Speaker 1: It's kind out for another episode of Pats from the Past,
Speaker 1: brought you by who but WB Nations. You're one stop
Speaker 1: shop for all your business needs. Matt Smith pleased to
Speaker 1: be joined with Brian Warrior, the executive director of the
Speaker 1: Patriot's Hall of Fame, presented by Raytheon and who better
Speaker 1: to talk Pats from the Past Brian than one of
Speaker 1: the members of the Patriots Hall of Fame. Number fifty
Speaker 1: seven on your scorecard, but number one in your heart,
Speaker 1: the great linebacker Steve Nelson Nelly, thanks for joining us all,
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me, Matt as good to see us
Speaker 1: always see. Nice to see you, Nice to see you.
Speaker 1: How's life? Tell everybody what you're doing right now, Steve?
Speaker 1: For Patriot fans who want to know what's Steve Nelson
Speaker 1: up to these days? Well, for the last last fifteen years,
Speaker 1: I've worked for Lighthouse Computer Services out of Lincoln, Rhode Island,
Speaker 1: and now we've kind of transitioned to Spyglass. We sold
Speaker 1: off our IBM part of the business last year and
Speaker 1: now we're kind of we're concentrating on our Microsoft business
Speaker 1: and we're a goal partner of Microsoft. Something Matt I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, I am not very technical. So every I'm
Speaker 1: in these meetings, I'm listening to acronyms, and there are
Speaker 1: all these acronyms going on. I'm trying to figure out
Speaker 1: what the acronym stands for. So by the time I
Speaker 1: kind of get like, if there's a five letter acronym,
Speaker 1: I got two of the letters. You know, they they
Speaker 1: you should have told you. That's a real generally a
Speaker 1: findable offense to have your phone on. But we'll let
Speaker 1: it go this time, first time defense. Yeah, so I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to figure out the acronyms. Anyways, And uh,
Speaker 1: but it's been really great, and UH met a lot
Speaker 1: of nice people. And I work for like I we're
Speaker 1: talking earlier, I worked for one of my best friends.
Speaker 1: So it's it's been very good. Do you like it?
Speaker 1: I do. I like interacting with the people what we
Speaker 1: And again there's no stress, there's no you know, I
Speaker 1: don't I don't have to make certain numbers and make
Speaker 1: certain phone calls or whatever. So you like this business
Speaker 1: better than the restaurant business you after you retired with
Speaker 1: bill en Ki that was a different deal. That was
Speaker 1: a different deal, Brian, that was that was interesting again
Speaker 1: and and it's it's not a business to get into
Speaker 1: if you've never been in a business before, because you know,
Speaker 1: obviously there's uh, you don't realize how many partners you
Speaker 1: have and you gotta make a number in that business.
Speaker 1: Yes you do, Doc and nellis Doc and Nelly's, but
Speaker 1: you don't realize that one of the bartenders is your
Speaker 1: silent partnering he silently takes money. You don't know that
Speaker 1: he did it. But again, that was fun too. That
Speaker 1: was that I got, uh, you know, I worked with
Speaker 1: billing Kitis and my old teammates, so that was cool.
Speaker 1: But no, gosh, no, don't no, I'm not not that
Speaker 1: I know. I meant the one thing, Matt, that that
Speaker 1: one thing I do remember, it was very uncomfortable, was
Speaker 1: when the orth Winders getting his group to buy the Patriots. Uh,
Speaker 1: we boycotted Budweiser than you know, as I just to
Speaker 1: get publicity. It wasn't you know, we weren't doing very well,
Speaker 1: so let's get some boot boots. You know, it was
Speaker 1: we're boycotting, you know. But ab and I happen to
Speaker 1: have a really good friend who ran the distributorship in
Speaker 1: Massachusetts and he'd done me a lot of favors and
Speaker 1: I felt awful. But I was like the minority minority owners,
Speaker 1: so I didn't make I wasn't making the calls and
Speaker 1: called me, I was were you doing? You know, you're
Speaker 1: talking bad about Budweiser now and stuff, and goes, no,
Speaker 1: it's not me, it's you know, it's my partner link,
Speaker 1: you know, and uh so it was very uncomfortable, but
Speaker 1: it was interesting. That's interesting. Tough to stay in business too.
Speaker 1: When the Patriots games you can't even show him. I
Speaker 1: blacked out. Absolutely. We used to sneak some feed in
Speaker 1: once in a while and then get a letter from
Speaker 1: the league saying, you know, what are you doing? But well,
Speaker 1: here's one that my guess is most Patriot fans who
Speaker 1: follow the team and everything probably don't know this about
Speaker 1: Steve Nelson. Let's start at the beginning, other than it's
Speaker 1: in North Dakota. Where is North Dakota State? And how
Speaker 1: do you get to New England Steve from North Dakota State? Like,
Speaker 1: that's not it's not George, it's not all of them.
Speaker 1: I'm surprised at such a well traveled guy you are.
Speaker 1: You have to ask that question. You know, North Dakota
Speaker 1: State when I was. When I was, you know, going
Speaker 1: to school there, we were the third largest nuclear power
Speaker 1: in the world. We had all those missiles pointed at
Speaker 1: Russia there. So if we were succeeded from the Union,
Speaker 1: you all would have known where North Dakota was. But uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It was the best decision I ever made.
Speaker 1: I grew up outside of Minneapolis, and I got recruited
Speaker 1: by Minnesota. And I had a kind of an incident
Speaker 1: at Minnesota during my recruiting trip that I really turned
Speaker 1: me off. You know, the coach basically called me a
Speaker 1: different name. And I'll tell you the whole story. He
Speaker 1: brought me in and sat me from him and his
Speaker 1: big desk he had, and he said, son, if you
Speaker 1: come to this school, we'll beat Ohio State, we'll beat Michigan,
Speaker 1: we'll go to the Rose Bowl. We'll be nationally ranked.
Speaker 1: And then he said, come here, I'm home. And take
Speaker 1: him down to the to the to the field. And
Speaker 1: we walked down the stadium steps and got down to
Speaker 1: the bottom and he said, can't you hear eighty thousand
Speaker 1: people channing, Go Pete, Go Pete. I said, coach, my
Speaker 1: name is Steve. He goes oh yes, right, go Steve,
Speaker 1: Go Steve. So I kind of figured out that I
Speaker 1: wasn't that really highly recruited guy he wanted. And I
Speaker 1: went to North Dakota State, which was the best thing
Speaker 1: I ever did. Great cult trip. I'm incredible culture that
Speaker 1: what that's a good decision, by the way, to not
Speaker 1: go to that school if they don't know who my
Speaker 1: name is, like probably given that speech to multiple people
Speaker 1: if you can't remember the name, right, right, So Steve,
Speaker 1: take us through your draft situation. Because back in nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy four, and while scouting was was a big deal.
Speaker 1: You know again, North Dakota State, my guesses, is not
Speaker 1: necessarily where you're going to find a lot of football players.
Speaker 1: So somebody had to dress some work on Steve Nelson, right,
Speaker 1: And they had they had a I don't know what
Speaker 1: they call them. They had calm. They didn't have combines,
Speaker 1: but they had they had a group of teams that
Speaker 1: would get together and share the scouting. So they had
Speaker 1: blessed Stow was yeah, yeah, And so they came around
Speaker 1: and they did all the physical things. They time you
Speaker 1: and you do some you know lifting, and do some
Speaker 1: you know footwork and all that stuff. Um, but I, uh, again,
Speaker 1: I played on really good teams and I had Ron
Speaker 1: Earhart with my my head football coach, and here when
Speaker 1: I was a sophomore, he said, you know, you've got
Speaker 1: a chance to be in the NFL. And coming from him,
Speaker 1: who I you know, man, I really respected. I took
Speaker 1: that to heart and I really kind of focused on
Speaker 1: not just graduating, but you know, giving it a shot.
