Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Perspectives - Fred Taylor

Transcript

Perspectives - Fred Taylor · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: The following presentation of the Jaguars Podcast Network is presented
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: by by Star Credit. Fred Taylor makes people smile. He
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: did when he left head swiveling, hips turning, and defenders confused,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: blazing by them on his way to the end zone.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: He could do things full speed most players couldn't imagine
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: doing while standing still. Today, Fred simply walks through the
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: door and people want to talk to him, to know
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the man who made them hold their breath every time
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: he touched the ball. This is Perspectives, the story of
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: the Jaguars first twenty five seasons told by the people
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: who built the franchise from the ground up. This is
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Fred Taylor. Taylor arrived in Jacksonville a hero in waiting.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: The six ft one two and thirty pounder played four
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: seasons in Gainsville. He was built the ball and he
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: knew it. It was just a matter of time. Everyone
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: else did too. There are so many memorable moments. Uh
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: my favorite moment um in the Jaguars uniform with it's
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: It's simply my rookie year against Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Um,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: My childhood best friend Guy played Pop Warner with we
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: met signing up, registering for the same UH park. We
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: ended up being uh Ridelle Anthony is who I'm talking about.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: We ended up being on the same team. Riedel was
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: a stud he was a great player from Pop Warner
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: and uh middle School, high school. We ended up going
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: to college same college, University of Florida, and uh Ridell
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: left as a junior and was drafted first round by
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Buccaneers and I ended up getting drafted the following year.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: UH here to Jacksonville and our rookie year. I remember
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: hanging out down at Ridail's place in Tampa and the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Mouth of the South. Mr Man Warren Sapp. We were
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: at SAP's place. UH we took his jet skis out
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: at three jet skis we took out to clear Water
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Beach and throughout the time, young stupid, very confident Fred
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Taylor says the SAP, Um, I'm gonna have a hundred
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: yards rushing on on your Buccaneers defense. And I remember
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: SAP saying, be careful, young man, don't write a check
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: your ass can't cash. And UH, I said, all right,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: we'll see about that. Fast forward to the game. I
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: believe it was a Sunday four pm kick in November,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: and the very first player of the game was a
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: run play tackle three yard loss and it was Warren
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Sapp and he stood over me and said that F
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: and Ch is gonna bounce today. And I was like, okay,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: we'll see about that very next play. Same result as
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: I recall it, if the same result, It's like, yeah,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: that's check gonna bounce today. Yo. Man, It's like, all right,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: it's okay. And in my mind, I'm I'm telling myself,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: what did you get yourself into? Well? Fast forward more
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: throughout the game. Read Hell would score. You know, he
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: blazed Aaron Beasley for seventy yard uh slant route to
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the house for a touchdown. Then I would come down
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: and scored, and he would score, and I would score,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: then he would score and I would score. Fast forward
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: to fourth quarter, two minutes, a few seconds remaining in
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, I remember Coach Coughlin saying, we're just
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: gonna run this thirty six. Oh. I was running a
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: thirty six t behind Tony Boselli, and I, um, there's
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: a just a simple run to the right where Tony
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: was pulling, and we were just running that play so
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: we can get in two minute offense, so we can
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: be able to hurry up and give ourselves an opportunity
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: to get in range and scoring range. And cut behind.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Tony cut right, cut left down the Tampa Bay sideline,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: come spread, looking up the middle. Now cutting back there
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: he goes at the forty fredk tackle. He's on the run,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: at the fifty friends on the go. He's at the
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: thirty Fred Fred ten. He's into the end zone. Touchdown Jacksonville. Wow,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: seventy yards for Fred Taylor and the trackwards grapple. Seventy
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: one yards later. I find myself doing inappropriate acts to
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: our goal post at the time. Thank god for editing,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: video editing. But it was that was that was like
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: the best moment in my entire career, simply because of
