WEBVTT - Pats from the Past: Episode 32, Ernie Adams 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:10.200 It's time now for another episode of Pats from the 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:13.200 Past podcast. I'm Natt Smith alongside with Paul Perrillo when 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:17.040 we're pleased today to be joined by Ernie Adams, who 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:20.439 spans many years here in the Patriots Organization. Ernie, how 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:21.760 are you doing today? And thanks for joining us. 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:23.919 I'm great and it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you. 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:27.400 It's a good get for Matt. It was stepping up 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:29.319 our client. Tell a little bit here, Matt, I. 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:32.080 Think most Patriot fans please tell me if you disagree. 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:36.120 Probably I'll know that Ernie's now retired, which is at 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:38.920 once a very sad day for the Patriots Organization because 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:41.479 of all the success he's helped be a part of, 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.320 but probably a great day for Ernie and his family. 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:46.239 How do you enjoy retirement? 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:52.239 Every day is great? Ah, I'm in total control of 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:55.360 my time and that's uh. You know, it's sixty nine 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:56.960 years old. That's a great place to be. 0:00:57.200 --> 0:00:58.240 Did you ever was it? 0:00:58.600 --> 0:00:58.680 Like? 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:01.600 It amazed to me some people. I'm going to work 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:05.640 until you know whenever? Was retirement something that you did 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:07.640 you think about that as you were working? Like, you 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:09.520 know what one day I think I would like to 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:11.959 slow down and and see some things that I never 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:13.160 or do some things I never had. 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:15.760 A chance to do well. Probably over the last couple 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:18.160 of years, I knew I knew it was going to come. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.720 Dying at the office was never part of the plan. 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:24.880 Uh So it's it felt like the right time. 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:27.880 For Patriots fans who don't know Ernie's a would you 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:30.720 would you classify yourself as a voracious reader? 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:32.880 That's probably a fair assessment. 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.560 Yes, what are you reading now that you would recommend 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:37.680 to Patriot fans that you enjoy that you're enjoying? 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:45.560 Mean, oh boy, that's uh for Patriots fans that they 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:53.760 would really enjoy. Uh. Read a great book about Maynard Keynes. Uh. 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:59.400 Author's last name is O'Toole. I think I have to 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:06.800 get the title Time of Peace. Great great book about 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:10.919 how economics or a social phenomenon, not a hard science 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.000 that that might be at the top of my timely topic. 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:17.839 Very timely capulated. 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:19.000 I love it. 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:21.680 Yeah, yeah, I wanted to ask you, you know, when 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:24.680 Matt was talking about the retirement stuff, just what was 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:27.440 what was the season like for you last year? Sort 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:28.720 of you know, what did you do on a typical 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:31.680 NFL Sunday. Were you watching intently or were you doing 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:33.480 apple picking? You know with the fan. 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:39.600 So I watched. I certainly watched Patriots games. And if 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:42.840 there were teams that were interesting to me, uh, you know, 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:45.760 then then I would watch them. I did not sit 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:50.960 there glued watching you know, every uh every game that 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:51.400 came on. 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:54.400 Well, players will say that when they see the games 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:56.880 or it gets to be training camp, those that have retired, 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.400 that there's an itch that comes back. Did you ever 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.760 have an inch or was there was had that been scratched? 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:05.119 Pm I would say, I would say it's the itch 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:10.680 had been scratched. I mean it's game days. The is 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:14.680 the fun time, uh, you know, driving home on Tuesday nights, 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:17.320 worrying about heitting a deer out on nine nine five. 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.640 That's don't get Matt going on that. He's that's one 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:22.359 of his hat irrational fears. 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:28.040 Right, there are deer out there, I know, right, right. 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:32.040 So this is a fascinating career that you've had, Ernie, 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:36.400 as a younger person, what sparked was it, can you 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:40.120 think of one thing where that ignition sort of happened? 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:42.160 And you said, man, I'm really interested in this In 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:43.000 the game of football. 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:46.400 Sure it was when I was an eighth eighth grader 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:52.480 at Dexter School in Brookline. Uh, football was mandatory intramurro, 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:56.000 so there was no no choice. I want to play football, 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:57.600 I don't. If you're at Dexter School, you're going to 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:01.080 play football. And I was the athletic director there. George 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:03.560 Downple was just a wonderful human being, and I had 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:05.440 also why don't we do this? Why don't we do that? 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:07.840 And he finally said, look, you're so smart. You coach 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:10.120 your team. We'll see how you do. And that's where 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:10.720 it started. 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:14.080 Did you envision at that point in time, was that 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:16.000 this is this is a real love? 