Say what you want, but the two or three-month downward spiral Manti Te’o embarked on started the night the Alabama offensive line and running back Eddie Lacy dominated Manti Te’o and his Fighting Irish teammates.
Te’o knows he played terrible against the Crimson Tide that night, and the fake girlfriend saga did nothing to help his draft status or his image.
Te’o was in Detroit to visit the Lions yesterday and according to detroitlions.com, Te’o thinks that “one game against the Crimson Tide should not define his career.”
“(Alabama) is definitely a game I didn’t do as well as I could have, but it’s not something I felt could define my career at Notre Dame.”
“It’s a little frustrating that people look at one game and say that was the closest thing to an NFL team that I had faced, not giving credit to all the other teams that I played,” he told detroitlions.com. “So you’re saying Stanford isn’t an NFL team; Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue and USC.
Te’o would prefer people focus on his outstanding overall career and the seven interceptions he as a Senior.
“I can always get better, and I’m going to get better,” said Te’o, who has been focused on new techniques the past couple months to help him get off blocks better, “but if anyone questioned my ability to cover, I had seven interceptions. That should say, ‘hey, he has the ability to play three-down football.'”