Speaker 1: Welcome to the Maiden Voyage of Packs from the Past podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Matt Smith, the senior executive producer for
Speaker 1: Crafts Sports Productions to the Patriots. I'm a fifteen year
Speaker 1: veteran here at the organization and I've had a front
Speaker 1: row seat to see not only the greatest run maybe
Speaker 1: in franchise history, but perhaps the greatest run in NFL history.
Speaker 1: I've had the privilege of overseeing a department that produces
Speaker 1: all the video content here for the franchise. Because of that,
Speaker 1: I think I bring a unique perspective to the history
Speaker 1: that has become one of the best in all of
Speaker 1: professional sports. And speaking of history, let me introduce you
Speaker 1: to aman who needs no introduction, Thanks Matt. My name's
Speaker 1: Brian Morey. I'm the executive director of the Patriots Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame, presented by Raytheon. I started with the organization
Speaker 1: back in nineteen ninety seven as the editor of Patriots
Speaker 1: Football Weekly, and I now have the opportunity to preserve
Speaker 1: the team's history as it's as the history is being made.
Speaker 1: Matt as the director of the Hall of Fame, and
Speaker 1: I'm very excited to be involved in this with you
Speaker 1: and so our hope here in our desire, our mission statement,
Speaker 1: however you want to say it, Brian, is we want
Speaker 1: to have a conversation with the people who have made
Speaker 1: this franchise the gold standard that it is today, the
Speaker 1: people who have made the history, as you say, for
Speaker 1: the New England Patriots. And Brian, can you think of
Speaker 1: a better person to kick this off than the person
Speaker 1: we're going to start off with? No way, Man, he
Speaker 1: was a personality on the field. He was certainly a
Speaker 1: personality in the locker room during his time here and
Speaker 1: remains one today. And so, without any further ado, we
Speaker 1: invite you to listen to our Conversation for our Pats
Speaker 1: from the Past podcast with Patriots Hall of Famer Rodney Harrison.
Speaker 1: All Right, Matt Smith here with Brian Moore and were
Speaker 1: pleased to be joined by Patriot's Hall of Famer Rodney Harrison. Rodney,
Speaker 1: how you doing? You know what I'm doing? Well? Man,
Speaker 1: just flew in with the wife, kept the kids back
Speaker 1: at home because we didn't want you know, Patriots don't
Speaker 1: have to spend all that extra money. But yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I'm just really excited and pumped up about tonight. They
Speaker 1: appreciate the savings I can appreciate the savings. We're gonna
Speaker 1: talk some football, Roddy, and probably have a little fine
Speaker 1: and hopefully you provide some insight as to your great
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame career here. But we start that with
Speaker 1: the end of one chapter of your football career, and
Speaker 1: that was in San Diego. Were you pissed at that
Speaker 1: point in time when it was obvious to you that
Speaker 1: the San Diego portion of your career was over. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was very disappointed, and I was actually heartbroken because
Speaker 1: the trainers looked at me, the coaches looked at me,
Speaker 1: and they said, hey, if you go out there and
Speaker 1: you continue to play, we're not gonna hold your injury
Speaker 1: against you. Well, obviously I was limping around, I was
Speaker 1: taking all these pain meds. I was doing all these
Speaker 1: other things, taking this stuff that's gonna hurt me long term,
Speaker 1: hurt my health long term, just to get that back
Speaker 1: out on the football field. And when it came down
Speaker 1: to it, they put out that I couldn't play anymore,
Speaker 1: that I couldn't run, that I wasn't a very good
Speaker 1: player anymore, and that hurt me, and that injury, it
Speaker 1: was my growing injury. I had thirty five percent of
Speaker 1: my growing ripped from the bone, and I was hobbling
Speaker 1: and my entire leg was as black as my sweatpants
Speaker 1: I have on. And it just hurt me because I'll
Speaker 1: do anything for my team, my organization. I'll do whatever
Speaker 1: I have to do. But don't sit here and lie
Speaker 1: to me, to my face and tell me that it's
Speaker 1: not going to hurt me. And you know, six months
Speaker 1: later you cut me. Now, now I'm curious as a general,
Speaker 1: as a generality, when stuff like that happens, and when
Speaker 1: players switch teams, it happens all the time, right, How
Speaker 1: how frequently is there bitterness after a player is cut
Speaker 1: by a team and joined the new team. Mines basically
Speaker 1: continued throughout my career. That was one of the motivating forces.
Speaker 1: And I said, you know, I don't want to go
Speaker 1: into FC West because most players want to go in
Speaker 1: to FFC West play that team twice. That's one of
Speaker 1: the reasons why I didn't go to Denver or Oakland.
Speaker 1: You know, I know Belichick came in. I had a
Speaker 1: chance to meet with him, and he was just terrific.
Speaker 1: Once I met with coach and you know, he started,
Speaker 1: you know, we started sharing stories and he you know.
Speaker 1: He started saying, Hey, I remember when you're in warmups
Speaker 1: and you hit that guy and the helmet flew off.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, dude, you actually remember that, Like that
Speaker 1: little fine detail of warmups? I said. I looked at
Speaker 1: my age and say, man, you gotta this is the
Speaker 1: place I want to be because this man knows football.
Speaker 1: Were you blown away by that? Rodney? Absolutely, because not
Speaker 1: only that he had said something else, but just a small,
Speaker 1: intricate details. And I'm a detailed guy when I'm watching Tate,
Speaker 1: whether I was a football player or even now as
Speaker 1: a broadcaster, little things that I pick up, whether you're hustling,
Speaker 1: you know, are you you know, for effort, all these
Speaker 1: different things I pick up. And for him to pick
Speaker 1: that up and to know that, and that was a
Speaker 1: special moment for me because when I hit this guy,
Speaker 1: I felt good. I'm like, yeah, I'm ready to go.