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:18.520 Oh? I knew, Hey, this is this is a lot 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:20.480 of fun. And it grew from there. 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:23.400 Okay, so you were really into it, and then you know, 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:26.880 you do your your high school and you meet another 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:28.720 guy who's really into it. How long did it take 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:32.040 you to realize? Bill Belichick was pretty similar. 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:37.839 In his thoughts. Probably about a minute. So of course 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:41.000 weeh we met fall of nineteen seventy. We were both 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:46.000 sior seniors at Phillips Academy in Andover. We played on 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:49.480 an undefeated football team and we had a great time together, 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:54.160 and it was It's basically started a fifty plus year 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:55.600 conversation about football. 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:57.680 Was it mapped out? Did you guys sort of say 0:04:57.680 --> 0:04:59.719 this is this is where we want to go, and 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:01.400 this how we might get there. 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:05.480 We both knew we really enjoyed football. I can't say 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.200 that we're eighteen. We had, you know, every step of 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:14.440 the way mapped out, but things went from went from there. 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:18.599 And so how did that happen maybe or increase the 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:22.520 likelihood or maybe increased your love of the game When 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:24.080 you were at Northwestern. 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:29.120 Well, I was, of course it was Bill's Bill's dad, 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.880 Steve made an introduction to me at Northwestern and that 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:36.640 worked great. And then when I finished at Northwestern, I 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:41.200 came June of nineteen seventy five, I had an interview 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:45.080 with Chuck Fairbanks about joining his staff. And what really 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:48.120 worked for me was that Check had been coach at 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.520 the University of Oklahoma. He was used to having graduate 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.880 assistants and there's young coaches who did all the lot 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:58.200 of the grunt work, so he was it was kind 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:00.600 of no risk for Chuck. It was it was a 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.480 tryout basis. He said, look, if this goes well, great, 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:09.039 if not, I'll let you go. So about I came 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:12.080 in and interviewed with Chuck on a Monday, and I 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:17.560 had a conversation probably a day or two after with Bill, 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:20.479 with Bill Belichick when he just graduated from Wesley, and 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:22.800 told him what I was doing, and he said, you know, 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:25.440 that sounds like a pretty good place to be in 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:28.240 the NFL instead of going to college. So he went 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:34.000 in shortly thereafter and talked to Ted Marsha brought at 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:36.560 the Colts and that's where he started at the Colts. 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.160 I think people like Paul and myself look at what 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:42.400 the NFL is today. It's just mega monster and everything 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:45.480 like that. But can you talk about like the job 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:47.960 interview in nineteen seventy five for the New England Patriots 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:49.880 in the NFL. Yeah, we think of the NFL as 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:52.240 this big deal. I'm not saying it wasn't a big 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:54.960 deal in nineteen seventy five. That's still the highest league. 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:58.560 But what was that like like in nineteen seventy five, Ernie, 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:00.640 We like getting your introduction of the NFL. 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:04.520 Well, I mean, I Chuck Fairbanks was just a wonderful 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:08.400 person to work with, and that was that that was 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:11.560 a big deal. Of course, the league was was much 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:16.480 smaller if in fact, if you remember in nineteen seventy five, 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.480 the Patriots was still a publicly traded company. You could 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.560 go to the Boston Stock Exchange and buy a sheriff 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:28.560 to England Patriots. Well, one of the uh the results 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.160 of that was as a publicly traded company, the Patriots 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:35.200 had to publish every year their complete financial statements, which 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:38.920 I have a copy of their last annual report and 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:42.559 I gave I gave a copy of that Robert Kraft. 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:47.880 I said, now, don't laugh when you look up. I mean, 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:49.720 it was, you know, it was, it was the National 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:51.760 Football League, but it was so much it was it 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:55.160 was smaller than it was, and that was obviously right. 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:57.640 And you know, Matt and I are, you know, of 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:00.760 similar age, and we have a sort of affection. Would 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.760 you say for those teams seventy six, seventy seven, you know, 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:06.600 that era of Patriots football was when we were kids 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.200 and we were really really getting into it. And I'm 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:11.800 just curious your thoughts on just how good you know, 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:14.960 you mentioned Chuck Fairbanks, the talent that he brought here, 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:17.880 how good some of those teams were that maybe kind 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.360 of forgotten because of all the success you and Bill 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:20.720 have had. 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.800 Well, of course, I was with the Patriots then for 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:29.040 four years, from nineteen seventy five through seventy eight. The 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:32.440 nineteen seventy five, the year before I got here. In 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:35.040 seventy four, the Patriots, if you remember, had started six 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:38.560 and one and then and ended one and then one 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:42.000 and six, sources seven and seven overall record. And then 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:45.920 in seventy five we had our team went on strike 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:49.720 the day before the last preseason game with the Jets. 