Speaker 1: Back with another episode of Pats from the Past Matt
Speaker 1: Smith alongside with Brian Moorey and good news, Brian, we're
Speaker 1: now sponsored. We have a new sponsor and we are
Speaker 1: proud to announce that who but WB Mason is a
Speaker 1: sponsor of the Patch for the Past podcast. WB Mason,
Speaker 1: You're one stop shop for all business needs and the
Speaker 1: reason why we have a sponsors. They found out who
Speaker 1: our next guest is. They heard that our next guest
Speaker 1: is Patriot and Pro Football Hall of Famer Andre Tippett. Tip.
Speaker 1: How you doing, man? I'm going good. Thank you guys
Speaker 1: for having me. Man, this is exciting. Part of this
Speaker 1: podcast is our first Pro Football Hall of Famer. It's
Speaker 1: our first Pro Football Hall of Famer. Who better to
Speaker 1: have than the great Andre Tippett? Who better to have
Speaker 1: than that? More you can do? I am always looking out,
Speaker 1: So Tip, let's start. Let's get started, and let me
Speaker 1: ask you this, what did you know, if anything? Now,
Speaker 1: you grew up on the coast or in the Northeast quarter,
Speaker 1: so you're not like a kid from California who literally
Speaker 1: doesn't know where to win well Louisiana. What did you
Speaker 1: know about New England when he got drafted by him.
Speaker 1: I get the question all the time, and I tell you,
Speaker 1: the first thing that came to mind when I was
Speaker 1: drafted was Grogan Heroes. And you know, I once saw
Speaker 1: a game, and I swear I only saw like one game,
Speaker 1: and the announcers was saying, you know, they were like,
Speaker 1: you know, Grogan's Heroes. And I'm watching and Grogan's out
Speaker 1: there running around like he's the half back, and and
Speaker 1: I was like, wow, I'm going to uh New England
Speaker 1: pages I said, well, I'll be close to Jersey, and uh,
Speaker 1: that's pretty cool. Well, you're a second round pick at
Speaker 1: that time? Did you expect to be a first did you?
Speaker 1: I mean obviously you probably hoped, but did you expect
Speaker 1: to be a first? One? Where you disappointed? I expected
Speaker 1: to be a first round pick. I was disappointed that
Speaker 1: I wasn't. I truly was. I knew that it was funny.
Speaker 1: I knew the teams that I wanted to play for
Speaker 1: were all toward the end. They had the Dallas Cowboys,
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers, and uh it was the Raiders. I actually
Speaker 1: bought a two eighties X, a black, silver and black
Speaker 1: two eighties ex thinking that you know, I'm gonna ride
Speaker 1: into Oakland with my two eighties, but he sold it
Speaker 1: to Antonio Brown, who wrote it in this year. I
Speaker 1: started getting nervous on obviously the second day of the draft,
Speaker 1: because the first day went by and my teammate Ron
Speaker 1: Howstron went before me, and everybody that was in my
Speaker 1: apartment took off to go to him. And I was
Speaker 1: sitting around like a jaded bride man, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: are you kidding me? And the next day I get
Speaker 1: a call from the Steelers and they were, you know,
Speaker 1: quizzing me on, um, you know, would you have a
Speaker 1: problem playing defensive end Elsie Greenwood is getting made to
Speaker 1: retire and we kind of to see you in that role.
Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, I'm freaking out. I'm like, um,
Speaker 1: I'm not playing no defensive and I said, I'm outside
Speaker 1: linebacker and I said, well, I gotta tell you. I said,
Speaker 1: I don't think i'll play the position. Well, they playing
Speaker 1: at three four. They're playing a yes three four at
Speaker 1: the time, Yeah it was, and uh it frightened me.
Speaker 1: And then I said, well, I guess After I hung up,
Speaker 1: I said, I guess they won't be uh doing anything.
Speaker 1: And then I remember Rod Russ had worked me out,
Speaker 1: grabbed me out of class, and he was still with
Speaker 1: Kansas City at the time, and I figured, you know,
Speaker 1: Kansas City would come in late and do something and nothing.
Speaker 1: And then I was counting on the Cowboys and they
Speaker 1: ended up grabbing I think Rod Hill, defensive back who
Speaker 1: played for a year and a half maybe two there.
Speaker 1: And so all my all my picks were come and
Speaker 1: so I didn't didn't know what to expect. I didn't
Speaker 1: see New England coming. So who called? Was it? Bucko?
Speaker 1: Was it? Uh? Was? It was Steinberg? Ron Meyers, Ron
Speaker 1: my Mars got on the phone. Hey, Andre, this is
Speaker 1: Ron Meyers. We just want to let you know we've
Speaker 1: taken you in the second round. And we got two
Speaker 1: more picks coming up. And uh, I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: all right, all right. And so I was off the
Speaker 1: hook as far as you know, people being in my
Speaker 1: apartment to report is there and you know the draft
Speaker 1: is on, man, I said, you know, now I know
Speaker 1: where I'm going. So we've heard throughout the years, you know,
Speaker 1: and famously a guy who you worked with, Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: you know, used one ninety nine sixth round as a
Speaker 1: piece of motivation. Were you pissed enough that you didn't
Speaker 1: go in the first round? Were you pissed enough that, oh,
Speaker 1: how to come? The Cowboys didn't draft me? Who? I thought?
Speaker 1: How about the Steelers didn't draft me? How about the Raiders?
Speaker 1: The Patriots? Who? The Patriots? Did that motivate you when
Speaker 1: you came here? A little bit? It did? Because you know,
Speaker 1: I obviously my teammates were two teammates were taken before me,
Speaker 1: uh ken Kenny Simms first picking the draft, and then
Speaker 1: uh uh Lester Williams was taken, uh because we had
Speaker 1: two first round picks and that that year. And but
Speaker 1: when I got here, I kind of understood what was
Speaker 1: going on. They were trying they were building something, and
Speaker 1: I immediately kind of saw what was going on and
Speaker 1: how they were trying to put things together that cut
Speaker 1: some people, some people had been traded, and you know,
Speaker 1: they had all these draft picks, and so I could
Speaker 1: see the bigger picture of what, excuse me, eventually, uh,
Speaker 1: they were looking for. But I was still looking around
Speaker 1: at the two first round draft picks, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I gotta outplay these guys every opportunity that I get,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna I'm gonna be in somebody's face as
Speaker 1: far as trying to get out on the field, trying
Speaker 1: to get reps and just push with the advent. By
Speaker 1: the way of twenty twenty hindsight, is it funny to
Speaker 1: hear Andre Tippett talking about, you know, I gotta outplay
Speaker 1: Kenny Simms, you know, uh known as game Day and
Speaker 1: Lester Williams was tremendous talent from the University of Miami, right, absolutely,
Speaker 1: But listening to tip like as a kid going I
Speaker 1: play these guys, how'd that work out? You know? How
Speaker 1: did that work out well? And And there's a quote
Speaker 1: from Ron Meyer, Matt when Andre Tippett hits someone, they
Speaker 1: stay hit. That's pretty good. I like that. That makes
Speaker 1: me laugh, right, oh man, we had some good times.
Speaker 1: We got some good times. It was you know, you
Speaker 1: know eighty two was a short lived season, right. People
Speaker 1: forget that we were only eight games played because everybody
Speaker 1: made the tournament. Right, Yeah, we were in the tournament.
Speaker 1: We we we we we had to strike. And that
Speaker 1: freaked me out too. Man. I was like, I just
Speaker 1: got in the car and I had a town house
Speaker 1: and I'm like, man, I said, I might lose my house,
Speaker 1: and like what's going on and stop paying house is
Speaker 1: over here to make the make the pay the bills. Um.
Speaker 1: So you've been a part of this organization, Andrea, for
Speaker 1: thirty seven years. I think I'm right, thirty seven continuous years.
Speaker 1: And we'll get to that a little bit. But thirty
Speaker 1: seven years ago a long time ago. There's kids, my
Speaker 1: kids especially, they have no idea what the Patriots were
Speaker 1: like back in nineteen eighty two. What was a culture
Speaker 1: like back here at that time? Tip Man, Well, you know,
Speaker 1: obviously we were trying to we were trying to change things.
Speaker 1: We were trying to you know, they were trying to win.
Speaker 1: We had a lot of guys on the team that
Speaker 1: had had some success there earlier part of the seventies,
Speaker 1: you know, John Hannah, Steve Nelson, Grogan, and it was
Speaker 1: we were building the team and we were trying to
Speaker 1: be competitive. Um. You know, It's it's funny you don't
Speaker 1: know what the grass is like on the other side
Speaker 1: until you know, you hear about it from somebody else.
Speaker 1: So you know, for instance, obviously training camp was at
Speaker 1: Smithville at Bryant College, and then we get here. We
Speaker 1: you know, we got the stadium and you know, I
Speaker 1: used to laugh because some guys that I played with
Speaker 1: were talking about how their college stadium was bigger than
Speaker 1: our game stadium, and and like, oh, by the way,
Speaker 1: practice field, y'all got to get in your car and
Speaker 1: you gotta drive over to the practice fille and and lunch.
