Speaker 1: Thank y'all for tuning in.
Speaker 2: I'm Peanut Tuman and this is the NFL Players Second
Speaker 2: Acts Podcast and with me as always as my guy Roman,
Speaker 2: mister Rogers Harbor.
Speaker 1: What's up baby?
Speaker 3: What's up baby?
Speaker 4: That's it.
Speaker 3: That's a general welcoming. So I'll take that.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: No, look with the sweater and all that legs crossed
Speaker 2: like mister Rogers.
Speaker 3: It's good.
Speaker 2: We got the good posture going on, like a like
Speaker 2: a grandpa and stuff, you know, so I like it.
Speaker 3: I'm trying. Thank you introduce our guests.
Speaker 5: I'm really excited about this one too, because and then
Speaker 5: I want to jump right into something.
Speaker 2: All right, So this gentleman played thirteen seasons for the Giants,
Speaker 2: the forty nine ers in the Broncos won three Super Bowls,
Speaker 2: but he's got four Super Bowl rings. He's high school
Speaker 2: college U Sports aka at Easy aka Adie mac a
Speaker 2: White Lightning. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the pot and
Speaker 2: McCaffrey to the show.
Speaker 4: McCaffrey, thank you. I mean, I think we.
Speaker 3: Could say one other thing.
Speaker 5: The man has literally blessed the NFL with multiple children
Speaker 5: of the NFL as well. Yes, he's just the guy
Speaker 5: that continues to give mister Ed McCaffrey, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
Speaker 4: Well, thank you. It's an honor to be here. I'm
Speaker 4: thrilled to be here with you guys.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't realize it was I think so you
Speaker 2: retired in two thousand and three.
Speaker 1: My first year was O three.
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 2: I don't remember the exact of what you did in
Speaker 2: the game or what I did in the game, but
Speaker 2: we came up there Chicago my rookie year, and I
Speaker 2: remember being so out of breath, and I don't know
Speaker 2: how y'all got used to playing in Colorado.
Speaker 1: I just was I remember just dying. I was dead
Speaker 1: the whole game.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they have signs all over the stadium. They have
Speaker 4: oxygen tanks hooked up there. They're trying to get in
Speaker 4: your head. They're trying to get in your head. It
Speaker 4: does affect some people. First time I went to a
Speaker 4: mini camp there, it affected me that first day. Yeah,
Speaker 4: you know, it's just tough to breathe. But I've lived
Speaker 4: there for so long I'm used to it now. But
Speaker 4: they they get in your head. They remind you you're
Speaker 4: a mile high and the oxygen is thin. Oh, my god,
Speaker 4: it is real.
Speaker 5: Even just walking down the street, you will get more
Speaker 5: tired if you're not used to the elevation. The first
Speaker 5: time I went out there, I definitely felt it. It
Speaker 5: felt different trying to play out there. I never won
Speaker 5: in Denver either, so maybe that had something to do
Speaker 5: with it. At least I'll blame it that. Now, what
Speaker 5: I want to talk to you about, Ed, is this
Speaker 5: ring you're wearing.
Speaker 4: Yes, this is now.
Speaker 3: This is the big Boy too.
Speaker 5: Now this is your fourth out of you won three
Speaker 5: as a player with two of Denver, one with the
Speaker 5: forty nine ers.
Speaker 4: And I apologize for wearing this. I didn't put the
Speaker 4: connection with you. Two guys haven't played in this game,
Speaker 4: so I can tell how this interview is going to
Speaker 4: go right off the bat. So, yeah, this is from
Speaker 4: Super Bowl fifty. Yes, I did a whole lot to
Speaker 4: earn this ring, Fellas, What was that? I talked about
Speaker 4: the game on the radio for about three and a
Speaker 4: half hours as a broadcaster for Denver Broncos Radio, but
Speaker 4: I was at the game. It's the reason I wear
Speaker 4: this is I do have the other three, but they're
Speaker 4: locked up in a safety deposit box. If I were
Speaker 4: to lose one, it's going to have to be this
Speaker 4: one because I can replace it. But I'm still proud that.
Speaker 4: You know, John Elway got me my first two rings
Speaker 4: with the Broncos. Yeah, I got one with the forty
Speaker 4: nine ers before that. But then he was also the
Speaker 4: general manager who approved given the broadcast team rings. I
Speaker 4: don't know if you knew that, but they give the
Speaker 4: broadcast teams rings. And so we were, you know, calling
Speaker 4: games at different stadiums across the country, and all the
Speaker 4: other radio broadcast teams would walk in and they kind
Speaker 4: of clink their hand on the desk and we're looking
Speaker 4: over there like we don't have one of those. Dave
Speaker 4: Logan and I play by play voice of the Broncos,
Speaker 4: who played in the league for a long time as well,
Speaker 4: did not have a ring. And so John Elwie decided,
Speaker 4: probably more for Dave than for me, that it was
Speaker 4: important to give the broadcast team rings. And so there
Speaker 4: you have it. But again, I don't want to bring
Speaker 4: back any bad memories or have one of you guys
Speaker 4: take me out. No bad mirriores.
Speaker 3: Okay, now I would I do.
Speaker 5: I would love to know from when you're calling that
Speaker 5: game Super Bowl fifty. Denver was clearly the underdog in
Speaker 5: that game. What was your feelings? How are you going
Speaker 5: about calling that game when all of a sudden, Denver's
Speaker 5: got the momentum really hand on their business in that game.
Speaker 5: How are you doing it as a call as a
Speaker 5: broadcaster knowing that you had kind of been in these
Speaker 5: similar situations when you were as a player winning the
Speaker 5: Super Bowl and then all of a sudden seeing your
Speaker 5: team that you're calling the game for go out there
Speaker 5: and play that they were playing that day.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I had the utmost respect for the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 4: What a phenomenal team you guys had. It was really
Speaker 4: unbelievable offense, defense. And my son Christian are playing for
Speaker 4: the team next year. So as you know, which he
Speaker 4: didn't know at the time, he was actually in a
Speaker 4: Broncos jersey during that game, and then a year later
Speaker 4: he because he was a big fan of Terrell Davis,
Speaker 4: I grew up rooting for the Broncos. The next year,
Speaker 4: you know, you see a picture and he's playing with
Speaker 4: the Panthers. So it's pretty crazy. But I mean, you
Speaker 4: had such a good team, it was unbelievable. But the
Speaker 4: Broncos defense was also pretty phenomenal, and that was a
Speaker 4: season of such a bizarre season. Peyton Manning was the starter.
Speaker 4: They got benched for a long time because of either
Speaker 4: injury or production, but he chomped at the bit. There
Speaker 4: was a funny episode that happened during the year where
Speaker 4: Gary Kubiak would watch him work out every morning, and
Speaker 4: after a couple of weeks of not starting, and Brock
Speaker 4: Oswaller did a great job became and so wins to
Speaker 4: help get him there. But Peyton flipped off the camera
Speaker 4: knowing Gary Kubiak was watching his film in the morning,
Speaker 4: and that was kind of the sign after. You know,
Speaker 4: Brock had a little bit of a struggle in a
Speaker 4: game and in the end of the regular season to
Speaker 4: bring Peyton back, and he didn't. You know, he didn't
Speaker 4: put up great numbers, but he led the team to victory.
Speaker 4: He did what he had to do. They had a
Speaker 4: good run game, but that defense was phenomenal. They were
Speaker 4: flying around von Miller, obviously, DeMarcus Ware They had a
Speaker 4: really good team and so you could you could argue
Speaker 4: that that defense and I guess Vaughn was the MVP
Speaker 4: of the game, right. You could argue that the defense
Speaker 4: was able to match the offensive power of what Cam
Speaker 4: Newton and the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 2: I definitely think if we didn't have or if they
Speaker 2: didn't have the defense that they had, we we totally.
Speaker 1: Would have won that game. I mean, I don't want
Speaker 1: to do the what if game. I just I just well,
Speaker 1: that's what defense.
Speaker 4: And do you guys go back and replay plays in
Speaker 4: your head and think we're one play away from winning.
Speaker 4: Two players and you and you look at the film
Speaker 4: and I do that. I still have PTSD from last
Speaker 4: year's forty nine Ers lost the Chiefs, Like I didn't
Speaker 4: even play. You know, my son's playing, So it means
Speaker 4: more to me than than anyone. And I just see
Speaker 4: so many different plays on offense, defense, special teams that
Speaker 4: could have been made that would have been the difference
Speaker 4: in the game. And sometimes the games are that close,
Speaker 4: and that was a close game. And it's tough because
Speaker 4: you can have a great team like you guys had
Speaker 4: a great team, not good great, and when you come
Speaker 4: up a little bit short, it's just so tough. It
Speaker 4: doesn't take anything away from the players that played in
Speaker 4: the game, or how great they were or the successful
Speaker 4: careers they had. But it's just so tough to get
Speaker 4: to the game to begin with, yes, and then to
Speaker 4: win it is even tougher. Yeah, and that's why. That's why. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean last year and you probably never get over it.
Speaker 4: I remember all of our losses and luckily I didn't
Speaker 4: lose the Super Bowl, but we lost playoff games. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and it's tough. So I still replay that game last
Speaker 4: year in my head. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I had the good fortune of going to last
Speaker 2: year Super Bowl and I happened to just sit next
Speaker 2: to John Lway watching the game in the It was
Speaker 2: like all the Hall of Famers and a Man of
Speaker 2: the Year winners, We're all in this sweet and my
Speaker 2: daughters have no idea who John Oway is.
Speaker 1: And I'm sitting here like that's.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's John Elway, Like do you know who they're
Speaker 2: just like dad, I just there were more geeked out
Speaker 2: about like the A List celebrities of Kim Kardashian and
Speaker 2: you know whatnot. But I had the good fortune of
Speaker 2: sitting next to John Elway, and you know, he's all
Speaker 2: about the teams and and everybody else. And my question
Speaker 2: to you is having been to the game, having won
Speaker 2: at the highest level three times and you have the
Speaker 2: fourth ring. What was your What did you talk about
Speaker 2: with your son about like the loss of that game.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was tough. I mean we met right after
Speaker 4: the game. Yeah, before we even went to see the
Speaker 4: rest of the team or friends and family, and we
Speaker 4: sat down for about an hour just kind of debriefing.
Speaker 4: It's like you do have PTSD. It's like you just
Speaker 4: finished a battle. You've been competing the whole time, you
Speaker 4: know how it is after the game, you're getting interviewed
Speaker 4: and you're you know, you're staying strong, and then afterwards
Speaker 4: you just have to let it out. And it was
Speaker 4: very frustrating as an I love him no matter what
Speaker 4: we lose or draw, and you know, I just let
Speaker 4: him know that, you know, you know, no regrets, man.
Speaker 4: I mean sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But if
Speaker 4: you prepared the right way and you left it out
Speaker 4: all on the field, that's all you can ever do,
Speaker 4: and that's all you can ever ask of yourself as
Speaker 4: a man. So I know he does that every time
Speaker 4: he takes the field, and he can hold his head
Speaker 4: up high, but it doesn't take away from the pain
Speaker 4: of defeat.
Speaker 5: Okay, So word on the street is that you are
Speaker 5: an all time great at being a prankster.
Speaker 4: Me you, Oh no, not me.
Speaker 3: That's not what I'm hearing. So we all know we
Speaker 3: have this.
Speaker 5: We've heard this story through the great I guess back
Speaker 5: in the day you called Claude Lemieux and Bill Romanowski,
Speaker 5: you and your wife. You had your wife in on
Speaker 5: this prank where you guys are going to be the
Speaker 5: water company, and that you called him and said we're
Speaker 5: here to check your water pressure at the house, and
Speaker 5: that I need you cut on all the faucets in
Speaker 5: your house and flustered toilets at the same time.
Speaker 3: Now, this is a great prank.
Speaker 4: Oh you know that is a true story. But I
Speaker 4: don't think of myself as a prankster. I'm usually I'm
Speaker 4: a retaliatory prankster. Like if someone pulled a prank on me,
Speaker 4: I will retaliate unless I think they have more time
Speaker 4: on their hands than I do, in which case I
Speaker 4: will not engage in that battle. Okay, yeah, but that
Speaker 4: that is Lisa is probably more the prankster than I am.