Speaker 1: And I was very surprised that, you know, the Vikings
Speaker 1: brought me down during the fall because I had hurt
Speaker 1: my shoulder and they wanted to look at me and
Speaker 1: make sure the shoulder was all right, and they kind
Speaker 1: of they were a very good team at the time,
Speaker 1: and you know, one of the guys said, you know,
Speaker 1: we're thinking about making your first round raft choice and
Speaker 1: they were going to be drafting thirty second or thirty
Speaker 1: first or whatever. But that didn't happen. And then I
Speaker 1: got drafted by the Patriots, number thirty four and second round. Wow.
Speaker 1: So Fargo, North, Dakota Fargo his coach and really maybe
Speaker 1: your your benefactor for your mentor to say this guy
Speaker 1: can play in the NFL. That's pretty interesting. Who then,
Speaker 1: by the way, comes along and coaches you in the
Speaker 1: pros later on. So and it was a head coach here. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: So what I'm saying is there a bigger Steve Nelson
Speaker 1: fin maybe than Ron Earhart? Or was how instrumental was
Speaker 1: Ron Earhart making sure that Steve Nelson the man? It
Speaker 1: was huge, you know, and I'm you know, coach has
Speaker 1: passed away, and he was probably, outside my dad, the
Speaker 1: most significant coach I ever had. You know, I not
Speaker 1: even questioned about it. Wow wow. Through college and then
Speaker 1: you know with the early times with the Patriots, I
Speaker 1: know he had kind of change his style because you know,
Speaker 1: back in college he'd grabbed one of the running backs
Speaker 1: and kind of shake their you know, grabbed by the
Speaker 1: mask and shake their head and tripped him or whatever. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, when you're running backs are Sam Cunningham, you
Speaker 1: don't do that. So Ron had a kind of changes
Speaker 1: is a modus. But uh, yeah, he was a great
Speaker 1: coach and a great man, and obviously I'm very thankful
Speaker 1: for all the things he did for me. And Chuck
Speaker 1: Fairbanks hired him here, right, he did. And so what
Speaker 1: was it like playing for Chuck Fairbanks? Who really you know,
Speaker 1: Bill Parcels gets a lot of attention around here for
Speaker 1: sort of helping to change the culture in the early nineties.
Speaker 1: Chuck Fairbanks really did that here in the early seventies,
Speaker 1: absolutely absolutely, and I think, uh, I think coach Fairbanks, Uh,
Speaker 1: he he had a great coaching staff, and I kind of,
Speaker 1: I think, kind of showed all the players that, um,
Speaker 1: he was willing to have guys who knew more about
Speaker 1: positional play and you know, courting offense and defense than
Speaker 1: he did. And he wasn't at all intimidated by it.
Speaker 1: You know, he wanted guys around him who were smarter
Speaker 1: than he was. And uh, I think in this business
Speaker 1: that doesn't happen very often. You know, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: it shows you that that person is confident, absolutely right, right, yes, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And he he he didn't say a lot, you know,
Speaker 1: he wasn't a guy that would would say a lot
Speaker 1: of you know, have a lot of stories or you know,
Speaker 1: messages for us, but you knew who was in charge,
Speaker 1: and he, uh, you know, he made it known that
Speaker 1: he was the decision maker. And uh that's when back
Speaker 1: in seventy eight, when he decided to move on to
Speaker 1: Colorado and he came in and said, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: the head coach through the playoffs. We all knew that
Speaker 1: he was going to be gone, so he didn't have
Speaker 1: that same you know stick that he had before. You know,
Speaker 1: So it was you know, that was unfortunate, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: for for all of us players and and for all
Speaker 1: the coaches too, because you know, we had a good
Speaker 1: team at that time, We had home field advantage and
Speaker 1: first sure first playoff game, and just didn't get done.
Speaker 1: You know, a person on that staff I think I'm
Speaker 1: right on this, so please correct me if I'm not.
Speaker 1: But a person on that staff that Patriot fans today
Speaker 1: are very well aware of is Ernie Adams. Yes, right, Yes,
Speaker 1: What were your impressions, you know, as a player on
Speaker 1: that team with Ernie Adams, who was just a young
Speaker 1: kid back then, wasn't he he was? He was? Ernie
Speaker 1: was you know when you look at a bunch of
Speaker 1: guys and you look at one guy and you see
Speaker 1: him and he looks like he's out of place guy
Speaker 1: of Arnie. But Ernie was obviously Ernie. Uh. He brings
Speaker 1: a lot to coaching staff. And uh again I think
Speaker 1: it was because Fairbanks, you know, again, had that insight
Speaker 1: that he is going to make a difference down his
Speaker 1: staff that he got he got Ernie. So Ernie worked
Speaker 1: for Chuck, he worked for Bill Belichick, works for Bill Belichick.
Speaker 1: Can you compare? I know you haven't played for Bill Belichick,
Speaker 1: but he certainly brought some of those Chuck fairbanks defensive
Speaker 1: philosophies are part of Bill Belichick's defensive philosophies. Can you
Speaker 1: compare the two at all? Well, I think I have.
Speaker 1: You know, one thing Brian too, is they both they
Speaker 1: both were they had all decisions done personnel. You know,
Speaker 1: back then, Chuck was a GM as well as a
Speaker 1: head coach, and one thing he was really good at
Speaker 1: was finding players. You know, his first draft he got
Speaker 1: Hannah Cunningham, Darrell Stingley. You know, he really knew how
Speaker 1: to good good players, Stanley Raymond. Yeah, and I think Nelson.
Speaker 1: I think Belichick's like that too. You know, I think
Speaker 1: he's got a you knows X and os, but he
Speaker 1: also and I think Bill is much more. You know,
Speaker 1: he's so he takes a deep dive in the both
Speaker 1: sides of the ball. Where coach Fairbanks, you know, he
Speaker 1: ran the wishbone at OU and then he came up
Speaker 1: here and he hired you know, guys who run to
Speaker 1: install a professional offense and defense. So obviously their their
Speaker 1: backgrounds and everything else. You know, Bill was a background
Speaker 1: in pro football. You know, Chuck was a college coach.
Speaker 1: So it's it's different in that regard, but there's a
Speaker 1: lot of similarities on the way they put things together,
Speaker 1: how they formed their staffs, what they thought was important,
Speaker 1: and they're both very They rant like a business, you know,
Speaker 1: and that's what you got to do. As much as
Speaker 1: you'd like to, you know, develop friendships and relationships with players,
Speaker 1: it doesn't really work out well in the end because
Speaker 1: you know, they get players, their talents get reduced and
Speaker 1: everything else. You gotta make tough decisions. It ends for everybody, right,
Speaker 1: it ends for everybody. Yeah, absolutely, Steve, you rattled off
Speaker 1: a bunch of names. Um, Today's Patriot fans are spoiled.
Speaker 1: You know, they've seen six Super Bowl championships. They've seen
Speaker 1: some unbelievable teams, teams that really absolutely should have won
Speaker 1: the Super Bowls, and maybe some teams that caught people
Speaker 1: by surprise. But you rattled off some names. Hannah Stingley, Uh,
Speaker 1: see him, Cunningham, Raymond, Clayboy came that nineteen seventy six team.
Speaker 1: I can tell you as as a kid growing up
Speaker 1: in New England, always will have a special place in
Speaker 1: my heart. Can you tell the fans out there how
Speaker 1: loaded that team was and how good that was a team?
Speaker 1: What was the score when you beat Oakland at home
Speaker 1: that year in the regular season? I think it was
Speaker 1: forty six to ten, right, I know it was. That
Speaker 1: was that was a super super Bowl score right, by
Speaker 1: the way, yesterday was the anniversary of the Super Bowl game.
