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O-Zone Podcast: John Jurkovic · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:08
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Ozone Podcast featuring Jaguars dot Com senior
0:13
Speaker 1: writer John Osher and Jaguars executive producer Dave the Kendis.
0:18
Speaker 1: We decided Dave and I to not talk as much
0:21
Speaker 1: at the top of the show. We could go into
0:23
Speaker 1: some things I'm dealing with. I'm trying to mount my
0:26
Speaker 1: own TV. I'm dealing with that today. Nobody wants to
0:30
Speaker 1: hear about that right now. So today I've got a
0:34
Speaker 1: guest that I'm excited about. Somebody that I've known for years,
0:37
Speaker 1: twenty five years actually, uh old time Jaguars fans and
0:41
Speaker 1: they know who they are. People who followed this team
0:44
Speaker 1: in the nineties will really really enjoy this. I'm joined
0:48
Speaker 1: by former Jaguars defensive tackle and current radio personality John Yurkovic. John,
0:55
Speaker 1: thanks for doing this. How are you no problem more?
0:58
Speaker 1: I'm doing fantastic, you know, I to avoid the COVID,
1:01
Speaker 1: just trying to observe from a bar of the cookiness
1:05
Speaker 1: and the craziness that is happening in this world. So
1:09
Speaker 1: now we'll get into your time and Jackson, So we'll
1:11
Speaker 1: talk about a lot, but tell me and tell people
1:15
Speaker 1: what you're doing now and sort of how you went
1:18
Speaker 1: from the Jaguars to what you're doing now? What's been
1:20
Speaker 1: your pack? All right? I left the Jaguars. I went
1:22
Speaker 1: to the Cleveland Browns, played about twelve games, got hurt
1:26
Speaker 1: there as a current ending injury. I tore my hamstring
1:29
Speaker 1: tendant off my pelvis. So after that, I knew I
1:32
Speaker 1: wanted to get into the media, and so I bounced
1:36
Speaker 1: around a little bit. I went over to NFL Europe
1:38
Speaker 1: and did a couple of games for Fox. Fox put
1:41
Speaker 1: me on four games h during that next season. They
1:44
Speaker 1: gave me a couple of games this season. After that,
1:46
Speaker 1: it didn't work out for Fox. They said I was
1:48
Speaker 1: too much like Madden and Milan, Which was that being
1:53
Speaker 1: too much like mad and Milan? Is that a bad thing?
1:56
Speaker 1: But they said, uh, thanks, but no thanks. I did
2:01
Speaker 1: uh with Eli Gold and Jill Arrington. I did one
2:04
Speaker 1: year of of Arena Football League on TNN. First game
2:08
Speaker 1: was the War on I four, which was Orlando versus
2:13
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay team. So I think Tim Markham was
2:16
Speaker 1: the coach for one and the Predators. Maybe Jay Gruden,
2:20
Speaker 1: I don't know. It could have been Ja yeah, Jay
2:22
Speaker 1: Gruen with your Lando Predators. So it was fun. Kenny
2:26
Speaker 1: the glove McIntyre was on the team, so he's the
2:29
Speaker 1: guy that we featured that day and they called him
2:31
Speaker 1: to Gloves. So I kind of laughed about it all
2:33
Speaker 1: the time. So I did that for one year, but
2:36
Speaker 1: I was always trying to get in the radio here
2:37
Speaker 1: in Chicago. That I pounced on it made two thousand
2:41
Speaker 1: of one. I got on the radio here at ESPN
2:43
Speaker 1: one thousands in Chicago and started with the three hour
2:46
Speaker 1: afternoon show. Morphed into a four hour afternoon show, turned
2:51
Speaker 1: into a real powerhouse. From about oh four, oh five,
2:55
Speaker 1: oh six, oh seven, oh eight. We used to call
2:58
Speaker 1: up the afternoon Salut and we're doing big numbers up
3:02
Speaker 1: in Chicago, and it was fantastic. We're having a ball.
3:05
Speaker 1: Then the economy went to crap, the housing bubble bursts,
3:09
Speaker 1: and they decided that they were gonna break us up,
3:12
Speaker 1: and they let the lead guy go Danny Mack. It
3:14
Speaker 1: was mac Yurk and Harry. They let Maco um. He
3:18
Speaker 1: fired him. He is making a lot of money, and
3:20
Speaker 1: they said, do I fire ten people? Do I fire
3:22
Speaker 1: one guy? They ended up firing one guy. I've been
3:25
Speaker 1: there ever since, and then became Carmen York and Harry,
3:29
Speaker 1: and then Harry got into a little bit of a
3:30
Speaker 1: dust up with the authorities over something that allegedly was
3:34
Speaker 1: a Reagano and uh operating Wow, maybe impaired. So a
3:40
Speaker 1: couple of years later they let him go. Then it's
3:42
Speaker 1: been Carmen in Yorko. Ever since. We've worked in the afternoon.
3:45
Speaker 1: We've worked in the nine to noon slot. Currently working
3:49
Speaker 1: a mass of eleven hours and fifteen minutes a week
3:51
Speaker 1: on the radio, hosting from twelve to about two fifteen
3:56
Speaker 1: every single day. Uh and listen, it's it's a living
3:59
Speaker 1: we do well. I talked sports. I like sports, so
4:02
Speaker 1: it's easy. You know, you watch everything that's happening. It's
4:05
Speaker 1: been a little bit of a challenge with everything we've
4:07
Speaker 1: got going on. But I like to talk, so I
4:10
Speaker 1: can talk anything. Honestly, people who knew you when you
4:14
Speaker 1: were here are not surprised you and into radio. It's
4:17
Speaker 1: a perfect fit. I was never surprised to hear your
4:19
Speaker 1: successful at it. Did you always think even when you
4:23
Speaker 1: were playing, that this would be your path? Yeah? When
4:26
Speaker 1: I started in Green Bay, I worked at a small
4:29
Speaker 1: place in New Holstein, Wisconsin called the alp Tuna Supper Club.
4:33
Speaker 1: I paid fifty dollars to do the show. I'd have
4:36
Speaker 1: to drive an hour and ten minutes down there, our
4:39
Speaker 1: ten minutes back on a Monday night. And I just
4:42
Speaker 1: wanted to try it, you know, there's I wanted to
4:46
Speaker 1: try it. I wanted to see what it was all about.
4:49
Speaker 1: So I went down there and the guy that ran
4:51
Speaker 1: about he owned about four or five radio stations down there.
4:54
Speaker 1: He owed him all. He owned them all in Wisconsin.
4:56
Speaker 1: He goes, Listen, you could be pretty good at this.
4:58
Speaker 1: He goes, you gott a little You gotta gift the
5:00
Speaker 1: gap because you could be pretty good at this. Got
5:02
Speaker 1: a hone it a little bit. You gotta practice a
5:04
Speaker 1: little bit if you do. He goes, there's a chance
5:07
Speaker 1: you can do this thing for a living. And as
5:09
Speaker 1: you can look at me, I'm not the most handsome
5:10
Speaker 1: fella in the world. So the television side of it
5:13
Speaker 1: may not necessarily work for me, but the radio side
5:16
Speaker 1: always seemed to work for me. So but yeah, I
5:19
Speaker 1: knew right away it was Green Bay. I did radio
5:21
Speaker 1: and television there. Came to Jacksonville, they already knew I
5:24
Speaker 1: was doing it, so the automatically just put me there.
5:27
Speaker 1: But seally got tired of doing the Lection Terry Show
5:29
Speaker 1: because it was getting a little sexual. And he goes, hey,
5:32
Speaker 1: will you do this for me? He goes, I don't
5:34
Speaker 1: want to do it. He goes, will you do it
5:35
Speaker 1: for me? And I said yeah, And then I negotiated
5:38
Speaker 1: my deal with those guys and that going there every Tuesday,
5:41
Speaker 1: fifty two weeks a year. I'd sit and talk with him,
5:43
Speaker 1: but I'd come in studio because you know, you want
5:45
Speaker 1: to meet the guys, you want to see the guys,
5:47
Speaker 1: You want to be ske doing the radio shows a
5:49
Speaker 1: little bit more personal. When you're all together in the
5:51
Speaker 1: same room, you guys get a better field for each other.
