Chris Canty

are the keys to victory for the Cincinnati Bengals. They've they've invested two hundred and thirty million dollars in their defense. They've done except and you can see their return there are I return there on their investment on defense is coming back there the way they shut down? Uh King Henry. Yes he wasn't, but that man ain't a tiptoe er. Now he was still even though he wasn't a hundred percent, he was still he was dropping a load on some flash.

A different dynamic. He has a different dynamic. They played you have him ye a Woozier. Um, he was a free agent from the Cowboys. Um. They decided to go over to Anthony Brown. The Cowboys, and you can see a Wooziers paying dividends for that investment for the Cowboys and letting him walk. Um. Jesse based the third All Star. He's all Star. He's a guy. He's he's he's making plays. He's also he gets his head in the game so

much that he's not afraid to get ran over. And he will get ran over a few times, but he shows up every plane. He's not afraid he'll pick one off. He will. So it's very smart. Um. From the shoulders up, Um, i q A football is outstanding from the shoulders down, it's it's it's remarkable as well. And so what are your keys to the game for the Los Angeles Rams? Los Angeles Rams? Uh? In their defense, maintain their dominance. Uh, Floyd Donald and Von Miller cannot have cannot have an

off day. UM got my guy back. Who I saw him at the Rose Bowl. We were chit chatting and talking and then now he's playing right. So that's that's pretty remarkable. That's awesome. Uh. I love what you know. You have to address that that the elephant in the room is look at the explosiveness and um getting a man Uh, taking those handcuffs off and allowing him to be the Odell Beckham that we we we've loved to see that makes the the spectacular grabs, that makes the

yards after catch. He's playing well and you got him with Cooper cups things a whole lot different. You could call him emmony and ivory. You can call him hot chocolate and and and marshmallows brick. Hey, them brothers are singing a good song and a great combination. Right. It's awesome right just watching them play. But you know, Matthew Stafford is battling a lot of injuries. The Rams have had some injuries. Uh you know a little bit with with Worth and some of those guys on offense line.

But they're playing great and uh can make him coming back. He's been a spark plug. So there you have it. Those are the keys to victory for Super Bowl fifty six. Let's happened and you ordered to me? So cut cut cut, hey man, Welcome to the Cut to a podcast. Man, Chris Canty, former defensive tackle. Also you played into you played a lot of different things for a big man. You were very virtatile. Um, you know, the more you

can do, the longer you can stay around. You know that absolutely Super Bowl champ with the g Man with the New York Giants and then also being drafted by the Star by the Dallas Cowboys attend the Universe Ship Virginia. Man. Welcome to to cut to a podcast with Steve Smith and draw a little John Man. Um, just thanks for taking the time. Um, you know at your busy schedule. Uh, you're in New York and traveling doing all the stuff

you're doing. Uh, you know, going out and Bristol. So I know, uh, you know, you take your time as a privilege and we don't want to uh, we don't want to overlook that. Now. I appreciate you guys having me yard if I'm glad I'm finally having an opportunity and having the privilege to be Yard. I can't believe that you had My Colles might go to Junior before me. But that's a story for another day. We'll have to get that straight. That's my fault, Chris. I'm sorry you ran.

You ran into that one on your We weren't gonna weren't with the That's what's up, man. I mean, listen, I can't say enough good things about what you've done in your post playing career, not only the stuff that you're doing the sports media, but the stuff that you're doing the community, man, and just that leadership that you've shown, that you've demonstrated, um is something to be admired and it's something that's also inspiring for the next generation of

athletes following behind you. Well, I appreciate it, bro, I appreciate it. Man. Let's get let's let's let's get to the fun stuff. Man. So if you had one extra hour a free time a day, how would you use it? I use it to workout because I need to start getting back into working out. It's hard for me to get motivated to work out when it's not a check

on the other end of it. And with the twenty four hours that I have between the business ventures that I got going on and then the sports media stuff making sure that I'm on top of the latest news and notes from around the sports world. UM, it just doesn't seem like I have enough time. Also, just got engaged or you got appreciate, appreciated. It's going it down in August and Chicago finally settled down a wonderful woman. Um.

I also got to invest in that relationship too. So it's just like it doesn't seem like there's enough hours in the day to get everything that I need to get done. And so the one part that's kind of falling off since I stopped playing is making sure that I'm regularly in the gym. So if I had an extra hour every day, absolutely put that toward working out. Man. I I just think that man, when you work out and you push yourself through it and you're forced to

do it. Man, when you have that that freedom, you just go, no, I'm good, you just go. Then something then something happens, like the mirror hit you that you got that mirror coming you look, you go, oh, I just ain't what I used to be. And then you get Then you get on the scale for further confirmation that scales say you fat boy, Yeah that's what got because you know I'm six eight, so you know I can stretch, Yeah, stretch. You think you can stretch ahead?

