Speaker 1: It's time for another episode of Pats from the Past podcast.
Speaker 1: Matt Smith, alongside Brian Wore please to be joined today
Speaker 1: by Foreign Patriot wide receiver Super Bowl MVP Dion Brinch deon.
Speaker 1: How you doing doing pretty good? Man?
Speaker 2: Thank you all for having me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for joining us. Well, let's before we get
Speaker 1: into a lot of in and out football stuff, let's
Speaker 1: try to I think the Fians would want to know,
Speaker 1: what are you up to these days?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 3: Man, just daddy daycare, you know, just taking care of
Speaker 3: the house, you know, assuming all the duties that my
Speaker 3: wife were taking care of while I was playing ball,
Speaker 3: you know, spending my time running around having fun.
Speaker 2: Basically, that's what they think it is. We're just having
Speaker 2: a lot of fun and it's not work.
Speaker 3: But mainly that's it, man, daddy dad care here and there,
Speaker 3: helping out on the high school football team. You know,
Speaker 3: I'm just not getting myself involved with that. But early
Speaker 3: on was in I'm heavily involved in a lot of
Speaker 3: real estate.
Speaker 2: So that's mainly.
Speaker 3: That's basically, you know, you know, life. Oh, I'm loving life.
Speaker 3: I'm loving life. My family's amazing, everybody's healthy. My mom
Speaker 3: and dad's sisters my wife, my kids. That's the most
Speaker 3: important thing in my life. You know, they're healthy, so
Speaker 3: I'm happy.
Speaker 4: Is real estate blowing up out in the Midwest the
Speaker 4: way it is here in New England.
Speaker 3: It's blowing up everywhere, and you know right now it
Speaker 3: is either you one of the ones who are selling
Speaker 3: and you're extra happy and sort of piss if you're
Speaker 3: a buyer because you're going to overspend for the property,
Speaker 3: so you know, and if you're an investor like myself,
Speaker 3: it's more of a I'm a little pissed now because
Speaker 3: cribs that we were buying for eighty ninety thousand and
Speaker 3: put like fifty sixty in it, we got to spend
Speaker 3: now one hundred and fifty for the home. It's almost double,
Speaker 3: which is the craziest thing ever. But on the resale side,
Speaker 3: sometimes you may get it back. A lot of times
Speaker 3: you may just make about twenty thirty thousand, you know,
Speaker 3: which is good money. I'm not saying this bad money.
Speaker 3: You look at some of the flips that we've done
Speaker 3: the last within the last six months, you know, our
Speaker 3: profit margin is a little bit smaller than what it
Speaker 3: usually is, and that's the crazy part. So now we're
Speaker 3: trying to be a little bit more trying to get
Speaker 3: ahead of the curve, try to figure out ways to
Speaker 3: go around this and defeat this, uh, this inflation that
Speaker 3: we're having in the real estate market.
Speaker 1: So should we be reintroducing you as Dion Branch real
Speaker 1: estate mogul.
Speaker 4: Wait, do you want any crypto currency?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I do crypt.
Speaker 3: Yes, I'm investing. I'm heavily in that as well, you
Speaker 3: know myself. And like, I just got a phone call
Speaker 3: with one of my business partners. Uh, here's one of
Speaker 3: my partners. So I like to bring in all my friends,
Speaker 3: all my childhood friends. I try to put a group
Speaker 3: together and all just put like, hey, let's bring.
Speaker 2: Five hundred to the table. That I it's ten guys
Speaker 2: in the group.
Speaker 3: So that's a great investment to start off at, to
Speaker 3: start off with it, and we just continue to invest in it.
Speaker 2: So as a now that dojie thing is looking real
Speaker 2: good for us. And I didn't get involved with the bigcoin,
Speaker 2: did you guys make it?
Speaker 3: I have.
Speaker 4: I have a very small amount in bitcoin, so I'm
Speaker 4: up about a thousand bice.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, you're good.
Speaker 5: That's all good. I didn't I didn't do with a
Speaker 5: dog coin?
Speaker 2: When did you invest in it? Though?
Speaker 4: Well around So I had light coin initially a couple
Speaker 4: of those, and I transferred that into bitcoin probably when
Speaker 4: it was about twelve thousand wow, and then I bought
Speaker 4: again at like twenty and again at forty, but like
Speaker 4: one hundred dollars at a time, like okay, So I'm
Speaker 4: not like, you know, I don't have the kind of
Speaker 4: dough that if I had that amount of dough, I
Speaker 4: would have bought it a lot a long time ago.
Speaker 2: Exactly.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, doge coin's up like twelve thousand percent.
Speaker 4: I don't have any of that.
Speaker 2: Oh you don't.
Speaker 3: I mean it's still good right now, it's under dollars,
Speaker 3: so it's still probably good to jump in.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I gotta I gotta do some more hotwork on that,
Speaker 5: right right.
Speaker 2: Just do it, trust me.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's the same thing advice what
Speaker 3: people were saying about bitcoin. Everybody's like nah, you know,
Speaker 3: and clearly I'm gonna be honest. I don't know why
Speaker 3: my investor never wants CPA. Your financial advisors, they just
Speaker 3: don't advise these things.
Speaker 4: I'll hit a miss my body, my buddy, who I
Speaker 4: do not have money invested without I should say he's
Speaker 4: he's all into bitcoin. He says, when it gets to
Speaker 4: one hundred thousand, I'm retiring.
Speaker 2: He's done.
Speaker 4: Huh, And he's got he puts his clients in it,
Speaker 4: like not not heavily. That's part of that portfolio.
Speaker 2: Interesting exactly.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know, man, I'm you know, me and
Speaker 3: the guys, we're gonna go pretty heavy.
Speaker 2: We're just gonna continue going into this dogie thing pretty deep. Uh.
Speaker 3: You know you're talking about your guys talking about one
Speaker 3: hundred thousand. We just wanted to get up to ten
Speaker 3: thousand and then we'll be yeah, yes, we bought in ad.
Speaker 2: What four cents three?
Speaker 1: You've already made a body.
Speaker 2: You get what I'm saying. So it's pretty good. It's okay,
Speaker 2: good for you, Good for you.
Speaker 1: Yes, So let's turn our attention out back to football
Speaker 1: here a little bit, and Benet, you know, pro style offense.
Speaker 1: When you got to Louisville after the two years of JC,
Speaker 1: when did you think the NFL was a realistic option
Speaker 1: for you?
Speaker 3: You know, real talk. I wasn't thinking. I wasn't saying like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm going to make it. I mean, we all have
Speaker 3: the same dreams every kid that's playing high school ball,
Speaker 3: and you got to go to college.
Speaker 2: So when I got to junior college, it was more starting.
Speaker 3: I was starting to really truly believe and start training myself,
Speaker 3: preparing myself for that next level.
Speaker 2: Outside of just preparing myself for college.
Speaker 3: You know, when I got to u of L, that's
Speaker 3: when I actually saw the life when I was there,
Speaker 3: because I red shirt my first year there. When I
Speaker 3: noticed some of the players that were on the team
Speaker 3: that were getting drafted, that's when it done on me.
Speaker 3: I'm like, Okay, I'm not judging these guys, but I
Speaker 3: know the type of work that I put in and
Speaker 3: what they were putting in at that particular time, and
Speaker 3: they made it.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: It's a lot of luck involved with it as well.
Speaker 3: So real talk, that red shirt year was probably my
Speaker 3: That's when the light bulb went off, you know, and
Speaker 3: I really just continually just honed in on everything as
Speaker 3: far as with my training, my thought process, and trying
Speaker 3: to start doing things though a correct way to kind
Speaker 3: of mold myself for the NFL draft. So I would
Speaker 3: say probably in nineteen ninety nine. Yeah, I know, that's crazy.
