Speaker 1: Are you ready for this? Jean Merriman A one of
Speaker 1: hand effect. Boom boom boom, out go the light. This
Speaker 1: is Lights Out with Sean Merriman. What's up, guys. We're
Speaker 1: back again on the Lights Out podcast with me Shawn Merriman,
Speaker 1: and today we're bringing on someone who I got a
Speaker 1: chance to watch at a distance, Cliff April up there
Speaker 1: at the Seattle Seahawks and that legion of boom Uh.
Speaker 1: These guys that were no more of exciting defenses in
Speaker 1: football at that time. And it's funny. I always got
Speaker 1: a chance to talk to him through social media, but
Speaker 1: this is our first conversation we'll get a chance to have.
Speaker 1: We got some funny stories. One of the funny stories
Speaker 1: is he was a Maryland University of Maryland recruit. He
Speaker 1: came in and the coaches pointed him out one day
Speaker 1: and uh, he saw me and decided to go to Burdu.
Speaker 1: But you know, he's doing many great things now and
Speaker 1: we're definitely gonna get into today's game and how things
Speaker 1: are different. One of the things is different is, uh,
Speaker 1: I might become an old man. I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's happened or not, but I might become an old man.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at some of these guys, oh and three
Speaker 1: old four teams and they're laughing, having a good time.
Speaker 1: And today's game that's accepted for whatever reason, when I played,
Speaker 1: when Cliff played, and many others played. Uh, the leaders
Speaker 1: in the locker room are grabbing these guys and bringing them,
Speaker 1: sitting them down, saying we're gonna get our act together.
Speaker 1: So maybe I just might become an old man. Maybe not.
Speaker 1: We're gonna bring Cliff in and uh, get this one going, Cliff,
Speaker 1: what's up with you? Might? Du what's going on? Bro?
Speaker 1: Are you? I'm good man? You know I was just telling,
Speaker 1: uh my guy Vito here that the last time that
Speaker 1: made you got a chance of talk was on social media.
Speaker 1: So we would always go back and forth. But you
Speaker 1: know it's cool, man, because I got a chance to
Speaker 1: watch you from a distance, and I always tell me,
Speaker 1: I said, yo, that that dude a dog man watching
Speaker 1: watching and you'll go out make a big playing pick
Speaker 1: and I'm looking like a genius. I appreciate it, man,
Speaker 1: I appreciate Before we jump into this though, I gotta
Speaker 1: tell this story. And I think I may have told
Speaker 1: you this before, obviously, see me, I got the boilermaker
Speaker 1: and gear on and all that good stuff and um.
Speaker 1: And one of the reasons I ended up at Purdue
Speaker 1: was because so it's out of Purdue in Maryland at
Speaker 1: the time. And I took a visit to Maryland and
Speaker 1: I walked onto the field and they was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna play that position right there. I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: what up? You'll want me look at y'all want me
Speaker 1: to look like that guy. And I'm like, uh, They're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, that's the position gonna play like. They're like,
Speaker 1: you know who that is, right, I'm like, yeah, so
Speaker 1: I'm merriedman. And it looked like you was just a
Speaker 1: man amongst boys. And I was like, well, if you
Speaker 1: really look like that, and I'm trying to play my
Speaker 1: truth freshman year, this might not be the place for me,
Speaker 1: all right, because I'm trying to blame when I come out. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: you was the reason I would end up at Perdue
Speaker 1: because yeah, you look too dog and big, like like
Speaker 1: a man amongst boys out there, and I knew I
Speaker 1: couldn't look like that as a truth freshman fresh funnies. Hell, Hey,
Speaker 1: you know what's funny thing is Coach Locksley and they're
Speaker 1: gonna stop using me for recruiting now, like you away.
Speaker 1: But you know it's uh, you know, so you you
Speaker 1: came right after a couple of guys I played with
Speaker 1: with Sean Phillips, Nick Hardwick, right after them. And I
Speaker 1: was telling that, and I tell people all the time,
Speaker 1: I said, you know, I had the career, or part
Speaker 1: of the career that I had was because of Sean Phillips.
Speaker 1: You know, Sean Phillips was like a silent assass on
Speaker 1: the other side. And you know as well as anybody
Speaker 1: that if you don't have that other dude on the
Speaker 1: other side, what they're gonna do. They're gonna they're gonna
Speaker 1: slide your way, They're gonna chip you. You're gonna get
Speaker 1: the Triple formation over there. You're gonna get emotion and
Speaker 1: crack that. You know, this stuff is going to be crazy.
Speaker 1: So I tell people all the time. And Shaun Phillips
Speaker 1: was a was a sound assassin over there. I know.