5:53
Speaker 1: So I'm still friends with Alex and Terry today. So
5:57
Speaker 1: you know, it was a good thing. It was good time,
5:59
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, then they started with who's the
6:04
Speaker 1: David Lamb was down there, Rick Blues down there. I
6:08
Speaker 1: see those guys at the Super Bowl. I talked to
6:10
Speaker 1: those guys all the time too. I know McManus was
6:13
Speaker 1: doing some stuff on the radio down there with Dave
6:15
Speaker 1: White Dell, so you know, I wish him luck all
6:18
Speaker 1: the time. We had Tommy on up here when he
6:21
Speaker 1: wrote his book, you know about his dad, and you know,
6:24
Speaker 1: Tommy's an entrep in your so you know, it's always
6:27
Speaker 1: fun talking to Tommy. We talked about silly up here
6:31
Speaker 1: when Tony was sick, you know, and he recovered, so
6:33
Speaker 1: we had Tony on to talk about COVID and what
6:36
Speaker 1: it was like. So I, you know, I got a chance.
6:38
Speaker 1: The last couple of years, they've had some events, so
6:41
Speaker 1: I've been able to come back down to Jacksonville and
6:44
Speaker 1: have a good time. But the guy likes to golf.
6:47
Speaker 1: You know, if you're gonna bring me down, get me
6:49
Speaker 1: around the golf while I'm down there. I try to
6:51
Speaker 1: tell sid Con when he had us on his beautiful
6:56
Speaker 1: boat before he sold at the kids Mitt and Danny Edwards,
7:00
Speaker 1: who I loved till till today. He was always a
7:02
Speaker 1: men'sh real good guy, and I tried to tell him
7:05
Speaker 1: I should listen to you. Get us out on the
7:07
Speaker 1: golf course so we could commiserate a little bit, you know,
7:10
Speaker 1: but team us up with guys throughout the years, you know,
7:13
Speaker 1: guys you didn't play with, so there's a chance to
7:16
Speaker 1: meet different fellas and and and younger kids and stuff
7:19
Speaker 1: like that. You get out there, have a little social
7:22
Speaker 1: afterwards that kind of thing, you know, God forbid. You know,
7:25
Speaker 1: we get together every once in a while. I saw
7:28
Speaker 1: you when you were down. I think it was two
7:30
Speaker 1: guys in and eighteen memory serves and it's, uh, that
7:34
Speaker 1: was probably the biggest gathering they've had. I former players,
7:41
Speaker 1: what did that weekend mean to you? And I guess
7:44
Speaker 1: what are the memories of that? The Jaguars era means. Listen,
7:49
Speaker 1: it was it was fun, it was new. You know.
7:51
Speaker 1: I came into second year. So the first year where Tom,
7:54
Speaker 1: you know, was was doing his thing up at Steven's Point. Um,
7:58
Speaker 1: I think that's where there were Steve his Point. They're
8:00
Speaker 1: up in with Spas and uh, you know, those guys
8:03
Speaker 1: are going crazy. I'm in Green Bay, so we're reading
8:06
Speaker 1: the paper every day. You know, Logoman is going crazy,
8:09
Speaker 1: Shmany is going crazy, all these veteran guy Burlin's going
8:12
Speaker 1: what are you doing to us? So I came down
8:14
Speaker 1: the next year. So that's when we're in Jackson and
8:18
Speaker 1: we're still trying to figure out who the hell we were.
8:20
Speaker 1: And you know how good we could or we could
8:22
Speaker 1: not be. Had a real good draft with Tony Brackens,
8:26
Speaker 1: with Beasley came in Kevin Hardy was the first round choice.
8:30
Speaker 1: So you had three guys that were starting in essence
8:33
Speaker 1: right away at Travis Davis back there, Chris Chris, uh
8:38
Speaker 1: Hudson was back there. I think Mickey Washington or Beasley
8:42
Speaker 1: not Beasley, Mickey Washington or many. Clark might have been
8:46
Speaker 1: starting at one of the corners. The defensive line had
8:49
Speaker 1: a nice rotation of the guys that we're gonna come
8:51
Speaker 1: in between log I mean spangy phrase myself, Kelvin Pritchett,
8:55
Speaker 1: Don Davey. Uh. It was a nice mix that we
8:58
Speaker 1: had in there that year or so. Yeah, Clyde came
9:02
Speaker 1: in late. Uh drawn knew him. Uh, Dick Ground knew him,
9:06
Speaker 1: so I think, uh, you know, he kind of brought
9:08
Speaker 1: him in. And Clyde was a veteran, classy guy. Um,
9:13
Speaker 1: you know, one of those guys that you saved for Sunday,
9:16
Speaker 1: don't ask too much during the week, let him save
9:19
Speaker 1: his legs. But while could he rush the pastor he
9:21
Speaker 1: was absolutely fantastic. So it's a real nice room that
9:25
Speaker 1: we had in there. Uh you know, Schwartz was behind us,
9:28
Speaker 1: but he had gotten a concussion a little bit later
9:30
Speaker 1: in the year. Tommy Brand boyer. You know a bunch
9:34
Speaker 1: of good, good guys, hard working guys, and we're four
9:38
Speaker 1: and seven, right, we're rotten. We lost to New England
9:41
Speaker 1: and New England. Uh, Andre Risen caught a ball Lake
9:44
Speaker 1: got it down to the one yard line. We didn't
9:46
Speaker 1: punch it into the end zone. We went to St. Louis.
9:49
Speaker 1: We gained five hundred plus yards, gave up less than
9:51
Speaker 1: two hundred yards, but we had five offensive turnovers which
9:54
Speaker 1: put him in short field position. One of them was
9:57
Speaker 1: returned for a touchdown. So we gave up ten point
10:00
Speaker 1: and lost the game. That was the game where Willie
10:02
Speaker 1: Jackson got it. We couldn't spike the ball to kick
10:04
Speaker 1: the game tying field goals. So there are a bunch
10:07
Speaker 1: of weird things happening to us. And we were finding
10:09
Speaker 1: ways to lose games whatever. In New Orleans and dominated him.
10:15
Speaker 1: Don't remind me, brother, don't remind me. Yeah, and then uh,
10:20
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden drawns like, listen, we're
10:22
Speaker 1: four and seven and we're in our defensive meeting room.
10:25
Speaker 1: Say this isn't over. He said, you can run five off,
10:28
Speaker 1: but you gotta bank the first one to be able
10:30
Speaker 1: to get five in a row, you gotta get the
10:32
Speaker 1: first one. And I don't know if we're in Baltimore
10:34
Speaker 1: at the old Memorial Stadium and we found a way
10:37
Speaker 1: to win that game in overtime, you know, and Rob
10:41
Speaker 1: Johnson maybe played instead of Brunell. Burnell might have been
10:44
Speaker 1: banged up and it was Rob Johnson. I don't have
10:47
Speaker 1: the exact memory of the five in order, but we
10:50
Speaker 1: didn't blow anybody out. We were winning games by three points,
10:54
Speaker 1: by four points, by five points, just finding ways to
10:58
Speaker 1: win games. Then we started to film a little bit
11:00
Speaker 1: better about ourselves. You know. Then you're at you know,
11:04
Speaker 1: instead of four and seven, year at six and seven.
11:06
Speaker 1: Now you're at seven and seven. Next Cno, you're eight
11:09
Speaker 1: and seven. I think we played the Houston Oilers when
11:12
Speaker 1: it was going dark down with the Houston Oilers before
11:15
Speaker 1: they came to Tennessee Titans. That weird game, John remember,
11:18
Speaker 1: I thank you guys with six and seven. And it
11:20
Speaker 1: was that weird game in the old Astrodome where they
11:22
Speaker 1: were like twelve thousand people A right, nobody was there.
