WEBVTT - Skol Stories: Vikings Legend Bryant McKinnie Reflects On Coaching Influences, Assisting Retired Players With Life After Football 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.240 Hey, Vikings fans, Ben Lever here, I'm so excited to 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:04.360 be a new Lifetime member, and so are my kids. 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:06.480 They love the tennis, the pick a ball, the basketball, 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:08.680 and of course the yummy cafe. Check them out at 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:10.720 Lifetime dot life to find a club nearest you. 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:15.880 Welcome to School Stories, presented by three M, the official 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:19.480 science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. Tonight we're joined by 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.960 Vikings legendary offensive tackle Brian McKinney. 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:28.960 Thanks again for tuning into another episode of Skull Stories. 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:32.559 Our special guest was the much larger than life offensive 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:35.120 tackle for some of the most historic teams for both 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:38.479 your Minnesota Vikings and the Miami Hurricanes. Nowadays, he's an 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:41.360 entrepreneur and advocate for players to get access to the 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:44.760 post playing career services that they need. I think you're 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.720 really going to enjoy tonight's conversation with old number seventy 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:53.360 four Brian McKinney. Well, I'm absolutely thrilled to be able 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:56.000 to sit out on Brian McKinney. Brian, what are you 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:57.800 doing nowadays? Just kind of give us a bit of 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:01.000 a refresher on what your life is like and what 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:02.120 are you up to right now? 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:03.680 I have a company called Let's Chat, so we do 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:07.279 language translation in real time based off your device setting, 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:13.600 so we can translate in person, presentation, websites, subtitling, I mean, 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:17.240 you name it, we can do it. And we're about 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:20.000 ninety between ninety seven nine nine percent accuracy. We do 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.680 one hundred and four languages with one hundred different dialects. 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:26.639 So we've done things for the NFL, translated different seasons 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:29.559 for their game pass and things like that, Major League Soccer. 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:33.960 We're in food and beverage Bojangle's, Coca Cola, McDonald's, so 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:37.080 I heard doing that. And besides that, also my foundation 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:40.720 be major foundation where we especially where mission statement is 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:44.480 healthy kids, healthy living, single parent homes, and mental health awareness. 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:48.280 So I've done two events geared towards mental health, and 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:50.520 the vicers have been you know, supporters of that as well, 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:51.760 so I always thank them for that. 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:54.080 Now, is that part of it still in Florida? Is that? 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:55.920 Is that where you're still living down in Florida? I 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:56.919 still live in South Florida. 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:57.160 Yep. 0:01:57.240 --> 0:01:59.160 And then like now with some of my charity events 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:00.960 and especially the mens health part, I want to start 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:03.720 branching off the different cities. So I've had talks with 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.720 Jasper and let's Pico of putting together something and coming 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:08.440 up here and doing it either for the players or 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:10.520 just different people in the community, and then move it 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:13.120 over maybe to Baltimore's I played there and something new Jersey, 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:14.080 so I want to start moving that. 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:17.480 Around, all right. And Jasper Brinkley's new here, he's taking 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:20.080 over a role of you know, players, this players support 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.080 program unless Pico has been here forever. So it's great 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:27.120 that you're still is you still enjoy like being involved 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:30.320 Attle least in that way with with the NFL and being. 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:33.440 I do just because after retiring you realize it's needed. 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.560 Because the guys have a tough time sometimes transitioning from 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:39.720 life after and not fully knowing who their identity is 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.840 once they're finished playing football, So that you know that 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:43.840 aspect definitely helps. 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:46.000 It's a shock, isn't it. I Mean it's your whole life, 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:47.680 everything you do, it's all based on that, and then 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:49.720 that one day you wake up and yeah, it's over. 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:51.520 And like a lot of guys have started at you know, 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:53.399 five or six years old, you know, and so that's 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:55.600 been their identity for a long time, especially if they 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:57.440 made it to the league, so six years old to 0:02:57.880 --> 0:02:59.880 you know, however long you played in the league as 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.839 big chunk of your life and then figuring out life 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:04.680 afterwards can be challenging for a lot of people. So 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:06.720 that's where the mental health part comes in. And a 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:08.200 lot of people only want to talk to somebody who 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:10.280 they feel like has been in their shoes, especially when 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:12.160 they'd have been the bread winner. Like a lot of 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:13.880 their family comes in with their problems, so it's like 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:16.520 they don't feel comfortable going back to their family speaking, 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:18.760 you know, having those conversations, so they'd like to talk to, 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:21.600 you know, former teammates and guys around the league that 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:23.640 they played with. So I was able to kind of 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:27.160 form like a group and actually did a panel. It 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.239 was myself, Tommy Harris, and Ray Rice and then we 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:32.080 had a mediator and we did it for the NFLPA 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:35.080 and we had like a bunch of guys to tune in. 