I think, I think. But when I stepped on that scale and I saw a number, and going back to last year when we were in the middle of the pandemic, I saw a number that I've never seen before. I was like, wait a minute, dog, I was like those pandemic snaps different, yes, exactly. Like it's one thing to be in the Three Hunters, but when you start being on the other side of three fifty, that's when I realized. I was like, all right, we gotta problem. We gotta

scale this thing way back. Hey bro, I got up to three. I got up to two too. I got up to to fifteen. Yeah, and I'm five nine, So to fifteen on five nine. You you out here looking like Maurice Jones. Leave my dog alone, man, leave stop it. So I got love for dog too. That's why I can keep it one h always love. Don't like that. I don't like that. That's always loved. Alright, alright, let's move on. We've digressed. Hey man, what are you most

grateful for right now? I'm most grateful for the relationship that I'm in right now, Like this is a new chapter for me, getting engaged and Q chapter mel Melon. I have been together for four years now, and just it felt like this was the official start to my life after football, like meeting her and courting her and then just the growth that I've seen in her and the growth that I've seen in myself. Um, I'm grateful for that. Man, I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful for

my family. Everybody in my immediate family made it through the pandemic. You know, I know we're still kind of dealing with a couple of variants, but everybody is healthy, everybody's good, you know, all blessings on that front. Man. And that's not something that I take for granted, because there are a lot of friends, a lot of former teammates who lost family members at various points during the pandemic.

And so I think that's that's been one of those things that's kind of gave me a new level of appreciation for just you know, health and strength and being able to to love on the people that you care about the most in this world, not missing those opportunities, trying not to get wrapped up when you follow up after what you just said and how you said it, and how you you know what you said is is sometimes we feel like we have to follow us something,

you know, you try to. I'm just going back on my career and just seeing people of that I enjoyed, but then also like some bug a booze or like pet Peeves, and I think in the locker room a lot of times it happens the one upper right, because you know and so and so the way he said, I just I kind of went backwards, something like, Man, I don't want to be that. So I'm I'm grateful for life, right. I think that's that's plenty, right, like being great because there's a lot of people who maybe

woke up and they didn't have that today. Yeah. Yeah, I just just after he said it, like I just going back in the cliche thing. Nah, but I just with with Chris is right now. With Chris is so different because we'll get into the football aspect. Man, me and Chris were teammates at the right time, at the

right moment, with the right perspective. Right, our perspective was so we were so unapologetic on our pursuit of being a Raven and being a bully and plane and establishing ourselves but also raising our level of expectation because Troy was still playing at the time, Troy Polamalu, right, Big

Bend was Big Ben. They had some good players. And that was my first time in Baltimore as a Raven, and I and and so much had transpired leading up to that of me proving myself as a Raven proving myself as still you know, a thirty six, thirty seven year old player. And Chris has known me for a long time, played against me, known me, and it was like, well, how much does he have left in the tank? And

Chris like Chris, Hello, d uh doom. There's a few guys that they were like, you understand what we got. And then there were some guys that like doubted me, like y'all bet all right, y'all, y'all gonna doubt, y'all gonna doubt Smithy're gonna see him. You're gonna find out real quick. And so we'll get into later talking ball on that. Because I had to establish my physics county and stabs myself very early. But I also fell into some mont Cheesemo, some some guy interaction that even in Baltimore,

it took him back a little bit. And and Hellot and Chris like some of those guys saw a part of me. They were like, see, I told you, y'all didn't poke the wrong Bann. No, that's true, that's true. But we do go way back. I mean even to when I was in college and you were with the Carolina Pathers. My parents still called the Charlotte Community Home, and so I had an opportunity to get to know Smitty before I even got into the league. And then my early days with the Dallas Cowboys. I remember you

used to invite me out to your annual golf outing. Um. But just the way that you carried yourself and the classes that you you exhibited, but then the dog that you had on the field, Like I was just like, if there's anybody that's doing this the right way in terms of being a top competitor but also being a stalwart in the community that Steve Smith like that that

was that was who he was. And so when he decided to to come to the Baltimore Ravens after his time with the Carolina Panthers, I was like, I know exactly what we're getting getting somebody that that embodies all of the things that we were proud to have on the defensive side of the ball, like the mentality in Baltimore with that organization, it's always been defense, it's always been rugged, it's always been dogs, and that was the element that we didn't have on that offensive side of

the ball. The Ravens lost that when they lost an Kwan Bolder and so when they got Steve's when we got Steve Smith, like it was like, okay, now we're back on. Like that's why we were in the playoffs because we had that identity on both sides of the ball. Yeah, it was, I mean from day one, Shocky Brown remember that, Oh I remember Say Brown had the hardware, had to learn the hardware. If anybody knows, you know, if you know football, there Big ten, Big twelve Man, Mountain, West

