Robert Hunt – January 4, 2023
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Thursday, January 4, 2024
OL Robert Hunt
(Long, frustrating process for you. Are you at the point now where you think you can help the team on the field?) – “Man, I think the guys that have been playing up front have done a fantastic job. With a lot of guys, the injuries that are going on, I think they’ve been doing really good, man. I’m excited to get on the (field), play the game the way I like to play the game, and if that helps winning games, that’s what I want to do. I don’t know, I’m just excited to be back on the field.”
(So are you playing Sunday? Is that your intention?) – “I’m taking it one day at a time. Of course I want to play Sunday, but we’re taking it one day at a time, see how it goes and if I feel good. At this moment, it is what it is. Whatever is needed of me, I’m here to do.”
(How much more so is it with what’s on the line, knowing you’re at home for the division and the opportunity to win the AFC East?) – “I mean, it’s a big deal, man. We all know it’s a big deal. It definitely fires me up, gets me excited to play this game. The idea is to try to run around and hit people.”
(What’s it been like for you, considering you’ve played every game in your career before this injury, to sit and watch and rehab twice now?) – “Man, it’s been very, very frustrating. It sucks, man. It sucks. It’s a tough thing, especially if you’re not used to it, you know what I mean? To sit back and watch. But like I said, give credit to the guys up front that’s been plugging in and doing what they’ve got to do and doing it at a high level. Man, I can only commend those guys, and now I’m excited to go out there and play with them.”
(How bad was the reaggravation of the hamstring a month ago? Did doctors describe it to you as a serious thing or mild?) – “It was close to the first one. I wouldn’t sit out if it wasn’t nothing serious. If I think I could play and go, I would’ve definitely went. But it was something that was pretty, I don’t want to say severe, but it was pretty intense.”
(So when it first happened, did you feel that it was going to keep you out for at least a significant time?) – “No, but it happened and I felt it like pop. When I did it, I knew what it was. I kind of just like overextended and aggravated. I felt it pop and then I was thinking in my head, ‘Damn, it can’t pop again. It just popped recently,’ and it popped. For a second, I was like, ‘You know what? It may just be scar tissue, it’s good,’ then I went to the sideline and definitely realized quick it wasn’t scar tissue.”
(What was it, torn as opposed to pulled?) – “No, it was just another strain. Another strain that a lot of guys deal with. I guess my big body just deals with it a little differently. That’s that. Thank God it’s feeling better today, and hopefully it keeps feeling that way.”
(So what you got through the period when you couldn’t play?) – “I’m a very optimistic person, man. It’s just who I am. I’m very optimistic of just life and I live my life day by day, second by second, moment by moment. It is what it is, it ain’t what it ain’t. Like I said, that’s what it is. There’s nothing I could do. I don’t know. For some reason, I’ve got a mindset or just a mind that I’m just not going to beat myself up on it. I can’t even control it. It is what it is, it was what it was, but now I feel better.”
(In regards to Sunday night’s game, obviously we know it’s the season finale, we know it’s for the AFC East. How would you describe – what’s the point that the Miami Dolphins football team can make on Sunday night?) – “I don’t know if we’re trying to make a point. We’re just out here trying to compete. We’re trying to play at a high level. We’re trying to execute. We’re trying to get a sour taste out of our mouth from last week, and the way of doing that is coming out playing our brand of football and playing at a high level and executing. We’ve got a lot of good players in this locker room, a lot of great players in this locker room, Hall of Famers in this locker room. We know what we can do, man. We just have to go out and we’ve got to do that. This will be a good test for us. We’re excited for it.”
(Why is it that the Bills are a team that’s always in the way for you guys?) – “I don’t know, man. Ever since college, there’s always been a team like that for me. App State was that for me in the Sun Belt. I could never beat them. I played them four times a year, two times a year, they beat me every time. I never beat them, but sometimes, like my college, after I left, they got them again in the conference championship, my school did, and they beat them. So you know what I mean, times change. Hopefully that is what it is this weekend, we’ll see. We just have to play the game, man. It is what it is.”
(So you let T Kendall Lamm talk trash to you?) – “Yeah, man, I almost cussed. Kendall Lamm is – I never played Kendall, he’s a little older than me, but Darrynton Evans is definitely undefeated against me and I’m defeated against him, 0-4, which sucks. But like I said, after I left, we definitely beat them, so times change.”
(Would it make it all the more special to clinch that division against the Bills?) – “It definitely would. Especially if – I’m just speaking for me now – I’ve been here four years and I’ve only beat them once. So to beat these guys, it would be a good day. I’ll have a great night if we win.”
