This episode of Bustle with the Boys. The Boys is presented by Barstool Sports. Oh dude, I'm fired up.
Man, Yeah, you can't. You don't have to see me one. Hello, Hello, Hello, there it is. He's on this thing. Yo. This this is this is the this is the marriage that people wanted to see. You guys like my shirt shirt.
I would suck it most of the time because that angle does hit you at an awkward sign.
I have to worry about that. No, two years ago I did. But now I feel like you lost some weight. He got about twenty two two years ago, I old man, dropped twenty two pounds. Man. Two years ago. I was on a Southwest flight and you and your wife are going down. We're going to you were going to Vegas for Craig Stevens. No, it was crazy. Was going with his brother. They were going to have a state. Yeah you were okay, Yeah, it was a it was a
weird deal. You even remember that, Yeah, you know he had that.
I was sober for that flight, and then I wasn't sober again until the next five I went home.
Yeah, we were going in there, you know, I don't know, I don't remember what time of year. It was my oldest son's coat. He was a defensive coordinator last year at Southern Utah and they opened against you an l V. So that might have been the trip. It was summer. Maybe not have been because it was our season ended, so I had to be okay late late January maybe yeah, and there's really going there's I don't know, there's yeah. We were probably going back to Montana or so, yeah,
so what's that? This is cool? You like to set up?
Yeah, when did you first find out about busting? When we were trying to tag you and get your attention three days the store reached out and he actually actually followed He either followed busting or something, uh minut back because everybody was trying to flood his mentions to get him a bust it. So we favorited a couple of things, and I was like, hey, we're stoked because we would pub it back.
See the hard part when I found out about I wasn't here. You know, I was a Montana So you know it's kind of hard to do it. First off, you guys, does some bullets here, man, let's get let's let's let's go there right now. It is I watched I watched Governor Lee this morning talk about the devastation here. And I don't know if you guys have had a chance to go out and see it, but it is it is sad. Yeah.
I drove through Germantown yesterday. Did it's a yeah, And I mean, you know, Michael Russ and then a couple of property see owns in Germantown have been have been hit by the by the tornado and it's crazy. I think the casualty is that twenty five people now.
Yeah, a few missing.
Yeah, somebody posted a big list of people that they haven't accounted for.
Yeah. Yeah, it's just so sad and you know, and and the governor was cool because he was talking about you know, it's so sad and so devastating and people's lives are going to be changed forever. But you know
what it's it's people come alive at this time. And you know, I was even reading stuff about something that's going on with the organization because I remember it brought back memories because of ninety eight we had we had one rip through here and so we got the guys out and did some clean up and I'll never forget or as a head as a young head coach, senior starting franchise quarterback. I crank up a chainsaw and just
get it with a chainsaw. It's a little unnerving for me, but I trusted that Steve knew how to do it because he was a farm boy, you know. So we got out and did a lot of work in the community. And I'm if the listeners and the fans here are are waiting, it's going to happen, you guys, or your organization, everybody, even I'm thinking about getting some retired guys together and putting a group. And you can't get in it too soon because everybody's trying to figure out what's going on
and across is doing this. But all right, this is going to be a year two years before you can the stuff's rebuilt. But in a month or so, that's when you can really get in to make a difference.
Especially in Nashville. We were talking about that yesterday. He went on the three h L.
Yeah, a three HL or mid day one.
But I heard his snippe and then I heard, like Jason fitz with the ESPN, he posted a video and it's kind of like the city of Nashville just is different, it'll come around.
It wild.
It's wild how this city definitely picks up and takes care of its own. It's I mean, my wife is she's big in the community, and she's big on that, just trying to help, whether it's for the homeless people in Nashville or when the hurricanes struck Houston, she had a friend of hers that their family was directly affected, and so within two weeks they did a charity event
for that and raised over one hundred thousand dollars. And it's she has her little band of superhero friends and they get together and Chipotle reached out, tell.
Us, yeah, we got Chipotle.
It was like a hundred burritos started going out and giving out burritos and stuff like that. So trying to start the initial help of just doing whatever you can. And when you're putting into a position where you have a podcast that's doing well and you know in this community since twenty fourteen playing football, like, you have that opportunity through the people you've meant to kind of you know, exhaust those avenues and you get those people back on their feet as soon as possible.
What was cool. I'll kind of give you a little history lesson. When we moved here from Houston, somebody had told me that Vince Gill was doing a concert at Franklin High School, Okay, to raise money for the high school. If it was Gil went to a high school to play a concert, right, that's pretty awesome, but to do it for nothing to raise money, and so that was kind of the groundwork for the organization. We moved here from Houston, so that was everybody was in the community
doing all those kind of things. And in my mind, the golf tournaments run their course and everybody's doing them. So that's when we started the softball. Softball game, so be really cool to pick it up again, Doubteah, yeah, we'll do. The last time I got it out a walk away walk off man, Well off, I just kind of tried. Did you bring the fences in? No? No, no, no, no, no.
It is a shot Sounds stadium.
Yeah, well Sounds wasn't probably built that. Yeah, I reached it. It was so bad after that again yea, So it was really fun. But yeah, you got I mean, it's a great town and that's what it's it's all about. There's you know, I mean people say this all the time. You know, you move and uh, and I can speak from experience. You know, I moved. I coached around a
little bit. So I coached on the East coast coast of Philadelphia and so and then obviously moving here, you move here and as soon as the movie event pulls up, there's people coming in with cookies and just food and and every you can imagine, all the neighbors are like there to help you move in the East Coast, no disrespect. They sit there and watch you crawl up the driveway with refrigerator on your back. No question. It's a different world.
But but after over time they become really really good friends. So it's it's just that it's a it's that it's that difference, but it is a this is a cool place and and and you know will overcome this again. I mean, you know, we had the floods that that you know dated you guys too aches over a weekend or something like that. But here talking about all that,
let me put in perspective for you. The water in the stadium was up to the wall, top of the wall, to the first row of the seats and a cool yeah, I mean it was to the top of the wall to the top of the wall. Yeah, and the organization and the city did such an amazing job, you know, getting that water down, and we had to close you know, the the area around the facility and everything because of Cumberland. They didn't know it was going to come over and
there's water all over. But you know, things settled down and we it was a business as usual before you know it.
That's that's it. I think whoever, I always always allude to Butch because I think but is such an amazing job for the city the way he's kind of developed it. I think Nashville does such a great job of transitioning from those things and like you said, just going right back to business as usual. I mean I wasn't here when way was you know, not really the place to be. I mean from what I've heard from outside, it was like kind of like you know, a little prostitutes central,
a lot of drugs running around. There wasn't a lot of It wasn't a great space. And then for the city to come in and revamp that whole thing. Really, this whole city is there's not a lot of like quote what bad areas like This city does a really good job of you know, making everything nice and approachable and you can kind of go anywhere and feel hands on deck all the time, all hands on deck all the time. And the city it's caused, it's growing. Whoever
made the highway system is an idiot. But other than that, like, yeah, yeah, the growth of the city.
Work in Franklin to twenty minutes to sports Park twenty minutes boom. Yeah, and you know, less than six months ago I left downtown trying to get down to Franklin and took me an hour and a half. Yeah, that's okay, I mean, that's all everything's growing, that's crazy freaking everywhere. Yeah. Yeah, Well, my son and daughter in law are going a little business.
They're flipping houses in East Nashville right now. And the one they closed on on Friday was when I was watching all this stuff go down, you know, the other night, and I wasn't thinking about the house. But you know, obviously you worry about the people and everybody there. But I mean, this thing was just it was teed up and lined up, and some reason he got in there
yesterday and everything was fine. But everybody has done such an amazing job in the surrounding areas here, whether it's German Town, even West Nashville, and then you know five points in East Nashville and Mount Juliet's always just growing. And you know this, this mother nature business is not going to set it back very long. Now they'll overcome it. Oh yeah, because everybody's everybody. Everybody's rallying right now. But it's like.
Business now, mom and pop, business shut down and go help out. Yeah, you turn on one of four five. I listen to them when I'm when something's going on in the city, just to kind of get a vibe of what's going on, and I pop that on. In the whole day, it's all about the tornado. It's all about people going helping other people and stuff like that. Buck Rising, Yeah, I mean everybody's texting Buck Rising. Shoutout Buck Rising.
He's for the boys.
He's texting getting in touch with the Chipotle people.
We were out running around doing something and you're like trying to communicate with everybody, Butcher is calling.
Everybody's just everyone always comes to help.
Like when our boy, you know, rip Matt Neely, when Matt passed away, the entire city in town, when we have a tailgate and rally around him. I mean everybody's just always helpful around here.
It's crazy.
And then Barstool, I'm waking up in the morning after you know, you get woke up by the sirens and the storm kind of passes, you go back to sleep. By wake up in the morning, it's like five or six AM. And Barstool, everybody had been reaching out here. We're trying to make sure it's at Nashville Strong, like, let's raise money, let's how do we help.
This whole thing. So it's it's been incredible.
Yeah, if you go to a Barstool Sports dot com or Bust Withthoys dot com national Strong shirt, all those proceeds will go to helping the people that directly affected by the tornado.
When do we go here? Water and yeah, it was at the time. Now I think it's obviously changes Nissan, but you can see.
It talked to us about the transition from when you got here. So you're you're I think the only coach to go through two different locations. Bring up hot in Tennessee and then Saint Louis to La.
Yeah, I moved two franchises. Yeah, I'm the only one. Yeah too that's played in five different cities, two franchises I worked for and five we played in five different cities in six different stadiums.
So what was it like being at Houston going through that transition and bringing it here because you guys got here and went to the Super Bowl.
Oh yeah, Well it wasn't as that. It wasn't that easy. Yeah, no question, that's what we were. That's looking in people.
Yeah.
