<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"FacebookPinterest\n\n DeMarcus Ware doesn't fit the profile of a guy who wrecks quarterbacks for a living. The Dallas Cowboys All-Pro linebacker\u2014one of the most feared pass rushers in the NFL\u2014is a brains-over-brawn kind of athlete, which is a scary thought when you're bringing the kind of brawn he's got. This is a strange time in the NFL to be a sack specialist, though: as most of them will tell you, the league slaps fines on guys for breathing too hard on a quarterback\u2014an unmistakable trend in the rules that often seems at odds with the sport's broader glorification of hard hits and jacked-up highlights. Ware spoke with GQ about the NFL's ambivalence toward violence, how he stays on the right side of the rules\u2014and the moment in his career when he was so scared that he didn't know if he could ever play again.\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\nGQ: Who were the pass rushers you grew up watching?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  The guy I really like is [Rams Hall of Famer] Deacon Jones. When I see Deacon Jones, we sit down and have deep conversations. We just talk about stuff.\n\nGQ: I met Deacon Jones once and five seconds into the conversation, he told me he once had fifty-five sacks in a season, before they officially kept track of sack totals.\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  [Laughs] Of course he did. He's a great guy. Every time I see Deacon, I say, \"What's up?\" and right away he's telling me, \"You've got to work on this,\" or, \"You've got to work on that.\" He says, \"You've got to try the head slap\" or \"You're not trash talking right. You're not a good trash talker.\" He is straight up. When he talks, he doesn't sugarcoat anything. He's going to tell you straight up what he thinks. And he's ready to get right back out there and play. Like, now.\n\nGQ: Is there a certain technique you've mastered others haven't? Signature moves?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  I'm the Emulator. I'm a technician. Every week, I'm going to have different moves based on the film I watch. I like revealing something totally different every Sunday. I'll get in the film room around 6 o'clock in the morning. I'll watch, say, three hours a day all by myself. I chart who is effective and see what works. Then, whatever that offensive tackle wasn't good at? I make sure I'm going to master it that whole week. I may even be uncomfortable with it, but I'm going to do it. Because I'm going to do all the negative things that you don't like. I'm going to get in your head.  \n\nGQ: It's such a chess game, because they're spending their whole week studying your tape.\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  It is a chess match, and you know what? I love to play it. I like to know whatever those guys are doing. When people ask me, \"How many moves do you have?\" I tell them, \"Unlimited.\" Because every day, it changes. Usually pass rushers are like, \"Here's what I'm going to do and you'll have to stop me.\" But I'm like, \"You know what? I don't know what I'm going to do.\" That way, they don't know how to stop me.\n\nGQ: Tell me about a particular play from last season that you'd use as an example of this chess game.\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  Week 3 versus the Redskins. Monday Night Football. It was a play with me and [fellow Cowboys outside linebacker] Anthony Spencer in the fourth quarter. All game, I kept going inside, going inside, going inside. Every time I'd come inside, the quarterback, Rex Grossman, would boot outside of me and the tackle and just flip it over to his running back in the flat. So, it's the last play of the game. I said, \"Spencer, he's going to run out of the pocket outside of me. All I want you to do is run outside from your side and keep chasing him. Just run the loop. Run around your tackle and run really wide and keep chasing him.\" I saw it. I knew what would happen. I'd come inside and Grossman would go outside of me, looking to scramble and he'd flip the ball off to his back like he'd done the whole entire game. This time, though, Spencer would chase him down from behind.\n\nGQ: And?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  I come inside and Grossman rolls outside thinking, \"Well, I have a lot of time now. It's the last play of the game. I've got a lot of time and I'm going to make a play.\" But on the other side of the field, Spencer's going all the way around his man. Grossman's running from me, but he doesn't see Spencer coming. Boom\u2014blindside. Spencer makes the play. Strips him. We recover the fumble. Game over.\n\nGQ: Is that even more rewarding than being the guy who makes the hit?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  Oh, absolutely. I saw it! Just being on the same page, I told him what was going to happen and Spencer actually said, \"I'm going to force the ball out. I'm going to make him fumble.\" He said that. Before the play. And it happened. We're like, \"Man, it worked!