Speaker 1: I agree. I mean, Sign doesn't get enough credit. I mean,
Speaker 1: even what he did that produe he's want. The reason
Speaker 1: I end up there too, is just well the fact
Speaker 1: that he was leaving and he had left and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. But um, yeah, sound was a dog man
Speaker 1: and pass rushers in general, Like, obviously it's usually one
Speaker 1: player that gets all the attention, but if you know
Speaker 1: other guys on the on that D line with you,
Speaker 1: um most times, and not the guys that we love
Speaker 1: to see, the von Miller's and whatnot. They have other
Speaker 1: guys on their D line that are really good that
Speaker 1: kind of helps them be successful. But you know, obviously
Speaker 1: in the game when we play, it's the guy that
Speaker 1: gets the sacks. But as pass rushers, you need other
Speaker 1: pass rushers on that team on that line with you
Speaker 1: too for you to be productive. You're right, And it's
Speaker 1: it's always the quiet guys man to take a lot
Speaker 1: of the pressure off, Like I had Jamal Williams, Louise Castillo,
Speaker 1: Igor Shansky, who was who was some of those guys
Speaker 1: on your team that you played with at the time,
Speaker 1: man Like they just didn't get the credit that they deserve.
Speaker 1: I mean, Wagner all them boys, they got a ton
Speaker 1: of it. But who who was like that on song?
Speaker 1: Hero manage just took the heat off of everybody. Man,
Speaker 1: I would say, you know, while I was here in Seattle,
Speaker 1: is branding me back. You know, just that that that
Speaker 1: knows gred that just plugs everything up. He demands a
Speaker 1: double team, not gonna single him up. And it allowed
Speaker 1: everybody else to get those one on one So I
Speaker 1: would go with brand in the bank. And then when
Speaker 1: I was in Detroit, Corey Williams, you know, a big
Speaker 1: fell in the middle. He allowed myself, Sue, Kyle, Vannenboss,
Speaker 1: all of us to be able to get those one
Speaker 1: on ones and and we dominated try to dominate those,
Speaker 1: but there's always that one guy in there that doesn't
Speaker 1: get enough credit because you know, the stats don't look pretty.
Speaker 1: But if without those guys, the other guys couldn't need
Speaker 1: You're right, and then me bang he was he was
Speaker 1: also a leader, like he was also somebody that was respected.
Speaker 1: And I was talking about this the other day, and
Speaker 1: I'm looking at some of like the new school guys, right,
Speaker 1: Like I always hated when you had the guys that
Speaker 1: played in the late seventies, eighties and nineties where they
Speaker 1: always say, oh, back when we played, you know, we
Speaker 1: ain't having any any team right when we didn't use
Speaker 1: hell mats, and like, in a way kind of hating
Speaker 1: on the new school guys You're like, dude, just you
Speaker 1: had your time. Now, shit your ass down, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Like you you were great at what
Speaker 1: you did, but sit your ass down. But I'm looking
Speaker 1: at the game now, man, And the other day I
Speaker 1: want the Falcons and Green Bay play and uh, Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers threw a thirty or thirty five yard passed down
Speaker 1: the field and I'm I'm seeing one of the d
Speaker 1: line and get up and laugh and joke and and
Speaker 1: and play around with Aaron Rodgers. And I'm like, and
Speaker 1: I've seen the same thing in the Denver game against
Speaker 1: the Jets and the wide receivers. They're both owing three teams.
Speaker 1: They both I think tied at ten, and you got
Speaker 1: the wide receivers dancing and laughing and joking. And I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: am I like that old dude? Now to sit back, Hayden,
Speaker 1: because that wouldn't fly. Like that wouldn't fly. You know.
Speaker 1: I'll take a tailor story. We started out one in
Speaker 1: three and two thousand and seven when I was with
Speaker 1: the Charges and your mind. You we we got lt and
Speaker 1: uh Lorenz O'Neill and Chris Dialban, the Philip Rivers and
Speaker 1: all these guys, all these older casts Randall golf. Uh
Speaker 1: go think Godfrey knows guys going. But we had a
Speaker 1: bunch of older guys on the team that just wasn't
Speaker 1: having it. I just I just don't want to feel
Speaker 1: old man. But what what happened in the locker room
Speaker 1: with you guys, Like when when stuff wasn't going right?
Speaker 1: Who was that guy? Like, give me a situation, who
Speaker 1: will step up and it's kind of take control of
Speaker 1: what's going on? Well, first off, on on what you
Speaker 1: just mentioned, you know, talking about not trying to be
Speaker 1: that guy, the old head that kind of views things
Speaker 1: differently or whatnot. But like, I actually got to watch
Speaker 1: the locker room change. If you're fortunate enough to play
Speaker 1: long enough, obviously you've seen it, you'll you'll see the
Speaker 1: locker room dynamics change a little bit to the point
Speaker 1: where you know guys are in there, you know their
Speaker 1: their Instagram live. I'm like, the locker room is the
Speaker 1: place where like, like nothing else is involved, Like it's
Speaker 1: just us and we're talking about whatever. You can't do
Speaker 1: that anymore with the new wave of guys. But as
Speaker 1: far as for you know, your question on on you know,
Speaker 1: um things changing and whatnot, I mean I just think
Speaker 1: I just think it just changes every every decade or so,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Things Just like the new
Speaker 1: kids nowadays, they're they're they're into you know, showing everything
Speaker 1: off right. They want to they want to let you know.
