NFL

Serby’s Q&A with Willie Colon

Jets offensive lineman Willie Colon blocked out some time to tackle some Q&A with Steve Serby

Q: I bet you talk trash on the field.
A: (Smile) I can. I tend to sometimes.

Q: That gets you going?
A: I think sometimes it’s not so much it gets me going, it’s just sometimes defensive guys, they kinda pound their chest a lot, and they kinda feel like ’cause we’re offensive linemen, we’re supposed to go passively, and that’s just not in my demeanor.

Q: Who’s the best defensive trash-talker you’ve gone up against?
A: Man … Sean Smith, defensive tackle, he’s probably the most annoying I’ve had to deal with ’cause he’ll talk the whole game.

Q: Your best trash talk moment, the funniest or the thing you said that really got in somebody’s head?
A: (Smile) I don’t know, I can’t say it — it was pretty vulgar. … A lot of stuff is just heat of the moment. It’s nothing I think about. I don’t have a go-to line.

Q: Vulgar in what way?
A: You know, tell ’em about their mama and where they can stick it, stuff like that.

Q: Why would firing Rex Ryan be a step back for the organization?
A: When I got here, this locker room wasn’t close, it just wasn’t. Guys weren’t hanging out with each other. Guys weren’t communicating with each other. It kinda felt like you were coming to a work office — you checked in, you checked out, guys left. Now you have guys really caring about each other, guys caring about football, guys really embracing each other. And a lot has to with Rex, how he treats us, how selfless he is, and our coaching staff — [offensive coordinator Marty] Mornhinweg, my offensive line coach — these are all guys who give their all just like they want us to give our all. We march to the beat of Rex’s drum, believe it or not, we do. When he’s fired up and frustrated, I wear it, I feel it. I want to make it right for him, and I want to make it right for the team. He’s our leader. When you bring in a new regime, you have to build a rapport. … I think we’re a team on the rise. Obviously, we have to finish strong, but I think it’s a bright future for this team.

Q: How would Rex have fared in the Melrose Houses in The Bronx?
A: (Laugh) He would have probably got in enough fights where he woulda earned his stripes. I think at the end of the day, he would have been a neighborhood friend.

Q: What was it like growing up there?
A: There was no such thing as backing down or feeling like somebody bullied me, because if you got in one fight, and you got your butt kicked, you could bet a lot money that at least five more were coming at you. That’s just what the culture was. You had to be fearless. It taught you a lot.

Q: Your on-field mentality is The Bronx?
A: No matter how it turns out, you gotta be able to stand up and fight. You gotta protect your family, and you gotta look out for your loved ones. That’s how football is.

Q: Describe the transformation.
A: When I’m taking the field, I have to force a man to go from A to B, and he’s gonna try to do the same to me, and it’s gonna get done unwittingly. So it is a mindset that I’m gonna get him before he gets me. It’s kind of that bad-boy attitude I have.

Q: You had an early NFL experience against Terrell Suggs, didn’t you?
A: My first-ever start was the year I got drafted [by the Steelers in 1996]. … It was Christmas time, and Max Starks had got hurt in Carolina, and I ended up starting the last two games, and I started at right tackle at home against Baltimore. They had that persona, “I’m gonna kick your butt.” They had [Trevor] Pryce, they had Ray Lewis. They had a lot of bullies, so to speak, and for me, I wasn’t gonna have it. It got a little touchy out there, and then before you know it, you know, we were just banging heads getting after each other. That’s kinda been our history.

Q: Personal fouls?
A: He got one ’cause he punched me in my face, but you know, it is what it is, it’s football.

Q: The Ravens were the team you hated the most?
A: Yeah, without a doubt. Just because they had a swagger and an arrogance. That was the team at the time hell or high water, we were gonna have to see ’em in the playoffs. It wasn’t just about the regular season. You know they were gonna be there. It was gonna be a dogfight.

Q: Were you sick to your stomach when they won the Super Bowl last year?
A: No (smile), I had some AFC North pride at the time. I was happy a team from the AFC North pulled it off.