Speaker 1: Go do what you gotta do for lunch. And a
Speaker 1: lot of us would run down the street, grab a sandwich,
Speaker 1: come back and get dressed, get ready to go out.
Speaker 1: And it was our routine. And so we adjusted, we competeed,
Speaker 1: we we we we, we had meetings. There were things
Speaker 1: going on that sometimes you question equipment wise, it's funny.
Speaker 1: And I tell the guys now, say, you guys have
Speaker 1: no idea how heart it was for us back in
Speaker 1: the day. Just to get a pair of socks. I
Speaker 1: walked by these guys lockers now and it looks like
Speaker 1: a foot locker. And then with all the stuff that
Speaker 1: they got, they got twenty pairs of shoes, and they
Speaker 1: got the clothing. And you know, we had a jock strap,
Speaker 1: and we had a pair of socks that I used
Speaker 1: to have to put a rubber band or take some
Speaker 1: white white tape around the whole forbid you needed another
Speaker 1: pair of socks. God forbid if I needed a pair
Speaker 1: for a game or a pair of shoes for a game, right,
Speaker 1: and you know I don't hit anybody while they're while
Speaker 1: they down, and people were passed since then, But it
Speaker 1: was it was different. I mean I literally got into
Speaker 1: an argument an hour before kickoff because I was looking
Speaker 1: for a pair of socks and I wanted to change shoes.
Speaker 1: And so I mean as a comparison University of Iowa, Okay,
Speaker 1: I mean back in the day, even a nineteen I
Speaker 1: know it's an arms race now today, but you would
Speaker 1: more access to stuff as a collegiate player, probably than
Speaker 1: is appropriate. We probably shouldn have gon Hey, why am
Speaker 1: I going backwards? And I'm getting paid? Anything you needed,
Speaker 1: anything you needed? It was, it was, It was. It
Speaker 1: was a comedy of errors at times when it came.
Speaker 1: And that stands out a lot because you hear other guys,
Speaker 1: you know, we go to the Pro Bowl or something like,
Speaker 1: hey man, you guys got a bunch of stuff in
Speaker 1: your bag to give out and trade with people? You know,
Speaker 1: I tell our guys, hey, can I take some stuff
Speaker 1: with me? I want to, you know, we can't what
Speaker 1: you need? I like to take some stuff with me,
Speaker 1: and but you know, you get the Hawaii and you
Speaker 1: look around and guys that have bags full of T
Speaker 1: shirts and you didn't get no ice hats, and you
Speaker 1: know we're in there, so all I could trade was
Speaker 1: my helmet and my jersey. And I get back here
Speaker 1: and they like, Tip, got your back back from Pro Bowl?
Speaker 1: Where's your helmet in jersey? And I'm like unbelievable. I said,
Speaker 1: what I said, somebody must have snow. He said, well,
Speaker 1: somebody else's helmet is in here? Why is that? Why
Speaker 1: is that lt He's helmet in here? Why you got
Speaker 1: Eric Dickinson helmet in here? What? What? What? Wally? Who's
Speaker 1: Wally Hilgenberg? Do the players today? When you talk to
Speaker 1: the kids who are playing today, Chip and you that's
Speaker 1: that has to come up at some point time? Does it? Occasionally?
Speaker 1: You know, when I'm sitting around joking with some of
Speaker 1: the guys and you know, and you know versus what
Speaker 1: it was like when I was coming through, and how
Speaker 1: was the atmosphere, what was the culture like, and you know,
Speaker 1: different things like that. Then I'll give them a lot
Speaker 1: of the Do they believe you? They just shake the head.
Speaker 1: How you got to be kidding me, right, Yeah, So Andy,
Speaker 1: what impact does that have? Does that stuff have on
Speaker 1: on field performance? For us? It we were tough, mentally
Speaker 1: tough enough that we didn't let it bother us because
Speaker 1: we're mentally tough to know that. You know what, once
Speaker 1: we get out on the field, the whistle is blown
Speaker 1: and it's time to play football, we put all that
Speaker 1: stuff aside. But we just we knew what we were
Speaker 1: up against. We knew that things were limited. We knew that,
Speaker 1: you know, we we were around people that were set
Speaker 1: in their ways. I mean, you you don't see it
Speaker 1: much now, but back in the day, you saw guys
Speaker 1: that were equipment managers and trainers that had already been
Speaker 1: in the league thirty something years, and they kind of
Speaker 1: you know, the owners are nothing's gonna ever happen to
Speaker 1: those guys. Nowadays, you know, Bill Belichick can come into
Speaker 1: a situation, right and he can say, this is what
Speaker 1: I want for my players for my team, and he's
Speaker 1: fortunate enough here to have an owner that that helps
Speaker 1: him do that stuff. When Ray Berry replaces Ron Meyer
Speaker 1: as your head coach, does he have the ability to
Speaker 1: come in and demand changes or is it status quo?
Speaker 1: As far as that goes, because Billy Sullivan's the owner
Speaker 1: and this is the way it is. Uh, I think, yes,
Speaker 1: it was you know Bill was, I mean, uh, Coach
Speaker 1: Barry was was sort of that player coach, so he
Speaker 1: kind of knew. Um, he made the atmosphere around here
Speaker 1: a lot better. It was uh right away, Yeah, very
Speaker 1: professional and uh but yeah, the the other the other
Speaker 1: stuff that we're talking about. The it was what it was,
Speaker 1: and there was nothing that we could do about it.
Speaker 1: But the attitude changed. Uh. We we we saw immediately
Speaker 1: this is interesting and we're hearing things and we're seeing things,
Speaker 1: and we're we're buying into to to to to the
Speaker 1: little things that Coach Barry believed that we all should do,
Speaker 1: you know, little things like you know, we everybody had putty.
Speaker 1: Everybody had to have putty, and then meeting rooms you
Speaker 1: had to play with putty. Keep your fingers strong. Because
Speaker 1: we were starting, guys were having finger injuries and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. You know, in the beginning, we were like
Speaker 1: what is he talking? But you know what, there was
Speaker 1: a valid point to it. It became such a thing
Speaker 1: that guys were grabbing extra putty, putting them in their bags,
Speaker 1: go home, and you know, when you're sitting around watching TV,
Speaker 1: you play with putty to keep your fingers strong. You know,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden we gotta scoop and block punch
Speaker 1: and practice. Why we gotta do all that stuff? Well,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden we start blocking punch. All sudden
Speaker 1: someone fumbles the ball. It's not new to us. Everybody's scooping, bending, grabbing,
Speaker 1: scoring and we're making points and all sudden, Okay, now
Speaker 1: we know why everybody in training camp got a line
Speaker 1: up and four or five lines and block punch every
Speaker 1: day and different things like that. And what better way
Speaker 1: to really express that tip then that run in nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty five, You know when you know you scoop and
Speaker 1: score in the LA Coliseum against the Raiders and seventeen
Speaker 1: takeaways in most three playoffs, and everybody spoiled here. You know,
Speaker 1: everybody's crying in their beer about UM. You know they
Speaker 1: can't believe that they, you know, didn't automatically get you know,
Speaker 1: UM exalted into the AC Championship game like they have
Speaker 1: for the last eight years. But you can be you're
Speaker 1: the living, breathing monument to the fact that you were
Speaker 1: with the first team that went to the first Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: You were on the wild card team. You had to
Speaker 1: win three games in order to get to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Remos right, remind fans, what was that magical ride? Like ten,
Speaker 1: it was the most unbelievable ride I've ever been on.
Speaker 1: I mean, I had great moments at Iowa, being the
Speaker 1: first to go to the Rose Bowl when Big ten
Speaker 1: champion high school. I went to two state championships, but
Speaker 1: getting here and you know, it's like that ultimate I mean,
Speaker 1: I sat, I must have sat and watched every uh
Speaker 1: Stiller Super Bowl or every Cowboys Super Bowl, and then
Speaker 1: here I am playing National Football League and we are
Speaker 1: in the playoffs and we're talking about things, and you know,
Speaker 1: it didn't bother us. The fact that we knew we
Speaker 1: a wild card team, the fact that we were in it,
Speaker 1: and it was like we we we wasn't afraid of anything.
