Post columnist Steve Serby chatted with Giants defensive end Dave Tollefson, formerly a carpenter, about the Giants-Jets rivalry and playing with his high-profile defensive linemates.
Q: Super Bowl memory?
A: So I’m on all special teams, I think I got five snaps on defense, I’m Michael Strahan’s backup, he’s not going to come out of the game. And we’re doing punt return, and I got to block Tedy Bruschi. I’m on the right side, the ball’s in the let corner of the field and I’m blocking the hell out of Tedy, push him out of bounds, he hits the referee, the referee falls down. He’s like, “What are you doing?” Tedy Bruschi. I was like, “It’s the f–g Super Bowl. I’m going to do whatever it takes. I don’t care if I got to block you to Mexico.”
Q: The Canyon of Heroes parade?
A: This town loves the Giants.
Q: Rex Ryan says the Giants are the Jets’ little brothers.
A: Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Anybody can say anything. For me to sit here and say, “Well we got a Super Bowl ring,”that’s horses–t, we won it five years ago. In this league, it’s all about what have you done lately, right? The Jets have been to AFC Championship games. That’s a big deal. Is it true what he said? No. We’re both good teams, we’re going to play each other in December and the game’s going to matter, probably.
Q: The Giants gave you a chance.
A: I didn’t want to play preseason. I didn’t want to be practice squad I wanted to get a snap in an NFL football game so some day I could tell my son, “If you work hard, your dreams are going to come true, I played a snap in the NFL, I did!
Q: You worked at Home Depot?
A: My buddy (Ryan Garrett) played for the Cal Bears. I remember telling him, “I’m watching these games on TV, I think I can play in the NFL.” And I remember one time he told me, “Dave, it’s not a signup sheet. You don’t just sign up and get in the NFL.”I think I bet my buddy 500 bucks that I think I could make it to the NFL, it’s kind of like a running joke between us as friends. He still hasn’t paid me.
Q: How much did you make at Home Depot?
A: Thirteen bucks an hour, pretty good job. Then my cousin offered me a job to work on his construction crew because I wasn’t going to go to college anywhere, no one offered me anything out of junior college, and it was a better paying job, 18 bucks an hour. He’s an electrician but I ended up being really a carpenter’s apprentice for about a year-and-a-half. That was it — I was going to be carpenter.
Q: Any Brett Favre memory from your time in Green Bay?
A: Uh yeah, I had to wear his insoles in my shoe the first week of practice to wear them in. I don’t know if you know anything about insoles, but they’re made for a certain person’s feet.
Q: Why did you have to wear them?
A: Because I was on the practice squad, Brett didn’t want to break them in. And Mike McCarthy had a rule if you pick off a quarterback at practice, the quarterback has to pay you a hundred bucks. So I picked him off, Brett Favre. And so he gives me my hundred bill, and I had him sign it. Now I got a signed hundred dollar bill from Brett Favre at home. . . . I got another [Favre story] too, you want me to tell it?
Q: Yeah.
A: So I’m a rookie, walking into the meal room, I got my tray of food, Brett’s talking to some guy over here at the table. And he goes, “Hey Dave!” And I’m like, “What’s up?” He’s like, “This is Toby Keith,” one of my favorite singers and entertainers. He says, “Hey Toby, this is Dave Tollefson, he’s a sandwich short of a picnic.”
Q: What’s your mentality on the field?
A: I play hard — stubborn, I guess you could say. I get knocked around, you put on the Arizona game, I’m on my butt a couple of times. But being on my butt on a football field, would be considered probably the best thing that ever happened to me compared to what I took to get here.
Q: What do you mean?
A: So I’m on my butt, right? I just got knocked down? But I’m in an NFL football stadium playing football. I was a carpenter. You know how many guys that I worked with that would trade what they’re doing to be knocked down every play and get paid for it? So I just have this stubbornness to me that just loves what I do, and will do anything to get the job done.
Q: That sums you up. It doesn’t have to be a Super Bowl for you to play hard?
A: No, every game is a Super Bowl, it really is, because it’s a dream come true.
Q: Michael Strahan?
A: Best defensive end I’ve ever played with.
Q: Justin Tuck?
A: Toughest guy I know.
Q: JPP (Jason Pierre-Paul)?
A: Gifted.
Q: Superstitions?
Q: Osi Umenyiora?
A: Speed. Explosion. Nothing like Osi getting off the ball, it’s like watching a freaking silent movie. You don’t even need to hear anything, it’s like you already know what’s going on, you know? When he is in tune, and he gets off the ball, I don’t know if there’s anybody that can block him when he does that. He puts such a strain on a tackle? I mean, he’s backing up and Osi’s running forward, so obviously he’s already at a disadvantage. But then Osi has this — we call it The Gift or Guess. You guessing the snap or you got the gidt.
Q: Don’t you present those same. . .
A: (Smile) I’m Guess.
Q: Superstitions
A: Calling mom before every game.
Q: What does she tell you?
A: She cusses me out.
Q: Why? Do you enjoy that?
A; She’s either been to every game I’ve ever played or I’ve talked to her before every game I played. Even in NFL Europe, I’d Skype her before the game, and we’d talk. . . . She tells me, “Don’t be a p- – -ssy, go out there, play your [butt] off, jack somebody up.”