Speaker 2: Right, It's crazy.
Speaker 1: It's unbelievable.
Speaker 3: I'll say in ninety nine that's when it really sunk
Speaker 3: in and I was like, I really have a chance.
Speaker 2: I probably can do this.
Speaker 4: So that offense you played in though, was, as that mentioned,
Speaker 4: a pro style offense. You came into the league as
Speaker 4: short of a polished route runner. Did your time at
Speaker 4: Louisville do you think really help you prepare for quick
Speaker 4: success in the NFL.
Speaker 2: Yes, And I you know, give a lot of credit
Speaker 2: to you know, John L.
Speaker 3: Smith, my head coach, Scott Lenihan, who's a brilliant guy.
Speaker 2: I mean, which we already know. He was in the
Speaker 2: NFL for many years and I think he's still there. Uh.
Speaker 3: He was a guy that kind of helped mold myself
Speaker 3: and along with all the other receivers that were drafts
Speaker 3: that were drafted within that time frame.
Speaker 2: Uh, he did a real good job. The only thing
Speaker 2: that I would say that that was so crazy for me.
Speaker 3: Was to start picking up all the sight adjustments and
Speaker 3: the hots and all these things. In college, they already
Speaker 3: have these things built in, you know, and you don't
Speaker 3: have to worry about that, you know, in the NFL,
Speaker 3: especially in New England's offense, Uh, the quarterback and the
Speaker 3: receivers have to be on the same page, you know,
Speaker 3: and that's at all times built based on certain play
Speaker 3: calls and and if you're not. But so my first year,
Speaker 3: my rookie season, it couldn't have been the worst year.
Speaker 3: It may look real good to like to the fans like,
Speaker 3: oh this kid is this and that I had my
Speaker 3: fair share, and you know, I really really want to
Speaker 3: give Brian dave All a lot of credit because he
Speaker 3: was a very young receiver coach and I was like
Speaker 3: his first piece that he really get to work with.
Speaker 3: And this guy was on me day in day out.
Speaker 3: It got to the point where I was just so
Speaker 3: I wasn't frustrated, I understood, but I was I felt
Speaker 3: like he was just really just nagging him, like what
Speaker 3: is going on? This can't be like you know, this guy,
Speaker 3: wake up. He just want to talk to them, He
Speaker 3: want to talk football. Then what is this right here?
Speaker 3: I sent you this such and such on the on
Speaker 3: the drive?
Speaker 2: Did you see it? Yes, sir?
Speaker 3: What did you notice about all the defenders? It was
Speaker 3: like he was I was just understudy and he did
Speaker 3: a great job with me. I really give that guy
Speaker 3: a lot of credit my rookie season training camp. Training
Speaker 3: camp was the hardest two months for me. It was
Speaker 3: every day, all day preparing me for that Pittsburgh game
Speaker 3: and all these different things these guys are gonna do.
Speaker 3: And by the time we got to the game, everything
Speaker 3: was so easy for myself because of the things that
Speaker 3: Brian had taught me for those two months. I mean
Speaker 3: he literally gave it to me through and throughout the playbook,
Speaker 3: and but being a part of U of L and
Speaker 3: then leading and getting with Brian Dave all that really
Speaker 3: set everything apart.
Speaker 4: So when you say that in college that was built in,
Speaker 4: how is it built in when you get to the
Speaker 4: line of scrimmage and there's a blitz that's coming that
Speaker 4: maybe you guys didn't expect, how is it built into
Speaker 4: the offense?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: So, and within that offense with coach Lennon had we'll
Speaker 3: have if we end up two y two said, you
Speaker 3: have maybe two deeps and you got one intermediate.
Speaker 2: Route and an actual a short route.
Speaker 3: That is the built in That is the hot If
Speaker 3: Dave or Chris Redman wants to throw that guy the ball,
Speaker 3: if he has a blitz coming, he automatically goes to
Speaker 3: that actual short route.
Speaker 2: You get what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: Yes, So on every pass play, we had that built in,
Speaker 3: built in the actual play, so we didn't have to
Speaker 3: worry about it. So that's what I'm saying. Like, we
Speaker 3: never did any side adjustments, any hot adjustments in college
Speaker 3: at all.
Speaker 2: It was already built in.
Speaker 3: We didn't have to hate Christy, I mean, Dave were gone,
Speaker 3: didn't have to come to the line of scream as
Speaker 3: you see Tom pulling out the mic, and then from
Speaker 3: there you start counting the guys, the defenders that you
Speaker 3: know you're hot off or you a jest off of.
Speaker 2: We didn't have to worry about that.
Speaker 1: You mentioned, Dion. You know, well, I think the fans
Speaker 1: might say it looked good in two thousand and two,
Speaker 1: but the year was and everything like that. I think
Speaker 1: one of the things that you know, you were laughing
Speaker 1: about nineteen ninety nine, Boy, is that crazy? So I
Speaker 1: bring up two thousand and two and isn't this crazy
Speaker 1: because it's so crazy. There hasn't been another Don Bridge
Speaker 1: since two thousand and two, Dion, And it's not your
Speaker 1: job to say why, but but they there doesn't seem
Speaker 1: to be in the organization. They've tried, They've taken swings,
Speaker 1: but they can't seem to draft a wide receiver that
Speaker 1: comes in and can be productive and learn like you
Speaker 1: did and can contribute like you did right out of
Speaker 1: the shoot. What does that mean, Dean? Does it mean
Speaker 1: that this offense is so difficult? Because as a fear
Speaker 1: you look around and you go wow, look at John
Speaker 1: Jefferson this year for Minnesota, or look at DK Metcalf
Speaker 1: and these guys being able to come in. What is
Speaker 1: it about New England's offense that makes it so challenging
Speaker 1: and to bring a guy in and develop them.
Speaker 3: It's sir, Well, I attribute to a lot of the stuff.
Speaker 3: Like I said to coach and Lindenhead, I'm gonna be
Speaker 3: honest with you. Nowadays, if you go to some of
Speaker 3: these colleges, you really get to see some of these
Speaker 3: guys and the way they're being coached now versus how
Speaker 3: we were coaching back in the days.
Speaker 2: It's totally different. You know. Like I said, I'm not
Speaker 2: talking about none of these kids.
Speaker 3: I'm not ragging on them, but they're just not being
Speaker 3: properly taught the right way. Whether they come in and
Speaker 3: everybody's a star. Now you get what I'm saying. So
Speaker 3: they feel like everything has to be done their way,
Speaker 3: and a lot of these programs are catering to these
Speaker 3: kids instead of actually teaching them. They're allowing these kids
Speaker 3: to run the programs. Now, you got kids that are
Speaker 3: trying to leave school after two three years. Like I mean, listen,
Speaker 3: you're not fully developed. You haven't been taught, to be honest,
Speaker 3: you really don't know how to play the game the
Speaker 3: right way.
Speaker 2: You follow me.
Speaker 3: So, and I'm not saying that to everybody, but you
Speaker 3: like you're saying, you point out the DK's and the Jeffersons,
Speaker 3: there's going to be a kid here is going to
Speaker 3: stick out, and he's going to stick out here. You know,
Speaker 3: you look at AJ Brown. These guys have been taught
Speaker 3: the right way at Ole Miss you know, DK and
Speaker 3: the guys at LSU. And then you look at it
Speaker 3: like some of the guys that come from at that
Speaker 3: particular time.
Speaker 2: Louisville was a conference to USA that was.
Speaker 3: Our you know, our conference, but we stood out within
Speaker 3: our conference.