Speaker 4: Oh really, She's funny and energetic, and she obviously has
Speaker 4: more energy than I do, so she it was probably
Speaker 4: her idea, but I did partake.
Speaker 5: Okay, all right, so we got it cleaned up. So
Speaker 5: retaliatory prankster.
Speaker 4: Yes, sometimes, Like there's some people that you don't mess
Speaker 4: with them, like the third string quarterback on the team.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, you don't want that, you're not so special
Speaker 4: teams player. No, you're not messing with them because they
Speaker 4: got all day long to think up of something and
Speaker 4: they'll they'll follow through with it. So but if it's uh,
Speaker 4: those guys, yeah, I wasn't too too afraid of those
Speaker 4: guys doing anything creative.
Speaker 2: Back to me, what's one of the best all time pranks?
Speaker 2: So I respect the retire I'm a bit I play
Speaker 2: pranks all the time, like I'm I'm here for and
Speaker 2: I think that's why I was pulling on this earth
Speaker 2: is to punch out footballs and to prank people.
Speaker 1: It is hilarious.
Speaker 4: I think, Well, you know, it is honor to meet you.
Speaker 4: I don't know what it feels like to have an
Speaker 4: actual defensive technique named after you, But I've been coaching
Speaker 4: football for over twenty years and every single team I
Speaker 4: played for we taught them the peanut punch, And like, yeah,
Speaker 4: I know you know that I'm sure, people tell you
Speaker 4: that all the time. Yes, but like it's kind of cool.
Speaker 4: I'm like, wait a minute. You know, I've been teaching
Speaker 4: this technique for twenty years and now I'm sitting down
Speaker 4: here doing an interview. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 3: He goes on the road too, So yeah, a traveling
Speaker 3: show if you ever need it.
Speaker 4: I've put together so many different highlight clips of all
Speaker 4: the plays that you made. Yea, it's pretty incredible. So yeah,
Speaker 4: and so anyway, it's a thrill. So where we going
Speaker 4: with the pranks. The funniest prank I ever saw was
Speaker 4: done by somebody that I know. I'm not giving up names, okay,
Speaker 4: but there's like a charity basketball game going on. They
Speaker 4: used to do those back in the day. They frown
Speaker 4: upon them. Now I think they don't. Guys get hurt.
Speaker 4: But this particular person dressed up in a mascot outfit,
Speaker 4: and he dressed in the mascot outfit show up to
Speaker 4: the high schools the high school's mascot and it was
Speaker 4: the forty nine ers were playing, and the mascot was
Speaker 4: a panther, and he dressed up in a panther's outfit,
Speaker 4: so nobody knew who he was except for two people
Speaker 4: in the stands, and he was rebounding for the forty
Speaker 4: nine ers team, and he was kind of joking with them,
Speaker 4: slapping on the backside, throwing the ball at their feet,
Speaker 4: like really aggravating them to no end. And they had
Speaker 4: no idea was him. But you know, you're at a
Speaker 4: charity event, so if you're a pro player, I can't like,
Speaker 4: it's a high school kid, what am I gonna do?
Speaker 4: And they're just he's throwing it at their feet and
Speaker 4: he's throwing the ball away and he's like blocking their
Speaker 4: shot and patting them and they're getting so frustrated. Finally,
Speaker 4: one of the players and the team walk overs whispered
Speaker 4: to him, Hey, look, man, you better stop this right now.
Speaker 4: We're gonna have a problem. And so you know, and
Speaker 4: he's probably thinking, that's a high school kid, but he's
Speaker 4: messled with them so badly. And they videotaped it. Never
Speaker 4: made it public, but they videotaped it. Cried laughing so
Speaker 4: many times watching this prank. But I mean that when
Speaker 4: you put a mascot outfit on and you don't stop
Speaker 4: moving and you're just doing what you got to do
Speaker 4: for the whole he must have done it for two
Speaker 4: hours and it was Oh man, it was hilarious. So
Speaker 4: the amount those are the guys you don't with someone
Speaker 4: that's willing to spend like plan out something like that
Speaker 4: and spend a couple of hours following through. I'm not
Speaker 4: going to get in a prank battle with that guy.
Speaker 6: We're gonna take a short break and we'll be right back.
Speaker 3: And I knew you growing up. I watched you play.
Speaker 3: I knew you were a wide receiver with the Giants.
Speaker 5: You stood out to me because you were the guy
Speaker 5: that didn't wear gloves.
Speaker 3: You weren't a big glove guy. I have a picture
Speaker 3: of you right here.
Speaker 5: You're in gloves, okay, all right, which is totally not
Speaker 5: how I imagine you. But the other part of this picture, though,
Speaker 5: is what's up with this this neck world?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, your rookie year. You went way back in
Speaker 4: the art your rookie year. You know ed McCaffrey.
Speaker 3: Neck world.
Speaker 4: Do you know how much grief I got from all
Speaker 4: the other receivers? What are you doing?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: What injury?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 1: Okay, so it.
Speaker 3: Still doesn't look like a help.
Speaker 4: So that was before I started. That was before I
Speaker 4: got cut by the Giants and started shedding on my gear. Okay,
Speaker 4: lighting it up, so this you know, believe it or not.
Speaker 4: I never played special teams in my life until the NFL.
Speaker 4: So the first time I ever had to play on
Speaker 4: kickoff coverage was for the New York Giants, which was
Speaker 4: a blessing, but at the same time, it's like, wait,
Speaker 4: my first attempt at playing special teams is going to
Speaker 4: be in the NFL. And so I ran down on
Speaker 4: kickoff and you know, back in the day, I'm trying
Speaker 4: to bust up a wedge or something and I tweaked
Speaker 4: my neck and Ronnie Barnes, who is still the head
Speaker 4: athletic trainer for the New York Football Giants, was an
Speaker 4: incredible trainer. But I jacked my neck up and he
Speaker 4: was seriously like, yeah, you don't have to wear the
Speaker 4: neck roll. I'm like, good, except but you won't take
Speaker 4: the field. And so he made me wear that neck roll.
Speaker 4: And I'm like, oh, I'm like, please don't make me
Speaker 4: wear that neck roll, Like I know my next are
Speaker 4: but he like, looking back, he did care about the
Speaker 4: health and safety's players, and I got much respect for
Speaker 4: Ronnie Barnes. He'll be a future Hall of Fame trainer
Speaker 4: in the NFL. He's been there a long time. But anyway,
Speaker 4: I got a lot of agree from everybody body that
Speaker 4: I played against regarding the gloves. They didn't have NFL
Speaker 4: receiving gloves. They they didn't make them so well in
Speaker 4: the beginning they had you were like baseball gloves, but
Speaker 4: they don't have tack on them, so they get wet
Speaker 4: or slippery, and it's worse than not having any gloves
Speaker 4: at all. And I remember the first time I got
Speaker 4: any kind of glove that kind of works, it would
Speaker 4: get freezing in New York. You'd get some really cold
Speaker 4: games at the end of the year. I grew up
Speaker 4: in Pennsylvania, so I was used to the cold. But
Speaker 4: I just got done graduating from Stanford, where the weather
Speaker 4: it's perfect every day. Didn't need gloves at all. But
Speaker 4: Stephen Baker, the touchdown maker back in the day, went
Speaker 4: to like home depot and bought They're like the rubber
Speaker 4: gloves that used to mix chemicals, and they had more
Speaker 4: tack on them than what the baseball gloves did. So
Speaker 4: I do remember when it was you know, wind show
Speaker 4: below zero. There's a couple of games where I put
Speaker 4: those on just because I was freezing. But I had
Speaker 4: much better feel without the gloves, so it would only
Speaker 4: it'd have to be pretty cold for me to throw
Speaker 4: some gloves on.
Speaker 5: Well, I always want to know this is the thank
Speaker 5: you for that, This is wh I knew you as
Speaker 5: the guy that didn't wear gloves. I'm like, who's the
Speaker 5: white wide receiver with the arms out and no gloves.
Speaker 4: And when it's humid like East Coast, there's humidity, so
Speaker 4: my hands were tacky. And then when I got to Denver,
Speaker 4: in the Mile High City, it's a little dryer, and
Speaker 4: that was the first place where I'm like, you know,
Speaker 4: and they made better gloves. And so once they made
Speaker 4: the better gloves with the thin air, I started wearing
Speaker 4: them a little more frequently.
Speaker 1: So when did you start to shred all the equipment?
Speaker 1: Because I know you were like the trend sutter for
Speaker 1: like having like the small pads, And was that where
Speaker 1: were you in San Francisco or was that when you
Speaker 1: were in Denver?
Speaker 4: Well, it was in Denver. It started in San Francisco. Well,
Speaker 4: then it finished up in Denver. So when I went
Speaker 4: to New York, I'm a rules guy, like they're telling
Speaker 4: you gotta wear your pads. You did like saying I
Speaker 4: wear I had thigh pads, I had knee pads. I'm
Speaker 4: wearing gloves and neck roll. You know, they still didn't
Speaker 4: hem the jerseys up. I was a little ahead of
Speaker 4: my time because, like I started taking it upon myself
Speaker 4: to cut my jerseys and tighten them up. But back then,
Speaker 4: you remember, they still had the wide sleeves and everything.
Speaker 4: If you guys are old enough to remember that, at least, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: and so so you know, in New York, I went
Speaker 4: through three head coaches in three years. Basically part Bill
Speaker 4: Parcell stepped down with a hard issue. He was the
Speaker 4: coach that drafted me. Ray Hanley ended up getting fired.
Speaker 4: They hired Dan Reeves, and then you know, Dan Reeves
Speaker 4: brought in all of his own guys, which a lot
Speaker 4: of coaches do, and I wasn't one of them that
Speaker 4: he wanted to keep. So I was told there was
Speaker 4: enough receivers in camp, and I had a pretty good year.
Speaker 4: I led the team in receiving my second year. But
Speaker 4: new coach knew new team, new players, the whole deal,
Speaker 4: and so I got cut. That's it. I don't know
Speaker 4: if you got you ever guys ever get cuts. Okay,
Speaker 4: it's a tough experience, right, and it was only my
Speaker 4: third year in the league, so it's pretty early, yes, uh,
Speaker 4: to get cut. And I'm thinking it was right before
Speaker 4: camp too, and some teams had already started camp, and
Speaker 4: so it was pretty stressful. And the the you know,
Speaker 4: the little index card that the broadcasters put together, and
Speaker 4: I was a broadcaster. I tried not to do it
Speaker 4: in pigeonhole people, but it's you know, slow, No, that
Speaker 4: was on my card and whatever forty times they got
Speaker 4: like I ran a four to three eight. I mean,
Speaker 4: you could watch film until I wasn't like four to
Speaker 4: seven eight or whatever they were putting on my card.
Speaker 4: I'm like, oh, they're killing me with the speed thing.
Speaker 4: But I'm like, you know what if people think I'm slow,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna get faster. And in addition to training to
Speaker 4: get faster, what can I do. I'm going to shed
Speaker 4: about eight pounds of equipment, So no thigh pads, no
Speaker 4: knee pads, no extra material, no extra equipment went down,
Speaker 4: dropped his size and shoulder pads. I had to wear
Speaker 4: a helmet, so I had a helmet and shoulder pads
Speaker 4: and that was it. And I'm thinking, if these other
Speaker 4: dudes are lugging around another eight pounds of equipment, that
Speaker 4: immediately makes me faster. And at that point, I'm like,
Speaker 4: I'm not concerned about my body at all. I got
Speaker 4: to make a team. So, like my season was training camp,
Speaker 4: So like I'm going into training camp like this is
Speaker 4: the Super Bowl. And so I did make a conscious
Speaker 4: decision though, to try out for a team I thought
Speaker 4: could win a Super Bowl. So, you know, they had
Speaker 4: a handful of teams interested, and I went and tried
Speaker 4: out for the forty nine ers and they were a
Speaker 4: team that had a shot at winning a Super Bowl.