Q: What was that moment like when you got your Super Bowl XLIII ring, when the Steelers beat the Cardinals?
A: People ask me that all the time. The game was great, everything was great, but the journey meant so much more. That line that I started with wasn’t the line that I finished with. How much we had to lean on each other, depend on each other, we fought and fought relentlessly. And some games we were horrible, then some games we were great. And we got to the playoffs we just took off as a line where we just fought like there was no tomorrow, and we brought it home. The journey is priceless. I think about it all the time.

Q: In the huddle before the Ben Roethlisberger-to-Santonio Holmes game-winning touchdown pass, describe what was going on there.
A: People always ask, “Was there like this rah-rah speech?” You don’t have time for it honestly. We had been there so many times during that year where we had to come back and win it. So for me, it was like, “All right, well let’s just go do it again.” And everybody in the huddle felt that way. Everybody was just kinda like, “All right, let’s go win it.”

Q: What was your view of the catch?
A: Oh man. I was blocking. It was crazy. The guy who I was blocking, he kinda like stopped, and I stopped. And then he kinda rushed a little bit again, and I freaked out and I tried to get him. And before you know it, all I heard, the crowd just erupt. And I couldn’t see it. I looked at Ben, I was like, “Did he get it?” and he’s like, “I don’t know, I can’t see it.” When the refs put their hands up, it was like the weight of the world …

Q: You saw the refs signal touchdown on the scoreboard replay.
A: Right. Exactly.

Q: Was your family at the game?
A: Yeah, if you look at the picture, my mom [Jean Davis] and my brother [Antonio] are standing right where Tone caught the ball at. In the picture, my mom never looks at the whole drive, she’s reading the Bible, and my brother’s standing next to her, and my brother’s like going crazy. It’s just funny that my mom never watched it. That was one of the most iconic drives in NFL history, and she was reading the Bible through the whole time.

Q: She never looked up?
A: She doesn’t like games. She thinks I’m too violent. She’d rather just go home and cook, wait for me to come home.

Q: Did she ever try to talk you out of playing football?
A: No. She knew that it was inevitable. I loved football at a very early age, and she was like, “Let it rip.”

Q: Did you go to Giants games?
A: No. It’s funny, I went to one preseason game, and I sat next to the lights. We sat so high up, I think we could see the car from the rafters, where we parked at, that’s how high we were. And then my next game after that I was playing in it.

Q: Didn’t you have a hunger to go to these games?
A: Yeah, I just didn’t have the money to go to the games.

Q: Times weren’t that hard, were they?
A: Times were … hard enough for me not to go the games.

Q: Who are you more like, your mom or your dad?
A: Wow, that’s a good question. Probably my father [Willie].

Q: In what way?
A: Both stubborn, very prideful people. Would give you the shirt off their back. It’s all about protecting the family, everything is about family. We’re both kinda free spirits in our own way.

Q: Your dad passed away the February before your Super Bowl season.
A: He died of a rare lung disease.

Q: What do you remember about the day he passed away?
A: I was in Pittsburgh, and I got a call from my aunt. They were like, “Your father’s not doing well.” And we weren’t talking previous to that. We were going through our own little thing, and so I hadn’t talked to him in like a month or two. I knew he was sick. I figured when I got home, I would talk to him, we’ll work it out. But I never had that chance.

Q: He was on life support at Mount Sinai Hospital when you flew in.
A: My mom didn’t want to make that decision, I had to. My mom’s like, “You’re the eldest of the boys. It’s better for you to do it however you want to do it.” And I didn’t want to see him suffer. He was pretty much comatose and … I pulled the cord. Watching somebody’s life literally slip away in minutes is probably the most … can’t even … especially somebody like your dad. I remember just holding him in my arms, and I just feel like his life just go.

Q: You guys were both stubborn?
A: We were both stubborn. I was angry about some things, and he was angry with me, and we just never hashed it out. That was the biggest thing I took away from that, I never got to say, “I love you,” or “It’s my fault.” We never had that conversation. He laid to rest without me telling him I love him.

Q: Did you think about him after you won the Super Bowl?
A: Totally. Totally. When we won, I remember just falling to my knees crying, and hugging one of my good friends, tell him I miss my dad. You know, as a kid, this is the time you want your father to embrace with you. So for him not to be there, it was tough.