Speaker 2: And that's all the credit goes.
Speaker 3: To the coaching and they actually instilled certain things and
Speaker 3: the players and they did a great job.
Speaker 2: So if you're asking me.
Speaker 3: Really, Troy and I talk about this all the time, like,
Speaker 3: how is it that these kids are at these so
Speaker 3: called big programs but they get to the NFL and
Speaker 3: they can't convert things. Well, that's because they are not
Speaker 3: being taught the right way. Still, you know, a lot
Speaker 3: of these programs are letting these kids just get away
Speaker 3: with anything, and it's setting them up for failure though,
Speaker 3: so it's truth, is setting them.
Speaker 1: Up so when they get here, the investment to try
Speaker 1: to get them up to speed is so hard to
Speaker 1: do that by the time a kid is a year
Speaker 1: two years in, he's still swimming to try to get
Speaker 1: uphill to try to catch up. And by that point
Speaker 1: in time, you know, let's let's take a flyer here
Speaker 1: and a veteran who's been in the league for three
Speaker 1: or four years, and this guy actually knows how to
Speaker 1: block downfield and knows root trees and everything like that.
Speaker 1: Is my word's not yours, But is that kind of
Speaker 1: what you're up against because they're so underdeveloped at a
Speaker 1: collegiate level.
Speaker 2: Right, And that's the problem.
Speaker 3: You know, So just even I can piggyback off that
Speaker 3: what you were just saying, by the time they get
Speaker 3: to the NFL. They are who they are. The player
Speaker 3: is who he is. That's just the bottom line. You
Speaker 3: can't really change somebody who's in their twenties. I'm gonna
Speaker 3: make this guy, I'm gonna take a slide guy and
Speaker 3: make him an outside receiver, not nowadays.
Speaker 2: You get what I'm saying. He is who he is.
Speaker 3: These are the attributes and this what he brings to
Speaker 3: the table. We can't add nothing else to it. I
Speaker 3: feel bad, I'm so sorry to say that, but that's
Speaker 3: just what it is. And it's unfortunate, you know, like
Speaker 3: you're saying, these program these organizations invests so much into
Speaker 3: these individuals, but they're not getting it back. They're not
Speaker 3: getting the return on it. And yeah, you know, if
Speaker 3: you got twenty five receivers getting selected and this year's draft,
Speaker 3: maybe four or five of these guys.
Speaker 2: May stick out. And it's sad, but that's just the
Speaker 2: nature of it.
Speaker 3: And I know it's more than twenty five guys that's
Speaker 3: getting drafted, but I'm just giving you that number. Even
Speaker 3: if it's sixty guys, it's probably still gonna be about
Speaker 3: four or five guys that's gonna stick out.
Speaker 2: And you can see.
Speaker 3: Okay, and I'm talking including first round picks now as well,
Speaker 3: they may not be included in that four guys, you
Speaker 3: follow me, so that makes it even worse, right.
Speaker 2: But but yeah, I just I.
Speaker 3: Give all the credit to our coaches and you know,
Speaker 3: look at things how things were done in the past.
Speaker 2: That's just the difference.
Speaker 4: So when a guy comes in here though, and you know,
Speaker 4: I'm kind of referring to the Kiel but not specifically
Speaker 4: to the Kiel, I agree. But you come in and
Speaker 4: you missed training camp nine games of your rookie season.
Speaker 4: Then you go into your second season and COVID hits
Speaker 4: and you have no training camp, and now he's in
Speaker 4: that next offseason where it's still a bit of a
Speaker 4: shell of what is normal.
Speaker 5: How difficult is it for that kid to develop?
Speaker 3: Yes, that's gonna be difficult, especially with all the things
Speaker 3: he was stacked up against, you know, from his rookie
Speaker 3: season to the COVID year till last season and then
Speaker 3: whatever happens after that. He was one of those those
Speaker 3: projects that needed that time and that work, you know,
Speaker 3: from the receiver coaches to be really working, truly working
Speaker 3: with this guy and you know, not putting all this
Speaker 3: on the coaches because you know, any player eating to kill,
Speaker 3: he has to invest him time, his time in his
Speaker 3: craft to get better, you know, but it doesn't help
Speaker 3: him if he's injured.
Speaker 2: And then we have a.
Speaker 3: Whole season of nonsense, but not making any excuses for
Speaker 3: anyone else because it's being done elsewhere. Why is it
Speaker 3: that these guys over here can do it well? This
Speaker 3: offense expects certain things out of the receiver position and
Speaker 3: the guys that we bring in, and we trust that
Speaker 3: these guys are going to go out on the field
Speaker 3: and do X y Z what we're teaching them.
Speaker 2: Well, who knows.
Speaker 3: I mean he was at where Arizona State is totally different,
Speaker 3: totally different.
Speaker 2: The offense is completely different.
Speaker 3: And listen, listen Pellas I know you guys know that
Speaker 3: offense is very complex, you know, and you can see
Speaker 3: it where I mean, I'm still watching the guys. I
Speaker 3: watch the team every week. You can see it where
Speaker 3: Josh try to dumb it down for some of the
Speaker 3: guys and it's still just not there. And you know,
Speaker 3: Josh want to open up the entire playbook, especially when
Speaker 3: was there. You know, you can just see some of
Speaker 3: the same plays being repeated out there, you know, six
Speaker 3: seven times in the game, and that's what we got
Speaker 3: to just do what we can do for what we
Speaker 3: have right right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned Dion, you know how challenging training camp
Speaker 1: was your rookie year. Yeah, the team is coming off
Speaker 1: their first Super Bowl championship. You know, so your wide
Speaker 1: eyed kid, you know, you don't nothing. You're trying to
Speaker 1: keep your head above water. Did you get any sense
Speaker 1: in that camp like, wow, these are the defending champs,
Speaker 1: or any sort of vibe vibe that wow, these are
Speaker 1: defending champs, or did you just think this is a
Speaker 1: pro football team. I got to try to keep my
Speaker 1: head above water. What was your thought in mind and
Speaker 1: with regards to the team and how they were trying
Speaker 1: to move forward off of the championship.
Speaker 3: Well, I was super excited, that's the first thing, you know,
Speaker 3: just to even be drafted by the Patriots. Me personal
Speaker 3: the player I am, the type of individual I am.
Speaker 3: I'm just trying to be a sponge. I'm coming in.
Speaker 3: I got Troy and David pat ahead of me. I
Speaker 3: couldn't have had a better receiver leaders. You know, these
Speaker 3: guys still my brothers to this day. I'm very thankful
Speaker 3: to be a part of that group with those guys.
Speaker 3: They taught me so much. So, like I was speaking
Speaker 3: about Brian earlier, Brian really took care of me in
Speaker 3: the film room.
Speaker 2: You know, he was really on me. He really didn't
Speaker 2: say too much.
Speaker 3: To David and Troy because you know, these guys got it.
Speaker 2: They know exactly what they're doing.
Speaker 3: My thing was okay to take everything from Brian and
Speaker 3: but I need to get all the information on the
Speaker 3: field with Troy and David.
Speaker 2: You know, Brian can't give that to me.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of things we can talk about in
Speaker 3: the meetings, but as a player, that part had to
Speaker 3: happen on It has to happen on the football field.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I got to be able to Okay, I know we
Speaker 3: said we're gonna run a curl if this happened, but
Speaker 3: that's if the defenders off me. I can't get all
Speaker 3: twelve yards, you know, me talking to Troy like, hey,
Speaker 3: look here, do what you gotta do.
Speaker 2: Get up the field. If it's ten yards, it's ten
Speaker 2: Thomas sil gets you.
