There's a lot of games played, a lot of snaps played over the long haul.
Julius Peppers
My stepdad was a farmer, so growing up, during summer breaks, I woke up every morning and went to work. Harvesting tobacco, picking cucumbers, gathering watermelons from the patch, pulling up sweet potatoes... stuff like that.
You go to the Super Bowl in your second year and you're like, 'OK, cool. I'll be back next year or the year after that.'
That's something that I struggled with - talking to my mother about some of the problems that I had.
A lot of people don't really understand that a statistic is an indicator, but it doesn't really give the full picture of the body of work. There's been time when I've had one sack or no sacks and controlled a whole game, and I've seen other cats get three or four sacks and it had no effect on that game.
It's one thing to play football in this league and make a living, but it's a totally different thing to come to a place with a rich tradition like the Bears.
After considering the ways that I might be able to help young college students, I decided to continue my support of the Light on the Hill scholarship. I would like to endorse this particular fund and encourage other former UNC students who have found success to reach back and assist the efforts of current and future Tar Heels.
The Super Bowl ring eluded me, but I don't need that to validate me. I would have loved to have helped deliver that to the fans in Carolina, but I'm content with the career that I had.
If you're playing 55 to 60 snaps, you have opportunities to pace yourself, pick spots. When you're not playing as many and you don't know necessarily when you're going to be in, you do have to sometimes make it happen when you're out there.
I don't have a lot of close friends.
I live on a small town on the lake, and I mean people would get on their jet skis and just post up in front of my crib, trying to see who was there in my house.
Bears fans... man... I could not have chosen a better place to make my first stop outside of North Carolina.
The tough times never lasted and the tough people inspired me to be better and give more. I hope I did the same.
You ask somebody right now who are the top two or three sack persons and they couldn't tell you. You're a professional and you want to perform and you want to achieve those goals. But being out with the people and giving back to the community, it's going to be more impactful and long lasting.
I wouldn't change a thing about this journey. It was the best teacher I've ever had and was everything I could've hoped for.
I know I can make plays.
Sometimes you've got to just dig down deep and be accountable for the role that you have on the team.
I think everybody would like to play a little more.
I want to try to execute my role to help the team in the best way possible.
If the opportunities are a little limited, then you've got to try to find a way to make something happen the best way you can.
Sometimes, you're on the field, you get tired. If I'm not playing as hard on play 66 as I was on play number 1, then... come on.
I've been doing that since college. I like to run. That's my thing.
I like to run in the offseason.
How can you say you want to be somewhere when you're not really sure if they want you there because they're not even talking to you?
People will hear one thing and just run with it.
As a player, I don't want to come off the field.
Seventeen years is a long time to be playing this game. It's two careers for a lot of people.
I'm thankful that I have been able to play so long and still be healthy. I'm not all banged up and beaten down. I still feel good. But as much as I would love to play forever, I know that I can't.
I didn't grow up playing football. I wanted to be a basketball player.
I was lucky because growing up in tiny little Bailey, North Carolina, we had a satellite dish, so we got WGN. Which meant we got almost every Bulls game.
At the end of the day, the wins are the wins and the losses are the losses. But the relationships are everything.
I was sad to leave Green Bay, and I don't think I would have left to go anywhere but home to Carolina.
I guess more than anything, Green Bay just felt like home. You know, small town, good people who love their football... it was a really great experience being a part of that culture.
I've learned a lot. Being more compassionate.
Obviously, we know people aren't as fortunate and blessed as we are. I learned a little bit about the impact we have as professionals, and how we can help, how impactful it is for just your presence.
That one thing that people say about me taking plays off, I feel like somebody said that when I was playing in college and it has followed me throughout my career. Because I feel like if we had the film and you wanted to pick one person who was taking a play off on a particular play, you could pick anybody.
I never felt like my effort was a problem.
I love the game just as much as anybody else. But at the same time, I also understand that life is more than football, too. People might get that misconstrued sometimes, too, that I don't care because I'm not die-hard football, eat, sleep and drink it all day and all night.
You need a certain type of balance in life and I know where to put football in its proper place. But my love for the game, I have it just like everybody else. If you don't, you're going to get yourself hurt out there.
Every game, well most of them, come down to turnovers and the turnover battle.
I was never focused on winning individual awards. I just tried to help the team out and do all that I could do.
I'm not above criticism.
You know, I think sometimes certain players - and I don't name names - but certain players have a certain haircut, they have certain sack celebrations. They draw a lot of attention to themselves.
If my play is not to run and chase the ball, if my play is to stay backside, then I've got to stay backside. I've got to be disciplined. I can't run across the field and chase stuff that's not mine.
As a pass-rusher, 100 sacks is a big milestone. My 100th sack was on Joe Webb.
Basically, if I decide to retire I don't want it to be one of those situations where, you know, after a couple of months I have the itch to play again. That's not something I want to do. I want to put a lot of thought into it and make the final decision. I don't want to waver on it at all.
I don't know too many pass rushers playing at 40.
You think about it sometimes. I try not to think about it too much. You think about you can't play forever.
When you get into the game, you're trying to win games. So you want your best players out there.
I got booed a lot of places.
