This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carol Masser and I'm Jason Kelly. We're here every day bringing you the latest news from the world's of business and finance, plus technology, politics, economics, all harnessing the power of Bloomberg Business Week reporters and editors, not to mention our journalists and analysts more than a hundred and twenty countries. You can download Bloomberg Business Week
on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot Com. You can also listen to our radio show weekdays at two pm Eastern only on Bloomberg Radio. So earlier, Jason I caught up with a fan favorite of the Pittsburgh Steelers, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Super Bowl champion. We're talking about Jerome Bettis the bus. He joined us and we talked about a lot of things, but we began by talking about a partnership that he's got with Hurts. So great to have you here on Bloomberg. Thank you.
Wouldn't like coming back to an event like this. It's always great because you know, this is the pinnacle of our sport, uh and this is the moment where you get an opportunity to crown the champion of a season so long and and so this is that that moment with the build up you know, to UH to a special moment for the players, for the coaches, for the organization. So it's just a great time and it's a time
for us to kind of celebrate the game. You see some of our our contemporaries and to hang out a little bit with some of the guys, have a great time. So it just brings a good finish to a great season. And so would you show up an event like this, Jerome, in your current uh stage of life? How different does it feel? You know, what are the conversations you're having that that was different? It's different. It's different conversations because
you know, I'm one of the old guys now. You know, It's like when when I first started coming over, I was I think you I was one of the young guys, right and I'm you know, young, second third year in the NFL and you're running around, you're doing interviews. And now as an elder statesman, I come out and I get a chance to see guys, you know, some of the younger quarterbacks and say, hey, gratulations, great job, keep
up the great work. You know, just just acknowledging a lot of guys and letting them know how um, you know, how great they're doing. Uh and or you know, cheering guys up or whatever you need to do. Um being in a position I mean, now, it's about lending that support. You've got a great nickname the bus and you gotta you gotta part. We're gonna get into that nickname. And but you've got a great partnership, rightfully, So with Hurts, tell us a little bit about it. It's a it's
a great partnership. What we're doing is I'm helping launch this program and it's called the Extra Mile Program. And the idea is to really celebrate uh and say thank you to the Gold Club Reward members that have really made Hurts number one in class. And so uh, it's and it's about creating the experiences, uh for those members. And and one of the experiences, UH is fifty people will have an opportunity to go to the big game in style, right and and you know my nickname, So
what would you think would be in style? In style is a decked out bus where these people and their friends will have an opportunity to go to the game. Uh. And and celebrate the big game on either side. But if you're not going to the game, then there's an opportunity as well for people to go to Instagram and and post a picture on their story and tag it with uh at Hurts and they'll have an opportunity to win three hundred dollars in the future. UH rentals uh
from Hurts. All right, I gotta ask you about your coach, Bill Coward going into the Hall of Fame. I mean, what a moment for him. You know, there's a lot of emotion around that. What did you feel when when you heard obviously not unexpected in a lot of ways exactly, but still but but uncertain not unexpected, but uncertain, right, because you never know as much as you say. Uh. And I'll use myself as an example. You know, people you should always say, oh I didn't get in this year.
They said, oh, you're a Hall of Famer in my book, And I just couldn't help with saying to myself, your book doesn't count. Nobody reads your book, right, I want to be in And so I'm sure coach was. He was in that same kind of feeling that, hey, you know, this opportunity, it's not promised, and so he's kind of missed a couple of opportunities, and so now it happened, and it happened in such a way that did where he had he was surprised on air. It was just
it was it was just a beautiful moment. And I was so happy that he was able to get into Hall of Fame because he is deserving and really the reason that I was able to get into Hall of Fame is because of him believing in me, uh to the point where he gave me so many opportunities to be successful. Well that's what I was reading about that he really was a game changer for you, right, he was.
He was so so when I came to Pittsburgh, I needed to go to a team that the mindset was running the foot ball, because so many times you can go to an organization and if it doesn't really fit, you're stuck, right and you maybe have you may be a Hall of Fame caliber talent, but it never's realized. And he was able to realize my talent by saying, you know what, I'm gonna run your own We're gonna pound the football, we're gonna play great defense, and we're
gonna win a lot of football games. And because of that, I became the focus, the central focus of the offense, and I don't have success after success after success. The hard part though, was we weren't able to win a championship early on, and so that was the the goal, the drive, and ultimately we we finally got there. And and that was just the kind of the cherry on on on the ice, on top of the cake for me. All Right, did you know why he's called the bus?