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:54.600 So we were, may may seem most strange, we were 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:58.080 playing the Jets in the last preseason game playing in 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:00.000 the It was that game was going to be play 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:03.480 in the Yale Bowl. So we had a usual Saturday 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.920 morning workout and we had lunch in the old Stadium 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:13.240 club over with the Schaeffer Stadium. The players, after lunch 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:16.760 decided to go to go out on strike, and they 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:19.280 didn't come back till I think Wednesday of the following 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:21.640 week of the open over the Ears. But that that 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:28.880 really cast a a pall over the over the whole season. 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:32.560 And then of course, you know, Jim Plunkett heard his 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:36.360 shoulder and so we went, Yeah, that gave Steve Grogan 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:38.560 a chance to play with the rookie. So the first year, 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.720 you know, three eleven, that was a real disappointment. But 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:45.160 the next year coming back, of course, we went eleven 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.520 and three in the regular season. I probably remember the 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:50.840 Oakland Raiders won the Super Bowl that year. Well, in 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:53.440 the they were thirteen and one in the regular season. 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:55.880 That one loss was when we beat them. I think 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:58.120 it was like forty eight to fourteen. 0:09:58.520 --> 0:09:59.280 I was at that game. 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:01.000 I remember, I'm going to go seventeen. 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:02.960 It was a blower, it was. 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:07.320 It was a blowout, complete blowout. Yeah. And then of 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:13.319 course we played them in the the infamous Divisional playoff 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:16.800 game where we had them third. You know, we've got 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:19.040 we had a lead, had them third and eighteen. They 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:22.200 throw an incomplete passion. Ray Hamilton gets called for roughing 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:26.400 the passer. Let's say, probably a bit of a marginal call, 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:31.360 you know. When they went on to you know, to 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.160 beat us right at the animals, Stable kept the ball 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:36.640 winning for the winning touch up. But that was my 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:40.240 point is that in seventy six, I mean, we were 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:44.520 we were a championship caliber team, even though you know 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:48.440 we didn't win. Most seasons still end up being, you know, 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:51.560 two or three teams playing at the towards the end 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:54.120 of the season that really have a legitimate chance to win, 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:56.080 and we were one of them. 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:58.920 A lot of players and a lot of coaches. It's 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:04.000 not necessarily the wins that they enjoy reminiscing about. It's 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:08.000 those losses that they can't get over. And easy for 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:10.120 me to say this, but I wonder does that loss 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.559 bug you because you had beaten Pittsburgh already in the 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:15.680 regular season that year in Pittsburgh, by the way, in 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:18.800 no disrespect to Minnesota, but Minnesota wasn't in the same 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:22.760 class that one. You know, I think you can make 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:26.160 a really legitimate argument that that call doesn't get made. 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:28.800 You beat the Steelers and you beat the NFC representative 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:31.000 I was, you. 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:33.400 Know, I'm all presidents. I think that would have happened. 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.480 I mean, the two best teams in the league that 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:38.640 year with the Patriots and the Raiders, and they you know, 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.560 they came out on the long end of the score, 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:46.199 but I mean we were You hate seeing a game 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:51.040 really come down to, uh, you know, to a call, 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:51.760 but it did. 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:54.439 You know, how do you you look back at those 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:57.559 it's so different, you know, the way you guys played 0:11:57.600 --> 0:11:59.920 with all of the running and the record you guys 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.560 ended up setting in seventy eight for the all time 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:06.240 rushing team stat And then you look at the way 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:09.160 the game is played, you know now you know. 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:12.000 Just can you well right, it's become much more of 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:14.480 a passing league. But I will point out you got 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:18.480 a really good team, the Baltimore Ravens, Yeah, who feature 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.640 you know, feature the running game. Uh, And they're a 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:24.360 little bit similar to what we were because we had 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:28.640 I think in seventy six, Steve Grogan probably had close 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.280 to five hundred yards rushing. So it wasn't just the 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.240 running backs who were who were making a lot of 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:37.440 the yards. It was the quarterback as well. And we were, 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:41.560 you know, we we were committed. We were committed to 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:45.400 being a running football team. Although we go when we 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:52.160 had you know, players like Darryl Stingley, Rush Francis, you know, 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:54.559 and Steve a quarterback. When we you know, when we 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.160 needed to throw the ball, we could. I mean you 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:01.679 mentioned beating the being the steel in three rivers. I 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:07.040 mean we were down, we were down twenty to nine. 