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Perspectives - David Garrard · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: David Garrard lives his life like he played the game. Big, bright, enthusiastic,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: and willing to drop his shoulder into a linebacker or
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: pick up the microphone and talk to the canvas. In
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the introductory conference call on the day he was drafted,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the youthful quarterback accidentally challenged the starter, despite the fact
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: that Mark Brunelle was a three time pro bowler. That's
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the way it is with David. What do you want
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to know, what you need him to do? Put him
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: in coach, He's ready to play. This is Perspectives, the
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: story of the Jaguars first twenty five seasons as told
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: by the people who built the franchise from the ground up.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: This is David Garrard. Gerrard arrived as a fourth round pick,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: but love the situation he was in the air, apparent
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: to Brunell, with time to learn the offense and figure
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: out the pro game. He was challenged by the hard
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: charging Tom Coughlin, but he knew it would make him better.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Everything changed in the flink of an eye. Less than
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: a year later, Coughlin was gone and Byron Luckwich was
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: the future. What happened, you know? It was? It was
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: really interesting because I had just played Byron in the
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: g m A C Bowl that ended up being sixty
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: sixty one. We were up thirty to eight at halftime
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: and they came back and one in like three overtimes
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: or something like that, and I thought, Okay, well, at
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: least I'm done with all that. I don't have to
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: worry about that anymore. And then the Jacks draft him
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: the next year, so now I gotta deal with him
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: like longer, and potentially, you know, I don't know who's
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: gonna how it's gonna all the shake out because we're
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: all here. Am I gonna be odd man out? And
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: you know these guys are just gonna battle for one
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: and two? Um, I think, And hopefully I felt like
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: I showed them enough to, like, you know, maybe keep
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: me around and and see how that works. But the
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: dynamics of the quarterback room was really interesting because you know,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Mark continue to carry himself and do everything like the
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: starter and you know, making Byron go, you know, get
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: coffee and grab my pads and that kind of stuff.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: It was a little different with me because he made
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: me do like thirty times more stuff for him, I think,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: being a first rounder and you know, the franchise kind
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: of starting to evolve into this being your team, and
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Mark still wanted to get a little bit out of
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: him that way. But you know, um, the dynamic was
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: still pretty good. You know, Buyron didn't come in and
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: and you know, try to push Mark out of the
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: room or make him feel like, you know, this is
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: gonna be my team here pretty soon. You he came
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: in and he learned as much as he could. He
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: probably felt like he knew a little bit more than
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: you know, um, a rookie comes in with. But you know,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: he was a pretty bright guy. You know, he understood
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: the game. Uh, you know, there's still some things you
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: gotta learn when you get to the NFL, and and
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and Mark knew all those things. And I was still
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: trying to learn some of those things from Mark. But um,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: when I never felt like, man, this is awkward. I
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: never felt like, you know, these guys are gonna clash
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: at any moment. You know, Mark's a pretty upstanding guy.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: And then Byron being just young, you know himself, he
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: knew that he couldn't come in and just start roughling feathers. Now,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: once that year was over with, of course, everything changed,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: and uh, but I was just happy I was still here.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Though he only had one year with Coughlin, David knew
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: instantly how different Jack del Rio was going to be.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: I loved Coughlin. I thought, this is a hard nosed guys,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: gonna let you know exactly how he feels. He's not
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: gonna beat around the bush. He's not going to um,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: you know, keep things to himself. And then all of
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: a sudden, you don't know why you're not getting playing
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: time or you're not here anymore. You know exactly what's
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: on his mind. And uh, I remember, um, it's just
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: probably halfway through the season and they had brought in
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Kent Graham uh to to to be the backup. He
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: was a little bit more of a veteran presence that
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: The story that I got was, if Mark goes down
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: for a long period of time, then we're gonna get
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: you out there and start grooming you to be the quarterback.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: If he's out for like a game or two, then
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: we'll let Kent step in and just feel that time,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: because you know, you need more time on task than then, um,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: you know for a rookie. So I thought, that's cool.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: You know, everything's flying by me anyway. So but uh,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Tom stops me to halt one day and he says, hey, Dave, uh,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: you know, if you want to get more film study
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: and you can, uh you can sleep in my office there.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: I can get a caught and roll it in for you.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: You can sleep right there and watch film all night long.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: And at that moment, I thought, man, if this is
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the NFL, I'm not sure if this is what I
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: want to do. If I want to be sleeping in