But go ahead? Do you? All right? Why are you called the bus? They're calling the us? It happen, Well, it happened at this maybe, Okay, well I don't know what story. Well, let me tell you the story. When I was at the University of Notre Dame, there was a writer in a student body newspaper that wrote that I kind of looked like the look like a bus, right, And so the student body and there Dame would whenever I would run, they would say, nobody stops the bus, right,
the little chape. And then what happened when I got to it disappeared when I went to the rams, because they started started calling me the battery Ram when I was in in l a. And then when I came to Pittsburgh. Western Pennsylvania is a huge Notre Dame area, right, So I was We were playing a preseason game against Green Bay Packers, and one of the former coaches from Notre Dame who was now coaching that he was at
that point coaching at Wisconsin. He brought his family up to see his brother, who was a tight end on on my team, and we're in the lobby. He's ease me. He says, hey, Bussy, what's up. And and the announcers, Bill hill Grove and Myron Cope, legendary Myron Cope were in the loby heard him say it. And in the game the next day, Billy hill grow says, oh, yes, he had a deep voice. And then his snick name is the Bus. And then Myron Cope he has a very unique voice. He said, he kind of looks like
a bus. And that was it, and and that was it. I was the Bus from forever more after that. That's amazing. I do want to go back to the coaching piece for just a minute, because we're at such an interesting moment in the league, new coaches getting hired, um and the Rooney will exists, and yet and yet, Uh, there's no diversity. I mean there's there's there's a shocking lot adversity the tough league. What does the league need to do?
That's that's the hard part, because ultimately you want the right person for the right job, right and and so I believe the NFL has to find a way to promote more candidates because if there's more candidates, then there's more opportunity for you to like one of the other candidates. If there's only one candidate, and if I don't necessary care for his his coaching style, then I'm limited in terms of me uh going and picking a certain minority. Right.
So now you create an opportunity where you have more minority coaches available. Now it gives the owners and the decision makers more of an opportunity to say, you know what, I like his style compared to his style, And when you don't, when you compare apples to oranges, you don't get a very very fair assessment of what you have available.
And you do have to wonder, and you know this world much better than I do, whether it has to start at the college, you know what, whether they're just you know, it just needs to sort of like bubble up I don't you know, And I'll say the NFL has largely been independent of the college ranks in terms of hiring. Uh sometimes every now and then they'll hire a Kingsbury from from college ranks, but predominantly most of
your NFL coaches come from the ranks. So what you have to do is find a way to promote internally some of those minority coaches that are up and comers and they need opportunities to be offensive coordinators defensive coordinators, right, so that now that opportunity presents itself. And then we had these certain situations, Uh, Baltimore Ravens they hire a special teams coach, the New York Giants they hire a
special teams coach. Well, there there hasn't been an opportunity where and in minority coach outside of offensive defensive corder has even been interviewed. So maybe that needs to be looked at a little bit more So. I think there's some some some places where they can create opportunities for more minorities. So does it just increase a weirdness droom because it sounds like the awareness is there or is
it like let's do quotas or something. I don't think you can do quotas because you can't hire somebody who's not ready, who's not qualified. You want to you can, but but here's here's what I say. What I say is you you need to make sure that these coaches are getting the opportunities. So maybe you are providing them to toolach so that they can go from a wide receivers coach and know how to become an offers a coordinator. Right.