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:09.839 We hit fourth and one hit Russ Francis on a 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:12.840 fifty five yard pass. Then we hit Darryl Stingley on 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.319 a big on a big play. So I mean we 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:20.480 had you know, we had players who are very good 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:22.800 passing the ball, but it was we were definitely a 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:24.400 running team first. 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:28.160 Uh you probably my guess is this is maybe it's 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:29.640 wrong and that I should say it this way. Probably 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.440 not a big fan of nicknames per se, but I'm 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:35.600 sure you were aware in the day Cosell and calling 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:39.319 Francis all world. Patriot fans today have no idea who 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.200 Russ Francis is. They can't remember him anything like that. 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:44.760 My words here, I'd like to say that I think 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:47.760 it was Gronk before Gronk. Is that a fair Is 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:48.839 that a fair statement to make? 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:52.680 I mean the big difference, the biggest difference between Russ 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:56.400 Francis and Rob Gronkowski is that Rob played on a 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.199 passing team with a Hall of Fame quarterback. I mean, 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:01.680 Rush was you know, we were more of a running team. 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.000 He was a like Rob was a devastating blocker on 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:09.319 the edge. Rushhead, you know, great athletic ability, great hands. 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:12.120 He When you talk, what do you want for a 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:14.680 tight end? What do you think of rush Francis, Rob Gronkowski. 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:16.319 I have no problem putting them in the. 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.280 Same that's heady category right. 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:21.600 In the big plays. Like you know, there was a 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:24.840 couple of years, you know, before all of these modern 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:26.640 guys started being eligible for the Hall of Fame. And 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:29.680 we're in our meetings. I've nominated Russ Francis a couple 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.600 of times. I mean, averaging like sixteen yards of catch, right, 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.440 I mean, and I'm just an insane total for a 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:38.360 tight end, especially in that era, as Ernie said, with 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:41.600 such a running team, really could I mean, I know 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.320 Howard Cosell always said it. He has his little pithy 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:47.120 little phrases, but there's my old world tight end, that's 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:47.640 what he was. 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:53.000 He could do it all, no question. I mean, we 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.440 you know, are probably our featured player was running the 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:58.760 ball off tackle. I mean we had Rush Francis doubling down, 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:02.400 a double team, Sam Cunningham kicking out and John Hannah 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:06.320 leading and we're good backs, but they just had, you know, 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:08.680 realistic at the back, just had to get the ball followed. 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:13.920 Job, right, Ernie, Because you know, you've your career has 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:18.320 spended so much time and the game has chased so 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:19.480 much I'm interested in one. 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:21.400 You mean half a centuries a long time. 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:25.560 There's a long time when you're sitting in meetings and 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.120 in that seventies team, and you guys are sitting down, 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:33.280 can you recall a player, a couple of players. Will 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:35.160 you guys sit around as you're trying to game plan 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:38.080 and go, this guy's a game wrecker. I don't know 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:40.120 how we're going to be able to tend with him. 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:43.800 Who's the guy that caused coaching your coaching staff fits 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:45.080 back in that day? 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:50.880 Oh boy? Well ahead, Uh you could say our last 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:54.720 year in seventy eight playing in the Houston Oilers, Earl Campbell. 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:59.640 Uh No, that he was a was a game wrecker. 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:03.600 I mean my first year in nineteen seventy five going 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.320 out to play the Bengals had Isaac Curtis wide receiver 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:09.120 with Kenny Anderson throwing him the ball. I mean we 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:12.360 geared a lot of things to stopping to stopping him. 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:15.240 You play the Raiders, I mean he had now Dave 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:18.240 Casper was another tight end who was a real problem 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:25.080 to play against. I mean those there were you know 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:27.640 we played the Steelers you mentioned beat We beat him 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:30.480 in seventy six. I mean they had Stan and Lynn 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:33.600 Swann and John Stalwarth at wide receiver, and of course 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:36.600 the defense. I mean you got Jack Ham, Joe Green, 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:42.560 Jack Lambert, Andy Russell was the third linebacker who would 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:46.640 be he would be a legitimate Hall of Fame candidate, 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:50.360 with you know, Blunt and Mike Wagner in the secondary. 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:51.960 I mean, that was that was a great, you know, 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:53.320 a great team to play against. 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:56.640 And we people talk about we use the word dynasty 0:16:56.680 --> 0:16:58.600 a lot, you know, and how much it is. And 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:01.480 here's the Steelers. There's no free agency back in the day, 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.800 you know, and the fact that they that team could 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:07.240 run out You're just going through some of the names. 