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: my head coach's office all night watching the film. I said,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: you know, a coach, I think about that. I appreciate that.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: And I never got back to him on that one.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: And then uh, another one was just just how I
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: never had a coach that would just ride players the team,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: like would be on you for everything, not just on
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: the field stuff, not just you know, film study stuff.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about, Are your socks pulled up like this
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: should be? Are your laces laced walking down the hallway
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: like they should be? It was everything, and um, at
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: times my rookie year, I thought, man, as I was
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: going over the Heart Bridge coming into work, thinking I
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: don't know if I can do this. This is this
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: is tough, you know, because I know that I'm not
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: necessarily having um the same kind of joy when I
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: was in Pop Warner in high school because I never
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: had a coach that But now looking back, I could
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: see what he was instilling in people and and put
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: it in guys, because you know, if you give guys
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: an inch, you know, the saying, they'll take a mile,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: you know, And he was not want to give that inch.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Definitely wasn't given a mile. So but then when um,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: uh coach del Real got here, I thought, Wow, this
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: is like a breath of fresh air, you know, because
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: he's a he's a former player, guy that I a
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: player that I used to watch when I was a kid,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: and uh, he just came in with, Hey, let's have fun,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: let's do our jobs, let's get it done. We're gonna
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: have fun at the same time, you know. And that's
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: kind of a little bit more of my personality. So
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: for me, I thought, well, this is this is beautiful. Okay,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: you know, Byron might be the starter right now, but
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: I can come in and still compete and work hard
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: under this guy because I feel like he gets what
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I am more about as a as a player and
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: what I'm looking for, And um, you know, kind of
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: making me feel a little bit more comfortable around here
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: and in the facilities. Dave watched and waited and waited,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: and still saw opportunity intact and Bill so much so
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: that he signed a contract extension instead of hitting free agency.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Gard saw something in Jacksonville he couldn't pass up. My
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: agent was was talking to me before the Jacks were
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: trying to renew me up for I guess it was
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: a four year deal and uh, he's like, this is
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: good money for backup, but I feel like you could
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: go somewhere else and compete, you know, just go into
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: free agency that kind of stuff. And I thought, man,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: I'm having the best opportunity to play here because you know,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Byron hasn't been healthy for a season and I'm playing
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: all the time. So I said, no, I like it here.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: My wife likes it here. Um still Florida. So let's
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: let's just let's just stick it out here. Let's you know,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: sign this deal. And so I did, and I continue
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: to play. I continue to get opportunities to thousand and six. Um,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: I finished the last I want to say, five games,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: five or so games there, and uh, we were, you
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: know right there competing and then we you know, had
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: a three game slide there at the end. And at
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: that point, I thought, oh man, you know, going into
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: the next offseason, I hope that they keep me around
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: because you know, we didn't finish strong. I didn't play
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: my best, and um, I just thought, just come back.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Just put your head down, compete, work, get in the
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: film room, don't relax, you know, do everything. Don't get
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: to the point where you're you know, uncomfortable because of
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: last year. Let's move forward. And uh and I did,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: and I started to even exude more uh confidence as
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: you know, um one of the leaders on the team.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: I knew other guys were not that happy about Byron
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: and some of the things that he was doing. So
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: I said, you know what, don't worry about all that.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: You just handle what you can handle them. So that
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to be more of a leader at
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: that point and not trying to take you know, his job,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: you know, from like underneath them where you know, I'm
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: trying to be slying the background and I got my
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: own group of guys over here I'm trying to lead.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, just just come off as a leader and
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: do your job. And so going into two thousand and
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: seven season, I thought, okay, have an opportunity to play
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: in the preseason. Byron is the starter. He's playing against
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: the ones. I'm playing against the two, so I'm playing
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: against a bunch of backups. I should be able to
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: dominate these guys. And when I would get out there,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: it would feel like everything was so slow because I
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: was playing a bunch of backups, And I thought, if
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: I could just put the ball where it should be,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: hopefully my guys catch it and make plays. And that's
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: how it was turning out. And then we got to
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: that Green Bay game and I remember during practice that
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: week we were going over certain looks, certain things, and
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: the look was exactly like uh coach Cutter had drew
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: it up. And I thought, man, all I gotta do
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: is just make the throw here. And we got like
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: a thirty yard game and I was I made a
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: few of them, and I thought, Okay, I'm having a
