Speaker 1: It's time for another episode of Pats from the Past
Speaker 1: our podcast Matt Smith alongside Brian Mooree, and we are
Speaker 1: pleased to be joined by Patriot Hall of Famer Troy Brown.
Speaker 2: Troy, how are you doing today?
Speaker 3: Doing awesome?
Speaker 4: Man?
Speaker 3: How about you guys? Doing great? Doing great?
Speaker 2: Can't good to see you? Yeah, good to see it.
Speaker 3: Get I see you guys much anymore?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I know that's that's too bad on our end, maybe
Speaker 1: not on your end. Let's see before we get started, Troy,
Speaker 1: why don't we tell fans who might not be aware, what.
Speaker 2: Are you up to these days?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 5: These days I'm actually, uh, I'm down in coaching now.
Speaker 5: So I've changed things up a little bit and decided
Speaker 5: to get back into the game. And that was the
Speaker 5: only way I could do it, is to become a coach.
Speaker 5: Couldn't play anymore, So I just decided to become a
Speaker 5: coach and stay involved in the game and.
Speaker 3: And be right up in the action that way. Do
Speaker 3: you like it? I love it? I love it.
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 5: I mean, a lot of a lot of good kids,
Speaker 5: a lot of interesting kids come through, and you get
Speaker 5: a chance to teach and share some of the things
Speaker 5: that I was able to do as a player some
Speaker 5: of the things I learned as a player, and it's
Speaker 5: actually pretty awesome to be able to share that with
Speaker 5: a lot of the players.
Speaker 4: How much of that were you able to do as
Speaker 4: a twelve thirteen, fourteen, fifteen year veteran when young guys
Speaker 4: came in.
Speaker 2: Did you do a lot of that?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: So focused on your job.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that was a lot of it, But it was
Speaker 5: it was different because I wasn't exactly involved in the
Speaker 5: game planning and you know, behind the scenes stuff that
Speaker 5: went down. It was everything that I got from them,
Speaker 5: you know, or whatever from the coaching staff, and then helped,
Speaker 5: you know, disperse that to the to the to the
Speaker 5: rest of the players and then kind of helped those
Speaker 5: guys understand firsthand, you know, what it took to get
Speaker 5: ready to play, you know, when I was still playing
Speaker 5: as an older player. Being able to pass that knowledge
Speaker 5: down to the younger players, especially receivers, you know, it
Speaker 5: was uh, you know, it was a it was a
Speaker 5: good feeling too. But this side of ask is completely different.
Speaker 5: Now You've got to teach the whole entire thing to them,
Speaker 5: and you know, so it's it's a different type of
Speaker 5: fulfilling and feeling for me.
Speaker 1: You saw first hand Troy as a player, the hours
Speaker 1: that these guys need to do the way what in
Speaker 1: your right mind went through your head to say, you
Speaker 1: know what, that seems like funding me to work eighteen
Speaker 1: twenty hour days. This seems like a good idea to
Speaker 1: do like well, because most of the modern players see
Speaker 1: the hours that goes into coaching and say.
Speaker 6: No, then't made enough money where they don't write, so
Speaker 6: they have to do it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you got that right, right, you got that right.
Speaker 3: But you know, it's one of those things I think maybe.
Speaker 5: At some point in my career where I've said I
Speaker 5: will never do this, and then as the end starts
Speaker 5: to creep near and near, you start to give it
Speaker 5: some thought, you know, and you think about it, and
Speaker 5: you know, yeah, you would.
Speaker 2: I trying to get better love it, right, You better
Speaker 2: love it.
Speaker 3: You better love it.
Speaker 5: You better love this part of the game or you
Speaker 5: won't enjoy it, you know. So, And you know, thankfully
Speaker 5: for me, at this point in my life, I got
Speaker 5: two grown kids, I got one young son. You know,
Speaker 5: that's a little easier to manage for me, you know,
Speaker 5: And I'm able to spend time with him. Like this
Speaker 5: time of year where we've had some off days we've
Speaker 5: had we go home at a regular hour, so it's
Speaker 5: like just being a regular dad. It's got a regular
Speaker 5: nine to five this time of year. Now when the
Speaker 5: season comes around, it's a little different, you know, and
Speaker 5: you're lucky to get home to tuck them into bed,
Speaker 5: you know, and you know, so you in the weekends
Speaker 5: obviously you know you're playing and you're traveling maybe whatever.
Speaker 5: But for home games it's a little different. You get
Speaker 5: to spend a little time with them, you know, on Friday,
Speaker 5: get out of here a little bit early, and then
Speaker 5: Saturday you're able to you know, come in here and
Speaker 5: then you got some time before you have to be
Speaker 5: to the hotel that night, so you get to do
Speaker 5: some things that with them that way, go to check
Speaker 5: out a basketball game with them or whatever they're doing
Speaker 5: on Saturday.
Speaker 3: You know, if they got basketball flag for whatever it
Speaker 3: is they're doing, that's great.
Speaker 5: So you got a little bit of time to do
Speaker 5: stuff during the season. But you know, obviously it's not
Speaker 5: the kind of time that you would love just been
Speaker 5: with him during the season, but obviously just this time
Speaker 5: of year, you know, you make up for it because
Speaker 5: you would get home at a regular hour, you know,
Speaker 5: so it's not not not too bad.
Speaker 2: So good.
Speaker 5: As I was told before I took the job, is
Speaker 5: that you get uh, the same amount of time a
Speaker 5: teacher has off. It's basically when a coach has off
Speaker 5: in the off season, so combined, not not the whole
Speaker 5: summer like that like school for the summer, but combined
Speaker 5: into off season. So so that was a little bit
Speaker 5: of advice I received from another coaches who was already here.
Speaker 2: That's good to know.
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, okay, let's you want to any more coaches
Speaker 6: know that question?
Speaker 1: Since I mean, I think Troy is you if you
Speaker 1: were to talk to a twenty five year old kid
Speaker 1: and you ask him about Troy Brown, that say, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: Troy Brown, Hall of Famers in the Patriots Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: one of the great players in franchise history. My guess
Speaker 1: is that a twenty five year old kid wouldn't know
Speaker 1: Troy Brown was cut right, yeah once twice?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think I was cut twice. So no, I
Speaker 5: know I was cut twice. Well, courselves did it, and
Speaker 5: then I wouldn't say I was cut. Well, you didn't
Speaker 5: make the team. How about I just wasn't re signed, yes,
Speaker 5: you know, oh until late so I was. I guess
Speaker 5: I was cut once and then not re signed because
Speaker 5: one particular time, you know, so.
Speaker 1: Right, Patriots have a pretty good success with players in
Speaker 1: the one hundred and nineties as far as I mean.
Speaker 4: Eighth round, which doesn't mean a lot today because there's
Speaker 4: more than one hundred and ninety eight picks, but there
Speaker 4: wasn't There was only there's only seven rounds now, one
Speaker 4: hundred and ninety eighth pick. So when you come in,
Speaker 4: you probably already feel like I'm behind the eight ball
Speaker 4: with a chance to make this roster, right, I mean,
Speaker 4: how that first camp did you feel like you did
Speaker 4: well enough to make the team?