Speaker 3: You know, these type things happen when you have this
Speaker 3: type of leadership in your actual meeting room. You know,
Speaker 3: and you fast forward to now it's the leadership is
Speaker 3: still there, but you're looking at all these stars that's
Speaker 3: coming from college thinking they're the man, and you got
Speaker 3: some leaders just like, look, I don't have this type
Speaker 3: of time to be wasting with this guy.
Speaker 2: If he think he hasn't you follow me?
Speaker 3: So you have a lot of that going on now
Speaker 3: With myself, I was just trying to be a sponge.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to get on the football field. I'm trying
Speaker 3: to do everything I can to help the team.
Speaker 2: That is it.
Speaker 3: I'm probably your best team player you ever meet, because
Speaker 3: I'm all for as long as we're winning, and if
Speaker 3: we're losing, I feel like I need to do more.
Speaker 2: And that's just who I am. Hey, just do your job,
Speaker 2: all right? Hey, look at just do your job.
Speaker 4: When you walk into a defending Super Bowl championship team
Speaker 4: and then miss the playoffs your rookie year, could you
Speaker 4: describe what the prevailing feeling in that locker room was
Speaker 4: in terms of that disappointment.
Speaker 3: We're clearly, you know, with the guys on the team,
Speaker 3: you know that were there, the veterans, all the older guys,
Speaker 3: the Willies, the Teddy Bruce Kis, Ted Johnson, all the guys,
Speaker 3: all my receivers in the room.
Speaker 2: Tom.
Speaker 3: I mean, you can really see it because guys knew
Speaker 3: that we left a lot on the football field, but
Speaker 3: it was.
Speaker 2: A reason behind it.
Speaker 3: You get what I'm saying clearly that next year, I
Speaker 3: can just say this right now. I wasn't there during
Speaker 3: the off season with those guys the year before, so
Speaker 3: my rookids season, I wasn't there during that time. I'm
Speaker 3: assuming they only had about sixty or so percent. That
Speaker 3: next season we had one hundred percent, and it all
Speaker 3: just kind of carried over into mini camp, training camp, regularly, preseason,
Speaker 3: regular season, and it was just so much momentum going
Speaker 3: into that year.
Speaker 2: You know, but we pay all the credit to what
Speaker 2: we did.
Speaker 3: Guys invested, you know, they trusted the exactly the plan.
Speaker 2: Here's the game plan.
Speaker 3: And like Bill said, at the end of the year,
Speaker 3: we had our post meeting, and the first thing he
Speaker 3: went to was that off season. You know, we can
Speaker 3: sit in here and put all day, but we know
Speaker 3: why we're here having our meeting now and the rest
Speaker 3: of these morons are actually going to the playoffs.
Speaker 2: It's a reason. And you know, seriously, that's Bill, And
Speaker 2: here's the reason.
Speaker 3: Here's the game plan starting Mars Mars whatever that date.
Speaker 3: We started, like March twelve, March thirteen, that offseason program.
Speaker 2: Every guy on the team was here e every guy
Speaker 2: on the.
Speaker 1: Team, right, every guy plus one Dan And I don't
Speaker 1: want to give him too much credit, but I we
Speaker 1: got to talk about him. And that's you know, the
Speaker 1: one hundred percent that you mentioned is critical, get it.
Speaker 1: But when Rodney came in, especially when training camp started,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, describe that because that had to
Speaker 1: be different than what I mean. I know, your first
Speaker 1: training camp, it's your rookie year, so again you're completely
Speaker 1: underwater at that point time. But how did Rodney change
Speaker 1: training camp that year? Even with the whole one hundred
Speaker 1: percent participation in the off season program.
Speaker 3: He just brought a different energy. And then here's a
Speaker 3: guy you know, you know RDN is my big brother.
Speaker 3: Here's another guy who we added, another veteran, another Hall
Speaker 3: of famer. You know that you bring and thrust him
Speaker 3: within this program, this organization, Uh, it can only propel everything.
Speaker 3: And you know, like you said, leading it to that
Speaker 3: training camp, he was just more of a worker, Hally,
Speaker 3: you know, Rddy knows it.
Speaker 2: He knows exactly the His energy is very infectious. You know.
Speaker 3: It was some things that he was seeing that the
Speaker 3: defense wasn't doing that he knew he can bring this
Speaker 3: to the table. He brought a lot of energy, a
Speaker 3: lot way more aggressiveness within the guys on the They
Speaker 3: were already aggressive, they were already good.
Speaker 2: He took them to that great standard, you know.
Speaker 3: He pushed them and made him go to that point
Speaker 3: at the end of our practices, you know.
Speaker 2: So we have all these different periods.
Speaker 3: No, this was the thing when you start noticing like, okay,
Speaker 3: something's not right right.
Speaker 2: Ridney would do Scout team defense stuff.
Speaker 3: Then he would go and do the regular defense stuff
Speaker 3: when the defense is starting out, and then the Scout
Speaker 3: team offense is out there.
Speaker 2: Okay, cool, he's out there. That's when he's supposed to
Speaker 2: be there.
Speaker 3: He tells the young guys, hey, I got this right here,
Speaker 3: and guys are sitting over there looking like, okay, you're
Speaker 3: supposed to be let the scout guys do their job. No,
Speaker 3: Ridney's doing the scout team, he's doing the defense stuff.
Speaker 3: When special teams is going, he's running crossfields. And it
Speaker 3: started with one guy doing it, and next thing, you know,
Speaker 3: it became a norm for everybody. This is without being said.
Speaker 3: Nobody had to say anything, you know, next thing you
Speaker 3: me and Troy and David was like, onm this he's
Speaker 3: not getting an edge. That's the only thing we always
Speaker 3: talked about. Rdney biggest thing is I'm always going to
Speaker 3: have the edge over you guys because you guys are
Speaker 3: not willing to put the work in. We know you're good,
Speaker 3: but you're not willing to put the work in. And
Speaker 3: that's when it took off. That was amazing. I mean,
Speaker 3: he light a fire up on everybody's behind.
Speaker 1: Did you have to ask? You know, was your head
Speaker 1: on a swivel during camp?
Speaker 2: Especially when he hit Troy? I mean, you know that's
Speaker 2: what really kind of kicked it off.
Speaker 3: Like and like I said, the Scout team guys were
Speaker 3: supposed to be on the field. He hit Troy during ace,
Speaker 3: you know, because the Scout team guys would never touch Troy.
Speaker 2: And the first thing.
Speaker 3: He said was when he hit him, it was like
Speaker 3: a fight erupted on the field.
Speaker 2: Bill got pissed.
Speaker 3: He knew it was going to happen, and it was
Speaker 3: really no reason for him to do it, but actually
Speaker 3: he felt the reason to do it. And guess what,
Speaker 3: we all started practicing hard. And I know him and
Speaker 3: Bill laughed about that. I guarantee you behind closed doors,
Speaker 3: they were laughing about that because he knew it did
Speaker 3: something for our offense and they already knew it was
Speaker 3: what we were going to do for the defense. And next thing,
Speaker 3: you know, we started actually having more competitive practices and
Speaker 3: that stuff spilled over into the season. So there's a
Speaker 3: lot of things we all can point int to, like man,
Speaker 3: but that was one of the big key moments.
Speaker 4: So fast forward. Then you guys are in the Super
Speaker 4: Bowl that year, right, super Bowl thirty eight, And I
Speaker 4: remember being down in Houston and passing Brian day ball
Speaker 4: in the hallway, and I had just written a story
Speaker 4: for Patriots dot Com about how physical the Carolina Panthers
Speaker 4: corners were and how they had man handled the Eagles receivers.