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: of me getting the last laugh against Warren sapp one
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: of the greatest defensive tackles they ever played a game. Uh,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Derek Brooks was on that team. Hardy Nickerson was on
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: that team. John Lynch was on the team. Run Day Barber,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: who's gonna be another Hall of Famer, he was on
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: that team. Simmey and Rice was on that team. This
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: defense was the best defense in all the football and um,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: you know my talking crap not knowing exactly what I
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: was getting into. Kin of Fruition and my childhood friend,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: you know, two guys from a small country town, grew
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: up together through high school, college. We had to shoot
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: out with each other. He would score, I would score,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: He would score. I would score. That was all the
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: scoring for a while throughout that game. So for me,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: that game stands out the most, the best, most memorable
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: game in Jaguars Uh, in the Jaguars uniform. He made
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: it look easy, but it wasn't always effortless. Taylor initially
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: struggled with the transition to professional football, and it took
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: a moment in Week three three things to get rolling.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: You know. In order to talk about the moment when
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: I took over as the starting running back in Jacksonville,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you without saying, uh, Willie Jackson, who
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: was a receiver here. You know, he allowed me to
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: regain my confidence because in the preseason it was shot
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Coach Coughlin. You know, he was demanding so much of players,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: whether you're a tenure vet rookie, it didn't matter. You know.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: He wanted you to excel and uh a sin. He
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: would say, guys, you have to sin. You gotta go,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: you gotta go, and and he would always, you know,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: demand the best of you. Well, there was a period
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: for me where um, the media, some of the local media,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure some of the fans, because they tend
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: to go in the direction of the media most of
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: the time or a lot of the times, in all
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: fairness to them. Uh. Um, And it was Fred, it
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: is a bust. Fred, You're a bust. And I heard
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: that stuff, and um, not until I talked to Willie.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: He goes there, that wasn't the reason you were drafted here.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: This is why you were drafted here. Just go back
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: to the old Fred, and I stopped. I would always
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: listen to coach call from but I started to listen
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: to Willie, like, you know what that makes that makes
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: the most sense. You know, Let's try it that way.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: You know, let's stop beating uh, you know, heads against
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: the wall. Let's just go calm yourself down and get
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: back to the basics. So fast forward three games. We're
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: playing the Baltimore Ravens. Um in my rookie year, Um,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Stew goes down. I always kept myself prepared, and to
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: give Stew his credit, Stew always made sure I was
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: preparing the right way, and I was thankful to have
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: a veteran guy who was very receptive of taking me
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: under his wings. A guy who's threatening his his whole
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: entire livelihood. This is how we feed our families. But
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: you know, he threw all that out the window, the
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: window and just looked at me as a teammate who
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: could help us win. So Uh, thankful. I'm thankful for
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Stu that even though he went down. Um me jogging
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: on the field, I remember being as nervous as could be,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: but I was ready. And my very first carry was
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: at thirty nine, toss to the left where I was
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: able to cut it back to the right, made the backside. Uh,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: linebacker miss to sweep left. There goes Fred Taylor. He's
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: across the cold coming back breaking tackles forty five, Taylor forty.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: He's free at the thirty. He's at the twenty. Fred
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Taylor ted five touchdown Jacksonville fifty two yards and Fred
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: Taylor makes a statement in his first major run fifty
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: two yards later. Uh, I'm in the end zone, not
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: having a clue what to do with the ball, and
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: I remember, like yesterday, my jersey was as tight as
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: could be. Uh, shout out Drew Hampton, our old equipment
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: guy who hooked me up with the tight jersey so
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: nobody was arm tackling me. I can tell you that
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: how tight that jersey was. But young Fred Taylor in
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: the end zone, I didn't know whether to spike the