Speaker 5: Well, when you don't know any better when you're coming in,
Speaker 5: it's like all I wanted was an opportunity. So the
Speaker 5: first round would have been great. It could have got
Speaker 5: some drew bled so money, you know, that would have
Speaker 5: been awesome. But that didn't happen. But I got my
Speaker 5: foot in the door, so I was like, I'm fine,
Speaker 5: I'm going I'm gonna go ahead and make a name
Speaker 5: for myself. I didn't really understand in the whole process
Speaker 5: of that me, being an eighth round picked me, I
Speaker 5: was gonna have less opportunities to somebody else, so until
Speaker 5: I really got here, and then I saw how the
Speaker 5: play count was going, and then oh, you got the
Speaker 5: last two snaps of our team and we get to
Speaker 5: wash it in. So uh, that's kind of when I
Speaker 5: started figuring all that out. So but you know, as
Speaker 5: a young player, you know, you learn really quickly that, uh,
Speaker 5: you got to learn to make the best of those
Speaker 5: situations and be ready to go, you know, for those
Speaker 5: two plays that you might get all day. And for me,
Speaker 5: I was able to make it happen and perform and
Speaker 5: uh and put some good stuff out there that they
Speaker 5: could see. And then the key was is that being
Speaker 5: from a smaller school like Marshall, I had an opportunity
Speaker 5: to play special teams. I played defense there as well,
Speaker 5: and uh, and then a lot of different things. So
Speaker 5: playing special teams was not like degrading to me. So
Speaker 5: like a lot of you know, guys who come from
Speaker 5: Michigan doing some Power five schools, special teams especial teams
Speaker 5: is kind of you know, they kind of looked down
Speaker 5: on that stuff back then. So and for me, it
Speaker 5: was just like an opportunity to get out there and
Speaker 5: say what I could do and get a spot on
Speaker 5: the team, and that's what happens.
Speaker 3: So I was able to say I can cover.
Speaker 5: Kicks, I can return kicks, I can return punts, I
Speaker 5: can cover punts, I can hold up on device. Whatever
Speaker 5: you needed me to do, I could do it, so
Speaker 5: and that helped me make the team.
Speaker 1: I say I had asked that previous question Troy, because
Speaker 1: I think people all team Hall of Fame. He must
Speaker 1: have had this unbelievable career, which you did have a
Speaker 1: great career, but it wasn't like it started like that.
Speaker 1: You had to work your ass off in order to
Speaker 1: get there.
Speaker 2: And I think.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you is how much of a
Speaker 1: factor do you think in coming to New England.
Speaker 2: And being there when Drew first started.
Speaker 1: You know, you kind of immediately got that relationship going
Speaker 1: with Drew and you could see that you guys had
Speaker 1: a connection. How helpful do you think it was for
Speaker 1: you from a staying power standpoint to know that he
Speaker 1: was in your corner.
Speaker 2: He's not picking the team. I'm not saying that, but
Speaker 2: do you think that.
Speaker 1: That relationship was important to eventually getting on and staying
Speaker 1: on the team.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was definitely important. You know.
Speaker 5: I remember coming here and his drew like in the
Speaker 5: we came here in the off during the summer whatever
Speaker 5: it was. We started off season training and he actually
Speaker 5: gave me the keys to his his Taurus. He had
Speaker 5: a he had a white tarist. He gave me the
Speaker 5: keys to it. Just from doing you know, being around
Speaker 5: him doing workouts and stuff. He was kind of generous
Speaker 5: like that. Of course, he had just bought a Porsche.
Speaker 3: He just brought it. He just bought a blue Porsche.
Speaker 3: He had he had this what didn't go down like that?
Speaker 3: You know, I wish, Yeah, I wish.
Speaker 5: But he gave me, you know, he gave me the
Speaker 5: keys to his his his dealership card that he had,
Speaker 5: you know, and uh told me, hey, go hey, do
Speaker 5: whatever you need to doing it, you know. And uh,
Speaker 5: so our friendship was you know there, and the trust
Speaker 5: was there, you know, even before we even set foot
Speaker 5: on the field. So just from off season training and
Speaker 5: stuff like that, so and uh and then being able
Speaker 5: to get on the field and show what I could do.
Speaker 5: He always tells a story about you know, his dad
Speaker 5: would ask him about the receivers and how you know,
Speaker 5: who's good, really goodness, and that he said, well, we
Speaker 5: got some good guys, but this one guy, he's really good.
Speaker 3: You got to you gotta see him thatad, you know.
Speaker 5: So he always tells that story all the time about
Speaker 5: you know, his first stories from training camp and uh,
Speaker 5: who could play, who couldn't?
Speaker 3: Or whatever?
Speaker 6: He wearing number six or something? Right, you were weren't
Speaker 6: you wearing number six?
Speaker 3: I was wearing number six?
Speaker 5: Yes, I was, yeah, number six man, And uh, yeah,
Speaker 5: those were the good days, man, those were the good day.
Speaker 1: So and uh, did that help you from a confidence standpoint, Troy,
Speaker 1: to know that. I mean, here's first round, pick first overall,
Speaker 1: pick first, pick money, all those things that you're saying,
Speaker 1: that that guy's in your corner. From a confidence stampoint, I.
Speaker 5: Would sell, yes, But I didn't know those conversations was
Speaker 5: going on behind the scenes with he and the coaches
Speaker 5: that he was fighting for me to be on the team,
Speaker 5: you know, as as as guys that he liked, you know,
Speaker 5: and uh you know, and as you know, back in
Speaker 5: those days, it was it was more like if you
Speaker 5: weren't from a big school.
Speaker 3: You were more likely you were gonna get cut.
Speaker 5: You know whatever have of that, like, you know, they
Speaker 5: didn't think you could play or compete with these guys
Speaker 5: or whatever.
Speaker 4: It was.
Speaker 5: So so I didn't know he was fighting that much
Speaker 5: for me behind the scenes until you know, years later.
Speaker 4: But when you so, I'm always curious when a guy who,
Speaker 4: especially a guy like you, who now we know what
Speaker 4: happened when you get cut and Coach Parcels calls you
Speaker 4: in the office, assuming he did, Yeah, do you get
Speaker 4: an indication when he's letting you go there that hey,
Speaker 4: stay in shape, Well we could come back to you
Speaker 4: here or is it you're just.
Speaker 2: Cut and you don't know.
Speaker 5: I didn't get any indication, not me, because I had
Speaker 5: I had a poor This is my second season. I
Speaker 5: was going into my second season. In the preseason, I
Speaker 5: had a poor showing in Green Bay. I think it
Speaker 5: was the last preseason game of of that of that
Speaker 5: of the of the season that year. And I didn't
Speaker 5: I didn't play great. I had a guy I had
Speaker 5: the balls strip from me and all this stuff, you know,
Speaker 5: and you know, and it it just wasn't a good showing.
Speaker 5: So he called me in the office and said, I
Speaker 5: don't know, you know, what's going on with you, but
Speaker 5: we're gonna have to you let you go. And there
Speaker 5: was no indication whatsoever about staying in shape, but we'll
Speaker 5: bring you back in a week two weeks. You know,
Speaker 5: when I was out of football for nine weeks, I
Speaker 5: think it was nine weeks, eight or nine weeks.
Speaker 2: Did you think that was it? Did you think that
Speaker 2: was it? That your dreams?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I felt like that was it because I had a
Speaker 5: couple of visits that I went on and I was
Speaker 5: still working out back at Marshall, you know, catching punts
Speaker 5: or whatever.
Speaker 3: Running it's trying to stay in shape.
Speaker 5: And then it got around like what week six seven,
Speaker 5: somewhere in there, I went in and out and rolled
Speaker 5: back in school. I started working at the UH at
Speaker 5: the at the Boys and Girls club there, you know,
Speaker 5: and and I said, well, you know, this is what
Speaker 5: it is. I'll be back in school in January. And
Speaker 5: you know, it was just as soon as I was putting, uh,
Speaker 5: putting the claks up and getting ready to you know,
Speaker 5: look to the next chapter of my life, at a
Speaker 5: phone call from Bobby Greer saying, we're sending you a
Speaker 5: plane ticket to come back, you know, And so I said, okay,
Speaker 5: I'll be back.