Speaker 1: I think I I'm seeing somebody, you know, they're filming
Speaker 1: the the team meets on Instagram Live. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, No, Like, what are you doing? Like that's
Speaker 1: that's you know what I'm saying. So it's just a
Speaker 1: new age, bro, It's just a new age. These kids
Speaker 1: are doing different things. Um, you just gotta I just
Speaker 1: look at as as you know what I'm used to
Speaker 1: and what it is anymore, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Just that that camaraderie, that bond, that that um, that
Speaker 1: secretness of being in the locker room because it was
Speaker 1: it was a privilege to be in there with all
Speaker 1: those guys. And now it's a little different. You know,
Speaker 1: guys in there dancing and guys and doing all kinds
Speaker 1: of stuff, and it's just completely different from what we
Speaker 1: grew up kind of learning. You guys. Man at one
Speaker 1: point had the most dominant defensive football, I mean period,
Speaker 1: and y'all had a run. What was what was that like? Man?
Speaker 1: Like being on that team because there were so many
Speaker 1: big personalities, there were so many big guys, but it
Speaker 1: always seemed like everybody was on the same page. Like
Speaker 1: nobody was trying to outshine nobody. Nobody was Uh, it
Speaker 1: was no finger pointing. You guys were, like I said,
Speaker 1: so dominant and such a collective group. Man, What was
Speaker 1: what was it like at that time? Man? It was awesome?
Speaker 1: And you know what what made us so good and
Speaker 1: so so great? I think it's not necessarily the stuff
Speaker 1: we did on the field. Is like we you know,
Speaker 1: the guys in the locker room, you're cool with a
Speaker 1: couple of guys outside of the locker room. Right on
Speaker 1: game day, we all come together. We're gonna ride together.
Speaker 1: But the difference was that all of us actually until
Speaker 1: this day, still hang out with one another our kids.
Speaker 1: We have birthday parties and all the kids, you know,
Speaker 1: we're all the kids come together, We go on vacations together.
Speaker 1: I mean, these are all things that we're still doing
Speaker 1: to today. So I think it's just the genuine love
Speaker 1: we have for one another. Outside of football. We weren't
Speaker 1: just co workers, we were actually family. And I think
Speaker 1: that's what made us so great. And also not want
Speaker 1: to let that person next to you down, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, because we had that personal relationship now
Speaker 1: is and I gotta ride for Mike Bennet, I gotta
Speaker 1: ride for Bottom because I know their kids like their
Speaker 1: kids like it's almost like I feel responsible for their
Speaker 1: kids as well, you know what I mean. And and
Speaker 1: it just it just made us great, and it made
Speaker 1: us go out there and play for one another. And
Speaker 1: that's why we were so great for so long. And
Speaker 1: I always say that too. When the great teams, the
Speaker 1: players run the team. I mean, don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: I'm sure Coach Carroll is a great coach, but the
Speaker 1: players control the locker room. And when it was time
Speaker 1: for us to tighten up, the coaches had to say anything.
Speaker 1: We we ran the locker room. And it seems like
Speaker 1: you guys had that same type of deal going on,
Speaker 1: no doubt, no doubt we ran in locker room. But
Speaker 1: you know what's crazy, Coach Carroll actually sets it up
Speaker 1: for that. You know he doesn't like you know how
Speaker 1: coaches hype up before the scene before the game, like
Speaker 1: before we go out, you know, the coach comes in
Speaker 1: the middle, and you know does his Rob Rod and
Speaker 1: all that. Coach Carroll doesn't speak to the team at all,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying before the game, because he
Speaker 1: wants the team to be able to lead itself. He
Speaker 1: wants to he wants the leaders to kind of lead
Speaker 1: the team. So um, you know, I mean you have
Speaker 1: to have those guys in the locker room. And and
Speaker 1: accountability is huge, right, um, being able to hold each
Speaker 1: other accountable but not be disrespectful. And how we we
Speaker 1: we we expect that from you, right, So everybody respected
Speaker 1: one another, but we held each other accountable. And it
Speaker 1: speaks back to the you know, the guys leading the
Speaker 1: team and not needing a coach to necessarily, you know,
Speaker 1: get you hyped up or anything like that. And you
Speaker 1: guys had had a great team, man like, just on
Speaker 1: both sides of the ball. But Russell Wilson, dude, I
Speaker 1: mean I had hell playing against him. And when I'll
Speaker 1: never forget my my last me and my last year
Speaker 1: over the year before my last in Buffalo. We played
Speaker 1: them in Toronto and they'll be y'all dropped like fifty
Speaker 1: two on us right the point, like fifty play I do.