Speaker 4: And I got to camp and it's Jerry Rice and
Speaker 4: John Taylor and two other receivers who made the team
Speaker 4: the year before, about fourteen receivers in camp, and you know,
Speaker 4: so I'm competing to back up Jerry Rice. It only
Speaker 4: took four receivers. I mean, I don't know how many
Speaker 4: teams in the History League and take four receivers, but
Speaker 4: that's all we took on the team. And all four
Speaker 4: of them were back from the year before. And then
Speaker 4: so I'm backing up Jerry and I'm going against Dean
Speaker 4: Sanders every day in practice, and I'm thinking, this is
Speaker 4: how I'm gonna make the team, right, like having to
Speaker 4: compete with Jerry and having to beat Dean Sanders in practice.
Speaker 4: And so I tried to do everything humanly possible to compete.
Speaker 4: So I lost every bit of equipment. I found a
Speaker 4: pair of shoulder pads in the college equipment room that
Speaker 4: were like, they're probably their punters pads from the nineteen sixties.
Speaker 4: I could show them to you'd laugh at them. You
Speaker 4: would never let anybody care about where these pass.
Speaker 3: I tried to look it up the kind that you had.
Speaker 4: They're about this big. But you know what trendsetter like,
Speaker 4: I missed my calling because now what I mean, even
Speaker 4: d Lyman, how small are their passed?
Speaker 3: Everybody?
Speaker 4: Right, So that's what I was wearing just before it
Speaker 4: became trendy. And then regarding the uniform, I would cut
Speaker 4: every little and I was a little superstitious about this.
Speaker 4: Eventually every game that I play, once I started doing it,
Speaker 4: I had to at least cut off a little bit
Speaker 4: of material. So mentally I'm a little bit lighter than
Speaker 4: the week before. I hate it when we wore new uniforms,
Speaker 4: when they Hey, we got a new uniform for this week.
Speaker 4: I'm like, no, I got to do a lot of
Speaker 4: work to trim that thing down. You're gonna give it.
Speaker 3: So you would cut uniforms every week?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So did you have it hemmed or anything, or
Speaker 1: you just cut the jersey?
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, I I would do whatever they would let
Speaker 4: me get away with, so a lot of you know,
Speaker 4: sometimes you get a flag back then if your pants
Speaker 4: were too high. I did get fined for showing too
Speaker 4: much skin because I try to you know, have the
Speaker 4: pants used to come below your knee with the knee
Speaker 4: pad and think about it. You know, nobody wants to
Speaker 4: run around in that. So you know, I slowly started
Speaker 4: hemming the pants up a little bit. At one point
Speaker 4: I sewed the socks to the pants so they just
Speaker 4: hung from the pants. And then you know, wore regular
Speaker 4: socks and kind of put a piece of tape around them,
Speaker 4: and then with the jersey. Back in the day, they
Speaker 4: make good equipment now, but back in the day, you
Speaker 4: had two layers of padding, like on your shoulder pads,
Speaker 4: because you know, the equipment managers don't want to hem
Speaker 4: up your jerseys every time there's a hole in it.
Speaker 4: So there'd be a lot and then another layer under
Speaker 4: that and they'd be heavy. So I would just cut
Speaker 4: out all the second layers out of out of my pants, Like,
Speaker 4: if you're not wearing thipads and the pads, what do
Speaker 4: you need the things that hold with thipads and the pads.
Speaker 4: So they were just like tights, And then cut out
Speaker 4: all the extra material out of the jersey. And I'll
Speaker 4: tell you what, I felt lighter. I really did feel lighter,
Speaker 4: even if it even if it was mental, we're talking
Speaker 4: like a couple pounds maybe, yeah, but mentally I felt
Speaker 4: way better. Yeah, Yeah, it worked.
Speaker 5: I want to know what it was like being on
Speaker 5: that forty nine Ers team. That's I grew up a
Speaker 5: forty nine Ers fan. That was a great year to
Speaker 5: be a forty nine Ers fan. Dion Sanders comes in
Speaker 5: for free agency, Steve Young gets the monkey elfice back
Speaker 5: whinning the Super Bowl. Jerry Rice puts up monster numbers
Speaker 5: which he was used to doing. Just what was it
Speaker 5: like being on that team, being in that same wide
Speaker 5: receiver room with the grade of Jerry Rice, And you
Speaker 5: weren't there long at all, but then I for totally
Speaker 5: forgot you were competing against Dion Sanders, just trying to
Speaker 5: make the tea.
Speaker 4: Yeah. No, it was a turning point in my career.
Speaker 4: I'm so glad I believed in my self and try
Speaker 4: it out to make that team. You know, I had
Speaker 4: to ask my agent to get me a tryout, Like
Speaker 4: I just want to get in camp and try to
Speaker 4: prove myself. And I would love it to win a
Speaker 4: Super Bowl. How cool would that be? Because I had
Speaker 4: just gotten cut, so I wasn't I played for the
Speaker 4: league minimum one hundred and thirty six thousand, right, and
Speaker 4: I'm like, I don't care about money. Just get me
Speaker 4: on that team. Give me a chance to compete to
Speaker 4: make that team because it was not going to be easy,
Speaker 4: and it was. It was an unbelievable experience that Steve
Speaker 4: Young embraced me right away, was totally cool to me.
Speaker 4: Bart Oates was with the New York Giants. He was there.
Speaker 4: Harris Barton literally, yeah, Harris Barton let me live at
Speaker 4: his house until I had a place, until I made
Speaker 4: the team. Brent Jones was cool. William barn and Floyd
Speaker 4: was my roommate. He was a rookie that year, but
Speaker 4: he was a great player. Yeah, and uh so he
Speaker 4: gave name even better, Yeah, even better, and then uh,
Speaker 4: you know, just going against Deanner. It was a great team.
Speaker 4: Jesse Sapola. I mean, so many of those guys I
Speaker 4: still keep in touch with to this day. I was
Speaker 4: there seven months and we won a super Bowl, and uh,
Speaker 4: I got there late in training camp, we won a
Speaker 4: super Bow. On signed with Denver, you know, like a
Speaker 4: month later. But I still have friends this day from
Speaker 4: that team. And it was it was such a professionally
Speaker 4: run organization. And I give Eddie de Bartlow credit for
Speaker 4: that and Jed York. Now, they treated their players the
Speaker 4: right way. They practiced the right way. It was the
Speaker 4: first team ever played for that had shells. I'm like,
Speaker 4: what are shells? I'd only practice in full pads all
Speaker 4: the time. Helmet we win, you have helmet day, helmet
Speaker 4: day on Friday, just a helmet like that was new,
Speaker 4: That was innovative. Now, I came from a place where
Speaker 4: we went full pads every day and had two live
Speaker 4: scrimmages a week in training camp, live scrimmages all the
Speaker 4: way to guys like you be taking people out over
Speaker 4: the middle for sure, and there's no flag. You're celebrating
Speaker 4: because there's no refs either. I'm like, oh man, what
Speaker 4: is going on? So I just couldn't believe it. They
Speaker 4: fed them right, they treated them right, They traveled first class.
Speaker 4: The players. They're expected to win super Bowls. That was
Speaker 4: the expectation. And I was around a bunch of Hall
Speaker 4: of famers and a bunch of great coaches, and they
Speaker 4: had won Super Bowls, and so that was for me.
Speaker 4: That's the first time I got to experience such a
Speaker 4: different field than New York. Now New York had just
Speaker 4: won a Super Bowl right before I got there, so
Speaker 4: they were good. You know. It was Bill Pelajack defensive coordinator,
Speaker 4: Parcels head coach, and they had a lot of thirty
Speaker 4: plus year old players, probably the oldest team in the league.
Speaker 4: But then by the time I left there, a lot
Speaker 4: of those guys had retired or moved on, but they
Speaker 4: were That was a phenomenal team as well. But it
Speaker 4: was a different experience in San Francisco, and it was
Speaker 4: really tough to make that team. I bet you if
Speaker 4: if we could go back behind closed doors, I barely
Speaker 4: made that team. But the reason it was a different
Speaker 4: experience is because I remember walking out to practice one
Speaker 4: day and I had sprained my ankle and it was
Speaker 4: killing me. We were doing all kinds of crazy stuff,
Speaker 4: like running rubbing EMU.
Speaker 3: Oil on it because they still do.
Speaker 4: So we broke out the EMU back in nineteen ninety four,
Speaker 4: and maybe it was before that, I don't know. Dmso
Speaker 4: with some cortizone cream. Anyway, we were doing everything. But
Speaker 4: you know, you're competing against the most accomplished receiver. I'm
Speaker 4: not trying to beat them out, but I'm just trying
Speaker 4: to hang. You know, the show that I belong with
Speaker 4: Jerry Rice and then going against the on Sanders every day,
Speaker 4: and I'm like, I got beat him and show that
Speaker 4: I can do something in practice every day. And I
Speaker 4: remember walking out to practice just kind of limping a
Speaker 4: little bit with the ankles taped up like spatted so thick,
Speaker 4: it was like a cast. And I'm walking out there thinking, Okay,
Speaker 4: there's fourteen receivers here, all four from the year before here.
Speaker 4: It's like one hundred and twenty two degrees in Rockland, California.
Speaker 4: It was like, I'm going against Dion again today, and
Speaker 4: I just started laughing, like amount I don't even care anymore,
Speaker 4: Like I'm just gonna I'm gonna win the day, Like
Speaker 4: win one route, beat Dean on a slant route. I'll
Speaker 4: talk about it to my two month old son Max
Speaker 4: for the rest of his life. That's what he's gonna
Speaker 4: hear about. Maybe that's my NFL career. I don't know.
Speaker 4: You're not worried about making the team, not worried about money.
Speaker 4: I love football. This might be my last day. And
Speaker 4: I just started laughing in I literally physically stood up straighter, yeah,
Speaker 4: and felt lighter and walked out. I'm like, I feel different,
Speaker 4: like just letting all of that go. Stop stressing, stop pressing,
Speaker 4: Just whatever happens happens. And you know, to me, that
Speaker 4: was kind of a flashpoint in my career. I became
Speaker 4: a better player just because I stopped pressing as much
Speaker 4: and went on. You know, Luckily, I was on some
Speaker 4: great teams and we won three Super Bowls in the
Speaker 4: next five years, and it was just a miraculous run.
Speaker 4: But it all started with getting cut, and then it
Speaker 4: all started with just me being able to surrender to
Speaker 4: whatever happens happens. Let me control what I can control, Yes,
Speaker 4: my attitude, my effort. I'm gonna do the best that
Speaker 4: I can, and whatever happens happens, and it's almost not
Speaker 4: even up to me anymore. I don't know that it
Speaker 4: was a changing point in my life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so being in San Francisco for the seven months,
Speaker 2: you got there late in training camp, and then you
Speaker 2: go to Denver. You change your number from eighty one
Speaker 2: to eighty seven. You go to Denver and you become
Speaker 2: that dude. You know, you make the Pro Bowl, you
Speaker 2: had three straight seasons of one thousand yards. You're an
Speaker 2: integral part of that organization to help them win to
Speaker 2: Super Bowls. Did you take what you learned in San
Speaker 2: Francisco with you to Denver?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I think we're always learning. I mean everything that
Speaker 4: happened to me leading up to my career in Denver
Speaker 4: helped me come the player that eventually became. And so
Speaker 4: I took lessons that I learned in New York. I
Speaker 4: took lessons that I learned in San Francisco. I did
Speaker 4: copy Jerry Rice, like the way he ran some of
Speaker 4: his routes.
Speaker 3: How would you not?
Speaker 4: Yeah? No, I mean, I'm like, I'm just gonna take
Speaker 4: whatever I can from him and just watch him on film.
Speaker 4: And one of the things he was really really good
Speaker 4: at is getting off the line fast. He was the
Speaker 4: first one off the line every time. He timed the
Speaker 4: snap count perfectly. So even if you were faster than him,
Speaker 4: when you looked at the tape, he was five yards
Speaker 4: down the field quicker than you were. And so I'm like,
Speaker 4: I'm going to be as fast as i can off
Speaker 4: the line. Another thing he did really well, he was
Speaker 4: such a he was so good at running through the catch.