Speaker 2: First thing, think about this for a second.
Speaker 1: Troy Brown is talking about ball security issues that he
Speaker 1: had in preseason that led to his being released. If
Speaker 1: there's one thing to ever sum up about Troy Brown
Speaker 1: in his career that you would never even think about,
Speaker 1: would be ball security, because if the ball was anywhere
Speaker 1: in the area code, Troy was going to get his
Speaker 1: hands on it and catch it, or if somebody else
Speaker 1: had his hands on it, I e. Marlon McCree in
Speaker 1: San Diego, he was going to get it out of
Speaker 1: his hands. Well, I mean, how ironic is that that
Speaker 1: that ball security failed him but never failed you again
Speaker 1: for the rest, that must have been a lesson that
Speaker 1: you said, Well, if I'm going to get cut, it
Speaker 1: ain't going to be because I fumbled the ball.
Speaker 3: And that's the executive attitude I took. That was the
Speaker 3: number out there.
Speaker 5: I think at some point, I think how many touches
Speaker 5: I had of the ball without fumbling at some point,
Speaker 5: you know, I'm not sure if Kevin Falk or James
Speaker 5: bide Is somebody surpressed that at some point, but you know, uh,
Speaker 5: you know, so it became a major thing to me
Speaker 5: not to turn the football over no matter what you do,
Speaker 5: just don't turn it over. You know, if you return
Speaker 5: it for one yard and don't turn it over, you
Speaker 5: still got a chance to score. If you return it
Speaker 5: for fifty yards down to the five and you fumble
Speaker 5: it and give it back to the other team, you know,
Speaker 5: which would you rather have the fifty yard to one?
Speaker 5: You know, you rather have the one yard return, so
Speaker 5: and you have possession of the football. So and uh,
Speaker 5: you know, you kind of had to adapt those attitudes
Speaker 5: to learn the ways of not just the NFL, but
Speaker 5: of Bill Parcells and and the way he coached the
Speaker 5: game and things that would get you beat.
Speaker 3: As a football team.
Speaker 5: And that was one of the quickest ways to get
Speaker 5: yourselves beat and cut obviously, so as to not have
Speaker 5: the ball at the end of the play.
Speaker 2: So you come back.
Speaker 4: You in ninety five, you start to carve out a
Speaker 4: little bit of a role, you know, catching some passes. Obviously,
Speaker 4: ninety six you have that amazing catch that everybody remembers
Speaker 4: in the season finale, lying on your back.
Speaker 6: And then don't play in the Super Bowl that year?
Speaker 2: Yeah, could you have played in the Super Bowl that year?
Speaker 5: I would like to say I could have played, you know,
Speaker 5: I knew I was injured, and it was just a
Speaker 5: matter of how long I could have held up. What's
Speaker 5: the major issue of why I didn't play and what
Speaker 5: was the injury I had? I had hernias. I didn't
Speaker 5: know at the time. All I know was that I
Speaker 5: had pain in that area and in my groans, and
Speaker 5: they didn't know exactly what it was. And so at
Speaker 5: that point it was just like he Bill just was like,
Speaker 5: you know, Parcelles just said, I would love to you know,
Speaker 5: I know it's killing you and questioning you. And I
Speaker 5: was sitting at the breakfast table crying. I was looking
Speaker 5: at him like this and I had tears in my eyes.
Speaker 5: Rolled him down and he said, I can't actually sent
Speaker 5: Johnny Parker over the strength coach to tell me that
Speaker 5: I couldn't play, because he didn't have the heart to
Speaker 5: tell me. I couldn't you know that I wasn't going
Speaker 5: to be dressing for the game, you know, And I
Speaker 5: knew it all along because he didn't really I didn't
Speaker 5: practice all week, you know, we had we had that
Speaker 5: week here before and it was just like things that
Speaker 5: I was doing in practice, I'd be good until I
Speaker 5: did this, and then there'd be a shooting pain up
Speaker 5: my torso, you know, and then I'd be good for
Speaker 5: a little while and there'd be another shuitting paint up
Speaker 5: my Torso he just, you know, his his you know,
Speaker 5: reasoning was at the end of the day, he just
Speaker 5: didn't know how long I was going to.
Speaker 3: Hold up in the game and then be dout a body, right,
Speaker 3: you know, for having me in the game.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a stretch to say New England
Speaker 1: fan folklore that that decision. You know, you think about, okay, well,
Speaker 1: who's going to be the fifty third guy or the
Speaker 1: forty fifth guy in the Super Bowl?
Speaker 2: How big of a decision could that be.
Speaker 1: I think they're Patriot fans that say, Hassan Graham started
Speaker 1: that game and was on special teams and if it
Speaker 1: had been Troy Brown, there's no way that Howard would
Speaker 1: have returned that kick for a touchdown. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: how crazy some fans are, right, right.
Speaker 5: Who knows, I know, I've heard that a lot right years, right,
Speaker 5: and I agreed I would have made that tackle.
Speaker 6: Doubt no, maybe they would have double team blocked you though.
Speaker 3: Because it was Troy possibly.
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 2: But then over the next three years with.
Speaker 4: Pete Carroll here ninety seven to ninety nine, you start
Speaker 4: to get a little more action. Terry Glenn injuries maybe
Speaker 4: help you out a little bit because you got more opportunities.
Speaker 5: Yeah uh yeah, though Terry Gunn his injuries that did
Speaker 5: help me out a lot of being able to get
Speaker 5: on the field a little bit more, because at that
Speaker 5: point in ninety seven, now I had to reprove myself
Speaker 5: all over to a new coaching staff. They had no
Speaker 5: idea who I was, you know, after four seasons under
Speaker 5: Bill parcels So. And that was a process in itself.
Speaker 5: But I think the biggest factor that helped me along
Speaker 5: the way was Ernie's MPAZI coming in in ninety seven,
Speaker 5: ninety eight, eight, yeah, and ninety eight and him coming
Speaker 5: in and watching tape of the ninety six ninety seven
Speaker 5: season and ninety six seasons and stuff like that, and
Speaker 5: then saying he was basically like and he told the
Speaker 5: story to me while he was smoking one of his
Speaker 5: cigarettes in his blue sweatsuit with his pens. Yeah, his pens,
Speaker 5: and he you know, fidgeted around. He was just basically like,
Speaker 5: you know, I came in and I saw the tape,
Speaker 5: I said, I said, God, no, who's that Terry Glynn.
Speaker 5: They said, no, that's Troy Brown. I said, well, I
Speaker 5: gotta have that guy, you know.
Speaker 3: So he was. Uh so he was.
Speaker 5: He was a guy that ended up ended up saving
Speaker 5: my career into that coaching staff, you know, because at
Speaker 5: that point they were bringing they brought in Tony Simmons,
Speaker 5: you know, it was the early second round picks. He
Speaker 5: brought in Brian Stablind and at that particular time gave
Speaker 5: me three million dollars signing bonus, which was a lot
Speaker 5: of money at that particular for you know, a third guy,
Speaker 5: third fourth guy. You know that they just repaid they
Speaker 5: just paid Vincent Brisbee, you know, uh a pretty decent contract.
Speaker 3: So and uh so it was looking like man, you.
Speaker 2: Know, m he missed a big chunk too with his hamstring.
Speaker 3: I think he had some hamstring injuries.
Speaker 5: So they were forced in the and to playing me
Speaker 5: a lot there in ninety seven, you know, because a
Speaker 5: lot of those guys were just banged up. So and
Speaker 5: uh again, you know, you learn, you make that you
Speaker 5: make the best of your opportunities when you get a
Speaker 5: chance to make them. And uh so that ended up
Speaker 5: you know, having me stick around a little bit longer.