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:35.800 It was over zoom. 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:38.280 We had a conversation where guys were able to do 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:39.680 that back and that was back in May because I 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:41.040 was mental health for wear in this month. So we 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:43.600 did that with the NFLPA and they're looking to kind 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:45.080 of do you know more of those? And I felt 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:46.280 like those conversations that need it. 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:49.120 Yeah, it's that stuff wasn't around back back when you 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.440 were playing. So let's go back and you know, you 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:55.680 there aren't many offensive line coaches or have offensive line 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:58.200 backgrounds that are the head coach. Right, so you had 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:00.720 not only Steve Loney as a position coach, Mike Tyson 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:04.760 as a head coach. What was what was his impact 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:08.240 on you as far as as far as becoming the 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:09.480 tackle to. 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:14.080 UH coach Ty's definitely, especially around like two thousand and five. 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:16.560 He would have like film sessions with me, just me 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:20.599 and him, and say, hey, come here and do this, 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:24.640 and I don't care about certain techniques, like I'm showing 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.279 you an easy way to get this job done or blocked. 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:29.359 And if you hit, oh line coach jails that you 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:30.919 just you know, just blame and put it on me. 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:34.400 But I'm telling you to do this, you know. And 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.800 he taught me things that made some things easier and 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.200 my job easier. And in a certain sense, I was like, 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:42.960 I wish I could have had him a little longer 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:45.200 because he was teaching me things that I was able 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:47.720 to use and and put on the field. But then 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:49.400 you know, when you get a new coach, they come 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.360 in and they kind of felt like they want to 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.719 teach you things. So after he left, a new group 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:56.839 came in and now they want to kind of almost 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:59.080 make you unlearn what you have been taught right to 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:01.839 do it their way, and you know, some things I 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:03.840 was still trying to hold onto. I was able to 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:05.719 still get the job done, but it might not have 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:07.920 been technically sound, but it was still getting a job done. 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.599 But I feel like he did a great job with me. 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.120 And his passion was offensive line, so he knew some things. 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:17.040 Yeah, in the group that you were part of, a 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:21.000 pretty legendary group. I mean guys like Matt Burke. You know, 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:23.440 I look at Corbyn Losina and you know, guys like 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.840 him who were Dave Dave Dixon were veterans when you 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:29.440 showed up that were there, but then later on being able, 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:32.880 you know, to play with like Steve Hutchinson and who 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:33.479 are who are? 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:33.640 So? 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:36.280 Who are the guys that you remember most that were 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:37.280 in that room with you? 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:42.960 I remembers and of course you know, of course Hutchison 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:46.040 and Dave Dixon and Matt Burke, And you said with Row, 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:49.000 I actually ran in a with Row recently at an 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:59.280 entrepreneur that Corbin Lesina like Lewinsky. 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:58.760 Remember, it doesn't surprise me because it's kind of that's 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.000 your group. That's the offensive line, right, You guys are 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.720 more like a family. But you enjoy those guys and 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:06.280 I did, And. 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:08.120 You know, it's funny. One player who I wish I 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.240 would have been able to play next to more but 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:13.719 we only got one game out of him was Tone 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:16.359 you FINDI. Yeah, he was like a big guy and 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:18.160 people were kind of like intimidated scared of him. So 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:20.279 it was like, good, I have another big guy, you 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:22.120 know what I mean next to me. And they, you know, 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:24.640 did so much to work him out and slim him down. 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:26.480 And then he was able to play one game. I 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:28.520 think it was Green Bay, and I think he might 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:30.640 have got injured or something in that game. I'm like, 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:32.599 oh gosh, Like I finally got a chance to play 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:34.800 next to this guy. You know, we both came out 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:36.440 the same year and he went to Nebraska. I played 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:38.920 against him in college, so he was a guy who 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:41.640 I looked forward to playing next to, Like a big, 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:44.400 strong guy. I didn't have to worry anything about worry 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:46.599 about him, you know, giving up any ground or anything. 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.160 And you know got like one game with. 