To get this out of the way, A.J. Green’s hamstring is recovered and doing well. “It’s great, it’s great,” Green said when the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver met with SB Nation during Super Bowl week.
Green revealed some interesting tidbits of information during the interview. For starters, he discussed how he’s refined his game by working on the “little things”.
“The little things got into play my second year in college when I had coach Tony Ball work with me,” Green said. “He really broke my game down. The athletic ability is there, now you need to have your fundamentals down.”
So what are the little things?
Running routes, making cuts, being precise and selling the double move.
“Gotta keep it low,” Green said in regards to how to get away with push offs. Andre Johnson is who Green believes did that best and who he learned from by watching him play.
Green also says, “all corners hold... somehow, somewhere.”
To elevate his game this offseason and improve for 2017 (yes, even A.J. Green can improve), Green says he’s working on his route running, which can get sloppy as you get older.
“My biggest thing in the offseason is I’m continuing to run routes every week with a quarterback, just to refine my game,” Green said.
Green also talked about his four-month-old son, Easton Ace Green, who he says he never knew he’d miss this much. “We wanted him to be his own person,” Green said regarding his son’s unique name.
And, maybe most importantly, when asked if Green would prefer to ride on a cross-country bus with a group of Florida Gators fans or a group of Pittsburgh Steelers fans, Green went with the Gator fans, after asking if he could ride under the bus instead. He also added that he doesn’t care about the people in Pittsburgh.
We don’t really care about the people in Pittsburgh either, A.J.