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: pretty good game here. I feel good going into this season.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: And uh so then we got back and that was
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: the third game. We know, you know, we didn't know
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: who was gonna play much in the fourth game, so
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: I just thought, you know, I've done what I needed
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: to do to at least still be on the team.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: And uh, I remember when they were making those those
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: last cuts, you know, even after the fourth game. The
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: funny story is is I was in the players lounge sleeping.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: I was just trying to catch up on some rests.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Been a long last couple of days, and um, like
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: somebody came in there and woke me up and said, Dave,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: where you been? Man? Everybody's looking for you. I'm like,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: am I late? You know I shouldn't be late. Hopefully
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: guys didn't let me just sleeping here through the meeting
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: or the start of the meeting. He says, No, they
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: named you the starting quarterback. They cut Byron. I'm like,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: make it out here. Of course, it's this cut day.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Everybody joke around, ha ha ha. So I'm kind of rubbing,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: you know, the um the sleep out of my eye,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: and I'm walking into the main locker room and you know,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: everybody's kind of like a buzz going in there, like
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: the world. So I sit down in my locker just
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: I think we had about twenty minutes or so for
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: the meet and start, and um, more guys come up
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: to me, Dave. Man, they're looking for you. They got
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: the media that coach wants to talk to you. What
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: do you want to talk to me about? He not
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: be cutting me out, I'm telling you. He's like, They're like, no, no,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: you're they cut Byron. Look at this locker, this stuff
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: is gone. I'm like, are y'all serious? I mean, now
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: my heart is just racing. I'm like, y'all see, you
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: better stop messing with me. So I walked down to
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: um to del Rio's office and he sits me down
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: in there and he's like, Dabe, yeah, you probably here
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: by now, but we're letting Byron go and we're gonna
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: name you the starter. You've done everything possible and and
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: you know, we're very happy with this decision, but now
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: it's time for you to go out and lead this team.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: I'm just like, what, alright, let's go. That's exactly what
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: I said in my mind, let's go. So turn around,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: he said, I'm gonna I'm gonna cancel our team meeting.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: You get home, go tell Mary everything that's going on.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: I'm sure she's got a bunch of questions for you too.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: And uh, And that's what I did, And it was
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: the absolute truth, and it was a miracle year. The
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: first game is kind of a big game because it's
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: my first one as a starter for the team, and
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: it was Tennessee Titans and we lost, and but it
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: was like a one lost some minutes. So we were
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: competing right there, and I played decent. You know, in
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: those moments, you gotta kind of check yourself. Okay, I
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: played pretty decent. That's not how I normally think about
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: things when we lose. But I was like, Okay, wasn't
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: my fault that we lost, So hopefully I can still
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: have this job, you know, the next week. And then
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: we win, and then we win and things are looking
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: really good, and I think, okay, you know what, I
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: am feeling really good about things every week. I feel
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: like we've got a chance. And I remember, we get
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: up to play the Colts, and I believe it's Thursday night.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: I believe, And uh, I'm thinking, okay, they rarely blitz.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: I got an opportunity here. If I can get the
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: ball out of my hands fast enough, because the White
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Freney is coming. If I can get the ball out
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: of my hands fast enough, we can make some plays
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: because their defense plays pretty soft and we were just
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: diving them up, Peyton's coming down. He's diving us up,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: of course, and it's a really good game. And then
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: I get hit scrambling to the sideline. Guy grabs my
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: ankle to tackle me, and he does, but then he
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: keeps rolling with my ankle and I felt things crunching
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: in there ended up being a high ankle sprain, and
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: I thought, gosh, man, and this can't be happening because
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: I don't want to lose this momentum. Plus, we probably
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: could have won this game. And uh, so I was
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: out for two games, and um my backup Quinn Gray.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: I'm like, dude, you can do this. You got this.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: You know strong arm, you can get out to this.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: So he won the he won one of the next
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: two games, and uh and so then I was able
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: to come back against the um the Chargers, which they
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: were San Diego Charges at that time, and I just
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: right back into a group, you know, and I'm thinking, okay,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm not rusty, I'm not missing much.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: I had a good game there, and I started thinking
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: by that point, I started thinking there's some destiny on
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: this team right now, because for whatever reason, Gerald Sensiball
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: he turns to me and and I can't remember the
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: actual game that we had just played, but we're in
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: our team meeting and he turns around, looks, I got man.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: He says, hey, man, it just it doesn't matter how
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: we win. You're just always gonna get us a win,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: aren't you Like, it doesn't matter how you do it,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: We're just always gonna get a win. I said, it's