Speaker 1: I never had fifty fifty piece put on me before
Speaker 1: in my life, right, And they were just running the
Speaker 1: hell out of that option play where they're gonna pull
Speaker 1: it or give it to Marshall, and they were running
Speaker 1: it and running it, and I just was hoping that
Speaker 1: that game clock just say zeros across the board because
Speaker 1: they just was gonna run that damn play over and over. Man.
Speaker 1: Just what obviously everybody see the he's he's a magician
Speaker 1: on the field and all the things he can do
Speaker 1: and make plays. Man, But what what is about him
Speaker 1: that just separates him and why he's had this longevity
Speaker 1: that he's had so far. Man, that boys like Hugini. Man,
Speaker 1: he's making everybody miss you know what I'm saying. Um,
Speaker 1: But I would say that the biggest thing with Russ
Speaker 1: Man is one he knows who he is. Um. He's
Speaker 1: extremely confident, and he really believes everything that you hear
Speaker 1: him say on game day or or whatever. Right, he
Speaker 1: really all he believes if he has an opportunity, all
Speaker 1: he needs is one chance and he'll go out there
Speaker 1: and make something. Thing's happen. Um. I mean I've seen
Speaker 1: the boy. I've seen him boy throw four interceptions in
Speaker 1: the game fourth quarter, rolls around and tells us, hey, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: like let's stay in it, Like, let's stay in it.
Speaker 1: And half of us are looking at it, like, bro,
Speaker 1: we're down fourteen points, you know, gave up five and
Speaker 1: you're not threw five in its actually like your partner.
Speaker 1: And but like he's like, hey, all I need is
Speaker 1: one chance. And guess what he goes and do. He
Speaker 1: goes and pulls that game out, wins the game. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm saying, get him two drives back to back. He
Speaker 1: went out there, slashed him up, got us to the
Speaker 1: second Super Bowl. So um um, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: I just think he really believes all he needs an opportunity.
Speaker 1: He really believes, uh that that he can be great,
Speaker 1: and that's what he's chased. And that's why every year
Speaker 1: says year one he's gotten better. I mean statistically everything,
Speaker 1: he's gotten better this year not be the man, and
Speaker 1: he's still finding ways to get better. And if he's
Speaker 1: not the NBB of the league, he's definitely the talks
Speaker 1: this year, which is insane to me because like, you
Speaker 1: guys had a dynasty and I read I read something
Speaker 1: some time ago where you were talking about like that
Speaker 1: play in the Super Bowl, how it kind of in
Speaker 1: a sense broke up that dynasty for a little bit,
Speaker 1: maybe changed like changed the course of the locker room,
Speaker 1: Like what what happened during that time? Like how did
Speaker 1: that inflate everything y'all had going on? Yeah, So I
Speaker 1: think I think in the in the moment, me personally,
Speaker 1: I didn't really feel that right. I didn't think of
Speaker 1: it because you know what I mean, I'm I'm on
Speaker 1: to the next player. I'm I'm on to the next season.
Speaker 1: Like let's let's get this thing rolling. We got something
Speaker 1: special here. But I do think some guys kind of
Speaker 1: started to to to doubt. I guess the message something
Speaker 1: somewhat because of how things played out. A lot of
Speaker 1: people might feel like it was pop poltics as well
Speaker 1: on basically why we didn't run in or whatever the
Speaker 1: case may be. So there's a lot of different things
Speaker 1: out there that I think could that play, and every individual,
Speaker 1: obviously um took it in differently, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Marshall might feel completely different from Russell Wilson or or myself.
Speaker 1: Like I said, for me, it was just man like,
Speaker 1: let's trap them up, let's go back out there. And
Speaker 1: let's go win us another one. But then when I
Speaker 1: look back at it, I do think some guys uh
Speaker 1: felt some kind of way because they felt that camaraderie
Speaker 1: kind of shift a little bit, or the message of
Speaker 1: the philosophy shift a little bit in the way that
Speaker 1: game played out, And um, maybe guys held onto it
Speaker 1: a little bit longer than they should have, because I
Speaker 1: think we could have gone out there in one another
Speaker 1: one uh the next year, if if we would have
Speaker 1: just kept that same mindset. I always always talked to
Speaker 1: LT about that enough, like, man, we had some squads
Speaker 1: oh six, oh we had and it's it's so hard man,
Speaker 1: you're talking about Russell. It's so hard when you have
Speaker 1: that type of a dynasty, that type of a team,
Speaker 1: because you know, I forget that, forget that one play
Speaker 1: you guys had up. You got contracts coming up, Guys
Speaker 1: get hurt. You know, people trying to get paid if
Speaker 1: you aren't, you're trying to get paid at that point
Speaker 1: because you earned it. So you know that team is
Speaker 1: breaking up at that point, man, Like when did when
Speaker 1: did you guys know that that was starting to happen
Speaker 1: for and for us, I started seeing guys get traded.