Speaker 1: And he saw that and he remembered that and he
Speaker 1: mentioned it to me. It was just unbelievable. Did he
Speaker 1: have any other sales pitch items that he talked to
Speaker 1: you about, because I imagine when he's talking about that,
Speaker 1: he's just kind of telling you, hey, this is the
Speaker 1: reason we want you. Did he did he try to
Speaker 1: sell the Patriots to you in another two He didn't
Speaker 1: have to. I mean, Tylawa was here, Lawyer Mallory was here,
Speaker 1: two guys that I really wanted to play with. I
Speaker 1: knew they had success in two thousand and one after
Speaker 1: you know, winning that Super Bowl. But he really didn't
Speaker 1: have have to sell me. Once he said what he said,
Speaker 1: and he says, look, he never asked me once how
Speaker 1: are you doing body wise? Can you still run? Are
Speaker 1: you injured? Are you healthy? Never asked me anything like that.
Speaker 1: So it was really what he didn't ask me. That
Speaker 1: was the selling point, you know what I mean? Yeah,
Speaker 1: like he didn't. He didn't. He wasn't tripping. He was like, look,
Speaker 1: I want you to be a leader. I want you
Speaker 1: to do your thing. I'm gonna give you freedom. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna let you go out there and play. And once
Speaker 1: he said that let's go ball. Well, so, Brian, I
Speaker 1: think the cynics around here in New England would say okay.
Speaker 1: So he didn't say anything to you then. But when
Speaker 1: training camp started, did he say anything to you about, Hey,
Speaker 1: it's okay if you want to mix things up, we
Speaker 1: could use a little fixing up. He didn't have to
Speaker 1: tell me anything like that. You did that on your own.
Speaker 1: That's right. I'm a football player. I don't need coach belach, Hey,
Speaker 1: you can play a little bit more aggressive. No coach
Speaker 1: has ever told me to play more aggressive. If anything,
Speaker 1: he said back it down a little bit, And he
Speaker 1: never told me to back it down. Do you think
Speaker 1: that they needed that? Mean? Did you think that that
Speaker 1: team needed that edge that you brought coming off a
Speaker 1: non playoff here? Well, Eddie Bruski, I've heard him say,
Speaker 1: that's exactly what we needed. We needed a guy like
Speaker 1: hot Rods. So I'll go back to Teddy Bruski's um quote.
Speaker 1: I just I was ready, man, You know my intensity
Speaker 1: I came in it was up to hear because I
Speaker 1: was so bitter at the Chargers, but I was so
Speaker 1: excited about my new opportunity here and I and I
Speaker 1: heard the rumblings, and I heard all of Rodney's why
Speaker 1: would you go out and get a safety? This, this age,
Speaker 1: this that and the other. He's not the same. You know,
Speaker 1: where's he gonna fit in on the defense? So I
Speaker 1: love that. So I love when I heard a lot
Speaker 1: of the Patriots fans asking those questions because I told
Speaker 1: I told my wife, I said, they have no idea
Speaker 1: what they're in for. I'm gonna come out here and
Speaker 1: ball out. So when I when I'm covering training camp,
Speaker 1: I hear the coaches all the time, y'all, and hey,
Speaker 1: stay off the ground. You were knocking guys on the ground.
Speaker 1: They didn't tell you to tell that. It really didn't matter.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's football. Man, come across the middle, you
Speaker 1: catch the ball around me, I'm gonna hit you, and
Speaker 1: you're my teammate. I love you, I'm gonna pick you up.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, you know we're
Speaker 1: gonna be a physical, fast defense that plays well under pressure,
Speaker 1: that's going to knock your head off every time we
Speaker 1: get and that's what I wanted to bring to this team.
Speaker 1: You mentioned defensive fit. Okay, so you know the offseason
Speaker 1: you signed in March off season program. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you came here in April or anything like that,
Speaker 1: but camp starts in July. Did you sense it you
Speaker 1: were going to be able to fit with my lawyer
Speaker 1: or did you know right away? I don't know if
Speaker 1: this is gonna work. I don't I didn't overthink it.
Speaker 1: I'm a football player. My job was to go out
Speaker 1: there and play football, and whether that meant playing with Lawyer,
Speaker 1: playing with Tie, playing with somebody else, it didn't matter.
Speaker 1: I just knew that I had to get on that
Speaker 1: field and I was going to be a starter at
Speaker 1: one of those safety positions, no matter what, no matter what,
Speaker 1: who was gonna beat me. I was too determined, I
Speaker 1: was too motivated, I was too focused. Nobody was gonna
Speaker 1: beat me out. And that's the way it was my
Speaker 1: entire career. I felt like I always had something to prove. Now, obviously,
Speaker 1: then you didn't get to play with Lawyer, and that
Speaker 1: was a pretty controversial thing around here. When Lawyer was
Speaker 1: released five days before the start of the two thousand
Speaker 1: and three season. Can you take us back into the
Speaker 1: locker room at that time, and you hadn't played with Lawyer,
Speaker 1: but you knew of Lawyer. You mentioned that, you know,
Speaker 1: what was that like in the locker room? I mean
Speaker 1: that happens because man got blown out in week one.
Speaker 1: It's a business man, I mean, it's a business. Think
Speaker 1: about it. You don't need two strong safeties, And then
Speaker 1: think think about Eugene Wilson when he came and he
Speaker 1: got inserted. It gave us a level of athleticism that
Speaker 1: we didn't have. You know, he was a cornerback basically
Speaker 1: playing free safety. Then we could play with our base defense.
