Latest / Bleacher Report / Santana Moss Opens Up on Sean Taylor, Miami Career & Commanders Hype w/ Dale Jr. | Taking Laps Ep. 3

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Santana Moss Opens Up on Sean Taylor, Miami Career & Commanders Hype w/ Dale Jr. | Taking Laps Ep. 3 · Bleacher Report

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Dad, like we got to meet each other again. Yep,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: domain right.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: That's right. It's gonna be completely different on something.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: This Pa, Bro. You know not.
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: I never been in one of these statements before being
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: brought up in Miami born and raised. Homestead has a
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: bit right racetrack out there, and I who passed by
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: but never been inside.
• 0:20
  Speaker 4: This is where motorsports was born in and then they've
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: been running here for over one hundred years, and so
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: this is probably the most important racetrack, at least in
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: the country.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Maybe in the world. I wanted to talk to you
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: about first off, your uh, your college career and this
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: was a you know, a prolific time for being a
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: college athlete, especially at Miami. Yeah, I mean it was, Uh,
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: it was a big deal. All all you had all
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: these celebrities around the team. Uh. I can't imagine how
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: you guys stay focused just to be able to go
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: out there and play ball with all the attention y'all
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: were getting, Uh, with all the things y'all were doing.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: You're right, I think one of the things that and
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: I'm probably saying something that you can attest to. When
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: you're doing what you love to do, you kind of
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: can put on those blinders and and not be kind
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: of I guess you could say bothered by what's around you.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: But it's it's it's not easy, you know, especially if
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: you're not focused. But I think when you one of
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: those guys that you know you have your mind made
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: up on what you trying to do and what you
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: set out to do, you go out there's a an,
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: and and and let it all hang out. And I
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: think it was it was great for me just knowing
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: I've seen it as a kid growing up watching those
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: big games, watching the Miami play the big team like
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: Florida State or watching them in the National Championship game.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: You always tell yourself, I wanna be a part of that.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: I wanna I want that same moment. So when you
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: finally get in it, and just to think, you know,
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: the way I got in it, I was a walk on.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: So coming from being a walk on and now playing
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: on the big stage at the University of Miami in
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: my backyard, so many of my fans and family around me,
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: they're there every week. I don't I can't go for
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: I can't hide, I can't mess up because those people
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: gonna remind me. Man, it was go time, and I
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: never thought about you know who was there. Are always
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: sort about making sure I did my job.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: I gotta know.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: So you go your walk on and how I'm sure
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: it didn't happen overnight, but how quickly were you able
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: to show the coaches what you were capable of?
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: One of the things about our sport, and I'm not
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: sure if it's the same with yours, the the way
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: you earn your respect from your peers and from the
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: coaching staff is by out there on the practice field
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: and when you're performing against you know, especially if you're
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: a guy who's not you know, are gonna be on
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: one of those first or second teams you go against
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: the You on the scout team, You on that team
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: that goes against the number one defense every day. Yeah,
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: and from day one, I had so many upper classmates
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: and some of the guys who knew me from my
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: neighborhoods who was already on that team. They would come
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: into the locker room like, hey, you saw that number
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: forty eight, and and yes they gave me number forty
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: eight my first year. That shows you that they cared
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: less about me and I was a walk on, But
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: they would come in and they was like, hey man,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: at that forty eight out day, he's moving, He's moving.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: And I would make play after play at the play
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: after play, you know A Now I'm inus receiver room
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: where you know, Reggie Wayne was in my freshman class
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: with me as a receiver, and he was the top dog,
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: like even though we was we was a freshman together. Yeah,
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: you can easily see that he was gonna be playing soon.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Mm But then you had a guy like me who
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: no one knew that was like, hold on, if Reggie won,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: this guy right here is right behind him.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: But I think about week four or five, I had
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: no clue about it. I knew I was going a
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: red shirt and play next year. Mm uh. That was
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: the whole you know, gift of my little gig that
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: they were saying they was gonna give me. And we
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: we on a national television's game on a Thursday night
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: and I get thrown in the game. I'm on the
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: sideline and guy say get in and I'm like, can't
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: be right.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: What was the p what what was going on? What
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: was the s what was the situation?