Speaker 1: We'll get to that January twenty six. But you you
Speaker 1: beat the bag out of the Raiders in the regular season,
Speaker 1: steve that team domination so right. I was at that game,
Speaker 1: by the way, I remember it as a kid. I
Speaker 1: was sitting in the end zone. Yes, And then we
Speaker 1: play him out there, and you know, they gotta they
Speaker 1: lost one game all year, right, and that that was
Speaker 1: a game they play against up us up here, and
Speaker 1: we went out there and we just matched up against him,
Speaker 1: and we just we just and we had Russ Francis,
Speaker 1: you know another guy. Yeah, you had Russ Francis, Leon Gray,
Speaker 1: John Hannah billing Kite. It's I mean, those are pretty
Speaker 1: that's pretty good side of the ball, absolutely know. And
Speaker 1: then again it was guys like Cunningham and Donnie Calhoun
Speaker 1: and Andy Johnson and so a lot of really great players. Um,
Speaker 1: but that was that was one of the things that
Speaker 1: that's ill. You know, there's not a lot, not a
Speaker 1: lot of things I remember about playing outside of my
Speaker 1: teammates and stuff like that, but that's one game that
Speaker 1: I'll always really regret the outcome up because it was
Speaker 1: not right. It was just, you know, it was an
Speaker 1: awful call at the worst time of the game. And
Speaker 1: uh thine third and nineteen third night in the game
Speaker 1: roughing the passer on Ray Hamiltons. Now, let me ask
Speaker 1: you a question. We call it the phantom roughing the passenger.
Speaker 1: When you do you ever watch that play if you
Speaker 1: watched it since, and do you think it would be
Speaker 1: roughing the pastor today? Yes, okay, absolutely be roughing the battle.
Speaker 1: He breathed on him. Yeah, he didn't get a hand
Speaker 1: to the head. But it wasn't like, oh no, it
Speaker 1: was inadvertent. It's kind of following through. Yeah, yeah, it
Speaker 1: wasn't it. It was like I'm trying to block the pass. Hey,
Speaker 1: you would you would play you play against that team,
Speaker 1: especially they were playing right, you know, when when the
Speaker 1: ball is shrown on one numbers on the other side,
Speaker 1: on the other hash mark I got like Tatum or
Speaker 1: Atkinson his clotheslining guy who's just running down the field.
Speaker 1: You know. So it was a different, you know, a
Speaker 1: whole different game back then. But that was tough. And again,
Speaker 1: I think when when I was on that team, I was,
Speaker 1: you know, it was my third year and we had
Speaker 1: you know, had Steve Grogan was a second year quarterback,
Speaker 1: and he had Rush France as a second year player,
Speaker 1: and and all and again all these great players, and
Speaker 1: he said, well, we'll get other shots. It didn't happen,
Speaker 1: you know, So it really that's that's what really kind
Speaker 1: of hurt. You mentioned Steve, Tatum and a and Brian.
Speaker 1: I didn't have this in my notes, but it's hard
Speaker 1: to talk about Tatum and Atkinson and not bring up
Speaker 1: the other person that Steve mentioned a little while ago.
Speaker 1: And you talk about tough things, Steve is seeing what
Speaker 1: happened to Darryl that that I think that was probably
Speaker 1: at the time, the most traumatic thing I ever went through.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, again, I've been very lucky in
Speaker 1: my life, you know, And but that ride we got on.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously we knew Daryl was severely hurt, and uh,
Speaker 1: it happened in the first half, and they got you know,
Speaker 1: we played the game and Coach Fairbanks he said, don't
Speaker 1: shake their hands. Get the locker room. I got to
Speaker 1: talk to you guys. So we just immediately ran into
Speaker 1: the locker room and he told us, how you know Daryl,
Speaker 1: you know, the first kind of prognosis of Daryl's situation,
Speaker 1: and he's Darrell's going to stay in the hospital obviously
Speaker 1: out there, and he's in the coaches I think he said,
Speaker 1: a couple of coaches are going to stay with him.
Speaker 1: And then we got on that plane flight you go
Speaker 1: from Oakland to Boston, which is for four and a
Speaker 1: half hours, and we got about Las Vegas and we
Speaker 1: had to turn around because of engine failer or something
Speaker 1: wrong with the plane. So now it was just more
Speaker 1: thinking about Darryl and I can I can never I'll
Speaker 1: never forget how quiet that plane. You know, no one
Speaker 1: was talking, I mean just it was just dead silence.
Speaker 1: Because Darrell was a great player, but he was a
Speaker 1: better person. He was just such a just a you know,
Speaker 1: a person. When he came into a room, y'all, you know,
Speaker 1: started smiling because you know he was, you know, going
Speaker 1: to be kind and nice and everything else, and and
Speaker 1: smart and great player and great athlete, um and great teammate.
Speaker 1: And it was just the worst thing that you can
Speaker 1: possibly imagine. And then what the family endured was you know,
Speaker 1: I couldn't imagine. You talked about roughing the pastor with
Speaker 1: Ray Hamilton, and you know, I sort of mentioned like
Speaker 1: how that would be been called in today's modern NFL.
Speaker 1: I mean for Patriot fans out there that aren't familiar
Speaker 1: with it, and you I'm not I'm not advocating to
Speaker 1: go and look at the video, but if you see
Speaker 1: what happened, um, I mean, that person would probably be
Speaker 1: incarcerated today, Steve, if something similar happened in today's game.
Speaker 1: As to what happened. That's how violent it was. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, and it was a preseason game, right, you know,
Speaker 1: and these two guys were veteran players, right, you know,
Speaker 1: you'd think he'd have a little expect for the other player.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, you don't, you don't, he
Speaker 1: doesn't see it comment and all that stuff. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that was you can't see that play at the Page's
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. Yeah, no, no no, no, no, no no, I'm
Speaker 1: talking about I'm talking about Stingley. Yeah, we don't have
Speaker 1: that play. It's it's here's a guy who had a
Speaker 1: phenomenal NFL career, you know, and it is talking about
Speaker 1: all the blessings that he has in life and no
Speaker 1: regrets or anything like that. And to this day, to
Speaker 1: hear that something like that, that Daryl Stingley, it stayed
Speaker 1: with him and affected that team. How could it not?
Speaker 1: Steve have affected that team absolutely absolutely? And you know, uh,
Speaker 1: when Daryl made his first U turn visit to the stadium,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember that played the Steelers
Speaker 1: on Monday Night football the next year and the wheelchair
Speaker 1: wave into the crowd and no, they would not stop
Speaker 1: cheering for him, right, and you know we're all saying,
Speaker 1: you know, cheer forever man this he deserves it, you know.
Speaker 1: And uh, but that was really um okay, he's what
Speaker 1: he how he turned his life around after that incident
Speaker 1: and and made such a positive impact and so many
Speaker 1: people is awesome. And I think it's I think the
Speaker 1: kid that plays else for else you now that his grandson.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the relation is, but I think
Speaker 1: it's a family relation. I think I googled it at
Speaker 1: one point during when I saw him playing, and I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's a relationship. He was like the number
Speaker 1: one cornerback coming out of high school. Yeah. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: the the disappointment of seventy six, and I don't want
Speaker 1: to say that it was a window closing, but if
Speaker 1: we look back in hindsight, maybe that's the case. You know,
Speaker 1: in seventy eight, were you floored that Chuck came in
Speaker 1: and was the team floor that Chuck came in and said, Hey,
Speaker 1: by the way, I'm going to Colorado? Yeah? That was
Speaker 1: that was that really divided the locker room too. I
Speaker 1: mean that was you know, guys who were kind of
Speaker 1: you know, uh supportive of coach Fairbanks and his decision
Speaker 1: to move on, and uh, you know, I guess there
Speaker 1: had been some type of button heads with the Sullivan's
Speaker 1: or something, I don't know, and then the players who
Speaker 1: were really uh you know, thought he was you know,
Speaker 1: walking out on us, and and so there's a real
Speaker 1: division in the locker room and uh and the Sullivan's
Speaker 1: they first of all, they suspended him and the last
Speaker 1: game of the year was a Monday night game in Miami,
Speaker 1: and that was you know, we had no head coach,
Speaker 1: and ron Erhart ran the offense and Hank Low ran
Speaker 1: the defense, and you know, we had two pregame speeches,
Speaker 1: but he was like an audition, you know, it was
Speaker 1: coming to the next coach. And then a half time
Speaker 1: we had two coaching making adjustments. And then so it's
Speaker 1: kind of a you know, you don't stend a chance
Speaker 1: against Houston, then Steve, do you? I mean, how do
Speaker 1: you get that team together ready to play? Yeah? Right, yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know, and I think if it would have
Speaker 1: been a more of a skill on skill game, you know,
Speaker 1: but they were you know, they were Earl Campbell run
Speaker 1: the ball thirty times, So it was more of a
Speaker 1: you had you had to be, you know, physically and
Speaker 1: mentally into it to play well against him. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it was tough to come over. But again, and and
Speaker 1: that's the one thing you learn, if you have an
Speaker 1: excuse to lose, you'll lose, you know. And and that's
Speaker 1: that's a lot of coaches don't want to have any
Speaker 1: excuses to lose because they know how players think, and
Speaker 1: that's your mentality sometimes and that one was put on
Speaker 1: a silver platyf for you guys. Basically yeah right, yeah.
