Timeless Charles Woodson To Headline Raiders' Trip To Ford Field Sunday
By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby
Like a fine wine, Charles Woodson has aged gracefully.
He would know about that, considering the 39-year-old Raiders safety owns a wine business on the side of his still-flourishing NFL career. Now in his 18th season, Woodson has hardly slowed, as one of the mainstays on Oakland's defense, which will come into Ford Field Sunday.
Asked what his secret was, Woodson had a simple reply.
"It's all in the grapes."
Which grapes?
"Cabernet grapes."
On a more serious note, Woodson credited his natural athletic ability and his willingness to put in work on top of that for his timelessness. It's not often football players continue their career at age 39; it's even rarer that a player maintains a high level of production that late in his career. He's the third-leading tackler on the team, and the only Oakland player with more than one interception (he has five).
"What is he, 18, how many years in?" Lions receiver Calvin Johnson said. "It's crazy how long he's been playing and to be productive at such an age and still making the plays that he's making, flying around, stellar interceptions you see him making, catching the ball like a receiver still. He was doing that when we were playing him here in Green Bay and the productivity for him is still up there. So he's still a heck of a player."
Woodson's instincts – as a guy who has played cornerback, nickelback and safety in the NFL – are what set him apart. Plenty of players have talent, or raw skill. But especially as a defensive back, it's the brain connected to that skillset that is so crucial.
"You watch him in relationship to the quarterback and what the quarterback's doing; he has seen the film and seen concepts so often that he almost anticipates them," Lions head coach Jim Caldwell said. "You see him running at a dead sprint, even before the quarterback releases the ball in some cases. So he gives you all kinds of problems."
Woodson has 65 interceptions in his career, an exorbitant number for any player, but especially for someone who continues adding to that total in the twilight of his career.
With eight picks against the Lions since he came into the league in 1998, Woodson has wreaked more havoc on Detroit's quarterbacks than on any other team in his career.
There is always the chance that Woodson adds to that total on Sunday, too, against a 2-7 Lions team still struggling on offense.
"I've done a lot of things," Woodson said, as he reviewed his career and explained what drove him, 18 seasons later.
Laughing, he continued: "I've never had three interceptions in a game, so that'd be something pretty cool to do."
