I grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut.
— Steve Young
Football, no one wants to ram into people. It's not human nature. You have to have a lot of incentive to ram into somebody to benefit others.
You don't know the demons people deal with, and you just have no idea.
The demands of excellent NFL quarterbacking I always said took every piece of me, emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually. It was like it just took it all, and I think that was what was so energizing about it and unreplicable.
I had worked hard my entire career to establish myself as a leader. But I wasn't a leader until I was perceived as one.
My wife hates football, and my kids don't really care.
To play 18 years as a pro and have a great college career, it's awesome.
I loved playing Dallas.
If quarterbacks learned the West Coast offense in college, oh man - it would make a huge difference.
When I played for the 49ers, we loved to see man-to-man defense. I could get the ball quickly to the receivers.
I'm willing to share my experiences with any young quarterback.
Most people have an off switch and they choose when to go all out.
I can't imagine as a rookie actually playing good football. I went through it.
If you exhaust every play out of the pocket, what happens is you find more opportunities.
I don't regret any of the places I went in football. Everything gave me an experience or memories that I'll have forever. We had more success in San Francisco, but it was a great time everywhere. I always had fun.
Scrambling, when no one's around, getting down, getting out of bounds, taking a glancing blow, those are all fine. You can do that all day long.
Most young quarterbacks are on the field because their team stinks.
In 2010, my kids came home telling these ridiculous stories about me they heard from school. I realized my kids didn't know my story, and they were hearing it from the goofballs at school.
I got good grades. I played sports.
I always likened retirement to falling off a cliff, and then you have to kind of brush yourself off.
You become a leader in times of trouble. Leaders emerge when things don't go well. When everyone else starts pointing fingers, a leader takes responsibility.
I never asked to be the highest paid player in sports.
I don't want to look like I'm money-hungry.
My dad's an old football player.
I loved the expectation that every year we were going to the Super Bowl.
Donovan McNabb has great, fast feet and has learned to lock them in to run the Eagles' offense effectively.
Over time, I learned that how a quarterback moves the chains and leads his team to touchdowns is about as important as whether he actually does it or not.
While it's great for a quarterback to have athletic ability, his goal is to get the ball out of his hand, orchestrate the offense and not allow his ability to stand in the way of the offense running efficiently.
I think Tom Coughlin is an amazing motivator. When you look at his personality, you say, 'Oh, I don't know about that.' But there's some ability he has to laser-focus a football team when it's most important. He seems to be a real valuable asset, kind of Knute Rocke almost.
It's so exhausting in the pocket taking shots when you know I can go. I don't want to take that shot and maybe make a bigger play. To dedicate and discipline your mind that 'I have to find a way, that's the only way I can learn... ' That's the challenge.
So the truth is, if there's a lesson to be learned from mobile quarterbacks, it is deliver the ball from the pocket, which demands mastery of the data that is involved working in the pocket, which is, 'I know everything about everything.'
The scary thing is I took 12 years of French, and I can barely say, 'My name is... ' And that's not because of the concussions.
If you're playing for 10 or 15 years, you can't every week run six option plays. It can be around. It can be a part of the game, but sooner or later you've got to deliver the ball from the pocket. That's the game. Now, if the game changes, and it's proven a championship can be won from the pistol spread, then I'm wrong.
If I could have my kids be great when the lights are on, whatever the moment is, to be accountable and then fix it, they're going to be fine.
No one will ever say Dwight Clark was selfish.
You can play with a brain that is injured - you can't play with an injured knee. That's the problem.
I played 18 seasons. That's a lot. There is some that played more. Brett Favre I think played a couple more. There is a few. There is a few guys that played more, but not many.
Perception is reality.
I've put football behind me.
BYU I think had a philosophy of nameless, faceless athletes for the greater good of BYU which is fine. We all did our thing and we're grateful for it.
I loved playing Green Bay.
In the NFL, you're always facing an obstacle.
The best West Coast coaching job I've seen was when Mike Shanahan left the 49ers, became the head coach in Denver and made it available to John Elway.
My biggest problem when I was younger was trying to balance my ability with what the team needed me to do to officially run the offense.
When you play quarterback in San Francisco, not much goes under the radar.
There's some glory years, where if you play long enough and you've figured the game out, and physically you're still healthy enough, there are some years in there where you can really be productive. And those are fun years.
There's a negative effect when you run around without exhausting everything that happens with the play call.
You have to take certain truths. One truth is that to have championship success in the NFL you have to learn to deliver the ball from the pocket.
The pistol isn't going to go away, but the job in the long run is going to be to deliver the ball from the pocket.
The truth is that in the NFL, the job is to deliver the ball from the pocket. That's the job.