And if you can do that, now you've created an opportunity for a person who at a year ago may have not been ready, but now he's ready. And so they have a ton of or her absolutely former coaches that would be available to mentor some of these coaches. Right. You you get some some retired UH coaches, Bill Coward as example, tutor tutoring on some of these younger guys on how to be a head coach. And I think
that's not being taken advantage of. We have all these great coaches that have since retired and they have a wealth of knowledge, and so we need to find a way to get that knowledge and get that into the younger people's hands. Just like we as running backs. Um we do I have I have young guys that I talked to all time, and I'm telling them about certain things that they need to look for and watch, and I think that needs to happen as well from a
head coaching perspectively. Do it in journalism all the time. Yeah, absolutely, mentorship. All right, Bettist, what a treat for us. Thank you so much, good luck and look forward to Actually we didn't get your call for Sunday. What do you think the call? I think the phone hung up. I am rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs. I want to see Andy Reid win a championship, but I will say the forty Niners are more than formidable. I think this is gonna be a tough, tough ask uh. So I'm expecting
to see a great game. Hopefully Can City wins, but if San Francisco wins, I will be equally as happy because it's two great teams that's playing for championships. It's going to be a heck of a game, I believe. So it is lining up to be all right, Thank you so much, great, thank you, Thank you. Guys. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Jason Kelly on Bloomberg Radio earlier today, we got a chance to catch up with Justin Tuck, well known to our
New York audience as a giant. UH. He had some things to say about the game about Eli Manning. Take a listen. I was blessed to have a safety in the Super Bowl, and Volvo thought that it would be unique and fun to partner with something they've known for safety or something I've known for football. So basically what we're doing is they were created with creating the triple point safety belt system that has been created with saving
over a million lives in car accidents. So this year they're they're donating over a million dollars worth of cars if there's a safety takes place in the Super Bowl. So if a safety takes place in the Super Bowl, UM they will be giving away a million dollars for cars, and the way you can register for that is going
to UM Volvo Safety Sunday dot com. Once you go to that website, you have the opportunity to pick the car of your choice created in the in the color, the wheels, the interior that you like, and that will automatically register you into this poll. If a safety occurs, they will pick randomly. UH. Cars up until a million bucks UH to donate out to UH to winners. I gotta ask you grew up being going to the Giant Games season tickets. My brothers still going. Um, Eli Manning,
Manning era over? What do you think? It also feels like there's an era maybe in terms of you know, quarterbacks that have been in the league for a while, but it's Tom Brady out in Boston. Um is there
kind of a new era? Are we seeing that in terms of a change, Yeah, I mean you're starting to I think you know, if you look at the early two thousand's quarterback play, the likes of the Tom brady Is, the Eli Manning and the Walthics Breakers, the Rivers, the Breezes, you know, those guys are getting a little older in the in the saddle and and they're starting to kind of that wave of kind of fourteen to eighteen year
quarterbacks and starting to obviously retire. But you're also seeing a young Cramper guys coming through now with the Mahomes and the Watson's and the Jackson's and so on and so forth of quarterbacks that looks like he's going to continue to move this league in a positive light. But yeah, I mean obviously elives my guye and in some way he's sad to see him go, but I think it's a good time. And uh so, yeah, I'm excited for
what he to see what he does next. Any good stories with Eli Ah plenty too many, Listen, I mean, like the thing that he's going to be known for more than anything, right, it's just how he made people around him feel he was a superstar in the and and then you know the more the biggest city in the world, right, but he always kept his his root. He was rooted, he was grounded, and who he was
and what he believed in. They never changed him as a success, built and built the built, he never changed and he made it very you know easy for the new guys are come in and just you know, pick his brain and just he never was a guy that that that he never felt like he was the superstar, even though he just obviously was. So how do you feel about the Giants right now? New coach coming in? By the way, I have the same shirt you have. That's that's wrong And I love the at I can't
talk about them right now. I'm here with Volvo, but I love Shout But now. Um, So, as you think about the Giants coming forward, a lot of room to grow, to say, at least, what do they need to do from your perspective, because they need to focus on what you were doing obviously right to me and simple and to get there is not simple, but the focus is simple. Right in this league, if you don't show up your line,
it's just not gonna have success. You can have the greatest quarterback, great vide receivers, if you can't protect the quarterback and give him time to get the ball to those those great athletes on the ages, that don't matter. So I think you have to focus on our old line, our D lines, show that up and then bill from there.
And if you look at our Super Bowl runs, we had one of the more pronounced UM old line d D lines, I mean from Kareem McKenzie, Chrisnie O'Hara, Rich Serbert David Deal that old line when they played together. I remember, I remember we set a record one year. I forget what the year was. They Elie was only sat thirteen times in the season. That's unbelievable because Eline is not moving as a D line and I know where he's going to be, so it makes him easier
to pass rush against. So let's just let you know how good that old line was. And obviously our D line has gotten so many accolades, so what we was able to do in our Super Bowl runs there. So if you part those two together, I think you have a you have a really good shot of turning think around with That's what all the teams that are playing the judges look at all the time. Again, right different, all right, So last question, playing on the biggest stage.