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: ball keep my first touchdown ball. All I remember is
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: growing up as a child, guys would spike it and
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: guys would keep it, and I didn't know what to
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: do at that point. So if you ever see the highlight, uh,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: it seems as if I have like a like, Uh,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: it's stuck with sticky glue because I'm trying to spike
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: it but it wouldn't release. And Uh, to me to
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: these days, the silliest the thing I've ever done as
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: a pro. More perspectives following this from Bistar Credit Union
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Advice Star. We believe in better, better convenience, so members
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: can bank anyway they want, whether it's at a branch,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: on a mobile device, or at one of more than
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: twenty thousand feet free a t M s across North America.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: We believe that people have better things to do with
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: their time if you believe that convenience is better join
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: VI Star. We never forget that it's your money. All
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: loan subject to approval insured by n c U. A
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Taylor learned Earl playing in the NFL was going to
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: take the best he had to offer, game in and
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: game out. Playing for Tom Coughlin challenged him to give
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: his best day in and day out. When I got
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: when I went to work out, I thought Coach Coughlin
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: wasn't madman. You know, he goes son Uh, you're out
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: of shape. Why can't you finish the drill? And and
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: from there I just had this. I would look at
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: him and I would go, something's wrong with this guy
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: because I just did it a hundred reps and he
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: wants me to do another hundred. But it's for an
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: opportunity to be drafted, you know. I sort of wait
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: the different draft positions of the different teams that worked
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: me out, and at that moment, I was projected top
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: three backs, and UH, I felt that if I can
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: go to Jacksonville, UH, it would be the best um
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: place for me to end up in the entire draft.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: So um it all worked out at the very end
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: of the day. UH. The difference in Coach Spurrier playing
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: for coach Spurry and playing for Coach Coughlan is night
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: and day. Uh in a sense that Coach Spurry wants
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: to hurry up, get done with practice and make his
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: four o'clock tea tie and be able to play before
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: uh the sunlight is up. Uh. Coach Coughlan totally opposite.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: He wants you out there practicing until uh it's dark
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: and uh. You know, but they were two great men
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: who I grew to respect over the course of time,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: and um uh they both allowed me an opportunity to
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: find myself as a young man. I got into some
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: trouble down in in Gainesville under Coach Spurry. He went
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: to bat for me because he believed, you know, it
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: wasn't in my character. It was just a bone head,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: childish mistake. And the same for Coach Coughlin when he
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: was extremely hard on me. I didn't understand it at first, why,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: you know, he it seemed that as if he was
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: picking on me. But after a while, uh, you learned
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: that he just wanted absolute best for you. He followed
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: that big run against the Ravens with a seventy seven
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: yard score against the Dolphins on Monday Night Football, and
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: the seventy eight yard touchdown catch in Baltimore and big
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: scores in Cincinnati, Nashville, and Denver. Scoring seventeen touchdowns as
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: a rookie and narrowly missing out on NFL Rookie of
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: the Your honors to a my name, Reddy Moss. A
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: hamstring injury brought back some old doubts and a new nickname.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: It still bothers him to this day, though in the end,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Fred proved those detractors wrong. Fredil Fred hurt then and
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: it's still hurt now. When I look up Fred Taylor
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: stats to make my comparisons to the best, you know,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: other running backs that have played the game. Uh, when
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: I look up uh top Russias of all time, and
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: it it gives it gives you a link to Pro
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: Sports Reference or something of that nature, and it has
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: all the players nicknames. And unfortunately the fragile Fred tag
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: is it's still there and I never accepted that as
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: a nickname. It's certainly motivated me throughout my career. I think,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: you know, I always say God does things in the
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: most mysterious of ways. For example, Uh, people talk about