Speaker 1: I started seeing guys get released, and you know, Michael
Speaker 1: Turner had left one year, and then this person and
Speaker 1: that person, and you started to see god to break up.
Speaker 1: What when did that happen? When you were You're like, okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: things are things are changing a little bit. You know
Speaker 1: what we we as you know, right in the NFL,
Speaker 1: it's hard. It's hard to keep the same team around
Speaker 1: for two, three, four years because because what you just
Speaker 1: mentioned contracts, guys needing more money, or guys getting released
Speaker 1: or traded or whatever the case may be. But honestly,
Speaker 1: up like we were, I think I felt like we
Speaker 1: were pretty dog on good and able to win the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl my first four years and the first four
Speaker 1: years with Seattle, whether it's thirteen four and fifteen, sixteen
Speaker 1: and seventeen was the year where everything kind of shifted, uh.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't more of you know, contract stuff, but
Speaker 1: more of injuries. You know, I went out shun uh
Speaker 1: camp chance to win out sharing towards Achilles that year
Speaker 1: of publicis Achilles. That year, I mean, so many guys
Speaker 1: were just banged up, and it was like, man, are
Speaker 1: these guys getting old or you know, should we start
Speaker 1: looking to to kind of move out of out of
Speaker 1: these contracts because everybody was making big money, you know
Speaker 1: what saying? Everybody, everybody I just mentioned was was probably
Speaker 1: top five, top ten at their position. So um, you know,
Speaker 1: it becomes a business decision for the organization. Do we
Speaker 1: get rid of these guys and get somebody cheaper? You know,
Speaker 1: all these different things. So I would say twenty seventeen
Speaker 1: was with the year where it completely changed. You know,
Speaker 1: you flip the page and it's a whole different team,
Speaker 1: It's a whole different vibe. I mean, you look at
Speaker 1: the team right now, it's only three guys. Four guys.
Speaker 1: I believe that are from the Super Bowl years, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And the fact that this forum
Speaker 1: is still impressive, Yeah, I mean because we know how
Speaker 1: to turnover is in the league. Dude. You know what,
Speaker 1: Father time is gonna catch all of us and I
Speaker 1: don't care how how good you take care of your body.
Speaker 1: I don't care how great to shape you, and that
Speaker 1: Father Time gonna creep around the door and say, okay,
Speaker 1: it's time to have a seat. And it happened to
Speaker 1: everybody like me. I knew when I when I went
Speaker 1: to Buffalo and Initially I didn't want to go to Buffalo,
Speaker 1: like I was scratching and screen your buddy necks the
Speaker 1: gym called me. But Buddy was like, hey, we you
Speaker 1: know we're picking you up off of waivers. And I
Speaker 1: was like, Buddy, I love you. I actually love this
Speaker 1: the fan base of Buffalo. But y'all owing six right now,
Speaker 1: I'm not coming out. I'm not coming I don't care
Speaker 1: what you say. I'm not coming out there. And you
Speaker 1: had your stent with with the Lions as a sixteen,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like I was the only
Speaker 1: player ever to to go O sixteen, didn't win the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, so to go open sixteen as a rookie
Speaker 1: in the NFL, it was to the point where like
Speaker 1: for me, I almost was e tell the people I
Speaker 1: played in the league. You know what I'm saying, like like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you who you played for? Uh Cleveland? You know you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. Like I would always say like
Speaker 1: I had to to pick the next worst team, right.
Speaker 1: So it was just one of those situations you go
Speaker 1: out after your first year, you gotta tell me, I
Speaker 1: can't even turn up, bro, I can't even turn up,
Speaker 1: Like think about that bro, you can't even go out
Speaker 1: and tell people you play in the league. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying like that, that's like, uh you know
Speaker 1: you have that Uh a star's up, bros. And who
Speaker 1: you're playing for? Now? Get what's so just that that
Speaker 1: transition though, what I would say the difference was, at
Speaker 1: least from my benage point going from Detroit to Seattle
Speaker 1: was culture. Like culture is a big difference, and I
Speaker 1: think it plays a big role in and how successful
Speaker 1: a team can be. Man. And you know, the culture
Speaker 1: in Detroit and kind of like football everywhere, it's real militant,
Speaker 1: you know, uh straightforward, you know you can't some some
Speaker 1: coaches actually having tucked your hoodie in and all kinds
Speaker 1: of mess right. But you get to Seattle, Man, they
Speaker 1: got music playing. You know, we're shooting groups before team meetings.