\" And the key there was the mental, not the physical. We had to think. We had to see it. Chess game.\n\nGQ: Is there a quarterback you lose sleep over?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  No, but I think a guy that's very hard to prepare for is Michael Vick. He has a very good offensive line, and when you do get back there, it's a rabbit chase. You can't just catch him. You have to corral him. The cornerbacks can't even catch him. Another guy is Cam Newton. We play him this year. He's the same way. I've talked to some of the pass rushers and they say he's very hard to take down. And boy, he's fast, too. He can run. And there's only room for improvement. His mental capacity is only going to improve.\n\nGQ: Your career nearly ended in 2009, during a game against San Diego. You went down with that neck injury and were lying on the carpet motionless. What were you thinking about at that moment?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  You never think that you'll be the guy who's on the stretcher. It's usually a special teams guy, because they have those big impact hits. But the guys on offense and defense, we don't have enough speed built up to have that impact. When I went down, everything just stopped. I thought, \"Why am I here?\" I actually thought that my body was moving. I thought I was moving my arms, I thought I was moving my legs. But I wasn't. I couldn't move. Mentally, I was moving. But physically, I wasn't. I'm sitting there, just thinking. I was thinking, \"I'm that guy.\" Everyone was watching me, just lying there, unable to do anything. I felt embarrassed, actually. They strapped me up, and I wasn't able to move my neck or arms or legs, but I said, \"I'm alright. I'm alright.\" Then it finally hit me when they took my facemask off. When they took that facemask off, they took something out of me.\n\nGQ: You were no longer this warrior. You were human.\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  Yes. I still had my helmet on, but not my facemask. They were rolling me out on the stretcher, and I was sitting there, and I gave my thumbs up. I got into the ambulance and we rode to the hospital, and I was in so much pain. All those nerves. When I got to the hospital, they put me into the wheelchair and I had a big neck brace on and I took all the tests. All the strength tests, the MRIs. Everything was fine. I passed them all. They said, \"You can leave.\" When I finally got home, I just was frozen. I was thinking, \"Do you realize what just happened?\" Then my neck stopped hurting. Around four or five in the morning, I woke up and took my neck brace off. I came to the facility the next day without it on. Everyone was saying, \"What are you doing?!\" I told them I felt all right. I felt good. I passed all the tests again. Everyone said, \"You're not going to play this week, are you?\" And I said, \"I don't know\".\n\nGQ: Because of the physical pain?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  No, because I was scared. I was so scared. I started thinking about my family. I thought, \"I might have to give football up.\" I really thought I might have to retire, because I just couldn't imagine going through something so traumatic again.\n\nGQ: Who were you guys playing that next week?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  The Saints. They were 13-0, and I forget what our record was [9-5], but we needed the win. What was crazy was that up until kickoff, I didn't know if I was ever going to play football again. My head was screwed up. Then, the craziest thing happened. I walked into the Superdome and something just came over me. I put my helmet back on. I put that facemask back on. And I said, \"Okay, I think I'm going to try it out.\" Deon Henderson\u2014he was our little bulldog, the guy who was always smashing people's heads, he pumped guys up before the game\u2014I had him hit me, and I thought, \"Okay, my neck feels good.\" Then, I looked at the team. And when I looked at the team, they all asked me, \"Are you going to play?\" And I said, \"I don't know, guys.\" I just went and prayed. I went up to Coach and I said, \"I can play on third downs.\" I went out there on the first third down of the game, and they ran the ball and hit me. Now, the Saints don't ever run the ball on third down. They did that to get me. And you know what? That ticked me off. I was like, \"Oh, you guys want to try to hurt me again, don't you?\" So then I told Coach to put me in on first downs. And then, second downs, too. And each play, I got more and more confidence about it.\n\nGQ: They pissed you off.\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  They did. But even after that game, I was still skeptical each week after that. I'd have pain in my neck and it was a whirlwind that whole year. I feel good now, but it's a blessing.\n\nGQ: Have you ever heard any talk of bounties in the Cowboys locker room?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  You know what, if it's true, I've never heard of anything like that. You might say, \"Hey man, if you cause this fumble\u2014thousand bucks.