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: the market, the Jacksonville market, or the lack of and
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: maybe that has something to do with the lack of
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Pro Bowls and you know, lack of recognition in terms
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: of being in the same conversation with other running backs
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: around the league. Well, I always go back to God
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: only gives you what you can handle. And for me,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: a young kid from a small country town in Belglade
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: to a small college town in Gainesville to a look
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: just a bit larger, uh town in Jacksonville. It was
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: just enough. Now, it was just enough. I can handle
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Jacksonville and those those those injuries in the media, you know,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: the New York media would have torn me alive had
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: I missed those amount of games in that period. Fredil
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Fred might be the least of my worries. Yet here
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: is it is what it is. I was in Jacksonville,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: that was the name was associated with me, but it
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: definitely motivated me. I went through a period where I
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: stopped partying so much, I stopped doing other things so
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: I can minimize the soft tissue injuries, UH and give
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: myself an opportunity to be on the field and be
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: successful trying to help the team win. Personally. Um, there
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: was a stretch, I believe a three years stretch where
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: I didn't miss a single game. But I learned how
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: to be a pro. In that period. I learned the
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: simple things to take care of your body. Uh to
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: uh nutrition, different nutrition, different diets, UH massage. I developed
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: the routine that will help me sustain a thirteen year career.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: And in the back of my mind, I I tend
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: to laugh at you know, whoever started the nickname and
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: whoever would say it um. I laugh at those people
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: now because the average lifespan is around three years, three
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: and a half years or so, and for me to
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: have played almost four times that average, you know, that's
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: that's just a testimony or testament to um my dedication.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: And I have a quick story. We played Philly. We
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: played the Eagles in Philly, and I remember during warm
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: ups I would always go out warm up with my
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: headphones on, try and tune everything out. And I remember
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: being on one end zone in Philly and the fans
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: were chatting or they were chained Fragile Freddie, and they
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: would say throughout the individual warm ups, throughout the team
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: warm ups, and I looked up there and said, I'm
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: gonna get the last last. So throughout the game, an
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: opportunity came where I saw they had a cornerback blitz.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: I knew I was gonna cut back into the cornerback blitz.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: I didn't care what happened, but I was gonna cut
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: back into. All I had to do was beat the safety,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: which was Dawkins at the time. I beat the blitz.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: I beat Dawkins, out ran everyone, escored a touchdown in
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: that same end zone, and it was as quiet as
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: could be for that brief moment. I felt great knowing
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: that I silenced the entire stadium. But laughing didn't last.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Neither did the winning. Injuries, including a big one of
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: his own, the salary count, and losing all took their
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: swings at the Jaguars, and by two thousand two, the
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: first era, the Tom Coughlin era, was over Taylor. Clearly,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: the identity of the franchise was ready for change. For
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: a moment um, just going back to how tough coach
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Coughlin was for those five years, He's extremely tough. Things
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: weren't going quite the way we wanted them to go
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: as an organization or as a team. As an organization,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: and for a moment, you know, you tell yourself, okay,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: the fans are asking for a player for league. Coach,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: the players aren't playing, they're not winning in the fourth quarter.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: They're tired. They overpracticed, they practiced too hard. You know,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: it was grueling, like those those practices on the coach
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Coffin's watch. They were intense. It was two days. It
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: was passed throughout the entire week, even on some Fridays,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: and the veteran guys started complain. I, for one, I
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: always just went to work. I never complained about the
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: padded practice or anything of that nature. The one thing
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: that that sort of pushed my relationship was Coach Coughlin's
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: relationship to the side a bit. What's the growing injury?