11:25
Speaker 1: I feel like you're playing in high school state. Steve
11:28
Speaker 1: mcnarro was a quarterback rookie year. I believe if I'm
11:30
Speaker 1: not mistaken. And we went down there and we found
11:33
Speaker 1: a way to win, and then we get we're eight
11:35
Speaker 1: and seven. Now we gotta win our final game and
11:37
Speaker 1: maybe get a little bit of luck. And we played
11:40
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Falcons and they're running that pain in the
11:43
Speaker 1: assid little zold play and they had Roman forton Is
11:45
Speaker 1: one of their guards, is pretty damn good guard, and
11:48
Speaker 1: they were cutting off of him and whoever was on him,
11:51
Speaker 1: he's pretty good player. He was a high school wrestler
11:53
Speaker 1: state champion, if I'm not mistaken, So he's pretty damn good.
11:57
Speaker 1: And they're running that quick squeen, a quick screen to
11:59
Speaker 1: the sideline. It wasn't causing its major problems, but it
12:02
Speaker 1: was causing us enough problems, especially on the last drive.
12:06
Speaker 1: So they get down there and Morten Anderson's gotta make
12:09
Speaker 1: a kick and he missed. Said he stubbed his foot
12:11
Speaker 1: on the ground. He shanked it to the left side.
12:14
Speaker 1: They missed the field goal. We win, and suddenly we're
12:17
Speaker 1: world beaters, you know, And that's what I remember. I
12:20
Speaker 1: remember finding a way to win that rookie that first
12:23
Speaker 1: year I was down to the second year of the Jaguiars.
12:25
Speaker 1: We found a way to win. We found a way
12:27
Speaker 1: to get into the playoffs. Nobody expected crap from us.
12:31
Speaker 1: And then we went up to Buffalo in a very
12:34
Speaker 1: weird game. Two defensive touchdowns, one by Clyde Simmons, one
12:38
Speaker 1: by the other side. Uh, Mike Hollis pink ponged the
12:43
Speaker 1: ball in left right and ended up going through you know,
12:46
Speaker 1: all types of weird, the double doink, but in a
12:48
Speaker 1: good way, a double doink, not unlike Chicago that stuffered
12:51
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. So we were there and
12:55
Speaker 1: it ends up being Jim Kelly's last game and Kent
12:58
Speaker 1: Hall the center's last game. They retired after that game.
13:01
Speaker 1: So we just found a way to go ahead and win.
13:04
Speaker 1: Then we go to Denver, the infamous Denver game. So
13:09
Speaker 1: we go out to Denver and what he Paige the
13:14
Speaker 1: journalist and I can see the quotes journalists. Yeah, he
13:19
Speaker 1: gets on a Monday morning and he is opening about
13:22
Speaker 1: why Denver should even play the game, that they should
13:25
Speaker 1: have received a second bye and automatically gone to the
13:29
Speaker 1: FC championship game. You know, and there's you know what
13:33
Speaker 1: provides bolton board material. You know how effective is bolton board? Well,
13:37
Speaker 1: what it did was it focused us. We had an
13:40
Speaker 1: ultra focus realizing that you can't come in here and
13:43
Speaker 1: think that you can take anything for granted, and so
13:47
Speaker 1: all we wanted to do is keep it close for
13:49
Speaker 1: an extended period of time and see what would happen.
13:52
Speaker 1: I think they jumped to a twelve nothing lead, didn't
13:54
Speaker 1: they Clyde block the first extra point of tap and
14:00
Speaker 1: and they went for two when they missed two shows
14:02
Speaker 1: an awkward twelve nothing lead. Then all of a sudden,
14:04
Speaker 1: our offense started to find a little bit of rhythm.
14:07
Speaker 1: They've got some free blitzer's coming and Mark Burnell avoids
14:10
Speaker 1: them and starts making some big plays. All of a sudden,
14:13
Speaker 1: you start sewing the seeds of doubt in their brain.
14:16
Speaker 1: One of the biggest places in the game was Michael
14:18
Speaker 1: Dean Perry couldn't get his fat ass off the football field.
14:22
Speaker 1: It was jogging, it was a third down. They stopped
14:24
Speaker 1: us and maybe two yards and Togo and that big
14:27
Speaker 1: fat piece of whatever wouldn't run off the football field,
14:31
Speaker 1: and because he didn't, they threw the penalty flag and
14:34
Speaker 1: we ended up getting a first down and extended a drive.
14:36
Speaker 1: So it's that kind of stuff that was kind of
14:38
Speaker 1: going for us, and then we ended up beating them
14:41
Speaker 1: thirty to twenty seven. And we go up against New
14:44
Speaker 1: England and Uh Yellow had the ball down in the
14:48
Speaker 1: red zone with a chance to tie the game or
14:51
Speaker 1: take the lead. It was seven. If I'm not mistaken,
14:54
Speaker 1: we could have punched that ball in. But UH, you know, unfortunately,
14:58
Speaker 1: you know you're the quarterback. You gotta make Choy says
15:00
Speaker 1: he made a choice in uh Willie big play. Clay
15:03
Speaker 1: ended up stepping in front of Derek Brown and UH
15:05
Speaker 1: went the other way. Still had a chance. We stopped them.
15:09
Speaker 1: We got the ball back and then James Stewart fumbled.
15:12
Speaker 1: Neither ted Johnson or Teddy Bruski picked it up and
15:14
Speaker 1: returned it for a touchdown. The cover was in. The
15:17
Speaker 1: celebration started to begin in New England because everybody that
15:21
Speaker 1: bet New England minus the points, all of a sudden,
15:24
Speaker 1: we're a winner there late back door cover and the
15:28
Speaker 1: fans were celebrating extra special. Then we went to the
15:31
Speaker 1: playoffs in nineties seven. I ended up getting hurt. I
15:34
Speaker 1: broke my leg, so that was a frustrating year for me.
15:37
Speaker 1: We come back, we make the playoffs again. So I
15:39
Speaker 1: was on a team that went to the playoffs three
15:41
Speaker 1: straight years, you know, and that's all you could really ask.
15:44
Speaker 1: A chance to compete, a chance to be in the playoffs.
15:47
Speaker 1: I watched the emergency Jimmy Smith and Keena mccarnell, two
15:50
Speaker 1: of the best wide receivers that ever played for the
15:52
Speaker 1: Jacksonville Jaguars. I watched Tony Brackens probably become the best
15:56
Speaker 1: defensive player that Jaguars ever had. And brack was stunned.
16:00
Speaker 1: He was talented and he was fantastic. Brackens is a
16:04
Speaker 1: guy in this town. Everybody remembers the offensive players. That's
16:08
Speaker 1: what you do, and Tony has never really been that guy.
16:12
Speaker 1: He even when he played, he didn't seek the spotlight.
16:15
Speaker 1: I think people know he was good. John how good
16:19
Speaker 1: was Brackens? Tony was phenomenal? Uh yeah, when he came in,
16:23
Speaker 1: Lockaman saw him and we watched him. And you know,
16:26
Speaker 1: as as trading camp progress, A strong, strong, angular body,
16:33
Speaker 1: uh more strength there than one could imagine. Impressive in
16:36
Speaker 1: the weight room with the amount of weight that he
16:37
Speaker 1: could move. The hard working kid, intelligent kid, quiet, which
16:42
Speaker 1: is perfect. You know, in a room full of big mouths,
16:44
Speaker 1: having a quiet guy, there's not a bad thing either um,
16:49
Speaker 1: and he just had a knack and he had a strength.