Speaker 2: So and then you got a new coaching staff, right right,
Speaker 2: and well the new coaching staff.
Speaker 1: So my words here, Troy, I want to say that
Speaker 1: the official Troy Brown coming out party Monday night football
Speaker 1: against Kansas City two thousand, Bill's first year, uh huh,
Speaker 1: Charlie's first year back as offensive coordinator. Would you agree
Speaker 1: with that number one? And do you think that maybe
Speaker 1: it's something clicked with Bill and Charlie where they said,
Speaker 1: you know, this guy's he's been undervalued. Look at what
Speaker 1: we got here. You know, what are we doing, Let's
Speaker 1: get this kid to ball.
Speaker 5: I remember, well, I think it happened before then, because
Speaker 5: Bill was here in ninety six yep. And and I
Speaker 5: think one of the first things he did was he
Speaker 5: had Charlie called me. I was out in Kansas City
Speaker 5: on a visit. I was a free agent that year.
Speaker 5: I was out there on a visit and Charlie called
Speaker 5: and said that we want to we want to sign
Speaker 5: you back, you know, And then I'm like, I'm out
Speaker 5: here a visit in Kansas City right now. Whatever he said,
Speaker 5: we said, well, we want to give you every opportunity
Speaker 5: to be a starting receiver in his league, and then
Speaker 5: I was like, okay, I'll be back, so I need
Speaker 5: to know and you started that yet because they weren't.
Speaker 5: They weren't talking that way in Kansas City. It was
Speaker 5: like they wanted me to come in and basically, you know,
Speaker 5: fight be whatever fourth guy, third fourth guy, maybe a
Speaker 5: point returner, some kick returner. And you know, he said
Speaker 5: those words to me, like, you know, I'll be back
Speaker 5: on the next flight then and I got back, and
Speaker 5: you know, it was basically like, you know, I said,
Speaker 5: I saw you in how much trouble you gave my
Speaker 5: DBS when I was coaching here in ninety six, and
Speaker 5: you know, thought you practiced really well and practice hard
Speaker 5: and you're a good player. And then he had to
Speaker 5: coach against me when he went to the Jets, you know,
Speaker 5: a couple of times a year, and he was like,
Speaker 5: you know, we had a hard time containing you and
Speaker 5: stopping you did so I mean, so we want we
Speaker 5: want to sign you back and give you a chance
Speaker 5: to be a be a starter here in the league.
Speaker 4: So was it more did they talk to you about
Speaker 4: a role at that point? Was it was it like
Speaker 4: Wayne Krabbet type role because they had was.
Speaker 3: Telling me I was a lot better than Wayne Cubit,
Speaker 3: you know, with the return ability.
Speaker 2: So I agree with that.
Speaker 5: I mean, I mean, according to him, you know, so
Speaker 5: that's that's what he was saying to me. And I'm like,
Speaker 5: you know, well I should be starting because Wayne's Wayne
Speaker 5: was a starting receiving the national and did pretty well
Speaker 5: for himself, you know, so and uh, you know, so
Speaker 5: according to him, that's what he was thinking.
Speaker 2: And a small school guy, another small school.
Speaker 5: Guy, hofsta, So you know, I mean, so that was uh,
Speaker 5: that was the deal. So, I mean, so all I
Speaker 5: when it was an opportunity, don't promise me you'll give
Speaker 5: me a spot, Just give me a just let me
Speaker 5: fight for it, you know, right.
Speaker 2: Do you think then?
Speaker 1: So do you think people in football outside of football
Speaker 1: knew what the concept of a slot receiver was at
Speaker 1: that time?
Speaker 5: You know, I don't know because I don't remember really
Speaker 5: hearing the term as much as I did. You know,
Speaker 5: up until those days about the slot receiver, you know,
Speaker 5: I know, you had like, uh, you had the fun
Speaker 5: bunch in Washington and those type of guys you had, uh,
Speaker 5: the guys in Houston, the running shoot guys in in Atlanta.
Speaker 5: You know, so you had those guys, but you've never
Speaker 5: really heard like the slot receiver guy. You just heard
Speaker 5: like the running shoot, you know, and that type of
Speaker 5: stuff and the fun bunch guys and so. Uh So
Speaker 5: I think that really started becoming a term, you know,
Speaker 5: I guess around the around those years. So I'm not
Speaker 5: really sure who started it off, if they really were,
Speaker 5: if they were using those terms back then. You know,
Speaker 5: I'm not really sure where it all started at, you know,
Speaker 5: but it became a big, big thing.
Speaker 3: They have a good slot receiver the football team.
Speaker 1: I'm not the historian, but I mean, wouldn't you say,
Speaker 1: from a Patriot standpoint that Troy is the first real
Speaker 1: slot receiver And look at how it look at how
Speaker 1: it's evolved since Troy, I mean, where it's become.
Speaker 6: Three three highest catches in Patriot's history are slot receivers.
Speaker 2: Right, And so it's now an integral part of the offense,
Speaker 2: isn't it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Well, we had a lot of success running with
Speaker 5: with that, with the slot receiver, so and it was
Speaker 5: it became something you were comfortable with and uh able
Speaker 5: to grow it. And then West came in and took
Speaker 5: it to whole other level, and Julian followed that up
Speaker 5: and you know, and we've got guys now is just
Speaker 5: you know, trying to fill those voys now. And so
Speaker 5: it became a very productive thing for us here in
Speaker 5: New England, uh, you know, over those years.
Speaker 3: So I was just glad to be a part of it.
Speaker 5: You know, I'm not sure exactly how it started, where
Speaker 5: it started, when it started, but you know, I was
Speaker 5: just happy to be a play.
Speaker 3: My role in that part of in that part of
Speaker 3: the game.
Speaker 4: If I could ask an x's and o's question related
Speaker 4: to that, is is it something where that in that position,
Speaker 4: in this offense where everything you do is maybe predicated
Speaker 4: on what the defense does and you and the quarterback
Speaker 4: being on the same page. So if I, you know,
Speaker 4: if I'm covering you and I turned my shoulders this way,
Speaker 4: you cutting that way, and the quarterback reads that, it
Speaker 4: depends on what route you have called.
Speaker 5: Now there's plays you gotta call it. There's plays called
Speaker 5: and then you gotta run them, you know, and then
Speaker 5: you it may be an option route that you may have,
Speaker 5: it may not be an option route that you have.
Speaker 5: You know, you just gotta you gotta have a little
Speaker 5: bit of a little bit of savvy in there. When
Speaker 5: you're playing and a good feel for it and you
Speaker 5: and you gotta have a good relationship with the quarterback,
Speaker 5: you know.
Speaker 3: And so I was able to grow with Drew.
Speaker 5: I was able to grow with Tom and those roles
Speaker 5: and you just kind of learn each other and I know,
Speaker 5: you know what each other expect. He expected certain things
Speaker 5: from me. I expected certain things for him like not
Speaker 5: throwing me over the middle and getting my head knocked off,
Speaker 5: you know, and may not lead them into interceptions, right,
Speaker 5: so by my decisions, you know, based off the defense,
Speaker 5: so that type of stuff. But you know, so it
Speaker 5: was uh so you know it it Yeah, you had
Speaker 5: to have a good relationship with the quarterback to be
Speaker 5: able to play. And that Dion Branch had a he
Speaker 5: was pretty good. He could play all over the place
Speaker 5: as well too, so what he was pretty good in
Speaker 5: there as well?
Speaker 2: How does that happen?
Speaker 1: Uh, Troy, how do you develop that kind of relationship?