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: I told my growing off the bone, and the media
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: started asking questions, you know, why isn't Taylor here where
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: it's Fred and and I remember, you know, I'm not
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: sure if the exact quote, but Coach Coughlin to a
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: certain extent responded, I don't know, maybe he's in the
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: training room. He should have been back a couple of
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: weeks ago. Uh, it's only a three week injury. Well,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: I tore my entire. I tore my growing, detached it
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: from the bone, which was I missed the right amount
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: of time when I missed the entire season, so our
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: relationships started to get a bit gray. And at that
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: particular moment, I didn't really care if they fired coach
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Coughlin or not. I felt that change would have been
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: the best thing at that particular point in time. Uh.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Insert Jack del Rio his first year. You know, we
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: spent maybe as much time at the movie theaters, are
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: not practicing as much as maybe any team in the
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: entire NFL, and it felt good. I mean I still
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: did what I would normally do as a player. Uh.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: It was that period I started to take care of
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: my body and make sure I didn't miss games. So
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: for me, it was things were smooth. The relationship was
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Jack with Jack was was smooth. He looked at me
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: as a as a leader, a captain, and he respected
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: what I did on the field. After a few years
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: of the same, you realize it was too many great
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: areas and I believed Jack's inexperience as a head coach,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: his inexperienced micromanaging his his experience as a player. Uh.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: I think that sort of got in the way of
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: our goal here. Uh. He bumped head with a lot
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: of guys, and I I don't necessarily, UM, I don't
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: hate Jack four. Actually, I would actually love to have
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: conversations the same conversation I found myself having with coach
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Coughland when I met him in the preseason games. I
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: would have those same conversations with coach del Rio. But
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: those coaches were night and day. Coach Coughland was black
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: and white. If you entered that middle area, those that's
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: the consequence line. You know what you were getting yourself into.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Jack was after a moment, it was more gray and
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: inconsistency showed and he lost a lot of the guys. UM.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: But both coaches at the very end of the day,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: you know you learn from them. You learn, you know
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: from every um experience in life. You have to take
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: those and and develop so you can help your person
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: more perspectives. Following this from Vistar Credit Union Advice Star,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: we believe in better, especially in helping build a better
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: financial future for our members, so we reviewed our offerings
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: from the ground up. We've lowered or eliminated over half
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: our fees and enhanced our already competitive rates, saving members
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: more than a million dollars this year, in addition to
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: the millions we saved them every year. If you believe
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: that saving money is better joined by star. We never
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: forget that it's your money, all alone, subject to approval
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: insured by n c U A. A few years into
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: the Jack Deal real era, the jag Wars decided to
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: start planning for life after fred. A fifteen hundred yards
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: season in two thousand three and two thousand more rushing
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: yards between two thousand four and two thousand five didn't
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: stop the Jaguars from drafting Maurice Jones Drew. Maurice wondered
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: how Taylor would react, but he needn't work. By two
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: thousand six, Taylor was not only entirely self confident, he
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: was completely self aware. M j D my guy. I
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: love Mojoe. We have a great relationship now. Uh. I
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: constantly check on his family. I constantly route from Murray's.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: I think he's doing a wonderful job at the network.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: UM not to say I wouldn't have thought he would
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: have because he could talk. He was always a talker,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: especially his rookie year. I think the one thing that
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: stands out most about Maurice is how he absorbed everything
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: that I shared with him. I wanted to make sure
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: that he was successful. I you know, I try to
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: be pretty level headed and the sense that I knew
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: I was older. You know, I knew that, UM, I
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: wasn't gonna play every snap. I knew that, UM the
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: way the NFL works. Yeah, prior to Maurice, I believe
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: we drafted a running back every single year from my
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: entire career. But neither was as special as Maurice. They
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: were good, but Maurice was just a different talent. He
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: can return the ball, kickoff return, point return, UM. He
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: can receive the ball out of the backfield, short game, intermediate,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: he can get down the field on will routes. UM,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: he could run the ball. His vision was amazing. His
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: he wasn't a big guy in stature, but he was powerful.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: His lower body was as strong as it could be,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: and he broke a ton of tackles. UM. I think
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Maurice he accepted his role. You know, he didn't ask
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: to be anything more than he UH was very patient.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: He knew that I still had a lot left in
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: my tank, and we had great chemistry. There were opportunities
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: where he would say no, no, now you go in,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: and I would saying no, you go in. We almost
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: came to a point where neither one of us was