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: what it feels like, It's what it seems like. Yea,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep doing what I can. And he turns
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: around and we just go through the rest of the
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: team meeting. But that's how it was all year. And
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: then when you get to the first Pittsburgh game, I mean,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking, okay, I have no clue about Pittsburgh and
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: the rivalry that they have here. I just know that
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: there was a big rivalry and Pittsburgh is pretty dog
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: on good. So I'm thinking, where where it's gonna be
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: a snowy game, it's gonna be cold, and we're kind
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: of built for this. You know, our running game is
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: pretty special. Fred Taylor is pretty special. So I thought,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: if I could just not screw things up, we got
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: a good chance here, and we're getting that game up
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: there and we're doing really well, and I'm thinking, okay,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: it's not like it was just those other games that
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: we were doing okay, and we're actually pretty good. And
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: of course, just like in the playoff game, a mistake here,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: a mistake here brings them back closer to coming back
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: and winning the ball game. But then just a few
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: plays down the line and we finished it strong. We
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: finished it with a touchdown. And I remember in that game,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: I had to do this special fun play that we
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: put in where I would roll out and Dennis North
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: cut would run down the sideline and do a couple moves.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: So I needed like ten minutes for him to do
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: all these moves, and so I had to like buy
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: so much time, got all kinds of time, and he's
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: gonna turn and fired the ball looking for Dennis North
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: but then I just launched the ball and it floated.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: It seemed like forever, and it came down right into
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: his hands. Knock that far reaching and John touchdown fifty
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: five yards and the track wards are piling it on
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: and I thought, man, this is a lot of fun.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: And we went on to win that game, and then
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: we went to the playoffs. In that first game, back
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: up there in Pittsburgh, and I thought, can we do
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: this again? You know, everybody keeps saying it's hard to
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: beat one team twice, especially within three weeks, and da
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: da da da, And I'm thinking, you're doing right. It
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: probably is pretty hard to do that, you know, to
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: be the team like that, because they're super motivated. I mean,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: even though you're super motivated, they're really motivated. And it's
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: in their place again and it's the playoffs, so we
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: get there. I'm just soaking it all in. I'm not
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: I'm almost you know in my kawhi Leonard Mote. I'm
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: just I'm not too high, I'm not too low. I
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: try not to get too excited. That's how I've kind
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: of always played ball. And so I'm up there and
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking, we have a great opportunity. We've got a
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: lot of scale players. Uh Mojo starts us off strong,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: bring the ball back down the field, and I'm thinking, man,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: we're gonna do something again here. And then bang bang
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: bang more more touchdowns. And of course, like I said,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: in the second half, they started to come back. A
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: few mistakes, but on our end, on my end, and
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I remember that last interception I had. I thought, Okay,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: I'm screwing things up here. I've got to somehow bring
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: us back here on this drive because if if I don't,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: we might not get the ball back. And I remember
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: a third and forever and and I knew Ernest Wolford
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: had a special route that he had to run. And
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: I just had to get the ball up just enough
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: to hit him in the hands with it. And we did,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: and it kept the drive going. And I I thought
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: to myself, we can just get in field goal range.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: We don't have to even get that close because Scobie
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: can boot it. And we got, you know, to that
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: almost last possession there, and it's third and two and
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: they call it time out. Coach cutters on the sideline
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: and he's like, Dave, let's try this pass play. It's
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: a real quick pass. Just see if we can get
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: the first down. And um, if you like Marcedes in
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: a flat, get it to him. If you don't, you know,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: just airmail it. And I thought, Coach, is only two yards,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: you know, just call a quarterback drawer or something. I
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: can get us two yards. I don't have to put
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: the ball in the air, you know, And uh, he said, no, no,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: let's just try it because we we you might have
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: something pop, you might have the corner route pop. And
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: I was like, God, now you want me throw a
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: corner route? So we're in that moment and I didn't
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: like it. I think it was Paula Malo or somebody
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: grabbed Marcedes a little bit and I thought that's just
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: too close for comfort. So I just airmailed it. And uh,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: I thought, Okay, now he's gotta give me the ball.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: He's gotta give me this chance. I know I can
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: get it, and uh they call the quarterback draw there
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: and I tried to sell it as much as possible.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: And James Harrison, he's so crafty, so strong, he snuck
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: right inside the cliff Barnes and thank the Lord, Clif
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: blocked him so well that it looked like a hold.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: He blocked him so well that I wasn't able to
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: sneak through there and get the two yards. And when