What was it like to play in New York? I mean, we live in New York. We know, you know, you make it there, you can make it anywhere. How different is it in your estimation? For me? And everything was so much more amped up. It was so much more um just pressure on you. And I liked it, though some people didn't. Some people weren't able to kind of thrive there. And that's why you see some guys we had this autist pub and autist this uh kind of you know fair and fan fair leading into them coming
to New York and didn't do well. I just loved it. I was I was a country boy from Alabama, didn't really care for all of it, so I found it intriguing. So but I think it made me a better player, It made me, it made me keep Yeah, I just I think I think it made you make sure you had all your teeth, didn't I mean all your teeths crossing your eyes got it just because that's the type of place where you could win one day and they loved you to the next day. They booed you, and
it's like, so I kept you humble. I think New York kept you so humble and kept us focused and working because we always knew that it didn't matter. We went on a five game winning stream and the next next home game we were down, you know, fourteen and a half. Time. We're walking in that tunnel. You're gonna hear booze. I mean we could have been eighteen. We could have been seventeen and old going into the well,
that's not possible. We could have been fifteen and old going into halftime, fifteen and old, or the sixteen for the sixteenth game. And they didn't bleeve. They didn't think we were doing we should be doing. They were gonna buy you. Just so, I actually loved that about New Yorker. Man. They just they kept you humble, They kept you, they kept you hungry to destrive for more. That's the hardest question you can give a guy like me. We just
talked about old line, D line, right. I think when it comes to that matchup alone, I think I think, um, the forty Nins have an edge there. Obviously ken See has a lot of edges on other things. I think the quarterback edge goes to him. I think the wide receiver age go to him. But when I think about teams like games like this, where you're gonna have to settle in and really play football, it all starts up front. And so I give a nod a little bit to I mean to thet my heart says that is Andy
Ree's time. Yeah, but saying just working with the mental right now. If I'm just calling it all things even, I give give San Francisco just a tad bit of a age, all right. And that of course is justin Tuck. Our New York Giants fans really loved watching him, and I really had to say about playing in New York. Also Eli Manning and and sort of the legacy that
Eli had. And you know, I think this year, you know, as someone who watches the game relatively closely, you know, this year was a tough one because I feel like, you know, it was a it was a tough goodbye in many ways, but I think history in many ways because of the sorts of things that Justin Tuch said, will be very kind to Eli Man. You want a couple of Super Bowls and more to the point, by
all accounts, good human. That's what I love to hear that, he said, you know, when new players came in Eli Man and kind of took him to to, you know, his side and kind of help them out and stuff, and you kind of love to hear that somebody is not only good at what they do, but you know, helping outthers uh and really a team player. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly
on Bloomberg Radio. We're here at the Miami Beach Convention Center, just a couple of days ahead of the Big Game. But on Saturday, there's gonna be something else. And now it's something that is really important to a lot of the players and former players and a lot of fans as well. It's the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. We've got a nominee here with us. That is Devon Kinnard. He plays linebacker for the Detroit Lions. For those of our New York listeners might remember him during his tour
in our fair city with the Giants. Devon, great to have you, Thanks for having all right, So let's talk about the Man of the Year award. Uh that I mean, Walter Payton embodied so many things and I think is one of just the those figures in the NFL that will live forever in many ways. What does it mean to be nominated for this? Uh? You know, it's truly
an honor for me. You know, I think of um, Walter Payton and just to have my name mentioned alongside his, And then I look at a lot of the guys who have been nominated and who won this award in the past, and it's just truly an honor and I feel humbled to be in this position. And UM, you know, I just want to shed light on the things that the organizations that I work with, um you know, off the field and and um you know, bring awareness to that.
