Patricia Traina interview with D.J. Ware, RB for NY Giants July 26, 2010.
"One of the battles to watch this summer is who will be the third down back. And one of the candidates who’s looking to make his case for that job is none other than DJ Ware, who last year started the season as the third down back before suffering an elbow injury on the opening kickoff. DJ was one of the first guys I spoke with earlier in the spring and these days he’s sporting a positive attitude and a willingness to work at his craft. Will it translate into production? As Tom Coughlin always likes to say, “We’ll see.”Q: Where are you in terms of your comfort level with the playbook?A: I feel comfortable, just like I did last year before I got hurt. I feel real good with the whole scheme on offense and third down, and if that’s going to be my role, I’m going to embrace it and be the best third-down back ever.Q: Have they come to you and said that you should focus on third-down or might they, as part of the new wrinkles that typically get installed, try to get you involved on first and second down as well?A: It’s been more like you’re going to take the third downs and we’re going to rotate you in as best as we can on first and second down. I just want to be the best I can be on third down so that when other opportunities come I’ll be ready for them.Q: What sets you apart from Gartrell Johnson and André Brown, your competition for that third-down back role?A: I think I run great routes and catch the ball fairly well. See the ball come out of the quarterbacks hand pretty good and it’s a low percentage change that I’ll drop it; I usually catch the ball pretty good. I think that’s my edge.Q: At the end of last season, you admitted that you might have gotten more down on yourself than you initially realized. Is that going to be a problem again this year if things don’t work out the way you want?A: Nah it’s all behind me now, and last year I still had to get over it and heal up all the way, but it’s all behind me now. I’m ready to go forward and play ball and be a productive back.Q: You have said you did a lot of film work and studying this off-season. What are some of the things you identified that you can do differently this year?A: I tried to take it all in and learn from other guys’ mistakes. Anything I saw them do wrong, I tried to make sure I corrected it in my own play. If they did everything right, then I saved that in my head. Basically I was critiquing other guys and myself and trying to learn the third-down package as best as I could.Q: Can you give me some specifics as far as what you worked on though?A; Coming through on my routes on third down, coming straight up instead of being down, shoulders over my toes and breaking down defenders, and stuff like that. I started working on that at the end of the season last year, so I think I’m pretty well coached-up on a lot of little things like coming through the hole, keeping my shoulders over the toes, giving good stems and getting my landmarks and all that stuff. So I think I’m pretty much ahead of the group on a lot of that.Q: I noticed that after starting off with a bang as far as engaging in Social Media (Twitter, Facebook), you’ve scaled it back a lot.A: Yeah, I chose to focus on ball right now. It’s good to try to fill your fan base up and everything but right now I’m trying to get on the field and stay on the field. I’ll worry about the social media stuff when I get the football thing down."
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