Speaker 1: It's just a good vibe. And um, that's why I
Speaker 1: think they've had so much success over this last decade
Speaker 1: because everybody's just having fun. It ain't it don't feel
Speaker 1: so so um militant and so you know, straight by
Speaker 1: the book type of situation. It's, hey, have a good time.
Speaker 1: Once you go on that football field, turn up even more.
Speaker 1: I say the same thing, and I say it all
Speaker 1: the time. Like when I see these coaches coming in
Speaker 1: NFL for the first time and they come in super strict,
Speaker 1: they come in, Uh yeah, chuck your jerseys, do this,
Speaker 1: do that, And the first thing coming out my head is,
Speaker 1: you guys gonna lose. You guys gonna suck because you
Speaker 1: can't come in there treating guys like their kids. These kids,
Speaker 1: these guys, these men have families, these guys, these men
Speaker 1: are rich already, the successful. This reason why they hear
Speaker 1: you come and treat them like kids. You know, it's
Speaker 1: just not gonna end well for you, and those guys
Speaker 1: are are completely different. No, I agree, I agree. You can't.
Speaker 1: You can't. I mean, it's it's one of the few places,
Speaker 1: right thinking about this, she's one of the places where
Speaker 1: the guy in charges makes the least amount of money
Speaker 1: out of all the guys he's directing and traffic on. Right,
Speaker 1: So like in understanding that, it's more of a man
Speaker 1: Cliff every he got a wife and kids, Like why
Speaker 1: and I got a wife? Like why would I talk
Speaker 1: crazy to him? Why would I try to try to
Speaker 1: sun him? Why would I try to make play him?
Speaker 1: As if he's a child. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: talk to him like a girl, man, because he understands
Speaker 1: he needs to go out there and ball out so
Speaker 1: you can keep getting them checks so he can take
Speaker 1: care of his family. Right. So I just think some
Speaker 1: coaches they got that, maybe that college mindset where you know,
Speaker 1: when kids are eighteen, you can do that, but when
Speaker 1: you're talking to a thirty year old, you gotta you
Speaker 1: gotta chill out a little bit. Yeah. Now, I always
Speaker 1: I always thought about him back in my head. I
Speaker 1: wanted to play for coach Carroll because I love this energy, right,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, man, this dude, he's gonna get me
Speaker 1: hyped and I'm gonna get him hyped up. And he's
Speaker 1: gonna get me hyped up. Like is he is he
Speaker 1: liked that all the time? Is he? Like? It's unreal, bro,
Speaker 1: I ain't a lie to you. Like, So, you know,
Speaker 1: how you become a free agent and GM the coach
Speaker 1: calls you, and you know, kind of kinda like recruiting
Speaker 1: all over again in a sense. Right, So he calls
Speaker 1: me and I'm like, okay, that's like, hey, how how
Speaker 1: would you feel to be a seahawk? And you know
Speaker 1: when I'm trying to make this happen and all like
Speaker 1: just super ENERGYCT and I'm like, oh, this feels like
Speaker 1: college all over again. Know what I'm saying. When you
Speaker 1: get recruited, I'm like, Okay, cool coach. I appreciate it,
Speaker 1: you know, But in my head, I'm like, there's no way,
Speaker 1: you know, this is just all the fluff. Man. It
Speaker 1: took me two years Bro to buy in to him
Speaker 1: really having that much energy. I'm talking about every day,
Speaker 1: just super hype. There is a lot of energy. The
Speaker 1: only only coach I know that's he might be seven
Speaker 1: years old now, Man, get out on the football field
Speaker 1: and launching it sixty seven yards downfield like playing catch,
Speaker 1: and it's just it's crazy, Bro. And and I think
Speaker 1: he he it's a genuine thing. But I also think
Speaker 1: he understands that stuff is contagious. You say, it's contagious
Speaker 1: for the coaches, contagious for the players. If you're head man,
Speaker 1: the olders got in the building has the most energy.
Speaker 1: How can you not match that? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And it's been ever since I met him, he's been
Speaker 1: like that, man, And I ain't a lot It's it
Speaker 1: was a great time playing for Do you guys still
Speaker 1: you still keep in contact with him at all? Is
Speaker 1: at any point you guys still talk, because for me,
Speaker 1: I still talk. I just had way You Phillips on
Speaker 1: the other day and still to this day, I think
Speaker 1: Way You Phillips, I said, you know what, you know,
Speaker 1: he don't want to take any credit for it. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I went to the pro bol a couple of times
Speaker 1: because of you, because I know you put me in
Speaker 1: a one on one situations with the back. Uh you know,
Speaker 1: you put me in some really good situations to win.