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: I got through, I was like, oh wow, there's nobody here.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Oh here's the safety. Okay, let me just protect the
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: ball and just get hit and go down. Got the
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: first down and then he misses me, so I'm thinking,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: now there's really nobody else here and there's the end zone.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Let's go score. And so I'm running for the end
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: zone and then I said, oh, you know what, I'm
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: not that fast. He's actually already caught me. So so
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: he caught me. A few yards later, I go down
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: and I'm like, we're in field goal range. Can we
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: just bring Scoobie out now? And they're like no, let's
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: just you know, eat the clock a little bit. Let's
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: try to line the ball up. And I'm like, man,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: you guys are taking so many chances. Just bring Scoobie
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: out here so we can just kick this thing through
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: the field goal, through the uprights. And uh so we do.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: We we light it up. I'm telling everybody a huddle.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Whoever he gets the ball, I'm like protected, two hands, protected,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: like it's your baby. We need this. Let's get school
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: be out here on the field and we do. The
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: defense comes out in place excellent to shut them down.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: And uh I just thought, man, I cannot believe we
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: just won a playoff game with me as the starting quarterback.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: I just thought that is super cool. And uh So, then,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: but that's not the end. Now we gotta go play
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: those boys up north, the Patriots and I'm thinking, Okay,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, we've done it all year. We can do
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: it again. We can do this if a few things,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: if we can make some plays on defense, if I
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: can not lose the game like I was doing in
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: the second half of the Pittsburgh game, and um, everybody
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: doesn't let the moment get too big, and we come out.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: We come out fire, We come out making place. We
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: we had certain design plays that we hadn't not having
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: our offense that we designed just for those guys, and
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: they were working. I mean, I had this incredible lucky
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: play where I'm getting thrown to the ground and I
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: just heaved the ball to Matt Jones in the back
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: of the end zone and I'm not gonna lie. My
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: knee was probably down. They didn't call it, and he
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: catches it for a touchdown, and I'm like, there is
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: something going on here. We We're gonna go all the
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: way if we win this one. And uh. It was
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: back and forth the whole game, which I thought was
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: really cool because Tom Brady was on fire that game.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: But man, we were still doing things offensively. We had
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: a few players get away from us right before the
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: half there that kind of put us back and in
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: the second half it was just too much to recover from.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: We were still back and forth with him, but they
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: were just up enough to where we could not get
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: over the top. And um, I just thought, Man, this
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: is an opportunity that we're gonna get again next year,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: and we're gonna come out and take advantage of it. Man,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: good change some things that two thousand seventeen wasn't super,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: but it was special. They were talented in some spots,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: merely tough in others, but it all came together for
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: their playoff run and that doesn't happen more often than
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: it does. Yeah, you know, it was like you said,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: it was just so dynamic. Those guys from uh you
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: know a little bugs that never say anything to just
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: wasp that were just killers, you know, that just would
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: just ready to take a hit from from um big
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: John Henderson getting slapped before each game and you know,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: all this kind of stuff and Baby just ready to
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: take someone's head off every game, and their personalities in
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: the locker rooms. You know, it was. It was a
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: lot going on and the way that we were still
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: able to win through it all, and um, the one
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: thing we didn't have a whole lot of drama. You know,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: we didn't have the he said, he said, or you know,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: we didn't have those things. You might have had a
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: lot of big personalities, but they were all pulling in
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: the same direction. And who knows how and why things
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: you know, turned out the way they did. Like moving
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: forward from that, some guys weren't here anymore. Some guys
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: were injured. I remember going into the first game against
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Tennessee again the next season, first game, and uh, Vince
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Minaway gets hurt right at the beginning of the game,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: not even in the game, before the game ever started,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: and that really through our offensive line and myself, you know,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: it really got to us. And then we we made
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: and plays in that game that you know was just
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: terrible and that just kind of have the tones set
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: almost for the season. We didn't know that, but that's
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: how the season just continued to go. And then I
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: remember a couple other injuries in that in that year.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Now you started to get the drama. I believe Mike
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: p was having problems with um some of the coaches
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: and and uh, you know, guys were talking in the
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: locker room and some guys aren't happy and Dale Rio's
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: taken away ping pong tables and you know pool tables,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: you know. So it was a lot more drama going