Speaker 4: So he would catch it and turn up field instantly,
Speaker 4: you know, So he'd run like a shallow cross and
Speaker 4: catch it and be gone. And he turned so many
Speaker 4: six yard routes into six yard touchdowns because he was
Speaker 4: so good at running through the catch. And I'm like, okay,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna try to get a little better at running
Speaker 4: through the catch. The way he ran his comeback route,
Speaker 4: so twenty yards back down your stem at a forty
Speaker 4: five degree angle to eighteen. But he would not just
Speaker 4: run it like it's drawn up in the book. He'd
Speaker 4: run it and bend a little bit to the post
Speaker 4: sometimes or like fake like it's a go route, and
Speaker 4: then come back sometimes look over his shoulder and I'm like,
Speaker 4: he runs his comeback routes three different ways, and I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 4: I never felt like I had the autonomy to do that.
Speaker 4: I wasn't allowed to do that. Yeah, and I'm like, well,
Speaker 4: it's working for him. So I actually learned for him
Speaker 4: before I got there, because we played when I was
Speaker 4: with the Giants, we played against him in a playoff
Speaker 4: game in San Francisco, and I was watching his film
Speaker 4: before we played him and stole how he ran his
Speaker 4: comeback route and got open again against them in the game.
Speaker 4: And so, you know, I learned a lot just by
Speaker 4: watching how hard he competed, how he ran his routes,
Speaker 4: how he conditioned in the off season. And I took
Speaker 4: whatever I could, like we all do, right, You learn
Speaker 4: whatever you can and you take it with you to
Speaker 4: try to become better. And then I got, you know,
Speaker 4: I got to Denver. I was betting on myself again,
Speaker 4: like they had a couple of first round draft picks
Speaker 4: as receivers, and you know, it was kind of Rod
Speaker 4: Smith and I. He was coming off the practice squad
Speaker 4: and I just signed with the team and we were competing.
Speaker 4: But it almost felt like I was a rookie all
Speaker 4: over again, because now I'm getting a chance to compete,
Speaker 4: but I'm definitely starting out as a backup. And Rod
Speaker 4: and I would only get in like on run plays
Speaker 4: and they'd make us block. But that was again because
Speaker 4: I had kind of surrendered already. I'm like, I'm just
Speaker 4: gonna be the best I can be. And Rod and
Speaker 4: I had so much fun blocking like that. As a receiver,
Speaker 4: you're not known for your blocking, right, But that's the
Speaker 4: only way we got on film. In One of our
Speaker 4: goal was to get our head coach, Mike Shanahan to
Speaker 4: notice this on film, whether it was in a scrimmage
Speaker 4: we scrimmage back then, and whether it was in a game.
Speaker 4: It's like we went in front of the team when
Speaker 4: they're breaking down the film us to have a decleader.
Speaker 4: And it wasn't enough to just block. We're looking for
Speaker 4: dec leaders, like we have to knock someone on the
Speaker 4: ground to get noticed. And if the head coach stopped
Speaker 4: the film and rewound it and showed it to the
Speaker 4: whole team, oh that was That was the best thing
Speaker 4: that could happen to us at the time. And so
Speaker 4: and then we'd have bets in games, you know, because
Speaker 4: you know how it is with backup receivers. A lot
Speaker 4: of people don't know this, but some of those guys
Speaker 4: are never getting the ball. You're in on run plays
Speaker 4: and you're clearout was probably knew who they were when
Speaker 4: they got the play.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, we'd be like rabbit alert, right because so
Speaker 5: so that was.
Speaker 4: Me and I'm like, okay, well, you know, here we
Speaker 4: go and we'd have little side bets like five bucks
Speaker 4: for every dec leader, and we get a couple of
Speaker 4: game and just we'd get our chance. And then eventually,
Speaker 4: right when you're doing so well in the run game,
Speaker 4: the coaches maybe accidentally leave you in and then you
Speaker 4: catch a pass and you're like, all right, you know
Speaker 4: you got to you got to take advantage of that
Speaker 4: opportunity if they throw you a pass. But then all
Speaker 4: of a sudden, you make a couple of plays. Maybe
Speaker 4: you weren't even supposed to be making plays, but you did,
Speaker 4: and now they feel more comfortable leaving you in, and
Speaker 4: so that's so it was really cool. Rod was such
Speaker 4: an incredible teammate, but we climbed the ranks together even
Speaker 4: though he was coming off the practice squad, like as
Speaker 4: a second year gun. I was a fourth year guy
Speaker 4: at the time, going in my fifth year in Denver.
Speaker 4: It felt like I was starting all over again. And
Speaker 4: then that was the beginning of a really good run
Speaker 4: for us on the Denver Broncos. And we had we
Speaker 4: had a lot of fun. But I think it started
Speaker 4: with with guys like Rod and some of my other
Speaker 4: teammates to go along with John Elway and Hall of
Speaker 4: Fame type caliber players for us to be able to
Speaker 4: put those teams together. But I was having fun, and
Speaker 4: you know, sometimes sometimes it doesn't seem like fun. Sometimes
Speaker 4: you're working so hard and you want it so bad
Speaker 4: you start pressing. But it was again me just being
Speaker 4: able to surrender. I'm a backup. They put me on
Speaker 4: a run play, So what am I going to do
Speaker 4: about it? Let's have some fun.
Speaker 5: Blocking, you know, you leave me right into where we
Speaker 5: wanted to talk about. Which is the big block you
Speaker 5: made in Super Bowl thirty two versus the linebacker.
Speaker 3: His name was Brian Williams, and he's a heck of
Speaker 3: a player, too great player, But what a block?
Speaker 4: I mean, thank you.
Speaker 3: First of all, that's two penalties in today's NFL.
Speaker 4: Thirty yards of penalty. No doubt I might have got ejected.
Speaker 7: Yeah, And then the point, which what did you legal. All, yes,
Speaker 7: all very much. It was the rules you said that
Speaker 7: you let.
Speaker 4: It was illegal back then I would not have done it.
Speaker 4: But yeah, and in his defense, he was a linebacker,
Speaker 4: was a pretty big duty and he didn't see me coming,
Speaker 4: so it made the block a whole lot easier. But uh,
Speaker 4: I will never I never will never tell the.
Speaker 5: Super Bowls did the five dollars go up to ten dollars?
Speaker 5: I think they should know it.
Speaker 4: But by that time Rod and I were starting and
Speaker 4: we didn't have to worry about those bits. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 4: we were just worried about wins at that point.
Speaker 5: Okay, okay, but I want you to take me through
Speaker 5: that play and what exactly did.
Speaker 3: You say to him or did you say anything?
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I was so concerned. You know, if
Speaker 4: if crack back blocks or peel back blocks were legal,
Speaker 4: that would be on the teach tape, no doubt, right,
Speaker 4: because so I'm so careful to make sure I get
Speaker 4: my head around hit him in the front and not
Speaker 4: from behind, because I don't want to get a penalty.
Speaker 4: Howard Griffiths caught a pass out of the backfield and
Speaker 4: I just kind of peeled back literally and tried to
Speaker 4: help out and get a block, so it worked out great.
Speaker 4: I don't know, it was instinctual, like I didn't plan
Speaker 4: a point. You know, you never even know if that
Speaker 4: block's going to happen. It just I don't know. I
Speaker 4: got caught up in the emotion of the game.
Speaker 3: It just kind of happened, Okay, Yeah, I just I
Speaker 3: just want to know.
Speaker 4: I've been asked many times, but I never I'll never
Speaker 4: tell what I said.
Speaker 1: I have an idea of what he said. We're not
Speaker 1: gonna repeat it.
Speaker 4: I definitely it was all grated.
Speaker 2: Absolutely was g rated. Who says r rated stuff on
Speaker 2: the football field?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 1: My My question to you is, you've been in.
Speaker 2: You've got three Super Bowls, You've been to one, You've
Speaker 2: got one, I've lost one.
Speaker 1: Whatever, that's another story for another Be quiet, why you
Speaker 1: do that?
Speaker 4: Why you do that?
Speaker 3: I want to be honest with it.
Speaker 1: Don't need to know that.
Speaker 4: You want two conference championships. Yes, I like that, Yeah,
Speaker 4: I like that. I used to not think that way,
Speaker 4: but I have recently.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna start I received it is not easy to
Speaker 4: win a conference championship.
Speaker 2: Sir, you are I'm gonna start receiving that. Having won
Speaker 2: three Super Bowls? What did that do for your career?
Speaker 4: One? It made my life living in Colorado like a
Speaker 4: dream in what way? Because people are so cool to me.
Speaker 4: I go to the grocery store, people are saying hello
Speaker 4: talking about the nineteen nineties when we won Super Bowl
Speaker 4: thirty thirty three. The Broncos organization treats me really well.
Speaker 4: It just it creates these lifelong memories that you get
Speaker 4: to take with you for the rest I mean the
Speaker 4: rest of your life. But it also created a bond,
Speaker 4: you know, not just with your teammates and the players
Speaker 4: that you played with in your coaches, but almost the community.
Speaker 4: It was. It was especially cool because it was the
Speaker 4: first championship the Denver Broncos ever won. Yeah, so they
Speaker 4: had lost a lot of Super Bowls, and the fan
Speaker 4: base was, how do I say, not very confident that
Speaker 4: we were going to beat the Packers when we went
Speaker 4: into that game as fourteen point underdogs. And so I've
Speaker 4: gotten a better appreciation for lifelong fans because of our
Speaker 4: ability to win Super Bowl thirty two. There were, you know,
Speaker 4: fathers and sons who had been going to games for
Speaker 4: thirty years, and some of them were like my father
Speaker 4: passed and couldn't make this one, but he would be
Speaker 4: so happy if he was here to witness. And so
Speaker 4: the game of football is obviously about playing the game,
Speaker 4: but for fans, it's like it unites family members and
Speaker 4: friends and they create memories rooting for their favorite teams.
Speaker 4: The people that work in the community, that run restaurants
Speaker 4: and bars, or are doing the valet or the parking
Speaker 4: or cleaning the stadium, like so many people's lives are
Speaker 4: invested in these games. And it was such a thrill
Speaker 4: for so many people. And I feel like I meet
Speaker 4: a new person almost every other day that I had
Speaker 4: never met before, and we have this common bond of
Speaker 4: having shared that experience together. And I don't know, for me,
Speaker 4: it's cool. I never envisioned that when I was a
Speaker 4: little kid dreaming of catching touchdowns and Super Bowls are
Speaker 4: making plays. I never thought about like when you're retired
Speaker 4: and not playing anymore. I never thought I'd get to
Speaker 4: as old as I am right now. I mean I
Speaker 4: was a kid that like the average age is fifty
Speaker 4: six for NFL football players. I'm like, all right, that's
Speaker 4: that's me.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 4: I didn't plan on getting as far. But I never
Speaker 4: thought about, like just how cool it is to share
Speaker 4: that bond with people just in everyday life. You know,
Speaker 4: mail in a letter, go to the grocery store, I
Speaker 4: had a movie, theater, you name it. It's like every
Speaker 4: other day I run into somebody and they are so
Speaker 4: cool to me and I'm so appreciative of them.
Speaker 2: That's kind of how Chicago fans are. Like you said
Speaker 2: about the father and the Son, I didn't really just
Speaker 2: to peggyback what you're saying. I didn't feel that. I
Speaker 2: got injured one day and I never had a chance
Speaker 2: to tailgate. So I got injured. I'm on ir so
Speaker 2: I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go tailgating.
Speaker 2: So I go hang out with some fans and I
Speaker 2: eat the food and we're celebrating, and it was like, oh, we've.
Speaker 1: Been doing this since.
Speaker 2: Nineteen yeah, forty five, my dad this and that, and
Speaker 2: so yeah, I completely get what you're saying.
Speaker 4: It was that a cool experience, wasn't it.
Speaker 2: It was a great experience because it allowed you, a
Speaker 2: player to connect with those fans on a level that
Speaker 2: I never thought I would ever dream of. I just
Speaker 2: thought about playing football. Now it's like, well, wait, I'm
Speaker 2: a fan with the fans like.