16:52
Speaker 1: He had a core kind of like a rancher strength,
16:56
Speaker 1: you know, like a guy that's been wrestling bulls or
16:58
Speaker 1: you know, stuff like that. And he just from the
17:02
Speaker 1: you know, his core before core was cool. And he
17:05
Speaker 1: just kind of strength from like his upper thighs through
17:08
Speaker 1: his lower chest. That was phenomenal. And uh he you know,
17:12
Speaker 1: he took advantage of it and he got to the
17:14
Speaker 1: quarterback and all he had to do was refine his
17:16
Speaker 1: pass rushing skills just a little bit, which he did
17:19
Speaker 1: over the course of time and became one of the
17:21
Speaker 1: most dominant pass rushers in Jedward history. His great teammate, fantastic,
17:27
Speaker 1: You can communicate him. I came back and played the
17:29
Speaker 1: golf outing one time and Tony was there and it
17:32
Speaker 1: was like you never left the guy. You know, he's
17:34
Speaker 1: absolutely so much different, Like the media and the public
17:38
Speaker 1: never really saw him that among teammates have always heard, yeah,
17:41
Speaker 1: super guy, one of the best changing gears. A little
17:44
Speaker 1: bit I can recall when you were with the team,
17:46
Speaker 1: as with the Times Union, one of the favorite stories
17:49
Speaker 1: I ever wrote for the paper. I did a big
17:52
Speaker 1: feature on you is the headline. He acted with jergo
17:55
Speaker 1: the whole thing, oh boy, And we didn't run the
17:57
Speaker 1: bad stuff. But uh already called for that story. I
18:01
Speaker 1: think we talked in that story about you spending a
18:06
Speaker 1: year with Shula, and it seems and again if memory
18:13
Speaker 1: serves like, even though you were just with the practice squad,
18:16
Speaker 1: you had a little bit of relationship with Don and
18:18
Speaker 1: you liked playing for him and he liked you. Well,
18:22
Speaker 1: I think he kept me wrong because I made him laugh.
18:25
Speaker 1: That's what, okay, right right? I mean I I you know,
18:28
Speaker 1: I found the lighter, lighter side of things that to
18:32
Speaker 1: to b s with and have a good time with.
18:34
Speaker 1: And you know, he called the guys that on the
18:38
Speaker 1: practice squad called the mullets, and I was like, sweet,
18:42
Speaker 1: I said, I'm a mullet. Nice, you know. I took
18:45
Speaker 1: it as like a thing of joy. I've been given
18:47
Speaker 1: a nickname almost, so I'm a mullet. And then one
18:50
Speaker 1: of the coaches pulls me aside. He goes, um, you know,
18:53
Speaker 1: he goes the mullets like a crappy fish. You know,
18:56
Speaker 1: people don't eat it that it's they catch it, they
18:58
Speaker 1: throw it back. They don't do that. I go, yeah,
19:01
Speaker 1: I says, but listen, I said, I'm not a dolphin yet,
19:04
Speaker 1: but at least I'm a fish and I'm on the team. Still,
19:07
Speaker 1: I said, that's important. I said, I could be a
19:10
Speaker 1: mullet thrown back in, sitting back home in you know,
19:13
Speaker 1: Northwest Indiana, not doing a damn thing, I said, But
19:17
Speaker 1: I happen to be here, so this small hats sticking
19:19
Speaker 1: around a little bit more so. I always had fun.
19:23
Speaker 1: You had practice squad consistent of five guys. We had
19:26
Speaker 1: to do all the work, all the running, all of
19:28
Speaker 1: this guy was tired. You wanted you in there, You
19:30
Speaker 1: went in there. Guy was playing on Sunday was more
19:33
Speaker 1: important than me, who wasn't gonna plan on Sunday. So
19:36
Speaker 1: that's fine. I did whatever I could, hoping somebody got
19:39
Speaker 1: hurt on the defensive line so they'd activate me and
19:42
Speaker 1: I could become active. That didn't happen to my second year, uh,
19:45
Speaker 1: my first year in Green Bay, my second year in
19:47
Speaker 1: the league, or Sean Patterson blows his a c L
19:50
Speaker 1: I get my chance and my opportunity. Lyndi and Fanie
19:52
Speaker 1: gets fired Homegrin comes in. Don't like the two guys
19:55
Speaker 1: that are in front of me. One of them was
19:57
Speaker 1: Ezra to Wallow and the other one was David Brant,
20:00
Speaker 1: so they ended up. I start played the first game,
20:03
Speaker 1: get six tackles, play well against Kirk louder Milk in
20:05
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings and Ray Rhodes and Greg Blosch loved me
20:10
Speaker 1: boom on their nose tackle. The next year, Ron Wolf
20:14
Speaker 1: brings in Billy Moss. Loved Billy Moss absolutely fantastic. Came
20:18
Speaker 1: to us from Kansas City. Billy comes in, but Billy's
20:21
Speaker 1: got an achilles issue. So you know, I was only
20:24
Speaker 1: probably playing about twelve plays the game. Billy was getting
20:27
Speaker 1: the crux of all the activities in the base defenses,
20:30
Speaker 1: and his achilles goes down, and I could play against
20:34
Speaker 1: Denver on like a Thursday night or a Saturday night
20:36
Speaker 1: or a Sunday night. It was a weird game, and
20:38
Speaker 1: we ended up beating the Denver Broncos and nine three
20:41
Speaker 1: we went down and we held them to like fifty
20:43
Speaker 1: eight yards rushing. We go down to Tampa the next
20:46
Speaker 1: week and we held them to an x amount of
20:48
Speaker 1: yards rushing, and Billy's still on the sideline with the achilles,
20:52
Speaker 1: and then now all of a sudden, they're like whoa, Oh,
20:55
Speaker 1: it's pretty solid in the middle of this kid. So
20:58
Speaker 1: they started letting me play, let me start a little
21:01
Speaker 1: bit more, and then I had a real productive year.
21:03
Speaker 1: But once that year came ninety three, then I was
21:06
Speaker 1: established in the NFL. They knew I could play, They
21:08
Speaker 1: knew I could be trusted, they knew I was intelligent,
21:10
Speaker 1: that didn't make mistakes. I was fine. I could have
21:13
Speaker 1: played forever if I didn't get hurt. So by the
21:16
Speaker 1: time you got to Jacksonville, you know, you knew what
21:18
Speaker 1: you were doing. Oh yeah, at the time I got
21:20
Speaker 1: to JA and I knew what I was doing in
21:22
Speaker 1: Dick's defense, which is why they ware me in. You know,
21:26
Speaker 1: don David used to talk to Dick all the time
21:28
Speaker 1: because why aren't we gonna bring your co in? You know,
21:30
Speaker 1: let's bring him in. And Donnie didn't like playing over
21:33
Speaker 1: the nose the center. Donnie like to be that wide
21:37
Speaker 1: three technique. Pretchs like to be the white Pree technique too.
21:40
Speaker 1: Playing in the nose sucks you. I mean, you're getting
21:43
Speaker 1: you can't see it. You gotta feel everything right right,
21:47
Speaker 1: So you got to know the difference between the scoop
21:49
Speaker 1: walk and a double team and uh, you know a
21:52
Speaker 1: guy trying to get away from you quick, so you
21:54
Speaker 1: get the second level because they're running a suite. So
21:56
Speaker 1: you gotta be able to feel all that. You gotta
21:58
Speaker 1: be able to do it instantaneously almost, And when you've
22:02
Speaker 1: got a contact in the second contact, you know you've
22:04
Speaker 1: got to be ready for that and you gotta feel it.
22:07
Speaker 1: Those guys like to feel it from the three technique.
22:09
Speaker 1: Nobody liked the one technique. So I was like, perfect, guys,
22:12
Speaker 1: you want me to play over the nose ideal, I'll
22:15
Speaker 1: take every rep over the nose. You guys, do whatever
22:17
Speaker 1: you wanted the three right you started on the practice squad.
22:20
Speaker 1: You do whatever they ask you. Yeah, listen. It was
22:24
Speaker 1: It was simple. And Tom Coughlin called me in one
22:27
Speaker 1: time and he goes, listen, hease, I'm gonna yell at you.
22:31
Speaker 1: He goes, I'm gonna get on you. He goes, but
22:33
Speaker 1: you can't stop being who you are. He goes, I
22:36
Speaker 1: brought you here because your attitude and in your sense
22:40
Speaker 1: of lightning the mood when it's necessary. He goes, I'm
22:44
Speaker 1: gonna yell at you. Don't worry about it. He goes,
22:47
Speaker 1: you just take it. He goes, but you be who
22:50
Speaker 1: you are. He goes, I need this here, so all
22:53
Speaker 1: right time, no problem. So I got along today find
22:56
Speaker 1: with Tom Prisco used one of my quotes one time
22:59
Speaker 1: Pete did, and I told I told you and Pete
23:02
Speaker 1: whenever I talked to you guys, because I'd stay afterwards
23:04
Speaker 1: a little bit and I'd be chatting with you guys.