Speaker 1: So then Ron Hairhart takes over you later play for
Speaker 1: Ron Meyer. Raymond Barry talk about the different head coaches
Speaker 1: that you had. You spoke about Ron Ron Earhart already
Speaker 1: Ron Meyer. You know, funny story. I was doing radio
Speaker 1: down in Providence and we had Ron Meyer on the
Speaker 1: radio and he was talking about Billy Sullivan and this
Speaker 1: is his words, not mine. He talked about lining up
Speaker 1: at his grave to piss on it. So that's the
Speaker 1: relationship he had with the owner at that time. I
Speaker 1: assumed that was after you got fired. Oh this was
Speaker 1: like two years ago, well after and coach Meyer's no
Speaker 1: longer with us, he was, and again it was it
Speaker 1: was yeah, I got I gotta tell one story though,
Speaker 1: that about that that Oakland Raider game, and uh we
Speaker 1: had Russ Francis was a tremendous athlete and he I
Speaker 1: think he what did Howard Coachell Collins chief he the
Speaker 1: uh all world all world tight end, a world all
Speaker 1: world tight end and was that legit? That was close?
Speaker 1: You know that caspern and you know they had another
Speaker 1: good ones round. But uh, he also I think was
Speaker 1: a national record holder of the javelins. Yes, so he
Speaker 1: could throw a football sixty five seventy yards in the air.
Speaker 1: And we had this little tight end reverse pass, you know.
Speaker 1: He had one receiver you know, kind of stockwalk and
Speaker 1: then run like a post. And Russ would get this
Speaker 1: tight end a round like and really sell it like
Speaker 1: a running play and just throw the ball as far
Speaker 1: as he could and then had you know, the receiver
Speaker 1: run under it. And I remember Russ runs to play
Speaker 1: and we all knew it was coming, and he hesitates,
Speaker 1: and then he really doesn't throw it. He kind of
Speaker 1: runs and tries to you know, tries to tries to
Speaker 1: act like a quarterback, you know, and he gets gets
Speaker 1: tackled and he comes off the field. It was a
Speaker 1: third down play and one of the coach goes, wait,
Speaker 1: what do you do when it? He goes, I was
Speaker 1: reading the coverage. That's that's Russ. That was Russ. You know,
Speaker 1: he was he was very serious. He took himself very seriously.
Speaker 1: A day later on broke his nose in the game
Speaker 1: and he came off the sidelines and Steve Zabel grabbed
Speaker 1: his knows that you know, you know, he shoved some
Speaker 1: cotton up his nose and kind of straight, and I
Speaker 1: wasn't get in there. We need you. Absolutely, and Russ
Speaker 1: grew up Patriot fans today understandably Rob Gronkowski going into
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame. Whenever his time goes, he'll go
Speaker 1: in in the first ballot. Everything like that was Russ
Speaker 1: Francis Rob Gronkowski before Gronk ever came around. The brute
Speaker 1: strength maybe that Gronk had, but wacky, yes, and unbelievably talented,
Speaker 1: right they had, They had their own deal. You mean,
Speaker 1: they were individuals. Um. I watched Gronkowski. I'm just amazed
Speaker 1: that a guy he just he just I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 1: That's a fine. Um. Listen, these new these new electronics
Speaker 1: kill me. But I think I think at the time
Speaker 1: there was no one like Gronkowski. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: he can rental seams and and just it just you know,
Speaker 1: and Russell was a lot like him. But I just there,
Speaker 1: you know, I'd take Gronkowski just from the mental aspect,
Speaker 1: and Russ didn't like to practice. Russ kind of has
Speaker 1: his own him. I love Russ, but Russ, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of did his way and he was a great talent.
Speaker 1: But Runkowski is just such a better player, I think
Speaker 1: my opinion, So foot to your side of the ball here,
Speaker 1: talk about tight ends. You were an inside linebacker in
Speaker 1: an era where the running game was certainly more prominent
Speaker 1: in the passing game, although that probably changed later in
Speaker 1: your career when Marino was was coming of age. Seventeen
Speaker 1: career interceptions, Now, what a player like you? And you
Speaker 1: know I was young, So forgive me here, what a
Speaker 1: player like you even be on the field for three
Speaker 1: downs today? And why why were you so able to
Speaker 1: be so effective in coverage because you're known as a
Speaker 1: run stopper. Two hundred and seven tackles nineteen eighty four,
Speaker 1: seventeen hundred and seventy six tackles in your career, but
Speaker 1: seventeen interceptions. Yeah, I to answer your question, No, I'd
Speaker 1: be like a one or two down player right now.
Speaker 1: And uh um, but I know most of my interceptions
Speaker 1: were in zone defenses. You know, I was not a
Speaker 1: great man and man cover guy. I that's again the
Speaker 1: way that the game has changed so much now, you know,
Speaker 1: they kind of just you got five eligible receivers and
Speaker 1: you try to spread them across the field and then
Speaker 1: run patterns that you know, the quarterback and read and
Speaker 1: and and then distribute the ball. So it was much
Speaker 1: different game, you know. And you look back at those
Speaker 1: those stat lines, Brian, it was like, you know, I
Speaker 1: played Joe Nate against Joe Namath, you know, thinking through
Speaker 1: the ball eleven times the first time he played against us.
Speaker 1: You know, these like six eleven for ninety four yards,
Speaker 1: and it was kind of a typical day, you know.
Speaker 1: And and when you saw that stat line, you realize
Speaker 1: how bad you got beat too, because all they do
Speaker 1: is run the ball um. So yeah, it's much different
Speaker 1: game now. And you know, I I like watching I
Speaker 1: really do enjoy watching and seeing the athletic abilities guys,
Speaker 1: But I don't think it's strategically like it was before
Speaker 1: when you had to step the running game, then you
Speaker 1: ran play action off that, and then you you know,
Speaker 1: you didn't all these personnel categories weren't you know, weren't
Speaker 1: like that back then. You may take a tight end
Speaker 1: off the field and put a wide receiver in, or
Speaker 1: you take a backup and put a wide receiver in,
Speaker 1: and it's not the five wides and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: Do you appreciate a team like San Francisco who sits
Speaker 1: here and goes, hey, we're averaging six yards of pop. Oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what, We're just going to continue to run it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can't stop it, then we're gonna run it, right.
Speaker 1: And I think they was an inside linebacker that you
Speaker 1: don't stop it. But if you can't stop it, we're
Speaker 1: just gonna run it down your throat right right, and
Speaker 1: you really break them. And I think that's what you
Speaker 1: saw against Uh, you know, and I don't know what
Speaker 1: the Packers were doing. You know, I thought for sure
Speaker 1: they stopped you know, make Garoppolo beach and uh. But yeah,
Speaker 1: back back in the day, it was much different. And
Speaker 1: you know, again, players you adapt. Obviously, you adapt because
Speaker 1: the college game has changed so much, and the pros
Speaker 1: have taken a lot from the college game too, so
Speaker 1: you kind of, you know, would adapt, I assume. But
Speaker 1: to answer the original question, I'd be a one or
Speaker 1: two down player. Is it just is it just that
Speaker 1: the game isn't as physical in that at the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage generally speaking? Today? I mean back when you're
Speaker 1: talking about teams routinely lined up and ran the ball.