Speaker 1: Because you mentioned it with Tom and that I would
Speaker 1: say that it's an understatement. I mean, certainly for those
Speaker 1: years Tom's first years, he was dialed in on you,
Speaker 1: you know, and knew where you were and and you
Speaker 1: were gonna be the if it was third and six,
Speaker 1: and he knew you were gonna get seven at least
Speaker 1: every single time.
Speaker 2: How did that?
Speaker 5: Div just started with building trust like I did with Drew,
Speaker 5: had to build it with him as well. So and
Speaker 5: it had to happen in the middle of the season
Speaker 5: with Tom because of what happened with Drew. And then
Speaker 5: Tom became the starter, but he was familiar with me too,
Speaker 5: with a few refs that he did have with me
Speaker 5: in practice, you know, and he knew I could make
Speaker 5: plays and and and then you know, kind of became
Speaker 5: comfortable with me that way. But it also took place
Speaker 5: in the off season as well too. You know, we
Speaker 5: we were able to doing those times. We were able
Speaker 5: to work all all postseason sure, you know, and we
Speaker 5: could be in the bubble throwing, we could be in
Speaker 5: the creating stuff, you know what I'm saying, And let's
Speaker 5: see how this looks and see how that looks, you know.
Speaker 3: So and that was all that was. That was a
Speaker 3: plus for us, you know, to be able to do that.
Speaker 5: You know, Drew was there, Tom was there, so it
Speaker 5: just it worked out worked out pretty well for us,
Speaker 5: you know. And to be able to spend that kind
Speaker 5: of time together and get to know each other that way,
Speaker 5: and you know, they studied my body language and I
Speaker 5: would you know, they were tell me what they what
Speaker 5: they think and what they wanted. And then I knew,
Speaker 5: you know, for men not to do this, not to
Speaker 5: do that when this look and then make the right
Speaker 5: decision for him.
Speaker 4: You know, I think, you know, you mentioned Drew and
Speaker 4: Tom so and I think we have three Drew Bloodsoe
Speaker 4: fans sitting in here. So I don't want to I
Speaker 4: want to make sure I'm clear on that. But when
Speaker 4: Drew got hurt, ye and Tom steps into that huddle
Speaker 4: and and we well, let's say week.
Speaker 2: Three, his first start indie game.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, what did you The team had struggled the
Speaker 4: first two weeks offensively three points against the Jets, a
Speaker 4: tough opener in Cincinnati that year. What was the difference?
Speaker 4: Why did it change when Tom came in? From your perspective, obviously.
Speaker 3: Well, it was a lot.
Speaker 5: There was a lot going on that particular time too
Speaker 5: as well, you know, and uh, you know, just just
Speaker 5: trying to find some footing and trying to find a rhythm,
Speaker 5: you know, and then you know, we had not eleven
Speaker 5: that happened and then you know, he got your quarterback
Speaker 5: thats almost died in your locker room, you know, and
Speaker 5: having to you know, get him to the hospital as
Speaker 5: soon as possible. And so there was a lot going
Speaker 5: on with that football team. Those room was about firing
Speaker 5: Belichick and all this stuff. You know, he was on
Speaker 5: the he was on the chopping blocks, and so it
Speaker 5: was a lot going on for our football team. So
Speaker 5: at that particular point, I think there was just a
Speaker 5: lot of behind the scenes meeting with you know, guys
Speaker 5: having you know, one on one meetings with each other
Speaker 5: and guys stepping up and seeing their peace with each
Speaker 5: other and we gotta do this and we gotta do that, so,
Speaker 5: you know, kind of soul searching as a football team.
Speaker 5: And then we just said, you know, we gotta we
Speaker 5: gotta come out. We just got to play better football
Speaker 5: and uh not turn the football over, you know. And
Speaker 5: you know, Tom came in and he showed a poise
Speaker 5: that you know, I don't think anybody really expected him
Speaker 5: to show when he came in. And then his leadership
Speaker 5: skills on the splay, not that he was lighting the
Speaker 5: place up, but is there some of his decision making,
Speaker 5: his confidence that he played with you know, it just
Speaker 5: kind of permitted through everybody else.
Speaker 4: I remember a conversation with you from back then and
Speaker 4: you probably remember it, but it was about the week
Speaker 4: or the day after the loss in Miami in September
Speaker 4: or early October where Tom got up in the team
Speaker 4: meeting and addressed the team about the preparation the week before.
Speaker 3: Do you remember that.
Speaker 5: I don't quite remember that one, but you know, but
Speaker 5: there was there was a lot of those types of
Speaker 5: things going on, you know, in the locker room and
Speaker 5: behind the scenes.
Speaker 4: You know that, you know, guys get hard for a
Speaker 4: second year guy who hadn't played a game to lead
Speaker 4: a group where they had a bunch of veterans too.
Speaker 5: I mean, yeah, yeah, that's a difficult thing to do
Speaker 5: for a lot of people, you know, but you know,
Speaker 5: you're the quarterback of the football team that you get
Speaker 5: you kind of get elevated to that spot and not
Speaker 5: everybody can step up to the plate like that and
Speaker 5: you know, speak their mind and and you know, and
Speaker 5: put that stamp on on that leadership spot on the team.
Speaker 5: And he was one of the guys that were able
Speaker 5: to do that. So a six round pick guy who
Speaker 5: was a backup to the backup, you know, so we
Speaker 5: didn't even know who the starting quarterback was going to
Speaker 5: be really as players, you know, because that it was
Speaker 5: it was a Damian Hewett. Yeah, you know, so that
Speaker 5: was that we thought. I mean, it was the second
Speaker 5: team back, the second team, second strand quarterback, you know.
Speaker 5: So we had the idea, you know, so we named
Speaker 5: Tom and that was it, and that maybe as players,
Speaker 5: you just put your out you keep playing, you know,
Speaker 5: and maybe that's.
Speaker 1: How it played out in that year where you were
Speaker 1: saying a lot of things going on, you know, you
Speaker 1: haven't really been able to find yourself. And when Bill
Speaker 1: finally said, hey, look here's what we're doing. Tom's a quarterback.
Speaker 1: I know Drew's back, but we're going with Tom. Did
Speaker 1: that maybe just free everybody? Okay, now we know who
Speaker 1: it is, let's go. So you didn't you didn't lose
Speaker 1: from that point.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know. And and as players say, you just
Speaker 3: you just you just keep playing.
Speaker 5: And that's one of the things that Bill talked about,
Speaker 5: you know, you guys just worry about playing and we'll
Speaker 5: make all the decisions out there. You just do your job,
Speaker 5: you know, And uh, that's what we did. And we
Speaker 5: just didn't really pay a lot of attention to, you
Speaker 5: know what else, all the stuff that was going outside
Speaker 5: of here, and you know about you know, who's going
Speaker 5: to play, who's not going to play, and that type
Speaker 5: of stuff, and then throughout the course of the season,
Speaker 5: just staying focused. And I'll tell you what, then, the
Speaker 5: way Drew blesseolhandled the situation was admiral Wood itself.
Speaker 3: You know, for sure, he allowed us to stay focused
Speaker 3: to do our.
Speaker 5: Job instead of trying to go to this guy's locker
Speaker 5: and say, man, what do you think about them doing
Speaker 5: this to me? He didn't do any of that stuff. Man.
Speaker 3: He just kept encouraging Tom and rooting them all and
Speaker 3: had to.
Speaker 1: Help the rest of his team, right, Yeah, Troy, when
Speaker 1: you're talking with your kids, and maybe your kids are
Speaker 1: gonna ask you a question, like dad, you know, was
Speaker 1: your favorite play in your career? You know, was there
Speaker 1: something that you look back and say, you know, And
Speaker 1: so I was going to focus in on the AHTY
Speaker 1: Championship game in Pittsburgh. You know, would you prefer the
Speaker 1: punt return over you know, the scoop in the later roal?