Speaker 1: And believe it or not, we had lost to the
Speaker 1: Jets regulars season, we had lost to the Raiders during
Speaker 1: the season. We had lost obviously to Miami U that
Speaker 1: Monday night game right at the end of the season,
Speaker 1: and uh eighteenth straight loss at the Orange Part absolutely so,
Speaker 1: you know, but it was like it Raymond Berry had
Speaker 1: us so geeked up and and the Miami Monday night game,
Speaker 1: he stood up in the locker room we had just
Speaker 1: come in. It was a close game. I believe he
Speaker 1: lost twenty right at the end. They're all got right
Speaker 1: down there. It was a three point I think it
Speaker 1: was like, you know, different three points or whatever. And
Speaker 1: he stood up in front of us and he had
Speaker 1: that he had a finger that was broken from his
Speaker 1: receiver days. And he stood up and he and he
Speaker 1: did one of these moves here and he just said
Speaker 1: to us. He says, men, I just want to say
Speaker 1: one thing to you guys, and one thing only, and
Speaker 1: I want you to hear me. He says, We've been delayed,
Speaker 1: but I'm telling you, guys, we not We will not
Speaker 1: be denied. And we're looking at him like, wow, you know,
Speaker 1: you think about exactly what he said. And we all
Speaker 1: heard it, and lo and behole. We're in the wild card.
Speaker 1: So we're playing the Jets, and we go there and
Speaker 1: we played them totally different than what we had played
Speaker 1: them during the regular season. We put a beating on them.
Speaker 1: We got out of the quarterback and again turnovers, you
Speaker 1: got some scooping scores. Yep, we go to the Raiders again.
Speaker 1: Everybody's talking about they hyping the Raiders and you know
Speaker 1: they're gonna, you know they're gonna and and how we
Speaker 1: long gonna beat us to death out there, and and
Speaker 1: and and and and and and uh almost did what
Speaker 1: we told. We told Pat Sullivan and stay with us, man,
Speaker 1: you stay with the backers. Man, we got your back. No,
Speaker 1: he goes wondering off and do his own thing and
Speaker 1: co cot but uh we do it. Um. We finally
Speaker 1: get to the AFC Championship game and I'm listening to
Speaker 1: one of the coaches as we're as we're departing off
Speaker 1: the airplane in Miami, and he's telling the receivers, look,
Speaker 1: we're gonna probably change some things this week and get
Speaker 1: ready for the game. We're gonna need you guys to
Speaker 1: block a little bit more. So I'm looking at Stanley Morgan,
Speaker 1: Urban Friar, uh C Jones, Stephan Star and they all
Speaker 1: got that look like, man, you must be out of
Speaker 1: your damn mind. You think we're gonna be blocking, Man,
Speaker 1: we don't. We're gonna be catching the ball. And all
Speaker 1: sudden it rains. Phil is drenched, so to have that
Speaker 1: that hindsight. Raymond Barry has already done his work. He
Speaker 1: knows that. You know, none of us check weather. We're
Speaker 1: coming to Miami. So all of a sudden it rains
Speaker 1: like crazy. We end up running the ball for yeah,
Speaker 1: and it was like I might have thrown twelve passes
Speaker 1: absolutely touchdown. Yeah. And I remember Guard rest his soul
Speaker 1: mosy at the end now when he scored at the end,
Speaker 1: and we utilize the running game and longohole, you know,
Speaker 1: the receivers. Though, it was funny. It was the funniest
Speaker 1: thing because I saw the look on Stanley Morgan's vay, Man,
Speaker 1: this is the ASC Championship. We're going to air this
Speaker 1: thing out. Man. I'm like, well, and you look back
Speaker 1: on all that stuff though, you know, we we squished
Speaker 1: the fish and we we we closed the Orange Bowl
Speaker 1: out and uh, it was an amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing.
Speaker 1: Now I thought we were gonna at least have two
Speaker 1: or three more opportunities to return. Well, let's look before
Speaker 1: we get to the return part, let me ask you this.
Speaker 1: So your guys are flying high, three straight road wins, takeaways,
Speaker 1: scoop and scores. There are the Bears with the T
Speaker 1: shirts that where everybody had to have. I remember having
Speaker 1: one as a kid. Did you legitimately think you had
Speaker 1: a shot against them? We did because we had played
Speaker 1: the Bears second third game in the season in twenty seven,
Speaker 1: twenty to seven. I mean all right, well weren't on
Speaker 1: our game. We were still you know, we had a
Speaker 1: we we had a come to Jesus opportunity during that
Speaker 1: season when that happened, because we we we we we
Speaker 1: woke up. You know, we went on a six game
Speaker 1: winning streak after we played Cleveland, and so in our mind,
Speaker 1: Chicago Bear is they beat us twenty you know, twenty
Speaker 1: to seven and and a big thing. We're gonna play
Speaker 1: them different. They don't know what's coming their way. Well,
Speaker 1: we weren't paying attention to the Bears and how they
Speaker 1: were wrecking everybody in the NFC and how they were
Speaker 1: knocking people out left and right, knocking quarterbacks out. So
Speaker 1: we didn't have a clue. But yes, we we thought
Speaker 1: that we were gonna come into that game. Miami had
Speaker 1: beaten them at the end of the season, absolutely stopped
Speaker 1: it for being undefeated. Yeah, so I'm like, it's not
Speaker 1: like guys are gonna be coming out in this game
Speaker 1: with sledge Hammerson in their pocket, knocking us out. But
Speaker 1: they came out in that game with sledge Hammerson in
Speaker 1: their pocket and they started pumping. I remember, I remember it.
Speaker 1: So you get the first turnover, right, Peyton fumbles, It's
Speaker 1: here we go again. Takeaways, that close pass at the
Speaker 1: goal line to Friar that I think that Gary Fencik
Speaker 1: maybe broke up or shitting in the stands in that
Speaker 1: end zone away. And then when Tony Franklin comes out
Speaker 1: and gives the Patriots a three nothing lead, I'm watching
Speaker 1: in my living room and it says like in the
Speaker 1: first nineteen Super Bowls, the team that scores first is
Speaker 1: some great record, And I'm like, yes, do that's serious? Right?
Speaker 1: So so they incomplete to Morgan out to Lynn Dawson.
Speaker 1: He broke his leg, slowed the game down for a while,
Speaker 1: didn't get a completion on third down, head to kick
Speaker 1: the field goal to make it three to nothing. So
Speaker 1: hindsight's always perfect. Tip it's twenty twenty and you're saying, yeah,
Speaker 1: we had a shot against the Bears. The only bed
Speaker 1: is twenty to seven. When you look back on it
Speaker 1: now and you're a student of the game and a
Speaker 1: student of the history of the game. Is we celebrate
Speaker 1: the one hundredth year of the National Football League. When
Speaker 1: you look back at that eighty five team, nothing about
Speaker 1: to score or anything like that. Can you look back
Speaker 1: and say, that's a hell of a team. That might
Speaker 1: have been the best team we've I've ever played against
Speaker 1: football team. They they there wasn't a guy on that
Speaker 1: team that you wouldn't want playing with you. There isn't
Speaker 1: a guy that you wouldn't want to play that was
Speaker 1: on that team because everybody, even from the dvs they
Speaker 1: were contributing. The d lineman was just raising hell and
Speaker 1: just intimidating people, and the linebackers were just blowing people up.
Speaker 1: So everybody was making stuff happen. Yeah, Buddy, Buddy Ryan
Speaker 1: called a great, great, great game, But he had the players.
Speaker 1: Because the players were out there and they were making
Speaker 1: guys shaking their boots, Guys were afraid. At some point,
Speaker 1: you look, somebody, a lot of people were afraid that game.
Speaker 1: Is that the best front seven you've ever seen that
Speaker 1: I've personally ever seen, other than you know, watching back,
Speaker 1: you know, doing some of the Stiller days or in
Speaker 1: the Doomsday defense. They were right there, right there. That's
Speaker 1: a hell of a compliment, all right, before I ask
Speaker 1: you this one of the thing, the Super Bowl Shuffle,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, one of the greatest songs. I can't
Speaker 1: believe they had the balls to come out and put
Speaker 1: that out before the end of the regular season, and
Speaker 1: that rotten the Patriots or we not only did they
Speaker 1: beat on the field, but the Super Bowl Shuffle was
Speaker 1: a great song with that team as aides, that one
Speaker 1: Patriots and we was awful. We had there was beat
Speaker 1: on the Bears, you know, there was these guys are
Speaker 1: involved in that Patriots or we remember Dino Lynchy, that's
Speaker 1: the one you can find onlines there, right. But the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl Shuffle, man, that was cool. I thought they
Speaker 1: h we did. You know, as you look at it,
Speaker 1: and you still see it today, you know, you're like,
Speaker 1: actually it was pretty cool. Yeah, you like, you don't
Speaker 1: want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but
Speaker 1: you have to say it really was cool. Steve Moore,
Speaker 1: who was one of our our teammates. Yeah he's no
Speaker 1: longer here, uh, was telling me the funniest story that
Speaker 1: week down in UH in New Orleans because him and
Speaker 1: Richard Dent went to school again. Okay, So all of
Speaker 1: a sudden they're together and NT talking and and and
Speaker 1: and Steve asked, uh, Dent something, and Dents as well,
Speaker 1: m I don't. I really don't know what I'm gonna do, man,
Speaker 1: It says, I'm trying to figure out if I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go back to Chicago for the parade. I might, I
Speaker 1: might show up at this place with you, but I'm not.