Speaker 1: You're in nineteen seventy eighteen ran for three thousand, one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty six yards, a record that stood until
Speaker 1: this season when the Ravens broke it because their quarterback
Speaker 1: ran for over a thousand yards. But you knew that
Speaker 1: was coming, and yet sometimes you couldn't stop it. Is
Speaker 1: it just a matter of sometimes the other team, just
Speaker 1: as more physical breaks your will, breaks your spirit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think again it's you know, you back when
Speaker 1: I played, the emphasis was on being physical and running
Speaker 1: the football, establishing the running game. And you know in
Speaker 1: our conference, we in our division, we had you know O. J. Simpson,
Speaker 1: you know, you had a lot of marquee backs. And defensively,
Speaker 1: what you first thing you did, we practiced was defeating
Speaker 1: a block. You know, and in the offensive line instead
Speaker 1: of pass pro, they did run. They learn how to
Speaker 1: run a run block and you know, the different schemes
Speaker 1: run blocking, and that became a real priority. So I
Speaker 1: think when the priority from the offensive line went from
Speaker 1: running the ball to throwing the ball, I think the
Speaker 1: defensive priority kind of changed from you know, taking on
Speaker 1: a blocker and defeating a block to you know, kind
Speaker 1: of what happens when it was passed. Do I have
Speaker 1: a man it covers you. I have a zone. We
Speaker 1: know what do I do? So I think the kind
Speaker 1: of whole the whole change philosophically, of of of the offense.
Speaker 1: UM kind of just changed little thing. So we're you're
Speaker 1: listening to Pats from the Past podcast. Matt Smith, along
Speaker 1: with Brian Morin, were joined by Patriots Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: linebacker Steve Nelson. This podcast is brought you by who
Speaker 1: but WB Mason, who delivers all of your business essentials
Speaker 1: for free with no of a mortar, break room, furniture, facilities, maintenance,
Speaker 1: office applies, and so much more for the fastest delivery
Speaker 1: of business products. Nobody does it better than who but
Speaker 1: WB Mason. Okay, Steve my fault, I apologize. I bring
Speaker 1: up Darryl Stingley, I bring up the loss in seventy six,
Speaker 1: I bring up the lost in seventy eight. So let's
Speaker 1: talk about what I gotta believe failed restaurant. Um I
Speaker 1: gotta believe is no, no, not yet, not yet your
Speaker 1: happiest moment. And I see the picture of you standing
Speaker 1: on the sidelines looking up UM and saying New England,
Speaker 1: we love you. Squish the fish. Yeah, which up until
Speaker 1: two thousand and one was the greatest moment of New
Speaker 1: England Patriot fan had ever experienced. At that time. I
Speaker 1: talked about these things. You said, I regret we didn't
Speaker 1: win in Oakland, and you know, too bad about in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight. Can you describe how great it was
Speaker 1: squishing the fick, squishing the fish and breaking the Orange
Speaker 1: Bowl jinks that year in the act Piship game. Well,
Speaker 1: I think obviously it was. It was. It was the
Speaker 1: best team victory I've ever been associated with, and just
Speaker 1: from the history of it because we had never beat
Speaker 1: them down in in um Miami. Uh, you know how
Speaker 1: important the game was AFC Championship game And what was
Speaker 1: so cool about that it was a third game in
Speaker 1: the in the playoffs. We had beaten the Jets on
Speaker 1: the road. We then went out and played the Raiders
Speaker 1: out in Los Angeles and beat them, and then we
Speaker 1: came back and played them played the Dolphins. And I
Speaker 1: think because we were familiar with the Dolphins, and we're
Speaker 1: familiar with both really the Jets, you know, we played
Speaker 1: them twice year and the and the Raiders we played
Speaker 1: them also. Uh, you know, the familiarity really helped us.
Speaker 1: And uh, but the one thing I'll never forget was
Speaker 1: the crowd. Man. It was seemed like it was you know,
Speaker 1: fifty percent in New England was down there, and they
Speaker 1: were loud, and you know, they're going through the whole
Speaker 1: experience like we were. You know, the first time we
Speaker 1: were in an AFC championship game, you know, let's we win.
Speaker 1: This were in the Super Bowl and and uh so
Speaker 1: that was so kind of inspiring to me that so
Speaker 1: many people were down their cheerings on. And you know,
Speaker 1: again it was it was a game that we we
Speaker 1: just matched up well against that that team. You know,
Speaker 1: we didn't match up well against the Bears, but we
Speaker 1: matched up well against the Dolphins. Right. But you said,
Speaker 1: was a young kid when you're playing against so oh,
Speaker 1: you know this group, we'll get him again, right, We'll
Speaker 1: get him again. And on the flip side of that,
Speaker 1: you played against the guy who's a Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: quarterback named Dan Marino who had gone to the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl the year before in his rookie year or second
Speaker 1: year or something like that. And oh, Marino, he'll go back.
Speaker 1: It's gonna happen with him. We'll go back up you
Speaker 1: know a hundred times. And you guys stopped him in
Speaker 1: the ANC Championship game. The guy never goes back to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowls. I know, there's nothing guaranteed in this game.
Speaker 1: It's not and uh, you know that that's probably the
Speaker 1: greatest example of a guy who played early and then,
Speaker 1: like I said, he played another fifteen years with Duper
Speaker 1: and Clayton, you know, two great wide receivers and never
Speaker 1: had a chance to go back. And so it is
Speaker 1: very special. And that game was incredibly just incredibly cool
Speaker 1: because Raymond Claiborne played the best game I've ever seen
Speaker 1: in one player playing the game because he took Duper
Speaker 1: or Clayton, the guy who lined up on his side
Speaker 1: man for man all day long, and we just kind
Speaker 1: of pushed the defense towards the other receiver and kind
Speaker 1: of doubled everybody else. But but Raymond was on an
Speaker 1: island and just played incredibly well. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I I one really great debate, and I think if
Speaker 1: you talked to a bunch of teammates, they'd probably wouldn't
Speaker 1: know the answer to it. But you know was Mike
Speaker 1: Haine's a better corner than Raymond Claiborne. Wow, that's a
Speaker 1: big statement. Steve and I'd tell you I played, you know,
Speaker 1: I played again with him both, and they both were
Speaker 1: incredible athletes and everything else. Raymond Claiborne just didn't know
Speaker 1: how fast he was. I mean he was. He was
Speaker 1: as fast as he had to be. It's one of
Speaker 1: those guys that you know, his coverage, he would be
Speaker 1: like a rubber band. He'd you'd be five years off
Speaker 1: and when that ball was in the air, he would
Speaker 1: just that that you just collapsed on that wide receiver.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, they both were long, they were
Speaker 1: they were they were great man and man guys. They
Speaker 1: they they tackle. You know, I think Raymond Claiborne has
Speaker 1: the record for returns as touchdown returns to kickoff returns
Speaker 1: tied for the franchise league with interceptions. Yes, with Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame cornerback Ty Law. So that's pretty good company.
Speaker 1: Yes right, yeah, And so, Brian, that gives you an
Speaker 1: opportunity to then, I mean, today's Patriot fans no disrespect.