Speaker 1: Do you have a play where you look back and go, boy,
Speaker 1: if I had to pick one.
Speaker 2: This is the play that I remember, uh.
Speaker 5: Me, not me, not being a Pittsburgh fan as a kid.
Speaker 5: Any play I meet against Pittsburgh is my greatest.
Speaker 2: So but uh so then you love the exter Championship
Speaker 2: an championship game.
Speaker 4: Was it was? It was?
Speaker 3: It was great, you know.
Speaker 5: So I mean, uh, picking the field go up and
Speaker 5: ladling it backwards to returning the punt for a touchdown.
Speaker 4: After after a sixty plus yard punk was nullified by
Speaker 4: a penalty.
Speaker 3: Yes, that was. It was a big time.
Speaker 5: But I screwed that up to in the first punt
Speaker 5: because I didn't catch the ball on the sideline. I
Speaker 5: thought it was going to bounds and I think that
Speaker 5: hit that far from the sideline and then rolled like
Speaker 5: twenty yards down to say, you gotta be kidding me.
Speaker 5: Then Bills gonna cust me out on this, you know,
Speaker 5: And then I saw a flag. I was like, whoo man,
Speaker 5: But uh, you know, so they put they put the
Speaker 5: ball in the wrong hash right, and he was trying
Speaker 5: to get it over there and he screwed up the punting.
Speaker 4: And you know what I remember about that right too,
Speaker 4: is they the uh the vice guys had the gunner
Speaker 4: blocked all the way back into the end zone.
Speaker 3: That's what happens.
Speaker 5: That's what happens when you got a punt again, those
Speaker 5: guys are tired or he brings somebody off the sideline
Speaker 5: who's not as good as the first guy. So you
Speaker 5: don't want to get penalties on the punt team. So
Speaker 5: and uh so that's what happened on that one man.
Speaker 5: They had them he was in then Zon when I
Speaker 5: got to them, Erry it was Lawyer malloy was Tyl
Speaker 5: Tyler had one guy picked up too somewhere in there.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, they did a good job.
Speaker 1: Where's the catch against the Rims in the Super Bowl?
Speaker 2: Where do you? Where do you rank that?
Speaker 4: Do you? That was? That was?
Speaker 5: That was high up there too, you know, put us
Speaker 5: in the range for a field goal and Wiggas gave
Speaker 5: us a few few extra yards to make sure, you know.
Speaker 5: So that's just it was just a lot of plays
Speaker 5: I think, uh a lot of the players that I
Speaker 5: was able to share with my teammates, you know, like
Speaker 5: you know, things like the stripping the ball from Marlin
Speaker 5: McCree in San Diego that year. You know, I like
Speaker 5: plays like more players like that and special teams plays
Speaker 5: you know that kind of helped us get into position
Speaker 5: and win win a football game, you know, like I said,
Speaker 5: like the block kick in Pittsburgh was huge, you know,
Speaker 5: Brandon Mitchell getting his calls up there and betting that
Speaker 5: thing down and then doing what we practiced, you know
Speaker 5: for years it was just scooping and scoring with the
Speaker 5: big guys on the field that can't catch you, you know,
Speaker 5: scooping and scoring. I was scooped it up and I
Speaker 5: couldn't score, so A looted it back to uh Antoine
Speaker 5: Harris right there, you know so, and he took it
Speaker 5: in for the score. So it just plays like that.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of team team coordination in that in
Speaker 3: that particular play, you know so.
Speaker 4: And then okay, in your last Super Bowl Championship year,
Speaker 4: you obviously moved to the other side of the football.
Speaker 4: Can you elaborate for us how that went down? And Bill,
Speaker 4: if I know, Billy probably referenced that you played defense
Speaker 4: at Marshall, But.
Speaker 2: Did he know.
Speaker 3: I don't think he knew that. So I don't think
Speaker 3: he at that particular time. I don't think he knew that.
Speaker 3: I knew that.
Speaker 4: I mean I've heard him talk about you know, he
Speaker 4: thought you could match routes and you had, you know,
Speaker 4: being in the slot and having played that position.
Speaker 6: But how did it happen specifically for you?
Speaker 2: Like when they came to you, were you like what?
Speaker 3: Well, at first I didn't know how to take it was.
Speaker 3: It was Eric Mangini that came.
Speaker 5: I was sitting in front of my lock of minding
Speaker 5: my own business, getting ready for a training camp practice,
Speaker 5: you know, and he comes in with this little highlight,
Speaker 5: so this is covered two, you got cover three whatever
Speaker 5: it is, you know, and uh, are you playing defense today?
Speaker 5: You know you're doing one on one. You're doing one
Speaker 5: on ones and all this stuff. So and uh, I'm
Speaker 5: like looked at him like seriously. He was like yeah, seriously.
Speaker 5: And I was just like like, all right, Dan, I
Speaker 5: give you the best that I got. So that's all
Speaker 5: I said to him. So I continued to get dressed
Speaker 5: and metim on the.
Speaker 3: Field and showing up. I was doing one on ones
Speaker 3: and and you know all the little drills they do
Speaker 3: to get warmed up.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a discussion about it. You were just like,
Speaker 1: here's what you're doing, and you said, okay, great.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I was like yeah, did you think, what do you mean,
Speaker 2: I'm not playing my receiver anymore?
Speaker 3: I give you the best that I got. I mean,
Speaker 3: I wasn't. I wasn't.
Speaker 5: I wasn't afraid of that. I was just like you know,
Speaker 5: I mean, we're at that time, you know, it was
Speaker 5: it was later in my career. We had we had
Speaker 5: good receivers on the team. We had David David Gibbons,
Speaker 5: we had d Branch I think David pat was still there,
Speaker 5: you know.
Speaker 3: So we had Bethel Johnson was here.
Speaker 5: So we had some some talent on the football team
Speaker 5: that would allow to give us some flexibility to go
Speaker 5: over and play on that side of that ball, just
Speaker 5: at least at least for practice anyway.
Speaker 1: So so yeah, did you ever think, well, did you
Speaker 1: ever think when you're practicing in training camp, like you know,
Speaker 1: I get it. This is an emergency situation.
Speaker 3: They got to see what. I don't know what. I
Speaker 3: had no idea what the playing was.
Speaker 2: But this will never happen, Like I'm never I'm not
Speaker 2: going to play in the game.
Speaker 3: Super Bowl.
Speaker 5: We still we still had ten leven receivers on the roster.
Speaker 5: It wasn't like this was late in training camp or something.
Speaker 5: You know, this was like right in the heart heart
Speaker 5: of camp so and so I didn't know the roster
Speaker 5: wasn't paired down yet, so I had no idea what
Speaker 5: was what was on Bill's mind, you know what he
Speaker 5: was thinking at that particular time.
Speaker 2: So the more you can do, the more you can do,
Speaker 2: The more.
Speaker 3: You can do, the more you can do. But it
Speaker 3: wasn't pretty. I mean, I'm telling you what at the
Speaker 3: first that first practice, man, so So.
Speaker 4: Did you end up talking trashed with Drew Bledsoe after
Speaker 4: you after you intercepted him.
Speaker 3: I didn't. I didn't really talk any trash.
Speaker 4: It was.
Speaker 5: It was one of those things where I just, uh,
Speaker 5: it was like just just a sweet moment and I
Speaker 5: was celebrating and jumping in Teddy's arm, you know that stuff,
Speaker 5: and like so happy I got a pick, and then
Speaker 5: it set in and I just picked off Drew Bledsoe,
Speaker 5: you know, and I was like, oh, man, so, how
Speaker 5: do I how do I handle.