Speaker 1: So I just had a connection with my coaches. You
Speaker 1: still wrapped to them at all? Oh yeah, I still
Speaker 1: talk to coach Carroll. I mean I'm I still talk
Speaker 1: to the GM John Snyder. I talked to uh, the
Speaker 1: D line coach. I mean I've always been that kind
Speaker 1: of person where like I mean, we we and this together,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like we were about to
Speaker 1: go out here and battles together. Both of our lives
Speaker 1: muses that they're on the line. If I don't play well,
Speaker 1: I get cut and fired and guess what you might
Speaker 1: guess around get cutting fired too. So it's It's one
Speaker 1: of those spaces where I just built relationships with the
Speaker 1: guys and I checked in with him. I still talk
Speaker 1: to dan Quinn down in Atlanta. I mean, I talked
Speaker 1: to a wide ranging coaches that that That has been
Speaker 1: a part of my life still to this day. Again,
Speaker 1: like I said, I think it's just important because we
Speaker 1: we understood that we needed each other for us to
Speaker 1: have success in the league, but also for our family
Speaker 1: and friends. Yeah, so one of the guys, man is
Speaker 1: just it. I was talking about it the other day.
Speaker 1: How in the hell he not? He's not playing somebody's
Speaker 1: earl Thomas right, Um, dude, I'm so you know, kind
Speaker 1: of upsets me because it's like I don't care what
Speaker 1: you say about somebody to do play hard as hell.
Speaker 1: He played the game right, and I don't care if
Speaker 1: he fought. You know, you many teammates I fought before.
Speaker 1: I mean some of my closest friends do. We fight
Speaker 1: in the practice and camp and then we go to
Speaker 1: the crib after and we're playing the Xbox and drinking,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like it's just happened, man,
Speaker 1: So like to see anybody say something about that, dude,
Speaker 1: it's just it bothers the hell out of me. But
Speaker 1: what do you guys still talk at all? Yeah? I mean,
Speaker 1: in fact, I talked to Um probably four days ago.
Speaker 1: A matter of fact, you know, I check in with him. Um.
Speaker 1: It's it's crazy, kind of going back to what we
Speaker 1: talked about earlier in the show. How how it's a
Speaker 1: different vibe now in comparison to to what it was
Speaker 1: when I played, because it was nothing for us to
Speaker 1: get in an argument in the fight and then later
Speaker 1: on that day go to dinner, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: and later on that day, go go do something, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So, uh, it's shocking to me
Speaker 1: that he's not in the league right now. It's crazy
Speaker 1: because in what space at least, I can't remember I
Speaker 1: topped my head that a player was All Pro one
Speaker 1: year and then out of the league the next year,
Speaker 1: and not due to injury, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like that don't make no sense. And then there's so
Speaker 1: many injuries happening throughout the league, and you have to
Speaker 1: tell me this man, who I think is still gonna
Speaker 1: wear a gold jacket at some point, I can't have
Speaker 1: a job, and he's still he's still in tip top shape.
Speaker 1: He's still you know, can play some ball and he
Speaker 1: can change up the defense. What I'm saying, so, I
Speaker 1: don't know what's going on. I don't know if I
Speaker 1: don't want to. I don't want to go down that
Speaker 1: road as far as or what they might be going
Speaker 1: to them. But it's just a weird space to be in.
Speaker 1: To see someone that's so talented, still playing at a
Speaker 1: high level, still coming off of All Pro season and
Speaker 1: not be on somebody's team right now. Yeah you could.
Speaker 1: You won't say it, but I will. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: times you get black balled. And I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: people are collectively keeping them out, but you know, for
Speaker 1: me personally, being a former player, you hate to see
Speaker 1: an incident of one thing shadow over somebody's greatness and
Speaker 1: what they did over the body of their career, you know,
Speaker 1: because that, you know, to come across Errol Thomas is
Speaker 1: not easy. You're not gonna come across too Mineral Thomas
Speaker 1: is so to even see anybody say anything like that,
Speaker 1: it's just crazy. Now, It's it's weird, man. And then, um,
Speaker 1: you know you talk about just being blackballed or whatever,
Speaker 1: is it about winning or is it about saving face?
Speaker 1: What I'm saying? What like, what is it about? Because
Speaker 1: if you're really about winning, you're gonna try to get
Speaker 1: the best players in there so to execute. Now. I
Speaker 1: don't know what the word is on him As a teammate.
