RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on playing the Colts in primetime Thursday night) * *
"It's one of the greatest rivalries since the Jaguars have been here. I just like to go out there and have fun and play. I'm playing against a couple of guys I know on their defense, and it's going to be fun. It's always fun to go out there and play against some guys you are good friends with and you hang out with in the offseason, so it'll be a real good time."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on what his good numbers this season mean to him)
"It still doesn't matter. We haven't won, and that's the only thing that counts is wins and losses. That's what the game has been built around. This is the only game where one person can't really take over a game. It's a team effort that helps that person, so your individual stats aren't going to help you do anything really. I guess you could say some people make it to the Pro Bowl, but it's really not their individual stats. That's why if you're a running back you bring your offensive line, you bring people with you to try to thank them for all the hard work they've done. That's why at Christmas you buy your o-line gifts and the receivers gifts and the tight ends gifts, because you want to show your appreciation for what they've done for you. I think the reason a lot of people play football is because it's not about your individual stats, it's not about what happened before or what's going to happen after, it's what happens at that given point in time. For those three hours, you get to go out there and not worry about anything else but being free, having fun, hitting other people and just going out there and playing the game like it's supposed to be played."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on if he is friendly to the players he knows on the Colts)
"I think we're friends before the game and then after the game, but during the game they're on a different team so we're not too much of friends. We talk before or we talk after, but not too much during."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on if he gets excited about playing against DB-Bob Sanders)
"Definitely. Bob's the best at his position. At what he does, he's one of the best. He was the Defensive MVP last year. Obviously when you get to go against a guy like that, you know you have to bring your best and you have to go out there and play as hard as you can. When you see a challenge like that, I don't think you would be a competitor if you didn't rise to it, if you didn't come up and play your best. I think they feel the same way. Hopefully they do. Hopefully they're going to bring their best. I hope they don't want to bring their best, but I know they will. It's going to be fun. It's always fun when you go against the Colts because they're going to play hard, they're fast, they're physical and if you remember the first game there were a lot of hard hits, so it's going to be fun."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on if he wants to show people what he can do as a full-time starter with RB-Fred Taylor being out for the rest of the season)
"That doesn't matter at all. Regardless of if I'm a full-time starter, regardless of if I've done what I've done, people are always going to have questions about it because I guess they're scared to see someone short doing what I've done or what Bob's done. I know he still hears it too, and he's led the league in tackles, been Defensive MVP, won a Super Bowl and people still question his ability, so it doesn't really bother me. I just like to go out there and have those individual battles with certain people and do my best to win them."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on the possibility of the Colts drafting him)
"Myself and Coach (Tony) Dungy, we had a long talk at the Combine, and he's just a great person. We didn't even talk about football in our conversation. I know you guys understand the draft. Everybody has their little 15-minute slots with each team. Me and Coach Dungy talked and we didn't speak one time about football. We just kind of connected a little bit, and we had a great talk. I thought I was going to be a Colt, but they ended up picking up (RB) Joseph (Addai) and I ended up here in Jacksonville. Things have worked out for both sides, I think, very well. (The Colts) won a Super Bowl and we're working to get one."
