Mike Rucker
Mike Rucker
Michael Dean Ruckeris a former American football defensive end who played eight seasons for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League. He played college football for the University of Nebraska, and was drafted by the Panthers in the second round of the 1999 NFL Draft...
ProfessionFootball Player
Date of Birth28 February 1975
bowl foot guy happens miss problem seen shocking since super time
Since I've been here, I've never really seen him miss any time. He had that foot problem around the time of the Super Bowl (in 2003), but the guy is durable. It is kind of shocking to see him get nicked a little bit, but sometimes that happens in this game.
certain guys point shape tired tough twice
Two-a-days do get you in shape in a certain way. But then there's that cutoff point where guys are getting too nicked up or too tired to go twice a day. So it's tough to say.
across crowd developed guy home knock lined noise playing simple thinking whether
It's all about having the right mind-set when playing on the road. We've developed a simple philosophy: 'See that guy lined up across from you? Try to knock the snot out of him.' You're not thinking about the crowd noise or anything else. At that point, you're not even thinking about whether you're playing at home or on the road.
buy coaches guys owners players quick speak talks
It's just a little quick time, and then we go about our business. But the guys really buy into it. You know, he (Fox) talks to us all the time. The coaches talk to you all the time. The owners talk to you all the time. But it's different when players speak to players.
anybody brings coach fox goes great guy listening player
I think each guy does a great job. Each guy brings his own personality to it. We haven't had anybody to where you're up there thinking, 'Wow, that was bad.' Because it comes from the heart, each man. And that's why I think Coach Fox does it. Because we play with each other, and a player listening to a player, that goes a long way.
guys last learn takes throw year
Last year I had to relearn that, and those new guys had to learn me. It takes time. We went through all that going 1-7 last year. But now, we throw them in, and we're already clicking.
caught fine guy start
You can't get caught up in how many sacks does a guy have because it doesn't tell the whole story. Pep is off to a fine start and the sacks will come.
best kept mouths pads somebody talk tough week
It was tough this week not to talk with our mouth. It's tough to have them keep slamming you. But we kept our mouths shut. The best way to show somebody is to put the big-boy pads on, and that's what we did.
atone best expect last league looking next seldom team week weeks
Sometimes in this league you just get spanked, and you usually come back the next week looking to atone for it. Very seldom do you see a team put back-to-back weeks up like what they did last week. We expect their best this week.
games team
Every team is going to have some games like this, but it's how do you respond,
talk
We don't talk with our mouths! We talk with our pads!
carry line weight
But at the end of the day, we're going to carry more weight because we're the line and we're the foundation.
experience field good help mixture people
I feel like we've got a good mixture of guys. We don't try to overpower each other, but have enough experience on field to let people know what's up and help people get better.
We just feel like we've been through a lot of different situations.