So so you know, just my first year as head coach was ninety five. So we took our Houston Oiler team to Tennessee, to Marysville, right outside of Nashville, to practice against the Washington Redskins and training camp. Heath Schuler was their number one pick from from University of Tennessee. So it was kind of a cool deal. We're gonna go in there and have, you know, like people do we have, you know, joint practices and things like that.
And during those during that time the joint practices, I found out that we were going to make announcement that we were looking into potentially move in the franchise to Nashville and state of Tennessee. So that's when I found out. So that was ninety five. So went back to Houston ninety five and all for all intents and purposes as being lame duck in Houston, because I mean it's like we were kids in a divorce, okay, and you got to walk the fine line, and you know you want it.
You don't want to trash Houston. You can't go over the top on Tennessee because you're still in the fans in Houston support you. So anyway, it so we went through the ninety five season in Houston, We went through the ninety six season in Houston, and then finally in ninety seven we move with Emminent and we moved so but we moved right down the street here to training camp. We had training camp at TSU and we had no facility. We had nothing other than a place to have camp.
So then in ninety seven we played all our games in Memphis. So imagine this. Imagine waking up in the morning here and having to travel to Memphis for your home games.
You wouldn't go stay in Memphis the night before we did.
We went down. We went down, and we would fly down to Memphis home games. Yeah, it's just you two. And then the problem we had a problem that we solve, but you know, the home games in Memphis, and it's two, one hundred ninety miles whatever, and now what do you want to do? You want to hang out after it's a home game and with a kid, family and friends and stuff and drive back. No, you had to come back on the airplane. We couldn't let you drive back.
Because our owner at the times, bless his heart, and I'm forever grateful to him. We figured that if he looked at the manifest and saw that we were going down with a full team and coming back with nobody, then we would end up bussing. Yeah, and so we we kind of we had a big tent nearing so first year in Memphis, US that didn't go over very well. We the second year we moved back here and we played at Vanderbilt. So our second season was at Vanderbilt.
It's much more comfortable, easier, it was, Yeah, it was. And yet we're still we don't have an indoor. We have one practice field out in Bellevue. And you know, we ended up the year with the last game against UH Minnesota, they were fourteen and one go in the playoffs. We played them without any practice all week because there was an ice storm here, so we didn't even have practice. Season ended. We moved into the new stadium. Wow. And then you know what better thing for Nashville then moving
into that new stadium. We were undefeated at home in the new stadium with the super Bowl that's only newer one. We set the bar pretty hot, set the bar very hot. Growing up, I thought were going to get it this year in Missouri.
Oh yeah, we got go around here a growing up in Missouri lost to the Saint Louis Rams.
Really yeah, we were. I mean obviously Missouri was fired up.
What was it that ninety five ninety six season when you're inevitably going through that divorce with Houston, What was the attendance like?
What was the support like from Well, it was the league wanted to make sure that it looked different. It looked okay, So you know on the you guys read those play by plays after the game. You know it's got the starting lineups and you know all that. Well up on the top it has attendance. So the right next to it, right next to the your your your
temperature and wind and all that stuff. And it was always in that thirty or forty But I promise you there was maybe ten thousand and fifteen thousand Lastly, I never forget we played Steelers there and Steelers travel obviously very well, very well, and it was just one of those stealers. I mean, Chris Berman, who's a friend of mine. Was you call us the Tennessee Tuxedos or the Houston whatever and everything? It was. It was hard and there was a there was a lot of politics involved. There
were lawsuits, and there was a lawsuits there. And then well, i'll give you an idea. When we got back from Marysville and the announcement was made, we came back and we had our fourth and final preseason game in the at the Astrodome, and we got out, both teams warmed up, and then I get called over to the side and I'm told that they're canceling the preseason game because the groundskeepers failed to do the conversion. It was a baseball
baseball converted from baseball to football. They didn't do the conversion in the field wasn't safe, neither team could play, and they canceled the preseason game. So here comes another lawsuit. So you got all this, all this business going on in Houston, and then you have to you have to get the votes and approve the move here in Nashville and raise the money and do you know the private
money and the public money and all that stuff. So there's a referendum and the referendum was NFL Yes referendum. So so you got two things going on. You got a team, you got a city that just is mad and you know, and upset and they're losing their you know this framean Ese, the storied franchise, I love you blue stuff. And then you have a new city that's
like come on, come on, come on. And so finally, thank thanks to a lot of effort here in Nashville and a lot of the older politicians of Brettison's and you know Denny board Off if Daniel here that I mentioned his name, But these are the guys that were behind really the nuts and bolts behind relocating the franchise.
So it was not an easy deal. I mean I remember, well, I don't know if you guys have crossed paths with Al del Greco, but he was our kicker at that time, okay, and Al with kick forst in Houston and then he moved here with us. Alt had deposits in schools in three different places for his kids in Houston in case we played there in Birmingham because that's where he's from, and then here in Nashville in case we moved. He
didn't know where we're going to play. And so what was the transparency with the players?
Like you you can yeah, and then you've got to be a head coach to everybody. Yeah, I love that stuff.
Oh no, it's it's just all you just tell them them and tell them the truth and tell them this is what's happening. And hey, look, you know if you go overboard on hey, we don't know, there's no excuses we can't. We got to go out and play. It got to win games and that I mean, you have to do that. You have to dress that. But what we were doing, what Floyd and nine the staff were doing, is we're putting pretty good team together as we were,
you know, going through all that mess. When I took over as an interim head coach in ninety four, Houston was a run and shoot offense. Okay, so that means four wides every single snap, had one tight end on the roster that was a special teams player, had a full back that was a linebacker. And so I took over with four or five games left I went, I changed from the run and shoot to a conventional offense.
So with that being said, you understand that that roster was built differently than it took time to build the roster and I took over. Ninety five was the first year of salary cap, so we had limitations. The oilers were top and top and payroll in ninety four and then ninety five or yeah, no, ninety four was the first year. But anyway, we had to reduce our salaries to make the cap by eighteen or twenty million dollars a ton. That was a lot of money. So we went.
We had to go through this transition period where we had to build the team, right, and so while we're doing all this moving and playing Memphis and Vandy all that kind of stuff, we're building a team. And obviously we put together a pretty good team. Yeah, so many moving parts. Yeah, we're going to hold that thought.
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Going to going to the Super Bowl and playing against the Rams who you you ended up coaching. What was that super Bowl?
Like? That was that was also a music City miracle? Was that the same year?
Yes, So let's let's back up, so I'll.
Take you through the right Okay, take it to the we got we opened our season here in the stadium. Okay, we we moved into the facility and open the season. That's the facility that is there now, the current facility, and the guy and that was the That was the thing that kept the guys alive because we were working out of trailers for two years from ninety five ninety six, we were in trailers right down the road in Bellevue,
right on the interesting. Okay, we imagine that's meeting. Sorry, I imagine that happening now in there for two years. Wasn't there for two years? It's been so mad, guys, I had to call freaking Critter Ridder to get out there to move a family of skunks from underneath the trailers.
You guys getting blasted by skunks. And oh, by the way, offense, you guys know you're meeting in the locker room, because then the defense is going to meet over here in the one room that we had in the trailers, because Bud didn't want to put a partition in the trailer because he knew that it was temporary. So you guys got to set around do your meetings in the law. I was a king of saving a dollar. Huh yeah, yeah again. I love him. I just you know, he gave me the I wish they got the opportunity to
meet him. Yeah, and guess what, his daughter's pretty good. Yeah, she's doing an unbelievable Yeah. So anyway, so we go, Yeah, we get in there and we finally opened open the stadium. I never forget the time, the moment when I took the guys into the stadium for the first time. It's like whoa, It's like, you know, this is what we've
been waiting for. We opened against Cincinnati. Jeff Blake is the quarterback, and we were down by nine with four minutes left to go, and fortunately Jeff Blake had cramped up and had couldn't return to the game. I don't know if we'd have won that game, but Steve puts ten points on the board in four minutes and we beat Cincinnati thirty six thirty five something like that to
start to win our inaugural game in the stadium. We went on from there and we were undefeated at home and then the place was was it packed the first It's just all about it packed and going nuts. So we pitched an undefeated record at home. And at that time, the Colts won the division and no, I'm sorry, correct, I'm sorry, Jacksonville had won the division. OK, and we were a wild card, so we had to go, We had to start. We had hosted a wildcard game against Buffalo.
So that's the music citing. So that's everybody's first playoff game. I might have had a handful of guys that had playoff experience. That's being generous. So the first playoff game is a hard. Playoff is a hard thing. So you tell them, hey, look we'll find a way to win. The next one's going to get better, the next one's going to get better, but this one is going to be hard, just because the emotions and all that stuff.
And sure enough it was hard. I mean, they kicked the field goal with sixteen seconds left and we were down. And we had been working this play every weekend, every Saturday. We worked to play, you know, like you go through those things in the walk through every possible. I was a scenario guy and all that stuff. So yeah, we are we doing this. You guys, we were talking about Darren Bates. Darren will tell you that on it. Every single Monday, I'll put at least two maybe three punt
fake cent and a field goal fake in. And those guys know that I'm gonna call it. Okay, other places you've been, Oh, you'll have your fake and you practice that. You know they got coach is never gonna call it. Yeah, but they know I'm gonna call it. So so they're always into that stuff and everything. So prior to the year, you guys remember the Stanford Cow game years ago and the band and the laterals and everybody's running all right, Well, what we had was we had our Stanford Cow team
and that was the last play of the game. All right, you got you're behind, You're gonna get the kickoff. How do we get the ball on the end zone? So I would take that wouldn't include you guys, unfortunately, no disrespect, but I would get all the athletes. I would get all the so we go. They would go.
Hands team at the Raiders and then I would come up the field. Hey, white guys, get off the field.