Speaker 1: You know, they don't know who Raymond Claiborne is. Yet
Speaker 1: three years ago, you know, when Claiborne was on the ballot,
Speaker 1: and tough competition with some of the recent guys you
Speaker 1: know who've played and won Super Bowls. You it was heartening,
Speaker 1: I would think for guys like you to see, you
Speaker 1: know what, the fans actually gave Raymond his due and
Speaker 1: realized that kid belongs in the Patriots Hall of Fan
Speaker 1: It is it is And uh, you know, I think
Speaker 1: you said it very well, Matt, because you know he
Speaker 1: does deserve to be in it. And when you have
Speaker 1: the success you had obviously with the team in the
Speaker 1: last twenty years, and players are retiring and they've have
Speaker 1: won three or four Super Bowls, they've been on three
Speaker 1: or four Super Bowl teams. Uh, that's that's quite a
Speaker 1: bit for your resume. And uh, it was good to
Speaker 1: see Raymond get his due because he I say, he played,
Speaker 1: I think he played fifteen years and we went to
Speaker 1: Cleveland for his last year, which you know it all
Speaker 1: this kind of looks weird when a guy plays his
Speaker 1: whole career one button with some team and then he
Speaker 1: might see me leading right now, that's gonna happen. What
Speaker 1: could you be talking about? He was talking about Stanley
Speaker 1: He was talking about Stanley Morgan going to Indianapolis, Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: or Joe Namath going to Chargers or no, the Rams.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's right, Yeah, yeah, O J. Simpson going to
Speaker 1: San Francisco. Do you remember that? Yes? I do? All right,
Speaker 1: so we good buy the joy of Miami. Let's talk
Speaker 1: about Super Bowl twenty You had beat you had lost
Speaker 1: to Chicago twenty to seven early in the year, Miami
Speaker 1: had dealt them their only loss of the season. And
Speaker 1: I think on Monday Night football right late in the year,
Speaker 1: did you guys feel like you had a real chance
Speaker 1: going into that game or was it We're gonna have
Speaker 1: to do something special here to beat this team. You know,
Speaker 1: I thought we had a real chance. Again. You know,
Speaker 1: we played him in Chicago twenty seven, and you know,
Speaker 1: defensively we played pretty good against them, and our offense
Speaker 1: didn't have a lot of things going on. But I
Speaker 1: thought if we got a couple of breaks, we could
Speaker 1: beat him, absolutely absolutely, And you know it's it's we couldn't.
Speaker 1: We couldn't kick field goals, we had any touchdowns, you know,
Speaker 1: all these little things that you have to do to win.
Speaker 1: We just didn't do it. We weren't, you know, capable
Speaker 1: of doing it that day. So that's why that first drive,
Speaker 1: that's why that first drive killed Ji Ball goes off
Speaker 1: Morgan's hands on either, you know, so you get to
Speaker 1: turn over on the first series of downs and hey, bang,
Speaker 1: we're in good field position here, let's go. Ball goes
Speaker 1: off Morgan's hands. I think that was first down. Lynn
Speaker 1: Dawson breaks on second down, yeah, you know, and then
Speaker 1: you incomplete flashed on throws down. All right, well, you
Speaker 1: kick a field goal and you're saying you can't kick
Speaker 1: field goals against this team. In fact, my my, my
Speaker 1: memory of that game, more than anything else is I
Speaker 1: don't is when we line up to kick the field goal.
Speaker 1: Tony Franklin with the barefoot kicks the field goal and
Speaker 1: they put up a stat on the screen like the
Speaker 1: team that scores first has one out of nineteen Super
Speaker 1: Bowls whatever the number was, and I was like, yes,
Speaker 1: you know, And then they scored forty six unanswered. Oh man,
Speaker 1: that that was a long day. It was. But my
Speaker 1: dad and my dad went down from Minnesota. He and
Speaker 1: my mom went down to watch the AFC Championship game
Speaker 1: in in Miami, and uh, he likes to put a
Speaker 1: little money on the game. So he said, what do
Speaker 1: you think, I said, Dad, you match up with Miami,
Speaker 1: you know, I can guarantee obviously you win, but it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a great bet, you know. So he wins
Speaker 1: a couple bucks. Two weeks later, we're in New Orleans.
Speaker 1: He goes, what do you think? I said, geez, dad,
Speaker 1: I think we match up with these guys pretty good.
Speaker 1: What are you gonna say'll make the bed? So Steve
Speaker 1: Hindsight's twenty twenty. The NFL is celebrating this year. You know,
Speaker 1: it's one hundredth the anniversary, and it's the best this,
Speaker 1: it's the best that. And they talk about best teams.
Speaker 1: You've got a pretty good perspective on this. You you know,
Speaker 1: we're talking about jeez, you're gonna talkbout forty six to
Speaker 1: ten that was the Super Bowl score? Are they the
Speaker 1: best team that you can think of that you played
Speaker 1: that eighty five Bears team? Uh? Probably they had the
Speaker 1: best defense, you know, and it's remarkable that they never
Speaker 1: won another Super Bowls. Yeah, you know, it's just crazy
Speaker 1: because that year they played I think the Rams in
Speaker 1: the playoffs and they just destroyed They destroyed everybody. But
Speaker 1: then the next year they come back and I think
Speaker 1: thy quarterback to one of their playoff games. In the
Speaker 1: next couple of years because McMahon was hurt, right really, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I you know, and um, it's a fragile it's the
Speaker 1: fragile nature of it, Steve. It's hard to keep it together.
Speaker 1: It's when you look at this team and see what
Speaker 1: they've been able to do for twenty years, it's just
Speaker 1: so remarkable because it's Richard Dent, it's um Otis Wilson,
Speaker 1: it's that defense, single Tarry. You know how many Hall
Speaker 1: of famers, NFL Hall of Famers, that defense? How do
Speaker 1: they not just come back and stifle everybody? You're right,
Speaker 1: I mean everybody wants to get paid. Everybody's the reason
Speaker 1: why we want it. You know, Buddy Ryan leaves, you know.
Speaker 1: And so it's just tough to keep it together for
Speaker 1: so long, right yeah. And you know Walter Payton, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know who incredible player, and uh yeah, it's uh,
Speaker 1: it is tough to repeat. And I think once you
Speaker 1: smell and get that success, you know, it becomes more difficult.
Speaker 1: But even back then though, there was no free agency, right,
Speaker 1: so it was actually easier to keep it together. I
Speaker 1: just wonder about does the attitude change. Is there some
Speaker 1: sort of do you lose a little bit of that, yeah,
Speaker 1: because you've won it and you and you get a
Speaker 1: little arrogant and cocky and maybe don't maybe you used
Speaker 1: to commit at six am and now you command at
Speaker 1: six thirty, right, that kind of thing, you know. So
Speaker 1: I don't want to leave the witness here, Steve. But
Speaker 1: you mentioned Walter Payton, who was the best player that
Speaker 1: you ever played against, the best runner I I played
Speaker 1: against with Earl Campbell, and you know, I I was
Speaker 1: you know, you know, we talked about our just our division.
Speaker 1: You had Old J. Simpson, you had John Riggins, you know,
Speaker 1: you had some really outstanding backs. But I think Earl
Speaker 1: Campbell for that three or four year window, you know,
Speaker 1: he was just something else. He was just he was.
