49ers' Davis Credits Ex-Coach Singletary For His Success
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) -- Vernon Davis, the San Francisco 49ers' tight end who made the game-winning touchdown catch against the New Orleans Saints last weekend, credits former coach Mike Singletary for his transformation into a team leader and for helping shape him into the player he has been in the playoffs.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, ahead of this weekend's NFC Championship game, Davis reacted to a comment from quarterback Alex Smith - who said Davis learned how to become a professional and that had led to him becoming a team leader.
Davis said it wasn't easy embracing that role: "It was difficult. It started when Coach Mike Singletary was here. He sent me to the locker room. From that point on, I was...I just kept my head up and just kept going down the straight path because I knew from there, from the talk that we had, I was going the wrong direction. I changed my life around and I became more of a leader, because in the beginning it was all about me and that's not right. You don't want it to be all about you. I find it that, when it's more about the team and you put the team first, you have more success."
When asked what Singletary told Davis that resonated so strongly, Davis replied: "He said to me, I can't remember what he said word for word, but it touched me. It touched me. But I do remember him saying that, 'Vernon, when you put the team first, then you'll start to take off.' So I did that, I did that. Since then, life has been really good."
Reporters also asked Davis about an emotional speech that he delivered to his teammates at halftime of the New Orleans game and wondered whether a repeat performance would occur this weekend against the New York Giants.
"It's weird because I don't prepare messages. They just come from the heart. And at that moment, it was something that I was feeling. I went to the board and I wrote on it, 'one shot.' One shot because that's all we had. Just to get guys thinking about it. Thinking about what we have here and that's just what it is. It just comes from the heart," Davis concluded.
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