I had left handed and right handed guys, and our deal for years was just to try to keep the ball alive and throw it around and later it and there was no method to the madness. But that was our team back football prior to so right at the start of the nine nine season, Alan Lowley' special team coach came to me and goes, hey, I found this play during the summer, and I go, this is really cool. Let's we'll put it in. But let's wait till we
get down to the ross. Where did he where did he find the was a Texas texts like sixties from the Texas, a copycats. So he comes in and we go through it. So we put our we put our we called a home run throwback. So we worked it every Saturday and and every Saturday we had our team and we take eleven guys usually practice squad guys and they, you know, no helmets, and we kicked the ball here
or there wherever you kick it to anybody. If you're a frontline guy to kick off return team, you're the center, We're gonna hit the ball to you. What are you gonna do it? You got to get it back to Frank, okay, or someone's got to get the ball to Frank. So every every week, every weekend every Saturday we worked so sure ship. We come down to the end of the Buffalo game and there's a TV time out after their after their field goal, and and Alan walks up to
me and we simultaneously go home run throwback. Oh yeah, So now I'm looking for Derek Mason, Okay, because Derek Mason is a deep guy. Okay, Derek is out. Okay, Derek has a concussion. He's next week someplace. Okay. So now number two I'm looking now this during TV time out, I'm looking for He's out. Okay. So our number two was was Anthony Dorset Junior, and a d was cramping. You ever in your career you ever been around a teammate that just cramped all the time. That's him.
There's forty five degrees out there and you just won the Yeah, make it look like a bunch of out here, So no questions.
So she's cramping. So Kevin Dyson is I'm yelling Dice get over here, and Dice is like, yeah, coach, now, Dice, I'd love Kevin. And and Kevin when we got him, it was the first round pick out of Utah, Utah stay or whatever, and he's he actually liked the californ on your kids, like, oh whatever, okay, Yeah, So I'm Kevin, Okay, humun throwback, Yeah, coach, I said, we worked at every Saturday. I didn't pay attention, I said, Kevin, all you need to do well. You had a player tell you, coach.
I didn't pay attention. She was number he was number three. He didn't have to pay attention. I just said, so okay, quick. I said, hey, look, whatever happens out there, we're going to get the ball to Frank. Okay, and all you do, I want you to stay outside the numbers here. These numbers pay ten, twenty thirty, and we'll get the ball to and stay ten yards behind Frank. I got your coach. So the coach house, everybody else had to play down. Okay,
everybody knew. We all knew. Everybody knew what was going on. The only thing that was different was of all the kicks we worked on every Saturday during it throughout the season, never worked on that particular kick. It was a just kind of a just a bloop kick to Lorenzo Neil. We would hit him hard here, hit him hard to the center, hit him hard to tackle, or hit him to the deep. Guy whatever, but that that little blue kick with something that was just for whatever reason, never
worked on. So the ball is kicked on. Yeah, so Low catches the ball. Well, Low smart, he doesn't want Frank. Yeah, Dyson's over there picking from standing back over here, and you'll see here's Low. He catches the ball, all right, he's going to get rid of it. Oh my gosh, you hear Frank. You take it. Frank sets it up, sells it and comes back. Look at that ten yards behind the ball, right, just like we told him. Yeah, how about right there, right there, I'm yelling get out
of bounds because field goal ties. And then I look ahead, I go, oh my gosh, the jumping on the left. I don't know if you can back it up. But story, hang on, hang on, hang talk about this part took So this is this is controversial city. Right here. What do you think would have what do you think would have been called had there been replay? Well there is
replay there to review. Oh yeah no. The wing official right behind Frank on their sideline is Byron bas and Byron Boston points a lateral so he points to his right, to our right, his left, and I saw that, so I knew it was ruled the ladder on the field is half the battle. Yeah, so you have to you know,
so it's ruled the lateral. Now Kevin cleans it. He makes the makes the you know, the play here, and then he goes so, you know, right about here, I'm looking to my left going, oh my gosh, you know, hey, we got a chance here. Let's you know, I'm young, get out of bounds, Kevin, because field goal gives us a chance. And then I said, oh my gosh, here we go score. So right here on the left, right on the end zone, jumping in the goal line right there,
that kid right there. Okay, now this is a good story, this kid, right, I'm gonna I'm gonna now that we've seen that, I'm gonna reference this. But anyway, so the ruling on the field is a lateral. They're going to go to replay. Okay, so and not now as a coach, I'm on the sideline going, okay, do this thing's gonna this thing's going to stand. Uh, they can't overturn it. It's too close. I have to go for two, okay, because this touchdown puts us ahead by five, right, Okay,
I have to go for two. And I'm thinking, when this is announced, there's no way our offensive group would be able to execute a play, right, Okay, right, I mean you're looking at it and and so you're.
Sorry because of the emotions and and everything to see the miracle that just happened, to have no chance to win the game.
But sixteen seconds, everyone thinks, oh we're fucking done. Well, good year. So why this is happening, Okay, this is cool. Why this is happening. Bud Adams, our owner is an elevator going down. Okay, because the game was over. My dad was in the bathroom. He was in he came in from California, see the game. He's in the restroom. Okay, there's probably sixty five, maybe sixty six thousand people here. To this day, there's maybe one hundred thousand people said
they were there. Yeah, right, And people all over Nashville, people all over Nashville, and the intersections are stopped listening and getting out of their cars and going nuts, and intersections all over and the whole place is going crazy. So as as history would have it, I went for the extra point. It was good. We went freaking crazy
on the sideline. We kicked the extra point, kicked the ball off because in my mind, what are the odds of this happening twice in the same game, you know the way, Well, what people fail to bring up is after we kicked the ball off to Buffalo, they pitched the ball around, they pushed that sucker past midfield and the game ended. Yeah that is out. So okay, we won our first playoff game. Okay, We're going to Indianapolis
the next week. So you know, we had our home in Franklin, and after after games, I had a group of buddies that music music guys and things like that would always come over. We would crack red wine and and grill and stuff and what they called it celebration stations. So I had a bunch of people over after the game. Yeah, you had been there. Well remember Mike. You know you've met Mike Silver. Yes, Mike Silver was in to cover the game, and he was in my kitchen after the game.
So this little guy there that's jumping up and down, Okay, that's my son. He was running polaroids on the sideline during the season. Now, back then, you didn't have tablets and stuff like that. All you got was like a polaroid shot of the formation and then another shot of the play beginning. So he's running polaroids to offense defense special teams. That was his job on the sideline, and he's standing there in the kitchen going, hey there, I am there, I am look at me there, I am
right there. I made TV, I made ESPN. I go too, what are you doing in the white and the white? Oh yeah, you're supposed to be if you hit the official bumped you. This is over. Yeah, doesn't happen. No goes something so happy about being on TV to be mouth his mouth shut, tears and it was like its just the whole kitchen was silent, and I went, no, I'm just kidding. It would have been assessed on the kickoff. Anyway. That's the story. So it's pretty cool. That's bad. Yes, so we play today.
Is still like when you walk into our facility here from the players, the players walking to the left.
It's still drawn up. Oh yeah, how it went down everything? Yeah, so it's really good. So we called it home run throwback. Okay, everyone in Buffalo, every Buffalo fan since nineteen ninety nine to the present, calls it home run throw forward, throw forward. Yeah, yeah, for sure. But yeah, so it was with all this stuff going on in the league now in the hundred years and everything, in all the hundred plays, this was the second the top. It was number two in playoff
history to the Immaculate Reception. Yeah. So anyway, yeah, it was cool stuff. So this was and you can imagine what the locker room was like. And I mean Tim McGraw, everybody's in the logo going freaking nuts. And so now we got to go to Indy. So we go to Indy and we got to beat the Colts and then there was a couple of cool stories up there. And we beat the Colts and we came back from Indy and got off the plane and went through that airport and you guys have gotten off if you bust or whatever,
but we didn't. We we came through the terminal and came down. It was thousands of people in the terminal. That's so cool. And now we got to go to Jacksonville. Okay, Jacksonville won our division. Jacksonville. And when I said Jacksonville, you just got the funny. Okay, I get it. We started it. Okay, So Jacksonville's fourteen and two. Okay, they had a week off. All right. They just pounded the Miami Dolphins sixty something to nothing or thereabouts in the
first round of playoffs, sixty two to seven. Okay, sixty two to seven Marinos last game. Okay, guys, this memory checks us pretty good. I like it. It was pretty impressive. Boys, the boys are okay. So well, now we're going to go to Jacksonville. All right, but here's the here's the stuff behind the scenes. This was the last time that the Super Bowl was one week after the championship game. There's not two weeks. Okay, so we're going down to Jacksonville.
We we and two days before we go to play in the championship AFC Championship Game, we got to send people to Atlanta, our advanced people to Atlanta because if we win, we're going to be the next day. It's not like you got a week and all this kind of stuff. It's like, right, you win the game to so and I credit the organization because it was the last time and they had done that work and we're prepared.
We've got a team there. But so anyway, I find out that Jacksonville's crew was in Atlanta, kind of like you know what, Hey, you know, coach Coughlin wants it like this, so we don't really care how you want it, you know. And so the assumption was they're going to win the game before we've even played the game. And the reason being is they were fourteen and two. Their only two losses came to us. We went down there and beat them, and we beat them at home. Sounds
sounds very familiar. Yeah, it sounds about right. Yeah, So who's gonna you know, who in their right mind thinks that we're gonna They're going to lose three games this year, all to us.
Okay, so especially come off sixty two seven.
Yes, yes, and here we are. We've been you know, we had the emotional game at home. Now we go on the road to Indiing. Now we've got to go down there. We go down there and we beat them.
So fourteen, I mean, that's a nice winter, which is like, have you played Jacksonville in December?
Yeah, it's always hard because you're going and you're playing these cold weather games. You're not used to the heat.
When you go down of Jacksonville and it's like September and Tennessee, it's that's a that's a tough place.