\" Or you'll say, \"Who's going to make the big play? Thousand bucks.\" But when you start talking about another man's livelihood? No.\n\nGQ: I assume you heard the Greg Williams audio.\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  Have you ever heard anything as specific as that? No. I mean, I'm a guy who got knocked out. I nearly broke my neck.\n\nGQ: Were you surprised none of the Saints players spoke out against Williams?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  [Laughs] Crazy. It's like if I told you that if you went out and knocked out this other reporter, you'll get the cover story. I've never seen or heard anything like that before. We were all like, \"Hold up. What?\" But you know, coaches talk. And just because coaches talk, you don't have to listen to it.\n\nGQ: Last year, you were fined $15,000 for a hit on Buffalo Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. How much did that fine bother you?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  I told the league: I've got 99.5 sacks in my career\u2014I don't remember a single time I've ever rushed the quarterback and really \"roughed the passer.\" So how are you guys going to fine me? Every single play, I'm the guy that's singled out. It's me and that quarterback. If I really wanted to spear him, trust me, I can. I didn't hit him head-to-head. I could have exploded on him. I could have flipped him upside down if I wanted to. But you know what? I have respect for the game. I'm not going to try to take him out of the game. So, they fined me, and I appealed it. And then it went away.\n\nGQ: I imagine it's hard to turn it on and off. You go out there trying to pursue the quarterback, but you can't be too violent or you'll be slapped with a fine. How do you manage that switch?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  It's always on. It has to be. If you try to play soft, you're going to get hurt. If you slow down for a second, Bam! If you're that guy they're going after, I can promise you\u2014their motor's not going off.\n\nGQ: Does that carry over to the way they market you guys? Do you feel as though defensive players are demonized?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  If they want to put you in that circle, they'll put you in that circle. We don't get any breaks, man. That play in that game against the Bills\u2014that's worth more than $15,000. If it's third-and-fifteen with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, and I don't hit that dude\u2014I just gave him four more downs to score. And if they score? Trust me, that's worth a lot more than $15,000 to my team.\n\nGQ: Do segments like ESPN's \"Jacked Up\", where the announcers hoot over big hits, bother you?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  Well, the guys that are getting \"jacked up\" are usually defensive guys. Why don't the offensive guys get fined? When we get crack-backed, there are no fines. I'm working one-on-one with a tackle, and a guy comes in on my legs and chops them\u2014it could be career-ending. A little wide receiver comes in and Bam! Takes out your legs. But that's \"just part of the game,\" because he's a little morsel. But some of these wide receivers are big dudes. Look at Calvin Johnson. But they let those plays go on, so the offense can score.\n\nGQ: After James Harrison was fined a ton of money for a hit last year, they sold the image of the tackle on the league's web site, NFL.com. Do you guys ever see that stuff and think it's ridiculous?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  [Laughs] I have no comment on that.\n\nGQ: Are there any guys that everyone recognizes as the \"dirty\" players?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  You know, I really don't pay much attention to that. Because when I'm out there, man, I don't care what you do. If you're going to be dirty, I'm going to be dirty, too. And trust me, I'm going to take everything out of the bag.\n\nGQ: What's that bag got in it?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  There are guys who want to cut your legs. So, what can the defensive player do as a response? You can power him and put him on his back. If you put an offensive tackle on his back\u2014they're all big dudes\u2014it's degrading. And then you just walk over him slowly. And you turn around and stare at him while he's on the ground. You just beat him up so bad, they know they did something wrong. They woke the beast.\n\nGQ: The beast?\n\n DeMarcus Ware:  Yeah, then they're like, \"Oh, shit,\" because they know that every play, I'm coming. I'm not going to stop. At first, I'll smile at you. I won't say nothing to you. I'll just keep beating on you, and beating on you, and beating on you. And if you say something, I won't say anything back. I'm just going to come back harder the next time. I'm going to prove a point: \"You fucked with the wrong one. You wake the beast, you're going to get it.\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/demarcus-ware-nfl-gq-september-2012?currentPage=3>