Brandon mason agreed to an interview but it was to be held at ihop (international house of pancakes) during breakfast. Brandon had ordered his usual breakfast, the family feast with pancakes. In between bites, he was answering questions and it was ash going smoothly until one reporter decided to question his ability to make the move from guard to tackle. “You’re coming off a fantastic season, being selected for the pro bowl and second team all pro honors, but at guard. Can you even make the transition to tackle? Do you have what it takes?” The whole restaurant went quiet. Brandon looked up while taking a bite of pancake. “Why do you think we are here, in this ihop? Why do you think I’m eating a 8 count stack of pancakes? Because you are what you eat! Of course I can make the move to tackle and I’ll flatten everyone along the way, including you if you ask another dumb question! There are such things as dumb questions!” Brandon sat back down and continued eating. The room stayed quiet.
Jumbo Edward loves the media. He loves answering questions and just chatting with the journalists as a whole. But sometimes they do get on his nerves. Especially, some sensitive topics.
Two questions came to mind:
Why do you only get a tackle per game? Is it the lack of motivation?
What is your diet like?
It may seem like three but the first one is definitely one question.
Jumbo responded with anger. "These offensive linemen hold on every play!". While getting worked up he shouted. "How can I get the quarterback with them holding? Would you like to be held on every play? The league really needs better referees that are not blind!" And he continued to rant - "I'm probably going to get fined for this but the Head Office needs to do better! All they can think about is how can we make the league less fun for the players and fans".
With the second question he responded, to the journalist. "What's it to you? I can eat everything and anything I want!... THIS IS AMERICA!".
This question was asked because Jumbo has gained some extra poundage, and not the good kind.
At the press conference, Walrus Jones was taking questions from the press on his solid start in the first 4 weeks of the season when he got unexpectedly hit with a curveball.
“Mr. Jones, you’ve been playing well by your only real statistic, pancakes. But evidence shows you’ve been flipping players on weak side plays, just to up your stats. Meanwhile your team pass protection has been among the worst in the league. Care to comment?”
Walrus paused for a minute, upset at the accusation that he was just playing for personal stats and not to win the game. “I feel like you are cherry picking plays on the highlight reels where I’m knocking down defensive linemen on plays where it isn’t warranted. Well, that’s the thing, I’m always trying to knock the opposition down, no matter what the play call or direction is. I want the opposition to fear me no matter what the game situation is.”
There was a collective pause at the retort, and the reporter quietly declined to ask any further questions.
Harold-Tribune: "Do you think that as one of the highest-paid players on the team it's your responsibility to provide leadership?"
Johnson Jr.: "Well first of all, how much or how little somebody's getting paid in this league isn't really a factor in the locker room, or at least I don't think it should be. It certainly doesn't dictate who the leaders are. If I'm getting paid it's because I'm supposed to be bringing value to the team. Some of that might be leadership, yeah, but most of it is my production on the field and the ways I can help my team win. You need to remember that I just got here, so it's my job to become part of this team's culture and to help ensure it's a winning culture. Ain't nothing to do with salary."
"I know you guys are looking for stories and right now we're a 1-3 football team so looking for answers like this might be good for your editor, but it's not the way I want to do things here and it's not kind of thinking this team can afford right now. We have to get this thing figured out right now if we want to reach the goals we have for ourselves."