To play. Yeah, it's always there's so much, so many good stories and underlying things between the rivalry. But so we go down there and beat them. Now, now we're going to super Bowl. This is Sunday, late afternoon, and we got to fly back here. We get on buses at the at the airport and we bring the buses right and as we were coming around from the airport to the stadium it was Adelphia at the time, Nissan Stadium, we could see ourselves, our buses on the Jumbo Tron
pulling in and we got out. Both the whole team got out of the buses and we walked onto the field and there's thirty forty thousand fans. They're going nuts because we're going to the super Bowl. So we did that, and then we come back to Baptist Sports Park it was called, and we have a meeting because I got I mean, it's the guys, are you know this is a post game off the airplane meeting about what you got to do between now and noon tomorrow because we're
going to the super Bowl tomorrow afternoon. You imagine how fast it turnaround. So I left the coaching staff behind, went down with the players. A team left the coaches to game plan and their offices Monday and Tuesday. They came back, came down Tuesday night and we started our practice routine on Wednesday in Atlanta had just suffered an ice storm, so we practiced. We had our Super Bowl practices were at Georgia Tech outside on the aster turf on a frozen slipping everywhere on a field.
So do you do you even think to yourself made maybe not even practice with a guy slips.
We had to get our work done. But we had played the Rams once before. We beat the Rams at home, uh and during the season, and so there was familiarity. But the issues that we had was we lost our We lost our starting free safety in the in the Jacksonville in the championship game, and then in the game it's in the Super Bowl itself, we lost playing Bishop, who you're familiar with, yes to injury, and I ended up with you know, third safeties, and it was just
it was all those things that happened. But yeah, it was a great run. It was a great run, and it still came down to one yard. Yeah, yard and a half, dude, that was nuts.
The greatest show on turf. Marshall Fulk the fall crowd.
Coming out of the backfield unbelievable. Yeah, and we you know, obviously we were down at halftime and and we played tried to play their game the first half and the Super Bowl halftimes fore like three hours, and so we kind of got ourselves together and got back to what we what got us there, which was which was you guys up front and Eddie we just had to do. So we got that going again. And so this is like, guy, your your guys, this is the final play right here
to dice Mike Jones. Oh my god, Mike Jones tackle.
I know, like, uh, maybe the best tackle in the history of the game.
I think it was.
There's like some show where they did the top one hundred ship.
So that was it. And you know, Eddie's Eddie's check and he's he's releasing on the bottom, Frank And anyway, I'm not going to did you. I'm not going to throw anybody under the bus. I didn't watch this game for like ten years. Really, Yeah. I finally watched it because I was doing some I had to do something
on it. Who was wide open? Well, no, the you can imagine you got eleven guys in the last play of the Super Bowl and you know, yeah, all eleven have to do the right thing right and uh and you know, it just wasn't executed the way we wanted to. But anyway we got out of the yard, I think we had to be executed it properly. We may have walked in so and then of course I was asking,
that's tacklet it's a great it's a great tackle. So and then I was asked, okay, you know, would you would you a J. Brown agent never gets tackled by the first guy and he's a rookie. You score your your down one extra point ties it? And I was asked, what do you do? And you know, would you're gone for two? And all that the way the way that well you got to take the point, the way the momentum had changed. I mean, Kevin Carter and their whole defense was dead tired. I mean they were they were done,
you know, because we had put that together. Two freaking amazing drives. There's so many plays on this drive. I mean, if you want to know anything about Steve McNair, you know, I think about every day you watch this drive, you know, I mean, it's really cool, people up going down, the field around shedding people. Boy is just people's strong beast. I mean you talk. You said something about Eddie. I mean Steve and Eddie were like they were the dudes.
And they were kind of like a ying and yang, right, Eddie was the misser, always suited and booted, very proper, took care of it. We'll never be walking out beer gut, hanging out having a couple of beers after the game. Yes, like kind of like a Ben Roethlisberger type seeing it.
Steve was. We could go hours on Steve. But yeah, you guys are awesome. So look at this stuff. That's all. Stuff just goes to Dyson. Look at that I kept a drive alive.
Are there any other plays in the game that you think about besides the execution of that last play that you're like, Man, if I would have if we would have called this like sometimes like you.
Know, like when you mess up, Like if I would have just fucking moved this way that.
I know I should have moved, I don't would have made That's a great question. I just think in general terms, I think we've got a little derailed in the first half because we got we're playing the greatest show on turf, and I think offensively, we wanted to show that we could throw it around a little bit too, and we got away from what got us there, and I was pissed at halftime, and I just said, Hey, this is how we're going to get back.
You you don't seem like this kind of guy, but there is definitely a battle of egos when you go to play another team that's the greatest show on turf, the greatest offense to ever be, the type of thing. And and like you said, you kind of like.
It's football and your strengths versus their strengths and how do you get them to do something that they're not good at and vice versa and all that. But you know, I just felt like if we have any chance to win this game, particularly because of the injuries that we'd had in the game and in the championship game, we're down to third and four safeties, you know, and so you know, I just felt like we need to get
this Eddie. Eddie will take this game over, and we need to handle he was so so we did and we got back, and you know, it made it a great game. But yeah, so so game's over. I don't I can't find Dick coach for mill because all the stuff. And so I did have a kind of a little moment with Steve there. It's that I've never and I won't, so don't ask, but it was he and Steve and
I in a moment there on the field. And then I went in and you know, it's like, you know, I mean, I watch Super bowls now and they're sympathetic to you know, the one team wins, the one team loses, and you know, it's it's not an easy thing. So in the locker room and the doors shut and we're kind of putting things in perspective as best you can an emotional thing, and so it is just it's just
that emotion is something that you don't feel. You feel once in a lifetime maybe, but so anyway, we're going through it, and you know, guys start clearing out and everything, and so now now it's time for me to do my press conference. So I walk out and I get up on the podium and I see my family and there and my kids are I can see them there with Julie, and my kids are crying because their dad
just lost the Super Bowl. So I'm answering questions and things like that, and then immediate meetly to my left, this guy says, excuse me, coach, and I'm kind of looking at him, and he goes, you got to take this call. And this is a bizarre request when you're doing a postgame press conference. And I said, what do you mean call? And I looked and our media relations director goes like that. I go, well, who is it? He goes, this is the vice president and I go, well,
what vice president? And he goes, vice President Al Gore. He wants to talk to the United States Yeah, and I go yeah, I go okay, I go, hello, Hi, this is Jeff You go, coach man, what a great game because he was Tennessee guy and just and he's going nuts. I go, excuse me, sir, but we lost, you know, I know, but he was the best game. I'm so proud of you guys. What a great ding. I going, oh, thank you, thank you very much. So I thought that was really cool. I finished the press conference,
go in the locker room. Everybody's kind of working their way out. I got both my boys in there, and I'm showering, changing and and getting ready to get my bag. And these guys come in with these freaking ear pieces and stuff, and he excuse me, coach, you need to come with us, and you need to take a phone call out here. I go, look, I've already done the phone call thing and he goes, he goes, no, you
need to come take this call. And go, well, who's calling now and he goes it's the president and then president the president. So it's like all of us. I said, Okay, come on, guys, let's go, and they go they can't, they can't. I go, no, they're coming. My boys are coming with me. So anyway, it was it was President Clinton, and the same thing was what a great game. I watched him in the Oval office and da da da da, and you guys should be so proud, and we'll thank you,
miss President. If you're ever in Washington, come on by man. You know, I love to have you there and show you around and all this kind of stuff and that, No you didn't I didn't know. The rams went well, yeah, but no, hey, he's just there, you know what. The same day, no one told me. Yeah. But but so with all these things, easy, don't piss off. He's going to cover anyway.
Yeah.
So the next day we have our party and we we you know, we blow out there and come on back, and it was it took a week to just just because it was such a blur. It was so fast. Again, it was one week, you know, we just had no time, and then two weeks. I don't know, you know, Tell, I don't know if the outcome would have been different, I don't know, but I know the experience would have been different because it was such a rush and the weather was so bad in Atlanta, and you know, all
these things were going on. Ray was Ray was Ray Lewis had his deal, you know, and so there's a lot of distractions going on. And so we get back, come back Monday, Tuesday, we have this prey, okay, and it's a prey and it is every all the players, and we're buzz around Nashville and Broadway and everything and fans just you can imagine. It was like the draft or it's like a freaking Pred's playoff game. But they were just all over the place. So we get to
that and it's all over. We get back to the facility and I'm sitting in the facility in my office and Eddie walks in then sits down and what are you doing? Man, I thought, you're he's on your way to Why not going? I can't go, No, Eddie, you're not going to the Pro Bowl. And he goes, He goes, no, man, I'm just not into it. I don't want to go. I can't go. I go, Eddie, way wait, wait, wait, wit you're voted to the Pro Bowl by your peers, by the fans. By this, you need to go to
the Pro Bowl. You need to have a freaking peanut Colada and practice, you know, and you've never done that in your life. That's why you can do that. You can have a cocktail and go practice and stuff. And and he goes, no, man, I go Eddie, what's up? He goes, I want to start on next year right now? He want to go to Pro Bowl. But that gives you the mindset of that team, and it was cool.
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Now back to this Banger Fisher episode. So then we come back the next year and have a better team, and then it was not a good ending this season. We lost the Ravens and they didn't get a first down in the second in the second half, and you know, we blocked two punts in the game. We had to we come back the two thousand Titans I think were better than the ninety nine Titans, and we had the week off, we had home field too out and we
blocked two punts in the game. Both of them went as a special team of both of them went sideways out of bounds. Fuck.
And usually when you block one, like the scoring or what blull.
Boom out of bounce. Chris Colmen blocked them both and then I don't think they got a first down second half and Eddie Eddie took his eye off a check down, the ball bounced off her shoulder right was caught it running for a touchdow Oh yeah, but anyway it was it was a really really thanks to letting me share. It was really cool run. Oh yeah, for sure.
We had a kittle on the other day and Taylor asked the question, would you have rather well, was it not make the playoffs?