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:51.320 Him, right and one and one guy that you were 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.200 able to not all the time be hitched up next 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.680 to his jim clein saucer. Oh yeah, and then you 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:58.200 know in this day and age of the league, you 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:01.599 don't see he just locked in times like blocking like that. 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:04.320 So having Jimmy next year that had to that had 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:05.240 to make you feel good. 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:07.240 Oh it did, because I knew he knew his assignment 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:09.279 and then I knew he didn't mind blocking. Where you 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.320 had other tight ends who was like make sure you 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:13.120 helped me, Like you know that's like I got the 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:15.240 hindle my job first. If I can, I'll come out 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:17.240 and give you some assistance. Where Jimmy didn't have to 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.400 worry about that, but the other Titans that just keep 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:20.600 in mind you like make sure you come out of 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.240 give me some help. Like you have the opportunity. 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:24.760 Nothing far you know, you have you have what goes 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:26.360 on and then you have far walk in the building. 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:31.040 And what was it like having him as as the quarterback, 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:32.440 as a guy called the plays. 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:35.000 I mean it was it was funny. Well it all started, 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:37.640 I'm gonna say back when we were in uh lunch 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:39.720 and we were watching the news and when you watch 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:42.520 the helicopter like followed the car he was in coming 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:44.480 to the facility. It was like, this is really happening. 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.000 And then so I went downstairs, you know, to change 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:49.360 you're ready for practice. I can't remember who the quarterback 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:51.440 was at the time, and we looked at his locker 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:52.880 because he were number four, and we looked at his 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:53.960 locker his number was different. 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:55.840 I said, it happened. 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:59.920 Yeah, you get out there, and I remember him, like 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:01.760 us being out there and he was like one of 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:03.960 the last ones to come and he comes right in 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:05.840 the huddle. My mind like how does he even know 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.080 the players? But he comes right in a huddle, and 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:09.640 I kind of was looking like this is the person 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:11.680 that we were trained like not to like all this song, 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:13.680 and like now he's in the huddle with us, and 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:15.320 I remember him like looking at him and he was 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:17.679 looking at me like it'll be okay, it'll be okay, 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:19.240 and I'm like, oh yeah, like snap out of it. 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:22.600 And I just want to say he's like one of 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.440 those people who I feel like there's players on certain 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:27.840 teams that everybody raises their level play up for and 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.400 as you can tell, for that season, everyone raised their 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.000 level of play up, and so he is. He falls 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.480 in the lines of a Ray Lewis because people can 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:36.840 get around him raise up. If you can look at 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:39.200 Tom Brady leave New England and go to Tampa, everybody 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:42.079 raises their level of play up. So he's in that 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:44.760 era of guys who can come into a locker room 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:47.200 and everybody raised their game up because they don't want 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:48.280 to feel like they want to let him down. I 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:50.480 feel like that was the closest the team has been 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.680 because everybody was on board and everybody wanted to play 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:56.400 well and not let him down because he was such 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:56.840 a legend. 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:58.439 You think that's what that? I mean that that was 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:01.040 gonna be my next question. What is it about those guys? 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:04.920 You've seen them displayed like greatness for so long that 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:06.680 you kind of want to show that you're good too, 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:08.200 and you don't want to let them down. So you 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.440 want to, you know, make sure you're accountable and there 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:14.600 to protect and make plays, and you know, you get 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:16.040 you know, get a win. And that was my best 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:18.320 record as a king as being twelve and four, and 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:20.000 that's the furtherest I had went too at the time, 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.920 was you know, to the NFC Championship. 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:25.280 Right, and then another guy back there, you know, maybe 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.200 a little bit before far, but still is the you know, 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:32.680 the best running back that I've seen more purple Adrian Peters. Yeah, 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.640 and so blocking for him, I mean when. 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.040 You had I mean, if you had Adrian Peterson, you 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:40.360 had Percy Harven, you had Sydney Race, you had like 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:43.120 a lot of great guys, right, And with Adrian, what 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:47.120 I learned with him early is, uh, it gave me 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:48.520 incentive to get out the way because he was just 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:50.480 running to your back. So it's like, Okay, let me 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:52.400 get my guy out this hole and out the way 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:54.480 so I don't have to worry about this man slamming 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:55.120 in the back of me. 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:58.040 So you're just going to run into something. 