Speaker 1: And so Steve Moore looking at what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: And then here is like on a Monday Tuesday. He's
Speaker 1: telling him, I don't know if I'm gonna go back
Speaker 1: to Chicago for the parade. And Steve Moore gets back
Speaker 1: and tells us this man and makes us even more
Speaker 1: fire to fight. They think they are, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna knock McMahon out. I'm gonna I'm gonna hurt somebody.
Speaker 1: And it was but I tell them that story time
Speaker 1: I see him, just to make him laugh, because him
Speaker 1: Steve Moore really really close. From So then Andre, let's
Speaker 1: let's kind of go to the negative side. It seems
Speaker 1: like through Patriots history, every time there was something great,
Speaker 1: it would crash down. You guys get back from the
Speaker 1: super Bowl and the Globe releases the story about a
Speaker 1: drug scandal. Did that just take the wind out of
Speaker 1: the sales? It did? It did, and it caused a
Speaker 1: little dissension. Not that anybody was calling anybody out or
Speaker 1: you just you know, you kind of looked at guys differently,
Speaker 1: you know, because we all talked about, you know, I'll
Speaker 1: go down to Doc alleyway with you any day. I'll
Speaker 1: trust and that you got my back. And then you know,
Speaker 1: it's like, well, we wasn't committed to this game. Because
Speaker 1: if this stuff is out there, I can only imagine
Speaker 1: what the week was like. So you start pointing fingers
Speaker 1: and second guess and who was doing what? And I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe why this is why he didn't play that well
Speaker 1: or why he was having problems and he was dropping
Speaker 1: balls and he couldn't you know, do this and do that.
Speaker 1: And that's what happened. And for me personally, I was
Speaker 1: getting calls from family, you know, is your name gonna
Speaker 1: be on that list? And I'm what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: Because I had left from there to go to Hawaii
Speaker 1: right after, right after the super Bowl, and I had
Speaker 1: heard it and so it broke my heart a little
Speaker 1: bit yecause it was it was like, yeah, we worked
Speaker 1: too hard for what we accomplished. Although we didn't win
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, we worked really hard that year to
Speaker 1: see this thing through and then come back and get
Speaker 1: slapped in the face with that story. It was it was,
Speaker 1: it was tough. I'll share a story as a twenty
Speaker 1: three year old kid who went to the game, didn't
Speaker 1: have a nickel to rub together. But a college roommate
Speaker 1: was a Chicago Bear sees a ticket holder and called
Speaker 1: me at halftime of the Miami game and said, you know,
Speaker 1: I've got your ticket to go to the super Boy said,
Speaker 1: are you kidding me? They haven't won in Miami for
Speaker 1: a thousand years? Why are you jinking me? I hung
Speaker 1: up on the guy. They win. I end up going
Speaker 1: down to New Orleans. They lose, and I couldn't get
Speaker 1: out on Monday, so I left on Tuesday. I wake
Speaker 1: up early to fly home and I get into my
Speaker 1: car at Logan and I'm listening to the old WBCN
Speaker 1: on the radio and they're talking about what a tragedy,
Speaker 1: and they're saying, this is one of the worst things
Speaker 1: we've ever seen happen. I'm saying she's for forty six
Speaker 1: to ten game. And I you know, I know about
Speaker 1: the stuff that came out with these guys on drugs
Speaker 1: and it's really bad, but Jester really making a big
Speaker 1: deal about it. Christa mcculiffe and the space shuttle had
Speaker 1: exploded that I had no idea about that, but I was,
Speaker 1: of course, because I'm just a knit wit. The only
Speaker 1: thing I'm thinking about is the Pride. Did it piss
Speaker 1: you off? Tip that they named names and they put
Speaker 1: those seven guys pictures right on the front page of
Speaker 1: the Globe, and you know, you guys had to answer
Speaker 1: for that. I remember talking to Nellie about that, and
Speaker 1: people coming to Nellie's house knocking on his door, and
Speaker 1: he was out of his mind, like why did you
Speaker 1: have to name these guys? Why do I have to
Speaker 1: answer for him? Right right? And you you're you're right.
Speaker 1: It was It was wrong for them to do that
Speaker 1: because at that time it was it was private. No
Speaker 1: one knew, so someone gave someone up and it was
Speaker 1: a typical that, you know, whoever whoever did that was
Speaker 1: was was It was mean spirited and obviously somebody was
Speaker 1: out to get us for whatever reason, or get a
Speaker 1: particular few players that were named, and uh, it bothered
Speaker 1: us for a long time, and and and and I
Speaker 1: think guys never forgot it. And so people were treated
Speaker 1: a little differently whenever they walked into the locker room, uh,
Speaker 1: the next few years or so, and and and you know,
Speaker 1: you'd hear guys, and so it reverberated a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it did, It did, And it was wrong to to
Speaker 1: to do that. And it was funny. I kind of
Speaker 1: knew a guy or two, but I didn't realize it.
Speaker 1: It was such a large number, and it was you know,
Speaker 1: it was it was interesting. You mentioned not making it back.
Speaker 1: Did that have Do you think that factored into not
Speaker 1: making it back to the Super Bowl, especially with that group? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would, I would say, um a little bit, because
Speaker 1: you know, you know, from both of you guys know,
Speaker 1: from our success here, from the successes of those ten
Speaker 1: Super Bowl trips, the commitment that the players have to make.
Speaker 1: And I talked to this, I talked to my son
Speaker 1: a lot about the commitment and to get eleven on defense, offense,
Speaker 1: special teams being on the same page. How hard that is.
Speaker 1: And given what they have now, it's totally different. Back
Speaker 1: then you're trying to convince them. A lot of strong will,
Speaker 1: strong mind minded guys. I we we we gotta, we
Speaker 1: gotta band together, and we gotta figure out how we're
Speaker 1: gonna you know, we're gonna repeat what we did in
Speaker 1: eighty five and then this time we're gonna win when
Speaker 1: we go there, and it was you know, yeah, we
Speaker 1: were what playoff games the next two two or three years,
Speaker 1: but it was something was missing, something was missing, and
Speaker 1: you know, you can't put a finger on it right
Speaker 1: then and right then and there. But it was a
Speaker 1: different team. I didn't recognize it then until later on.
Speaker 1: But when I was in it, it was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we can do this. This is gonna but you don't
Speaker 1: know what the individuals are gonna do, how how strong
Speaker 1: will they are, how beaten they are because they let something,
Speaker 1: you know, like the article that was there or who else,
Speaker 1: somebody else has probably threatened them that you know, if
Speaker 1: you do this and you're gonna get cut, and you know,
Speaker 1: if we find out you're doing drugs or whatever. You know,
Speaker 1: you got a lot of stuff going on. You're listening
Speaker 1: to Pats for the Past podcast with Patriots Hall of
Speaker 1: Famer and Pro Football Hall of Famer Andre Tippett. It's
Speaker 1: brought you by who but WB Mason, who delivers all
Speaker 1: of your business essentials for free with no minimum order,
Speaker 1: break room, furniture, facilities, maintenance, office applies, and so much
Speaker 1: more for the fastest delivery of business products. Nobody he
Speaker 1: does it better than who but WB Mason. Okay, Tip,
Speaker 1: just playing off of what you just said there for
Speaker 1: a second. Roberts talked, I think ever since this team
Speaker 1: won in two thousand and one, about the jealousies about
Speaker 1: I want more money now that we won the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: where I should be getting a promotion and everything like that.
Speaker 1: That's what you're talking about. I mean, absolutely, but clearly
Speaker 1: the drug scandal had an effect. But it's hard to
Speaker 1: keep everybody tied together because well, wait a minute, I
Speaker 1: was just on the AC championship team. I want mine,
Speaker 1: I want mine, and it's it's an insidious thing, but
Speaker 1: it's human nature that everybody thinks they're the reason why
Speaker 1: you had so much success. And to your point, how
Speaker 1: do you keep eleven times three for the three units?
Speaker 1: How do you keep forty five or fifty three guys together?
Speaker 1: It's not easy regardless of the era, isn't it? Nah?
Speaker 1: It is. It's tough. You know. The only way that
Speaker 1: it's funny. The minute you said that, something popped in
Speaker 1: my head. And the only way you can equalize that
Speaker 1: or equate it is, uh by having a good draft.
Speaker 1: And you think about how we drafted after that Reggie
Speaker 1: Dupart first round pick. So if you're drafting and you're
Speaker 1: bringing in guys that you know, pushing heelther for the
Speaker 1: people that I need more money, I'm not happy with
Speaker 1: my plan. John retired. Yeah, so you got guys coming
Speaker 1: in that are pretty good, and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: you look and you're like, hey, I gotta get my stuff.
