FOXBORO -- Player availability was atypical on Thursday. In light of Junior Seau's passing the day before, special teams captain Matthew Slater spoke with the media -- not about the football season ahead, but those in the past which were touched by Seau's influence.
Here's reaction from Slater:
After hearing the news via a phone call from his father, Jackie:"He was so full of life. And everybody keeps saying that but he was. He was so full of life and it just comes as a total shock. Your heart really goes out to his family. You know, you saw his mom's response. No mother should have to bury her son, so I just think we're all in a state of shock right now."
"My dad played against him and I played with him. So how about that? That's just a testament to Junior and how long that he played 20 years of great football. The ultimate professional in the way he approached the game. The leader that he was. That's what I keep thinking about: the leader and the type of man he was."
On Seau's habit of calling everyone "Buddy":"He knew my name. He knew my name. laughs And he remembered playing against my dad; he'd always ask me how my dad was doing.
On playing alongside a childhood hero:"Growing up in Southern California Junior Seau was a legend. Back to his time at USC, to his time with the Chargers. I grew up idolizing Junior. And then having a chance to play with him for two years and seeing how he was off the field -- the type of man he was.
"I kind of had a surreal moment my rookie year. We were playing the Cardinals out here and we were beating them pretty good. They put me in at safety and I'm jogging back to the huddle and Junior Seau is jogging back to the huddle with me and it was like, 'Man, this is a guy I grew up watching and I'm playing with him now." It was pretty special for me.
On Seau's legendary pregame speeches:"I just remember as Junior was giving the speeches, and after the speech, you were ready to take on the world, it seemed like. That passion he had for this game, it was second to none, and he knew how to motivate guys. He knew how to get guys focused on one goal, and that was to go out there and have success on Sunday's. But he just had a special way of being able to communicate and relay that message to us as players."
As for the issue of concussions and head trauma in the NFL:"I think there is some concern now, but they are doing studies and new things are coming out where you learn more and more about it. Who knows what was going on? We can't really comment on that. It's a concern. Not just depression or things like that. It can lead to a number of different things. That's kind of the nature of the beast that we're dealing with as football players. Hopefully, as more and more studies come out, we'll become more and more informed about that kind of thing.