Speaker 1: He could go down and take the third wide receiver.
Speaker 1: If he didn't want to take him, then I could
Speaker 1: take him. So Lawyer wasn't a great cover guy. Lawyer
Speaker 1: played with a lot of emotional a lot of energy.
Speaker 1: He was great physical to fans love them, but he
Speaker 1: wasn't a cover guy where he could cover one on one.
Speaker 1: And I think that's where we were really upgraded as
Speaker 1: far as athleticism, speed, and coverage ability because Eugene Wilson
Speaker 1: was so good at that. You mentioned business though, and
Speaker 1: the Patriots, and so I mean the Patriot fans Lawyer
Speaker 1: was one of their own one Super Bowl thirty six.
Speaker 1: Did you feel any trepidation, like, oh, I'm the new
Speaker 1: guy here. It just happened to me. Yeah, okay, I
Speaker 1: understood it, got it. Heck, I just got shipped out
Speaker 1: of the place that I was there for nine years.
Speaker 1: A guy that was involved in the community sacrifice his
Speaker 1: career millions of dollars on the line. I could have
Speaker 1: set back and collected my money and not played a dime.
Speaker 1: I went out there and played and risked my career
Speaker 1: to go out there and play to help that team win.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I knew what Laurier was going through. But
Speaker 1: I also knew that Lawyer I think was Lawyer was
Speaker 1: the first round draft choice. Right, Laurier had made some
Speaker 1: good money second, second, first or second. It was better
Speaker 1: than me. In the fifth I got forty grand a sign.
Speaker 1: I'm sure he got a lot more than that, right,
Speaker 1: So okay. So wait, So in other words, my you know,
Speaker 1: I felt bad for a lawyer, but I knew Lawyer
Speaker 1: would be okay. There's gonna be ten teams that need
Speaker 1: a guy like like lawyers, so I knew he was
Speaker 1: gonna be okay. I wasn't worried about Lawyer. I was
Speaker 1: worried about our team. So you go out and lose
Speaker 1: thirty one nothing to Lawyer and the Bills. In week one,
Speaker 1: Week two, we're in Philadelphia, and I remember in my
Speaker 1: hotel room because we had a four o'clock game. I
Speaker 1: believe I'm watching Prime Time on ESPN when they do
Speaker 1: this whole hatchet job feature about the Patriots. The interview
Speaker 1: Drew and Sam Gash and Lawyer about what a family
Speaker 1: it is in Buffalo and how awful the Patriots are.
Speaker 1: They come back from that, Tom Jackson says they hate
Speaker 1: their coach, and I went, WHOA did someone tell him that? Like,
Speaker 1: my first thought was somebody in our locker room must
Speaker 1: have told Tom Jackson that How did you guys respond
Speaker 1: to that? You went out and hammered the Eagles that day,
Speaker 1: but how did you guys react to that whole controversy? Well,
Speaker 1: to us, it wasn't controversy because it was someone saying
Speaker 1: something outside of our locker room. And although it was
Speaker 1: early in the season, it really was just what we
Speaker 1: needed to come together. It was that little spark that
Speaker 1: we needed just to be able to come together and
Speaker 1: really buying as a team. And that's what we did.
Speaker 1: We said, Man, I hate coach Belichick. We're the ones
Speaker 1: out there plan. Yeah, the coaches could have probably done
Speaker 1: a better job of preparing us for that game, but
Speaker 1: ultimately we're the ones out there plan. So it was
Speaker 1: it's like we kind of laughed at it and was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: if this is what they think we are, we're gonna
Speaker 1: buy together and we're gonna go on a run. And
Speaker 1: that's exactly what we did. We went on a run. Brian.
Speaker 1: You remember in the speech when Roddy was inducted back
Speaker 1: in August and Robert Craft is talking about the original
Speaker 1: no respect guy. Rody did that kind of start there.
Speaker 1: Maybe after that they hate their coach Philadelphia, where whatever
Speaker 1: chip you already had on your shoulder, it was like,
Speaker 1: hey know what they're against us, man, They're trying to
Speaker 1: pull us apart. They're not going to do that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're not going to do that. And that it got
Speaker 1: bigger and bigger. The cults. You can't beat the cults.
Speaker 1: You can't beat this team. You carried that chip on
Speaker 1: your shoulder throughout. It was just what we needed too,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, just for people to doubt us,
Speaker 1: to second guesses. And yeah, that was me because that
Speaker 1: was me My entire life always looked overlooked. Ass he's
Speaker 1: too small, he's this, he's that. So I've always had
Speaker 1: to grind and get into somebody's face to make it happen.
Speaker 1: But all in all, man, you know what, we just
Speaker 1: use it as motivation. We said, as a group, we're
Speaker 1: not going to worry about what Tom Jackson and what
Speaker 1: all these other pundits will say, it's all about what
Speaker 1: we feel and how we prepare and how we work
Speaker 1: and the things that we do. And that's what we did. Man.
Speaker 1: We went on a great run and it was fantastic.
Speaker 1: And the cool part about it is we set back
Speaker 1: and you know, it was like more people like Tom
Speaker 1: Jackson and all of a sudden and everybody started flipping
Speaker 1: all the Patriots are so great and we're like, no,
Speaker 1: don't come on our bandwagon. Now. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You didn't listen to any of that. Every week you said,
Speaker 1: the only one who believes in our side. That's right.
Speaker 1: Do you think though, that that worked that nobody respects us?
