Jimmy Johnson Quotes

When you go out on a football field, you are responsible for taking care of yourself. The more rules you get, the less players truly take care of themselves.

Back in the '80s and '90s, you could hit the quarterback low, you could hit the quarterback high. You could hit him pretty much late.

I couldn't identify just one, but there's numerous rule changes and points of emphasis that have reflected a change on the field almost immediately. It's hard to avoid the horse-collar tackle, for example, but the players understand why the rule is in there - because of the injury rate prior to us making that a personal foul.

I just coach and get my guys ready.

It's not an exercise on how to avoid getting hit. I think there are certain safety measures that take care of the mental part of it, with players not looking to hit somebody in the head. They've done that. But let's not take the entertainment value out of football.

I think any time you can go out and put pads on and practice before the season, I think it's a good sign. It's a good sign.

Whenever you're falling or getting tackled, try to protect yourself. But that's part of the game; that's part of football.

My experience over my five years at Wisconsin and my one year in the NFL was that there were times where I couldn't play the game safely. There are positive measures we can take... but on a lead play, on a power play, there's violence.

It's a tough situation as a defender to be put in. I understand what they're doing trying to protect quarterbacks. I've been on the receiving end of a few of those where you appreciate them trying to take care of you a little bit, but I do see the conflict that it puts a defender in.

You don't want to push your young players too much.

Goaltending was brought in because of Mikan and Chamberlain. So rules do change for specific players, in concert with a need to stay up to date on how coaches are taking advantage of the rules.

I just want to play football.

There might not be kicking in the NFL by the time I get to 45.

One of the wonderful things about wrestling, to me, is that you can protect people who have had head injuries.

You get different philosophies in coaching, usually depending on what position the coach himself played.

From Rick Adelman to Kevin McHale, it was a big difference. Things are a lot stricter with McHale, and with Rick, things are a lot different, offensively, defensively. You go from being successful as hell with one coach and being comfortable with the coach to, yes, I was really successful with Kevin McHale, but I just didn't do it the right way.

Three years under Saban changed me. He's the best coach in the world at what he does.

I just don't want people to mistake playing basketball, playing hard with trying to hurt somebody.

Modern football is increasingly dominated by the coaches - their narcissism to put themselves above the team and their players.

It's a different era. I understand what Charles Barkley was saying but you just can't take guys out. There's too much scrutiny. There's too many replays and reviews, and cameras everywhere.

I'm very proud of high school, college and pro football, the strides have been made to make it a safer game.

I thought I could go into Cardiff, but different clubs have different cultures, different playing styles and philosophies. I'm more suited to the other jobs I've had.

I think I worked out in my head it's something like 75 training sessions before you've got them pretty well drilled. You're not going to get that in international football so you're relying on their intelligence and the ability of the players to slot in.

Any new coach takes about six months to adjust to the system, and players also need time to understand his methods.

Every coach has his own philosophy.