Speaker 4: This is, and when you were playing, it would have
Speaker 4: been too crazy because you'd have had like one hundred
Speaker 4: thousand people wanted to get your autograph and take pictures
Speaker 4: and everything. Just like once you retire and you step back.
Speaker 4: And I was thinking about that the other day, like
Speaker 4: when you're playing, you're in it, yeah, like you're competing.
Speaker 4: You don't really, I don't know. I didn't have time
Speaker 4: to reflect on any successes or even failures, Like you're
Speaker 4: still in it, you're still competing. But then years later
Speaker 4: you can sit back and kind of appreciate the good
Speaker 4: times and then maybe you know, interact with the fans
Speaker 4: in it at a level that you wouldn't do when
Speaker 4: you were a player. I know that's what's happened for me,
Speaker 4: and so I'm glad you got to have that experience.
Speaker 4: That was great. Yeah, absolutely great.
Speaker 6: Yeah, we're gonna take a short break and we'll be
Speaker 6: right back.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: I just think it's so cool and I would love
Speaker 5: to hear if you've had the chance to do this,
Speaker 5: So you know, every you know, whenever Super Bowl Week happens,
Speaker 5: all on the NFL network, they always replay all the
Speaker 5: Super Bowls, the thirty minute cut ups, this, that and
Speaker 5: the other. And my oldest son who's in second grade now,
Speaker 5: really he just figured out that, like his dad was
Speaker 5: like a real back in the day, and he thinks
Speaker 5: it's the coolest thing ever. And they had Super Bowl
Speaker 5: forty four where we won, and just seeing me on
Speaker 5: TV like in a jersey because he was not an
Speaker 5: age where he actually can remember that. And to see
Speaker 5: that sharing those moments with your kids, what is that
Speaker 5: moment like as they continue to grow, Like, what does
Speaker 5: that do for them? I would love to know from you,
Speaker 5: from yours, your experience, to know what I might have
Speaker 5: an actually opportunity to actually do or live through because
Speaker 5: I've seen your children. I've seen your sons be all
Speaker 5: stars at all different levels and continue to do those things,
Speaker 5: and you being right there in the shadows the whole time,
Speaker 5: making sure that it's still all about them, but still
Speaker 5: sharing in all the joys of what they've been able
Speaker 5: to create and ultimately just trying to be like their dad. Really,
Speaker 5: and also give a shout out to your wife and
Speaker 5: your father in law as well, is also known as
Speaker 5: a great athlete.
Speaker 4: I'm very lucky, I'm married well, I think one of
Speaker 4: the best things a man can do in this world
Speaker 4: is married. Well, yes, marry the right person. And I
Speaker 4: was very blessed to have met Lisa, fall in love
Speaker 4: and gotten married. And she's an incredible mom and incredible wife.
Speaker 4: Hey look, there's no like perfect textbook that teaches you
Speaker 4: how to be a dad. So thank you for being
Speaker 4: a dad who loves your kids. And it's there for
Speaker 4: him because not everyone has that luxury. And and so
Speaker 4: you know, my oldest two boys, Max and Christian, were
Speaker 4: old enough, barely old enough to remember the Super Bowl,
Speaker 4: so they remembered when I played and had that experience.
Speaker 4: I have two other sons, Dylan and Luke, who were
Speaker 4: a little too young to remember. When I retired. They
Speaker 4: were still too young to remember that I played, but
Speaker 4: they heard about it, and and I think it's cool
Speaker 4: that they get to watch your film and are proud
Speaker 4: of you know, when they get older, they'll be making
Speaker 4: fun of you. That's where I am. Okay, okay, yeah,
Speaker 4: they'll be making fun of you. Like I was talking,
Speaker 4: you know, someone brought up our two high school basketball championships,
Speaker 4: and my youngest son found a way to google it
Speaker 4: and saw me throwing the ball out of bounds at
Speaker 4: the end of the game to lose the game, Like,
Speaker 4: where did you find that tape? Yeah, in my memory
Speaker 4: we won that game. Yeah, And so they'll mess with you.
Speaker 4: But but you know, Lisa and I decided early on
Speaker 4: that we wanted to encourage our kids to follow their
Speaker 4: dreams and pursue whatever it is they wanted to pursue,
Speaker 4: as long as they were passionate about it, as long
Speaker 4: as they loved what they were doing. It didn't have
Speaker 4: to be football. We never signed them up for football.
Speaker 4: We waited for them to ask to play, and I
Speaker 4: thought it was important. I don't know, you know, I
Speaker 4: know NFL players who won't even let their kids play
Speaker 4: FOOTBA because they don't want them to have to live
Speaker 4: up to those expectations. And it's tough, right, if you're
Speaker 4: really successful in something, you live in that city and
Speaker 4: then you're you know, a kid of a professional athlete
Speaker 4: has pressures if they allow them to be, pressures that
Speaker 4: other kids don't have, right, they're always getting compared to someone.
Speaker 4: I didn't get compared to anybody. There were no pro
Speaker 4: athletes in my family. Whatever I accomplished was great because
Speaker 4: there were no expectations, but when you know, there might
Speaker 4: be added expectations for a kid of a pro athlete.
Speaker 4: So you know, I don't even have Lombardi trophies at
Speaker 4: my house. I never I've been to the Super Bowl
Speaker 4: every year. I've never worn a ring. But I'm an
Speaker 4: empty nester. Now my kids are grown up. They're playing
Speaker 4: in the NFL well, and I am proud of the
Speaker 4: years that I had as a player, and they know
Speaker 4: about it for sure. But I never tried to add
Speaker 4: any undue pressure on what they were doing, and I
Speaker 4: supported them. It just happened to be that they all
Speaker 4: ended up playing football, which is crazy. I don't think
Speaker 4: it's that crazy, I guess. I mean a lot of
Speaker 4: kids do following the footsteps of their fathers and have
Speaker 4: the similar passions. But I tried. I tried to always
Speaker 4: make sure they knew after every season that they could
Speaker 4: stop playing. Like, hey, once you commit, you're committed to
Speaker 4: your team, teammates and your coaches and your school. And
Speaker 4: then if you don't want to play at the end
Speaker 4: of the year, you know, reassess, and but you're not
Speaker 4: going to sit around and do nothing, Like we weren't
Speaker 4: going to have the video game kids, you know you're
Speaker 4: gonna either. You know, you can be part of STEM,
Speaker 4: you can get a job, you can play another sport,
Speaker 4: you can join a club. But you always have to
Speaker 4: be doing something. So find out what you love and
Speaker 4: chase your dreams and be the best at what you're doing.
Speaker 4: So that was my goal. But it is cool. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, they're playing with you on a video game
Speaker 4: and they're throwing you the ball. That's kind of cool.
Speaker 4: Uh you know. Now now my kids are on their
Speaker 4: own video games, probably throwing the ball to themselves. But no,
Speaker 4: it's fun. Kids are a blessing. They're blessing and so
Speaker 4: enjoy it. Thank you. Yours are young. They will grow up.
Speaker 4: You will blink and they will be all grown up.
Speaker 2: I got one out of the house now, and I'm
Speaker 2: I think it's crazy.
Speaker 1: I tell you, yeah, I have one out of the
Speaker 1: house now. She's in college. She's a she's my hooper,
Speaker 1: she's my basketball.
Speaker 2: Player, and I, like you said, I have more joy
Speaker 2: watching her play basketball, like it is the coolest ever.
Speaker 1: I absolutely love it. It's the coolest thing. I just
Speaker 1: sit back and just man, that's like the first game
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, this is I got
Speaker 1: teary out, like, oh man, is she at college? Like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this is this is awesome.
Speaker 4: Yeah, having more love for someone than you have for yourself,
Speaker 4: wanting more for them than what you than you want
Speaker 4: for yourself, is such just an unbelievable experience. It's the
Speaker 4: miracle of being a parent.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the coolest one of the We do
Speaker 2: a little bit of research and someone asked you your
Speaker 2: top three plays of your career, and you had just
Speaker 2: said something that made me think about it. I think
Speaker 2: that one of the coolest things about you in the
Speaker 2: twenty minutes that we've got to talk and us getting
Speaker 2: to know you is you are a very selfless guy.
Speaker 1: And out of the hundreds of plays that you've played
Speaker 1: in your career in the NFL, two of the three
Speaker 1: are about other people that don't even involve you.
Speaker 2: I think one was Rod Smith super Bowl thirty two.
Speaker 2: He caught one post posts you said.
Speaker 3: You knew it was over.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Oh I knew it was over. The game was
Speaker 4: over on that play.
Speaker 3: Oh it's good.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I was so happy for Rod too, and I
Speaker 4: was I had great teammates, man. So my number one
Speaker 4: play I don't even blink. It was Super Bowl thirty
Speaker 4: two victory formation job, Yeah, that was. I mean I
Speaker 4: think about that play almost every day. Yeah, that play
Speaker 4: is in slow motion rewind for me every day of
Speaker 4: my life. And you know, I'm don in the v
Speaker 4: I I'm in the back, in the backfield behind John Elway.
Speaker 4: John Elway has gone to a couple Super Bowls and lost.
Speaker 4: The Denver Broncos have never won a Super Bowl, and
Speaker 4: so I'm happy for myself. I mean, we're about to
Speaker 4: win this game. But at the same time, you know,
Speaker 4: there is a chance that the nose guard nose tackle
Speaker 4: slaps the ball and it's flopping around back there, right,
Speaker 4: that's the purpose of the guy having been in the
Speaker 4: backfield in the victory for.
Speaker 3: Me to get the tax.
Speaker 4: So I'm back there and I'm like, there's no way
Speaker 4: we're going to go out with some crazy kind of
Speaker 4: trick play where they slap the ball and score somehow.
Speaker 4: So I'm looking down at the ball, I'm looking up
Speaker 4: at the clock. I'm looking down at the ball. I'm
Speaker 4: looking up at the clock, and the pixelation on the
Speaker 4: on the scoreboard is in slow motion just three two,
Speaker 4: and it's like it's taken forever. That's that's how frozen
Speaker 4: in time I was in that moment. I'm like, this
Speaker 4: clock is taken forever to tick down, and it's just
Speaker 4: frozen in time for me looking up, looking down, and
Speaker 4: then the one is like just slowly picks late into zero.
Speaker 4: And then John takes the knee and turns around and
Speaker 4: he is laughing, crying, every emotion a human can feel.
Speaker 4: He is feeling in that moment, and I am right there,
Speaker 4: right behind him, first one that gets to celebrate with
Speaker 4: him after such a long journey for him to get there,
Speaker 4: and for our whole team, and also for everybody that
Speaker 4: rooted for the Denver Broncos first Super Bowl in the
Speaker 4: history of the franchise. So I mean, I'm not kidding
Speaker 4: when I say I think about the play probably every day. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and by far my favorite play of my career.
Speaker 1: Do you know what your third play was?
Speaker 4: Finally, No, I do remember super Bowl thirty three, So
Speaker 4: there was a lot that went into that too. There's
Speaker 4: a lot of history, you know, side stories. You know,
Speaker 4: for instance, the head coach was John always head coach before,
Speaker 4: so we're playing he was also my coach who cut me.
Speaker 4: So we're playing against him. So there was a lot
Speaker 4: going into that game for me personally, but also for
Speaker 4: John coach Shanahan. It was a big time rival and
Speaker 4: we wanted to win so badly in so many different ways.
Speaker 4: And I also like Rod was a really good friend
Speaker 4: and a great teammate. And Rod, believe it or not,
Speaker 4: despite being a Ring of Famer and hopefully Hall of Famer,
Speaker 4: one day, he didn't catch a pass in Super Bowl
Speaker 4: thirty two and he was the ultimate team player. But like,
Speaker 4: for as great of a player as he was, to
Speaker 4: not catch a pass, you know, he sold out. In
Speaker 4: the run game, we blocked Terrell Davis's MVP. We're just
Speaker 4: running the ball all day, so we didn't throw the
Speaker 4: ball a lot. It was one of those games. Even
Speaker 4: John's best play was a run where he did the helicopter,
Speaker 4: and so you know, this was a big game for
Speaker 4: Rod too. Is a little bit of a redemption. Hey
Speaker 4: we got back here. Now I'm going to make some play.
