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DIAMOND RESORTS INVITATIONAL

January 10, 2018

Mark Rypien

Orlando, Florida

Q. NFL Hall of Fame, who do you think should go in?
MARK RYPIEN: Well, obviously, I think Joe Jacoby is well overdue.

Q. There's the list of 15.
MARK RYPIEN: When you've got guys that have gone in the Hall of Fame and haven't had as many Super Bowls as Joe, four Super Bowls, three Super Bowls won‑‑

Q. He is on the list. Okay. How many Super Bowls for him?
MARK RYPIEN: Four Super Bowls. Three Super Bowls won.

Q. He blocked for you?
MARK RYPIEN: He blocked for me. He was one of the Hogs, one of the best all time.

Q. I think it's a minimum of four, maximum of eight.
MARK RYPIEN: Obviously, Brian Urlacher.

Q. At the top, Ray Lewis?
MARK RYPIEN: Ray Lewis, you know, he's one of the greatest‑‑ it's so hard. It's so difficult when you've got these guys. Ty Law was a shutdown guy for New England for so many years.

Q. Who are your automatics? You bring up Jacoby. You brought up Urlacher.
MARK RYPIEN: Urlacher, Jacoby, Ray Lewis.

Q. Randy Moss and Owens?
MARK RYPIEN: I don't think you can go both of them, but you've got to go probably one of them. I'd probably say Randy. But then again, that catch that Terrell Owens made for San Francisco to get them into the Super Bowl was unbelievable. Isaac Bruce‑‑ I threw to Isaac. Phenomenal. What do you‑‑ I'd go Lewis, Urlacher. You can't. You've got to go‑‑

Q. Well, you can go up to eight. It's four to eight. Minimum of four, maximum of eight, yeah.
MARK RYPIEN: I would go those two guys. One of these two.

Q. Moss or Owens, okay.
MARK RYPIEN: One of these two, Dawkins or Lynch. Jacoby. And probably Everson Walls. Everson Walls had a great career.

Q. Right.
MARK RYPIEN: I'd say put them all in.

Q. What do you expect in the NFL playoffs? We're down to eight teams now.
MARK RYPIEN: Well, you've got to go through New England. You've got to go through Philadelphia, even though Philadelphia's got a backup guy, I think whoever wins the Philadelphia‑Atlanta game represents the NFC.

Q. Oh, wow, okay.
MARK RYPIEN: Even though Minnesota with their backup has been phenomenal.

Q. Why do you think that winner will advance?
MARK RYPIEN: I just think any time you have the home field advantage, it seems like that's the‑‑ that's the ticket. Now, if Atlanta beats Philadelphia, Atlanta's got to go on the road to either play Minnesota or the Saints. And the Saints‑‑ I'm not sure. I think the Saints have home field advantage if they beat Minnesota in Minnesota, don't they?

Q. I'm not sure. What about the AFC?
MARK RYPIEN: AFC? You like New England, and you like Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has to go to New England. And New England's got all that bullshit going around.

Q. You believe all that?
MARK RYPIEN: No, I think that's their niche. That's what they do.

Q. They thrive on friction?
MARK RYPIEN: They want to get everyone to think they're all discombobulated, and next thing you know, they're playing for another Super Bowl. I don't know. I think Big Ben, this might be his last one.

Q. Super Bowl stories. I know you were MVP. Marcus Allen‑‑ I'm look for a crazy story. Marcus Allen, I think it was the year he was MVP, drove his rental car up to the stadium, couldn't get in. Do you know this story?
MARK RYPIEN: I do not.

Q. Wouldn't let him in the gate. He said, I'm Marcus Allen. I'm playing in the game. They said, I don't care who you are. So he left his rental car and went in, and I think it was the year he was MVP. Do you have a crazy one? Locker room night before, throwing up, anything?
MARK RYPIEN: Yeah, what Joe Gibbs did always was he got us a resort probably 100 miles, 50 or 100 miles away from downtown, all the hoopla and everything, and put guys in there. I can remember, I thought, God, I can't sleep. I never threw up, but I can't sleep. Greg Manusky used to throw up before every game, but I couldn't sleep. So I figured I'd go downstairs. We don't play until like 4:00, 5:00.

Q. Where was your game?
MARK RYPIEN: In Minneapolis, which was like 26 years ago. Every 26 years, they're going to have it in Minneapolis. So I got up and went downstairs, figured I'd get some coffee. Breakfast was going to be from like 5:00 to 9:00.

Q. What time of day is this?
MARK RYPIEN: This is Sunday.

Q. What time in the morning?
MARK RYPIEN: I'm down there about 5:00. I thought I'd be the only one. There's about ten other guys down there.

Q. Really?
MARK RYPIEN: Yeah. Eric Williams, who I played with at Washington State and played for the Lions, and we got him later in his career, and Chip Lohmiller, who lived in Minneapolis and was our kicker, we decided let's jump in a cab and leave around 8:00 in the morning or 7:00 in the morning and head in to‑‑ we didn't have to take the bus. We wanted to get there early. So I got probably the best sleep I got on our trainer's table kind of in the back before anyone else got there and got up.

Q. At the stadium?
MARK RYPIEN: At the stadium itself. I figured, if I'm there and I'm asleep, at least I'm not going to miss the game.

Q. So you took a cab ride?
MARK RYPIEN: Probably a 45 minute, hour cab ride.

Q. How much sleep did you get that night before you woke up?
MARK RYPIEN: Maybe four hours, and that was off and on.

Q. And how much on the training table?
MARK RYPIEN: Probably about four hours. I was there from like 10:00 to 2:00.

Q. So that was a savior for you from an energy standpoint?
MARK RYPIEN: That was. That did help. That was one of the craziest things that I can recall.

Q. Thank you, sir.
MARK RYPIEN: You bet.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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