You would you rather go to the super Bowl and lose or not make the playoffs at all?
Emotionally not like Okay, it's gonna send you for next year, and he said he said, did he kind of dance around the question.
Soon to ask you question. It's I don't know.
Going to the Super Bowl is an experience of its own. Like you said, very few people get to like if you even if you're a guy that's bounced around for eight years, but you've been to the super Bowl, like that guy's he's got something you can learn from and so that's definitely an experience. I think it's different for guys like would you rather like go to the divisional
round or not go to the playoffs at all. Like for me, it's like, well, I mean it's I mean, it's good because it's good for the community, it's good for the city and stuff like that, and you want to make the playoffs. But a lot of guys would sit there and say, you know, you're taking two bigs vacation away from me, you know what I'm saying. And the pay is not the same.
Emotionally what I mean, what would you go super Bowl and lose or not make the playoffs?
Oh? No, you go to super Bowl and lose? Yeah, yeah, you have to go. Yeah, I mean you're when all the dust settles, man, and you're you've retired in ten years or whatever after that's what you think about. You got to go playing about that run. There's something that can never take away from you as you got to play in the super Bowl, you know, and then to
win a super Bowl and then to one. You know, it's like I'm real close with Chris Long and you know, Chris, you know, never would have thought you'd go to New England and do it and then come back and next year and got Philly and England doing it, yeah, and it's just she was just yeah. But side notes, Chris, most funny ever had was playing with us at the Rams.
But speaking of having most fun we've had somebody sitting out in the parking lot the whole time while he's been on here.
Who's that dB? Oh yeah, it's them to come crashing pie and come say what's up to coach? Yeah, tell them to come by.
You want to go back out bring him the back just so we don't so, I mean.
I feel like we can have you one stories.
Speaking of the ego thing, you're like, oh, you don't see like this type of guy. I have a I have an ego story about Coach Fisher when he was on the Rams.
When he picked two of her all at the Great Robinson.
No, no, no, we'll talk about that too, but uh, it was the trade with RG and then they came. This was my second year and I had just like I was on. I was basically like you know, special teams backup all year and then I think Perry Rayler or one of our linebackers got hurt. And at the end of the year I got to start like three games in the row, and one of my starts was against the Rams and shout out the boy I had like fifteen tackles. I was like so stoked with my dad afterwards.
But anyway, he comes out and we the Redskins had traded away, like how many picks for r G.
You know what I'm talking about? How many picks? Was it? Well, they gave up, we give up the number they give up the number of picks two ones, two and one. Okay, all these picks right for Well, that's how we built the Rams. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he says.
He trolls this by sending all the picks they traded because RG wasn't working out that year for the Redskins. That was kind of when he was on his outs with the Redskins. And he sends all the picks out to the middle of the field as captains, all the picks that they drafted that they sent him out as captains.
See, you guys didn't know that until it was over, did you? Because that's what I was I was told because because Daniel Snyder and Bruce Allen, none of those guys knew until after ye And it was cool, And I'm on, I take credit for things, and then I give credit where credit is due and Chris Long came to me, you know, after or before warm ups or after warm ups, and said, hey, dude, he goes, do you ever think about sending all the all the guys we got from n r G three trade out his
captains to go. That's the hell of an idea that Chris Chris shout. So I go, I'm going through the locker room. You know he wasn't, So no, I got to go. I gotta make it here, like I got to make a phone call and uh and uh, and I find out who's on the roster and who was still there and active. So I sent the guys out for the coun That's awesome. But I had to tell a Rider after the game. I think that do we shut you guys out that game? Maybe because we had
I was still to be out there playing. Yeah, let's go. We had back to back shutouts when I was in Saint Louis search that up and we shut the RAG. I think we shut the Raiders out at home in Saint Louis and then we.
Went there and it might have been like twenty three nothing, But.
Anyway, I had back to back shutouts, which is pretty hard to do. Yeah, but yeah, so yeah, so I did. Yeah, we did that. We sent all the guys out there and it was fun. I mean, I think Daniel loved it. He he you know, he loved he loves that stuff. Yeah, so it was just kind of the stuff that we used to do back then. It was kind of cool.
So you brief, you really imagine something telling that story. And I'll Rich Rodriguez was my first coach at the University of Michigan when I first got there, and then he gets he got fired, and then the coach that came in.
Was Bretty Hope and the first year Brady Hook was there.
We went to the Sugar Bowl and they asked which Rodorriguez about it, and he's like, he said, it's like making all the ingredients for a cake and then he let some other guy put it in the oven. Right, And so you said something about putting the Rams together? Does that when you watch the Rams go on the run? They did not this past year, but the two years before that. Is there a sense of pride or disappointment that you weren't there or anything like that.
Well, it's a great question. I thank you. You welcome question. Yeah, answer it, so thank you. You know, it was. Obviously it's disappointing, but I've been in the league long enough, and I was so fortunate to have been a head coach for twenty years, and at some point you're going to get fired, and so you know, you roll the
dice the longer you're in it. And so I worked really really hard to put that roster together and knew that we were very close and had just drafted Jai and Ya and I played Jared the last four games not even thinking, not even concerned about I didn't care about myself. All I wanted to do was make a commitment to the owner, build a team as best I could, and put the right group of players together and and
sustain it. Yeah, okay, you can put players together now for a year, but but the challenge is sustaining things. And so I felt like we were building with the trades and this, and then that we traded obviously to you guys with John uh and got Jared, trade up, got Jared, and we were moving the right and then it didn't didn't happen. So but I knew what was there, and I knew that they were gonna they were gonna be really good. So you asked your question. Yeah, I
was happy for them. I'm happy for the players and happy for most of the staff. I mean, in this world, that's you learn about forgetting, for forgiveness and you know, and stuff, but rejection sometimes trump's forgiveness and you know, so you're you're gonna be or whatever it is. But I was really happy for the guys and it didn't surprise me that they got there. The concern I have
and the concern that they should have, is sustaining. I don't think and I'll say this to the to whoever's making decisions there, I don't think they made the right decisions over the last couple of years to sustain. Yeah, and that's I think you'll see that over the next couple of years.
Well, there's a lot of things you can do to sustain I think just my agency m c A and they're the best agency.
Shout to sea. They're they're unbelievable. And they have guys that used to do cap.
Stuff for other teams with gams for the teams that now work with them and kind of work on negotiations on the other side. And they say that one thing that the Philadelphia Eagles do really well is they set up guys contracts to where like if you if you're you know, your CAP's not that great, you can convert into signing boats and then that saves you x amount of cap dollars and they got mixed minimum that year.
And so there's a lot of ways around, like the salary cap to make sure you can sustain those.
Guys on the team. And there's two. There's you have two. You have two ways of building. Your team wants to draft, the others through free agency, and you have to use both. And the draft is you guys, hear this. So everybody makes draft mistakes. I mean, yes, we made a mistake. Yeah, we'll talk about that, Okay, you know, but that those things happen, but you have to have a plan and you have to be able to look ahead two or
three years. And now things are going to get all kicked out of whack because of a current an injury or some kind of problem or something like that or somebody did. But if you have a plan, buy and large, you can you can plug things in and make adjustments in here and stay competitive, you know, and you know I see that with John Robinson and you guys, I mean I was so jacked for you guys. I mean I came to this. I came to the Indianapolis game early September. I don't think your point. And that was
the loss. And that was when they we retired Steve and Eddie's jersey, and I just there was something missing, you know, But we'll realized what it was, what what was missing and what they went to and and I'm not talking about Marcus per Se, but I'm talking about just you guys rocking forward a little bit and running the football. It's a big two. And which is a question I have is what's he like in the huntle What what is he? What's what's he like in the hunt?
Derek is studd He's a complete study. What Derek is very happy, go lucky during the week, and he's especially if it has a good game. You can tell he's got a smile on his face. But when it comes to games like we'll have a couple I bring up there's a play action play that we have. Then I have to I'm going out to the end, but and we're all kind of running to the left and then
we set up so the quarterback can set up. But I have to help the guard at first and Dixon was having outside So if ever in a time out in that play is called, I'm always like, hey, Derek, you make sure and he's like, listen, I fucking got it. Like he is.
He is so locked in, will not smile, has an attitude about him. He'll run the ball for four The best way to describe Derek is the last game of the season, there really wasn't a thought of, like, let's get the rushing title because there were so many yards to get. But he goes in the first half of the game he had sixty three yards rushing, which is not bad at all. I mean, you double that, yere one hundred and twenty six yards. That's a good game, Thank you very much. I'm on a roll today and
we get a halftime, he's fucking pissed. He's like, what can we do better? Like, if you guys just get this block, I swear to God, I'll get through. And he's got that from what I've heard about Eddie George when he was there, He's got that mentality that he knows he can change a game whenever he has the ball in his hands, and he absolutely can't. He's got the breakaway speed, not the first guy I can ever
tackle him. I'm very impressed with him and how he holds himself in a game because he's never too high and too low. It's always stay right on course and basically, fuck you, you're not going to tackle me right.
And that's exactly how he's impressive. That's how how Eddie was. I mean, I remember, you know, I got so many memories. But you know, we're inside it two minutes and it's third and seven and we get the first down. We kneeled games over, you know, and Jacksonville used our last time out, and here we go. When we're standing a sideline, I go, hey, look, I'm Eddie and Steve are standing
looking at I. I got options. You can put it on your hip and get what you can, you know, and get down think thing rolling and we'll pull it away, or you know, I can give it to you. He goes give it to me, and he looks across. He goes third and seven. He goes, I got you ten. You're good with that? He goes, yep, you got ten.