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: in and then someone would have to run on the field.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: But those were those were great times. I mean, I
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: cherished those moments. Uh. I think the only inconsistency with
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: Mauris though, is his select amnesia when it comes to
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: who was the best Madden Football player, because for some reason,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: he don't remember the amount of times that I beat him.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: But that's okay, you know. I I tend to just
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: smirk and laugh at those moments, and I teach him
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: to this day about it. But we have a great relationship.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: I just spent some time with them out there at
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: the NFL Network a couple of weeks ago. You know,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: he's rooting for me, uh in my Hall of Fame push.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: I'm certainly rooting for him. I certainly believe he's uh
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: capable of being in a shrine someday. It would be
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: amazing to have both of us in there, two guys
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: that shared the backfield for the same team, the same organization.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: I think that would be She's, for me, probably the
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: most amazing thing that I've seen in the two men
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: ran rough shot over the rest of the league, and
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: together they helped power the NFL's best rushing attack in
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: a playoff season in two thousand seven. Fred exited stage
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: left after two thousand and eight and spent a few
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: seasons in New England before hanging it up. He finished
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: with eleven thousand, six ninety five yards and seventy four touchdown,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: but he was rarely mentioned among the very best of
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: the best, the Hall of Fame caliber players. Maybe it
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: was because he played in Jacksonville, the NFL smallest market,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: or maybe it's because he didn't play in the Super Bowl.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: One Guy Bill one Dury special guy new where Taylor
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: belonged in the conversation, I think, um the Jim Brown quote.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: You know, during my playing career. For a while, I
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: didn't see it. I didn't hear it anywhere. Someone had
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: to tell me, and I certainly went and looked it
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: up soon after I heard about it. Uh just a
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: kid who watched uh Jim Brown highlights. Man, he's the goat.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Like people missus the term goat. You know you have
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: kids nowadays they's just everything is go, you go? Did
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: he go? Here? Go? They don't understand the real meaning
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: of go. Jim Brown is the real goat at the
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: position of running back. In my opinion. Uh So when
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: I heard it, I was like, wow, that Wow, this
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: is That's all that really matters, you know. The lack
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: of Pro Bowls, the lack of Pro Bowl recognition, Um,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: it doesn't matter for me. The only thing that matters
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: is when I hear my idols. You know mentioned you know,
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: I'm the best running back that he sees out there
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: in the NFL. Uh, when the guys I compete against,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: you know, the Ray Lewis is of the world, Um,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: the ad reads out of the world, Derek Brooks, Warren
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: sapped Detroy pot malews. When those guys say he's the
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: best running back, uh, that I've ever faced. That's what
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: really matters. And I think, UH, if I had thought
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: more about the Hall of Fame when I came into
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: the NFL, or even throughout my playing career, I think
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: I would have placed it here as a goal to attain,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: and my career probably have gone a little different in
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: terms of, um, how I would have rested, how I
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: would have treated my body, maybe even a team's success.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: But when I came in the NFL, it was hall
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: of Fame was never thought, you know, not until I
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: achieved the ten thousand yard mark. I became the twenty
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: one running back in NFL history to attain that that goal,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: and not until at that point in time, I started
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: to think maybe just maybe, um, I can make the
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Hall of Fame someday, you know, maybe I could um
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: out rushed my idol and Jim Brown, which is just thought.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: He was number nine on the list before I retired.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: And uh it was just twelve thousand, two hundred and
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: fourteen yards. I believe I have to look that up again,
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: but I believe those are the numbers or I'm extremely close.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: And uh, my last couple of years, that's all I
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: wanted to do was just out rushed my my idol,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: and that was my goal. That came short. I finished
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: with eleven. I was just a couple of hundred yards
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: short due to some injuries um up in New England.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: But just to ride just still be able to just
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: here that interview of him saying, you know, Fred Taylor,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: he got some juice. He's the best running back that
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: I see out there. Um, that I've seen with my
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: eyes like that. I'll never forget that. Uh, no matter
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: what happens um the Hall of Fame, I'm very appreciative
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: and humble to be in the semifinalists conversation. And for
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: the life of me, that's the only thing I was
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: fighting for, for an opportunity to be in the conversation
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: and opportunity to get in the room. And that's when
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: the deep, deep digging starts and the real conversation begins,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: when you are in that room of the with the
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: fifteen finalists. Uh. And we'll continue to fight for that.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: You know, it's out of my hands, but we will
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: in some shape form capacity, UH try and continue to
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: push things out there that hopefully will allow uh me
