Quotes from Nnamdi Asomugha

You know in acting you have those moments in a movie where a character yells or breaks down crying and you're like, wow, that's acting?

It doesn't matter how well you play individually if the team isn't winning.

When guys get to a certain age or certain level in their career maybe they don't do as much or work as hard so they start to lose some of that stuff. It's inevitable that at some point your going to lose most of what you've had.

I've been blessed. I've had a fortunate, successful career in the NFL. It's been longer than I initially expected when I came into the NFL.

It's really refreshing to get these types of moments when people can say, 'Yeah, you're one of the best.'

I was maybe halfway through my career, and I was shooting a Nike commercial, and the director came to the trailer and said, 'Hey man, you're really gifted at this. I get a lot of athletes that come in, but you were prepared, and you made everything seem very natural. I really think you should look into this.'

I don't talk smack because I feel like it's a waste of energy.

I know so many people who've been through situations where they've gone from one career to another and have had such a tough time because they didn't have any support doing it.

I've always felt that I'm successful for a reason - so I can help, whether that's one individual or a group of people. That's why I keep going with football. I love the game and I'll keep playing as long as I can, but ultimately there's a different purpose.

I grew up in L.A. in the '80s, and the Lakers were the biggest thing to ever hit the world at that time.

In high school, you can just go out there and play. In the NFL it was so much more mental.

I've always worked my butt off physically and mentally.

It takes time to change a system and to change a mindset.

If we're in a scene together, I want to give you something that allows your performance to be truthful. In football, if you're opposite me, I want to destroy you, take your head off. I'm still reading body language, still reacting, still trusting my instincts - same as football - but it's different now.

I'm highly critical of myself. There's not something someone else might say that makes me feel I need to be motivated in a different way. I'm a self-motivated guy.

I was really close with Rob Ryan, so I know that Rex, being his twin, would be very similar to him.

You become a family when you're on a football team. It's the ultimate team sport, so you have no choice but to feel like family, and that never leaves you.

I enjoy stories that can spark a conversation.

Anybody can be beaten by one pass once. Are you getting beat by that same pass multiple times in the same game? That answer is no.

When I hear about a player losing his money, I'll rarely, if ever, point a finger at the player because I know how difficult it is. It's not always, 'Look at this idiot who got paid all these millions of dollars and lost it all.' It may be more like, 'This naive kid with a million things going on in his life put his faith in the wrong people.'

My parents were among the first families from their area to leave Nigeria and come to America, the land of the free.

It can be a bit sententious in the Nigerian household, to the point where you feel like with any wrong step you've set yourself back so far. It's like everything has to be done right.

I come from a performing family. My parents are Nigerian, and their parents and their parents - and it's all about performance in their culture, you know. The music. The dancing... you're told to stand out at family gatherings and perform in some sort of way. You're just kind of born into it.

To look back where I started from, you can't help but be amazed.