Speaker 1: Do you think that worked for that team? Oh, it
Speaker 1: worked for that team, no question. Because I used to
Speaker 1: say it a lot. And then you get guys like
Speaker 1: Willie and all the rest of the guys jumping in
Speaker 1: and it just motivates you. Then you see guys in
Speaker 1: a weight room at six o'clock in the morning watching
Speaker 1: extra film, doing extra gassers. I mean, that team was
Speaker 1: a really, really good team, and it had so many
Speaker 1: great pros on it, so many really good young players,
Speaker 1: that were open to listening and to receive in the
Speaker 1: information that the veteran players were giving them. So that
Speaker 1: it's the most disrespected thirty four and four group over
Speaker 1: two years in history, the most disrespected back to back
Speaker 1: cupball champions and over two years. Oh that was pretty sweet.
Speaker 1: So you talk about another guy who carried the disrespect label,
Speaker 1: picked number one ninety nine in the sixth round, has
Speaker 1: probably never shed that. You know, I was overlood. I
Speaker 1: was overlooked. Um. When you first got here and saw him,
Speaker 1: he was Tom Brady, not Tom Brady. What was your
Speaker 1: thoughts to him when you saw him for the first time, Rodney. Um,
Speaker 1: When I got a chance to sit down and talk
Speaker 1: to Tom, we talked about family. Um. You know, we
Speaker 1: just talked about normal things. We didn't talk a lot
Speaker 1: about football. Um at first, because I'm one of those guys,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask you about your family, your kids, your
Speaker 1: you know, relationships, you know, just to try to get
Speaker 1: to know you. And then as we practice and things
Speaker 1: like that, we got into some very competitive battles the
Speaker 1: offense versus the defense. And man, I tell you, that's
Speaker 1: where I really got to know Tom. That's when I
Speaker 1: got a chance to really see how competitive and how
Speaker 1: fiery is. Because as nice as he is off the
Speaker 1: he was he was a jerk on the field. Like
Speaker 1: he was yelling and cussing and mad because we're jamming
Speaker 1: his receivers in the red zone, MF and us. And
Speaker 1: he was just a competitive son of a gun, you know.
Speaker 1: And I loved it. I was like, Wow, this is
Speaker 1: our quarterback. That's awesome. He's yelling and cussing at us,
Speaker 1: That's great. So I'm you remember, I came from the
Speaker 1: Charges where we had Ryan Leaf and some other bad quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: I played with Drew Brees over there, but he wasn't
Speaker 1: the Drew Brees that we know now. But yeah, man,
Speaker 1: it was It was really Tom's competitiveness every single day.
Speaker 1: You know, you look at this guy. He wasn't built
Speaker 1: up any special way, like what is so special about him?
Speaker 1: And you know it was his work ethic and just
Speaker 1: the relationship that he had with his teammates. If Tom
Speaker 1: Brady was sitting right here, he might say that Rodney
Speaker 1: Harrison was the jerk on the practice field. What were
Speaker 1: you getting back to him? The same thing, you know.
Speaker 1: And I prided myself on being a jerk. But that's
Speaker 1: that's okay because my teammates love me, and I don't
Speaker 1: worry about what other people think about me and anything.
Speaker 1: I just spent on the practice field, like because Brady
Speaker 1: was obviously talking trash to you and and Crow and
Speaker 1: I'm sure you were giving it right back. Oh yeah, man,
Speaker 1: that's that's all part of it. That's the fun. I mean,
Speaker 1: those are really the things that you miss. You don't miss,
Speaker 1: like I don't miss plan on Thursday night out here
Speaker 1: in the cold, fridgid cold, but you do miss those
Speaker 1: times where you're at lunch, you're eating and Tom sits
Speaker 1: next to you and you're having a conversation about things
Speaker 1: and you know, just things outside of football. If if
Speaker 1: fans could have bought a ticket to those practices, Rodney,
Speaker 1: would they have been blown up? I mean, we saw
Speaker 1: a great team be born there, back to back Super
Speaker 1: Bowl champions. You talk about the practices. If people could
Speaker 1: see how competitive practice, would they be able to believe it?
Speaker 1: You know, um practice was really really special. But also
Speaker 1: our preparation in the weight room and film room was
Speaker 1: very special because our coaches were constantly quizzing us. You
Speaker 1: had veteran players like we had coaches walked right past
Speaker 1: you all of a sudden, they will stop and look
Speaker 1: at you and ask you a question. They like quiz you.
Speaker 1: So you always have to be on guard. So yeah, man,
Speaker 1: it was it was. It was fun. Man, it was
Speaker 1: a really special time in my career. Man. I tell
Speaker 1: you it was the best decision. I don't care if
Speaker 1: someone to offer me ten million dollars more, twenty million
Speaker 1: dollars more. It was the best football experience because I
Speaker 1: gained so much knowledge. And I tell you this, guys,
Speaker 1: I would not be on NBC if I didn't learn
Speaker 1: from Bill Belichick. If I didn't learn the exes and
Speaker 1: those and things, the big picture things and the little
Speaker 1: things that that matters when it comes to football, would
Speaker 1: not be on the show. So what what things did
Speaker 1: you learn that we might not think of or know them?
Speaker 1: All you have to do is watch the show. You know,
Speaker 1: just insights and just keys and you know, just different
Speaker 1: things that you you kind of look at. But you
Speaker 1: know you're talking about learning the game and think about
Speaker 1: it too. I mean, there's no coins Like Rob Gronkowski
Speaker 1: just got a job on Fox. Willie McGinnis is on
Speaker 1: NFL Network Teddy Bruski is doing a great job. You know,
Speaker 1: we've had so many guys in the media, and those
Speaker 1: guys probably wouldn't be in the media if they wouldn't
Speaker 1: have learned things from Coach Belichick, because you just become
Speaker 1: a smarter person, you know once once you leave here.