Q: What’s it like when Giants fans in the fourth quarter are chanting “Dee-Fense?
A: Oh it’s awesome, man. The Giants have always been known for defense. My football coach at Northwest Missouri State grew up in New York, he’s a huge Giants fan. And just playing there, him always talking about Carl Banks, Harry Carson, Lawrence Taylor, Keith Hamilton. . . . It’s awesome, man. There’s a direct correlation to defensive football and our fan base.
Q: What’s the personality of this Giants defense?
A: (Chuckle) Chameleon. I feel like we got a lot of different guys, and we can really use those different personalities and skill sets to attack an offense like a lot of other defenses can’t.
Q: You were a Raiders fan growing up in the Bay area?
A: Where I grew up, you didn’t like the 49ers, They were kind of the wine and cheese of football.
Q: Who did you like on the Raiders?
A: Howie Long. He played his butt off every single play, it was inspiring to watch.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Theodore Roosevelt; Vince Lombardi; my grandpa (David Niles).
Q: Your grandpa?
A: My grandpa on my mom’s side helped raise me. I have my dad’s last name, I never met him, he left before I was born. So I didn’t take my grandpa’s name, which I think back maybe I kind of wish I did. But then again, I’m reinventing my own last name for my son.
Q: What do you mean?
A: Well I didn’t have a dad growing up but I had his last name. So there’s a little shame involved in that as far as when you’re a son, you have your father’s last name, right? And you bear that name with some pride if your father was around, or is a hard worker etcetera. This name carries weight, and me growing up, it really didn’t mean anything to me, it just happened to be my dad’s last name and I had it. I didn’t know who he was, never met him, never really want to meet him to be honest with you. My grandpa, I can’t thank him enough, there’s nothing I can do to really thank him other than go out here and play as hard as I can and raise my son like how he raised his and helped me.
Q: Does he come watch you play?
A: They can’t travel much. They’ll come to the San Francisco game, I hope. I don’t think he’s ever seen me play professional football. We’re trying to set it up so he can come. My grandma, she’s on oxygen and stuff, too.
Q: How is his health?
A: He’s doing well, he just had a pacemaker put in. I know he wants to. If he can, they’re going to make it.
Q: Vince Lombardi?
A: I kind of feel sometimes like I might be a guy that could have played for Vimce Lombardi.
Q: Why?
A: That style of football back then — no facemask. . . . I wouldn’t be scared to put my face in there. It was just a different time for even the country back then, it was a little rougher. If you wanted to get money for your family, you had to work a hard job, you couldn’t go invest in the stock market. I feel like I’m in touch with that, and I would want to hear what he has to say about. . . . Maybe even how I play football. Wouldn’t that be great if he came up to me and was like, “I think you can play harder?” Like I mean, could you imagine that? “All right, that’s what he thinks, maybe I should, you know?
Q: Theodore Roosevelt?
A: Just a big-time outdoorsman.
Q: Your mom Debbie?
A: My mom was my dad. My mom made chicken salad out of chicken s–t.
Q: As far as what?
A: We never went without, whether it was her having to go without, so we could have what we needed as kids, the time playing sports. I mean, that’s huge, man, developing the social skills to survive. . . . I never ever remember her once being upset because of her situation.
Q: You bought her a Mercedes?
A: She deserves the world to me. . . . I treat my wife like she’s made of gold, and it has a lot to do with how my mom raised me.
Q: Biggest hardship?
A: Yeah, my shoes had holes in them, and sometimes I’d have to put like tape in them if it rained or something like that. It was just kind of, hey, I’m lucky I got shoes. We didn’t have any money, but you would never know that. There were definitely tough times as far as maybe every once in a while I’d have to drink powdered milk or something like that.
Q: You met your wife (Megan) at Northwest Missouri State.
A: Her and my mom are just alike — stubborn, outspoken. . . . I feel like a big part of why I love my wife so much is if I’m not around, I have 100 percent confidence that my [she] could make a decision for our family that’s in its best interests with me not there. And she’s strong like my mom, mentally and physically. . . . It was love at first sight.
Q: Tucker Niles Tollefson is 3 (Cade was born during the lockout).
A: Any football game he thinks it’s daddy on TV.
Q: Who is his favorite Giant other than you?
A: I don’t know if he has one, he thinks every Giant is dad (chuckle). It makes a little more real, because we kinda of live in this fantasy world of the NFL. The lavish lifestyle, the big paychecks, we play a game for a job. The kids, that’s real life — you got a little person that needs you, you know?
Q: Hobbies?
A: Hunting and fishing.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: Braveheart.
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Jodie Foster.
Q: Favorite entertainer?
A: Toby Keith.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: My wife and my mother-in-law cook biscuits and gravy with eggs and bacon and sausage and the home fries, all that stuff.
Q: What drives you?
A: The money was never it for me. Ever. I wanted to do something with my life. I wanted my kids to be proud of who I was. I don’t play football to feed my kids. My kids are going to be fed, no matter what it takes. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about having dreams and aspirations and not being scared to work hard to get them.
Q: What would you want Giants fans to say about you?
A; He played his [butt] off. Every day, every down. He played his [butt] off.