So tell us about some of those, UM you know, big organization I work with in Detroit is um the Midnight Golf Program and it's after school program for UM high school seniors and it helps them with the transition to college. So you're talking about inner city kids who you know are working hard in school and they're trying to put themselves in position. But you know, it might
be first generation college students. Students so parents didn't didn't go to college, so they don't know about s A T S A C A T a C T s, applying for loans, applying for college, you know, and UM it's a mentorship program that walks them through every step of the way, UM when it comes to those things, and you know, they take tours and they visit colleges all around Detroit, but also UM they take a trip you know, out of the state as well, so they
can see a school out of the state. And it just really provides, UH, these kids an opportunity to to realize that they can accomplish their dreams. Right. You can't go after something if you don't even know what you're supposed to go after, Right, tell me about some of the stories, I mean, and some of the things that you've seen happen as a result of that, you know, for me, UM, I created a scholarship fund where I
started offering scholarship. Scholarship, and I asked the kids to to choose a book that they read, because I really enjoy reading, and I try to promote that, Um with kids to choose a book book that they've read recently and tell me the impact that it had on their lives and um, you know what they took from it and some of the responses and hearing some of these kids stories and what they've gone through or what they're going through, and um, you know, their perseverance to get
to this point in their life, and UM, you know, it's just really been been motivating. And I'm gonna give those kids opportunity oftentime. Kids like that just need more opportunities, and uh, that's what I want to help remind them. All Right, I gotta ask you about the game on Sunday. You know, you know all about a lot of quarterbacks and trying to get to them. How do you get to my homes? What's his weakness? I mean, you definitely got to make him uncomfortable. You want him to stay
in the pocket. Actually he's not a guy. He's a guy you want if you start letting him extend plays and running all over the field. Uh. That's where guys like Kelsey or some of their explosive receivers, you know, get deep and he could he could hail it. So I mean, I think it starts with trying to keep him in the pocket. Um. And uh, that's a big
thing San fran Is gonna have to do. They have great pass rushers all over the field, but it's gonna have to be a good balance of going and hunting them, but also you know, keeping your rush lanes and not not letting him extend plays and get those explosives. What's harder going against a passing team like Kansas City or a running team like San Francisco. Um, I think that it can both be challenging. You know, I'd say you
gotta make a team one dimensional. Um, because if when you're playing good quarterbacks with vote, which uh you know both of these teams have, then if they can run the ball and throw the ball, then you're in trouble, you know. So I think every game plan starts with stopping the run and making the team one dimensional. But you know, when you do that against the Kansas City for instance, you know, um, you gotta stop the run.
And then once you stop the run. Now it's like, all right, you gotta whole another beast on your hands, because now he's gonna be you know, trying to sling that thing around. All right? For our New York fans, what's it like playing in Detroit versus New York? And I should point out you had a good moment I believe this year where you had a big play against your forward team, right yeah, yeah, absolutely, um you know playing it playing in New York. I enjoyed my time.
Now I'll never never speaking um ill on it. You know, that's the team that drafted me, gave me an opportunity. But you know I'm going to Detroit. They put me in a position and gave me an opportunity, uh to do when I'm best at. And you know, I feel like I've excelled and have been improving these last two seasons, and uh, you know, I'm ready to work hard and get ready to take the next step. So you're not gonna which is your favorite? No, Actually, I gotta I
gotta Detroit. Now that's an easy answer. Go ahead. But I can say we had a conversation earlier and we were talking about diversity. Uh, certainly among the coaching staff. Um, how do we improve that? I think just giving more guys opportunities and um, you know, like I think that we're gonna start seeing that more and more. I think we have a woman coach in the second Bowl. That's that's pretty often. UM. And I think I think it's
um happening slowly but um, slowly but surely. But I think it's we're gonna start seeing more and more of of you know, diversity in multiple ways in professional It sounds like and we were talking with Jerome Bettis earlier and this was a long conversation we had with him, it sounds like more and more players are sort of agitating for for this. The players feel sort of emboldened and empowered to to speak up about this issue. Do
you think that's fair? I think so. I mean, uh, you know, you want you want coaches with different experiences, of different backgrounds and things like that, and and who can connect or relate with players in a different way. So I think I think that's healthy. The City forty Niners just got five seconds. Make the call. I'm gonna go. I like defense, I like san fran alright, good job, all right, Devon, Thank you so much. Good Luck. On Saturday, he has a nominee for the Walter Payton Man of
the Year Award. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Jason Kelly and Carol Master here with you in Miami Beach. Thanks for listening to Bloomberg Business Week. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot com. You can also listen to our radio show every weekday at two pm Eastern only on Bloomberg Radio.