Speaker 1: How is the irony in that the team that doesn't
Speaker 1: say anything, the team that doesn't want to give away
Speaker 1: anything right now populates whatever broadcast network is out there
Speaker 1: with ex players because they want those people to talk
Speaker 1: about the game. That's irony, isn't it? Yeah, it is,
Speaker 1: it is. It's amazing, man. What's your perspective on that? Then?
Speaker 1: How is your perspective changed from being in the locker
Speaker 1: room as a player and now being a member of
Speaker 1: the media that walked in that locker room every day. Well,
Speaker 1: I got to realize that, you know, people young players
Speaker 1: look at me. They respect me from from things that
Speaker 1: I've accomplished, but I'm not a player. So there's there's
Speaker 1: definitely um a separation that you have to have. You know,
Speaker 1: when I'm when I'm doing my job, and sometimes I
Speaker 1: may criticize somebody. Heck, I criticize um a coach that
Speaker 1: I know real well, and he wasn't happy, you know,
Speaker 1: just a couple of weeks ago. He wasn't happy. But
Speaker 1: I but I said this, I say this. He's never
Speaker 1: called me to complain about any compliments I've given him.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean. It's like people, people hear
Speaker 1: that one little If I don't believe in your team,
Speaker 1: I don't believe in your team, I'm gonna say it.
Speaker 1: But it's not personal against you. You still my boy.
Speaker 1: Just like if I do believe in your in your team,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna say what I believe. And a
Speaker 1: lot of people have a hard time taking that in,
Speaker 1: especially younger players, which that hard for you your first
Speaker 1: year knowing that you had to criticize well, I think
Speaker 1: my first year, when was that call with Belichick when
Speaker 1: he went for two thousand and nine fourth and two
Speaker 1: again to cold That That was my moment right there, brother,
Speaker 1: that was my moment. I was a rookie in the
Speaker 1: broadcast booth. I was on television and that happened and
Speaker 1: the game was over, and then one of our producers,
Speaker 1: I think it was Sam Flood, said hey, we got
Speaker 1: to talk about this. So they come straight to me.
Speaker 1: The camera's looking it's a one on one what you
Speaker 1: think about that call? And I think I said, Hey,
Speaker 1: I've been around coach Belichick a long time, and my
Speaker 1: heart is it's it's beating a thousand miles from I'm
Speaker 1: so nervous. I'm like, Okay, this is gonna make or
Speaker 1: break my relationship with the Patriots because I'm transitioning to
Speaker 1: this broadcast booth. And I said, you know, I've known
Speaker 1: coach Belichick for a long time. I said, you know,
Speaker 1: and I've seen him make a lot of decisions, but
Speaker 1: this is probably the worst decision on the football field
Speaker 1: I've ever seen him. Mate, and I thought it was over,
Speaker 1: So I'm like okay, And and one of our producers said,
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, I think it was Dick ever Saw,
Speaker 1: who was the chairman of NBC Sports. He says, excellent job, Rodney,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, shoot, I'm not feeling excellent. You know,
Speaker 1: I just went after my coach. But that was my
Speaker 1: moment because people said, well, he's not afraid to criticize
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick, and that was a harder criticism. So that
Speaker 1: was tough. But once I got over that, I felt
Speaker 1: like I had the courage and the confidence to just
Speaker 1: do my job well if it makes you feel any better.
Speaker 1: One day, I was in meeting with coach Belichick in
Speaker 1: the offseason back when we used to do Coaches Corner,
Speaker 1: and I forget exactly what he was talking to me about,
Speaker 1: but it was about personal stuff, personal criticisms, and he said, listen,
Speaker 1: if you want to criticize me for going forward on
Speaker 1: fourth and two, have at it. So I'm sure it
Speaker 1: didn't bother him that much. He was more talking about
Speaker 1: players being criticized or personal situations being criticized. He didn't
Speaker 1: care if you criticize the football side of it. He doesn't,
Speaker 1: you know. And he came to me, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's he came to me and Willie, Willie McGinnis and
Speaker 1: I at training camp and he said, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: if you guys, you guys have to say stuff. I
Speaker 1: get it. You have to do your job. And I said,
Speaker 1: don't worry, we will do our job. And he laughed,
Speaker 1: you know, because it's nothing personal, it's nothing but love.
Speaker 1: I mean, he gave Willie and I opportunities that we
Speaker 1: probably would have never had in our lives. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. He you know, because we're part of
Speaker 1: his team. So he showed number love and if you
Speaker 1: weren't willing to do that, you wouldn't have your job
Speaker 1: very long, you know. And that was the other point
Speaker 1: right there. And one of my producers said, hey, man,
Speaker 1: this is he called me said, he said, that was
Speaker 1: your defining moment. He says, if you would have protected
Speaker 1: Coach Belichick, you would have lost all credibility. And you
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of credibility in a booth because
Speaker 1: this is your first year, but you would have lost
Speaker 1: all your credibilities. So I'm glad I stuck to my instincts. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Tony Dungee wholeheartedly agree with them going forward on fourth
Speaker 1: and two. And how is that relationship with coach Dungee? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, well, obviously it's a working relationship. But do
Speaker 1: you guys sit there and bust each other's chops about
Speaker 1: the old days or the games or anything like we do?