Pac ten Pac twelve, Like we're considered the cousin. Right, we were in the family of football, but we're really not respected and rightfully so looking at the bowl season this year, like we literally only had I think we are owing five right in bowls for Pact twelve, so we weren't. We are not really looked at as a yeah, we're not right. But Shocky Brown, who We're good. Now we're cool. We were actually in a buddy of former

teammates wedding together. But man, we get there and Shocky's a Texas dude, right, I'm talking about He's he went to Texas physicality all that stuff, and Shocky was was he was a talker, but he wasn't. All football players are talkers, right, there. They jabbed, they talked, They they're funny, but they also extremely competitive, right, vinegar and water. When it comes to competitive when they're in Baltimore, they keep it really competitive, like they keep counting and man, me

and Shocky used to go at it. And I would come in and you've heard a lot of teammates I come in and in Baltimore, I had like I knew I had to earn my stripes. There was a question mark of can old dude still play? And I came in and Shocky tried me, and uh Ladarius tried me. There was a few dudes when I say tried me, We're sitting there and they would be in the cafeteria and just to say something, what you're doing today, old man? And I used to always time I say, listen, you

can press me. Just don't hit me in my face mask remember in the in the calf don't hit me in my face. Man, Ninja, what you're gonna do if I hit you in your face? I'm just telling you, I'm not gonna waste my eggs today. When I'm telling me when we get on that already prepping over over breakfast, right, And that's how it was Baltimore was. It was challenging when you walked in the room, when you walked in the facility, you better be on your piece and ques

your game will be challenged. And so we would just go at it and show its Ladarius. It was a lot of those guys. They would challenge me, sis, who's my locker made? Man? They're talking about blah blah blah. Let me see what you got today? Eight nine? What you got? And so it's scissors. I'm in the middle. Scissors to the right. Knthy is one over? Doom was over there too, was over there, Elvis Doomerville, Um, hello Ti nada Um? Who else? Who else was? Who else

was who? On Park Avenue? Oh Jimmy Jimmy smithe he was a lot of money on that. It was I just I was like, wait a minute, I got I got a simmer with that with that metaphor. Shoot, you'll probably about four hundred million dollars worth the earnest on there. Like Helloi was in his third contract. I was on my third or fourth contract. Six man, you know he was on his third. It was a third or four.

It will hold bunch of us. It was shoot, I'm telling you probably you'll probably half a billion dollars worth the on that on there. But you know what's funny, Smithy you say that, But the way we went to work, we set the toe. You would have never you would have never known it. It was like it was like there was a lot of money, but guys grinded like we were on our rookie deals, like we were still trying to prove. The outlier was Shocky Brown, That's what it was. That was shot bround. He was. He was

like trade Stree. He was over there, bro No, he was like public Works was probably sat James for right, I probably like st James right right. So he's sitting there and so in practice, so he hit. He hits me in my face mask and I said something and Spaggs was a dB coach at the time, spack noah, And I said something to him. I said, yo, you guy hit me and Spags looked at me. Chris looked at me. I was like, you ain't gonna do nothing. I he Chris saw, look at my eye. This is

a middle train. He saw, look at my eye. I walked over there and I said, y'all, I'm fucked up now and walked back I put my red mouth piece in my mouth, button up my chin strap. The next play, we had to break down into wire receivers and DB's blocking, and a wide receiver was the running back. The receiver was the blocker corner. So I go up to go

but uh, oklahoma drip, Yes, I go up. But one of the guys that was supposed to go up was a guy respected right he and I was like, man, I'm not in the right frame of mind, and Shocky says, no, don't worry about a dog. I'll go next. Right here we go. We lined up, strap up, put my mouth piece in my mouth. Bobby Ingram heck the wire receivers coach, Now he's the Titans coach. Blows the whistle. We run boom. After we hit, Shocky helmet pops up. Now how does

Chris No? First of all, it's buzzing around there. That Steve is hot. He's on a tangent. Then they also watched it as a unit, and the coaches on the iPad rewatched it because you know what happened after we collided. Guess what Shocky did not know we was about to do. What do you think we did? I mean, if this Oklahoma drial. He probably mad, right you are you ready to scrap? Okay, tell him what I did. Right after we hit collided, Shocky pulls down his helmet. What did

I do? You just let him know what it was. I started boxing him. Literally, boom boom, boot started hitting him. Oh that's right. Helpt pops up, helmet pops up. He puts it down. And now I'm throwing haymakers underneath his chin strap and he's Paul's eating them. That that's right. Because we got back in the locker room. I remember we got back in the locker room because he got back about all we He com back saying was that that Mr. T Line, I pity the fool, And you

just kept saying that about Brown. You got pity the food by Steve Smith. But see here the other that you got. He got pity the food by by by Steve Smith. But but I think in that moment he was Agent eighty nine. So what you gotta understand, like with Steve like he's got split personalities. It's like three or four different Steve Smith like you no no disrespect. They they none of them are offended. Right now, I'm

not Steve. There's Mr Smith, there's the Smitty and then there's Agent eighty nine, and in that moment it was Agent eighty nine. When you put that mouthpiece in, it was something August Man. Here's the thing. I knew how it was gonna end. Shocky Brown didn't. But what Steve didn't tell you was Shocky was always one of those dudes that was popping off in the locker room. Was we felt like, and as veteran players, were like, Okay, that's cool, but you're doing a lot of talking and

we're not seeing the production. So we wanted to let it play out because we felt like this would be a lesson for Shocky so we can learn, so he could be a more productive player and help us win. Like this was a means too and there for us. Yeah, yeah, SIS knew what's gonna happen, Like in other words, we