Speaker 3: This one after the game? You know, and all that stuff.
Speaker 5: So it was like, you know, and I just I
Speaker 5: didn't really feel bad, but I just like felt like
Speaker 5: this is just too awkward.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: Well in the Hall of Fame, coach does the breakdowns
Speaker 4: the illustrated we call it, and that's one of the
Speaker 4: plays he did.
Speaker 2: And I love his line at the end.
Speaker 4: I tried caught a lot of passes from Drew blood
Speaker 4: Cell over the years, and he got this one on
Speaker 4: defense or something like that.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was going back a couple of weeks though,
Speaker 1: you know, this was before the Buffalo game when I
Speaker 1: think it's a sante that went down in Saint Louis
Speaker 1: and you guys are playing the Rams and that's your
Speaker 1: first time playing. Like, all of a sudden, somebody's I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's Eric, I don't know who was saying,
Speaker 1: all right, Troy, you're up, Like what was going through
Speaker 1: your mind?
Speaker 2: Then? Like, oh, I'm actually going in the game.
Speaker 4: I'm at the miked up audio from the Rams sideline.
Speaker 4: They got Troy Brown in there.
Speaker 3: Right, I'm telling you what.
Speaker 5: And I didn't know all that, like you know, Bill,
Speaker 5: like they go through all this stuff, you know, and
Speaker 5: found out later that, you know, he was hoping that
Speaker 5: at least they would get to the second half, the
Speaker 5: third fourth quarter or so before I had to go
Speaker 5: in and play. It was two plays, two plays into
Speaker 5: the game, right, and it was like all right, Joy,
Speaker 5: you gotta you gotta go in So and it was
Speaker 5: against the Rams of all, absolutely right, you know, and
Speaker 5: they was still a very talented foot ball team. They
Speaker 5: didn't have Kirk, but they had.
Speaker 2: You know, it was aulder Mark Bulger.
Speaker 5: He didn't have the arm strength because I got beat
Speaker 5: one time pretty bad, you know, and he couldn't get
Speaker 5: the ball out there to him. But uh, you know
Speaker 5: it was uh touchdown. Even even the backs were good
Speaker 5: pass catches. Marshall Faulk was, you know, right. So they
Speaker 5: had across the board, you know, four or five guys
Speaker 5: that can come in and catch passes for him.
Speaker 3: And in the back it was really good too.
Speaker 5: So yeah, there was a lot of pressure, scared situation
Speaker 5: to be in in that particular time, you know, as
Speaker 5: a guy that just hadn't played defense in ten years, eleven.
Speaker 3: Years, whatever whatever it was, you know, and uh, amazing,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 5: So we got that game, you know, unscathed, and you
Speaker 5: just kind of start relaxing after that and just like, hey,
Speaker 5: if I gotta play, I gotta play.
Speaker 1: That is what it is, is that kind of the attitude.
Speaker 1: And and you touch upon him maybe a second earlier,
Speaker 1: with Brian. But is that maybe the attitude of those
Speaker 1: Patriot teams back then, Troy, whatever it takes, got to.
Speaker 2: Play tight end. You're playing tight end, Richard Seymour, you're
Speaker 2: blocking it full back.
Speaker 5: Whatever you have to do, whatever it takes. Man, guys
Speaker 5: just played. I know, for me, it was just I
Speaker 5: just want to play football. You know, I don't care
Speaker 5: if you call me a wide receiver, you called me
Speaker 5: a slot wide receiver, you called me an outside wide.
Speaker 3: Receiver, you called me a punt returner. I just wanted
Speaker 3: to play ball, you know. And that was it, you know.
Speaker 5: So you you know, and I signed up you know whatever,
Speaker 5: you sign me up as you need me to do,
Speaker 5: you need me to play, That's that's what I do.
Speaker 3: Okay, help my team in the games.
Speaker 4: So would you play the last play in Miami differently
Speaker 4: that year when that was the game that Brady was
Speaker 4: falling down and threw an interception at the end and
Speaker 4: they were two and twelve and I think they running
Speaker 4: that game.
Speaker 6: Yeah, they scored at the last I.
Speaker 5: Think different I would look back for the ball. I
Speaker 5: would look back for it, you know. So as and
Speaker 5: as I learned, you know, as the guys told me.
Speaker 5: It happens to all of us. You got to be
Speaker 5: a dB. Now you got to forget quickly. And that's
Speaker 5: what I did. So forgot quickly. And I remember hearing
Speaker 5: all this stuff over. They got a week spot in
Speaker 5: the defense. They got a week spot in the defense,
Speaker 5: you know, and it's like Bill kept me out there.
Speaker 4: So it is.
Speaker 3: But you know, but that happens, dB.
Speaker 6: And you covered Terrell Owens in the Super Bowl on
Speaker 6: some plays.
Speaker 4: I mean, we're not talking about like they probably said, oh,
Speaker 4: we're gonna get t o on Troy if we can,
Speaker 4: and you know he had some big plays in that game,
Speaker 4: but not on you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well not on me. Neither did another knuckle had
Speaker 3: there either.
Speaker 2: Day Mitchell, Freddy Mitchell.
Speaker 3: Fred x yeahd Mitchell man.
Speaker 4: He was Bill Belichick after the game, and Sports Illustrated
Speaker 4: quoted saying, Freddie Mitchell stinks.
Speaker 2: I don't think you haven't played another game in the NFL.
Speaker 3: I don't think so either.
Speaker 2: Troy.
Speaker 1: We're talking about, you know, the road to get where
Speaker 1: you got and then the six and people see all
Speaker 1: the success that you had. Was there ever a time?
Speaker 1: You know, after being cut and well what can I do?
Speaker 1: And now it's a new coach, and well now it's
Speaker 1: a new administration. Was there ever a time were you
Speaker 1: allowed yourself to feel comfortable.
Speaker 3: Like, nope, I made the team, not to that point,
Speaker 3: not after that.
Speaker 2: So and that always drove you.
Speaker 5: It was always a feeling of looking around the corner,
Speaker 5: especially in the old stadium, and looking around the corner
Speaker 5: to see western your locker.
Speaker 2: I tell people that all the time.
Speaker 5: So it just it becomes it became like second nature
Speaker 5: to me to always check before I walk completely into
Speaker 5: the room.
Speaker 2: Don't you think that keeps you on your toes?
Speaker 1: I mean I tell my kids, I tell my kids'
Speaker 1: stories like that, like like, don't ever think you've got it, Like,
Speaker 1: even when you think you got it, your head better
Speaker 1: be on a shwivel, man.
Speaker 3: No doubt.
Speaker 5: It's it's not a not a great feeling to have
Speaker 5: something that you worked hard for and then you lose it,
Speaker 5: you get fired from it. It's not a great feeling.
Speaker 5: And uh, and it's something that it was a feeling
Speaker 5: I never wanted to feel again. Of course I did
Speaker 5: at some point, but it wasn't gonna be because I
Speaker 5: had the kind of off season that I had. I
Speaker 5: didn't I felt comfortable because I felt comfortable.
Speaker 3: After my first year. I'd made it.
Speaker 5: I was an NFL player, I was an eighth round pick,
Speaker 5: number one ninety eight. I was comfortable with being able
Speaker 5: to put that on my resume at that particular time.
Speaker 5: You know, I'm an NFL player, and that was I
Speaker 5: was good with that, you know, so you you and
Speaker 5: as a young player, I was like, I tell all
Speaker 5: of these young guys too when they come in here. Now,
Speaker 5: I was like, don't be that guy. And then I
Speaker 5: finished up the story with that I was that guy that,
Speaker 5: you know. I went back to Marshall. I partied, you know,
Speaker 5: I drank, you know, I came in not particularly in
Speaker 5: the best shape that I should have.