Speaker 1: We do in every week. He's the same coach Dungee
Speaker 1: that we know. He prays for the Patriots down falls,
Speaker 1: the Patriots to lose, and you know, and every Super
Speaker 1: Bowl that we've done, I think we've done personally maybe
Speaker 1: three of the Patriots Super Bowls, and he's always there
Speaker 1: wanting the Patriots to lose. You know, it's just natural instinct.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but you beat him two years in a
Speaker 1: row in the playoffs those two years, oh three h four.
Speaker 1: Do you guys talk about those games at all? And
Speaker 1: then of course the what rules are they going to
Speaker 1: change this year kind of stuff that emanated from the
Speaker 1: Colts and Bill Polian being on the competition committee. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, it's this is our eleventh year together, which
Speaker 1: is that's amazing, it is, that's amazing, it is it
Speaker 1: seems like you just started yesterday. It's eleven years. And
Speaker 1: how many people, by the way, and I'm sure you
Speaker 1: know that they don't have runs like that, No, especially
Speaker 1: on a show that caliber. Absolutely, you know, eight nine
Speaker 1: straight years of being a number one shown right television,
Speaker 1: which is like, I'm I'm thoroughly blown back. And I
Speaker 1: tell you, Mike to Rico, he's come in. And what
Speaker 1: I love about Mike Terrico, He's and everybody should notice
Speaker 1: he is a true football guy. Like the guy watches
Speaker 1: tape like right now, just finished talking to him. He's
Speaker 1: on his way to Notre Dame. He's gonna broadcast Notre Dame.
Speaker 1: But he'll be looking at NFL depth charts and looking
Speaker 1: at college stuff at the same time. It's like, amazing,
Speaker 1: how smart and how brilliant he is. And I think
Speaker 1: he's he's done a wonderful job and he's really helped
Speaker 1: our show. Um, okay, Patriots are playing the Giant today,
Speaker 1: last football ish before we get into broadcasting. I'd be
Speaker 1: remissed when the Patriots and Giants are playing and I
Speaker 1: think back into a Super Bowl forty two? Have you
Speaker 1: made peace with that Rodney super Bowl forty two? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm in a great place with that man, because
Speaker 1: I know who I am as a person. I know
Speaker 1: who I am as a player and a man. If
Speaker 1: I had success and won a couple of Super Bowls
Speaker 1: and I've made some great plays, amazing plays along the way,
Speaker 1: guess what other people are gonna make plays. So you
Speaker 1: have to accept it. You have to. You can't be
Speaker 1: a sore loser and you can no, you can't. You
Speaker 1: can't because you think about it. You're telling your kids, hey, man, hey,
Speaker 1: you gotta be able to get over it. Mental toughness
Speaker 1: and all these different things. At the end of the day, look,
Speaker 1: we had it. We still had an opportunity to win
Speaker 1: that Super Bowl. We didn't win. We win sixteen. To know,
Speaker 1: we built some great friendships, relationships, great experiences. It is
Speaker 1: what it is at the end of the day. And
Speaker 1: by the way, I didn't mean I'm not singling you
Speaker 1: out of course, you're one of eleven guys and you
Speaker 1: could have been sacked or anything like that. But as
Speaker 1: we've just seen Top one hundred games produced by NFL films,
Speaker 1: Top one hundred plays by you are constantly reminded of
Speaker 1: that all the time. Cool man, I'm gonna be famous forever.
Speaker 1: And there's so many other Patriots memories that you were
Speaker 1: part of in that, but that one sticks out. And
Speaker 1: so that's why I was just saying, when when I
Speaker 1: say you make piece of it, you know you did
Speaker 1: everything you could on that play, as did the other people,
Speaker 1: and stuff happened. The key is, it's not if I
Speaker 1: made piece with it. The key is, have you guys
Speaker 1: and the fans made piece with it with the loss? No,
Speaker 1: it is what it is. I don't I would say
Speaker 1: yes because we would have a nice nineteen to no
Speaker 1: exhibit in the hall. That's all right. I wouldn't happen, buddy, right,
Speaker 1: But I would argue that I think you guys lost
Speaker 1: that game at the line of scrimmage, both offensive their
Speaker 1: defensive line dominating you. And okay, so they had one
Speaker 1: fluke play, I would argue, I think the way that
Speaker 1: that game was going that was third down, wasn't it.
Speaker 1: I think the Tyree play was third down. They had
Speaker 1: already converted a firth down a fourth down earlier that drive.
Speaker 1: I think they would have converted another one. That's just
Speaker 1: kind of the way the game was going. Hey man,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, hopefully the Patriots blow
Speaker 1: them out the water tonight, keyword water And you know,
Speaker 1: like you mentioned the kids, but we teach the kids, right,
Speaker 1: so I always tell the kids, Hey, this lessons in
Speaker 1: losing too. But at the same time I asked them
Speaker 1: when I have coached baseball, if I always asked the kids, hey,
Speaker 1: do you like to win or do you hate to lose?
Speaker 1: And they look at you like they don't understand the question,
Speaker 1: And I say, you have to hate to lose because
Speaker 1: that's what drives you. Is that what drives you? Is
Speaker 1: that drove you throughout your career Because I think That's
Speaker 1: what drives Tom Brady, is that he just hates losing
Speaker 1: so much that he's going to make sure he does
Speaker 1: everything in his power not to live. Doesn't fear. But
Speaker 1: it's not about winning. It's to me personally, it's about
Speaker 1: getting the most out of my ability. And that's what
Speaker 1: I've always tried to do. I've always tried to get
Speaker 1: the most out of what God has given me. And
Speaker 1: so it's not about winning and losing, because I feel
Speaker 1: like if I do things right, if I work hard,
Speaker 1: if I'm humble, if if I keep things in perspective,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be successful and whatever I decide to do,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So so really, for me,
Speaker 1: it's just about that. It's it's that level of focus
Speaker 1: you mentioned. Humble. Um, I don't know if you could
Speaker 1: feel this or knew this when you were giving your
Speaker 1: induction speech back in August, But did you know that
Speaker 1: Coach Belichick was behind you listening to the whole thing?
