Mike Daniels is one of if not the best defensive player on the Green Bay Packers and that wasn’t handed to him.
He didn’t have the prototypical size or freakish athletic ability. He worked his ass off to become good. That’s how he’s known on the field — plays hard, high motor, disruptive.
So it’s not surprising he’s about football 24/7, as he told Ryan Wood on Friday.
Mike Daniels: "There's no magic button you can push on gameday. There's no Harry Potter spell you can cast. You have to be turned on 24/7."
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) January 7, 2016
While you’re probably amused by the Harry Potter reference there, what’s not amusing is you could also read that as “there are some guys who aren’t turned on 24/7.”
Honestly, that would also come as no surprise.
This is a Green Bay Packers football team that had to have a talk about playing video games earlier in the season.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers has spoken about preparation — and the lack thereof by some of his teammates — multiple times.
Was this a subtle reminder by Daniels to those guys on the eve of the playoffs?
We’ll probably have a good idea come Sunday.