Speaker 1: He took that team on his back literally and ran,
Speaker 1: you know, and and uh, you know, bum Phillips just
Speaker 1: give the ball to the Earl. And they had you know,
Speaker 1: Tim Wilson, Ice Wagon. Wilson was his lead back, and
Speaker 1: you know, you knew where they're going to go, you know,
Speaker 1: but it was just uh and we played him one
Speaker 1: time out here. I think it was it might have
Speaker 1: been the playoff game, might have been just a regular
Speaker 1: season game, but it was fourth and short, and you
Speaker 1: know they're you know, we're going to run, you know,
Speaker 1: Wilson's you know, they're in a kind of an eye
Speaker 1: offset eye, and Wilson's going they're going to run right
Speaker 1: behind Wilson and giving the ball to Campbell. And so
Speaker 1: I back up about four or f our yards. We're
Speaker 1: in short yards, and I said, I'm going to hit
Speaker 1: hit him right in the face this time, Campbell. And
Speaker 1: they had a wing on my side, and the wing
Speaker 1: went in motion and the safety went with him, and
Speaker 1: instead of going around that second layer of defense like
Speaker 1: you're supposed to do, he went in front of me
Speaker 1: and kind of hit my face mask and the ball
Speaker 1: was snapped kind of the same time, and I kind
Speaker 1: of readjusted, and here comes Campbell running at me full speed,
Speaker 1: and I go, oh god, And it's amazing how fast
Speaker 1: your mind can can think, because I said, this is
Speaker 1: going to beyond every highlight show ever. He's going to
Speaker 1: run right over me, you know. And luckily Tim Fox
Speaker 1: kind of came and hit both of us and we
Speaker 1: kind of kind of fell to the side because it
Speaker 1: would have been really ugly and embarrassing because he would
Speaker 1: have literally ran right over me. That I mean that's
Speaker 1: pretty high praise. Who's the best runner. And he's sitting
Speaker 1: here and he's talking about, you know, mentions Simpson. I
Speaker 1: mean O J. Simpson was a great, great NFL player.
Speaker 1: Yet he's talking Earl Campbell over O J. Simpson. That's
Speaker 1: that's pretty interesting insight there, Steve. Yeah, well, and you
Speaker 1: mentioned you know, so if he gets run over though,
Speaker 1: you become Brian Bosworth, right, exactly right, you know? And
Speaker 1: that was right? So was was Earl the best player
Speaker 1: you ever played against? Steve? Or as you're thinking about it,
Speaker 1: is there an offensive lineman that you think was a
Speaker 1: was a tougher matchup for you, or a better player
Speaker 1: or somebody like that that you can think of, you know,
Speaker 1: as far as best players that you ever played against, Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I would I would think in that short
Speaker 1: period of time, Campbell was the most most dominant player.
Speaker 1: You know, he was just and Pittsburgh had some players.
Speaker 1: I mean they had like seven or eight Hall of
Speaker 1: Famers on that team in the seventies. You know, they
Speaker 1: had he had three linebackers that all went in Hall,
Speaker 1: Andy Russell, Lambert and Ham. You know, he had Mel Blunt,
Speaker 1: did Frankel, Lynn Swan, John Stalwarth, Terry Bradshaw. You saw
Speaker 1: Mike Webster. You might have got Webster. How about that
Speaker 1: for draft class? That was my year that the Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: had Mike Webster. He was like a ninth rounder. Swan
Speaker 1: was the number one, Lambert was number two, Stalworth was
Speaker 1: number three. They had Donnie Shell just got into the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame? Did Donnie Shell get in the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame? And then I can't remember. I think who
Speaker 1: was in the centennial class. I think Donnie Shall might
Speaker 1: have just gotten in and that expanded Hall of Fame class.
Speaker 1: I'll let you look that up. Okay, So best player
Speaker 1: you played against, best player I'm not saying necessarily teammate,
Speaker 1: best player that you played with. John Hannah wasn't even hesitated. Nah,
Speaker 1: he just he was a special, special player and he
Speaker 1: Uh do you think today's Patriots fans have any appreciation
Speaker 1: Tom Brady is might be the greatest player, might be
Speaker 1: the greatest player that's ever played the game, and deservely
Speaker 1: gets all the accolades. But when you say John Hanna
Speaker 1: is the best player not named Tom Brady and Patriot's history, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a fair statement, isn't it. I think so, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, you can argue Gronkowski maybe at his position too,
Speaker 1: but but John was just such a you know, he
Speaker 1: had such an individual ability and then he was such
Speaker 1: a team player. And he, uh, he was. He was
Speaker 1: one of those guys that, you know, if he didn't
Speaker 1: play perfect, he thought he played bad, badly. He wanted
Speaker 1: to play the perfect game. His his goals were so
Speaker 1: much different than most of us, you know, he was
Speaker 1: and that's that's why he was such a different player
Speaker 1: than we were. But John was man. He was what
Speaker 1: was practiced like Steve against full speed, you know. Back
Speaker 1: then again when when when you running the ball again,
Speaker 1: you play a lot of nine on seven and you
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of guys on your roster, you know,
Speaker 1: you don't have any type of pup team or whatever.
Speaker 1: So you you're going against her once you know quite
Speaker 1: a bit, and it's all about timing, and so you
Speaker 1: gotta go full speed to get your timing down. And
Speaker 1: you know, when you got your taking on Cunningham and
Speaker 1: you're taking up John and you know, and Leon and
Speaker 1: all those guys this all day. And but John was special.
Speaker 1: John was just uh, he's just just the best the
Speaker 1: best player. I mean I've ever been around, having a
Speaker 1: goal against him in practice every single day. Did he
Speaker 1: make you a much better player because of that? Steve?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I used to get him mad too, Matt.
Speaker 1: I used to you know, old lay him. He'd come
Speaker 1: firing out, you know, I'd give him the old old
Speaker 1: lay and have him fall down. He'd yelled at me,
Speaker 1: and then I'd then I'd signal from some rookie to
Speaker 1: come in, you know, take my place, and he'd go
Speaker 1: in here and not knowing what was happening, and John
Speaker 1: would come off and just you know, nail him. And
Speaker 1: but yeah, it was he made that playing against that
Speaker 1: whole offensive line, that whole offensive line was was great.
Speaker 1: And you know they set a record obviously with the
Speaker 1: rushing yards. But yeah, it was good. So okay, so
Speaker 1: I think one guy who can block was Russ Francis. Yeah, Russ.
Speaker 1: We played We played the Cowboys one time and Henderson
Speaker 1: was there outside linebacker, was given Russ crap before the
Speaker 1: game and he's just, you know, I'm gonna chew you up, Francis,
Speaker 1: you pretty boy or whatever. Well, Russ went into the
Speaker 1: locker room and he got the tape with the rolls
Speaker 1: of tape him on and putting him foil. He wasn't
Speaker 1: a goon, but he put him on his fingers and
Speaker 1: take them all up and went out and just just chase.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you Henderson, you know, I wish he had
Speaker 1: never said a word, just been invisible because Russ is
Speaker 1: absolutely you know, played not like he usually played. You know,
Speaker 1: when the balls away from him, you'd give you wouldn't
Speaker 1: take the down, but Russ was. Russ filled his potential
Speaker 1: up that game and he was just incredible. Okay, So
Speaker 1: on that note, cold weather games up here in New England,
Speaker 1: do you play better if you don't wear sleeves? Like,
Speaker 1: what's why is it so tough to just not wear sleeves? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, I again where he came from, you know, Brian,
Speaker 1: it was it was that weather and you know around
Speaker 1: Halloween was we get snow. So it was uh. I
Speaker 1: was used to that and I didn't want to sew
Speaker 1: myself down either. This added stuff on me. But you
Speaker 1: told me a story once about a guard from Miami
Speaker 1: late in the season. Yes, share that with us, Ed Newman.
Speaker 1: He came out acting like he was. It was a
Speaker 1: tough it was a tough day. I don't know what
Speaker 1: the wind show was. But he came out. Uh no,
Speaker 1: it wasn't a John Smith game. Uh, but ed and
Speaker 1: he was as a good player and he came out
Speaker 1: and he didn't have any uh any you know this
Speaker 1: bare arms and he was big, and you know he
Speaker 1: he warms up and uh he goes into you know,
Speaker 1: before the game, comes out with sleeves on stuff because
Speaker 1: you know it was it was colder than he thought
Speaker 1: he wasn't he you know, he wasn't going to be
Speaker 1: make the statement that he thought he was gonna do. Yeah.
Speaker 1: That was. That was and that and that John Smith kickoff.
Speaker 1: That was a great game. Yeah, three points in a
Speaker 1: professional football game. I think it's the lowest total ever. Right.