Speaker 1: I not worry about my contract right now. I got this, dude,
Speaker 1: that's pretty good. I've been stepped my game up that
Speaker 1: I believe would have helped equate the issues. Sure, um,
Speaker 1: but you know, you you look at the draft picks.
Speaker 1: You know it's it's right there. And the instability tip.
Speaker 1: I mean, you played for five coaches in your career,
Speaker 1: and you can look at this and marvel at guys.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously Tom's an anomaly, you know, playing for
Speaker 1: the same guy for twenty years, but that instability, you know,
Speaker 1: and we can talk about the instability of the franchise
Speaker 1: and the ownership. Are you gonna get a second pair
Speaker 1: of socks after you go to the Super Bowl? That
Speaker 1: doesn't help um? And it isn't conducive to building a winner,
Speaker 1: is it right? No? No, not at all, not at all,
Speaker 1: And I mean it it uh the five coaches, I
Speaker 1: mean I you know, I told someone, I said, I
Speaker 1: played for five coaches and I think three owners. And
Speaker 1: it was I didn't realize the instability. You know, you
Speaker 1: heard things here and there, but it was like, you know,
Speaker 1: my check was still being delivered to the bank. My
Speaker 1: my contract had been honored. So I'm like, well, how
Speaker 1: can we have Well I don't know everything that goes
Speaker 1: with it. But you know, again you're looking back and
Speaker 1: you're like, wow, get that bad. But when you're when
Speaker 1: you're in Hawaiian you were in Hawaii for many years,
Speaker 1: You're at the Pro Bowl and you see how the
Speaker 1: other half lives. That had to be eye opening. Oh
Speaker 1: it was. It was. I mean I I used to
Speaker 1: have guys that used to tell me, you know, hey, man,
Speaker 1: why don't you do something to get get get cut
Speaker 1: or get traded. Why don't you ask for a trade
Speaker 1: and I'm and I'm looking at these guys. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I can't do that. I didn't say it, but I'm
Speaker 1: looking at him like, what are you soft? But you know,
Speaker 1: if I had to think about it, put me in
Speaker 1: that situation again, maybe I hey, I want to get traded, right,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe I could have pulled the mic Hanes
Speaker 1: or something and and got out of here. But you're
Speaker 1: not guaranteed to get to where you want. Back then,
Speaker 1: they used to threaten you to send you to Siberia
Speaker 1: and and you know, like Minnesota at that time, or
Speaker 1: or you know, Indianapolis or one of those places. And
Speaker 1: it was like, I'm gonna keep my mouth closed and
Speaker 1: and and not make a make an issue. Well, the
Speaker 1: last of your five coaches was Bill Parcels, right, two
Speaker 1: times Super Bowl champion head coach. He comes in changes everything.
Speaker 1: I mean, you went from Dick McPherson, you know, God
Speaker 1: love coach mac cheerleading on the sideline to Bill Parcels.
Speaker 1: What was that like? It was you know what it is.
Speaker 1: It's like everybody knows Bill Parcels. I want to play
Speaker 1: for Bill Parcels And all of a sudden, I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh man, we got Bill coming here, this is gonna
Speaker 1: be cool. And for me personally, it was none of that.
Speaker 1: And it was it was he pushed. He pushed everybody,
Speaker 1: which is okay. You know, it was a different type
Speaker 1: of man. It was a different type of head coach
Speaker 1: that I had had been around. And you know he
Speaker 1: was it was you could see him changing the guards.
Speaker 1: I'm moving people out of the way. I don't even
Speaker 1: shoot who it is. I'm gonna step over you. And
Speaker 1: I'll still I'll never forget to this day that you know.
Speaker 1: It was Vincent Brown. He stopped practice one day, had
Speaker 1: Vincent Brown come up. Now I'm on the team. I'm
Speaker 1: in my twelfth season. I thought I was a pretty
Speaker 1: good leader and I'm, you know, try to lead by example.
Speaker 1: And he said, right in front of everybody, Vincent Brown,
Speaker 1: this is your team. Now I need you to show
Speaker 1: some leadership. But blah blah blah, bah blah. And I'm
Speaker 1: sitting up there like you, mum, what theuf? And I'm
Speaker 1: like pissed, and I'm looking I said, all right, okay, cool.
Speaker 1: So now I'm a little bit different now and and
Speaker 1: and so I'm in training camp and I'm asking for
Speaker 1: an afternoon off because I've been there twelve years. I
Speaker 1: watched Julius Adams, John Hannah, Steve Grogan, all those guys.
Speaker 1: Second third week into training camp. You know, hey, veterans,
Speaker 1: just come out in your shorts and T shirt and
Speaker 1: just chill. I'm I'm looking for this. I'm like. So
Speaker 1: I go to Bill, I'm like, hey, you know, what's
Speaker 1: your room on the veterans and you know, you know,
Speaker 1: get him a little. He looks right at me. He's like, uh,
Speaker 1: what are you talking about? I said, well, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm in my twelfth year and you know, I'm thirty three,
Speaker 1: thirty four him, I'm up there and I you know,
Speaker 1: he said, what's wrong with you? You hurt? I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: what are you talking Bill? I've been dancing every goddamn
Speaker 1: dance out there. Where are you talking about? Hurt? I said, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm just looking for a little, a little
Speaker 1: love man. And he looked at me like, nah, hey, look,
Speaker 1: I can't tell you what to do, but if you
Speaker 1: think you need to take a day off, feel free
Speaker 1: to take a day off and you do your thing.
Speaker 1: I looked at it and I walked away. I said, mother,
Speaker 1: fuck you, and I walked away. I like, screw you,
Speaker 1: and I walked away and I just I finished up
Speaker 1: training camp, you know, practicing every day, like everybody said.
Speaker 1: I'm like, damn, I said, I saw all these guys
Speaker 1: do that now here. It is my opportunity. Do you
Speaker 1: think the Vincent Brown comments he was trying to push
Speaker 1: your buttons? No, no, it was it was we were
Speaker 1: we finished five and five eleven. We you know, we
Speaker 1: we He's trying to figure out who can play um
Speaker 1: and he was changing the culture. We talked earlier about
Speaker 1: what was the culture when he first came, trying to
Speaker 1: change it, and he needed to change the culture to
Speaker 1: what he believed the culture should be, which might, by
Speaker 1: the way, not with you, yeah, not include me, right,
Speaker 1: and uh, it was it was, it was strange. It was.
Speaker 1: It was I'm like, so, I'm looking, I love Vincent
Speaker 1: Brown to death. I'm like, so, you're gonna put him
Speaker 1: in front of me. Yeah, I'm trying to be the
Speaker 1: you know, I'm trying to be the leader. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to do all the things. I'm I'm practicing. I ain't
Speaker 1: been hurt. I'm I'm going one hundred miles an hour.
Speaker 1: I'm like, so why do you? And but I knew
Speaker 1: his background too, so I knew that I knew Martin
Speaker 1: uh at the Giants. I knew Harry Carson at the Giants.
Speaker 1: At some point, I'm like, so why I'm different from
Speaker 1: those guys, I said, And then we were like, I'm
Speaker 1: thinking we're both Jersey guys. You know you're from Jersey.
Speaker 1: I'm from This is how you treat your your homeboy.
Speaker 1: And I took offense to it. Man, I was like, foh,
Speaker 1: I said, you're gonna put Vincent Rounding in front of me.
Speaker 1: He's gonna call him out and anointing him. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: we saved his goddamn job. A few years ago. They
Speaker 1: were gonna cut him and we said, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: this kid is a good football player. You can't no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: He kicking play. I said, he just you know, hadn't
Speaker 1: been in the system like like he's been with us.
Speaker 1: I said, but this is a good football player. So
Speaker 1: he is. Fast forward six seven years later, he's stepping
Speaker 1: up and then annointing him the king and the leader
Speaker 1: and and I'm there, so this is my last year.
Speaker 1: Did you with that decision made then or did you
Speaker 1: see the writing on the wall. Then, Uh, this was
Speaker 1: like the it was like the second third, third game
Speaker 1: of the season when he when he did this, and
Speaker 1: I was just I just said, you know, I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be short lived and I'm probably not gonna
Speaker 1: be around much longer. And my contract was up. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm going somewhere. I'm leaving. I'm going somewhere else.
Speaker 1: I said, I think I got two or three years
Speaker 1: left in me, So I'm gonna talk to my agent
Speaker 1: and all seasons over with. And but you didn't. I didn't.
Speaker 1: How come, Uh, Robert Kraft, Robert Kraft. It was it
Speaker 1: was amazing. Um season was over with. Didn't know he
Speaker 1: was buying the team until after everything was over with.
Speaker 1: But he had bought the team, and he had come
Speaker 1: to me and he says, you know, I know you're
Speaker 1: your your your contract is up, and we're gonna we'll
Speaker 1: we'll do there's a couple of things on the table.