But and so the one thing I mean, and if I got any messages that you could take back to Derek is man spend as much time as you can with that, with that big boy two seven, because Eddie understood what it took in the off season, he got it. He was way ahead of his time time, you know. And it was I mean, he and the great ones do that. The Jerry Rice's and all the ones that I've been fortunate to be around, understand that as you get older, you have to work harder just to maintain,
not to get not to to get better, just to maintain. Now, if you want to get better, then you got to work even harder. And that's how Eddie was. I mean,
Eddie had that relentless thing. I'll take you back. We opened our inaugural season in Tennessee was in Memphis against the Oakland Raiders in Memphis, Tennessee early September, and we won an overtime game and Eddie had over two hundred yards rushing and he went and got ivy at end of regulation, came back out and we pounded them in a ninety five one hundred degree day in Memphis, and the Raiders wilted because they had just come off a training camp in Napa. Yeah, okay, And we knew that,
we knew it was in our favor. Okay, so Eddie's got two hundred and eleven or two hundred and twenty, whatever the whatever it is in Memphis. On Sunday we come back to Bellevue. I'm looking out of my trailer window and Eddie's running freaking hundreds the day after. That's that definitely, that sounds They have a lot of similar and that's that's the difference. And that's what And you know, some people need to be told that, and some people figure it out and get it on their figure it
on their own. But that's where that's where if Derek wants to be the guy that which he is now, I mean, I'm just you know, yeah, you know, I was a dB in the league tackling that dude, that's like, that's like freaking bouncing your forehead off of frozen truck bumper. You know, not fun. And that's what you guys build around that ship. It's old school and and no one in the on any of you.
I think I think Derek, I mean definitely, Derek was easily arguably the top running back this year, the most yards I think with running backs always sustaining, how many years can you do that? Because people say that to me you only have so many carries in you. And one thing I noticed about Derek is he doesn't really get tired. He doesn't he genetics or whatever it is. He works his ass off, but he's one of those guys that he's not the best. He's pissed off about it.
And so he's he's definitely a great teammate and he's he's awesome to be around. He sat in that same chair he was here. We had him on what four or five weeks ago, four or five weeks ago, and he was sitting there and he had a conversation with Eddie. When he first he got he was a starter, and then he ended up being benched for Dion and these
his words, not mine, but did happen. And he said he told Eddie and he talked to him, and Eddie was straightforward with him and said, you're not running hard enough. You're you're not like it doesn't seem like you want it, or I'm sure trying to do too much, those types.
Of you're trying to be a two hundred pound back.
Yeah, right, be what you already use your strengths and then you that you will go to the distance. And he's done that since then. But Eddie's so locked into this community and he's so locked over the Titans because I had a similar situation where he went on radio and he said, well, I don't you know something along the lines of, I don't think Taylor is viewed as a as a leader on the on the Titans locker room, and nationally, I don't think he's viewed as a leader.
And I called him because you know, if someone's going to say that, I want to know what's your reasoning, because I'm I'm not going to fight a guy over I want to know the situation. Yeah, And so I call him and I figured he'd get defensive and well I didn't say that or this, and he's like, yeah, I said that, I said, I said.
He said that.
There's when he sees me doing certain things, it's not leadership. If I'm trying to do too much during a game, it's not leadership.
And I have as long as.
I'm affecting the guy to my right and to my left, my left guard and my tight end, that's all you need to do is leadership.
And you're not doing that. You came back trying to do too much. And after I had that talk, with him.
I did exactly what he said. And I'm not saying I've helped the Titans immensely, but it helped me. It helped my game, It helped me with Roger, it helped me with the tight ends, doing triple blocks, trade blocks, those types of things. So it's he's done a great job for the Titans, just on the outside, being able to talk to a few guys.
And I, you know, I appreciate it. Help him. He got to sit there and through the prime of his career, he got to run behind Bruce Matthews stud Yeah, and Bruce was really quiet, and Bruce wasn't the vocal guy. Bruce. Bruce was tremendous athlete. He started every position on the offensive line and made the Pro Bowl at every position.
He's in the Hall of Fame, you know all that stuff. Yeah, and Bruce was just he was just quiet about his job and his competitive Bruce would Bruce would stay out after Projice or before project, get out there early and play whatever freaking competitive game, whether it was spinning footballs or what it is. He was always competing at something. But those are the guys that that Eddie kind of
got was was raised now Eddie. You know, obviously the House State experience and and all that and everything associated with the difficulties and what you know, the thing, the hard times that we went through made Eddie Georgia man, you know, and sooner he was he always was. But you know what I'm saying, Yeah, Eddie just got it.
You have to grow up. And he you know, Eddie would you know, And Eddie was even even early on, Eddie, Eddie get mad and he wanted to talk to the team and you know because somebody was late, and you know, he just bitching the meeting about his teammates. And then then the very next team meeting, Eddie was late.
You know.
I mean, so it sounds a little bit like myself. Yeah, he figures it out over time. But but man, I mean lead by example is what he was about.
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And you'll be hooked. Can you talk? What were you gonna say? No? I just said he was and then and then and we we ran the football here, you know, and then that's people go, you know, really, I go, yeah, okay, we had I had two one hundred yard backs at Kansas City in the same game. Okay, at Lyndell White and Chris Johnson had one hundred yards. Each of them
had over one hundred yards. And we came back the next week here and played Cleveland, and they both again had one hundred yards, except I screwed it up because I got pissed at the head coach because he called the game was out of reach over and he called a time out. Uh. And then he called another time out and they granted him back to back town outs, and I was pissed at the officials. I was pissed at him because the game was over. I said, screwed.
I sent goal line in there and Logot knocked for a yard or Lindell got knocked for a yard loss and ended up with ninety nine yards, or I would have had we would have had back to back games where we had two one hundred yard rushers had it not been for the decision I made to go to just pound it in there. Yeah, but I mean that's we ran the football. I mean, that's what we were we were about, and Eddie was really the one that set that whole set that ball rolling for us.
There's definitely a place for that in the league still, as much as people throw the ball around. If you have a dominant run game, it sets up all that passing.
Yeah, I mean shit, look at you guys, look at the Ravens. Yeah, the forty nine ers who only threw the ball like eight times and eleven and champions playoff run until the Super Bowl. But yeah, that's insane. I remember I would be in the front yard. Was I was a running back myself, back in youth football, and I was I would always like pretend to be Eddie George. Would you really Yeah, because I was like taller. I was, like I tell you all the time, I like peaked
in high school. My prime was like youth ball, like just dominated, just dominated offensively.
Stun Yeah, but I would always pretend to be Eddie George. We got how much time I have? But I do, I do want to catch on a couple of things.
Hang on, can you what was what was like a muddier transition the Houston to Tennessee or Saint Louis, LA. Because I grew up in Missouri, so me, I heard a lot more like I would always be around more with everybody being pissed off that when you guys went to LA, everybody was.
I mean, it's just anytime you pick up and move, the people that are affected the most of the fan base, right, and that's just not fair to fans. So you know, you gotta you know, you got to handle it as best you can. And you know, as a head coach, I'm not making those decisions. I'm doing what I'm told and I got to make the most out of a move. Now they're hard, it's it's hard, you know. I give an example when San Diego moved to LA and had a two hour drive. They started off on four and
and Philip was driving, commuting in the car. You know, you move. We moved three times in on off season. You know, we had no play in LA. When we left Saint Louis, I went to LA. We moved into a Marriotte Residence inn in Auxnard and that's where we had our off season program. We lived in a hotel. And then when off season program was over, when you're done with your last o t A and you have that summer break, you know, they had no place to
train or live. And then they they showed up to training camp, you know, to hour south and you see Irvine and then then you go and then you were hoping that your temporary facility trailers again is done so you can have a place to practice, so you know, all those things are unsettling now, especially La was different than here. I can't say which one was harder. You know, this was different. I mean I had a player come up to me and go, so we're checking these report
to TSU for training camp. And back then they gave him eight hundred number and said, hey, call the eight hundred number. The mover will move your stuff. Make sure you're there in time for training camp wars training camp. Well it's a TSU warsor facility, I don't know yet. So it he comes up, he goes, yeah, my my my suv got there, but I can't find my Mercedes. And my suv got there with you know, nine or ten or one thousand miles more on it. They drove
it and they told me they're shipping. They can't they don't know where my car is. So you got those little things, you know, they all add up. But you know, the La thing was the La thing was an easy, uh, just particularly because of all the movie and then the commuting and then you know you're you're on the road. And in that particular year I was there. We we played in Detroit, in New England, in New York, in
London at New Orleans. So so and we went we went from yeah, we went from we we we left l A, went to Detroit, went upstairs, lost a close game, went upstairs, had a meal, went downstairs, went to the airport, and flew to London. You know, so those things are you know, those things aren't easy. But that London trip in general is very hard. Oh yeah, yeah it is.
Raiders played at in Mexico at London. We played in New York like they were they had flown everywhere.
Oh yeah, you're going to You got no choice. Same with Seattle, and and so you have to you have to adjust. And obviously there's you know, we I feel like we did a really good job of justin I mean, the bottom line is this, I mean, and I think Mike very Bull is all about that. And he puts himself in your shoes, and every decision that he makes from six o'clock in the morning till whatever time in the evening you leave, he's all about what you do and how can he help that that whole process and
whether it's recovery, whether it's this or that. And so you know, we did sleep studies, and we did all kinds of different things and just innovative things. I mean, I even my last two years there, I believe or not.
You know, Monday was a recovery day. Our player's day off was Thursday, really really yeah, and oh yeah, but Monday's all recovery, okay, because if you're covering kicks and you're playing, you're going to play thirty plays in the game, and you're started, and you guys hand the ball off thirty five times, you played seventy plays, okay, and the practice squad guy over here didn't play and he had practice.
It's Friday, Okay. If I throw the three of you guys in on Monday into the weight room and you guys got the same stuff to do, that's wrong. Your needs are different than his needs, and your needs are You may just need a massage period and fluids, you know, and the normatech and whatever. That might be your Monday, you know. But by Tuesday we kind of got everybody back. So Tuesday was kind of install based stuff. Wednesday was good.