can show you better than we can tell you. But the problem, the problem, See we had to but see we had told him that the ball, you gotta go out there ball, but when you pop off, you're gonna run up on the wrong one and you're gonna learn today. And that's exactly what I talked. Here's the problem, though, No boys talking to me off the ledge because it was gonna go. It was going down in the locker room till this day, which is is sad and I'm not saying in a bragging way. Shocky was sitting in

his locker in full uniform. Remember he had his helmet own because I told him they coach is like, hey, y'all taking the locker room. Since said no, coach with since like don't know, we we gotta keep practicing. Yeah, Bro, I sat. They literally hello, the few of them is like, man, keep it out of the locker room. Because Shocky was sitting in his locker with his pass on because he expected what I expected. It was gonna go there. It was gonna be as we say, it was not a

little bit. It was gonna be a whole bunch of furniture moving and and sins. Actually it was one since like don't do it, bro, because I was at the point I was on red. I had the cold to the new button and I was pushing it and the boys like, don't do it. You already got two strikes, Steve, don't and we said we literally he sat, you want to see get put behind the wall. Oh it was gold as the season went on. Shocky's biggest encouragement, his biggest cheerleader was me when he made a play. I

was the first person to let him know. It took me probably about three or four weeks, because I actually was so hot. I had put him in my phone. I had a little I had put a reminder on my phone. I said, moving forward, Now, bro, when when you check in, I'm putting you on notice my goal on Monday, whooped? Shock, He's asked. Wednesday, whoop? Shock, He's ask And I had actually put it in my calendar every day whoop. And he walked over and told him in his locker like we're going out of every day.

I'm gonna whoop your ass. Ye. And finally, but after about three weeks, I was like, look, you can play in this league. Just keep your mouth closed, chopped wood. You'll be all right. And unfortunately we had sustained some injuries, like two games in that actually ended up or he had to make a play and if you go back that play I get I made against the Cincinnati Bengals to win the game, comes back and to play that A J. A J. Green made Guess who that corner was?

Who was on Jack Brown, but instead of putting them down, we all encouraged them to let him know that he had earned his stripes to that mistake was not who he was moving forward. That A J. Brown is just a damn really cood player. H A J. Yeah, A J. Green And he is a pro bowler and he just had you to that. I love Cut to It and I love it even more when you download us and subscribe, and you can follow us on social media too, Smithie where where at? That's at? Cut to It on Instagram?

What about Twitter? At? Cut to It Facebook? Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr? What about online? And you can follow us at cut to It podcast dot com where you can buy merch and you can subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. I got all my answers questions. Uh yeah, I got all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother, cut to It Podcast dot Com. I would love to get your take

on this. Chris is what's the psyche as as as Steve talks about the dynamic in the makeup of the locker room from your advantage point to Chris playing with not only the Baltimore Ravens, at that time. But with the Giants win the Super Bowl and with the Dallas Cowboys, what's the psyche of a playoff team in now is we're getting ready going to the playoffs and subsequently leading to the super Bowl. What's the psyche of then a

super Bowl winning team? Like bringing it all together those different types of personality, traits and characters, well, the mentality is not the same. When I was with the Dallas Cowboys and we were in the playoffs that that was arguably the most talented team that I've ever been a part of. In two thousand and seven, we were thirteen and three, the number one seed in the conference, and we were one and done. We lost to the eventual

Super Bowl champion New York Giants. Now, that was a team in our division that we had boat race twice in the regular season. But when it comes to success in the postseason, and Steve can attest this, it's not just about being able to have talent. It's about the chemistry. It's about the culture that you have in the building. And that's what allowed my Giants team inven to win the Chip. Like to this day, that's the only team not to have double digit wins to actually win the

Super Bowl. And the reason for that, the reason why we were able to survive a stretched during the regular season where we lost four straight games, was because you had the right mix of guys in that locker room. You had a core players that had a confidence that they could get it done because a lot of them have done it before four years earlier. But then you also had some guys that were hungry and that we're trying to prove that they were elite players in this league.

There were guys that were trying to establish themselves as young players. It was the right blend. It wasn't always sunshine and roses in that locker room. I didn't like every player in that locker room, but I loved every player in that locker room. And to Steve's point, that's why you ride. It's gotta be about something bigger than yourself when you go out there and play, especially in the biggest stages, in the biggest games in this league.

If it's only about you, you can make selfish decisions, you can make business decisions that don't necessarily lead to team success. But when it's about the guy next to you, there's a certain sacrifice and the trust level. There's a certain trust that you're willing to repay with sacrificing your body for the greater good. Like Tom Coffley used to stand up in front of us all the time and he would say, my job as a coach is to be your mirror. All I do is tell you what

I see. The other thing that I'm responsible for doing is trying to get you to do what you don't want to do so you can become what you want to become. I think that twenty eleven Giants team is a perfect example of that because we were not the most talented team in the NFL. We were not like you guys, hit it at the right moment. And it's also it's also hitting it at the right moment. You

gotta think about it, y'all. Had I believe r J mccorters right as a dB No, R R W whatn't on that team he was on the two thousand and seventeen had Grant. Yes. Yeah, so you had you had some players basically where they at the elite level on paper. No, but when you win against them, man whom some with guns was elite. They could tell you what route you're running. They get they could watch this watch that they they had.

