Me: Are you frustrated?
T.O. " I am frustrated because we lost in the manner we lost in last week. It's my birthday. For the three quarters and a half, I was about to to have as happy a birthday as anyone could have. Then, in five to seven minutes, it turned out to be the worst. I feel as an offense we let our team down and we let our defense down. They played like they were the No. 1 defense in the league. We need to play better on the offensive side of the ball."
Me: OK, but people are saying you are frustrated by your involvement or lack thereof. Are you?
T.O.: "I don't care about that. I am all about winning the ball the game. If I am open, throw me the ball. If Patrick is open, throw him the ball. If Roy is open, throw him the ball. That is my only gripe. What I do in this offense, I know it can help us. It can allow guys to create one on one matchups. It can allow guys like Martellus Bennett to get open, Patrick to be open, Roy to be open.
That is all I am concerned about. I am not really worried about my stats. My stats speak for itself.
For the guys like Keyshawn and everybody to say 'I am all about padding my stats'. Look at the guys that are really speaking about that. They are not experts. He was once in this position. He may not be as good as I am, but he has a lot to say about what I am doing. It seems that nobody is picking up on that. Obviously, there is some jealousy there. There is a lot of resentment because of the fact that he is in the booth because of me."
Me: So what was up with this supposed vocal altercation with Cowboys receivers coach Ray Sherman after the Steelers game?
T.O.: "That''s my man. There is no animosity. I was venting to Ray. There again they are always wanting to go to things that happened in the past like things are still going on. Ray and my relationship can't be broken. All I was doing was venting to Ray about some of the things that were going on."
AP guy jumps in: Were you open on 4th and 10"?
T.O.: "Yes, I was. There were other guys open on fourth and 10. We can look at the film and assess and we can learn from that."