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:00.320 Yeah, he didn't mind if you were here, not like 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:01.720 he was going to make a hole. So it's like 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:04.400 it just gave you an incentive to really like keep 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:06.280 your feet moving and really just the drive your guy 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:07.760 at the hole so you can make a way for him. 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.320 What was did you have a moment in two thousand 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:12.880 and seven his first year where you were just looking 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:15.640 you know, you're just yeah, are you definitely. I mean, 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:17.959 like hold like the holy Cow moment when you knew 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:19.800 that this I've seen it coming. 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:22.720 I've seen it, you can see it coming. Uh, the 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:26.000 way he ran the ball, I just said, Okay, once 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:28.120 he gets down the pass protection, once he knows that 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:30.920 and knows who he may have the block of they blitz, 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:34.240 then he I could see him becoming the starter because 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.680 he was running the ball way better. But now it's like, okay, 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:38.400 outside of running ball, because we can't just put you 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:40.440 in there on run plays because then everybody know, oh 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.239 it's a run play. So we need you know both aspects. 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:46.680 And once he got that pass blocking part down, damn, 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:49.640 there's no stopping on it. 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:53.360 But it's it is it not a mentality when you 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:55.080 you're able to step on the field knowing that you 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:57.080 have him where you're like, Okay, you may win, you 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:58.640 may win it down here or two year, but we're 0:10:58.640 --> 0:10:59.920 gonna wear We're gonna wear you out. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:00.120 Ye. 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.120 Having a running back like that who doesn't mind running 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:04.920 people over and and all types of things like that, 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:07.960 that's just going to wear anybody down. And and me personally, 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:10.959 I didn't mind running the ball and wearing my opponent 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:13.280 down to you know, slow them down in the past 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:15.840 rush you know. So I was okay with that, especially 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.600 if I had a good day of you know, run blocking. 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:20.520 It's like run to the left. Let's you know, let's 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:22.280 get some yards on the ground. 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:26.480 Stick around for more school Stories presented by three M. 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:30.160 From the field to the roof and everywhere in between. Threem, 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:33.120 the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings, is here. 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:37.720 Visit Vikings dot com slash school Science to learn more. 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.400 We'll be back with more from Brian McKitty, but first, 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:45.920 Unreal is back with their limited edition Vikings Drop head 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:49.520 to nurl dot com for more details. 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:54.839 Ready to have your spirits lifted and the laugh out 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:58.400 loud comedy Ghosts is for you. Ghosts is all new 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:01.960 every Thursday night at seven thirty Central over on CBS. 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.040 Welcome back to tonight's edition of school Stories presented by 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.760 three M. Let's get back into our conversation with Vikings 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:12.280 legend Brian McKinney. You remember any guys, uh defensive ends 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:13.960 of d Lineman that you want up against with that 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:17.120 you respect the most throughout your time a league. 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:20.360 When I first got to Minnesota, you know KGB with 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.439 somebody who I respected a lot because it was very slippery. 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:25.960 He lows to the ground in the past past protection wise. 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:28.679 And even by that you meant can be gabajja be 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:29.319 and meal yep. 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:32.040 Okay, So he was he was somebody who I respected 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:33.640 that lat because I had played two times a year 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.280 and I had to get adjusted to his style of play. 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:40.120 And other than that, I feel like everybody else, I 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:42.560 kind of felt good about it. Good against Yeah, I 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.640 feel like to me, honestly, the better which isn't good, 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:47.200 but the better the player was, the better I play. 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.480 So it's just because I just I don't know, I 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:52.080 should have prepared everybody saying, but it. 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:55.040 And and that's where I think, Brian you stand out. 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:57.760 I mean, I've been around this place for almost thirty years, 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:00.640 and that was the one thing about you was it's 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:03.080 just you could raise. You had the you had the 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:06.960 physical ability and capacity to no matter who you were 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.240 going against, raise your level of you know, raise your 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:12.800 level of play. And and so in that respect, you're 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:15.199 you're unique in the history of this team as a 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:18.960 left tackle. You eventually once once your tenure here at 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:21.520 the Vikings, you ended up with the Baltimore Ravens were 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:24.840 able to participate in the Super Bowl. Year you know 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.800 you missed, So you missed the NFC Championship? Was it everything? 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:30.160 Being able to do that? Was it? And this is 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:31.720 your chance to rub it in with all the Viking 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.600 fans because we never obviously won one. But to be 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.680 able to walk away hawk off the field winner, what 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:40.000 was that like? And it was year eleven. 