They spent enough time studying, and when they played, they were well versed, well prepared, and the anticipation of the play calling was dynamic and they were able to execute it as well. Right as. I think that's one of the biggest things that I think young folks that are playing today lack, which is finishing and extra cusham because I am and noticed as you didn't say talent. Nope, because mom, you can be a high energy practice guy, but if on whatever designated day you're playing, if you

don't execute, then that high energy doesn't mean anything. You can go to work and have a lot of high energy, but if you get fired, guess what, you ain't got a paycheck. Right soection and I think, and I believe sometimes people think about because this football stuff now, sports has become more too about personality and sometimes you can fool people. And I'm not gonna name no native, but I'm just saying I'm not trying to like talk around Caroline.

I'm talking about the league overall. You can have some players who are really good in the community, but pisspoort execution on Sunday and it takes you a while to figure out there they're fraudulent, that they're fakes CEO's that what they really are are managers, shift managers who can hide behind stuff. But when you're real. CEO C he was a D tackle, So he was a CEO of Chris knty LLC as a D tackle and he went

against the guards and a center who were CEOs. And you found out real quickly that CEO that business, that company a lot better than that other company he was going up against. And and and that's the that's the difference these young these young guys. And there's guys like Cooper Cup, that young man, he figures it out and he's a great executor, right, great finisher man. But there's some players out there, and I'm not naming names or trying to say that, but I just I'm trying to

be honest. Not all fifty three guys on the roster are great. Some of them are just buddass average, right, and it's nothing wrong with it. But because they have that star or that emblem, that shield, they get a hall pass man that shield, that star can't say you're asking on between the white lines and they say say, go it's four, it's four. Ft three playing against playing against him, is four ft three playing against Chris Canty. He's with whoever he's with. We're going four front three.

They gotta pass it, Chris. Can you know they're gonna either run some kind of trickeration run the screen. But if they if they don't run this screen and they run in the past. And he knows I'm on the other side. He knows they're going to one guy. He's gonna be the first look. And that first look is gonna beat me. And so I'm looking at the Chris is looking at me. They all look at me. Check this, check that, and I'm looking going. I gotta answer because I can't let I can't let the men and women.

And I said women, because all these men have women and children that depend on they're doing their job. And then when the quarterback delivers the ball, I can't let them down. I can't take food off the table, mix take gas out of their minivans. And so I'm going and I realize what it is. And so football, man, football is one of those things. It gives you so much. It can buy you and and and and free you up to do things that man, I I just feel it I feel me and Chris and a lot of

guys we've had on this podcast as professional players professionals. Man, I lived a thousand kings lives. I'm living in palaces. I've been able to We've been able to travel the world do things. But that's because we execute. And I'm not saying it in a flex I'm not saying it now.

I'm just saying what it is. But at the end of the day, it goes to if you can execute, and you can do it, and you can follow through, and you have that ability to keep everything together, and it's probably one of the things that you can never duplicate.

And you can do it with men that you've swept with that they know your hustle, they know they grind, but they also know your failures, and they they know your skeletons because they've watched you suffering the weight room, get injured in the training room, bury your heart and your soul. Cry when you get injured, look in the eyes and the souls of men after they've lost and been defeated, and then do it all over again them all. Yeah,

that's the beautiful part about sports. But also football, man, and I think that football is the greatest team game because you got to have all the leven seed in the same way in order to be successful in any giving play. And the thing that you said, Steve, that really resonated right there is like the game of football paid you back. And when you say that, people automatically go to the money, but you also go to the relationship. Like I mean, there are guys that I played with

college and pro those are gonna be lifelong brothers. And the reason why it's like that because they see the sacrifice that I was willing to make for them, not the fakes academics develop the bar that the that that developed, the bar that developed a trust level like that guy knew that he could depend on me, that how and how he feeds his family is depending on how I'm gonna play on Sunday. He knew he could depend on me.

And that's important. And that's because we're in the weight room, we're on the field together, and he sees, man, Tuesday, we did it wrong. Ain't no off, that, ain't no Wednesday. We did Wednesday, we did it wrong. Thursday we did three out of five. Right Friday we walking through it. Saturday is our last opportunity I don't know, coach, look at him, he'll get it. And then on Sunday he got it. He didn't just get it, he blew it up. Tackle the guy calls the fumble, We picked it up.

And then all of a sudden and I'm in the same weight room as him, maybe doing I know for a fact, doing a lot less weights than Chris and then giving a ball. So just just all of that. Man, you know, talk about you went to Dallas Cowboys. Man, talk about that star that start gives some guys, some average dudes. Man that started, that started like a that started like three billion dollars. Man, you see an ugly brother, that's you see. You know what they say is man,

money is not everything, but it's right there. Up. What actually did you know? I take It's nice to happen. I turn it down and you go. You go fourth round hundred and thirty second overall pick out of Virginia, University of Virginia, and you go there and tell me to impact a plan for America's team with the Dallas Cowboys. And you guys wanted probably the most and most intriguing, intense, straightforward, but yet sometimes will play what's your mind with Bill Parcels.

