do you feel winning the MVP?

“I don’t know really.  Most of the time when you win an award or accomplish something, it really doesn’t set in the first day.  It has only been a few hours, and I don’t know now.  I’ve had a great season, and obviously before I start talking about myself, there are a lot of other guys of course that have a lot to do with it.  You talk about Nick Hardwick, Kris Dielman, Marcus McNeill, Mike Goff, Shane Olivea, Antonio Gates, Lorenzo Neal, Brandon Manumaleuna, Vincent Jackson, Kassim Osgood, Eric Parker, Keenan McCardell and Philip Rivers.  All of these guys, it’s a tribute to them as well.  A lot of times Philip got us into the right play.  Then those guys always blocked hard every single Sunday.  They blocked hard, receivers blocked downfield and Lorenzo was Lorenzo Neal.  A lot of times that allowed us to do that special thing.  Now obviously I’m benefiting from what they’ve done for me.”  

(on what he plans to buy for his offensive linemen)

“I have some thoughts, but I’m not going to let the cat out of the bag yet.  I’ve got to tell them before I tell anyone.”  
(on imagining that the season would turn out like it did after the first three games)

“Three games is early.  You never really focus on the start.  We always talk about the finish.  I never gave thought to it.  I didn’t really think about just going on a run like I have, but I just wanted to keep on playing.  After three games, we were 2-1.  Obviously it was a critical part of the season starting out.”  

(on Drew Brees finishing second)

“No, I haven’t (talked to Brees).  Being here all day this morning, the only person I have talked to is my wife.  I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to Drew yet.  With the kind of season he had, this thing could have very easily been a split like Steve (McNair) and Peyton (Manning) did that one year (2003).  Actually I was thinking it may go like that because if you take Drew Brees away from the New Orleans Saints, I don’t know if they win three games.”

(on thinking about the MVP at any point during the season)

“You never really…when people start to talk about it you still, for me I always say, ‘Nah, let’s not talk about that.’  Anything can happen.  It’s a long season and you never can start to focus on winning the MVP award.  You’ve just got to keep playing.  When things happen throughout the course of a game, sometimes after a game you may say, ‘You know what?  I had a heck of a performance.  That was an MVP performance.’  But you never really say, ‘I think I’m going to win the award because there are so many great players in this league and so many guys are having great seasons.”

(on how the MVP changes the expectation level for him)

“I don’t think it matters too much.  I think I’ve been playing at a pretty consistent level for a while now.  I don’t think having my name tied to an MVP award will change.  People I think are going to look at me and game plan for me the same way they did.  Obviously things change, but it is a lot different now just to have the name tied to MVP.  I’m glad I got mine out of the way because we’ve got a quarterback who is probably going to win this one year.”

(on why he feels he was able to get on such a hot run)

“I think a lot of it had to do with the play of our quarterback.  Philip, when he started to hit his stride the Pittsburgh game, I think that allowed people to say, ‘You know what?  They can throw the ball and throw it effectively and win games throwing the football.’ I think teams started to play us a little more balanced.  The offensive attack started to be more balance with run and pass.  It wasn’t more of a run ratio like we did the first few games.  We were running the ball most of the time.  We kind of got balanced.  I think that had a lot to it.”

(on the MVP’s affect on his personal legacy)

“Championships do that, too.  I think the next step in your career when you win an individual award like this, championships too are where I think you grow the most and become in that elite class.  MVP, you can’t take anything away from it.  It’s a great award to win.  So many great guys have won it.  I think the thing that goes along with it is a world championship.” 

(on what the season means without postseason success)

“It would mean I had a great regular season.  That’s it.  To not be able to finish it off and win the championship would be very disappointing.  The only thing you really have to be happy about is 16 games.”

(on one thing that he’s most proud of from the season)

“There are so many to be proud of.  I don’t know if it’s just one thing.  I think to me the accomplishment of coming back and winning the division after people didn’t expect us to.  Some of the experts had us picked last in our division.  To come back and win our division and then to have the best record in franchise history, and to have the first round bye and number one seed, that’s a big accomplishment to me.  Never has it been done before.  The year we went 12-4, it was a tough year.  We won 12 games, but it was hard to do.  It’s hard to imagine winning 14 of them.”  

(on what he expected from his career coming out of college)

“I think coming out, I felt like I wanted to prove that I could play.  That I could play in this league and that I could be one of the better running backs in this league.  You can talk about one day winning the MVP award and a championship, but I don’t think you ever really know how to do it or if you ever will.  I remember reading…when you come out they have all different things and the expert books about the draftees that are going to be drafted.  They always say, ‘Skill level: MVP, Pro Bowler, average.’  I remember reading a thing about me and it definitely didn’t say MVP.  So I guess they better go back and put that on there.”

(on how he benefited from having his workload reduced in practice)

“I think it’s helped me stay fresh and definitely kept me off my feet at times…just not running as much as I did in my younger days.  I definitely think it has helped me.  You never can really sit out, not doing as many reps in practice, that’s not where you have the wear and tear.  You’re going to have wear and tear anyway.  It just kind of saved me the energy a little bit and making sure you kind of try to keep your legs as fresh as possible.”

(on who he’s talked to about the award)

“I haven’t checked my phone yet.  I’m thinking I’m going to have a few messages.  That’s one thing, after a big win, I tell you, checking the messages is always an adventure in itself.  I’m looking forward to that.”

(on how he got the word)

“I was lifting weights and Chargers Public Relations Director Bill Johnston came in.  He had a look on his face that wasn’t disappointing.  I kind of figured that I had won it.  I just kind of kept on lifting.  It was definitely something to be very happy about.  There’s so much work that you put in during the offseason, putting your body through some rigorous training and pushing yourself to the max.  Then when something like this happens, it makes it all worth it.  You feel like everything I do in the offseason, everything I put my body through in training camp and up to this point, it’s worth it.  It pays off.  It was definitely a gratifying moment.”

(on who he called first)

“Just my wife.  I called ‘Torsha and she was in the middle of sleeping, which doesn’t surprise me.  But she woke up pretty fast once I told her that.  She was pretty happy.”

(on what his teammates said to him)

“It was pretty typical.  ‘Congratulations and well deserved.’  A couple of guys always have jokes about different things, but these are the guys I enjoy sharing it with.  Everyday you go to work with these guys.  They’re a special group to me.  I think this group I will always remember more than any other football team I’ve been on.  We’ve got a unique situation that kind of reminds me of college days.  That’s something that you really don’t get in the National Football League because you really don’t have the time to get to know guys and really spend time with them.  On this team it’s different.  It seems like every guy is like a brother.  You could talk to any guy in that locker room whether it’s an offensive lineman or a defensive lineman.  That’s special to have because that doesn’t come around often.”

(on his biggest influence in the NFL)

“I probably would say my running back coach, Clarence Shelmon.  He probably had the most influence on me.  When he first got here, he taught me a lot about watching film and different things out on the football field, learning how to run the football, learning how to read defenses to get me to this point.  I’d probably say that he’s had the most influence on me as a player being a coach.”

(on what Marty Schottenheimer said to him)

“He just said congratulations and it couldn’t happen to a better person.  We talked a little bit.  It was clear how he felt.  I will say that.”