23:07
Speaker 1: I go, if I ever say something, you're gonna use
23:09
Speaker 1: put my name on Cristo us something after a game
23:12
Speaker 1: while I said, it always helps if you name names.
23:15
Speaker 1: You know, you go into these meetings. And Tom said something,
23:18
Speaker 1: and he says, guys gotta play better. Guys, gotta play better.
23:21
Speaker 1: And I said, you know, somebody's some of these guys
23:23
Speaker 1: think they're all doing okay, and they're absolutely fine. I said,
23:27
Speaker 1: sometimes you gotta name names. You gotta tell you guys, hey,
23:30
Speaker 1: I need better from you. I need better from you.
23:32
Speaker 1: I need better from you. I watched film. I knew
23:34
Speaker 1: what was happening and what's going on when I screwed up.
23:37
Speaker 1: I knew it before it even had before it came
23:39
Speaker 1: out film. I knew I screwed up. You know, I
23:42
Speaker 1: knew I I screwed up a call like an undermass
23:44
Speaker 1: fire zone. I didn't cross the center's nose. I was
23:47
Speaker 1: supposed to go to the other side to create more
23:49
Speaker 1: of an even pass our situation. I didn't, and I
23:52
Speaker 1: clogged everything up. Before it came out film, I knew
23:55
Speaker 1: I screwed it up doing the game. Now you gotta
23:57
Speaker 1: forget about it. In the game, you gotta move on
24:00
Speaker 1: film time. There ain't no line from the eye and
24:01
Speaker 1: the sky. The eye and the sky sees everything, and
24:04
Speaker 1: if you're wrong, you're wrong. Now you gotta be able
24:07
Speaker 1: to process it. You gotta be able to correct it,
24:09
Speaker 1: and you gotta be able to move on. The great
24:11
Speaker 1: football players can do that. Okay, they can forget about it,
24:14
Speaker 1: move on. The great football players are also very talent.
24:18
Speaker 1: I guess the stories from about ten years ago somebody
24:20
Speaker 1: did something with the tu on you that said you
24:23
Speaker 1: might uh at that point that she sort of wanted
24:26
Speaker 1: to coach. I still get the ch to coach. Yeah,
24:31
Speaker 1: you know. I was taught by Blosh. I was with
24:33
Speaker 1: Bloshing drawn up in Uhreen Vantage in Green Bay and
24:38
Speaker 1: those pretty two two pretty damn good coaches, and Greg
24:43
Speaker 1: taught me offense. So the first thing he brought us
24:46
Speaker 1: in when I was there. He starts putting formations up
24:50
Speaker 1: there and he wants to be able to speak the
24:52
Speaker 1: same language with everybody. So the first thing you gotta
24:54
Speaker 1: do is talk to the same language. If we're all
24:56
Speaker 1: not talking the same language, we're talking gibberish to each other.
24:59
Speaker 1: And we gotta be speaking the city, you know, identical language,
25:02
Speaker 1: not what some guy had at Philadelphia, not what this
25:05
Speaker 1: guy had in college. Nothing. We gotta speak our language
25:09
Speaker 1: and what we're doing. So whatever team I went to,
25:11
Speaker 1: the first thing I did was master the defense, the burbage,
25:14
Speaker 1: and how they identify the offense. In Green Bay, split
25:18
Speaker 1: backs was red. Uh, week backs was brown. Strong backs
25:23
Speaker 1: was blue. If it was a strong eye, it was
25:26
Speaker 1: a blue eye, brown eye if it was that. If
25:29
Speaker 1: it was a regular eye formation, it was green. You know.
25:32
Speaker 1: Uh as regular personnel as kings, Queen's, Jack's jokers. So
25:37
Speaker 1: those are all different personnels that we had. So from
25:41
Speaker 1: that point on, when you speak the same language, that's it.
25:44
Speaker 1: In Miami, it was all numbers, and there was numbers
25:48
Speaker 1: the strong side, our linebackers. The outside guy was sixty,
25:52
Speaker 1: inside guy was eight, you know, or vice versa. The
25:55
Speaker 1: outside guy on the right side or one side was
25:59
Speaker 1: even the other side was on. So if they had
26:02
Speaker 1: like a sixty seven cross mixed, it was a linebacker
26:05
Speaker 1: blitz to like the week side and that those had
26:08
Speaker 1: to know to go to the strong side. They went
26:10
Speaker 1: to the week side A and B and they crossed.
26:12
Speaker 1: So he just had to speak the language. You get it.
26:15
Speaker 1: Rawn really ingrained it into me and ingrained the offense.
26:18
Speaker 1: When you see a thirty six bim oh, I've got
26:21
Speaker 1: to know that. When you guys come to the sideline,
26:23
Speaker 1: we all know what we saw was the thirty six
26:25
Speaker 1: bim oh back on the inside, mike backer bim That's
26:29
Speaker 1: how you get it. And then oh is the offside guard.
26:32
Speaker 1: He is pulling over. So you gotta be able to communicate.
26:35
Speaker 1: You gotta be able to talk what kind of motions
26:37
Speaker 1: were coming back and forth. So yeah, you know, I'm
26:41
Speaker 1: fifty two, UM in theory. I still got a handful
26:45
Speaker 1: of coaches that are out there that I know. Dougie
26:47
Speaker 1: Peterson's out there in Philadelphia, um uh Andy's in Kansas City.
26:54
Speaker 1: Sean Payton, I went to college with UM. Saw him
26:58
Speaker 1: last year when I was at the Jaguar game. Him
27:01
Speaker 1: and I took a picture on the sideline, tweeted out
27:03
Speaker 1: to a bunch of the guys that you know, I
27:05
Speaker 1: had played with and he had played with a lot
27:06
Speaker 1: of guys had fun with that. Um, you know, other guys.
27:10
Speaker 1: Less needs out in the front office. And remember Less
27:13
Speaker 1: was in Jacksonville, so Less is out in Los Angeles.
27:17
Speaker 1: I always had a great relationship. So there's guys that
27:19
Speaker 1: are still out there and still out and about. There's
27:22
Speaker 1: knowledge here. It's here, but I gotta work more than
27:26
Speaker 1: twelve hours a week. Oh kid, trust me, I know that. Well. Listen,
27:29
Speaker 1: the reason I didn't coach was I didn't want to
27:31
Speaker 1: move everywhere. My youngest daughter is gonna be sixteen now,
27:34
Speaker 1: she's gonna be a junior. In two years, she's gonna
27:36
Speaker 1: be in college. It's something I always think about. You know,
27:40
Speaker 1: I'm not looking to become a gazillionaire, but there's college
27:45
Speaker 1: up here. And I always had an uncanny, uncanny ability
27:48
Speaker 1: to kind of know what was happening on the other side.
27:51
Speaker 1: More important than knowing what was gonna happen, it was
27:53
Speaker 1: what was not going to happen. I could eliminate screen,
27:57
Speaker 1: and I can eliminate draw, and I can to run
28:00
Speaker 1: from the this offside guard over then I kind of
28:03
Speaker 1: had a little bit of an advantage over the offense.
28:06
Speaker 1: And then basically you played Buffalo. All their calls, they're
28:09
Speaker 1: basically telling you what they're gonna do. Same thing with Tampa.
28:12
Speaker 1: If they audible to something, you're getting it. You just
28:15
Speaker 1: had to be able to receive the information process that
28:17
Speaker 1: and then implemented instantaneous. But you confuse people if you
28:21
Speaker 1: share too much information, and that's kind of the art
28:24
Speaker 1: of it, knowing what to share and whatnot. Right, I
28:27
Speaker 1: wanted to circle back. Something you said about Coughlin is interesting.
28:30
Speaker 1: I think people probably will be surprised when they hear
28:34
Speaker 1: that because they think of tom As as the cliche
28:40
Speaker 1: that everybody thinks that Tom is a hard ass. But
28:44
Speaker 1: it struck me that's some pretty that's a different side
28:47
Speaker 1: for him to bring you in and to know that
28:50
Speaker 1: he needs that. He wasn't just the one trade Tony
28:54
Speaker 1: if you will, No, No, he's more complex than people
28:56
Speaker 1: want to give him credit for. Listen, very intelligence, very intelligent.