So for me, Um getting drafted Dallas was cool, but I wasn't excited about it because I went in the fourth round and I thought I was gonna be, you know, a first round pick or a second round pick. But I had some major injuries coming out of college. This located my knee towards three ligaments, and then I had a detached retina. So I'm getting the Dallas and then they got a ton of injury concerns around me. They don't even know if I might ever be able to

play football again. So I'm pissed about the situation. But I go into it Um with a lot of experience. And I say a lot of experience because I played for al grow at the University of Virginia, and anybody that knows football knows that role was one of parts. Yeah, round of een. But he was one of bill ourselves lieutenants when he was with the New York Giants winning Super Bowls. So at the time, Bill was switching from a four three defense to a thirty four defense. And

that's all I played in college. So when I get into the locker room, I'm with guys like le Roy Glover and Greg Ellis and um, you know they're trying to ask me about what we're doing defensively. Hell, even Mike Zimmers asking me about how the defensive front needs to be called in order to be able to play stack defense because I played stack defense for four years

in college. And oh, by the way, one of my mentors while I was in Charlottesville was how we long because he lived there, so I knew pretty much everything there is to know about three or four defense. So with the che from that standpoint, it wasn't it wasn't a it wasn't a huge, huge learned curve for me.

The biggest adjustment for me was going up against grown men and and the thing that going to Dallas did for me was I got a chance to practice against Larry Allen and flows Hell Adams every single day, every single day. I remember my first training camp practice. I had a one on one pass rush against Larry Allen. I try to I try to bullshit spin move and he caught me mid spin it chokes slamming and then

started sea walking. And I looked at my defensive line coach, Casey Rodgers, and he said, I got good news, and I got bad news. I said well, hell, what's the what's the good news? The good news is that's about as best as you're gonna see for the rest of your career. I said, Okay, well, what's the bad news. The bad news is you're gonna practice again that song

every day. But but, but, but but that was what allowed me to learn the NFL game, kind of like that teachable moment that Shocky Brown had with Steve Smith. That was my teachable moment in a much different way. But he was right because I never went into a game and felt overwhelmed by any of the opponents that I was going up again. Cut. Let's get down to it. Hey, Gerard, why did you get that T shirt? You mean, Oh, yes, I got it from cut to a podcast dot com

where we have exclusive merchandise. Shout out to our guys at seven or four shot. But yeah, you can go on, buy you a T shirt, subscribe to us wheever you listen to podcasts. Steve, I think you hit on something that not a lot of people talk about. But it's a real thing. Dallas does make guys stars literally and figuratively.

The problem with that is guys think there are a lot better than they actually are, and That's that's why Cowboys haven't won a championship since n That's that's why they have this perception of what they are, and sometimes that gets in the way of doing the things that are hard in order to move your program forward, making sure that on a day in, day out basis, guys are grinding. It's too comfortable down there in Dallas. More often than not, it's too because everybody's praising you. Bill

Parcelles to say, don't take the cheese. Don't take the cheese. But when you have an owner and Jerry Jones that loves stars and caters to them, it makes it tough to have the right mindset in order to compete and win at the highest levels of their sport. M I love Jered Jones. I'm just saying that's the reality. Well, the reason I brought it. I brought that up is because there are some players over the years. Das Bryant,

he's a star, he's a hell of a player. He was a guy that you have to he kept offensive coordinators count. Oh yeah, absolutely. There's a guy like Miles Austin who he played well, but because he played for Dallas, he was a superstar. But then when you look at his statistics. You hear the word superstar and you look at the stats and my man is under ten thousand yards total. That ain't a superstar, right, and it's not shaded. But hey, but when we were playing down there, he's

dat kept Kardashian, Let's see what I'm saying. Yeah, and it's it's Tony Romo was just a consumption. He's a star. That's just what it is. But sometimes all of that stuff can get in the way of a team focusing on the things that's gonna help them do high of a winning steve. I'm telling you, man, fifteen Pro Bowlers and two thousand and seven, if you didn't make the Pro Bowl, you was an alternate. That That's how it

was with the Cowboys because we were that good. So then how did you not take the cheese we did? Know I'm saying no, no, no, I'm talking about you. I'm talking about you individually. I know I'm not saying collect I'm talking about you you individually. Well, I was still I was still Poe. I was, you know, thinking body slam making two hundred dollars a year. You like, I ain't got tired. You brought it back up. I was gonna ask you, what was your viewer that seawalk like?