Thursdays off, man, would you like to sleep in? And then anybody ever tell you about my sleep in thursdays? I've heard a couple of we got a couple of stories.
You gotta tell the Darren base that you gotta tell the story too.
Yeah, late, no, I will. It happened here, and it was Kevin. We had Kevin May, I had Kevin White center, and you know, we were we had a physical stretch, and I just felt like we just needed something different. And so Wednesday after practice, I called a team meeting. Well you know what happened That never happens, right, Yeah, Wednesday after practice, guys are going, oh ship, who fucked? Yeah? This bullshit? And I got up and I just said, hey, look,
I said, when you go, we're gonna finish up. Whatever you're gonna do. You watch Tate, watch practice, get your work, whatever you're going to do. When you go home, before you go to bed, turn your alarm clocks off, turn your phone off. I want you to sleep in the morning and sleep as long as you can. Now, I said, that's no, that's not a pass to go freaking tear the town down tonight, because I'm going to go out look for you. Make sure you're not freaking in wherever
in the bars. But the point is is sleep in, don't take the kids to school, don't get up early, don't do anything for mama. You need the rest and come in around noon. I don't give a shit when you come in, but just try to be in by noon or pull thirty. And I saw Kevin the hall
around ten o'clock and Kevin goes, Jeff. That's the best thing that's ever happened in my whole career fourteen years was to be able to sleep in sleep in on a Thursday in November, and so sleep in Thursdays took on a whole life of their own right, and now it's you know, you know how you guys are after a big win Sunday afternoon dream Monday and Thursdays.
Yeah, it motivates you a weird way to like, you know, hey, we're going to get to sleep in Thursday.
Boy. Yeah. In the fourth I went, I went to Thursday day off, Thursday totally day off. Yeah, so Monday's recovery. Okay, Tuesday we're going to get your blood going to move around, get your sore on us out and do all that kind of stuff. And it's all based half speed practice, just a little bit more than to walk through. Wednesday we're going to go, you know, and then Thursday's your day and then come back in Friday Fast Friday.
We never did a sleep in Thursday with but Rabel does towards the end of the season. He does a really good job of knowing where the guy's bodies are at and knowing what it takes. Now in this league, because a lot of guys, a lot of coaches will play in the eighties, play in the nineties. They'll come and coming, coach, well, this is what we did. Yeah, well, there's been a lot of advancements in modern science.
Let's let's let's take us So. Yeah, so sleep and diet and just all those things are so important, but just the rest and recovery, you know, but that that you that starts, you should start that. I mean I always had this philosophy, partticularly because I played. I wasn't very good, but I played five years in the league, and I remember the day the calendar year. And I'll ask both of you guys, what day in the calendar year did you feel the absolute best, meaning physically in shape,
ready to freaking go. And your answer is probably the day before training Yeah, so what happens in training camp? You do this right, right, okay, and then you never get it back. Training camp should be up and then it should be and then you you know, and then the season starts. You're here.
They want to work so hard and all is just to fucking take away everything.
Yeah, so you're training during the off season just to get through camp, not to use camp, but just to get through camp. Now it doesn't you know, because back in the day when I played, there were six preseason games and went you went to camp and you were two days every day. Okay, even Friday. Water makes you weak, yeah, yeah, and hundreds you run a hundred. You run hunters after practice. Head coach tells you, get on the goal line, we're
running ten hundreds. Guess what, you went to the goal line. You put your hand down. You freaking ran ten hundreds. If you someone to tell you guys that, now you start looking cross arms and go.
Really well, you'd have guys too that if you're running hunters after every practice, yea, guys are thinking in there head to have with your practice.
I better consistent. Yeah yeah, yeah, I want. I want. I want you to grab grab a couple of rookies or grab whoever you want and run on your own, you know, And then I want to be able to say no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You don't need to be running on Friday, whatever it is, but that needs to be. That needs to be the mindset. So you know, when you come in the morning, you you park in the parking lot, you're run in because you can't wait to get to work. You look forward
to getting to work, okay. And then I believe that our job is to make sure that when when you're there during the day, especially on the field, that you are mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritual, what ever is ready to practice. So that's all the ship I got, all the ship needs to be. You need to be clear, you know. So if that means that your mom called and she want a different color escalade on Friday, and she wants it now, and that's burdening you, that's a distraction, okay.
So I want a distraction free fun. Understand what we got to get done work wise, and get it done, and then you know, you take you go to the next day. But so much of that and then you have to change. You just have to be changed. And just like you said, what Mike did, you got to change. You got to get and have a feel and back down. Call this period off. Do the ship and and then and you know, while all that's going on, you gotta
have fun. Yeah, you gotta have funny. I laugh. You gotta just just have fun and pranks and whatever because you're.
Around each other literally every day, all day, from Indo July all the way to you know, hopefully early February.
He said, you said pranks.
I heard Steve Watterson got you pretty good when you guys came in for preseason or was a preseason or November?
November you guys pre We only came in for a preseason game. Yeah, so and Steve got pretty good, he got he got back at us. Okay, no he didn't. He didn't get us pretty good.
No, he You know, Steve, Steve take the story guy. So I want to know what's real and what's not. He said he'd get guys all the time. He was the king of pranks in his.
Mind, well in his mind he was, and he also was the target. Okay, we'll go on forever about him. But but yeah, when we came in for the preseason game, I had somebody, I still had some ties, and I got uh, somebody got a hold of his car keys and during the game removed all four of his tires, put him on blocks and stacked the tires up. So when he went out, when he went out to go home, yeah,
why we're playing them and yeah yeah. So he he got everything going and got his tires back on, and as the buses were come up, he had the guys pull up the things so our buses couldn't get out, and he yelled at the buses. So that was his version of getting this. That's the center block things hilarious. No, No, Chris long, Chris and the DB's and Saint Louis would always happen.
You know, I heard Chris, and you can correct the story because the building he made a building, and basically put.
He made three buildings, made three buildings. Yeah, no, they were the story were DB's. No, we were weren't. It was the last game of you. I think we were in Seattle, we're coming back. We were going to land lad and it was just right after Christmas and we weren't in the playoffs. And Chris, they had the DB's and the D line had been going at it for a while and so Chris had found a contractor and
he built these. He built three just one room, four sided with the roof buildings okay, and big enough, big enough to put their cars in it. So he had them built. He had the cars driven in and then they pounded the nails and they completely was four walls around their cars. And then he had in Christmas lights. He had twenty one, twenty two, and maybe twenty three the three DB's numbers on outside on the on the wall. And and so when we pull up, there's a field
by the facility. Now keep in mind, and we've come all the way back from Sheall. We got out the plane as the last game and guys, are you know really and we're getting the bus and we're pulling in and all of a sudden that started going and you can see all of the numbers on these three buildings.
Chris had told guys what he'd done. But the DB's they they go in their lockers and they're going to drive home and they can't find their keys, and they're standing in the lobby trying to figure out where their keys are. They don't eat, they haven't even put two and two together that their their keys are somewhere else, but their cars are in those three buildings on the lock with their number all yea. So they cabbed home and stuff like that. But yeah, they did stuff like
that all the time. Yeah, that's hilarious. That's fucking legendary. Yeah that is all.
It sounds like you, uh, maybe want to get back into coaching.
Oh you never what, I'll tell you what I missed. I miss you, guys, I miss you. But that's what I miss is that I missed the relationship with the players and the all the fun and all the stuff and you know that, and competing in the games and then the anthem. Yeah, I'm then that's awesome. Can you bring up We'll have like fan questions and that before fan questions. I want to know two things because you know what time it is, because I got to catch a flight. It is twelve thirty two. I'm right, we
got about ten more. Yeah, okay, So two.
Things happen that we were intertwined about. One was the twenty fourteen draft. There were two tackles stayed before me. There was Greg Robinson and number two with you, guys, which I want to know you the process because you actually brought me and Greg Robinson in for at the same time to do visits and I'm gonna sitting with you at your office.
How was that?
What was the deciding factors in those things? And then also after my second year, they were talking about replacing me with Lamy Tunsel one overall pick, and you guys ended up trading for the number one pick. And so in a way you helped me at the end. And I wouldn't rather be any place in Tennessee. This place is unbelievable, right, But at the end, obviously when you're going through the draft, you want to be the number one tackle. You wanted to number an overall pick like
all that stuff. End up being the third tackle, taking eleventh overall. So what were the things you saw in Greg in his game at the time that you didn't see in my game?
Didn't see anything missing from your game none at all. Knew that you would be a ten year vet, you know, you would have a ten year career and you'd be pro bowler and all that kind of stuff. That's how he brought you in. Oftentimes there are they're good, the hard decisions, but they're a good problem to have. Okay, so you were slam dunk. Okay, we felt like athletic ability wise, when I watched Greg walk on his hands and do throw foot and do that kind of stuff.
In addition to that, they had a private workout, we'd done the background checks. I had a son on the roster at Auburn, it was playing at Auburn. He knew Greg, he liked Greg, and it was just kind of I don't want to say it came down to a flip of a coin, but you could couldn't go wrong, you know, and it was obviously we went wrong, you know. But
it's just kind of one of those deals. I mean, and I want to buy the comparable standards are probably not it's not a good analogy, but you know, four or five years ago, my last year there, we traded the number one and we decided between Jered Golf and Carson Wentz. Yeah, it was a great problem to have, you know, And so you know, it's just one of
those things. I mean, I remember our interview. I mean, I remember we got the combine for a brief moment, and then we had you on the visiting and you were with Boudreaux, when you spent a lot of time and hung around.
We loved you, sat down single, double, triple ABC, all those things ready to go on those visits. Yeah, it was pretty Actually it's pretty awful.
It is that it is not one problem if I have with the league, and you remember the conversation how many visits if you had, oh it was fourteen. Yeah, we're going to work out. I mean, it's just like you know, it's just travel, travel, travel travel. I came, I came from Detroit.