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:43.000 So and then you remember the year before we had 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.160 went to the AFC Championship side my mom, I'm like, 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.880 this is my that's twice. Now. Yeah, I've gotten at 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:51.560 the door but just couldn't get in. So the third 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:53.520 year I finally made it, and it was like, now 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:56.199 that I'm here, it's like it's a year eleven, Like 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:58.160 you gotta at least win, Like I got here all 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:00.760 this time, so now it's like, I gotta win this 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:02.840 because it took me this long to get here, just 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.960 to get here. So and it was also myself and 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:08.040 Edrey we won a national championship together, and then now 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:09.840 we were both in the situation. I was like, listen, 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.000 it's both year eleven for us. This is the only 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:14.400 opportunity really, you know what I'm saying. So we had 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:16.960 to really just focus in and try to like do 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:19.680 our best to just kind of come out with a victory. 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:22.760 That was I think that's another thing about your career. 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:25.080 Your teammates, even mark you played, ed Reed is as 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:27.080 good of a safety as y ever played the game. 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:30.320 He was unbelievable. I mean, you know, the linebacker crews 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:32.760 and everybody you know, you talk about ray Lewis. I mean, 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:34.720 those guys make you better, don't they know? 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:35.479 Absolutely? 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:37.320 Yeah. 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:39.960 I feel like throughout my career between the Vikings and 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.560 the Ravens, I played with some great guys. 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:43.560 We just talked. 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.320 I talked about that on an interview recently with Edrid James, 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:48.200 like the amount of players that I played with between 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:51.040 here and the Ravens who were definitely like great talents. 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:53.680 And then what's funny is in the Super Bowl actually 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:54.960 played against Randy Moss. 0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:59.240 So you had the opportunity to go and play with 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:03.000 Harbaugh in Baltimore. What was it like, What was it 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:04.840 like playing for him? And what do you remember? What 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:06.360 do you remember about him as a head coach. 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:09.680 He was a tough for coach back then, because you know, 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:12.320 I've seen him two years ago and I said, I 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:15.440 know that you're not the same coach. It's no way 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:18.280 you're the same coach now that you were with us. 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:20.480 And he's like, no, actually I had to change that. 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.200 I could tell you. I could tell his interaction with 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:24.840 the players and everything. I could tell he's changed, and 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.080 like lightened up. He said, yeah, because he can't do 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:29.280 all the yelling and everything now because guys were shutting 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:31.480 down and he can't afford his top players to be 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:33.400 shutting down based off of his so he had to, 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:36.440 you know, figure things out. So me and him were okay. 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:37.880 I thought we would get along great because we had 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:38.800 the same exact birthday. 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:39.920 But we were cool. 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.800 Yeah, but yeah, he was just a different type of 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.560 coach at the time because mental health. 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:51.600 Yeah, you've seen you've participated in a pretty in a 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:56.440 very interesting transition. Yeah, transition like I mean when you 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:58.880 first got in the league, when and when we were coaching, 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:01.640 when Mike Tys was here. Yeah, you had two days, 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:04.720 you had eighty plays in nine on seven and you know, 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:08.600 I mean physically and then that I think started changing. 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:10.920 And then again, like you said, the mental health side 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:11.440 and just the. 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:14.240 Concussion, mental health, a lot of things started becoming in 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:18.800 play and you started backing off on things, So I 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:21.400 was there, I guess, for the transition, and then you 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:23.200 had social media that came into play and all that 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:26.480 stuff too, which wasn't there the beginning neither. So I 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:28.600 kind of was there at the beginning where it was 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:31.680 very old school and just hard nose, and then where 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:33.200 things kind of pulled back a little bit where you 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.240 only started having one practice, one pad of practice to 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:39.520 day and things like that, so I started to be 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:40.440 able to see the change. 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:42.320 Do you think seeing that change is kind of what's 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:44.680 propelling you into in the mental health work that you're 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:45.160 doing now? 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:47.720 Oh yeah, yeah, well no, really with propelled me in 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:50.000 that direction was when I retired. There was a couple 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.200 of other guys retired around the same time as me, and 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:55.640 they were having a tough time, I guess, transitioning and 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:58.640