Was it more snoopish or was it more like littleish? I don't know from my perspective, flat on my back, how it was your few of it that kind of DJ quick as as Less Brown would saying, when you get knocked down, if you could look up, get up boy Christmas Like I don't want to get up. I thought I thought he broke some Categorize your NFL experience. Um, you talked about Dallas. Now you you're transitioning to a

you're not also now just in a historical organization. Now you're in with the Gotham city right now, you're in New York, New Jersey. High expectations. Right you're on the

team with a Manning, You got Michael straight hand. You know, you got all of these guys on the team, and then you got the expectations, and y'all are kind of you're living in a little bit the expectation on football field, and you let them folks down, right, you give them a little bit, just just just a little taste, and all of a sudden, you you know, you don't live up to the expectations. So what was your NFL experience after leaving Dallas becoming the free agent going to the

to the Giants. Yeah, so for me, I'm I'm from New York. I was born in New New York. Um, so it was an opportunity to come back to the crib Um and that they gave me a monster contract, like and I remember being in Jerry Reese's office and being a contract offer and I was like, well, this ain't what I wanted, Like I wanted a certain number in my average annual value and Jerry Reese was like, well, I can't pay you that because we got guys that have made Pro Bowls and want Super Bowls that that

aren't getting paid that. And I told Jerry reach that sounds like a youth problem. Like if you don't, if you can't give me my money, then I'm going somewhere else. And I already had another team that was on deck, and I was ready to fly me from New York to their place and get the deal done. And so they ended up doing the deal. And it was this huge relief because I and grinding for four years trying

to get to this paper. And and so that first year in New York was kind of like a paid vacation for me, Like I wasn't the best version of myself. I was eating good. It was Del Frisco's, it was s t K. I'm partying in Greenhouse, Mr Child kicking I'm kicking it, Mr Child's, I'm kicking it with the Knicks players, the Yankees dudes, like you know, because everybody knows my name and I got that bag and I'm from the So it's just like I'm just living it up like you know them six in front of them too.

That's what it was. Any giving day of the week, if you were trying to figure out what the night spot was, guys would come to me because I knew it was cracked. Like I knew I had a schedule. Like it wasn't about working out. It was like, Okay, this club on this night? Is this club on this Like I was living it like that that first year. Jerry Rees absolutely did not get his money. When le give us a guerience, give me a good close. No

oh no, no, man, he got illustrations. I love it. Yeah, yeah, photos. I ain't got no illustrations. I gotta plug my power for it. Yeah, it's getting white boy. I don't want. I thought he was getting an external hard drive. Let me tell you so, I can't let y'all get that evidence. Let me let me tell you something. I need permission. I need permission slipped from a lot of guys before I get to them. Store and my guest room. Ain't never had a six ft ay dude in the guest room.

I don't even know what that band looks like compared to you, my my house, we got the band, imidges, it's compared to even We used to kick it. We used to kick it heavy. But after that first year, um, that was time for me to just kind of relax and enjoy having the financial security. But then I got refocused on Okay, this is my career. Let me make sure I'm a professional. We're trying to accomplish something here.

We got a core guys that could actually do some winning, and I got back on my grind because I wanted Like every NFL player, they want to have that championship ring on their resume, and especially in a place like New York. Like you win in New York, they will never forget you. Like a part of why I'm working in sports media now is because I got that Super Bowl ring in two thousand and level, you know, So it's just one of those things like I got back

on that type of grind Um. Two thousand and ten, we won ten games, but we didn't get into the playoffs, and then obviously to eleven we sneak into the playoffs, went into Division against the Cowboys in week seventeen, and then uh we went on a run from there in twelve. When the Giants decided that they were gonna cut me after that season, that was one of those things that was hard to swallow because it was the place that

I wanted to be. It was the guys that I wanted to be working with UM, and for the first time in my football career, I was told I wasn't

good enough. You know, I got fired UM. And that's kind of one of those things that drove me to want to go to Baltimore because that was a franchise that had a lot of cast offs, had a lot of misfits, a lot of guys that had the same mentality, and so I wanted to be a part of what IDIA put together just because I had my own acta grind, which was to try to prove the Jerry's and the New York Giants that they made a mistake in getting rid of it. Um. And that's where I actually rediscovered

my passion for football. Um, you know, taking it back to when I first started playing in high school. Because it wasn't about the money, it wasn't about a quest for a ring, it wasn't about some agenda. It was about just enjoying the opportunity to dominate the man across from me every single play. And that was the collective mentality of the Raiders. What do you mean specifically your

passion you you reignited your passion for football. People would naturally assume that as athletes, you guys eat, sleep, breathed, that's the only thing. And the business of corporate America, like everyone doesn't wake up like you know what, I can't wait to get to work, right, Like you have other things that you are that you have within your life. I would I would disagree you you have to do in the season, you have to eat, breathe football because

outside of outside of plane. So that's what he's saying. He So, is that what you're saying when you lost your passion? No, No, that's not what I'm saying. It's like the business side of football can sometimes get in the way of your passion for the game. And so for me, like I was riding high after we won the Super Bowl, but then I had to have a knee surgery, I had to have an eye surgery. Only played in eight games in twelve and then the Giants

cut me. So when they cut me, it's like, damn, I got told for the first time I wasn't good enough, and that that that hurt me in a way that it wasn't kind of affected me. It wasn't yeah, it wasn't your fault. Like some of that you get it if you don't wake up and say, man, let me get a knee injury to day, right, especially especially microfractic, like I had to have microfractice. So it's just like it's one of those things like, man, like why is all of this happening to me? Why are they doing