29:03
Speaker 1: Also could read the individual players and what they needed
29:06
Speaker 1: and what they didn't need. You can't coach everybody in
29:09
Speaker 1: the same way. Afflin could drive me until the cows
29:13
Speaker 1: came home and I was fine. You know, it's how
29:16
Speaker 1: I grew up. That's the type of coaching I had.
29:19
Speaker 1: And we're cussed at at St. Andrew the Apostle School
29:21
Speaker 1: by the coaches, hell called bad names. I got pinned
29:25
Speaker 1: as a sophomore in wrestling. I come off to the
29:28
Speaker 1: side that the two dads go to me, Hey, how
29:30
Speaker 1: many lights are up there? Because you're flopping around like
29:33
Speaker 1: a fish, you could count the lights up there. There
29:35
Speaker 1: was no softness, there was no pats on the back.
29:39
Speaker 1: It's get better, get better. It's like throwing and throwing
29:43
Speaker 1: you into deep end of the pool. Swim or drowned.
29:45
Speaker 1: Either way, we don't care. Okay, you're getting thrown into
29:48
Speaker 1: the pool. Survived, so it was the thing of surviving
29:52
Speaker 1: and then once you survive, you flourish. So you go
29:54
Speaker 1: from surviving to flourishing. You know, that's what it's all about.
29:58
Speaker 1: But Tom, I love playing for different Go who's your
30:00
Speaker 1: favorite coach? Your who's your favorite coach? How? I played
30:03
Speaker 1: for School, I played for Lindi and Fani. I played
30:05
Speaker 1: for Mike Holmgren, I played for Coughlin, and I played
30:07
Speaker 1: for Chris Palmer, who is our offensive coordinator with UM
30:13
Speaker 1: with the Cleveland Browns. And I tell him, I go, listen,
30:15
Speaker 1: it's easy when you're in the playoffs. I said, so
30:18
Speaker 1: I go. Mike Holmgreen and Kaughlin are the same people.
30:22
Speaker 1: They just go about their business a different way. You know.
30:26
Speaker 1: Mike Homegren can't you would come to ast you a
30:29
Speaker 1: great community. There was an intensity about him, but his
30:32
Speaker 1: intensity was on the backside. Tom's intensity was forward. You
30:37
Speaker 1: saw it right away. It was instantaneous. But the intelligence
30:40
Speaker 1: and the complexity and the thinking man was back here
30:44
Speaker 1: and he only brought that out every once in a while,
30:47
Speaker 1: you know. And and in in reverse, Homegren only brought
30:50
Speaker 1: the intensity out every once in a while, where Tom
30:52
Speaker 1: brought out the Hey, but the arm around you understand
30:55
Speaker 1: exactly what was going on. Same people, just a different way.
30:59
Speaker 1: They just want to about the business, just a little
31:01
Speaker 1: bit different way. One of the things I always remember
31:03
Speaker 1: about you, because we have this in common. When I
31:05
Speaker 1: wrote the story about you, I think it was your
31:07
Speaker 1: last year. One of the first paragraphs, but I mentioned
31:13
Speaker 1: that you were the biggest warren zvon fan in the NFL.
31:18
Speaker 1: And I think, and again, I'm going way off topic.
31:21
Speaker 1: Most people who are listening to this or not devon fans.
31:26
Speaker 1: But I think the next year he came through Jacksonville
31:30
Speaker 1: and he mentioned it. I don't know if you ever
31:32
Speaker 1: knew that. He mentioned you on stage. Hold on, hold on,
31:34
Speaker 1: watch this all right? So I got a frame. This
31:40
Speaker 1: is a letter from the director of the Florida Theater
31:44
Speaker 1: Okay Jay Eric Hart the executive directory, and it reads,
31:50
Speaker 1: Warren zev I performed at the Florida Theater last night,
31:52
Speaker 1: and I thought you might like to know that he
31:55
Speaker 1: asked about you. I vaguely remember that you once you
31:58
Speaker 1: talked about being the huge zvon fan on the old
32:01
Speaker 1: Monday night television show and worded somehow gotten the Warren.
32:05
Speaker 1: Back stage, he asked a lot about football questions. When
32:08
Speaker 1: I asked if you follow the Jaguars, he said, now
32:11
Speaker 1: you know, just this one guy I've heard about best
32:15
Speaker 1: of all, you included John Yerkovic in the lyrics were
32:17
Speaker 1: Wolves of London. The crowd loved it. An excitable boy
32:22
Speaker 1: that you are, you would have been thrilled best. What
32:24
Speaker 1: should do a lot of fans this year? Uh in
32:27
Speaker 1: in inivitable, inniviable adult not to said not to mention
32:32
Speaker 1: your good taste and rock music. This was November sixteenth,
32:36
Speaker 1: nineteen nine nine. I received this letter. So here we
32:39
Speaker 1: are twenty one years later. I put it up on
32:42
Speaker 1: I put it up here. Actually my ex wife did, Brandy.
32:46
Speaker 1: She put it up here in glass and I got
32:48
Speaker 1: the letter, and uh, I always showed it to people.
32:50
Speaker 1: It's one of my proudest possessions that I have. The
32:53
Speaker 1: great Warren Sea Werewolves of London. Yeah, for the listener,
32:58
Speaker 1: John is now showing me his war In Zvon tattoo
33:01
Speaker 1: with gold in the cigarette. You don't want to see
33:04
Speaker 1: the body. Trust me. When I said, so, this is
33:08
Speaker 1: the second one I got. That's a little more pronounced. Yeah,
33:12
Speaker 1: that's the one with him smoking a pipe. Okay. The
33:15
Speaker 1: other one I got on my other arm is he's
33:17
Speaker 1: smoking a cigarette. But this one's much bigger and much
33:20
Speaker 1: more pronounced. So he's got the pipe with the glasses
33:23
Speaker 1: on and right, and the guy inside. Yeah they call
33:27
Speaker 1: him old Velvet Nose. So yeah, yeah, so yeah, I'm
33:32
Speaker 1: a big Zevon fan. It was kind of nice. When
33:34
Speaker 1: I got the letter. I was like, you know, why
33:37
Speaker 1: couldn't I have been there? It was in the middle
33:39
Speaker 1: of the season. I got hurt two weeks after that anyway,
33:41
Speaker 1: But you know, sometimes in life you don't get to
33:43
Speaker 1: meet your heroes. Yeah, I was sitting out probably I
33:47
Speaker 1: don't know even the twelfth Throne, and I can remember
33:50
Speaker 1: I had talked to you about it the year before,
33:52
Speaker 1: included in the story, and I whenever I listened to him,
33:56
Speaker 1: and when he passed, You're always one of the first
33:59
Speaker 1: people I think about. And the other thing that I
34:01
Speaker 1: always think about when it comes to you, and again
34:03
Speaker 1: I think more people remember this, the thing I remember
34:07
Speaker 1: about when you played, beyond anything you did in the field.
34:10
Speaker 1: Me and Crisco were sitting in the press room in
34:12
Speaker 1: the hallway where we used to sit right and I
34:15
Speaker 1: remember you remember you walking in one day, it must
34:17
Speaker 1: have been a Wednesday or Thursday, mid afternoon, and you
34:20
Speaker 1: went guys, who're not gonna believe it, some kids out
34:23
Speaker 1: front and he's got his head stuck in the jag war. Yeah.
34:27
Speaker 1: But every time I walked by the Jaguar statue, I
34:29
Speaker 1: think to you because of that, because you've got a
34:31
Speaker 1: bigger kick out of that than anybody. Yeah. I went
34:34
Speaker 1: out there and looked at it, and I just wondering,
34:35
Speaker 1: how the hell the kid did it? You know, it's
34:37
Speaker 1: a great photo. Yeah, hey, look my look. And then
34:41
Speaker 1: he got jammed up and I went out there and
34:43
Speaker 1: I would take a look, and I'm like, what this
34:44
Speaker 1: kid ain't gonna happen. This kid's not getting on of here.
