Antoine Winfield paused during his busy in-season schedule to reflect on a career-defining moment, and then smiled while recalling a memory that took place several years ago. Winfield hardly hesitated when answering the question.
"A lot of guys talk about a moment when they knew they'd be this good at football. Have you had one of those?"
The answer came quickly, and the way he painted the picture made you feel like you were there that day.
"It would probably be my junior year in college, when we (Ohio State) played Michigan," recalled Winfield, who played in all 50 games during his collegiate career. "Charles Woodson was the main focus; he was up for the Heisman and all that. And I went out and I probably had the game of my life. I had like 14 tackles and a couple pass breakups, but unfortunately we lost the game.
"From that moment on right there, I knew I was good at football, and I had a chance to play in the NFL," he said.
Ohio State vs. Michigan
As a college player hoping for his chance to make it in the NFL, Winfield gained a tremendous boost in confidence that day.
"We were playing against the No. 1 team in the country, and I think we lost by seven points," he said. "I think Charles returned a punt for a touchdown. But that boosted me through my senior year to give me the confidence to go out there and give it my all."
Winfield, a cornerback for the Minnesota Vikings, is in his ninth NFL season, but he still fondly remembers his college days as a star for the Buckeyes. He's got a strong opinion on the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry, one of the fiercest in all of sports.
"That's probably the most exciting rivalry in college football. I'd probably put that with the Super Bowl in the NFL," Winfield said. "Of course, everyone from Ohio hates Michigan, and everyone in Michigan hates Ohio. And it's always coming down to that game to see who's going to the National Championship."
Though his alma mater won this year's matchup with the Wolverines—en route to its spot in the BCS title game against LSU—Winfield still wishes the tide had swayed his way when he was at Ohio State.
"In my four years there, we only beat them once—in my senior year. That cost me probably like two or three championships," he said half-jokingly.
Going Up Against the Best
One of nine former first-round draft picks on the Vikings, Winfield was a captain in the 2007 season opener. He has high expectations for himself, but he's also realistic about his career to date. He's starting to feel a sense of urgency and wants nothing more than to play in a Super Bowl.
"The next step for me is hopefully winning a championship," he said. "This is my ninth year in the NFL, and I don't plan on playing another nine years, so I'm on the downside of my yearly range in this league. Just making it to the Super Bowl, winning the championship, hopefully getting a chance to play over in Hawaii in the Pro Bowl," he continued.
Perhaps more than any other position on the field, a cornerback has to be self-confident. He has to believe that he can stop the opposing team's best receiver, and some of the great ones have that unmistakable, "I'm-good-and-I-know-it" swagger. Winfield certainly has that.
"I'm a player," he said. "I go out and play every snap 100 percent. You'll never see me take a play off—I give it my all. Especially at my position, it's a tough one. I'm playing against some of the best athletes in the world, and I definitely hold my own."
A grizzled veteran who has seen it all over the course of his time in the NFL, the undersized Winfield loves the challenge that comes with matching up against the best wideouts in the league. He's the smallest Viking—listed at 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, though he says he's 5-foot-8 and ¾—but he often plays bigger than his size.
"I get fired up to play against T.O. (Terrell Owens), Randy Moss, Donald Driver and Marvin Harrison," said Winfield, tied for second in the NFL over the past two seasons with two interception returns for touchdowns. "Those are guys that you know are going to get the ball. It's a chance for me to go out there and make plays. I know the ball is going to come my way, and I have to stand up."
Among all of those star wide receivers, Winfield says the toughest to defend is Harrison.
"With a quarterback like Peyton Manning, you know Marvin's going to get the ball," Winfield stated. "The thing that separates him is probably his route-running. All of his routes look the same, so you can never tell when he's going to go deep or if he's going to break it off."
'The Toughest Little Guy'
When Minnesota played the Dallas Cowboys earlier this season, Troy Aikman called Winfield the "toughest little guy under 5-foot-11 in the league" during the FOX broadcast. Winfield, of course, agreed with the glowing assessment and called it "a great compliment" coming from a player who accomplished as much as Aikman.
Winfield said, "I'm definitely a playmaker, and if you ever watch any of my games, you'll hear the commentators talking about me. I'm the best tackling defensive back in the league. I'm definitely trying to get over to Hawaii."
Despite some early-season struggles, the Vikings have righted the ship and now look to control their own destiny for a playoff spot. Winfield said the defense was giving up too many big plays and third-down conversions earlier in the year, but the defense's strength all season has been stopping the run.
"I have a great group back there. A young guy in Cedric Griffin, in his second year, Darren Sharper, Dwight Smith," he said of Minnesota's secondary. "Guys that have been to Super Bowls and have won them. But we have a long way to go."
Winfield has especially enjoyed his years playing alongside Sharper, the standout free safety.
"I love playing with that guy. He's been to a few Pro Bowls and having played in Green Bay, he's been to the Super Bowl and has a lot of experience," Winfield said. "I think right now he's one of the leaders in interceptions among active players. We watch a lot film together, so we try to cheat.
"As a defensive back, the only cheats that you get is watching film, so we watch a lot of film. We just try to jump around and make plays," he added.
Winfield said the toughest part about being a starting cornerback is the constant one-on-one matchups on the outside.
"For defensive linemen and linebackers, if someone breaks out, a safety can come up and make a tackle. [But] when you're outside, one-on-one singled up, one slip or one fall, a receiver can go the distance and that can definitely cost you the game," he said.
Winfield, who recorded his first career interception by picking off a Peyton Manning pass in 1999, said the toughest quarterback to intercept isn't Manning—it's Tom Brady.
"Tom, he takes care of the ball. He makes the correct throws, the correct decisions," he said.
So who are the easiest to pick off? Winfield thinks it's one who led his team to the Super Bowl last year and one who's a future Hall of Famer.
"Those guys, they play without a conscience," Winfield said of Rex Grossman and Brett Favre. "They're going to throw the ball and give their receivers opportunities to make plays. I have to put Rex and Brett in that gunslinger mentality—they don't care; they're going to throw the ball and try to make plays."
Whenever Winfield gives up a big play, he makes a point to immediately forget it.
"To have amnesia, you can't think about what happened, because that can affect you through the course of the game," he said. "You give up a big play, a big catch, a big touchdown, and in my mind, I'm like, 'OK, I did it, move on to the next play.' I try to keep teaching that to the young guys to help them move along."
Pro Bowl Bound?
The ability to use amnesia as a tool to improve has gotten easier over the years for Winfield. But one thing he hasn't forgotten is winning the Jim Thorpe Award for being the nation's top defensive back as a senior in college. He's especially proud that he was the first defensive back from Ohio State to win that prestigious award.
"We've really had some good defensive backs to play in the NFL come from that school. It was a great honor," he said. "Think about the competition I was facing—I was going against Champ Bailey and Chris McAlister—and for me to come out and win that award was very special for me."
That award sits in his trophy case at home—a case that he hopes will soon contain a Super Bowl ring. But on an individual level, Winfield always strives to make it to another game he's never played in: the Pro Bowl.
"I have a lot of tackles," said Winfield, who has 61 stops on the year (52 solo), in addition to seven passes defended and an interception he returned for a touchdown. "I think the thing with getting to the Pro Bowl is that it's kind of like a popularity contest. Plus, I played in some small markets. I played in Buffalo, Minnesota … and we don't really get those nationally-televised games.
"A lot of fans don't get a chance to see me play. But that's definitely one of my goals every year: to make it to the Pro Bowl," he concluded.