Speaker 1: I did not. I thought he was in their practice
Speaker 1: in the weight room or something. Right, So, Brian and
Speaker 1: I've done eleven of these now, Okay, it's he's no
Speaker 1: disrespect to the other people who've gone on in. He
Speaker 1: doesn't come out and just listen to everybody's speech. And
Speaker 1: I take that as that's how special you are and
Speaker 1: were to him. And then when you hear him say
Speaker 1: after he comes up, after you're done, this is great
Speaker 1: that Rodney's in the Patriots Hall of Fame and he
Speaker 1: deserves to be in there. But there's another hall of
Speaker 1: fame that Rodney should be in. What do you think
Speaker 1: of when you hear that? That's all I need. If
Speaker 1: Coach Belichick, the greatest coach ever coach and the most
Speaker 1: respected coach in National Football League, if he's looking at
Speaker 1: me and I know how truthful and honest he is,
Speaker 1: if he's saying that he feels like I deserve to
Speaker 1: be in a Hall of Fame, even if they don't
Speaker 1: vote me in a hall of fame, that's all I need.
Speaker 1: Because he knows he's coached the best coach's, greatest quarterback,
Speaker 1: coach of the greatest defensive player in Lawrence Taylor. He knows.
Speaker 1: If anybody knows, Coach Belichick knows. So regardless if they
Speaker 1: put me in or if they don't put me in,
Speaker 1: I'm okay because what Coach Belichick said, and he had
Speaker 1: a lot of other great defensive players in Canton. When
Speaker 1: Ty went in back in August, do you see maybe
Speaker 1: a little bit of a log GM. It's hey, maybe
Speaker 1: we finally got one of our guys over the hump.
Speaker 1: Maybe we can finally convince these guys no disrespect to
Speaker 1: the greatest coach and the greatest quarterback out there. But
Speaker 1: you can't. You couldn't play the game with just a
Speaker 1: coach and a quarterback. It takes a bunch of So
Speaker 1: you saw Seymour out there, You were out there, Willie
Speaker 1: were out there. I mean, that was a nice group
Speaker 1: that was out there representing to help out Ty, wasn't it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And that's what it's about. It's about supporting our brother,
Speaker 1: and ty Law deserved it. Like you know, I've seen
Speaker 1: a lot of corners over my years, and Ty was
Speaker 1: one of my favorites, and I got a chance. I
Speaker 1: was blessed to be able to play with Ty. I've
Speaker 1: seen his work, ethic and just his playing ability well deserved.
Speaker 1: And for us, it's not about self promoting. It's about
Speaker 1: it was about supporting Ty. If all those other things happen, fine,
Speaker 1: trust me. If I don't get in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: I've had an amazing career, I've had amazing life. You know,
Speaker 1: I got a chance to be able to come out
Speaker 1: here and form French with you guys. You know, I
Speaker 1: mean I've known you for what almost twenty years, you know,
Speaker 1: fifteen eighteen years or something like that. Those are the
Speaker 1: things that really matter to me, that stick with me.
Speaker 1: Those are the core values, being able to build friendships
Speaker 1: and relationships like that. It's not just about being in
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame. But I love to represent the
Speaker 1: Patriots in the Hall of Fame absolutely, because I do
Speaker 1: feel like I deserve it. I've worked my butt off,
Speaker 1: but it's beyond my control. I can't control it, so
Speaker 1: I don't worry about it. So when you look at
Speaker 1: coach Belichick, as you mentioned, the greatest Let's ever coached,
Speaker 1: do people ask you that when you're out doing your
Speaker 1: current job, do people ask about Coach Belichick? I'm always
Speaker 1: curious to know, obviously, I mean we're very biased here,
Speaker 1: probably right. What are people saying around the league When
Speaker 1: you talk to people and they ask you about coach
Speaker 1: it's Coach Belichick and everybody else. Everybody knows that. Everybody
Speaker 1: knows that, and the more you see it, you see
Speaker 1: it now, like think about this season, you think of it,
Speaker 1: like for the defense to be that special, to be
Speaker 1: that good, Like, it's coaching. It's I mean, nothing taken
Speaker 1: away from the players, great players, but to get to
Speaker 1: that next level, it's coaching. And I see I watched
Speaker 1: these games every Sunday, I come back and I watch
Speaker 1: him during the week. Again, it's some horrible coaches in
Speaker 1: the National Football League, and it's almost like the Patriots
Speaker 1: are cheating in the sense that they have such a
Speaker 1: smart coach. They're so well prepared. It's like having twelve guys.
Speaker 1: It really truly is. And that's the jealousy that it's
Speaker 1: permeated around the league. They can't be doing it on
Speaker 1: the up and up. There's got to be some other
Speaker 1: advantage because they can't be that much smarter, right, Think
Speaker 1: if Bill was in Cleveland, Cleveland would be really, really
Speaker 1: good with that talent those guys, I mean, think of
Speaker 1: him in a couple other places. He's he's special, man.