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: on in that season than um than we had previous.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Something else happened in two thousand seven. Gerrard worked for
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: the Giant Wars, but he also worked for his family.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: In the spring of two thousand and eight, after a
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: lifetime of challengers and adversity and illnesses and doubters, David
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: earned the kind of life changing check that every player pack,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: every person dreams of. Everything led up to that moment
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: in in Pittsburgh, honestly, you know, because we were there
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: in the playoffs, and like I said, I had had
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: a few plays there that sucked and brought the Steelers
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: back into the game, and I thought, Man, our opportunity
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: to win here is, you know, dwindling. We still got
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: a chance. And as long as there's a chance, I'm
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: going to continue to fight and I'm gonna, uh, you know,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: if I can get the ball in my hands, I'm
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: gonna do something to try to help us to win here.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: And then to make that play that run you know,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: kind of almost sealed the deal for a new uh contract,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: and I thought, man, I have somehow done this now.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: I know that I was working my butt off and everything,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: and I'm telling you that destiny that was there was
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: really just you know, helping me continue to fight through
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: a lot of different circumstances that you know, some guys
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: would have not been able to make it through. And
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: I know my wife, she got me after the game
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: and she's like, baby, you did it. You did it.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: You know, you know this contract that you were able
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: to go to the next game, like, it can't me
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: any better. We just had our son earlier in the season.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, everything was just happening positively for us in
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: that moment. And then to get in the uh Patriots
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: game and to not have a setback where um, you know,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: I play terrible or I'm I'm just out there. I'm
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: actually keeping us in the game. I'm helping us, you
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: know with big plays. You know, I'm leading the team.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: I'm giving us a chance to win to really, you know,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: kind of fortify my opportunity to get this new contract
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: to help us move on in the playoffs. And I
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: thought at that point, it's gotta be a done deal.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: And I remember my agent throughout the offseason was negotiating
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: with um Paul vance, and you know, he was just like,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: we're getting closer, but there's just some language that we
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: gotta work on, and there's this and and that. I'm like, well,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: let me listen in on some of the the contract talks.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: And he's like, you don't want to do that. You
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: don't want to do that. I'm like, why not? You know?
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: They love me this they gotta He's like, it's different
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: when you're negotiating. They're going to tell you everything that's
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: wrong with your guy, and I gotta tell them everything
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: that's right with your guy. And so I got to
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: listen in on a few little and they were like,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: um my agent was like, hey, we're trying to get
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: him up there where Tony Romo is, and you know
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: he deserves it. Da da da da. You know, he was,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: you know, top three with the QBR and all that
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: kind of stuff this year. And they're like, Tony Romo,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: you think he's as good as Tony Romo? Man, get
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: out of here are you saying? And I'm like, oh, wow,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: you know you want me to be your quarter back? Right?
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: This is what I'm thinking in my mind. And he's like, Dave,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: don't take offense to any of that. That is just
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: what they have to do two and you know, so
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: I said, okay, you handle it from here on. I
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: don't want to listen anymore. And uh. But we eventually
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: worked it out and got it done, and I was
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: just happy to still being able to play here in Jacksonville.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: It you know, it was my team. Um, it's where
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: I was drafted. It's the team that believed in me.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: And I love the fans here. I loved everything about it.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: I love that it was a a small market and
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: a small team some something that we could make relevant
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: because two thousand and seven we were on Sports Center
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: just as much as everybody else, because after halfway through
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: the season, they were like, we got a team down
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: here in Jacksonville that's starting to make some noise. And
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: I love that. Um, the the small guy, small town
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: making it big kind of story. It's just how I
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: was brought it up. And we thought the same thing
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: at East Carolina. You know, it's hard being a pirate.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Nobody's gonna respect you. You're gonna have to go out
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: there and earn your respect. And so, UM, I thought,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: now my family life, everybody I can I don't have
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: to worry about that anymore. I don't have to worry
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: about contracts and all that kind of stuff. Now I
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: can just move forward and be the leader of this team,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: be the quarterback that they need me to be. And um,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: you know, I was happy about that. Most fans and
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: most media forget twenty The Jaguars started losing in two
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: thousand and eight, and for the most part, it continued
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: until two thousand and sixteen, with the exception of a
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: three and four start turned on a dime in Dallas,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: actually four of them thrown by David against the Cowboys,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: and before you knew it, they were often running. In
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: November before the Jaguars could catch their breath, they dripped
