Second Interview: Duval Love

We are honored to announce that we were granted a second interview with Former NFL Offensive Lineman, Duval Love. In order to get the perfect atmosphere for this follow-up, we chose a local sports bar and got together to watch the October 17th Monday Night Football game where Duval's former team, the St. Louis Rams, took on the Indianapolis Colts. In this interview we covered the UCLA streak, Terrell Owens in the pre-season, the Minnesota Vikings boat ride and most important of all, Duval's future as an Offensive Line Coach.
All right, let's see how much you're following the Indianapolis Colts and this year's St. Louis Rams. Who's got the better Offensive Line?
I would say the Indianapolis Colts. I like their line. They're protecting Peyton pretty well. They're running the ball with Edgerrin James. They're 5-0 so they're having a lot of success.
Who's going to win this game?
My heart says the St. Louis Rams but my brain says the Colts. They have a better team, they have a better defense and they have Peyton Manning. St. Louis is missing their head coach and they're not running on all cylinders right now.
How do you think missing their coach affected the St. Louis Rams?
It's going to affect them a little bit because Mike Martz calls all the plays and that's a big part of their offense. No one has the kind of timing he has but they'll try and do their best but they still don't have their head coach.
When we last spoke, you were pursuing an assistant coaching job in the NFL. I know you had some success this off-season. Fill us in.
I got an internship with the Philadelphia Eagles. Basically, I got in there from a recommendation from their head trainer, Rick Burkholder. He recommended I have an internship with Andy Reid. Andy Reid said okay and I was there for six weeks. I was there from the first day of training camp to the last day of cuts. It was a very interesting experience. Very valuable. I learned a lot and got my foot in the door.
You mentioned hopefully getting a call back. What's the process now?
I think the process now is they like to hire their interns, so since I've been there and my foot's in the door. I just have to wait and see what happens. I'm a lot further along than I was last year at this time.
Your UCLA Bruins are on fire this year. Have you been following them and what do you think is the biggest contributing factor to their success?
I'm back being a Bruin fan this year. I'm claiming them again. I didn't get to see the game yesterday but I did get the opportunity to go to the game where they played Oklahoma. They had some of the old football players come back. We got a chance to sit on the sideline and watch them get fired up and take it to the Sooners. I think Karl Dorrell has had a chance to implement his system and he's getting his players and you see the effect of that. They're starting to win and these are his guys, so there are no excuses and they're doing well. Good coaching can solve a lot of problems. Good players also make coaches look good.
This year's UCLA / USC game should be a great one. What's one moment that stands out in the games you played versus USC?
First of all, I made my first start versus the USC Trojans as a freshman. I played but it was my first start at the Coliseum, a game I watched as a kid. But actually starting as a freshman was a great experience.
Seems like one team or the other is usually the hotter team. Which was the hotter team around that time?
We were, most definitely. No question. Actually, we were playing for the Rose Bowl that year. It came down to the last 4 seconds and if we kick a field goal, we go to the Rose Bowl. What happened was we kicked the field goal and George Achica of USC blocked it and we lost the game. So we went to the Bluebonnet Bowl instead of the Rose Bowl. We definitely had a better team that year.
Let's talk about the Good, the Bad and the Ugly in the NFL. Who's the best team in the league right now? The team that is going to take it all?
Honestly, I'm going to say Philadelphia. I'm an Eagle fan now. I have to, I never know if Andy is going to read this or not. The Eagles are a very good football team. It's kind of early to tell who the best is. There's a certain parity throughout the league so it's kind of tough. With Donovan being hurt, that's not good for Philadelphia. He's got to stay healthy for them to win. New England is at .500, Tampa Bay was horrible last year and now they're one of the elite teams. It's still too early, you just don't know. We played Cincinnati in the pre-season and I didn't think they were very good. I thought they were soft. The next thing you know they are 5-1. Who knows?
Do you think coaches scale back in the pre-season? Trying not to give away too much?

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