Speaker 4: And when I saw him take off on that post
Speaker 4: route and catch it and start runout, was right behind
Speaker 4: him watching him run at the end zone, I'm like,
Speaker 4: it is over. This is it? Man? Like that? And
Speaker 4: it wasn't technically over, but in my mind, there's nothing
Speaker 4: that's going to stop.
Speaker 5: Well, I think it's so cool because I didn't know
Speaker 5: that he didn't catch a pass in Super Bowl thirty two,
Speaker 5: and so for him to open up and get that
Speaker 5: big deep post round thirty three, that's why the motion
Speaker 5: is behind it. You like, No, that's like my favorite
Speaker 5: because of how great and ships you were that you
Speaker 5: talked about these relationships that you had with Rod Smith
Speaker 5: multiple times already, and then to see him on the
Speaker 5: biggest age get that big play that early in the
Speaker 5: game set up that's why you feel like specifically.
Speaker 4: It meant a lot to me. Yes, to see him
Speaker 4: experience that, and because we remember we're two guys that
Speaker 4: climbed up through the ranks. He came up the practice squad,
Speaker 4: I signed with a new team. We were only getting
Speaker 4: in on run plays. We eventually competed and became starters.
Speaker 4: And then you know, I remembered the year before he
Speaker 4: didn't have a catch, and to watch him have such
Speaker 4: a big play in such a big moment was I
Speaker 4: was so happy for him and that one of the
Speaker 4: greatest things I think you can experience in sports is
Speaker 4: having teammates who you root for, because like there's some
Speaker 4: teams you might play forward, it's very competitive. Maybe you
Speaker 4: don't love the room that you're in. Guys are competing
Speaker 4: for a job. Maybe you know it's it's not a
Speaker 4: friendly situation. But in this situation, I wanted as much
Speaker 4: for him as I ever wanted for myself because I
Speaker 4: came up through the ranks with him. I know how
Speaker 4: hard he worked to get to where he was, and
Speaker 4: he was completely self He would do anything for the team.
Speaker 4: He was running down on kickoffs, breaking up wedges when
Speaker 4: he first got to the Broncos, and like he would
Speaker 4: do anything he could possibly do to help the team.
Speaker 4: And he was such an unselfish player that I rooted
Speaker 4: for him. Like when he scored, I scored, and so
Speaker 4: that was just such a great moment. But it was also,
Speaker 4: you know, a momentous moment, like when you have momentum
Speaker 4: in a game, you feel it shift, it's palpable, and
Speaker 4: that was one of the plays in that game where oh,
Speaker 4: I feel it now, like there's nothing that's going to
Speaker 4: stop us. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So I want to start to get into your
Speaker 5: some of your post career stuff, and so.
Speaker 3: After you retire.
Speaker 5: We all go through these moments, you know, we all
Speaker 5: you have to try, and you know, we do a
Speaker 5: lot more studies on it now than when you retired.
Speaker 5: I don't think we talked about the NFL post retirement
Speaker 5: as much as we do now, and that's.
Speaker 3: Why we're all here today.
Speaker 5: So I want you to talk about what you did
Speaker 5: when you stopped playing. I know you did some youth
Speaker 5: sports coaching, so you did some high school coaching. You
Speaker 5: also were at the University of Northern Colorado. I checked
Speaker 5: out your ed muccaffrey website. Okay, oh yeah, so I
Speaker 5: saw the what's what do you call the sports Eddie?
Speaker 3: Is that you can't that you guys do?
Speaker 4: Yeah, we've been doing. Man, we've had I've had so
Speaker 4: much fun. And luckily I had a successful enough career
Speaker 4: and provided for my family so that I could do
Speaker 4: whatever I wanted to do when I retired. I tried
Speaker 4: to be smart with my money. As you know, it's
Speaker 4: tough when you first retire. You got to make sure
Speaker 4: you don't ruin the rest of your life the first
Speaker 4: couple of years after retirement. But I did a lot
Speaker 4: of different things at first, you know, I stepped away
Speaker 4: from football, worked for a real estate company. We had
Speaker 4: private residence clubs all over the world. Got to travel
Speaker 4: and see really cool resorts. And then, you know, I
Speaker 4: started coaching my son Max with his little league team,
Speaker 4: mainly because the coach was a really good friend who
Speaker 4: lived in my neighborhood. But they also needed a little
Speaker 4: bit of help. They need coaching, right, I mean, they
Speaker 4: were doing bull in the ring for like an hour.
Speaker 4: I'm like, dude, you're going to kill some kids out here.
Speaker 4: You need like Oklahoma drill school. So they're outlawed now.
Speaker 4: But yeah, but they were teaching tough. I'll give them that.
Speaker 4: But you know, I wanted to be around my family.
Speaker 4: My wife had made sacrifices where we good four boys.
Speaker 4: She made a lot of sacrifices when I was playing.
Speaker 4: You know how you're traveling on the road hole fall,
Speaker 4: and I'm like this, I want to experience some time
Speaker 4: with my kids. Want to coach them, hang out, be
Speaker 4: a part of their lives. And so I chose to
Speaker 4: do that and did different types of jobs for a while,
Speaker 4: their experiment with other things, trying to figure out what
Speaker 4: I wanted to do. I loved coaching and loved being
Speaker 4: around my family, you know, experimented with the real estate
Speaker 4: company for a little while, and then you know, I realized,
Speaker 4: maybe after three four years, that you know, I still
Speaker 4: love football, you know, and so I got into broadcasting.
Speaker 4: I called the Broncos games for five years. That got
Speaker 4: me the Thring, which is kind of cool. This is
Speaker 4: a media ring, but the silly ring. I did that.
Speaker 4: But I always love football. So I ran football camps.
Speaker 4: I've been doing it since the nineties. And we run
Speaker 4: camps for elite players. We run camps for boys and
Speaker 4: girls that have never played before. For ten years, I
Speaker 4: did a dare to Play football camp for young adults
Speaker 4: with Down syndrome. And it's just a way to bring
Speaker 4: people together through the sport of football, yes and uh,
Speaker 4: and let them have that experience. I didn't go to
Speaker 4: a lot of football camps when I was a kid,
Speaker 4: and I wish I did, and so I try to
Speaker 4: teach them the things that I wish I could have
Speaker 4: learned when I was young. So in addition to teaching them,
Speaker 4: you know, linear speed mechanics and change your direction and
Speaker 4: sports performance, we obviously teach them football. We're a non
Speaker 4: padded camp, so nobody's going to get hurt or get hit,
Speaker 4: and we bring in former players to talk to them
Speaker 4: about life, and uh, that's probably the most fun they
Speaker 4: have when the former players come in and talk to
Speaker 4: them and they get to ask them questions. But you know,
Speaker 4: it's just it's football, family and fun is what it's
Speaker 4: all about. And then you know, I coached at high school,
Speaker 4: had a lot of fun coaching in high school. The
Speaker 4: high school coach stepped away and uh took a job
Speaker 4: somewhere else. So I stepped in for a couple of
Speaker 4: years and had so much fun coaching high school football.
Speaker 4: And we did we did well, you know, we want
Speaker 4: to We went undefeated when a state championship had a
Speaker 4: lot of funds. Thank you the ring.
Speaker 1: Just all I do was lay and win, win, no
Speaker 1: matter what.
Speaker 4: That was a really good experience. And some of the
Speaker 4: players that I coach are in the NFL now, which
Speaker 4: is even more name one, Roger Rosengarten start and right
Speaker 4: tackle for the Baltimore Ravens. Let's go right. My son
Speaker 4: Luke plays for the Washington Anders. There's a couple others
Speaker 4: that are still in college that might get a shot.
Speaker 4: Drake Nugent made the practice squad coach him in Little League.
Speaker 4: He's on the forty nine ers practice squad, played center
Speaker 4: win a national championship in Michigan. So for me as
Speaker 4: a coach, the most rewarding thing you can experience is
Speaker 4: that being able to create a bond with another human
Speaker 4: a player that you coach, that goes on that has
Speaker 4: success and they earned everything on their own, but just
Speaker 4: being able to witness them grow and mature and develop
Speaker 4: and have success of their own, it creates those bonds.
Speaker 4: So there's like people that coached me and we still
Speaker 4: have those connections, and there's people that I coach. So
Speaker 4: the time frame is like thirty forty years of young
Speaker 4: people that play football that are now my kids age
Speaker 4: that are in the NFL, and coaches that coach me
Speaker 4: that had retired twenty years ago, and it's just such
Speaker 4: an incredible family, you know how it is. It's like
Speaker 4: a family. You guys have so many people you know
Speaker 4: that you would run into today. You might not have
Speaker 4: seen them in ten years, but you have that shared experience.
Speaker 4: That's what it's like being a coach. That's the most
Speaker 4: rewarding part of being a coach. But I did that
Speaker 4: for a couple of years, then did at the collegiate
Speaker 4: level for a couple of years. Elijah Dotson's a guy
Speaker 4: got to coach who is in Atlanta now, is a
Speaker 4: running back and he was with the Chargers for a while.
Speaker 4: Just a great human being and such a hard worker
Speaker 4: and has literally worked his way. He's physically gifted, but
Speaker 4: worked his way into being an NFL player. And you know,
Speaker 4: it just feels so good to have had some kind
Speaker 4: of small part in their development. But then, you know,
Speaker 4: as of a couple of years ago, I retired, and
Speaker 4: I love going. I still love going to watch my
Speaker 4: kids play. You know how it is like you have
Speaker 4: when you get all emotional watching your daughter. Man, I
Speaker 4: get that way too. I have no control over what's
Speaker 4: going to happen. I can't have any effect on the game.
Speaker 4: I'm not coaching them. I don't even know. You know,
Speaker 4: I watched their film, but I don't know what they're
Speaker 4: installed in terms of their plays. But there's still my kids,
Speaker 4: So I'm still watching them like they're playing Little League,
Speaker 4: and I like going to their games, so because I
Speaker 4: like coaching too. But I watch all the film. I
Speaker 4: watch all the Commanders film, I watch all the forty
Speaker 4: nine ers film. My oldest son, Max, coaches at Miami.
Speaker 4: I watch their film and I get to talk to
Speaker 4: them about football, which is cool. So I get my
Speaker 4: football fixed that way. And I do a show on
Speaker 4: series x MNFL Radio, so I get to follow all
Speaker 4: the NFL games and watch them. So that's my football fix.
Speaker 4: But professionally, you know, I had a brand of food
Speaker 4: products that I launched in the nineties, Okay, Spicy brown mustard,
Speaker 4: Horse Radish SoC the McCaffrey's Rocky Mountain mustard, and it's
Speaker 4: been it's been selling since the nineties. But I have
Speaker 4: a really good business partner who basically ran the company.
Speaker 4: So we came up with our food products and over
Speaker 4: the years we had a cereal, we had mac and cheese.
Speaker 4: But when you're a player, you know you're you're leveraging
Speaker 4: off your popularity and your success at the time. But
Speaker 4: the reason the mustard has sold for over twenty five
Speaker 4: years is this a really good quality product. Our manufacturers
Speaker 4: we're in business making mustard for over one hundred years,
Speaker 4: and their generational family, and they make a really good product.
Speaker 4: So people buy it. Now they know me either as
Speaker 4: Christian or Luke's dad. At this point or the mustard guy.
Speaker 4: But recently, you know, I really wanted to learn more
Speaker 4: about the business. So I'm learning about how we manufacture
Speaker 4: our products. I'm learning about shipping and margining and the
Speaker 4: retailers that we deal with, and warehousing and just everything
Speaker 4: about the business. And so once I kind of took
Speaker 4: over the mustard business for about a year when my
Speaker 4: business partner had a step aside, he ended up, as
Speaker 4: fate would have it, healing up. He had a health issue,
Speaker 4: healing up and came back, and I hired him back
Speaker 4: to help me run our mustard company. And we got
Speaker 4: along so well, and I was putting so much more
Speaker 4: time into it learning this new business that we decided
Speaker 4: to launch another product, and we just this week launched
Speaker 4: McCaffrey Protein Bites. So you can find it on McCaffrey
Speaker 4: brands dot com and it's man, I hope you try some.