Speaker 1: You can will negotiate and finish up your career here,
Speaker 1: or we have an opportunity for you come in the
Speaker 1: front office if you like it. Take a week to
Speaker 1: think about it. Let us know. So all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: now those pumps and bruises that have bothered me the neck,
Speaker 1: and you know, I don't feel right, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm I think I liked I had
Speaker 1: kind of been eyeing an opportunity because they had never
Speaker 1: really been a former player to walk off the field
Speaker 1: coming the front office, not on any of the teams
Speaker 1: that I knew about. Now, obviously they did something with
Speaker 1: Daal Stingley, but that was just you know, that was different.
Speaker 1: But I had been keeping my eye on that, and
Speaker 1: I think Robert had got window that that, you know,
Speaker 1: I would probably like the opportunity to work in the
Speaker 1: front office, and so I chose to take the gig
Speaker 1: in the front office. I saw what was happening with Bill,
Speaker 1: and I think if I had to do all over again,
Speaker 1: I probably would have tried to play two three more years,
Speaker 1: dual contract someplace else. Nah, here he had offered. Bill
Speaker 1: had tried to negotiate and told me what was left
Speaker 1: in the cap and how much he was going to
Speaker 1: offer me, and yet was new that year. So do
Speaker 1: you think then, so you get smacked in the face
Speaker 1: from him, not literally, but like you're saying that second
Speaker 1: or third week, and maybe what's going through your head
Speaker 1: is you know what, I know where Jersey guys are,
Speaker 1: but I'm not one of his guys. Right, I'm not
Speaker 1: one of his guys. Did you come around maybe by
Speaker 1: the end of the year and go, you know what,
Speaker 1: I don't know that I'm one of his guys. But
Speaker 1: I still think I can play for him. And I
Speaker 1: think he respects me enough that he knows that I
Speaker 1: can play for him. Now I knew I could play.
Speaker 1: I knew I didn't want to play for him anymore.
Speaker 1: And I was talking to my agent and it was like,
Speaker 1: you know, Carolina, it was just coming around and we
Speaker 1: can work out. I'll call around and what do you
Speaker 1: want to do? And so we talked about that for
Speaker 1: a little bit, and then, you know, it just kept
Speaker 1: circling back to that opportunity coming into the front office.
Speaker 1: And I just after it was all set and done,
Speaker 1: I just said, you know what, I think I'm gonna retire.
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna step down. My body's talking to
Speaker 1: me a little bit, and uh, I'm gonna take this
Speaker 1: opportunity to come into the front office. You said something
Speaker 1: that I hadn't heard before, which is amazing that I
Speaker 1: hadn't heard the story before, but you mentioned the Craft
Speaker 1: buys a team, and he offers you this opportunity to
Speaker 1: the front office. Can you go back a little bit
Speaker 1: and and relay this, relate the story about when you
Speaker 1: found out the Craft about the team. Wow, well, you know,
Speaker 1: it was funny. We had heard in all season and
Speaker 1: a couple of my teammates and I we wanted to
Speaker 1: go play golf. We were actually down at the breakers
Speaker 1: and we had heard Robert had the team, and so
Speaker 1: we're we're we're playing golf, and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: we see a group of older gentlemen pull up behind
Speaker 1: us and they get out the cart and want to
Speaker 1: see what's to hold up. And we said, well, there's
Speaker 1: a group out there, and says guy says to us,
Speaker 1: guys look like football players. I said, yeah, yeah, we
Speaker 1: you know, joking, I said, we a little bit. So
Speaker 1: where said um, New England Patriots, New England Patriot. And
Speaker 1: before he could finish New England Patrees, he says, Bobby Kraft. Goddamn,
Speaker 1: he said, Bobby Craft bought that team. That kid can
Speaker 1: turn ship and to go. We fell out on the
Speaker 1: tea box like it was nobody's business. And I laughed
Speaker 1: so hard. And it wasn't until later on I think
Speaker 1: I retired, that they did the retirement ceremony or the
Speaker 1: press conference, and well March or April or something like that,
Speaker 1: when I finally decided and I tell the story to Robert,
Speaker 1: he falls out laughing. He's had me tell that story
Speaker 1: twenty times throughout the year. And and but these guys
Speaker 1: had us and it's been true, right, And the funniest
Speaker 1: thing about it, though, hindsight being in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: I heard them say that m and I watched him
Speaker 1: through the years with the building of the new stadium,
Speaker 1: getting Belichick here, accomplishing the things that he said in
Speaker 1: his opening press conference. I bought this team to win championships,
Speaker 1: and it's been he turned shit into gold and it
Speaker 1: is the funniest thing, and I love telling people about it.
Speaker 1: And but these guys were something else, man, And obviously
Speaker 1: they've had some kind of business dealings with them, and
Speaker 1: they've watched him from afar because they immediately knew his pedigree,
Speaker 1: and I didn't know how involved in everything that he
Speaker 1: was doing. I always saw him in Myra around town
Speaker 1: at different functions, charity events. They loved coming to concerts.
Speaker 1: I'd see them at a concert or something and go
Speaker 1: over and say hello. And and I didn't even know
Speaker 1: him that he had the entrance and interest of owning
Speaker 1: the team at the time. And I mean I'm talking
Speaker 1: like eighty three eighty four. I met him one time
Speaker 1: when he was here. He brought to Ashton Martin out
Speaker 1: and he and Pat had been talking. I think that
Speaker 1: was around eighty seven eighty eight. Well, he started buying
Speaker 1: land here in eighty five, and so he was angling
Speaker 1: to buy the team. You know people always talk about,
Speaker 1: you know, well, he wouldn't have bought the team if
Speaker 1: Bill Parcels wasn't the coach. And I said, whoa, he
Speaker 1: was angling to buy the team for several years. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I think, I mean, I've never asked Robert this, but
Speaker 1: I have to think the salary cap and that whole
Speaker 1: he said, financial structure says But Tip, you're in the
Speaker 1: unique position of where you talked about how Robert or
Speaker 1: how this gentleman um very interestingly described Robert's business acumen.
Speaker 1: But you literally saw that you were here when this
Speaker 1: place was nothing. Absolutely, And is it amazing to you
Speaker 1: to see from where you came and where it started
Speaker 1: again thirty seven continuous years of service, which is unbelievable,
Speaker 1: by the way, unbelievable, but thirty seven years a continuous
Speaker 1: service to see where it was and what it's come
Speaker 1: to their kids who come in today and go, oh yeah, Patriots,
Speaker 1: super Bowl champions, you know, and they can't appreciate what
Speaker 1: this was like. You can, absolutely, absolutely no, in your right.
Speaker 1: I pinched myself a lot, and I laugh. And and
Speaker 1: the fact that he's blessed me with the opportunity to
Speaker 1: be here this long, it's been awesome. And he and
Speaker 1: I we we often chat a little bit, just you know,
Speaker 1: he thanks me for being here, and I'm like, oh, no, no,
Speaker 1: I thank you for the opportunity. And it's amazing because,
Speaker 1: as you say, I was here from nineteen eighty two
Speaker 1: until now. And I again, I was in the old stadium.
Speaker 1: I got in my car and we drove a mile
Speaker 1: to to practice, and uh, for lunch, we had to
Speaker 1: take a ride down the street and go buy a
Speaker 1: sandwich and bring back to the to the locker room
Speaker 1: to eat. And I fight for for socks and and
Speaker 1: and I'm like, all of a sudden, now you know,
Speaker 1: we we got the TOADJM. Hall of Stadiums, and we
Speaker 1: have a dining room. We have a dining room that
Speaker 1: I can go down now. And I tell the guys
Speaker 1: about the dining room story and they're like, no way.
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, wait, wait, wait, And I said, it's
Speaker 1: a constant reminder to me that you know how cool
Speaker 1: it's been. And I share it with all my old
Speaker 1: teammates and they because they're always how is it tip?
Speaker 1: And I said, man, if we had had this opportunity,
Speaker 1: I said, no telling how good, how far we may
Speaker 1: have gone. Let me go back a little bit, because
Speaker 1: I would be remiss if we didn't ask you about
Speaker 1: Lawrence Taylor. So you mentioned you weren't one of Parcels guys. Well,
Speaker 1: clearly LT was one of his guys. Here's a quote
Speaker 1: from Eric Dickerson, Hall of Fame running back, talking about you.
Speaker 1: He was a great, great player talking about LT. But
Speaker 1: I think Andre Tippett was as great a linebacker as LT.
Speaker 1: Uh Hall of Fame guard Joe Delamellur. A lot of
Speaker 1: guys thought he was better than Lawrence Taylor. He's definitely
Speaker 1: one of the best outside linebackers who ever played. The
Speaker 1: comparisons to LT. What's your thought on those Well, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just like wringling circus. You know, you want to
Speaker 1: bring attention to the party. You want to you want
Speaker 1: to get in that that conversation with people. And I
Speaker 1: I originally when when I when I first made the statement,
Speaker 1: and and and someone asked me, you know, what do
Speaker 1: you see yourself? And and I think that I threw
Speaker 1: it out there that you know, um, I basically was
Speaker 1: looking at it as I do the same things that
Speaker 1: he does, I said, And I didn't even go to
Speaker 1: the point of, well, he's consistently had a great offensive line,
Speaker 1: great defensive backs to support him, scheme that supported him.