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Well, the situation was that day.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: Earlier that day, we had a upper classman in Jamie Jermy,
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: one of the best UH wide receivers in the state
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: of Florida coming out of high school that had been
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: in University of Miami for about four years.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: He was one of the best of the best receivers.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: He had something off the field that was lingering, So
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: he didn't know his faith whether he was gonna be
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: able to play or not that year and that and
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: leading up to that game that was gonna be the
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: day that he was gonna find out his faith.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: He found out. The coaching staff found out.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: Earlier that day, but I didn't know, ah, And so
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: everyone knew that I was gonna get in the game,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: but me and I think they did that saying we
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: can't throw that at him so early, you know, not
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: knowing we don't want him.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: To s you know, crap on his cell. So they
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: waited til.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: The last minute, and hey, they put me in on
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: the third down and the ball came to me, and
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: I mean I made to play my first ever college.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: I got in the game and it was a third down.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: I made the first down.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Do you remember that moment when that when I'm you know,
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: you see the ball in the air, A you're like,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: I I got to catch this ball.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: You know. You know what's so crazy?
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: My high school coach always told us, UH, he had
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: this quote, and it was it was opportunity favorites preparation,
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: or opportunities favors to prepare. I had been waiting for
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: this moment all my life, and so building up to
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: that day, not knowing when I was gonna ever get
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: my opportunity.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: I was preparing.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was preparing for that one moment that I
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: might get in the game, not saying it was gonna.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Be that year, yeap, next year. But I was putting
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: in the work.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: So when they caught my number, even though I thought
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: he was crazy for doing so, I say, hey, it's
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: something going wrong, but i'm'a.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Go in here. I was ready for the moment.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: So you've had this really incredible college career and you
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: are gonna go into the NFL. You get drafted by
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: the Jets, you end up getting traded to Washington, and
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: you have a breakout year and you s you know,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: since set the single season record for most of yards receiving.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: That's a big deal to me. I grew up being
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: a fan obviously the team since uh probably nineteen eighty two.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: You come in and and and you're a You're a
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: key player for a l organization. Fans are you know
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: s attaching themselves sells to you.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: You become this you know.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Synonymous name with with Washington. You know, did you ever
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: wonder if that was ever gonna be possible?
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: You know what Washington to me was that rookie season
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: all over again.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Really, I kind of took it on on.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: I took that approach to saying that, hey, I didn't
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: start off my season in New York the way I
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: wanted to as a rookie. Let me go back and
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: remember everything I did that could be wrong or probably
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: wasn't til my knowledgement you know at the time was right.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: Let me see if I can redo that.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: And so that off season I worked harder than I
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: worked before. I ate better, I lost a lot of
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: way I wanted to be.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: I wanted to come in lean, in shape.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: I wanted to do all the things that I can do,
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: uh my power to be the best I can be.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: And when I stepped on that field and went to
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: running and catching, it all showed up. It showed that, hey,
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: this guy, the work kind of took what I what
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: he went through, you know, in year one in New York,
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: and said I will make sure that I don't go
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: through this in Washington.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: And my main thing thing was when I got traded.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: I was happy for one because if people knew the
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: whole story off of Draft week, everyone had me going
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: to Washington anyway.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So to.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: Now fast forward get to Washington, I feel like it
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: was fake. I feel like it was meant for me
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: to be there, and and it was no question to
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: me that that season was gonna be one of my
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: better seasons because just the way my approach.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Was to talk about your teammates for a minute, give
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: me some names of some of your some of your
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: favorite teammates you enjoyed being in locker room with, playing
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: on the field.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: With, well, you know my early years in Washington, man,
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: I I I cannot have shared no story without talking
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: about Sean Taylor.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what I mean.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: I think it was just it was one of those
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: things when everybody just hear us from universe in Miami
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: and they automatically attached us together and say, well, Tanna
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: played with this guy.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: No, he was much younger than me. So my years
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: in Washington.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: Those those t first three years with him was my
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: first time experiencing the Shawn Taylor experience that everybody had
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: been talking about. Yeah, when I got to Washington, that
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: was my fifth year in the league and he was
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: only coming to his second year. I think they kind
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: of did things of putting up surround, pairing us together
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: to make sure that I can be that guy that
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: he can lean on if he had any questions, and
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: he didn't need to at times. You know, we had
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: a lot of conversations, but his play on the field
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: was always you know, I mean, I was always stunned
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: just what he can do.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: But nah, he was phenomenal. He was a phenomenal teammate.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: Man, I can talk the whole show about him, but
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: he was one of the guys that stood out. Got
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: to talk about Portis Porters. Was one of the reasons
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: why I got to Washington. One of the best running
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: backs in the league at the time when he was
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: in Washington. Man, I hate the fact that he didn't
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: he didn't get a chance to get ten thousand rushing yards,