Speaker 4: So I'm walking through the hotel and Dave Ball stops
Speaker 4: me and he says, hey, keep writing that stuff. I
Speaker 4: want to use it so that in the game. Dion
Speaker 4: Brand scores a touchdown, David Gibbon scores a touchdown, and.
Speaker 5: The celebration is muscle flexes.
Speaker 4: Was that because Brian da Ball was on you that
Speaker 4: week about how physical those guys were.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, day Ball went.
Speaker 3: You know, now that was my second year, so that
Speaker 3: was his second year's receiver coach.
Speaker 2: You know, he used to get up on the David
Speaker 2: the Gibbs scan as well.
Speaker 3: You know, he had not came in together, so Davy
Speaker 3: just like this guy, get on one nerves. But that
Speaker 3: week of in Houston, I think Bill made sure all
Speaker 3: the coaches stayed on top of everybody, every group. I
Speaker 3: need you all to give them per help, and they didn't.
Speaker 3: And Brian was very young, Trial was pissed off the
Speaker 3: entire time. So I think we had so much frustration
Speaker 3: going at our coaches and we took it out on
Speaker 3: the Eagles, you know, I mean out of Carolina. I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: I already went to the next Super Bowl, but out
Speaker 3: on Carolina players. You know, there was so much point
Speaker 3: of emphasis on these the defenders and what these guys
Speaker 3: are gonna do you know a player or not. As
Speaker 3: a retired player, I understand what Bill was doing the
Speaker 3: mindset behind us.
Speaker 2: Because practice really wasn't practice.
Speaker 3: He literally had guys holding us at the line of scrimmage, like,
Speaker 3: how are we going to run a route and practice?
Speaker 3: Tom was frustrated the whole week, you know, because we
Speaker 3: couldn't get off the line of scrimmage if he.
Speaker 2: Didn't have two guys in front of me.
Speaker 3: He had a guy holding my jersey as I'm trying
Speaker 3: to run a route. Den, this is what it's going
Speaker 3: to be, like, like, you could get mad and he's
Speaker 3: toiling that them, Wilson, you can get mad all you want, like, look,
Speaker 3: this is what it is.
Speaker 2: And you look at Dave all your position coach supposed
Speaker 2: to be like on your side, and he's just like,
Speaker 2: I don't know what to tell you. That's just what
Speaker 2: it is. Well, so you know they've all me walked
Speaker 2: the other way. But I understand it now.
Speaker 3: I get the mindset behind it because we kind of
Speaker 3: over prepared for it, and you know, we get in
Speaker 3: the game and like, yeah, Manning tried that mess probably
Speaker 3: one time after.
Speaker 2: He realized, all right, I can't really fool with DN
Speaker 2: like this.
Speaker 3: You know, Ricky was the only one with trying to
Speaker 3: do that little quick jam stuff, you know, I mean,
Speaker 3: you got to think about it. We played one of
Speaker 3: the greatest quick jammer on the team was ty Toy
Speaker 3: was already doing that.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: The only difference is just Ricky was a lot stronger
Speaker 3: than time, you know. So, but we were well prepared
Speaker 3: for it, and trust me, we appreciate the coaches for
Speaker 3: doing what they did.
Speaker 1: You talked about Tom being frustrated, So did he take
Speaker 1: his frustration out? And would did you get hit harder
Speaker 1: from Tom after the touchdown when then you got hit
Speaker 1: her in the rest of the game.
Speaker 3: I know, man, you know what I understand. I don't
Speaker 3: even think I felt. I didn't feel it at all.
Speaker 3: I mean, other than him grab that's Tom though, he's
Speaker 3: like that still till today. I mean he's a little
Speaker 3: he's pulled off a little bit. Now he's just going
Speaker 3: up patting on the guy's helmet, you know. But Tom
Speaker 3: was that very passionate. I mean, we all we all
Speaker 3: are and and it was just something It's the super Bowl,
Speaker 3: you know, just you just let it all out, man,
Speaker 3: And you know, it was a perfect timing.
Speaker 2: We worked on that certain play all week and we.
Speaker 3: Hit the give on the same exact play on the
Speaker 3: other side. You get what I'm saying. Because we knew
Speaker 3: that these guys want to be so aggressive. This is
Speaker 3: going to be wide open. Even though we didn't get
Speaker 3: a good look in practice because Bill got guys older
Speaker 3: than us.
Speaker 2: It will be there in the game. And it was,
Speaker 2: and you know we hit it.
Speaker 3: I mean pretty much every touchdown that we did score
Speaker 3: in the game was one of those ones, even the
Speaker 3: one to Rabel the same thing. And practice we knew
Speaker 3: it would be there. We just got to make sure
Speaker 3: we hit it. And like Charlie said, we're not gonna
Speaker 3: get an f and look because of this ish Bill doing.
Speaker 3: But uh, but let's make sure we hit these plays.
Speaker 3: But yeah, that that that slam dunk that Tom did
Speaker 3: on me. Man, you know, it's one of one of
Speaker 3: my big ports that I do have in the house.
Speaker 3: You know, that's one of the keepers, man, And everybody
Speaker 3: always sees it like what was he doing?
Speaker 2: What it looked like?
Speaker 4: So Den, I have my opinion on this, but mine
Speaker 4: is really irrelevant. So I'll ask you three or four
Speaker 4: which team was better?
Speaker 3: Oh man, you know what I mean, I'm gonna just say,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna say the O four team.
Speaker 2: If I gotta say one, I really like to say both.
Speaker 3: I think it was equal, but I think to do
Speaker 3: what we did to follow up what we had just did.
Speaker 3: It's the toughest thing ever, because you know, everybody's gunning
Speaker 3: for you.
Speaker 2: The NFL is gonna try to shape this out, shape
Speaker 2: this up where you don't make it back. II what
Speaker 2: they're gonna try to do to the Bucks, They're gonna
Speaker 2: try to shape this where you don't make it back.
Speaker 3: And and it was just a lot tougher. I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, we had our bumps and bruises throughout, but
Speaker 3: the greatest thing about it is that everybody stuck to
Speaker 3: the stuck to the game plan. We had a plan
Speaker 3: going into that year, and everybody stuck through it, even
Speaker 3: though it was a lot harder. You know, we started
Speaker 3: sustaining a bunch of injuries here and there, and myself,
Speaker 3: I had a couple had an injury in myself that year,
Speaker 3: missed a couple of games, and the guys still came through.
Speaker 3: Everybody soone filled in, the next guy filled in.
Speaker 2: And I think that's the reason.
Speaker 3: Why I just say it was because it was a
Speaker 3: little bit tougher to kind of go back to back.
Speaker 3: That's the only reason. Because of that one year, it
Speaker 3: makes it's so much harder to go back to back
Speaker 3: because everybody, Yeah, I mean you see it now, it's
Speaker 3: just not a common thing for the team to go
Speaker 3: back to back and win the Super Bowl. Kansas City
Speaker 3: thought they were going to do it. It's just not
Speaker 3: shaped out that way.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: It's always something and can you be mentally strong enough
Speaker 3: and prepared for all the adversities that's gonna come with
Speaker 3: it and sustain it and get through it.
Speaker 2: And I think that we did a great job with that,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: Uh, And there was a lot of other internal things
Speaker 3: that were going on, you know, during that time, and
Speaker 3: we kind of we overcame that as well.
Speaker 4: So Carson, I would just say, huh, Corey yelling going
Speaker 4: for sixteen hundred didn't hurt.
Speaker 3: It didn't hurt at all. It didn't hurt at all
Speaker 3: for sure. I mean, you know, especially like you're saying,
Speaker 3: we lost that Toine, but we brought Corey in, you know,
Speaker 3: so it's like, yeah, we're adding, we're adding the pieces
Speaker 3: of not getting better you know at that certain position.