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: off five wins in six games and sat on the
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: very edge of a division title. In late December, they
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: had a chance to get back on the big stage,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: but stumbled on the stairs. Well, we were eight in
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: five and we are heading to Indianapolis, and I'm thinking,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: in my mind, we have an opportunity to go out
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: here win it in their place, and that would help us.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: That was gonna win the division for us, beating them
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: at their place. And we had a great game plan.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: We were doing everything necessary. We were making plays. You know,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: I wasn't blowing anything or always think about what I'm doing,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: of course, but uh, I remember we got to a
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: crucial third down. I think it was like third and
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: ten or eleven or something like that, and I had
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: a pass to one of my receivers. We had a
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: play drawn up for him. It was like a corner
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: post move. And I got to my step, I got
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: to my drop, got to my point. I let the
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: ball go and I thought, man, this is money. And
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: somehow that ball sailed right over his fingertip where he
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: got a fingertip on it, and the guy picked the
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: ball off, and I thought, how was that ball too tall? Well,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: you go back and look at the film. That's the
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: steps weren't all correct for him. I was a little
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: fast on my end and in the timing just didn't
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: work out. But that was how close we were from
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: when in the conference. Basically you know we were. It
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: was the division was right there for us, and we
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: could not pull it off. And and that year did
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: not have the same destiny kind of feel that we
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: had earlier. You know, we we we won some games
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: that we probably shouldn't have won, but we also lost
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: a bunch of games that we shouldn't have lost, and
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: uh and and I did get hurt throughout that that
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: season a couple of times, and um, I just remember thinking, man,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: this is this sucks because um it was it was
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: right there for us, and then we just never rebounded
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: from that. I got hurt playing the Giants and they
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: fell out my wrist on a non throwing hand and
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: it just swoll up like a balloon. I had jammed
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: my finger on my throwing hand. In that Colts game. DWIGHTE.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Freney wanted to come in and try to knock the
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: ball out of my hand, and my fingers collided with
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: his hand and actually attendant popped off, and so my
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: hand was jacked up. And the way that we finished
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: that year was against the Washington Redskins at home, or
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: the way I I finished it was our Washington Redskins
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: in our last home game started snowing, which was really weird.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: But I could not function as a quarterback, could not
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: barely could throw the ball like I wanted to, and um,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: I threw a pick and then I was pulled out
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: of the game because I could not function anymore. But
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: that was the last throw that I had was a pick, which, um,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: if you go back and look at it, my first
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: pass was the picks though the nice good career, they're
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: sandwiched in between two picks. The near miss in two
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: thousand ten would be his swan song. In a twist
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: of irony, the Jaguars drafted a quarterback in two thousand eleven,
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: and Guard was cut in September a suddenly and shockingly
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: has left which had been four years earlier. Yeah, you know,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: they drafted laying. I just thought, you know what, it's
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: gonna take him a few years to you know, get
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: me out of this spot. I'm gonna, you know, keep
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: fighting just like I always have, you know. And Uh,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: I was feeling pretty good going into training camp. Um,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: but I could never get my my rhythm like I
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: wanted to. I could never I could. I wasn't making
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: all of the same plays that I was normally making
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: in in practice, and something just felt off. And um,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: you know, right before I think it was after the
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: first game. I'm not sure when I got hurt with
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: my back, but my back and and that was you know,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: not trying to blame it on that, but that was
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: something that was causing me some pain. Over the last
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: um over two thousand tennesse season and into that training camp.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: You know, my my disc was bulging in my back.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: That was causing me pain down my legs, and um,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: I just remember it doesn't matter. I can still run around,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: I can still throw. That shouldn't stop me. My. You
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: know I should be you know, able to make my plays.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: And um, I missed I think three games that that
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: preseason played in the last one ran around fine, showing
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: that I was healthy enough and that I you know,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: going too the year as a starter. What happened was,
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: um that you know that week that the the few
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: days after you finished that last fourth preseason game, you
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: get a couple of days off. Well, we had had
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: a couple of days off that UM weekend. But then
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: that Monday, we did like a little quick practice, nothing serious,
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: I think, just helmets, um, but I could not control
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: the ball. I probably had four intercepts and in that
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: hour and a half practice, and I thought, man, something's
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: not right. But I thought, you know what, put that