Q: You still think about him now.
A: Yeah, totally. I’m driving home and I’ll remember something he said, or something I did that he got mad at. … We were big Knicks fans. We were big Giants and Yankees fans, and we always talked sports, so I always miss times like that.

Q: What was the memorable piece of advice he ever gave you?
A: Just protect your mother. That’s all he ever told me.

Q: Favorite Christmas memory?
A: When I was in the first grade, my mom was diagnosed with Lupus. She was in the hospital for a long time. I didn’t know she was gonna come home for Christmas. And she did come home Christmas day, and my whole living room was flooded with toys, and she was standing in the middle of it. She didn’t have any hair at the time. … That was probably the most memorable.

Q: Describe Geno Smith.
A: I love how he prepares. He’s honest with himself. He doesn’t make excuses, and he wears it. … He’s very mature for his age.

Q: What’s it been like playing for your hometown team?
A: When I first got here, I didn’t know what to expect. But when I got here, the locker room, the people who I’ve met and the city itself, my own community has embraced me so well that I’m just flattered and humbled by it all. This is the first year in a while that I feel like a kid on the field. The kid in me came out.

Q: You signed a one-year deal. Would Rex being back or not influence your decision?
A: No, I don’t think it would. I think right now it’s about me just finishing my career in New York, and finishing with Nick [Mangold] and Brick [D’Brickashaw Ferguson], and giving this thing an honest shot and keep fighting, ’cause I think this team has what it takes. We just have to get a couple of more dogs in the house.

Q: Describe Jets fans.
A: Loyal to a certain degree. We haven’t always put the best product on the field, we understand that, but going through that Jet Walk, man, you can tell people really are in it with us, and I appreciate that.

Q: How would you compare Rex and Mike Tomlin?
A: Two different guys. They’re both passionate in their own right. They’re both generals. They both command the best out of their players. They’re very honest about what’s going on. Obviously Rex is up and down emotionally and Mike T. stays straight ahead, he doesn’t waver. That’s the only difference between the two.

Q: Superstitions?
A: In high school I used to have this one T-shirt. You could probably stand it up on its own, it was so bad, it stunk. I got away from all that stuff. I think that’s the weakness of the mind. Anytime you have to rely on something or something that has nothing to do with the game for you to play well, I think it’s weakness of the mind.

Q: Are you big on motivational sayings?
A: The only thing I always hold dear is, “If there’s no struggle, there’s no progress,” obviously by Frederick Douglass. I think that means a lot in a lot of different ways.

Q: Do you have a special person in your life?
A: I have my dog [Bishop]. He was my first thing I bought when I got into the NFL. I didn’t buy a car, I didn’t buy anything, I bought a dog. My mom wasn’t having one in the house, so when I got into the league, I had a dog before I had a car.

Q: Favorite New York City things?
A: Yankee Stadium, steakhouses, nightlife.

Q: Favorite Yankees players?
A: Paul O’Neil, Don Mattingly.

Q: Favorite steakhouses?
A: Del Frisco’s, Old Homestead.

Q: Three dinner guests?
A: John Belushi, Lawrence Taylor, Frank Sinatra.

Q: Why was Lawrence Taylor your favorite player growing up?
A: He played the game at a phenomenal level. He’s outspoken, and he kinda reinvented the (outside linebacker) position.

Q: Why Belushi?
A: Well I loved “Blues Brothers.” “Animal House” is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I just feel like he was kind of a badass like I am.

Q: Sinatra?
A: He just had that swag, the ultimate cool guy. He just seemed like he was … The Guy. He just had that aura.

Q: Favorite movie?
A: Tears of the Sun.

Q: Favorite actor?
A: Robert De Niro.

Q: Favorite singer?
A: Otis Redding.

Q: Favorite meal?
A: Meat loaf, mashed potatoes, corn, biscuits.

Q: What drives you?
A: Always be great, and to realize at some point, this is all gonna be over, and all I’m gonna have is my memories of the game, so I gotta give it all I got. I just want to be respected, and loved … loved as a ballplayer and respected as a ballplayer.