Speaker 2: So that was a great thing.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna be honest with you too as well. Even
Speaker 3: the following year. I mean, we all like, you know, what,
Speaker 3: we can really do this we can go, we can do,
Speaker 3: we can three p you know, and that just goes
Speaker 3: to show you it was even harder to do that.
Speaker 1: You couldn't overcomes, couldn't overcome the mistakes in Denver, and
Speaker 1: even I know even then you were the better team
Speaker 1: than Denver and they some lousy calls. I'm with you
Speaker 1: five percent of that one. But I wanted to get
Speaker 1: back to you talk about bumps and bruises. You know,
Speaker 1: forty when you missed the decent chunk of time, do
Speaker 1: you think that that was a blessing in disguise for
Speaker 1: you based on the postseason that you had, You know, like, look,
Speaker 1: you don't want to miss time. You don't want to
Speaker 1: miss the continuity with Tom in the offense and then
Speaker 1: there's a bit of ramping up. But did you feel
Speaker 1: fresh as you headed into the postseason?
Speaker 2: H No?
Speaker 3: And the reason yeah, but I do, and I really yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm very thankful for the things, you know. I don't
Speaker 3: want to look at it as if I you know,
Speaker 3: the injury helped me rest and my guys were at war.
Speaker 2: I would have preferred to be out there with the guys.
Speaker 2: You get what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: But those seven weeks man, they were brutal, you know,
Speaker 3: because it was a pretty bad MCL.
Speaker 2: You know, it was a real bad one.
Speaker 3: I mean that was really like my very first serious
Speaker 3: injury that I've ever had.
Speaker 2: I mean, you two week a hamstring, you're looking at
Speaker 2: two three weeks.
Speaker 3: That's nothing, you know, but to have that on my knee,
Speaker 3: you know, the rehab was brutal. So that's why I
Speaker 3: would say I wasn't as fresh as you think, trust me.
Speaker 3: In the NFL, I would just say in New England,
Speaker 3: we had off practice and then going through the rehab
Speaker 3: because see the main objective is we're gonna get you right,
Speaker 3: but we're gonna actually overtrain you so that we know
Speaker 3: what you're about to go back on the football field.
Speaker 2: And do you know, to make sure that you're don't
Speaker 2: go back down this alley again.
Speaker 3: I know it was a freak accident what happened, but
Speaker 3: our job is to make sure that you feel confident
Speaker 3: enough in your whatever entry you have.
Speaker 2: So we point to myself that Kansas City game.
Speaker 3: I was so excited to be back on the football field,
Speaker 3: but I wasn't fresh because honestly, I'm gonna be real
Speaker 3: with you. We some weird guys. All players are just
Speaker 3: weird guys internally. Mentally, I probably was about eighty five percent,
Speaker 3: and that's really only because I'm gonna put this on.
Speaker 3: Coach Belichick. He said, you're not playing if you don't
Speaker 3: put that knee brace on. And I was like, I've
Speaker 3: been training the past two three weeks. I'm cool, I
Speaker 3: don't need this. He said, you're not playing, you know.
Speaker 2: He did is and I just.
Speaker 3: Follot him and follo hi follow him, and I realized, okay, this,
Speaker 3: this brother is on state to this.
Speaker 2: I am not going on the football feeling less. I
Speaker 2: put that knee brace on. That knee brace took me
Speaker 2: all the way down.
Speaker 3: Real talk, it was bad, but you know, it was
Speaker 3: a decent game. I was glad to be back on
Speaker 3: the field, but real talk, I wasn't fresh.
Speaker 1: Well. But I here's where I see fresh. I see
Speaker 1: somebody in the AC Championship game waving goodbye to Steeler
Speaker 1: defenders that looked pretty fresh to me. So I'm and
Speaker 1: I think that was his second touchdown of the game.
Speaker 1: I'm jumping ahead a little bit. I understand that'sbout the
Speaker 1: regular season, but I saw somebody fresh who's literally waving
Speaker 1: goodbye to the Steelers defenders. That looked pretty fresh to me.
Speaker 3: Hey, real talk, that was for my dad, even though
Speaker 3: I was doing it at my guy.
Speaker 2: Who was that Chris Hope?
Speaker 1: Yes, Chris, Chris and.
Speaker 3: I are real close friends. You know, we came out
Speaker 3: of the draft together. But that was really for my father.
Speaker 3: He's a major Stelller fan. Oh, my uncles are Stiller fans.
Speaker 3: And my dad was at the game. He was up
Speaker 3: in the stands and it was always this ray. Now,
Speaker 3: no fault him because I understand he loved Stealers and
Speaker 3: my uncles. We want you to have a good game,
Speaker 3: but we want you guys to lose.
Speaker 2: I'm like, are you kidding me? Are you kidding? He
Speaker 2: was like my dad. I said, yo, bro, I can
Speaker 2: we're going to the super Bowl? You going listen?
Speaker 5: I wouldn't super Bowl.
Speaker 3: And guess what he said, we are No, I'm cool, Nah.
Speaker 3: I would rather just you have a good game, but
Speaker 3: y'all need to lose. I need my Steelers in the
Speaker 3: super Bowl. I said this guy, it's crazy you think
Speaker 3: you make do a meal favorites just to tell me.
Speaker 3: I hope you have a good game because I'm your son,
Speaker 3: But you want me to lose? He said, no, I
Speaker 3: want your team to lose. I'm not talking about you. Well,
Speaker 3: I'm with the team Dad. He said, look, son, I
Speaker 3: want my Steelers to win. I love my Steelers. I
Speaker 3: said that brother is a die hard fan. If he
Speaker 3: doesn't want to go to the super Bowl.
Speaker 4: Wow, And his son goes out and catches a sixty
Speaker 4: yard touchdown pass and then scores on an end of round.
Speaker 3: I know, I know, I can't imagine if he was
Speaker 3: cheering or what. I didn't ask my uncle was he cheering?
Speaker 3: He said, no, none of us were cheering. We were clapping, but.
Speaker 2: We wasn't as excited as the fans that we were
Speaker 2: sitting with. That's crazy.
Speaker 1: I remember. So, if my memory is right, we flew
Speaker 1: down because there was a storm coming in early and
Speaker 1: had to get down to Pittsburgh early, so you didn't
Speaker 1: go Saturday. We left Friday, and I remember being outside
Speaker 1: the ballroom. They allowed us to tape a little bit
Speaker 1: of one of the ballroom practices. How how sick was
Speaker 1: Tom that Saturday? Dion? Did you didn't have any doubts,
Speaker 1: did you? But I mean was he?
Speaker 2: Was? He?
Speaker 1: Legit sick before that game.
Speaker 2: He was down.
Speaker 3: Yeah he was down, but we we were you know,
Speaker 3: he assured us that he'll be that he'll be there.
Speaker 3: So our biggest thing is just to make sure he
Speaker 3: yo get all the rest of them to get We
Speaker 3: know that you know exactly what you're doing, so we're
Speaker 3: not even tripping off that part. The only part that
Speaker 3: I will say is it's more so worried about his health.
Speaker 3: You know, I think the game itself was going to
Speaker 3: play out how it did. I'm not going to say
Speaker 3: we have done the same exact thing, but I still
Speaker 3: believe that we had their number.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: We always felt very confident playing those guys. You know,
Speaker 3: it's always and still to today, it's certain teams that
Speaker 3: you feel like we have their number, but this team
Speaker 3: over here has our number for whatever odd reason. When
Speaker 3: we play these guys, it's always like a weird thing,
Speaker 3: even though on paper we may be better, but for
Speaker 3: some reason, you know, and then we go out and
Speaker 3: execute the entire game plan. These guys have our number,
Speaker 3: you know, for whatever reason. But Pittsburgh was just one
Speaker 3: of those teams I just felt like, you know, Coach
Speaker 3: Belichick and the staff did a great job every time
Speaker 3: we played those guys and we beat them a regular
Speaker 3: season that we know what it is. We know exactly
Speaker 3: what it is. There's nothing that's going to be different.
