Highlight Reels: Storytime with NFL Legends

We're bringing you another compilation of some of my favorite stories from games.

With names, and that's called now. Terry Bradshaw on the Greatest play in NFL History.

So why did we pick this game the immaculate reception.

Well, it's the most famous play still to the voted on by whomever sports writers or coaches or fans as the greatest play in the history of the NFL, which is we're talking to one hundred years of history. So it's pretty amazing. Hard to believe it's still the number one play because, as I said, there are a lot

Hey, great season, great season.

He didn't even see the play.

He didn't know we won. Yeah wow.

I guess for all of those reasons, that's the reason why.

Next up, Howie Long on his nineteen eighty four Raiders defense and key matchups that led to their Super Bowl victory.

They were a physical team that forced you to match their physicality, and few teams could do that. And you know, you think about their wide receiving cores. You know Garrett Monk or Monk, Hall of Famers, Hall of Famers, good as guy, Lady Warren and Walker. You know those the tight ends were. You know, they were guys who were committed. They go two three tight ends, they load up, and the first thing you're thinking about, particularly in the three man front, is we've got to stop the run. We've

And we talk about the game getting so much bigger. I mean, that's a big man.

Well, Joe was an exceptionally big guy, and we knew where the ball was going. They knew where the ball was going, and I'm inside eye on Joe, on Joe, and you know, everyone around me was like, you know, you know, this is it. This is kind of a huge moment, and you know, we stuff it on fourth down or on third and third and short or fourth and d I'm not sure exactly what it was, but it ended up being one of the bigger players in

So we're in the other side though.

Charlie Sumner, who was an old bear or a legged old bear. You know, there were a lot of bears on our staff. Guys that played with Doug Atkins really really tough guys, and Charlie was a great coordinator, and uh, we were simple.

We didn't we We ran.

Maybe two blitzes a game because our corners didn't have to even get in the huddle because they were in cover one or you know. And our guy from Mike Haynes Haynes and Lester Hayes, and they were two very different. Lester was a converted linebacker playing corner from Texas A and m I think, and Mike Haynes was poetry and you know, just mirrored what it was kind of like Reevus. It was kind of like that kind of thing.

It was like, well, was he a smart did he study a bunch? Because usually what I always saw off with the best corners that I played with, they could cheat because they knew situationally what concepts you would run, said they would run the route for you because they were so dialed into formation. You know, Like that's what I saw with like the best I don't know, but there's some guys I don't know that just you just say cover him.

Lester in my mind, who should be in the Hall of Fame. Was a weekend in Vegas. Yeah, you know it was. He was up and on you, and it was all or you know, I'm hit me on a sixteen, you know what I mean. Yeah, Mike was it was like he was just looking in a mirror and just cover the shit out of him. Yeah, and could do it all day long.

Up next, Matt light on his early football journey.

Small little town, big farming community. I'd never seen a game until I played the one, right, so I didn't know Prudue was in the big ten. I'd never seen a college game. My dad severe polio growing up, right, we didn't do sports. We were into the outdoors, you know, pre eighteen hundred encampments, running around doing crazy stuff, hawking, knife competition, hunting, fishing.

Did ESPN stuff like where they would do like the Axcene and loved it.

Yeah, it was the best. Man.

I used to watch it.

You ever watched you guys know who Marty Stalfer is? You ever heard that name? No, I'm Marty Stalfer. Welcome to Our Wild America. That's like my favorite show growing up. Dude, he like take you out and show you neat thing, like here's a pine Martin. They're really clever and he like filmed him.

I mean it was awesome.

Dude, it's almost like Bob Ross meets you know, like David Attenborough.

David.

Yeah, there we go without the British accent. David Attenborough is a badass, So, sir, sir, by the way, Sir David Attenborough. So anyway, that was my world. Man, growing up, small little town. I had no idea to get a scholarship.

You didn't play high school You played high school football?

Oh yeah, man, I played well. My mom did not want me around. So like like I played pee wee, I was. I was in football in my life, but and terrible, really terrible. I was a tight end. I went to Purdue as a tight end for some unknown reason. I never did anything athletic. Ever, I was never a tight end in high school.

You keep on saying that, bro, you're like an undersized tackle. You have to be athletic.

Well, no, I I can, I could I have. I have decent short space quickness, I think is what they said. You know, here's an awesome one. Right, So for you, how did they describe you for the combine?

Do you remember that you do.

Remember the right up for your worker than fast doesn't have a position.

Do you guys have this right up can you guys research this right up?

Yeah?

Yeah, okay, go ahead, keep going.

Quicker than fast doesn't have a position played against shitty talent.

This is depressing. I wasn't going this route. Get it out though, get it over with because they were wrong. They were dead wrong.

Yeah they were.

But the but they describe things right, Like what I'm getting at is.

White guys smart, white works hard.

Yeah yeah, guy, guy, yeah, guy. I love how all white guys are guys.