Speaker 4: I think you'll like them. But it's a super healthy,
Speaker 4: not a gluten free on GMO snack that you can eat.
Speaker 4: So you guys, know when you were you guys are
Speaker 4: still in pretty good shape. By the way. I'm definitely
Speaker 4: so number one has to taste good. That's the one
Speaker 4: thing You guys have probably tried every bar and supplement
Speaker 4: out there, and so many of them taste like cardboard
Speaker 4: or the heel of your shoe, and you're like, I
Speaker 4: know it's healthy, but I can't eat this, I can't
Speaker 4: do it right, and you can't carry around like I
Speaker 4: talked to some NFL players. They have chefs, right, I
Speaker 4: didn't have a chef when I played me either, but
Speaker 4: they had like topperware full of chicken cubes and the
Speaker 4: chef makes them all this food. If you can do that, great,
Speaker 4: do that. But most of us, it's like, we're not
Speaker 4: going to have a chef make us food to carry
Speaker 4: with us throughout the day. So how can you come
Speaker 4: up with a healthy snack that's good for everybody? For
Speaker 4: your daughter, for you, for your kids. Right, they can
Speaker 4: eat it. It's super healthy for you, and it has
Speaker 4: protein in it, and a lot of even kids don't
Speaker 4: get enough protein. Your protein levels are based off your
Speaker 4: activity level and your weight for the most part. But
Speaker 4: they're delicious. They had to taste good. So chocolate chip, cookie, dough, fudge, brownie,
Speaker 4: birthday cake, birthday it tastes like a treat, But are
Speaker 4: they they're good for you? So I mean I started
Speaker 4: at mustard. I started using spicy brown mustard because I
Speaker 4: used to eat super healthy like turkey sandwiches every day,
Speaker 4: non fat turkey burgers, chicken, and after a while you're
Speaker 4: eating the same thing all the time and it's getting bland.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I got to do something to add some
Speaker 4: flavor to this healthy food. So the mustard was all
Speaker 4: about making good food taste better and making healthy food
Speaker 4: taste better. And the protein bites are about creating a
Speaker 4: healthy snack for everybody. So these are for kids that
Speaker 4: play Little League, They're for moms in the car driving carpool.
Speaker 4: They're for you know, athletes, pro athletes who want something
Speaker 4: like twenty minutes before a game. It's like, look, pregame
Speaker 4: meal was too long ago. I'm a little bit hungry.
Speaker 4: I need a little bit of fuel easily digestible. You
Speaker 4: can have them as a halftime snack right after a
Speaker 4: game to get some protein intakes so you recover better.
Speaker 4: So they're really for everybody. It took it took like
Speaker 4: over a year to come up with something that tasted
Speaker 4: good because the more protein you add, the more it
Speaker 4: affects the taste, and you don't want to put cane
Speaker 4: sugar in there, or unhealthy ingredients or preservatives. So to
Speaker 4: come up with a super healthy snack that tastes great
Speaker 4: that everybody enjoys was not easy. There was a lot
Speaker 4: of people involved with being able to put this product
Speaker 4: out to market. But I'm really proud of it. I'm
Speaker 4: really excited about it, and thank you for mentioning I'm excited.
Speaker 4: Cano Yes, they're yours. Ok, Okay, they are yours and
Speaker 4: anybody right now. They're online at McCaffrey Browns dot com.
Speaker 4: But we're going to be in Dick's Sporting Goods, and
Speaker 4: we're going to be in Shields, and we're going to
Speaker 4: be in Kroger Shorgers, which is King Supers in Colorado
Speaker 4: with Shields. Yeah. It's a really big outfit in the
Speaker 4: Midwest mostly. Yeah. But they have food, they have athletic equipment. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and they're probably I want to say there's twenty seven
Speaker 4: of them. Yeah, but they're really giant superstores located mostly
Speaker 4: in the Midwest.
Speaker 6: We're going to take a short break and we'll be
Speaker 6: right back.
Speaker 2: Life looks like it has been treating you well. You
Speaker 2: look like you have so much joy as this question
Speaker 2: to a lot of our guests that hold, hold I want.
Speaker 4: I got it.
Speaker 3: I gotta get this question before you.
Speaker 2: Why is it that I asked questions that you always
Speaker 2: I never interrupt you.
Speaker 4: I never.
Speaker 1: I just let you go.
Speaker 4: You do not know to read this.
Speaker 3: And I don't want to go.
Speaker 4: You guys been doing the show together. Man like he twenty.
Speaker 2: Years all the time, step so my I never step
Speaker 2: on his shoes, never step on it.
Speaker 3: He's not lying, he's noting. He teks my questions.
Speaker 1: I let it ride.
Speaker 2: I flow with it, trying to be the good teammate,
Speaker 2: trying to be selfless, just trying to just hey, I
Speaker 2: want it for him.
Speaker 1: I want him to shine.
Speaker 4: Let him get his reps, and.
Speaker 2: Then I will come up with this dope ask question
Speaker 2: the way I phrase it, I'm thinking about it.
Speaker 1: I just like I.
Speaker 2: Got my inner Oprah Winfrey in me, and I'm just
Speaker 2: like I can say this thing.
Speaker 1: And he's like, no, we're not doing I'm like, it's
Speaker 1: going to a question, man, ask your question. I quit
Speaker 1: because I quit.
Speaker 5: I think this is one of it's going to be
Speaker 5: the second best question and you're gonna get because I
Speaker 5: think the one that Peanut has in the story is
Speaker 5: going to be.
Speaker 3: Off the charts.
Speaker 5: But as a father, your son Christian, I've heard him
Speaker 5: talk about different ways how you helped raise him from
Speaker 5: let me write him down, from telling him that squinting
Speaker 5: during the day was wasting energy, so he don't squint
Speaker 5: in the sun, okay, wearing jeans too heavy on your legs, son,
Speaker 5: Like I need you to be more comfortable on game day, getting.
Speaker 3: Ivs in the middle of the day.
Speaker 5: The workouts we know about the workouts, the linear running,
Speaker 5: all these other things that you were very, very in
Speaker 5: tune with, bedtime seven point thirty, strict, ready to go,
Speaker 5: no phone, get it, all of these things like going
Speaker 5: into as being a father and being impactful, all those things.
Speaker 5: Despite all that, he says, the best thing that you
Speaker 5: ever taught him was how to handle at the mentality,
Speaker 5: the mental toughness that you instilled in him as a
Speaker 5: young man. How do you do that in today's generation
Speaker 5: for like my son, how do you continue these trends
Speaker 5: and teach our young people this? Because I think for
Speaker 5: me that is the real superpower that you instilled in
Speaker 5: your children.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Well, the news of my parenting is greatly exaggerated.
Speaker 4: I'll say that about Christian. First of all, I don't think.
Speaker 4: I don't think they were home from practice a seven
Speaker 4: point thirty. But look, you know I've learned over the years.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm not for everybody. I probably you know,
Speaker 4: not every kid probably would have resonated with my parenting style.
Speaker 4: I'm not afraid to admit that. You know, I got
Speaker 4: the reputation as being one of the more strict parents,
Speaker 4: but I loved my kids and I wanted them to
Speaker 4: grow up as good people who respected other people, who
Speaker 4: did things the right way. And so, you know, some
Speaker 4: of the I don't remember the squinting thing. I know
Speaker 4: he mentioned that, And if I knew that he was
Speaker 4: going to repeat everything I said, I might have been
Speaker 4: more careful with what I told him.
Speaker 3: But it worked.
Speaker 4: But yeah, you know, he was. He's a he's a
Speaker 4: great come lucky I mean he was. He's a great kid.
Speaker 4: He's a student of life, not just of the game.
Speaker 4: And he is a super hard worker who always wants
Speaker 4: to be the best. He's very conscientious of other people.
Speaker 4: He really cares what other people think, and he's such
Speaker 4: a loyal friend and teammate. So he was he made
Speaker 4: it pretty easy to raise him, honestly, but I did
Speaker 4: want the best for him. So whatever knowledge I had
Speaker 4: I tried to share with him, was I write all
Speaker 4: the time? Probably not. As parents, we try our best. Man,
Speaker 4: I'm sure we're going to mess up, right, and I'm
Speaker 4: no different. And kids will be quick to point it
Speaker 4: out if you messed up too. They will. They'll grow
Speaker 4: up old enough to remember and then remind you about
Speaker 4: what you said and did. But you know, I want
Speaker 4: him to be his best. The the IV thing. I
Speaker 4: do have an interesting story about the IV thing. So
Speaker 4: there was one game, like in high school, he didn't
Speaker 4: come off the field. So it's offense, defense, and special teams,
Speaker 4: so you know you're playing the whole game. And there
Speaker 4: was a couple of night games where you know how
Speaker 4: you remember high school. You go to school, you're in
Speaker 4: school all day, stand on your feet, go into class,
Speaker 4: you never go then you probably don't eat right and
Speaker 4: you're probably dehydrated. It's hot in the beginning of the
Speaker 4: summer when you play your first game, and then you
Speaker 4: go out and play a game on Friday night. And
Speaker 4: so I remember him cramping up one game and he
Speaker 4: had to come out of the game for cramping up.
Speaker 4: And it's not surprising. He probably didn't really have a
Speaker 4: real dinner or drink enough flewis during the day. So
Speaker 4: I'm like, okay, only on night games, we should probably get,
Speaker 4: you know, give you an IV. And he took an
Speaker 4: IV before one of his night games and played out
Speaker 4: of this world, and so you know how that is
Speaker 4: too psychologically. You're like, okay, I got the IV and
Speaker 4: had one of the best games of my career. And
Speaker 4: so in the beginning it was only for night games.
Speaker 4: But then after a while, you know, he's like, hey,
Speaker 4: maybe I should get an IV for this big game
Speaker 4: that's on a Saturday afternoon. And even though I wasn't
Speaker 4: sure he needed it, I'm not going to step in
Speaker 4: the way of somebody thinking that it's going to help him. You're, yeah,
Speaker 4: so he would get the IV, but you know, the
Speaker 4: placebo effect is a real deal too. I do think
Speaker 4: ivs help you, especially in hot weather. But if you
Speaker 4: think they help you, they definitely help. So there was
Speaker 4: this one game at the end of the year, there
Speaker 4: was a state championship game, and I didn't you probably
Speaker 4: didn't need an IV for that game because it was
Speaker 4: on a Saturday and it was not that hot out.
Speaker 4: It was cold at the end of the year in Colorado,
Speaker 4: but he wanted to get it and I'm not about
Speaker 4: to not get him the IV before a state championship game.
Speaker 4: But normally we go to a doctor's office to get
Speaker 4: the IV in a controlled setting, but the doctor was
Speaker 4: out of town, so like, we got to get an
Speaker 4: IV somewhere. Nowadays, there's ivs, like in a mall. You
Speaker 4: can get ivs anywhere. They'll come to your house. But
Speaker 4: back then, you know, you still had to look for
Speaker 4: place to get an IV. So we just go to
Speaker 4: like a nurse practitioner's office in a strip mall to
Speaker 4: get an IV and it's just sailing solution. It's nothing special,
Speaker 4: and they go to give it to him and I'm
Speaker 4: like on my phone, not paying attention. It's pretty routine.
Speaker 4: Just get the IV in. Let's get out of here.
Speaker 4: And he's like, hey, Dad. I look over and his
Speaker 4: arm is swelling up like a bubble because they they
Speaker 4: didn't hit the veane when they put the IV in,
Speaker 4: and it was just fluid going under his skin. So
Speaker 4: I'm like, oh my gosh. So I call the nurse
Speaker 4: practitioner and she runs and takes out. It's like, don't
Speaker 4: worry about I'm panicking because I'm like, they have a
Speaker 4: state championship in a few hours. And she starts pushing,
Speaker 4: pushing down on it to get the fluid out of there,
Speaker 4: and uh, and so I'm thinking it'll be all right,
Speaker 4: don't worry about it. And meantime, I'm panicking a little bit.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I've never seen that happen before, but he's
Speaker 4: gonna be okay. She says, it's fine, it's just fluid.