Speaker 3: So but as far as with Tom being sick, you know,
Speaker 3: we knew he assured us that he'll be there, So
Speaker 3: we were pretty cool on that once that part happened.
Speaker 4: Diana being named Super Bowl MVP chan your life or
Speaker 4: your legacy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. And it was the
Speaker 3: craziest thing ever. You know, like you said, just to
Speaker 3: go to that game itself. As players, we already know,
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, even as announcers commentators, you know,
Speaker 3: whatever team wins the Super Bowl, who's going to get
Speaker 3: their war So that was never a play that you
Speaker 3: know going into the game. You know a lot of
Speaker 3: guys have dreams going to the Super Bowl, winning the
Speaker 3: Super Bowl. You'll never hear a player outside of a
Speaker 3: quarterback saying, yeah, I'm dreaming to be an MVP one day.
Speaker 3: You know, that was just nothing that I ever had
Speaker 3: down as one of my goals, you know, but to
Speaker 3: have that that it completely changed everything.
Speaker 2: I mean, even talking.
Speaker 3: About it now, I still feel like I'm sitting on
Speaker 3: that bleacher me and Troy and David just sitting there talking.
Speaker 3: We're just hoping the defense hold up so we can
Speaker 3: win the game. Nobody's thinking about being the MVP at all.
Speaker 3: And it was about eight guys standing behind us. And
Speaker 3: then one of the guys like, hey, get the honey
Speaker 3: tap him, and Trouble was like, yo, they want you
Speaker 3: to turn around.
Speaker 2: And the guy was like, hey, if you guys.
Speaker 3: Pulled off the next minute in twenty some seconds, you're
Speaker 3: the MVP. And it was just like a whole I
Speaker 3: don't know what it was. It's the craziest feeling ever.
Speaker 3: And like what made it even special is like all
Speaker 3: the offensive guys just came down. Everybody. Look now listen
Speaker 3: the defense on the field, Philly is still driving.
Speaker 2: We don't know what may happen.
Speaker 3: We're over here celebrating already before the game is even over.
Speaker 3: You know, all the offensive guys and none of the
Speaker 3: coaches know what's going on. You know, the receiver coach
Speaker 3: Brian is just like, hey, calm down. Everybody calmed down.
Speaker 3: Like he's sticking to the core, like the game, the
Speaker 3: game isn't over. Next thing, you know, Ridney intercept the
Speaker 3: past and now it's like whoa, it's a whole It's
Speaker 3: pandemonia over here. Man.
Speaker 2: It was so crazy.
Speaker 3: But just for that to happen at one particular moment,
Speaker 3: just to shat out with my teammates, just to get
Speaker 3: the sudden news, that was it.
Speaker 2: I mean, you can't replace that with nothing. That was crazy.
Speaker 1: It's a pretty exclusive club, deonn I mean, there's been
Speaker 1: fifty five of these games. I know Tom's probably won
Speaker 1: one hundred of them.
Speaker 2: Super Bowl Yeah, no, for sure, right, So it's not
Speaker 2: like there's.
Speaker 1: Just fifty five. It's a pretty exclusive club. And I wonder,
Speaker 1: you know, as you're talking about you know, we were
Speaker 1: joking earlier, you know, real estate mogul deon Brnch, does
Speaker 1: that help open any doors for you? Like, yes, is
Speaker 1: there somebody that recognizes, hey, wait a minute, super Bowl
Speaker 1: MVP Don Brinch, let's do business with this guy?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 1: Does that help you?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, I'm gonna be honest with you, that
Speaker 3: would be a credit. But just winning the Super Bowl,
Speaker 3: I think just being a part of that class, I'll
Speaker 3: probably say have opened up way more doors. And then
Speaker 3: you know, you get that's the that's the extra icing
Speaker 3: on top.
Speaker 2: Of it, like oh yeah, this is the MVP dot
Speaker 2: or whatever. But it was.
Speaker 3: Naturally just like oh super Bowl guy, like because everybody,
Speaker 3: I mean, they're pissed around here still to this day,
Speaker 3: like look, I'm done, Like we can't even believe what
Speaker 3: are you doing here? It's like my wife chose to say,
Speaker 3: why we can't live here? It's like the entire city.
Speaker 3: It's like a frown. I go to the Pacers games and.
Speaker 2: It's like so many people just money me, Like, what
Speaker 2: is the deal. I've been retired six seven years now,
Speaker 2: what's the deal?
Speaker 5: Rings on both fingers, Yeah, I feel bad.
Speaker 3: I don't even wear them me because they may end
Speaker 3: up trying to jack me for him.
Speaker 2: So I'm telling you.
Speaker 3: Man, I don't even put those rings on. But I
Speaker 3: think overall the doors because I think naturally everybody just
Speaker 3: want to associate with the you know, winning program, and
Speaker 3: I'm all for it.
Speaker 2: Hey, I take full advantage of it. Thank you, Thank
Speaker 2: you all my teammates. I love all my teammates.
Speaker 3: Thank you guys for this door that open, you know,
Speaker 3: and you know, yeah, we get a lot of perks
Speaker 3: with it. Not only myself, some of the guys that
Speaker 3: you know didn't even touch the field, get perks, you know,
Speaker 3: beautiful thing, Yes, sir, will deserve.
Speaker 4: My last question for you is just about, you know,
Speaker 4: the difference between playing here and when you went to
Speaker 4: Seattle to play. You obviously came back, but yeah, could
Speaker 4: you just maybe talk about the difference in how other
Speaker 4: programs and in your case, the Seattle program differs from
Speaker 4: the New England program.
Speaker 3: M h Yeah, And I honestly I go right to it,
Speaker 3: you know, and Bill harp on it and talk about
Speaker 3: is all the time.
Speaker 2: You know. Just being accountable.
Speaker 3: That's the most important thing that we see every day
Speaker 3: walking in that building. Be accountable to yourself and to
Speaker 3: your teammates, you know, And it starts with it starts
Speaker 3: at the top, mister Grabb, Coach Belichick, to the coaches,
Speaker 3: to the players, you know, being respectful and.
Speaker 2: All this stuff and be a high character guy.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna be honest with you. I was blessed to
Speaker 3: play with two first class organizations. That part we do know,
Speaker 3: we understand well. Mster Paul Allen and those guys created
Speaker 3: over there, and God bless him.
Speaker 2: Coach Holme was a great, great coach. I don't think.
Speaker 3: And I'm not talking about it I don't just don't
Speaker 3: think some of that coaches that were under him were
Speaker 3: trying to match him. Unlike the coaches that say New
Speaker 3: England Bill challenged these guys all the time. I don't
Speaker 3: think Coach Holkan really was challenging the coaches. I think
Speaker 3: that real talk. Honestly, I think a lot of the
Speaker 3: guys were just contenting and with the situation there was, Hey,
Speaker 3: I'm the linebacker's coach, I'm the safety coach. I'm not
Speaker 3: saying they didn't take the job series, but I know
Speaker 3: what I just left and I don't see it here.