Speaker 1: And you know I often talked about I just played
Speaker 1: straight left outside linebacker and I wasn't a designated rusher.
Speaker 1: I wasn't an edge rusher or anything like that. I
Speaker 1: was part of a three four defense that sometimes I
Speaker 1: dropped into coverage, sometimes I played the run, sometimes I
Speaker 1: was asking the but and I just took pride in
Speaker 1: the ability to be able to get that done. So
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you know you're seeing LT obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, coming in in nineteen eighty two, LT came
Speaker 1: in eighty one You're watching the things that he's doing
Speaker 1: and I'm like, whoa, it's really not much different than
Speaker 1: what I'm doing. And so with that being said, you know,
Speaker 1: all sudden we you know, not that he and I
Speaker 1: ever personally go at it or anything like that, but
Speaker 1: the media is picking up on it and they're talking
Speaker 1: and they're like, well, do you think you're consider yourself
Speaker 1: to be as good as LT? Absolutely? Absolutely. I once
Speaker 1: had a defensive coach her mind said to me. He
Speaker 1: looked at me one time and he said, if I
Speaker 1: ever ever here you compare yourself to LT, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have a problem with you. He didn't mean it as
Speaker 1: and you shouldn't be doing that. He was saying other things,
Speaker 1: and I didn't, you know, I just I saw I've left.
Speaker 1: I've never really shared that with people, but he said
Speaker 1: he said some things to me and it and after
Speaker 1: he said that, I stopped having the conversation with anybody
Speaker 1: ever again because you felt good about it. I felt
Speaker 1: good about what my defensive coaches said to me. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, all right, all right, well, but it's
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of an easy thing to figure out.
Speaker 1: You know, you're a part ones playing in the media
Speaker 1: capital of the country, right, Okay, who then becomes gets
Speaker 1: on a team that had some The team has success.
Speaker 1: You had it one year, really, you know, they won
Speaker 1: a super Bowl in eighty six. He's got a Superman
Speaker 1: cape in Jersey on and part of that team. They
Speaker 1: went in again in ninety and he's off to the races,
Speaker 1: you know. But the comparison was not fair, though it happened,
Speaker 1: and he waltzes into the Hall of Fame because he's
Speaker 1: LT and the Giants and everything like that, and you
Speaker 1: gotta fight and you gotta scrap and you gotta wait.
Speaker 1: Were you pissed in the beginning? Yeah? I was, because
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, I'm like I thought I
Speaker 1: did everything that I needed to do, and you know,
Speaker 1: I you know, I learned a lot through the years,
Speaker 1: and you know, I ain't putting anybody on the on
Speaker 1: the spot, but I knew when we were playing doing
Speaker 1: that era at the time that I was on, I
Speaker 1: knew guys had guys that they could if they needed
Speaker 1: to make a phone call and let them know and
Speaker 1: share information with these guys and different things like that.
Speaker 1: Within the media. I was never like that, I know,
Speaker 1: had I maybe had I. You know, I'm like, did
Speaker 1: I miss out on something? We were you in a hole?
Speaker 1: You know? Yeah, I said, And it wasn't an a hole,
Speaker 1: but uh, I was quiet, and there were times that
Speaker 1: I'd be off the standoffice. But you know, I knew guys,
Speaker 1: a lot of guys that are in all of aname.
Speaker 1: I knew they had guys that would carry their water
Speaker 1: for him. And I didn't have. I wouldn't anybody's boy
Speaker 1: I didn't have. I didn't I wasn't you know, I
Speaker 1: didn't have that guy. I didn't have somebody that is
Speaker 1: that a pride thing? Did you take pride in that?
Speaker 1: Maybe that you didn't have anybody to do that for you?
Speaker 1: I believe so because I would hear guys in the
Speaker 1: locker room, and you know, I would hear conversations that
Speaker 1: take place. I would read articles in the newspaper, and
Speaker 1: I said, well, the only way that could be in
Speaker 1: a newspaper was somebody in this locker room. And I said,
Speaker 1: I'll never put myself in that position to do that.
Speaker 1: And and I know a lot of guys that did.
Speaker 1: And you know, so the politics of the whole process
Speaker 1: that probably soured you. Where you learn when you're talking
Speaker 1: about learning a lot, you know the politics of Hey,
Speaker 1: it sounds to me what you're saying is, you know
Speaker 1: what I played for twelve years. I'll take what I
Speaker 1: did in twelve years, franchise leader in sacks. We did
Speaker 1: what we did thirty five over a two year period. Right,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let my statistics speak for themselves. But I'm
Speaker 1: not going to go up to this guy or that
Speaker 1: guy or ask call this one or you know, that's
Speaker 1: just not who I am. And if that's the way
Speaker 1: it falls, that's a shame. That's a shame. It really was.
Speaker 1: And and I heard a story and and just not
Speaker 1: the name names, but the situation went like this, in
Speaker 1: a meeting, select selection meeting, articular player that wasn't the
Speaker 1: person that spoke on behalf of the player was lived
Speaker 1: in one town in the player played somewhere else, and
Speaker 1: that particular media person stood up and said, he said
Speaker 1: the player's name, rattled off some statistics, and he said
Speaker 1: he doesn't get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna quit, and he walked out the room. The
Speaker 1: person got in first ballot. I thought I'd heard something
Speaker 1: about that, like with Elway that's somebody that whoever was
Speaker 1: presenting Elway then he just stood up and said John
Speaker 1: Elway and sat down. Yeah, I've heard that story too,
Speaker 1: So I didn't have anybody that went to bat for me.
Speaker 1: The person that said that should have been the person that,
Speaker 1: when it was time to present me, that put up
Speaker 1: a fight to say, you know what, this kid here
Speaker 1: deserves it. This kid here has worked hard to get
Speaker 1: to where he's at. So it's become a huge production now,
Speaker 1: as is with everything in the national Football leagues you've
Speaker 1: seen over your career, where now the president of the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame is trolling through hotel lobbies and if
Speaker 1: you get a knock on your door, if you get
Speaker 1: a knock on your door, that needs you get in,
Speaker 1: but if the phone rings, it means you get out.
Speaker 1: It's really kind of convoluted. But I think Brian and
Speaker 1: I were fortunate enough to be at a point in
Speaker 1: time where we're in Arizona. It's Super Bowl forty two,
Speaker 1: and we're in the hotel lobby, you know, and it's
Speaker 1: a Saturday before the game, and naturally the focus is
Speaker 1: on the game because the Patriots are playing the Giants
Speaker 1: that first Super Bowl and everybody's thinking about that, can
Speaker 1: they cap off the perfect season? But there's I don't know,
Speaker 1: tip twenty of us, forty of us and we're standing
Speaker 1: around what this thirty five forty inch TV in the
Speaker 1: hotel lobby and you have no idea whether you're going
Speaker 1: to get in or not. And you're sitting there. You're
Speaker 1: like a nervous canary in a cat house, you know.
Speaker 1: And it was I'll never forget it whenever, Like we're
Speaker 1: watching this that doesn't happen today. I understand its twelve
Speaker 1: years later. But here's a guy who's literally waiting for
Speaker 1: his Hall of Fame fate to be announced, and you're
Speaker 1: finding out live on television. Right, We're talking about arm
Speaker 1: still up in the air? Right? What was that like
Speaker 1: for you? Whoa that was? It was? It was amazing
Speaker 1: because it was well one, it was the greatest greatest
Speaker 1: moment in my life, man. I mean, There's been a
Speaker 1: lot of special things that have happened to me, and
Speaker 1: I've been really fortunate to be in the right place,
Speaker 1: right the right time, but that supersedes everything, man, because
Speaker 1: it was amazing. It's the highest honor that a former
Speaker 1: player can receive after he's retired from football when he's done.
Speaker 1: There isn't anything else you can you can get after
Speaker 1: you you're done playing the game, and if you've played
Speaker 1: it at a high level, then to receive that that
Speaker 1: that Hall of Fame call. So I'm out with the
Speaker 1: kids and we're playing and and and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: someone says, well, you're not getting ready to make the announcement.
Speaker 1: I didn't even think much about it at that time,
Speaker 1: and the like, and they said, you want to go
Speaker 1: see it. I'm like, yeah, so we're gonna sit out
Speaker 1: in the in the lobby down and that's let's just
Speaker 1: sit right here, and the same of TV or and
Speaker 1: I was. I was chomping at the bench and it was.
Speaker 1: It was special. When I heard my name, I cried
Speaker 1: like a baby. It was, but I tell people I
Speaker 1: cried like a baby the year before and I was
Speaker 1: at home by myself. My wife and the kids had
Speaker 1: gone out and done some things, and they're like, said,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just sit here and watch and and I
Speaker 1: literally when they made the final announcement in oh seven,
Speaker 1: I was sitting in my house, in my living room.