34:48
Speaker 1: You know, he wished it in a way. You took
34:50
Speaker 1: from that with the Yeah, I used to come in there.
34:53
Speaker 1: I used to come in and tried you guys all
34:55
Speaker 1: the time, used to busting chops and hated that, but
34:58
Speaker 1: you didn't care. I yeah, what are you doing in there?
35:01
Speaker 1: What are you doing in there? I said time, if
35:03
Speaker 1: I ever say anything, you're gonna put my name on it.
35:05
Speaker 1: And then Briscol used it and didn't put my name
35:07
Speaker 1: on it. And I'm like, what are you doing to me, Pete?
35:09
Speaker 1: You try to kill me, You try to undermine me.
35:11
Speaker 1: Now listen, it happened to me and Jacksonville too. I
35:14
Speaker 1: ended up leaving. I went to Cleveland, but they brought
35:16
Speaker 1: Gary Walker it. Yeah, you know, and Gary Walker they
35:20
Speaker 1: played with Seth and Ronaldo Win when they came in
35:22
Speaker 1: a little bit later to Gary Walker was a better
35:24
Speaker 1: football players. I was. That's just the way it was.
35:28
Speaker 1: And the young kids were less expensive. So you know
35:31
Speaker 1: the same way I got replaced in uh in Green
35:33
Speaker 1: Bay with Santana Dotson and Gilbert moved into nose. Gilbert
35:37
Speaker 1: was a much better nose tackle than I was. That's
35:39
Speaker 1: just the truth. And uh, you know, that kind of
35:42
Speaker 1: stuff happens to you. And so when I ended up
35:45
Speaker 1: bringing Gary Walker, and I remember him at Tennessee and
35:47
Speaker 1: I'm like a pretty good player Ary Walker, and you
35:51
Speaker 1: know he ended up being you know, long with Stroud
35:53
Speaker 1: and along with Henderson. Uh, you know, they came in.
35:56
Speaker 1: They had a nice brought of defensive tackles in there.
36:00
Speaker 1: And another thing I'm proud of both Ronaldo and says
36:03
Speaker 1: Payne listen to me, And I said, listen, I go,
36:06
Speaker 1: you guys want to play in this league a long time.
36:08
Speaker 1: I said, what you gotta be able to do is
36:10
Speaker 1: let these coaches trust you. You gotta let them know
36:13
Speaker 1: that you're not gonna make mental mistakes out there, because
36:15
Speaker 1: mental mistakes are coach killers. If you mentally screw up
36:19
Speaker 1: out there and you go the wrong way I go,
36:21
Speaker 1: that will kill your football team more than if you
36:23
Speaker 1: get your askt okay, So don't make mistakes. I think
36:28
Speaker 1: Ronaldo played fourteen years. I know he's up in Washington
36:31
Speaker 1: at the end. Seth played with with Jackson wal then
36:34
Speaker 1: shot down to Houston. Uh finished his career there. He's
36:37
Speaker 1: on in the radio right now, so you know, I'd
36:42
Speaker 1: like to see it. And he was a fourth round
36:44
Speaker 1: pick out of Cornell. Um uh Ronaldo was a first
36:48
Speaker 1: round pick. But it was good to see guys you
36:50
Speaker 1: talked to and guys that you kind of gave a
36:53
Speaker 1: little bit of advice to. They followed it and for
36:56
Speaker 1: my birthday of their rookie year, they got me golf balls.
36:58
Speaker 1: So how nice those kids. You know, I appreciate titles.
37:03
Speaker 1: I don't think the prov one was out yet, but
37:05
Speaker 1: they got me some titles. Final question on these lines, Um,
37:10
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people when the name gets mentioned,
37:15
Speaker 1: a lot of people remember the television show Yeah Go
37:17
Speaker 1: with your Kay that you did with him. What did
37:20
Speaker 1: that means to you? And how many people you think
37:23
Speaker 1: you're reached? And the people in Jacksonville still sort of
37:26
Speaker 1: mention that it that's still a big deal to you. Yeah,
37:28
Speaker 1: it's you know, it was a chance to communicate with
37:32
Speaker 1: with an audience that may not have gone to football games.
37:35
Speaker 1: You know, they like the Jaguars, but they never were
37:38
Speaker 1: in a position to go to the games. And for me,
37:42
Speaker 1: it was always fun. You know, that was a relaxing
37:45
Speaker 1: time for me. I didn't prepare. I never prepared for anything.
37:49
Speaker 1: I don't prepare for my shows, have watched sports. Whatever
37:52
Speaker 1: is coming at me comes at me, and then I
37:54
Speaker 1: we talked about it, We react to it, and we
37:56
Speaker 1: we engage in conversation. You read articles. I read articles
38:00
Speaker 1: all the time. To me, that's not preparation for me.
38:02
Speaker 1: That's just everyday life. You know. I love doing it, hey,
38:07
Speaker 1: because it's something I wanted to do and I wanted
38:09
Speaker 1: to develop. But it was a chance to talk to
38:11
Speaker 1: people that weren't at games, that didn't see what was
38:14
Speaker 1: happening and what was going on, you know, and it
38:16
Speaker 1: was a way for me sometimes to explain. Listen, guys,
38:19
Speaker 1: not everybody can stop and sign autographs all the time.
38:23
Speaker 1: You're gonna get one faction of the groups. The big
38:25
Speaker 1: guys that are gonna be able to sign one day. Uh,
38:28
Speaker 1: the little guys, the defensive back, the receivers, they're running
38:30
Speaker 1: backs to the linebackers. They've got to go inside tight
38:33
Speaker 1: ends and they've got a lift. They got no choice.
38:36
Speaker 1: There's not a choice for them to stop and sign
38:37
Speaker 1: fifty seven autographs. I go, the big fat guys, the
38:40
Speaker 1: defensive lineman and the offensive lineman have to sign today.
38:43
Speaker 1: So we're gonna sign. And you had to run in
38:47
Speaker 1: and they got your jersey. Were only here today. We're
38:50
Speaker 1: from Tallahassee and where Hey, we're from Ocala horse Country.
38:55
Speaker 1: Come on, will you signed this for us? And and
38:58
Speaker 1: you know you get a chance to explain what the
39:00
Speaker 1: mechanics are to an individual practice. If you didn't get
39:04
Speaker 1: him in the morning, you can get them in the
39:06
Speaker 1: afternoon when they were actually doubles, you know, when they're
39:09
Speaker 1: actually two practices a day. At the one practice a
39:12
Speaker 1: day and the walkthrough, you know, they'll never know John,
39:16
Speaker 1: The kids don't know well. And it wasn't even bad.
39:19
Speaker 1: You know. Other guys are doing triples. Back when vermil
39:21
Speaker 1: I had the Philadelphia Eagles. Yeah, we never took the
39:24
Speaker 1: pads off with Schula. Never. When Homegrin came in, that's
39:28
Speaker 1: the first time at training camp for six weeks. We
39:31
Speaker 1: started July Monday, of the first week of the NFL season.
39:35
Speaker 1: We're out of training camp. Home made a little bit different.
39:40
Speaker 1: We took the pads off after three weeks. But he said,
39:42
Speaker 1: if you can't play with speed, the practice with speed,
39:46
Speaker 1: because I'm putting the pads right back on. He goes,
39:48
Speaker 1: don't hit each other, do not take each other to
39:51
Speaker 1: the ground. He goes, I want movement and I want
39:53
Speaker 1: a speed. I want efficiency. And that's what we gave them.
