A Real Interview With Richie Incognito of the St. Louis Rams

A few weeks ago, I was asked to formulate questions I would ask a St. Louis Rams player during an interview.

Because of his personality, I figured an interview with Richie Incognito would be interesting.

Well, last week, I finally got the opportunity to talk with the former Nebraska Cornhusker. Instead of writing a story, I will simply provide a transcript of our eight-minute conversation.

Ron Clements: Richie, you're in your fifth year, and still a pretty young guy. What does it say about the youth of this team that Jason Smith is saying that he's taking pointers from a guy like you, who's only 26 years old?

Richie Incognito: I just bring my lunch pail to work every day, and try to get better every day. For a guy like Jason, who is a smart guy, he's a go-getter. He wants to play as well as possible as soon as possible.

So if he can mold himself after a lot of people, just come to work every day, dig in, don't get too high, and don't get too low, and just keep trucking. For him to say that he looks up to me, that's great, because I definitely put a lot of hard work in.

RC: You guys are similar in that when you both came out of college, I mean, you were considered, and I got it right here, 'the strongest and most explosive player at the 2005 Combine.' Hopefully this doesn't happen to Jason, but you had that knee injury at the Combine. How much did that affect your rookie year?

RI: It threw off my whole rookie year. I spent the whole year on IR, rehabbed. It was kind of a time deal, happened at the Combine. I really didn't re-injure it until my Pro Day in late April.

So the surgery kind of threw my rookie year into a funk, spent the whole year on IR, just learning. It was a good year, because I learned as much as possible, came back and started that next year.

RC: How frustrating was that year, what should have been your rookie season?

RI: Yeah, it should have been my rookie season, and it kind of, I just kind of took it all in stride. I didn't get too down and out about it, just really threw myself into rehab, and getting back because I knew I was a good ball player.

I just wanted to, at that time, I just wanted to make the squad. I came in, played well and took over the starting job.

RC: Basically you missed two years of football, right? Because you had transferred from Nebraska, and had to sit out 2004 at Oregon. So, your second year in the NFL, how eager were you to just get back on the field, and how good did that feel?

RI: You know, I was definitely anxious to get the pads on again, and get rolling. I hadn't played in so long. I sat around and watched a year, and, you know, just seeing if I could play with these boys. I just got rolling and rolling and rolling, and my confidence grew. I just tried to hone my craft, lock into a position, start the whole year and play well.

RC: Kind of shake some rust off?

RI: Oh, definitely, definitely had to shake some rust off. My first year playing was tough, started at left guard, and was at left guard through all of training camp.

Then our center goes down, so I had to play center, a position I had never played before in a game, so it kind of threw me into the fire there.

I played pretty well at center, and towards the end of the year, they wanted to shake the offensive line up a little bit, and give some of the younger guys a shot, so I moved out to right guard, and that's where I've been ever since.

RC: I was going to ask you about that. You've played three different positions in the NFL, would you consider your versatility as one of your strengths?

RI: Oh, big time. Yeah. You know, definitely as a young player, that was one of my strengths. I came in on Monday afternoon, and they said, 'You gotta learn how to play center, and play it by next Sunday, and play it well.'

So, you know, that was definitely one of my strengths as a young guy. It's still one of my strengths, but now as I get older, and get more years under my belt, it's nice to be locked in at right guard, and build on the things I did well last year, and become a better player each and every game this year.

RC: Now, just to have you reflect a little bit on college, you came off the all-American, or, the all-Big XII year in 2003, what happened at Nebraska that led to your suspension and then your departure? What went on there?

RI: It just, uh, it was a growing period in my life, and a tough situation for me to transfer out of the University of Nebraska. But, I had pretty much, uh, how do I want to put it? I pretty much burnt through my chances there, and it was time for me to move on.

So, uh, the new coaching staff had come in, and the new regime that had come in, I guess I wasn't a part of it, and wasn't a fit for it.

So I moved on, and really wanted to get my career going again up in Oregon, and things didn't work out. It was tough. It was two years sitting around, knowing you're a good football player, knowing you've got a ton of talent, went and shined at the Combine, then had another setback with the injury.

So, it was definitely two years of a lot of growing for me, and a lot of maturing. It's part of the journey.

RC: Now, you're far from an introvert, and you caught a lot of flack last year after the Chicago game, does it bother you when your home fans boo you?

RI: Not one bit.

RC: No?

RI: Not one bit. We always joke, we come out for player introductions, and the booing, cheering, whatever you want to call it, I get louder boos and cheers than Steven Jackson.

They introduce the franchise player, the best player in the franchise, and they boo me. I love it. It's all part of the game for me. I love what I do. I love playing on Sunday, and I love good, bad or indifferent, I love them making noise when they hear my name.

RC: So endearing yourself to the local fans really not a concern?

RI: It was a concern. I grew from it. Definitely something that shouldn't have been done, in hindsight, and hindsight's 20/20.

I kind of got caught up in the frustration and negativity from last year, and definitely got myself in a situation that I don't want to be in ever again. So, learn from it, move on, and winning cures everything.

RC: I was just going to say that.

RI: Winning cures everything, and we just, I'm a professional and keeping moving on. Onward and upward, and work as hard as I can to get this ball club some wins.

RC: Jason Brown and Jacob Bell, they both said that the offensive line, you guys are really gelling as a unit. Is that something that was kind of missed last year?

RI: We played, and it kind of gets lost in the shuffle, we played well as a unit last year, at times. You know, we had times where we played very well, and times where we didn't play so well. I think that's the one thing that is a little bit different about this group.

We always play at a high level, and we played at a high level last year, and had to replace people with injuries, and you get that lull.

For offensive linemen, you can't have that. We're looking forward to just having five solid starters in there, and just rolling, and not having those lulls like we did last year.

RC: What is the one thing as a player you need to improve the most?

RI: There's a lot of things I need to improve on. You know, just come out here and get better every day. Every day it's different. One day, it might be a certain technique, like right now, I'm working on my footwork, my front side footwork and power. Stuff like that.

I understand that, to be the best I can be, you always have to get better. You can't be complacent in this league. There's always something to be worked on.

RC: Are you more comfortable at guard?

RI: I'm comfortable wherever they need me. It's nice. I had all last season to play out at guard. I had OTAs, had training camp knowing I'm playing right guard, and I'm comfortable anywhere. If I was playing center, and had all OTAs, and all last season to play center, I'd play there.

RC: Tight end? (laughter)

RI: Tight end, sure. But, yeah, anywhere I get some time where I can master my craft, I feel really comfortable.

RC: Now, you played with Isaac Bruce, Orlando Pace, Torry Holt, you've heard the stories of the Greatest Show on Turf. How do you guys create another winning legacy now?

RI: We create another winning legacy by running the football, getting Steven going. Steven is 100 percent of everything that we do. He's going to be 100 percent part of our success.

We get Steven going, then we get Marc (Bulger) going. In getting Steven going, we get Marc going, and we get those defenses creeping up like back in '06, get them off balance, and by getting them out of balance, we, in effect, run a balanced offense.

We get Steven popping, then we hit them with the play-action, but it all boils down to Steven.

RC: You know, sometimes the running backs and the quarterbacks, they're the glory hounds. As an offensive lineman, do you kind of have to, when Steven Jackson runs for 150 yards and scores a couple of touchdowns, it's got to be a sense of pride. Do you find yourself living vicariously through his spotlight?

RI: Oh, definitely. It's a unit. It's 11 guys on offense trying to get as many yards as possible. We're definitely excited. The more success he has, the more excited and happy we are.

RC: All right, well, thanks.

RI: No problem, thank you. Have a good one.