You know what I mean?

Like blazing speed.

Nope, he's an effort guys.

The game's a gym rat.

Loves the game is in there.

I'm looking here. Ken State staff comments on Julian Edelman from Fall two thousand and eight, upper echelon worker, knows his physical limitations.

He likes better, likes to be s what's that mean?

Bullshit?

Wonderful start a podcast yelling at people.

We do love the bullshit. Once the ball in his hands, football in things will help him as a wide receiver, has the feet to play defensive back.

They're right about that.

Most competitive guy I've ever coached.

The see that seed.

But that's pretty good remarks, you know, mine said? All right, So there's a lot of things that that you can say about offensive lineman. Right, they talk about lower body strength, has a good wing span, real good punch, great drive off the ball, initial contact, you know, drops his hips. I mean, there's all kind of really short spaced quickness. Blah blah blah blah blah. None of that was said for me, you know, you know mine said, I swear to God. Basically mine was, He's coachable.

That's it. That's it. He's coachable.

And I don't even know why that would even translate to anything that would actually help me get drafted, But basically I was coachable and having never seen anything, never seen a draft in my life, when I got drafted by New England, I thought I was going to some other country.

I didn't know where New England was either.

I had no clue. Man, I wouldn't have been able to throw at dart and come close.

Now I knew me because of Madden.

I didn't know where Foxborough was though, never heard of it, because you guys were winning Super Bowl.

So I used to play with the guys there once in a while. Yeah, became relevant. Yeah, So that was my world.

Man, I didn't know anything about the game of football. You know, blessed to do it. And and honestly, man, you know, just just the people we got in those early years, especially man like the you know, I think back on these guys, these guys like Roman Fifer and Grant Williams and man, so many guys that you know, the uh Rodney man. Oh man, you know, Jermaine Wiggins, you know, gosh, man, we had Mike Compton's we had we had all these guys that we didn't have our

Yeah, you know what I mean.

Like I used to always say this man Bill could do it the way he did it, and he could drive all of our dicks in the dirt every single day because we were all in the same pit of despair. If if there was somebody that was up on a ledge looking down on us, that was a teammate, it wouldn't have worked, you know, when you and by the way, there were times that he did show some favoritism and that's when things got ugly in the locker room.

Defense on defense, but but but if we had a good practice on offense, we had a bad practice as a team. Yeah, like if we dominated the defense, we had.

A bad practice, no doubt.

Next we have Lashawn McCoy talking about his iconic snow game performances. But the elephant in the room leading up to this game the weather.

Yeah it was.

It was ugly.

It was sixteen point seven inches of snow. Didn't stop the entire game. Nine inches during the game.

Nine inches as Buffy, this is crazy. I said, boys, let me get the rock.

I got you, you said in that pregame, and get the rock, said in front of the whole team, the pre team where that of the offense.

Offense, boys, let me get the rock.

It was a cool game.

The cool thing about the snow where people don't understand is that I love it so much because when I get tackled, it's like falling on pillows.

Yeah, the big factors hit me. It don't hurt. Think about that hurt And they can't get the attraction. But I can sign me up. It's an advent.

I always played well on the snow as well as I house to punt in Chicago in the snow.

Did you did you play any like like college games and so yeah, Northern Illinois.

I went to schooling in Ohio, Kent State. Is this the best snow game of all time?

No?

You had another, another good one. I had twenty yards in the snow before. But before this or after before? What was you were with Philly? Who did you play? Detroit? Detroit?

You never seen that game?

That megatron they always show he has all the snow on his helmet. That's that's the game. I think that's the game. This is two hundred and then what was this one forty? Did you have one forty or.

One fifty fifty two? I believe so?

Are you the the greatest snow running back of all time?

Sorry?

I don't know.

I mean, I don't know other facts that's playing this though.

You know I'm gonna say yes.

I'm saying yes, not a It's not a bad answer. It's not a bad answer now, guys, but I don't know. I'm a humble guy, man, I'm humble.

Come on now now. Reggie Bush on winning the Heisman.

He's the cutback the Heisman moment, I think so, I think it is. I think that was a moment that's when you knew you had it? Were you still nervous?

Game?

Is when I felt like I had solidified it because it was still you know, talk about you know, some other guys.

I think Adrian Peterson was up for the Heisman Trophy this year. I think young Vince Young.

D' Angelo Williams was the Angelo.

Angelo.

Shout out to D'Angelo and Vince, my guys. And that's what I love about, you know, games like this. You know, there's I've built friendships with eyes now that you know, I played against Vince Young and they beat us, and me and him are you know cool now friends? And so you know, it's just it's just it's great. That's why I love the game. But I was cool Vince until I hit him and I broke my back. Fucking this wasn't like, this wasn't college Vince when he was

You know I hit him, Oh yeah, he was staying in a brick wall brick.

