Q. You seem to be one of Bill Parcells' favorites, one of his "guys." How did you end up in that group?

A. Probably because (when) he told me to do something ... you don't ask questions. You kill yourself trying, even if you can't do it. If you put 150 percent behind it, he kind of respects that, especially if you're a quarterback. I think Coach (Parcells) has a tendency to think of quarterbacks as being soft a little bit. I'm not saying that we are or anything. But when you take a kid from college who's a quarterback and you tell him to run down on special teams and run into the wedge, and he does it and knocks himself out and goes back and does it again, I think you have a mutual respect for each other.

Q. Some young quarterbacks are thrown into the fire right away, but Bill Parcells has brought you along slowly, trying to wait until you were ready before putting you in the lineup. Which approach do you think is best, and which is best for you?

A. Obviously, the approach coach Parcells took with me is probably the best for me. I'm still young, though. It's not like I've been playing in the games for a long time. It's tough, though. (With) Peyton Manning, I think it worked out best for him to be thrown into the fire. He's a great quarterback right now. He's playing really well. I think it's different for every quarterback when he gets in. Shaun (King) is playing really, really well. It varies, I guess.

Q. What do you think are the toughest obstacles for a young quarterback to overcome?

A. Just to make mistakes. When you get in there, you want to make a good showing so bad sometimes that you let stuff get away. You get excited when you're not supposed to get excited, you might rush something (when) you have time and you really don't realize (it). It's just a tough predicament, because you don't want to let anybody down. You've got everybody depending on you, and you don't want to let them down. Just the whole aspect of the game, it comes a lot faster until you know what you're doing, (when) it slows down.

Q. As a quarterback, how important is the athletic part, and how important is the mental part?

A. The game (for) a quarterback is 90 percent mental. If you're prepared to play ... you know stuff is going to happen before it happens. Athletically, it can get you out of trouble. When something doesn't go right and there is nothing -- the receivers are covered and there's nothing else for you to do except throw the ball away and have a 2nd-and-10 -- you might be able to pick up two, three yards, maybe even 10 yards, and give your team a better chance on second down. I think that's coming into play in the league a lot as of late, which is good for me.

Material from Pro Football Weekly.
Visit PFW's web site at http://www.profootballweekly.com