Speaker 1: I mean, like what you guys are seeing and you're
Speaker 1: not biased, he is special because I've seen that. I
Speaker 1: see a lot a bad coaching every single week. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to tap into your memory here then,
Speaker 1: because I'm really curious to look about about things that
Speaker 1: he might have said. Are things he does behind the
Speaker 1: scenes when you were a player that you remember that
Speaker 1: we would never know about. Well, I mean, like there's
Speaker 1: nothing for a coach to go and grab a couple
Speaker 1: of plays. You know, it could be the fourteenth game
Speaker 1: of the fourteenth week of the season. He'll go grab
Speaker 1: a play. Yeah, I remember this play showed up in
Speaker 1: week fourteen, but remember it was the same play that
Speaker 1: happened in week three against the Buffalo Bills. And it's like,
Speaker 1: how do you remember all this stuff? It's like he's
Speaker 1: constantly pulling plays and giving you advice and saying little things,
Speaker 1: asking you questions, picking your brains. But the cool part
Speaker 1: about coach Belichick, he's not a guy that sweats you like.
Speaker 1: He's not all over you like. He gives you freedom.
Speaker 1: If he knows you're a pro, he's gonna let you
Speaker 1: do your thing. Like Tyni, we used to switch and
Speaker 1: I used to play corner, used to play safety, and
Speaker 1: then you know, move around. He didn't care as long
Speaker 1: as I ended up. He trusted veteran players, and that's
Speaker 1: That's what I love most about him. He gave me freedom,
Speaker 1: So last one here for me, um, and we appreciate
Speaker 1: the time that you've taken with us. We started this
Speaker 1: talking about what it was like to be cut by
Speaker 1: a team, and now it's very evident to me that
Speaker 1: you came to another team and it's a family relationship.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine, you know, after all these years that
Speaker 1: when you come back here, you're still revered Rodney. Everybody
Speaker 1: says hi to you. Everybody in the building says hi
Speaker 1: to you. People respect you. Yes you're a Patriot's Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer, but people just love the fact that you're
Speaker 1: part of this very special family. Do you feel that
Speaker 1: I do feel that I do, and I think it's
Speaker 1: I think it's deeper than just football. I think my
Speaker 1: mom rest in peace. She's an amazing woman. I think
Speaker 1: she's done an amazing job with her kids, especially me
Speaker 1: because I was the youngest, so I had a lot
Speaker 1: of different challenges and she was there are always very supportive.
Speaker 1: She loved on me a lot, and she taught me,
Speaker 1: you know, what it was like to walk around with humility,
Speaker 1: with integrity and be respectful. And that's what I try
Speaker 1: to treat you guys. Every time I see you guys,
Speaker 1: I try to give you time. When we're doing radio
Speaker 1: hits back then, I'll always try to make myself available.
Speaker 1: Those are the things that people remember. What type of
Speaker 1: person you are, what type of heart you have, what
Speaker 1: type of character you have. It's not just about scoring
Speaker 1: touchdowns and interceptions and things like that. People remember those things,
Speaker 1: but they remember your character more so so. Roddy, we
Speaker 1: have I'm going to change gears a little bit on that.
Speaker 1: We have video running in the Hall of Fame. You're
Speaker 1: in your sling, confetti's falling and you say you're in tears,
Speaker 1: and you say, this is what it's all about. Matt
Speaker 1: and I were talking earlier about maybe what it felt
Speaker 1: like when you got that first ring, and I'm curious
Speaker 1: to know that night as a player, what was that like?
Speaker 1: It was, quite honestly, and don't take this as being disrespectful,
Speaker 1: and I'm just being one hundred percent real with you guys,
Speaker 1: but it was almost like an like a middle finger
Speaker 1: to everybody over all the years telling me he's too small,
Speaker 1: he's not gonna make it, coming out of high school,
Speaker 1: having your high school coach tell college recruiters. Oh, he
Speaker 1: can't play Division one, Division one football, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: Division two, maybe Division three. That's what that was. That
Speaker 1: was a middle finger to everybody, said leave me the
Speaker 1: hell alone. I know how to play this game. I've
Speaker 1: been playing this game since I was six years old.
Speaker 1: And then once I got past that that anger, that frustration,
Speaker 1: a little bitterness, then I was able to really appreciate
Speaker 1: it for what it was, you know, my opportunity to
Speaker 1: be able to talk to kids and reach other people
Speaker 1: by having such a you know, being named as a
Speaker 1: world champion, people take time to listen to you. Now,
Speaker 1: Oh wow, okay, So now I get a chance to
Speaker 1: talk to kids and young people and reach them, and
Speaker 1: just you know, I just try to do the right thing, man,
Speaker 1: try to use my position and to do the right thing.
Speaker 1: We're a very parochial area here. Everybody, you know, wants
Speaker 1: to hug everybody that's around here. But if we've never
Speaker 1: seen anybody who's come in from the outside who's maybe
Speaker 1: literally given the league a middle finger, and we've embraced
Speaker 1: that mentality. The New England people have embraced Rodney's mentality
Speaker 1: about the middle finger to the rest of the league.
Speaker 1: They've carried it. If you hate us, you ain't us.
Speaker 1: I got the sweatshirt in New England versus everybody, and
Speaker 1: very rarely has somebody from the outside come in and
Speaker 1: made the kind of impact that Rodney Harrison is in
Speaker 1: the entire Boston community. I can say that one is
Speaker 1: somebody who's a lifelong resident Patriots Hall of Famer Rodney Harrison,
Speaker 1: thank you for your time today. Thank you guys. I
Speaker 1: love the fans. I appreciate you guys, and thanks for
Speaker 1: having me. Thanks Rodney. Thank you for downloading this podcast.
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