Speaker 1: I had tears and snoted coming out of my eyes,
Speaker 1: and it was it was it was just I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, all right, okay, you all right, get over this.
Speaker 1: So next year, oh eight, it happens again. I'm crying
Speaker 1: like a baby, snot coming out of my nose and
Speaker 1: I'm just you know, so both times good at bad.
Speaker 1: You know, it was it was awesome. I appreciated the opportunity.
Speaker 1: It really was cool. I sent thank you notes and No.
Speaker 1: Seven terry voter who voted for me, and I didn't
Speaker 1: care the fact that I got that opportunity to be
Speaker 1: considered at that time, thank you, and I appreciate and
Speaker 1: I don't know. It was a bunch of people that
Speaker 1: probably didn't vote for me, didn't care. But I did
Speaker 1: the same thing. And oh eight, I took thank you
Speaker 1: notes after I'd gotten in. We were in Hawaii for
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl when they were gonna introduced this thank
Speaker 1: you notes. Sat in my hotel room. My wife's like,
Speaker 1: we're going up to dinner, said I need, I need,
Speaker 1: I need another hour and then we can go out
Speaker 1: to dinner. And I handwrote thank you notes to every
Speaker 1: voter on the committee. Just this is what it meant
Speaker 1: to me. But that's that's your mom that's your mom
Speaker 1: telling you what to do, what's right, And that's a
Speaker 1: kid learning from a parent like this is the right
Speaker 1: thing to do. And that's a lesson that I guess,
Speaker 1: I'm not guessed. I would bet that that's a lesson
Speaker 1: you've passed down to your kids. Absolutely, Absolutely, anytime they
Speaker 1: get anything you don't, you don't miss that opportunity to
Speaker 1: think the person that did whatever they did for you
Speaker 1: goes a long way. So Andre, you know you and
Speaker 1: John Lifelong Patriots and Bonaconti Haynes, and now we've had
Speaker 1: some other guys like Bill Parcels and Curtis Martin and
Speaker 1: Randy Moss. Last year, Tay log goes in the first
Speaker 1: one from the Super Bowl era teams. Obviously Tom will
Speaker 1: go in, Bill will go in. Do you think any
Speaker 1: other Richard's a finalist this year? Richard seem Moore, Yeah,
Speaker 1: do you think anybody? Do you think Richard gets in?
Speaker 1: And then anybody beyond Tie, Bill and Tom. I think
Speaker 1: that Richard gets in. I like to think that Richard
Speaker 1: gets in this year. You know what a football player,
Speaker 1: and I mean you look at his credentials, I mean
Speaker 1: you look at everything that he's done. How does he
Speaker 1: not get it? Now? I understand that. You know, it comes,
Speaker 1: it gets close, and I know that if they're two
Speaker 1: guys at the same position, sometimes one you can exit
Speaker 1: each other out. So that me and what been what
Speaker 1: happened last year, the fact that he's again finalists, I've
Speaker 1: been rooting hard for him. I like him. I like
Speaker 1: him as as as a football. I like what he
Speaker 1: did here and I like his credentials. I mean, you
Speaker 1: look at what he's done, man. I mean he on
Speaker 1: a team with a great defense. He was the best
Speaker 1: defensive player on that team. Now we didn't have the
Speaker 1: stats because he had to take on two guys. You know.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite stories about Richard, and I've told
Speaker 1: him this was in two thousand and three, Lawyer Maloygan
Speaker 1: has traded. You know, he's in his what third year?
Speaker 1: Lawyer Malloyga has traded five days before the start of
Speaker 1: the season, signs with Buffalo. They go to Buffalo loose
Speaker 1: thirty one to nothing. The following week, Tom Jackson's on
Speaker 1: ESPN makes the famous they hate their coach comment. And
Speaker 1: they go out in Hammer Philadelphia that day in a
Speaker 1: four o'clock game, and all the talk in the locker
Speaker 1: room was not about the game, but about Tom Jackson's comments.
Speaker 1: And that week Richard stood up and became a leader
Speaker 1: on that team and really had bills back and talked
Speaker 1: about the fact that we don't care what anyone outside says.
Speaker 1: We know what we think and that's a bunch of bull.
Speaker 1: And I thought that was a moment for Richard where
Speaker 1: he became a voice of this team. He was maybe
Speaker 1: the best player on the field, defensive player on the
Speaker 1: field his rookie year in the Super Bowl, so he
Speaker 1: was already a really good player, Pro Bowl player, and
Speaker 1: I thought that's when he became more than that, Right, Nana,
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I mean the guy you know,
Speaker 1: he's a good football player who who played great. I
Speaker 1: think that he would make anybody that played with him
Speaker 1: look good. And so do you guys make players around
Speaker 1: him better? This Richard? Did you make players around you better?
Speaker 1: I like to think the players around me made me
Speaker 1: better when I was playing. When we write about so
Speaker 1: I'm gonna from a media perspective when I'm writing about,
Speaker 1: you know, the guy who plays opposite you, who was
Speaker 1: Don Blackman, Right, Okay? If I was covering those teams,
Speaker 1: I mean be Don Blackman might be playing well, but
Speaker 1: that's because they had doing this to Andre Tippo. So
Speaker 1: in that way, your make other players better because they
Speaker 1: have to game plan for you. You could ruin the game.
Speaker 1: As Bill would say, did do you think did you
Speaker 1: have that Effected Richard have that effect? I think Richard
Speaker 1: had that infact. I mean this guy was a man
Speaker 1: child out there. I mean, you put your hands. I
Speaker 1: used to run up behind him and touch him, and
Speaker 1: he felt like a block of steel. And I don't
Speaker 1: say that, you know, to sound funny or but he was.
Speaker 1: He was when I touched him one time. He and
Speaker 1: I we used to do the videotapes technique stuff and
Speaker 1: I had him, Yeah, I had I had. I had
Speaker 1: him out there one day and we were out there
Speaker 1: for about an hour, and I just said to myself, Man,
Speaker 1: if I had to go against this guy for forty
Speaker 1: snaps and play for sixty minutes, I'd be shaking in
Speaker 1: my boots at some point because at some point he's
Speaker 1: just gonna run over you. And it was just you know,
Speaker 1: to see him, to be around him, to know him
Speaker 1: like I do, and then to see him play. Um, yeah, guys,
Speaker 1: got you can make you can make guys look good,
Speaker 1: So he gets your endorsement. He belongs in the club.
Speaker 1: I absolutely believe he does. So, Brian, let's wrap this
Speaker 1: thing up here, and I'm going to wrap it up
Speaker 1: with a quote that I'm pretty sure Tip's familiar with
Speaker 1: with his from his boss, and that's Robert Kraft, who
Speaker 1: is very fond of saying about himself, not bad for
Speaker 1: a kid from Fuller Street when you look back thirty
Speaker 1: seven years, continues to the organization. Okay, maybe you didn't
Speaker 1: win the Super Bowls when you were playing, but you've
Speaker 1: been a part of something really really special here, Tip,
Speaker 1: do you look back and say not bad for a
Speaker 1: kid from Newark? Not bad for kid from Newark? I
Speaker 1: truly do. I mean I grew up in an era
Speaker 1: in a time where didn't have a whole lot and
Speaker 1: it was things wasn't easy for me in my life.
Speaker 1: I mean I could have I could have been somebody
Speaker 1: sticking somebody up, but I chose to be a good
Speaker 1: listener as a young man growing up, I I develop
Speaker 1: a passion for something that after being cut that I enjoyed.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I think I can play this game. Never
Speaker 1: playing Pop Warner or never any of that stuff. Didn't
Speaker 1: play until high school, having an opportunity to follow my my, my, my,
Speaker 1: my passion, play with a purpose, and I was fortunate
Speaker 1: to be around some right people. And I'm still around
Speaker 1: right people right now, and while I'm still here, specifically
Speaker 1: right now, specifically right now, and not bad, not bad
Speaker 1: at all. I mean, I pinched myself a few times
Speaker 1: and it's amazing. And I represent New Jersey, I am.
Speaker 1: I like to think that I'm an example of what
Speaker 1: comes of good decisions in your life. And you know,
Speaker 1: as a youth, as a young adult, as an older man,
Speaker 1: I still like to think that I've set the example
Speaker 1: and I'm just fortunate to be part of this party.
Speaker 1: His name is Andre Tippett. He is Brian As the
Speaker 1: executive director of the Hall of Fame, the best defensive
Speaker 1: player in Patriot's football history. Tip thank you for your
Speaker 1: time today. Thank you, guys, appreciate Thank you for downloading
Speaker 1: this podcast. Subscribe on Apple, Google Play, and everywhere else
Speaker 1: you listen. Like the show, Please rate and review us.
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