Speaker 1: And another great memory is Steve Nelson as the as
Speaker 1: Mark Henderson is driving the little John deer out to
Speaker 1: clear the spot on the video, Nelson looks over and
Speaker 1: times fist like yes we got this. Yeah. Coach their
Speaker 1: home fuel advantage, right. So Nelly, you've decided, Um, you
Speaker 1: played your entire career here for the Patriots. You've decided
Speaker 1: to make your home and your families here in New England.
Speaker 1: You stayed in New England the whole time. I'm not
Speaker 1: here to bash the this, this group of people, but
Speaker 1: you mentioned briefly, you know, the Sullivan's. You look at
Speaker 1: what this franchise has become as you've lived your post
Speaker 1: football life right here in New England, do you get
Speaker 1: a little jealous? Maybe? Do you wish that the stability
Speaker 1: that exists with the franchise today had existed when you
Speaker 1: were playing for the Patriots back then? I wish we
Speaker 1: were getting the cash they're getting, right, you say again,
Speaker 1: I think I think for me it was it was
Speaker 1: a perfect perfect spot to land out of college. You know.
Speaker 1: It was, uh, the stadiums in Foxboro, which is you know,
Speaker 1: a suburban h For me, I felt more comfortable. And no,
Speaker 1: I the Sulivans were you know, they did the best
Speaker 1: they could and uh, you know, I gotta have the
Speaker 1: utmost respect for the family. Um, and it was good
Speaker 1: to see when when you know, the Craft bought the
Speaker 1: the the franchise that they had been fans at one
Speaker 1: time and so they had something invested, you know, just
Speaker 1: not capital, but they had kind of feelings invested. So UM, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't get jealous. Yeah, good good? Can you are
Speaker 1: you are you amazed at this franchise. Amazed, amazed at
Speaker 1: this franchise that you played with, and you talk about
Speaker 1: me and we went to the super Bowl, and you
Speaker 1: know how great the AC Championship Game is Miami, Like
Speaker 1: they went to the AC Championship Game, Steve, until this year,
Speaker 1: eight straight years. It doesn't happen in this does it.
Speaker 1: So are you amazed at the success that the that
Speaker 1: this organization that you laid the groundwork for. By the way,
Speaker 1: you're part of the foundation. You're why the Crafts bought
Speaker 1: the team, because you know, if it wasn't for guys
Speaker 1: like Steve Nelson and Steve Grogan and see him Cunningham,
Speaker 1: there's no Patriot's asset that Bob Kraft wants to buy.
Speaker 1: You're you're the reality of why he wanted to buy that.
Speaker 1: And now look at what they've done, taken that foundation
Speaker 1: and built it what it is into today. Well yeah,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate that. I think, Um, you know this, Frank, No,
Speaker 1: no team's going to see that. That's you know, score
Speaker 1: of years, twenty years that the Patriots have enjoyed and um,
Speaker 1: you know it's it comes when the coach was there, Kim.
Speaker 1: You know coming in in a player and the you know,
Speaker 1: the debate which which guy is more important? And I
Speaker 1: personally think they compliment each other, you know, that's I
Speaker 1: don't think there's one guy more important. But yeah, this
Speaker 1: our area is so spoiled with all the sports teams.
Speaker 1: And again it was you know, I got some buddies
Speaker 1: back in Minnesota and I call him Loserville because they're
Speaker 1: the last major franchise, major city that has four franchises
Speaker 1: to win a championship, you know. And I'm talking about
Speaker 1: the you know, the six times, the last twenty years
Speaker 1: of Patriots and one the you know, the Red Sox
Speaker 1: their success, the Celtics and Bruins, you know back there,
Speaker 1: the Twins and Vikings and that's not the North Stars,
Speaker 1: a wild now and Wolves. They haven't won it since
Speaker 1: the eighties. So maybe I asked a question wrong. I
Speaker 1: asked you, if you're jealous that you didn't have the
Speaker 1: stability when you played, um, are you prideful, Steve that
Speaker 1: this team that you put so much sweat equity into
Speaker 1: has now turned itself into And you could say, you
Speaker 1: know what, I played for that franchise and I'm proud
Speaker 1: to have played for it. Then and I'm proud to
Speaker 1: see what they've developed into today. Oh absolutely, yeah, I was.
Speaker 1: I was always proud to be part of, you know,
Speaker 1: the Patriot family. And uh I I've just amazed at
Speaker 1: these players and you know, their ability to come up
Speaker 1: weekend and week out, and when you're in a you know,
Speaker 1: a single elimination tournament which the playoffs are, you know,
Speaker 1: the success they've had and you know, not having a
Speaker 1: bad day and you know, like like the Ravens had
Speaker 1: this year, you know, just shows you how just zeroed
Speaker 1: in they are and how well they're coached, and the
Speaker 1: commitment on the players. But yeah, it's it's it's been great.
Speaker 1: And Steve, you know, we we love still having you around.
Speaker 1: You come over to the Hall of Fame quite a bit.
Speaker 1: How does it make you feel that the fans still
Speaker 1: come out and really appreciate what you did as a player,
Speaker 1: even though today's team has all the success as a
Speaker 1: team that had had. Well, I think that it tells
Speaker 1: me how how educated the fans are. I mean they
Speaker 1: you know, they know what happened in the seventies and eighties.
Speaker 1: You know about Parcels coming in the nineties, they know
Speaker 1: Pete Carroll they know everything had happened, and you know,
Speaker 1: I think they're really educated fans. And I think for
Speaker 1: a while he kind of got a bad rap about
Speaker 1: but being football fans being new in New England because
Speaker 1: I and I think because the success of the Red
Speaker 1: Sox and you know, they had right right and uh,
Speaker 1: but they got really good football fans out here, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it was a great place for me to land.
Speaker 1: And uh, I'm just so grateful as I was able
Speaker 1: to go in, come in as a patriot, and go
Speaker 1: out as a patriot, and uh that worked out for me.
Speaker 1: Do you get it? Do you get it daily? Do
Speaker 1: you get it weekly? Where you're running into whatever you're
Speaker 1: doing as far as business concern if you're going to
Speaker 1: the store, you're going out to eat, Hey that's Steve
Speaker 1: Nelson once in a while, Yeah it's number fifty seven. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Do you like it? I do? I do? I do?
Speaker 1: And uh, yeah, it's you know, it's kind of fun
Speaker 1: to be recognized once in a while. And when the
Speaker 1: NFL networked did the top ten Patriots of all time
Speaker 1: a couple of years back, you were number eight, I
Speaker 1: had to feel good. Yeah I did, you know, And
Speaker 1: again I don't. I don't really care you know about
Speaker 1: you know, because it's all personal opinions and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: you know, so it's you know, I no control over
Speaker 1: you know, but uh and and it's it's it's yeah,
Speaker 1: just to be included in that group is I'm very
Speaker 1: proud of that. But again it was you know, people's opinions.
Speaker 1: So patriot fans go to YouTube look for number fifty
Speaker 1: seven right in the middle of the field. Not only
Speaker 1: is in the Patriot's Hall of Fame, but he's probably
Speaker 1: one of the classiest players to ever wear a Patriot's uniform,
Speaker 1: one of the best guys to ever run through this franchise. Steve,
Speaker 1: it was a pleasure talking football with you today. Thanks.
Speaker 1: And you know, when I was transitioning out of this
Speaker 1: game and doing some stuff for Channel five with you
Speaker 1: and Lynchy, that was really special for me. You know,
Speaker 1: you really not only professional, but you're just a good
Speaker 1: classy guy. And Brian YouTube you just the way. You know,
Speaker 1: you've taken the hall and made it what it is.
Speaker 1: It's you should be very proud of yourselves and and
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. You're kind. But how great is
Speaker 1: it that we can sit here and just talk football
Speaker 1: with one of the greatest players to ever be in
Speaker 1: this franchise. Nobody's luckier than us, right, nobody's luckier the
Speaker 1: next Steve Best. De Wish is going forward. Thanks to you,
Speaker 1: all right, Thank you for downloading this podcast. Subscribe on Apple,
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