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: behind me. The season starts. You know this week Wednesday,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: we'll be back out here and you know I can
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: just move forward that way. Well, the luncheon was Tuesday,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: and um, in my mind, now that's what basically did
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: me in that that last practice. Jack must have went
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: to bed that night and just thought, there's no way
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: I can go out there with this guy. If he
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: can't complete simple throws on the practice field, There's no
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: way I can go. And we've got this young kid here.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: You know, I did this a few years ago where
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: I got the veteran out of here or you know,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: the starter and put the other guy in that was
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: kind of unknown, and uh, maybe I can do this again,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: Maybe I can find lightning in a bottle again. And um,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: of course that didn't work out the way that he
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: thought it, and for me, it just started a a
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: slew of injuries, you know, over the next few years.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: And yeah, I had you know, I had warned my
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: my body out, you know, I was up until that
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: high ankle sprain that I had playing the Colts. That
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: was the first time I had missed any games since
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: I played started playing as a Pop Warner kid. I
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: had never been hurt enough to where I missed any
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: games in high school and college didn't matter. I didn't
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: miss I was very durable and the way that I played,
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: you wouldn't think that. You would think, Okay, he's got
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: to have had some games missed because the kid runs
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: around like he's a fullback. And um, so I just
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: believe I just wore my body down over time, and
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: you know, it's it's just part of life. I got
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: a call from the Jack's or a text from Jack's
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: um secretary. It was like, hey, coach wants to meet
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: with you in his office, and I'm thinking, okay, he
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: wants to go over some stuff for the week and uh,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: you know, make sure that we can get some of
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: those plays that we had yesterday behind this. Maybe he
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: wants to show me on film, like you know, hey,
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: we can't have this kind of stuff. So I'm walking
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: down there in my suit and everything because i'm you know,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: still dressed up from the luncheon and him and um
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: Gene are in there, and I can tell the mood
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: in the room is just like real somber. I'm like,
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: what in the world is going on here? He's like, Dave,
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: you know, um, unfortunately, we're gonna you know, move on
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: from you and let you go. And and I was like,
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: what is he talking about? This can't be real. I
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: was like, but we just had the luncheon. You know.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: He's like, you know, just for reasons, you know, we
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: we just didn't do it before. It's not the best
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: way to do it. I understand that. Not like the
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: best way to do it. It's clearly not the best
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: way to do It's the absolutely worst way to do it,
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: you know. But I said, that's fine, you know, coach,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: don't worry. You know, there won't be any problems or
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: anything if I see you in the streets or anything.
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: And I said that, you know, there's not I don't
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: I don't have any ill will uh towards you anything. Um.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: It was definitely a tough time because it was definitely
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: out of the blue, you know. Um. And I remember
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: seeing Dirk in the hallway afterwards and he was, you know,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: you know, he was teary eyed. I was teary eyed,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: and he's like, I'm not sure what's going on her day.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: But uh, you know, You've always got my support and
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: I'm always you know, there with you. So true to
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: his nature, David always happy and optimistic, knows he lived
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: his dream. You know, just unbelievable because I was a
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: guy that got drafted from East Carolina, small school, and
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: I just thought, Okay, I'm not your prototypical quarterback. You know,
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm a little on the short side and I'm
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: on the bigger side. You know, I'm built more like
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: a linebacker or a fullback. But I can throw. And um,
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: I just thought, if I could just get five or
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: six years in the NFL, man, that would be I
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: would be happy. H I'm already you know, reaching my
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: dreams by playing in the NFL, But if I could
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: just last for five or six years, that would be huge.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: And um, you know, as years go on, I'm thinking, man,
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: I can do this for a long time. And to
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: have the opportunities that I did, even when Mark was
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: here and when Byron was the starting quarterback, I was
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: able to still show my worth and still show that
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: I can make plays on this in this at this level.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: And when you know, I got my opportunities to be
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: a starter for an extended period of times, I was
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: able to show that I can make a lot of
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: plays and I can do a lot of things, and
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: the fans were always there there supporting me along the way. Um.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: It was it was huge. You know. It's something that
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: always sticks with me and always will stick with me,
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: you know, especially with being able to google things. Now
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: my kids are always googling stuff and they still can't
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: believe that that was me running around out there. You know, Daddy,
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: they can't barely walk up the stairs holding you anymore,
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: but yeah, that was me running around. Um, it's it's
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: pretty special.