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.600 I don't know that younger Patriot fans can appreciate how 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:13.639 good that team was and how good that organization was 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:14.840 at that at that time, right. 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:18.399 Yeah, Well, I mean you're talking about winning, uh, you know, 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.720 winning winning four Super Bowls in six years. I mean 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:24.960 it was still I mean, to win the championship of 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.440 the National Football League, you got to beat everybody else 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.480 in the league. I mean, that part of it hasn't 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:31.479 you know, hasn't changed. 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:32.280 Uh. 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:38.520 And they were, you know, and even the team we 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:42.040 beaten seventy six. Who did you know I did not 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:44.840 go on the Super Bowl. I mean, that's why they're mean. 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.120 They had some injuries, but I mean the Steeler defense 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:50.879 that year, I mean, it was just that's that's what 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:52.520 they get. That was the year I think they came 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:55.119 up with the name of steel Curtain and that's about 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:55.719 what it was. 0:17:56.280 --> 0:18:01.280 Should you have did the did Chuck leaving in seventy eight? 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:05.600 Did that? Did that derail the seventy eighteam. 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.920 At the end, it's well it didn't. It certainly didn't help. 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:16.200 You know, when you have you a championship team, when 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:19.440 you get on a run, you got everybody totally focused 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:22.200 the zero it in every day nothing, You're not letting 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:24.879 anything else distract you. And then you get to the 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:27.520 end of the season, Oh, the head coaches leaving, Well 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:31.080 that kind of everybody, whoa, wait, what's what's going on here? 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:36.960 I mean, that's that's absolutely never a good thing. And 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:41.200 of course, our last the last regular season game when 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:43.760 it all came out, was Monday night down in the 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:48.080 Orange Bowl, and we had the scene where Chuck told 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:50.920 the team in the afternoon he was going to University 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:56.160 of Colorado. Billy Sullivan came in into the locker room 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:58.920 and he was going to suspend Shock. What Chuck could 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:01.800 talk to is any who said you do not resign, 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:04.879 make them fire you. So he had the back and forth. 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:08.679 Billy said, you're suspended the head coach going, does that 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.840 mean I'm fired? No, you suspended in the locker room 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:14.160 before they and then of. 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:15.880 Course this is what we dealt with in our childhood. 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:20.680 And then of course the the unfortunate pictures. You got 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:24.120 Chuck walking walking on the Orange Bowl in the middle 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:26.919 of the second quarter, carrying, you know, carrying his bag, 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.160 and then he came back for the for the playoff game, 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:33.560 and of course Steve Grogan got hurt in the playoff game. 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:36.760 So I mean that, I mean that was that our 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:38.480 seventy eight team in the middle of the season. We 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:42.200 could play with anybody, but you know, that was probably 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:44.920 too much for for anybody to over Complus, we ended 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:47.520 up playing the Oilers with Earld Campbell. 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:50.359 And good parlor game. Who's a better team, Earnie, the 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:51.880 seventy eight team or the seventy sixteen. 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:56.480 You know, I must say probably the seventy eight team 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:01.680 because we had on seventy eight instead of having a 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:04.680 Steve Grogan being a rookie quarterback. He was his third year. 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:10.640 We had Stanley Morgan and Harold Jackson at receiver, which 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:15.800 we were a little more explosive on offense in seventy eight. 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:20.479 Of course, the seventy sixteen was the one that you know, 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:23.680 in the end, it was closest to winning a championship. 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:27.440 Yeah, I would agree, though seventy eight, I think they 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:30.919 had more ams, probably with the ownership, and there was 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:33.320 more animosity at that time because those guys have been 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:35.480 around a few years and we're kind of tired of 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:37.159 the way they would try to know. It seemed like 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:39.560 someone was holding out every training camp. It was tough 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:41.159 as a ten year old kid, it was tough to 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:43.679 read about the team at that time because of all 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:45.080 those off field things, right. 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:51.879 Yeah, I mean it's I mean, I give tremendous credit 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:56.480 to Billy Sullivan for keeping professional starting professional football in Boston, 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:00.760 you know, getting a team belt. But it was I mean, 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:04.320 the organization was realistically being run on our shoe. 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:09.359 String, and everybody that was involved at the time says 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:11.320 it exactly the way already just did, right, you know, 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:15.199 it was a tremendous passion that Billy Sullivan had, and 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:17.560 it was a lot like Robert. He was a fan first, 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:19.879 like he wanted football to succeed here. He just didn't 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:22.520 have the resources to do it the right. 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:22.920 Way, right. 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:25.720 And so then you go Ernie and you get to 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:27.760