I flip from Arizona, I think San Francisco to Detroit and and too, you guys same all in the same day.
When you're wanting to be the number one linebacker taking to the draft and there's like fifteen to twenty that go ahead of you, what was it that you saw on them that you probably didn't see in me?
Well, let me see who are those that were taking a head. I have no clue.
I guess Mattha Tao was, Yeah, I don't even know. I don't even know anymore.
That's a fun question we had, like you want to be number one, but I ended up being number.
Three in the first round.
Eleven. I was eleven, third tackles, third tackle. It's interesting to get the percept.
Thing, understand the understand the process too, because it all starts with an area scout. So we had an area scout at Michigan and we had an aero scout at Alabama and they're both grading you guys, and they're different guys. And then you have you have directors and assistant directors of college scouting that graded you both independently, and so now you've got like five different opinions on both guys. Okay, so now after the season is over, now you start
to mesh your opinions. Now I'm looking at tape, and then you got someone else that's the wh line coaches looking at tape, and so you end up oftentimes was just too much information. Yeah you know, and I fundamentally think right now that there's not enough tape being watched. I think people are sharing and talking and social media grading and not doing the hard hands on sit down and watch you play. I watch you play early, watch
you play middle, watch you play late. But more specifically, I'm going to watch and see who the best defensive end was because I want to see you protect and then you know, watch I mean watch games throughout the course of the season. Well that's how I do. But as a head coach, you can't look at everybody. Yeah you know, and you really can't. So you know, it's it's it's not right. It's not my place to tell the organization in the draft room in the fifth round
which guard I'm going to take. But I didn't seen them, you know, and so but you have to trust people that have seen them, and you have to trust at your boards, right, And I just think people. I'm not saying it's scouts, because scouts are doing the work, but I'm saying people in decision making positions aren't. Aren't spending the time to really truly evaluate the players. I think they're I mean, I think they do a good job. They got a lot of people doing it, you know,
And so I really haven't. I never used any outside sources or never nooked at mock drafts and never did anything. You just kind of sit there and just tell me what are what tell me what the team's needs are, Okay, and then I'll sit there. We'll sit there in the draft room and based on their needs, okay, well they could go here, they could go there, but let's make sure our draft boards, right. Yeah, you know, I got you. So, but you guys are kind of the process. You guys took all.
Global Tree of the Year before me. Anyway, so it's probably tough much for you.
I think Marcus Alec Yeah, alex Is, I think big money. Well, we draft them, they traded them.
Well, you guys paid the big money and then traded them that same day. It was not involved in okay, because I remember seeing that.
I was like, what does this You're just going to trade it? Right? How about this? Talk about this? So which we draft, we draft treat and uh, it's a pretty good rookie years what in shape we got there? But he finished really strong after that last three or four games. So you know, the all season program is gone. So first day of the all season program starts and all I want to do is just want to get
await I wanted. I wanted because really something you know, you leave in January and you come back and I just the guys are all coming in and saying hey d D D day. We waited everybody when they got in there. And then I get a call and coach yeah, Tree, yeah, all right, he goes he's like thirty two pounds heavier than when he left, and I went, oh, I go, really, I go, you sure you're scaling? Goes? Are you? I'm
telling you that? So first meeting, so this is like a half hour later, I have told my assistant to I said, go to Carlos Junior, go to McDonald's, go to burg King, go wherever, and just get shit. I want bags. I want the bags, okay, and bring them as fast as you can. And I said, I called down the video. I go, hey, put a I want a TV up on stage. I want a chair, I want a couple of little a couple of little dumbbells, and I want a table out there. And I don't
even care what's hooked up, but I want to. I'm mad. And then in there and they go, what are you doing? I said, just do it, I said, and bring me bring me trees, jersey and a hoodie. And they go, okay. So so we have our first meeting. Start off, he's a program, and everybody's been gone for three months. And everybody comes in all the gain. You know, everybody's going for him yet to see it. Everybody's just like that.
And I come walking around the corner up on stage and I have a hoodie, I have glasses, I have fifty two and I have a pillow underneath my found in this jersey. And I walk up and in addition to that, I had cookies and chips and shit food all over the place, and I just I walked up and as if nobody was sitting out there, I walked up and walked over, and I popped some chips and you know, and then I did this, and I act like I was eating this, and then I was going
over and guys start laughing. I walk and I'm walking around doing this, and then I sit back and I grabbed this, and I'm just playing some PlayStation like you know, and you can see I'm just and so I'm acting like I don't even know they're there, and they're just rolling fricking laughing. And so I move around, I do this, I walk back, I bring some more food out, sit down.
Kind of got like it's time to work out, and so I grabbed that two pound dumbbell and I just kind of ate and I was like getting my work out and put it down with the sleep and then I finished. By I finished, I had one more thing of chips and cookies and shit, and I didn't have a place to put them, and I just put them on the ground. And I don't know what possessed me, but I laid down on top of them and popped the chips like a dog and just kind of rolled on the food. And I got up and I said, hey,
let's have a great off season. And I walked out. So you think he got the message. Yeah, he got the message. And it was he still I mean, I hear he still talks about that to this day. I mean he can't. He just looked too. I mean, everybody
went down. He was, how's my weight? You know, it's like, oh shit, you know, and I didn't know we had to weigh in and anyway, it was kind of I didn't have to say anything to him about gaining weight, you know, gaining thirty pounds during the three months, and like, I don't even want to know how he did it. I just want him to slowly take it off and in the shade. But yeah, that's kind of how you send your man.
Yeah, tub story, that tubbs, he's got to go in. I know, but this is a phenomenal Sorry, well yeah, I mean it was.
Yeah, we had a slow start. We had early by and I don't know, we were two and four whatever it was. We had a bye week and we just lost a close game. And now we're going into the bye week and after a loss, and you know, it's just what are they? You know, it's you can imagine you're gonna sit there on the Monday after the game and go, oh man, this is not gonna be fun. We got bye, you gonna kill us? And I think it was. It wasn't it was. It was later in
the bye week. It was right before the end, but before the guys took off, and and uh, I filled tubs up and had them covered with with ice down beer, and I got up there and I just basically told the team that they just got a melmbo from the league. That's even starting over. They was just for some reason, it's a fucked up deal. But the league decided to start season over clean slight. Everybody's starting over. So this is this is your last week of training camp. You
got the week kid off. Come back. We're starting freaking under fee. Let's go win the division. And in the meantime, boys, let's drink some beers. So beers out. So we started tossing beers out and ship they went out and out of great by weekend and then came back. So yeah, it's just different stuff. So that's all to get the boys going for the Yeah, that is the camaraderie. Man, you're not going to get Well, we had it, we had a deal and this would be the perfect forum.
But we went out and practiced against the Cowboys when and we were moved the year before we moved to l A. We went out talks and Art had the joint prite against the Cowboys, and so basically it was you know, hey, you know, we're going to practice, and we got we got we have two practices and they're padded, and I just kind of preached that, look, I don't need bullshit. We're going to freaking physically play within the rules, kick their ass. This is a great measuring stick for us.
But I don't need bullshit, you know, I don't want fighting and all kind of stuff. Well, Des was hurt and he had held out and he wasn't practicing, and Dez was standing on the sideline and Dez was just I didn't know it because I was on the other other field with the with the I was on the other field with offense, and Des had just gotten a little out of control and nobody really calmed him down. It was just MF and all the dbs. Yeah, but
he wasn't practicing. He was just standing there, and so you know, I got word on the way back to the hotel that this is not good. So you know, I tried to. I made a call and said, hey, look, is there any way you guys could maybe control Dez a little bit because it's really inappropriate what he's saying and how in his behavior and da da da da da. And I knew that the des is hard to keep quiet, you know. I knew there was probably the odds of
that happened again. And if it happened again, I knew that the guys would take it in their own hands. And so I did the same thing. I filled the coolers on the bus with beers, knowing that the next day's practice was going to get cut short because of fights. Yeah. Fighting, you always knowing that's brilliant. Yeah, so on the second and it and it did and it was, oh my gosh. But was the recipient of a few. I got a lot more respect for him because I could take a
hit now he did so. But we Yeah, so anyway, guys were just hooting and hollering, drinking beers all the way back to the hotel and in the training room, and you know, we had whatever but it's just kind of those things, you know. I mean, you know, if you're in the locker room and as you should be, and you get a pulse in a sense and a feel, and you know you have relationships with therebod you know
what your team? Oh, absolutely, you just need to do that and that's why you know, that's why you know as always And I don't know how it is other places, but man, I mean that locker room is a place for everybody. And I'm walking I'm in that locker room three or four times a day, just hanging out and just get whatever. Because I don't want you guys to stop your conversation while I walk by. I want you to feel like I belong there, you know, and all that.
So you can't allow those things. You can't allow those things become whatever they are, sanctuary, whatever, this you know, it's it's it's twenty years of doing it. You get it, cut, you get it, feel for it. Yeah. So that's awesome. Well,
we appreciate you coming on with No, you guys are great. No, let's I want to circle right back around, uh to Nashville and to what you guys have got in store and which you got rolling in your softball game and all that kind of stuff helps these people here because this is this is unlike any place I've ever lived, and uh, I'm spending my time between Montana and here.
I've got to remodel here. This is my home. My kids are here, and I love the city and love the franchise, and you know you guys, and just we have a responsibility to do what we can. I know you guys are doing that. So our thoughts, prayers, all those things, and just confidence and patience and and trust go out to all those people whose lives will be affected forever by this tragedy. We're gonna need your help doing it too. While you're here at State. We got that.
We got all hands on deck, Dade, Yeah, Tane, and our hype that this platform can finally don't do something giving back and get involved in us your voice and stuff.
So it's a good luck to you. Thank you, appreciate it, Appreciate you. So yeah, yeah, I love it.