Speaker 1: I can speak as a guy that played with him
Speaker 1: for four years. The man is awesome, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Now, just like anybody else in the locker room,
Speaker 1: everybody comes from different backgrounds, everybody comes you know, everybody's
Speaker 1: a little different. But once you actually get to know him,
Speaker 1: and I think that's part of the problem with the
Speaker 1: Ravens is they didn't really get to know him. They
Speaker 1: didn't know him like we knew him that so you
Speaker 1: can accept and embrace who he really is because guess what,
Speaker 1: on Sundays, the boys will give you all you got
Speaker 1: the boiling there in bold out right. So for us
Speaker 1: it was okay, he's just being he right now, but
Speaker 1: he is also like, we know what we're gonna get
Speaker 1: out him on Sundays, And it's just unfair. It's it's
Speaker 1: it's unfair that you get enough time to to kind
Speaker 1: of prove to his teammates that he is a great
Speaker 1: teammate that he is a great player and it's just
Speaker 1: unfortunately he's not on the roster right now, no, no doubt,
Speaker 1: no doubt. So speaking of great stuff, man, you um,
Speaker 1: you got a bunch of great stuff going on, right
Speaker 1: What about that? The charity? Yeah, so we just had
Speaker 1: our seventh annual dining to make a difference, and it's
Speaker 1: it's based a celebrity and I hate saying the celebrity
Speaker 1: celebrity waiter event where all my home boys, all the
Speaker 1: Seahall players basically are waiters for the evening and people
Speaker 1: buy tickets, and it's the raise is to raise money
Speaker 1: for for my foundation, the Cliff Avery Family Foundation, which
Speaker 1: is geared towards juvenile diabetes and um, you know, just
Speaker 1: living a healthy lifestyle. And this year we we switched
Speaker 1: it up a little bit though. We actually had players
Speaker 1: deliver meals to all the v I p s to
Speaker 1: their actual home, obviously going by the COVID protocol and
Speaker 1: different things like that. But it was a great turn out.
Speaker 1: We still were able to raise over a hundred seventy
Speaker 1: thousand dollars um in in in the pandemic and also
Speaker 1: obviously a lot of that money's gonna go back into
Speaker 1: the city here in Seattle. But it was a great
Speaker 1: It was a great um event. And if you want
Speaker 1: more information on what the foundation is doing, check out
Speaker 1: Cliff Averel Family Foundation dot org. I mean, we're we're
Speaker 1: out here trying to you know, make change. That's dope, man,
Speaker 1: that's dope. Anything else you got you are you coaching?
Speaker 1: You coaching or something to right now? What you got going? Man? Actually,
Speaker 1: I just coached that All Star game. Man, my first
Speaker 1: time coaching being on the sideline. I just coached a
Speaker 1: high school All Star game out here, and uh, it
Speaker 1: was great, man. It was fun um, you know, and
Speaker 1: my boys went out there and got like eleven or
Speaker 1: twelve sacks, you know. So I can't, I can't. I
Speaker 1: can't be mad at it. But it was a it
Speaker 1: was a great outing. It was good for the kids
Speaker 1: because a lot of these seams right now, they're not
Speaker 1: getting the senior season, so they can't get that film
Speaker 1: to get that recruit right that recruitment going. So that
Speaker 1: All Star game was to help them get more film,
Speaker 1: to get some schools to kind of notice them and hopefully,
Speaker 1: you know, be able to get a scholarship somewhere that's dope,
Speaker 1: my dude. Hey, Man, I appreciate it. Uh. You know, anytime,
Speaker 1: anytime you need me, dog, I'm there. Um, please let
Speaker 1: me know if I can step in and soon just
Speaker 1: pandemic over Man, we'll catch up and uh I'll make
Speaker 1: sure we get all this stuff posted up on on
Speaker 1: your foundation, everything else you got going on. For sure, Man,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you having me. Man, keep doing your thing, Bro.
Speaker 1: Like I said, Man, since I was seventeen, I kind
Speaker 1: of always looked up to you, Bro, and I'm still
Speaker 1: paying attention to the different moves that you're making. Man,
Speaker 1: So keep inspiring, keep being yourself man, and next time
Speaker 1: you know, we're chopping up soon don Dale. Bro appreciate it, Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: I'm good. Hey guys, thanks for listening today. I had
Speaker 1: a great time talking to uh Cliff Avroel uh that
Speaker 1: leading the bomb team that they had up there. We've
Speaker 1: got a chance to talk about Pete Carroll Man and
Speaker 1: some of the misconceptions about him and his mergy levels,
Speaker 1: which is just ridiculous. I think he's what seventy years
Speaker 1: old now, but he has energy as a thirty year
Speaker 1: old just running around and bouncing around. Also, um, the
Speaker 1: game has changed a little bit from the time that
Speaker 1: we played. I played and how the locker rooms have
Speaker 1: just shifted over the time. So I appreciate you guys listening. Then, uh,
Speaker 1: make sure you subscribe to the Sean Merriman Lights Out podcast.
Speaker 1: We're gonna keep this thing rolling. See you again next week.