39:57
Speaker 1: And as long as we gave it to him, we
39:59
Speaker 1: didn't practice. We'd play the Bears in the tenth week
40:01
Speaker 1: of the season. The twelfth week of the season, Tom
40:05
Speaker 1: Thair in Hilgenberg boorts the tackle was Van Horn on
40:10
Speaker 1: the right side, and I could have been John Bojahowski
40:13
Speaker 1: or somebody on the left side. And I'm telling you,
40:19
Speaker 1: I'm tired. They were beat half to hell. Talking about
40:22
Speaker 1: how they were still hitting in practice. Dad wants that
40:25
Speaker 1: and even with Dicka that Wanny Wanny was beating the
40:28
Speaker 1: living eight shot of him. They didn't have a shot
40:31
Speaker 1: against us, not a shot. We'd go in there. Even
40:35
Speaker 1: if they played their best game, We're gonna find a
40:37
Speaker 1: way to beat him at the end, because they were
40:38
Speaker 1: just after hell. So sometimes you gotta be smart, and
40:42
Speaker 1: homeg was smart about it. Life pretty good for you.
40:45
Speaker 1: John got no complaints. I got two boys there. My
40:49
Speaker 1: Niko and Jake are twenty four, and Jake's gonna turn twenty.
40:52
Speaker 1: My daughter is gonna be sixteen. Here. I optioned the
40:55
Speaker 1: old lady off the Triple A Buffalo about four and
40:58
Speaker 1: a half years ago, gave her her walking paper. Oh yeah, life,
41:02
Speaker 1: it's not bad. I get a lot better with her
41:04
Speaker 1: now than I did when we were married last three
41:05
Speaker 1: four years, so it's fine. I got a good relationship
41:08
Speaker 1: with her. She's still the mother to the kids. It's fine.
41:11
Speaker 1: I told her to keep the house. She didn't want it.
41:13
Speaker 1: I kept the house. Hey, that's fine. I keep housing well.
41:16
Speaker 1: Once the boys leaving, my daughter goes to school. It's
41:19
Speaker 1: way too big, so I'll have to, you know, probably
41:22
Speaker 1: move it and get myself a little bit of smaller
41:24
Speaker 1: place with no stairs. My body's beat half the hell hurts, ankles,
41:32
Speaker 1: knees hips, lower back, middle back, upper back, risks, elbows, shoulders, neck.
41:40
Speaker 1: I don't get headaches, though, so I feel good about that.
41:43
Speaker 1: I know from talking to people who were around this
41:45
Speaker 1: team and who are still fans here, that for a
41:49
Speaker 1: lot of people you were still their favorite Jaguar from
41:53
Speaker 1: that area. You touched a lot of people down here
41:55
Speaker 1: because of your approach, because of who you are, and
41:58
Speaker 1: I could talk to you for ever. Go a wrap
42:00
Speaker 1: it up for today. I can't thank you not it's
42:03
Speaker 1: great catching up with you, and uh, I appreciate you
42:05
Speaker 1: doing this very much. I appreciate it. Hopefully they're in a
42:08
Speaker 1: a lot of fans and stadiums. My plan is the
42:10
Speaker 1: Bears are coming down week sixteen seventeen, late in the year,
42:15
Speaker 1: during the holidays, So my plan is to come down
42:17
Speaker 1: to Jacksonville at the end of the year, play a
42:19
Speaker 1: little bit of golf, maybe bumping the Davy and Furich
42:23
Speaker 1: and Lee Kaplan and a couple other people down there,
42:26
Speaker 1: and go out to dinner, play a little bit of golf,
42:28
Speaker 1: come to the game enjoying myself, and then fly out
42:31
Speaker 1: of here. So fine, all right? Didn't the Who's Done Five?
42:38
Speaker 1: With John Yerkovic? John your last Binns watch Banshi, I'm
42:43
Speaker 1: watching it right now was on showtime? Ozark's also, but
42:47
Speaker 1: Benshi and Ozark the last station or stong you listened
42:51
Speaker 1: to in the car something from post Malone. Now I
42:54
Speaker 1: probably know the answer to this because of where you live,
42:57
Speaker 1: Jordan or Lebron Oh, Joe and easy Jordan Kobe Lebron
43:02
Speaker 1: would be one, two three from me. You're the last
43:05
Speaker 1: store you did around the half. I just watered the
43:09
Speaker 1: plants outside. I've got a fig tree, I got a
43:11
Speaker 1: bamboo tree, and they had three tomato plants. I just
43:14
Speaker 1: watered him before I came into the house to do this.
43:17
Speaker 1: I care about this. Are younger lipeners, Well, but you're
43:21
Speaker 1: your top three. Devon Thok who rolling the headless Thompson gunn,
43:28
Speaker 1: the French and hailer and desperadoes under the eaves. The
43:33
Speaker 1: third one is my number one. It's a it's a
43:37
Speaker 1: wonderful could be on my left. Yeah, but I love
43:41
Speaker 1: rolling the headless Thompson gutter and the French and hailers.
43:44
Speaker 1: Every girl I ever met two Am and the bar
43:46
Speaker 1: and came at City, Illinois. You should look like something
43:50
Speaker 1: death brought with it in its suitcase. The other pretty
43:54
Speaker 1: face devastated. Yeah, it's good too, John, Thanks cheers, all right?
44:03
Speaker 1: That was John Yerkovikien was expected as promised. That was fun.
44:06
Speaker 1: It was easy to predict it would be fun. Anybody
44:09
Speaker 1: who followed the Jaguars and six. Anybody who knows anything
44:12
Speaker 1: about John knows he's a fun guy. And Dave. I'm curious,
44:16
Speaker 1: Um I covered yurkovin, so I knew from the locker
44:21
Speaker 1: room from being around him, what a personal guy, who was,
44:27
Speaker 1: what a good guy was I'm wondering as a fan
44:31
Speaker 1: of the team at that point, I'm assuming I never
44:35
Speaker 1: thought of John is one of the major personalities of
44:37
Speaker 1: the team. Uh, not that he was in the locker
44:40
Speaker 1: room personality, but he wasn't Jimmy Smith. He wasn't keen,
44:44
Speaker 1: and he wasn't marketing. He wasn't one of the core guys.
44:47
Speaker 1: But my impressions from talking to people is that people
44:50
Speaker 1: did identify with Yerka. Yeah, I think people loved him.
44:53
Speaker 1: I mean his personality was kind of bigger than life,
44:56
Speaker 1: a little bit like and also he was always on
45:00
Speaker 1: TV or always on the radio. He used to a
45:02
Speaker 1: segment for when the Jaguars TV shows when I was
45:05
Speaker 1: a kid, I remember called the Acting with your co
45:08
Speaker 1: You know the thing I remember about that John is
45:10
Speaker 1: he went to a Krispy Kreme donut place. And you
45:12
Speaker 1: know how the Krispy Creme donuts they have like the
45:14
Speaker 1: conveyor belt where they make all the donuts. And he
45:17
Speaker 1: was talking about whining to lay on the conveyor belt
45:18
Speaker 1: and like go underneath the icing thing and be coated,
45:22
Speaker 1: and yeah, um, I like for some reason, I always
45:26
Speaker 1: remember that. Um. He you know, he had a great personality.
45:29
Speaker 1: I remember going to training camp as a kid, and
45:32
Speaker 1: I was a kid that used to like search for
45:34
Speaker 1: autographs and stuff, and I remember when he would stop,
45:37
Speaker 1: he was basically holding court with all the fans. So,
45:39
Speaker 1: you know, cutting up with people and and talking to
45:42
Speaker 1: kids and like joking around with people and stuff. Um,
45:46
Speaker 1: maybe the one where the media perception of somebody is
45:50
Speaker 1: different than the fans. I covered the team. I was
45:52
Speaker 1: working for the Times Union time, so I focused on
45:56
Speaker 1: certain stories. I covered the game. Probably Lee didn't always
46:01
Speaker 1: listening to every radio station the way a fan would.
46:07
Speaker 1: It's one of those players the fans new and love
46:10
Speaker 1: as much as those close to the team. I appreciated, uh,
46:15
Speaker 1: John Minnie play and I appreciate it now. I enjoyed that,
46:18
Speaker 1: maybe as much Day podcast you've had so far. And
46:20
Speaker 1: with that, we'll uh, we'll wrap this. I appreciate John
46:25
Speaker 1: York you joined us, appreciate Joe Portnado, and Day began
46:27
Speaker 1: to make a Meet sound better than I am. I
46:30
Speaker 1: don't think this one stuck. I think this one was
46:32
Speaker 1: great and not. We'll see you next week.