Speaker 4: It'll it'll dissolve or evaporate. And so then she goes
Speaker 4: to do it again, and this time she hits the
Speaker 4: vein and I kid you not, blood squirted up to
Speaker 4: the ceiling. I don't know what happened, but she hit
Speaker 4: it in a way. And now I'm really starting to panic,
Speaker 4: and so eventually I'm like, you know what, we're good.
Speaker 4: It's good, you know, uh, you know, we're good. We're
Speaker 4: just gonna leave, no big deal, thanks for trying. And
Speaker 4: we leave, and you know, he's flush because he's like,
Speaker 4: what just happened? Blood squirted up to the ceiling. Put
Speaker 4: a band aid on there, start walking out to the car,
Speaker 4: and I'm like, you know, what man, it's it's it's
Speaker 4: you know, Gatorade's fine. Just drink drink some Power Aid
Speaker 4: or some gatorade and you'll be fine. And and he's
Speaker 4: like that he looks at me. Then what have I
Speaker 4: been getting these high feats all the time? But I
Speaker 4: didn't know what else to say. Anyway, you had a
Speaker 4: great game, long story short, but I was panicking. I
Speaker 4: started thinking, I really have a big time parent fail
Speaker 4: going on right now if this affects him in this game.
Speaker 4: But he played fine anyway.
Speaker 2: You try to keep him calm. He's like, oh my god, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I probably would have did the same thing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, when you're a parent, you got to keep calm
Speaker 5: even though absolutely freaking out on the Absolutely they can't.
Speaker 3: They can't let the kids see a sweat.
Speaker 4: Yeah. And also, like you get into a routine, and
Speaker 4: there are things that are beneficial. Like my wife Lisa
Speaker 4: used to always mix up some form of like power
Speaker 4: Aid and coconut water and like mix it up and
Speaker 4: she'd make this healthy drink form and she'd run it
Speaker 4: down to him on the sideline and they'd drink it
Speaker 4: and they'd feel good. So, I mean, the hydration is
Speaker 4: a real thing. You gotta stay hydrated, especially when it's hot.
Speaker 4: But there's also something to your routine. I don't know,
Speaker 4: did you guys probably had a routine, right, There's certain
Speaker 4: things she did before every game, and so I think
Speaker 4: those things matter, like if for no other reason than
Speaker 4: to have you mentally clear and feeling confident that this
Speaker 4: is my routine. Right, what was your routine?
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't eat before games.
Speaker 2: I would eat a really big meal before, like crazy
Speaker 2: pasta the night before. Then I'd wake up super early.
Speaker 2: I would listen to my audiobook of Earl Nightingale and
Speaker 2: it talked about like mental toughness, and then I would
Speaker 2: sit there and visualize myself punching out footballs or whatever,
Speaker 2: and then I would I would walk over to the stadium.
Speaker 2: I'd get over there super early, and then I would
Speaker 2: get this, you know, get taped by the same person,
Speaker 2: and I'd wait for Lance Briggs to come and we'd
Speaker 2: go do our routine, and then someone would help me
Speaker 2: put my pads on, and I would go in my
Speaker 2: little corner and just meditate and pray and on the field,
Speaker 2: and I just, yeah, that was kind of like my
Speaker 2: my thing.
Speaker 4: I know, you had a routine too.
Speaker 3: I did.
Speaker 5: I definitely ate before the game. But I learned early
Speaker 5: in my career that cramping is unprofessional because you truly
Speaker 5: can prevent it, yeah, if you just drink and do
Speaker 5: the right things. So I was always extremely hydrated. My
Speaker 5: to my routine was listening to the same same music,
Speaker 5: which was can we talk about Tevin Campbell?
Speaker 1: Great song?
Speaker 5: Great song, great, it doesn't get a lot of people
Speaker 5: fired up, but written my baby, it is my jam.
Speaker 3: That was my jam. That yeah, that was my jam.
Speaker 4: And then.
Speaker 3: One one toward all. One must relax a couple of
Speaker 3: sparks to get.
Speaker 1: You Yeah, yeah, I forgot to the old school, you know,
Speaker 1: old school turn off.
Speaker 5: One must relaxed within a couple of sparks. That makes
Speaker 5: your offset the downs with the ups.
Speaker 4: Did you did you eat the same way when you
Speaker 4: were like a rookie as you did later in your career.
Speaker 4: No more nervous when you're younger, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, way more nervous. But by the time I
Speaker 3: was older, I had it all Like I'm good. I
Speaker 3: knew it. I had a system. I had a system.
Speaker 3: I trusted it.
Speaker 5: But it's like you said, the more and more you
Speaker 5: do these things you actually start getting more maniacal about it.
Speaker 5: You know, you lay your jersey out the same way
Speaker 5: you do these starts to get a little bit repetitive.
Speaker 5: We're nowhere near as bad as baseball players.
Speaker 1: But but it helps with your mental though.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it does.
Speaker 1: Helps you settle down and get to a place of
Speaker 1: calmness and ready to go to battle.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And it's less decisions you have to make. Yes, right,
Speaker 4: It's like I already know what I'm doing game to day.
Speaker 4: I don't even have to think about it. No new decisions.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna eat the same thing, dress the same way,
Speaker 4: go through the same routine, and that's just less things
Speaker 4: to think about, so you can focus on the game.
Speaker 4: But eating is a big issue. I remember we used
Speaker 4: to have so many offensive linemen that would be puken
Speaker 4: before the game, Like a lot of the young guys, especially,
Speaker 4: they get so nervous and they eat a lot, you know,
Speaker 4: the guys that have to try to maintain their weight,
Speaker 4: and they would always get sick before games. And then
Speaker 4: it's funny because some of the same guys four or
Speaker 4: five years later weren't getting sick anymore. But in the
Speaker 4: beginning they get really nervous, and it's difficult to eat
Speaker 4: the right amount and the right foods and not have
Speaker 4: it upset your stomach. It's honestly one of the main
Speaker 4: reasons I came up with these protein bites, because like
Speaker 4: when you're playing sports, it's hard to eat steak and
Speaker 4: eggs too soon before a football game and go out
Speaker 4: and play and have it not sit in your stomach.
Speaker 4: At the same time, you need fuel. Yes, you know
Speaker 4: it's hard. You get hypoglycemic, you run out of energy,
Speaker 4: and you want to perform at your best. So how
Speaker 4: do you eat something that's easily digestible and not a
Speaker 4: bonk or run out of energy and still perform at
Speaker 4: a high level. But I used to lean towards what
Speaker 4: you did. I couldn't eat too much before a game,
Speaker 4: but I remember, like about halftime, I'm like, man, I
Speaker 4: got a I got to eat something, but I wanted
Speaker 4: to feel light, going back to wanting to feel light,
Speaker 4: but at the same time, I didn't want to run
Speaker 4: out of energy. So it was a real challenge. So
Speaker 4: you know, I learned over time to start eating a
Speaker 4: bite or two of a bar or something that I
Speaker 4: could digest without feeling sick. I saw Jerry Rice one
Speaker 4: time eat a hot dog at halftime, Like, how's he
Speaker 4: eating a hot dog at halftime and then going out
Speaker 4: and catching I think he set a record that he
Speaker 4: caught a touchdown against the Raiders. It was some kind
Speaker 4: of record, he said a lot of them, and I'm like,
Speaker 4: he just ate a hot dog at halftime, then went
Speaker 4: out and caught a touchdown and set some kind of record.
Speaker 4: How does he do it? But then that's another thing
Speaker 4: I learned from him. I'm like, look, I'm not gonna
Speaker 4: eat a hot dog. I'll puke, but I'm gonna I
Speaker 4: got to eat something at halftime because it's it's a
Speaker 4: long three and a half hour game. That's a long time.
Speaker 4: Your pregame meal a couple hours before the game. You're
Speaker 4: going five, six, seven hours with no food, and you
Speaker 4: can do it, but it's just it's just hard. So
Speaker 4: I found it it's better if you can. And some
Speaker 4: people do lick. You might have drinken a liquid. Yeah,
Speaker 4: gave you some calories which is easier to digest, right,
Speaker 4: and so uh, but I think for athletes, staying properly fueled,
Speaker 4: properly hydrated is so incredibly important and those are things
Speaker 4: you can control.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so my last question, don't step on my toes. Uh,
Speaker 1: here we go, mister Harper. You've had tremendous success.
Speaker 2: On the field, off the field, family product, Mustard, the bites,
Speaker 2: the protein bites. Who is on your personal Mount Rushmore?
Speaker 1: And you get to pick four?
Speaker 4: Oh wow, I got to pick a Mount Rushmore.
Speaker 1: You got to pick a personal mount mount Rushmore.
Speaker 4: Oh man, my personal Mount Rushmore are my four kids, Man, Max, Christian,
Speaker 4: Dylan and Luke. That's my Mount Rushmore. Those are the
Speaker 4: people that I love and the matter to me. But
Speaker 4: I mean, I played with so many Hall of Famers
Speaker 4: and good players.
Speaker 3: It's tough. It's tough.
Speaker 4: Yeah, just only pick four? Yeah, it's tough because then
Speaker 4: I'll make enemies of some of my really good friends
Speaker 4: if they don't make it. Oh. You know one that
Speaker 4: you'll never argue with is John Elway. He belongs on there, right,
Speaker 4: And then I've played with so many other Hall of
Speaker 4: Famers just on the Broncos alone. But I'll say one
Speaker 4: that no one will argue with, John Elway is a
Speaker 4: Mount Rushmore. He's the greatest ever Bronco'd ever play the game,
Speaker 4: greatest quarterback I had so much fun with him. He's
Speaker 4: a great person and was obviously a legendary football player.
Speaker 4: Yeah that's all we got.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, appreciate you man, no doubt on the podcast.
Speaker 1: Thank you for having again, it's a great deal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: from just talking and asking these questions, and yeah, you
Speaker 1: blessed us. I appreciate that.
Speaker 4: We Yeah, I appreciate it. Well, you guys had phenomenal careers.
Speaker 4: I watched you guys play a lot of football games, Man,
Speaker 4: and you guys played it the right way. So it's
Speaker 4: a real honor for me to be sitting down here.
Speaker 4: And I still have that teach tape.
Speaker 3: I'm sure.
Speaker 4: I'm sure many people have set you that teach tape.
Speaker 5: Like I said before, he travels, so if you ever
Speaker 5: need him to come on out, we can put him
Speaker 5: on a plane for you too.
Speaker 3: That's easily done.
Speaker 5: And Ed Man, thanks so much. Man, always been such
Speaker 5: a big fan of yours. Everything you've been able to
Speaker 5: do as a career on and off the field, in
Speaker 5: what you continue to bless the world with. Man, thank
Speaker 5: you so much for coming and spending your time in
Speaker 5: your day with us. We really really appreciate it.
Speaker 3: So thank you.
Speaker 4: It's an honor.
Speaker 3: Thank you, no doubt, man, no doubt.
Speaker 5: All right, Well, first of all, me and Peanut want
Speaker 5: to thank all of our listeners and everybody that views
Speaker 5: us wherever you're picking up your podcast, where the Apple podcasts,
Speaker 5: our Heart Radio app continue to give us shout outs,
Speaker 5: give us five star rating, give us review, leave a comment,
Speaker 5: make sure you subscribe.
Speaker 1: Like, share a follow.
Speaker 4: That's it.
Speaker 5: Tell a friend, yeah, and tell a friend to tell
Speaker 5: a friend to tell a friend. Appreciate that it and
Speaker 5: thank you guys for always having us.
Speaker 3: Peanut, get us out of here. Dollar don't forget.
Speaker 1: You can watch us on our NFL YouTube page.
Speaker 3: It's the new money.
Speaker 4: I got you.
Speaker 3: That's see, I got you.
Speaker 1: That's why I'm here. Yeah, I'll be robbing this time.
Speaker 3: Thank you man, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Look, we appreciate you'all tuning in. I'm Peanut Tillman.
Speaker 2: That's from a Harper, White, Lightning and McCaffrey. We appreciate,
Speaker 2: we appreciate y'all tuning in.
Speaker 3: Thanks HM