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: cause if he would have.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Man, we'll be hearing this name.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: A lot too, talking about getting a yellow jacket. He
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: was that phenomenal as a running back. All London Fletcher,
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: Oh no other I tell London all the time. I say, bro,
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: it's one thing of having a guy that you consider
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: your peer. But I say, I looked at you as
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: a father figure. You had this spora about you like
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: you was somebody's dad, and we was all fathers, we
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: was all dadds, we all had kids. But man, I
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: would look across that locker room like that guy's different.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: So I stayed out of his way a lot. And
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: if you d we joke about it now. And I think, last,
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: but not least, Man, I gotta talk about Smooth. Smooth
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: was one of those guys.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Man. He he was like the nucleus. He was glue.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: Like if you needed a teammate that was gonna make
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: sure everybody jailed together.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: It was Smooth. You know.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: Whether he made a play or didn't make a play,
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: he was the same guy. Yeah, he was gonna l ma,
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: he was gonna have something funny to say, He was
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: gonna give it his all. And as a defensive back,
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: you have to have what he had. And I think
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: he just he didn't care. He didn't care whether it
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: was a good.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Or bad play. He was gonna make it.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: He was gonna go out there and he was gonna
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: be accountable for his action. So those guys are the
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: guys man that just stick out, you know, to me
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: and my years in Washington.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: We had a lot of years where we had some
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: really great personalities, good character guys on the team. And
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: and you you enjoyed several of those years with all
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: those all those guys in the locker room. Right now,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: looks like we're building a team. Mm very s. I'm
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: having as much to the postseason.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: I haven't had that much fun in watching the football game,
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: and not I mean anything about football, rather I was
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: playing or watching. Yeah, than last season it was phenomenal.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: You know, everything starts up top. They came in there
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: with the new ownership and they just put that foundation
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: in the ground and say this is where we gotta
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: go get coaching wise, they got the guy and when
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: they got him, he was able to build that culture.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: He built the culture back to what we should look
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: like as a football team, as a as a team
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: and as a franchise. And I think from there you
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: just go get the pieces. Now, you go get all
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: the added guys that's gonna help you be who you're
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: trying to be, who you're trying to show up and
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: look like every time you step on that field between
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: the white lines. And I give them all the credit, man,
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: because for so many years as a player I was
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: on teams we had phenomenal talent. I'm telling my names
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: out the Yuniang and you hear it from Hall of
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: famers to guys who projectedly probably gonna be the best
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: at their position. But if it don't fit what we're
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: doing as a organization, whether it's offensively, defensively, special teams, wise,
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: it ain't gonna work on Sundays or ain't gonna work
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: on game there. And I think that's what they doing
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: here that was able to have such a success that
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: year one because they got the right guys for their system.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: When you have a guy like Jayden Daniels and you
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: see so many other teams have those kind of quarterbacks,
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: yea man, When you have that guy, man, the the
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: rest is history.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: What about this year has you excited?
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Besides?
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Is take Jayden off the table? Right? We we are excited.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: We know we already know about that. That.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: So what is what is the new ki? What is
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: the new toy? Or the new piece of the puzzle
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: you're looking forward to.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: Uh, we went on and got some key s, key
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: acquisitions that's gonna help us in some of the areas
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: that we kind of felt that we was weekend last year.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: I think when you add a guy like JCJ to
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: you know.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Connelly Jr. He's the officer lineman.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: When we picked up, you got your office of line,
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: got a guy a lot better. You move a guy
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: like Coleman, you bring a guy like t uh tunsu in.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: We just got better offensive line wise, and and we
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: watched we watched the it was plow through people because
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: of their offensive line. So when you get better there,
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: now you protect your quarterback. You protect that asset. Then
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: also in the defensive back man, when you get a
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: guy like Will Harris, you get you get Jones, you
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: get the little young kid we got in the draft
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: and Amos. All those guys can play some football man.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: And now you're doing things in the secondary that I
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: felt like last year we was a little handicapped. I'm
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: looking forward to just with all the new added you know,
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: key guys. And then also we just got one of
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: the one of the Hall of famers himself who's gonna
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: be a Hall of Famous sooner or later himself.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Von Miller.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: Man, when you bring that kind of talent around, it
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: just raised your floor and your ceiling a little bit.
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: And I think now even the guys who not projected
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: to be that first round s, I mean, first team,
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: second team guys, they have to be better. They have
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: to be better just to even get looked at or
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: get on the field. So it's just one of those things.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: You raised the bar for competition and then you raised
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: the l level of play for your team.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: Man, I appreciate you. It's been fun.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Thank you, man, this is it's been a while. Man.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I hadn't seen you in so long, and uh,
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: I'm glad to see you enjoying yourself, no doubt.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: And I love that you're still.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: A part of the program and enjoying being you know,
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: because that's kind of I kind of feel like we
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: have similarities that Yeah, I retired from full time racing,
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: but I didn't you here.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to still be to be around, to
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: be around man. So it's good to see you. Thanks again, man,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Thanks for having next time a couple of that I
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: got to man, Please do please do