this to me? Why is this going down? Like that? It just it takes away from it because like there's an underbelly to the sport, and it's just like we don't we're getting rid of you. We don't want you here anymore. Like imagine this, you want a Super Bowl the year before. They called you in after the next year and they say, we appreciate everything you dove was, but we're cutting you today or we're firing you today. We got X, Y, and Z. They're gonna clear out

the locker for you and this organization. Where do you want your stuff? Ship? Like what we want your whole life, your whole life of your locker and they box it up and they ask you where would you like it to be? What did you do with that stuff? How how did you handle that? It's still in a box in my crib in South Carolina? Now, man, it's still in the box. Bro. I still hadn't I still hadn't even gone through it. And it's crazy, man, because these are people that tried to frame it as this is family.

We were all in this together, like this is you know, And yet when they fired me, I talked to the general manager, he fired me. I talked to Coach Coughlin, and then when I got back out of Coach Carflin's office, they had a security officer there escort me out of the building to my car like after we like that's what I'm saying, Like we worked together to put this trophy in the trophy case. And then this is how

you treat me. So again, when I say rediscovering my passion for football, I don't necessarily mean it in the sense that I didn't love the game at some point. I just didn't like the business of the game. But I was able to put all that to the side in Baltimore just because of the mentality that the general manager, Ozzy K. Newsom had and the mentality that the guys in the locker room had, which which was, listen, all of us and misfits. All of us are rejects, and

guess what, we're gonna shove it up. Everybody else is asking the NFL, and that's why we brought you here. What's funny? Mystery. They may still have all of my stuff. When I was in Baltimore, I had to. When I was in Carolina, I had two lockers, the locker of my of my stuff and then my shoes because my custom shoes, because of my feet and all that stuff.

But when they cut me, I grabbed my photos, I grabbed my mouthpiece, I grabbed some significant things, and I grabbed my shoulder pats, all other panthers stuff that they had, all my cleats, I left it. The ship is still in there. Donny was like, hey, you know, if you want that, I'm good. You can have three four boxes of stuff still sitting in there, my name labeled on there, and I go, no, I don't want it. One it's not I don't want it because of I was upset.

It was a transition of business. I'm not wearing that like back out in the community. Like you ain't gonna see me walking through the grocery stores. Some panther gear cleiks like to use them. Let me get this avocado right, And it's just because you're going on to the next team. So the only thing I had is my my stuff that was essential to me that I needed. And then my shoulder pass, my shoulder pass for the same shoulder

pass I wore my whole career warm in Baltimore. They try to give me the change because of the color. I was like, no, I want those shoulder paths. But you just a business aspect of it. Man. It's so I wouldn't say grime me, but it's a business right, And it's man, we love you until you cannot work for us anymore. Will be cordial. Don't make a big scene. Right, security is gonna walk you down for me, and they

cut me. Already knew that was cutting, all right. My deal was don't make me drive my ass down there at eight o'clock when you knew you was gonna know you're gonna do it. You knew he was gonna come me last night. Because now, man, I'm me. I told him Smitty Steve steven asian A nine, I'm at the fool. So if you cut me Saturday morning, and you knew Friday night or Thursday afternoon he was gonna cut me, yo,

that's better cut me today. You know you're gonna cut me because if I drive trying made this extra trip, if I try, if I tried, if I get my cup of coffee, want my car run and I gotta turn back around, I got turn back around. Somebody gonna catch these hands. You exactly right. And not only did they make me burn my gas when I got cut by the but I had to pay that toll coming in New Jersey. I feel like that to be I need and you emotionally unstable. Still you drive past that

hole like that five dollars they knew they could have saved. Man, I need to expense this man, that man, you gave us. You gave us all that we asked for and more. Brother, it's been a privileged only to talk to you, man, teammate, a brother, dude. I admire man. Uh a halfway Charlotte, Tim, but that my man is I love Charlotte. He loves Charlotte.

But I'm from l a from Brooklyn man. At the end of the day, right and uh absolutely, Steve, It's an honor, the privilege to be on your podcast and the feeling the mutual in terms of your impact on my life. And I just want to continue to to to send good vibes and blessings over you and your family. And again I can't I can't say enough about the work that you're doing the community. Man. Keep doing that, man, and not a lot of people talk about it, but there's a need for that man, the work that you

do with domestic violence and highlighting that man. Continue with that. Brother. We love you for that. Appreciate your brother. You are a unique person. You are well worth it, you are competent and most of all, your lovable. I'm Steve Smith Singer, I'm Gerard little John and this is cut to it. Cut to it, with Steve Smith Senior. That Is Me is a production of Cut to It LLC, Balto Creative Media,

The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. For more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio Apple Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. From Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith, SINGR co host Gerard Little John, talent in booking manager Joe Fusci, Social media team Wesley Robinson and John Show from Balto Creative Media. Cut to It is produced by Ryan Falka Chevic and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrec.

Production coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. If you ain't heard about it, then we're about to let you know. It's all