Speaker 3: Been in, and it cost me so and I'm like,
Speaker 3: don't be that guy.
Speaker 5: Don't be that guy, because I was, you know, not
Speaker 5: that I didn't go out or anything when I was
Speaker 5: at Marshall, but I was not a big drinker, you know,
Speaker 5: and I wasn't all those things, you know, and I
Speaker 5: wasn't you know, partying, but you know, that's what I
Speaker 5: kind of turned into for a little while, you know,
Speaker 5: because I.
Speaker 3: Had made it, you know, so i'd made it. You
Speaker 3: know a big time. My dream is complete.
Speaker 5: I'm in the NFL, and you know, and I just
Speaker 5: never wanted to feel that way ever again, and feeling
Speaker 5: like not that they took it from me, but I gave.
Speaker 6: It away, you know so well, Troy. Yeah, I talked
Speaker 6: to kids.
Speaker 4: We do a lot of virtual field trips right now, especially,
Speaker 4: and so I'll get a Q and A from the kids,
Speaker 4: and they'll say, and never really ask who's your favorite player?
Speaker 4: And I always bring you up. And I always quote
Speaker 4: that that because you said that to me years ago.
Speaker 4: He said, I just come in every day and make
Speaker 4: sure my stuff is still in my locker. And I
Speaker 4: use that example with the kids because I say, this
Speaker 4: guy never took a.
Speaker 2: Day in the NFL.
Speaker 4: For granted, he caught one hundred and one balls and
Speaker 4: still knew that job security was an issue and worked
Speaker 4: every day it was his last.
Speaker 2: And I use that as an example.
Speaker 6: So I think it's an inspiring story.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt, man, it is.
Speaker 5: It is the one thing you should ever ever get
Speaker 5: comfortable with, no matter what you do, you know, no
Speaker 5: matter how great a season you had or how great
Speaker 5: you know. And one thing Parcels always says, you're You're
Speaker 5: only good as the last game, you know so, and uh,
Speaker 5: all your last play and whatever that was, that's what
Speaker 5: they're gonna remember you by, you know so, and uh
Speaker 5: and it was it was a it was a it
Speaker 5: was a great quote from him and it and it
Speaker 5: stays two.
Speaker 3: To this day.
Speaker 1: Last one for me, then, Troy would be is that message?
Speaker 1: Can you see that that message would resonate with a
Speaker 1: Jacobe Myers or with a Gunner ro Chefsky somebody like that,
Speaker 1: who they're not a first round pick. You know, there's
Speaker 1: not a lot of money.
Speaker 2: Attached to it.
Speaker 1: But if you do work, if you do what these
Speaker 1: coaches are trying to tell you to do, you know,
Speaker 1: they don't care where you were drafted, they don't care
Speaker 1: how you got in the door. There's an opportunity here
Speaker 1: and maybe, like what I did, is it just just
Speaker 1: don't ever take anything for granted. Do you think that
Speaker 1: that can work with the younger player today.
Speaker 3: Well, no doubt.
Speaker 5: I mean I think there's still you know, still the
Speaker 5: same type of people you have back then too, because
Speaker 5: there's some people that hurt it then and there's some
Speaker 5: people that hear it now. There were some people who
Speaker 5: didn't hear it then, and there's some people that don't
Speaker 5: hear it now.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: And the ones who get it and get it the
Speaker 5: fastest are the ones who are gonna survive the longest
Speaker 5: in this league, you know. And that's just the way
Speaker 5: it is, you know what I'm saying. So it could
Speaker 5: be here, it could be anywhere, you know, so but
Speaker 5: those are the ones that are gonna have a decent
Speaker 5: career in this league. Is the ones who get it
Speaker 5: the fastest. So and if you if few of those
Speaker 5: guys that just kind of slap it out there on
Speaker 5: a regular basis, you know, and it's gonna catch up
Speaker 5: to you. It's gonna catch up to you sooner or later.
Speaker 5: And then you see all the guys the Troy Brown's
Speaker 5: out of Wes Welkers, out of Danny A. Mondola's out
Speaker 5: of you know, all those guys that a catch up
Speaker 5: to you in a heartbeating this league. So, you know,
Speaker 5: and that's just the way it goes, you know, Because
Speaker 5: what's more important to a coach is he needs good players.
Speaker 5: But that coach too needs job security too, so so
Speaker 5: he's gotta he's gotta put some good players on the field,
Speaker 5: you know, to keep his job. That's an eighth round pick,
Speaker 5: that's a free agent, that's not playing somebody else. And
Speaker 5: that's just the way it is.
Speaker 4: My last question, Man asked you about favorite plays. Is
Speaker 4: it just something in general that when you look back
Speaker 4: on your career that you're most proud of.
Speaker 3: Plays I play?
Speaker 2: No, No, he asked you about the play.
Speaker 4: I'm just saying just in general, like if you look back,
Speaker 4: like maybe your legacy or what, what are you most
Speaker 4: proud of that you accomplished as a player.
Speaker 5: Oh, Man, as a lot, a lot to be thankful
Speaker 5: for and and be grateful for that happened throughout the
Speaker 5: course of my career.
Speaker 3: Getting cut was one of them.
Speaker 5: Was I'm thankful for that moment, you know where that
Speaker 5: opened my eyes to a lot of stuff, you know, uh,
Speaker 5: being able to play defense and and play that important role.
Speaker 5: And and not because it was something to show off,
Speaker 5: you know, that you could do to you know, you know,
Speaker 5: kind of slap it out there, say an offensive guy
Speaker 5: playing defense. You know, it was just we needed we
Speaker 5: needed somebody to go in and play, you know, your
Speaker 5: football team, a football team needed me, you know, and
Speaker 5: was able to step up and then be able to
Speaker 5: hold your own. I had a lot of support, you know,
Speaker 5: from a lot of guys on that side of the
Speaker 5: ball when I was doing it, so uh, but being
Speaker 5: able to step in and do that, you know, I
Speaker 5: sometimes I always just feel like I saved somebody's jobs.
Speaker 3: Somebody didn't need to get cut for me to go
Speaker 3: do that, for them to bring and somebody else.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: So those kinds of moments like that, you know, things
Speaker 5: that I'm kind of the most proud of and obviously
Speaker 5: being able to you know, win three super Bowls and
Speaker 5: those moments, Uh, those are those are great moments, man,
Speaker 5: I always think about and that I'm very proud of that,
Speaker 5: uh and things that we were able to accomplish, you
Speaker 5: know as a football team. So and uh So I
Speaker 5: don't know if that's is that enough things right there?
Speaker 5: Those are things finish it with supporting to me?
Speaker 2: So yeah, finish it with a red jacket.
Speaker 5: I mean I finished it with a red jacket, you know.
Speaker 5: Thank you, you know to the fans and people that
Speaker 5: voted out there and what they're kind of one hundred
Speaker 5: percent is undred fans yep. Yeah, So I mean that's
Speaker 5: you know, that's you know, pretty pretty impressive. You know
Speaker 5: they have that many people like the way you play
Speaker 5: the game so.
Speaker 2: Well, you give him a reason to like it.
Speaker 1: Troy, he left everything on the field, uh, one of
Speaker 1: the one of the most decorated Patriot players of all time.
Speaker 2: Now a coach with the team all into one roof.
Speaker 1: How great is that that Troy run has spent his
Speaker 1: professional career today as a new Patriot.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you so much for joining. Thank you
Speaker 2: appreciate it.
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