Haloti Ngata has had some extra time on his hands this spring and summer.
Normally during that time of year, the 6-4, 350-pound two-time Pro Bowl nose tackle for the Baltimore Ravens would be shuttling back and forth between his home in Salt Lake City and the Ravens' practice facility in Maryland for meetings, mini camps and other pro football related stuff. But with the continuing NFL lockout Ngata found he had extra time on his hands. So while he trains everyday he managed to find a couple of days to go UTVing this past May in Moab.
And we got to tag along.
Ngata said it was his first time driving a side-by-side, although he has gone four-wheeling before and, no surprise here, he loved it. This isn't our first chance to ride with Ngata, although the previous time it was on snowmobiles high in the mountains of central Utah ("Snowmobiling Versus The National Football League," SnoWest Magazine, January, 2010, page 32). He was just as comfortable in the seat of the Kymco side-by-side he was driving as he was on the seat of his Yamaha snowmobile. He managed to get six or seven sledding trips in last winter.
While the riding was fun, he said he would rather be working, as in playing football and getting ready for another season, not thinking about when, and if, the NFL season would start. "I want to play," he said. "I definitely want to play. I don't want to have to worry about whether I'll play or have to look for another job."
Forced to play the waiting game, Ngata enjoyed the sun and warmth of southern Utah, riding the slickrock Moab is famous for. It was obvious he was not only enjoying soaking up the sun, but the whole side-by-side experience as well.
"I like riding the UTV because you can go a lot of places," he said after tackling the Hell's Revenge trail outside of Moab. "All the views here are amazing. I'm amazed at how we were climbing over big rocks. This is crazy awesome. But I like to ATV too because you can throw it around."
"Throw it around" is a relative term, coming from one of the hardest-working and best defensive tackles in the NFL.
Ngata has been rewarded for his hard work, earning his second Pro Bowl nod for the 2010 season after leading the Ravens' defensive line with 65 tackles (48 solo), a career-high 5.5 sacks (which tied him for second in the AFC among DTs), a career-high-tying 4 pass deflections and one fumble recovery.
That also led Baltimore to peg Ngata as a franchise player. That simply means a team can keep their most valuable free agent off the market but to do so has to pay the player the average salary of the top five players at his position.
That means Ngata got a hefty pay raise, like millions of dollars-plenty enough to buy a stable full the Kymco UXV side-by-sides he took a liking to during his two days of riding in Moab.
"[Last season] was my best season so far," Ngata said. "I think that because I've improved my pass rushing and I had better stats. I'm working at improving my game, not just the run stop but pass rushing as well."
Ngata said he doesn't really want anything to interrupt his efforts to take his game to the next level, even if he is soaking up the sun in Moab. He has enjoyed the extra time he's had to spend with his wife and two-year-old son.
But there will be plenty of time to snowmobile, four-wheel and participate in other activities when he's done playing football.
"If this football season were a normal one, I wouldn't be here doing this," Ngata said after riding on Hell's Revenge. "I think I do miss out on stuff like this (during a normal season) but there will be opportunities when I'm done. I have a great opportunity to play professional football. That's my profession. I'll have chances like this later."
Now (hopefully) headed into his sixth season, all with the Ravens, Ngata looks forward to several more years in the NFL. "I've always wanted to play 10 or more years," he said. "I'm on my sixth year but the way my body feels right now I feel like I can play longer."
And he would like that "longer" to be with the Ravens. "I do [still like playing] in Baltimore," Ngata said. "I love it. At first it was hard to adjust but now that I've been there, it's like another home for me. It's been real fun to get to know people ."
When asked which player he likes to square off against, he said, "I just love playing the Pittsburgh Steelers."