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: to get into that room them someday where they could, uh,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: the voters, the selectors, they could uh you know, determine
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: if I should be there or not. And at the
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: very end of the day, they have they have a
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: hard job. UH so many great players, great moments. At
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: the very end of the day. In my heart, I'm
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: gonna always feel that I was a Hall of Fame talent, No,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: especially knowing the guys that I played against, the guys
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: that competed against that are selected Hall of famers now forever,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: you know, weigh myself against those guys and their abilities.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: UM as well as UM knowing of the one hundred
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: year history of the NFL, the amount of backs that
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: came through the NFL, you know, to retire fifteenth all time,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: all caps, all time, I mean, that's nothing I ever
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: set my mind to, uh in the injuries that I endure,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: the way I was able to fight through those and
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: still be able to grind out a thirteen year career,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: retire fifteenth all time on all rushing list of the
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: thirty two modern error backs, I am, you know, I'm
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: My numbers are better than sixteen. And those guys that
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: are seventeen, and those guys that are already in the
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. You know, little moments, little things like that,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: those little nuggets and make me smile and make it
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: say it's all worth it. And I would do it
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: again in the heartbeat if I could. Today. Taylor commutes
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: between his home in South Florida and Jacksonville, where he's
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: part of the Jaguars game day broadcast. His name is
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: already on the wall, and perhaps in the very near future,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: he'll wear the gold jacket as one of the best
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: to ever play the game. The people in Jacksonville already
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: know he is, and he knows the people in Jacksonville
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: are the gold he already has after all. In the
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: words of long time jag wars dot com senior editor
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: Big Catchman, it's the memories didn't make us rich. You know,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: I never understood Vic when he said that. And he
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: said that a long time ago, way before I retired,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: way before I actually understood what he was trying to say.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: And um, you know, I I learned that towards the
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: end of my career. You know, there are opportunities where
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: I had autograph signings and appearances and all this different stuff,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: and I turned it down. I mean not only I
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: was turning down a large sum of money just to
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: you know, show up. But I figured, at the very
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: end of the day, that's what it was all about,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: showing up, being accountable, being reliable, you know, having those
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: relationships where people believe about believe in you. So that
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: taught me a lot, you know. And again it wasn't
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: about the money at the very end of the day,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: it was about the relationships that were being affected. So
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: at some point throughout my career are under I started
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: to understand the value and relationships. It's always been easy
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: for me to just be real, be myself treat people
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: the way I've always wanted to be treated. I think
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: my grandmother for that. She did a great job of
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: raising myself for my sisters and brothers, um and teaching
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: us what humility is. I mean, I I don't come
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: from a lot. I come from a lot of her
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: hard work. I'm a product of that. I've seen her,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: you know, going out to the sugar mill, uh, going
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: out to the the packing house where she would pack
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: different vegetables and pick vegetables and packed vegetables, and she
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: would have a you know, sixteen hour work day. So
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: that hard work taught me a lot when I was
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: young and uh, and I think just everything she taught
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: me carried over to how to treat people. You know,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: I firmly believe that I was just blessed with God
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: given ability to play a game. A game. It's nothing
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: more than that. It's just a game. And it doesn't
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: mean you treat people differently. It only means that you
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: were blessed to play a game and being able to entertain,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: you know, And you want to share those blessings with everybody.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: I shared with my family, I share them with the fans,
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: you know, to see a young kid's face light up,
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: or even an adult fan for that matter, to see
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: their faces light up. You know, you're giving back those
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: those people. I always believe, and I said that many
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: times as a player. You know, if we're losing, that
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: stunk for me, because you have people out there busting
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: their butts making a living and they come. They you know,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: they try and find a way to budget in these
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: game tickets, and they want to come and be entertaining
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: and be able to go home happy, uh seeing their
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: team win. And it upsets me a lot that we
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: didn't always do that and these people are really out
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: there grinding. It reminded me and my grandmother, you know
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: how she grinded to make a couple of dollars. Um.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I coming in the building being able to
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: when I walk outside see my name on the wall. Um,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: it's still all surreal. It's wow. Every time I look
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: up there, when I look up there, Uh, I don't
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: make it a habit to look up there, but when
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: I look up there, I go wild. That's gonna be
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: there forever. Forever is a long time