And I you know, you go high, you get a penalty because I was playing corner at a corner blitz.

Wait he was playing corner.

Yeah, I played corner with New England for a while, so I had a corner blitz.

And why don't I read? Why am I not play like four or.

Five games at corner when we into Super Bowl? Might have sound like it was a couple of years.

I'm like, the Super Bowl AFC Championship, I had, like why we were We were getting guys off the street, banged.

Up, guys hurt. I do remember this now we were banged up.

Next up, Antonio Gates on learning the game from scratch.

Walk me through how you transitioned in like that first training camp, that first whenever you got there, the mini camp.

Talk me through that.

Because I couldn't even get into a fucking receiver stance. Bro I watched my rookie mini camps. I watched my rookie mini camp recently or like a year ago, and I'm sitting here looking like the hunchback of Notre Dame trying to take off on a release. Walk me through how you transition because you didn't even play the spy.

Right, what dude, Like, you know what I'm saying, It's the same for everybody. Man, it's the it's the you know, it's the progression. It's stages, right, you know that's stage one for me and you that ain't that don't change, you know. For me, it was even you know, probably more complicated, you know, the range of which I had to come from because I didn't play college football. But I think it served me somewhat on an advantage because I didn't have any what I would like to consider credit.

Motion, remember right, yeah right, I'm not Yeah, I'm trying to see what covers of that, right.

So I got to a point I was so bad. They just told me to just stand up, just do what you want to do. Days.

Yeah, iuld stand up at the end of the line, I would do whatever because they got to be worried about what I'm doing at this point, why I'm worried about what they're doing.

So yeah, it got to that level. But the idea was I just remember learning watching who. I thought. Like when you said watching who, I thought, who is your guy? I mean, we had a guy called Eric named Eric Parker who played receiver from Tennessee and he was our starting receiver. And obviously you know we had Keenan mc carter came along, but Eric Parker to me initially was a guy who ran robs to the tea, dropped his weight.

Now.

Vernon Davis on his NFL Draft and Combine experience.

Going to the draft, it was, man, it was like I just kept hearing that song by eminem you only get one shot. I missed your chance to you know, opportunities come once in the lifetime. That song just kept going off inside my mind. Then when I got to the Combine, I started listening to that song and I just I knew I was only going to get one shot and if I didn't capitalize on it, that was it. Because being at Maryland, you know, I wasn't. Yeah, I was up for the MACKI every week and things of

And I did.

And in between that time, after I had my performance and getting drafted, oh that was all that was. My agent was coming up to me. He's like, you got a shot. You got a chance to get drafted the top top ten, top ten, it's always top ten. But I would go to these meetings and I started meeting with these teams, you know, you meet with the teams and things of that nature. And I met with the Jets and I knew they had the fourth pick they were get they had the fourth pick in the draft.

I just knew they won't.

Take meashaw Ferguson.

I put my head you wanted to be in the big apple. You wanted to be in the big apple. I wanted to be in a big apple.

Yeh.

Up next to Keishawn Johnson on his first playoff game in nineteen ninety eight.

First playoff game, Boy, did he leave an impact big time? What were the stats?

Do it all?

One?

Nine rights and touchdown to touch the interception, fumble recovery, bumble recovery.

Let me let me make sure we get it right so we can put some shine on this nine catches, one hundred and twenty one yards, ten rush yards, two touchdowns, should have been three. Called him down the one on one that was bs an interception in a fumble recovery.

I got called down on the one.

Yeah, there was one in the second top Chris Martin punches like it was like a it was like a seam throw of some sort in the red area fell down.

Now you got tackled on the one like it was you went up for the ball and like I don't even remember. See, that's that's when you know. Now Now, now you now that you told me that.

Next time I talk about this game, So mumba letting us SA should I should have had three touchdowns, right, three?

Damn, I should have had three. Should have had three? I didn't even Yeah, so yeah, I didn't know that. I didn't.

I don't remember because I really literally have never watched the game. Yeah, I mean, I don't even remember watching it back to get ready for the AFC Championship game. I don't remember watching the game. I mean I see the highlights of the game, but not the full game. You didn't see them very much. I'm just kind of trying to correlate. Probably divisional round.

You take all the bad from it and you move on, and you're already thinking about, yeah, the next game.

You know, that was my This was my first playoff game. But you know, I knew I could play. I'm not even worried about it. I don't know, that's the least of my worried. But when you don't have a quarterback, sometimes things don't go the way you need to.

But I had the.

Hot, hottest quarterback in the National Football League that year was Vinnie testa Verdi, who came in I think it was four games into the season. After we binge Glenn Foley, we brought in Vinnie. Vinnie didn't even play the entire season and yeah, I just I don't know, I just treated like a normal game. But that's you know, that was just the way I always as West, and it just happened to be my first playoff game.

Thanks for listening.

Remember to tune in every Tuesday for a brand new episode and every Sunday for another games with names Highlight Year