Speaker 3: You know with the coaches you know now saying come
Speaker 3: to home, but some of the other position coaches, I
Speaker 3: just didn't see that. I didn't see the same drive
Speaker 3: and then see the same and see what happens is
Speaker 3: is coming from your head coach. He has to be
Speaker 3: saying something to these guys, but they're not relaying a
Speaker 3: lot of things to the players. And I always and
Speaker 3: I say this other joke, but I really admit that
Speaker 3: I think that Coach Belichick drilled myself all my teammates,
Speaker 3: and he challenged us so much all the things that
Speaker 3: I was taught from Coach Belichick. I felt like I
Speaker 3: can go over here and coach this team. I truly
Speaker 3: felt that way, Like, you know what, I had so.
Speaker 2: Much in my brain. I've been taught so much about
Speaker 2: this guy.
Speaker 3: I can actually help coach this team here myself as
Speaker 3: a player by all the things that Coach Belichick and
Speaker 3: his staff and everything has taught me. Uh And that's
Speaker 3: just a credit to the things that Coach Belichick does.
Speaker 2: That's pretty much what it is.
Speaker 3: And on paper, I'm gonna be honest with you, on paper,
Speaker 3: that Seattle team, especially in O six and O seven,
Speaker 3: was better.
Speaker 2: They were better. And here's the difference.
Speaker 3: We were better on the on the I gotta say
Speaker 3: on paper, but when we touched the field, it's a
Speaker 3: little different.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: Is that because it ain't that these guys are not
Speaker 3: good athletes and all this stuff. It's just that what
Speaker 3: we're being taught by the overseers is not being to
Speaker 3: that level. You're not just getting the best out of
Speaker 3: these guys. In New England, they're gonna get the best
Speaker 3: out of every opportunity for the ones that want to
Speaker 3: do it. And I can say, I can say the
Speaker 3: guys and see out of these guys wanted to do it.
Speaker 3: They wanted to be a part of that championship. They
Speaker 3: want to see what that feel like a lot of
Speaker 3: those guys, and I truly was. I was praying and
Speaker 3: wishing for those guys that it happened for when I left,
Speaker 3: because I felt like, you know what, when I was
Speaker 3: traded back to New England, it was a relief. You know,
Speaker 3: I'm I'm saying I'm leaving my brothers, but that situation
Speaker 3: I was in just wasn't right, especially when coach Hombram left.
Speaker 3: Then you got Jim Moore and then you bring Pete
Speaker 3: Carroll in. It's just a whole turnover. I'm like, this
Speaker 3: ain't what's up. This is not good, mister Allen. He
Speaker 3: deserved better, You get what I'm saying. As as the owner,
Speaker 3: he deserved better, and he was trying to get.
Speaker 2: There, and I'm glad they got there at some point
Speaker 2: they made.
Speaker 1: I think if you're writing the Dion Branch story, I
Speaker 1: think you would be surprised when you're writing the script
Speaker 1: and you go, wait a minute, he's New England goes
Speaker 1: to Seattle. You're kidding me. He comes back and finish
Speaker 1: his career in New England. I mean, like you must
Speaker 1: pinch yourself, or I guess you should ask do you
Speaker 1: pinch yourself? I know it didn't look at you lost
Speaker 1: in Indy, of course, but could you have written a
Speaker 1: better script? Like you had to go away and that hurt.
Speaker 1: But the fact that you're able to finish here, you know,
Speaker 1: is that kind of that that must have made you
Speaker 1: feel good.
Speaker 2: It couldn't have ended any better, you know.
Speaker 3: The only ending I think would have been even better
Speaker 3: was the Super Bowl that we lost to the to
Speaker 3: the clowns.
Speaker 2: Yep, you know, yeah, that's.
Speaker 3: The only thing I would say, because in my head,
Speaker 3: I was just sitting there saying, like, you know what
Speaker 3: if when we win this game, I'm gonna retire. I'm
Speaker 3: gonna just end this story right here. And then Bile's
Speaker 3: not winning, I was like, oh, I got to come back.
Speaker 3: I need to come back for another year. And you know,
Speaker 3: we tried to make another run daaa, it didn't happened.
Speaker 3: But like you were saying, it couldn't have been any better,
Speaker 3: you know, especially when when Bill called me like, hey,
Speaker 3: you ready to you ready to come home? I was like, yes, sir,
Speaker 3: you know, yes sir, And that that particular time. I
Speaker 3: felt so bad because my little girls were getting they
Speaker 3: were getting a little older, they were getting settled, la
Speaker 3: la lah, and the worst experience ever.
Speaker 2: My kids just threw up and they were just they
Speaker 2: were so sick. Uh that we were leaving.
Speaker 3: The limo ride to the sayma, but the ride I'm
Speaker 3: not flexing, so we ever hear now.
Speaker 5: The ride to the.
Speaker 2: Ride to the airport, the dog on driver was crying.
Speaker 2: My kids were throwing up in the car, you know.
Speaker 3: And we left Seattle, uh Wednesday night, Tuesday or Wednesday night,
Speaker 3: and we landed landed back in New England in Boston.
Speaker 3: What that morning, went straight to the dropped them off
Speaker 3: at the hotel, went straight to the facility. Bill, I'm headed,
Speaker 3: all right, don't come to take a physical. Bill has
Speaker 3: me this playbook, say learn whatever you learn, and you're
Speaker 3: playing Sunday.
Speaker 2: What this is our initial approach? Yes, this is it,
Speaker 2: I said, Yeah, nice to see you again too. Real Yeah?
Speaker 2: Here that was.
Speaker 4: That was after the limo riye with the five course
Speaker 4: meal at the airport and private jet to New England.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but seriously, Dan, think about this for a second.
Speaker 1: This is real life we're talking about. You know, Dad's
Speaker 1: got to move. Dad's gotta go three thousand miles. My
Speaker 1: family's entrenched here. They love it here. I'm watching my
Speaker 1: daughters throw up in the ride to the airport. You
Speaker 1: get here, Bill throws you a playbook you better produce.
Speaker 1: And in that first game against Baltimore, did it make
Speaker 1: it all worthwhile? When you score and you win, and
Speaker 1: it was like, okay, maybe I can deal with my
Speaker 1: kids throwing up in the car. Maybe this is gonna
Speaker 1: be okay, because it's okay, it work now, it's okay
Speaker 1: at work.
Speaker 2: It was already over.
Speaker 3: Hey. Look, I was dealing with it when I got
Speaker 3: the phone call because I was so excited. But I
Speaker 3: also didn't know it was gonna have this effect on them,
Speaker 3: you know. But it only took them about two three weeks.
Speaker 3: You know, they younger kids, they'll figure it out, you know.
Speaker 3: Unfortunate now, my oldest daughter, she was born in New England,
Speaker 3: my youngest was born in Seattle. It's a it's a
Speaker 3: household of madness. When these two games go down, and
Speaker 3: it's a bunch of mets, and my oldest daughter even know,
Speaker 3: she was the one that was doing the most crying
Speaker 3: and you know, spinning up the most. You can't say
Speaker 3: nothing bad about Boston period. One bad thing come out
Speaker 3: of my mouth. So I understood that part. But for
Speaker 3: all these things to happen the way it happened, it
Speaker 3: was only men. I feel like even Josh was on
Speaker 3: board with like, Yo, I mean not Josh, but Billy
Speaker 3: was like, Yo, we're gonna get We're gonna get you
Speaker 3: the ball. We're gonna go ahead and get this out
Speaker 3: the way because they knew what happened. My wife told
Speaker 3: me after the game, she said, ba, I was just crying.
Speaker 3: All the people just running up to me, like were
Speaker 3: just so glad we miss you guys. And I'm like,
Speaker 3: you just don't know we miss you guys, trust me,
Speaker 3: you know. And I always said I really wish we
Speaker 3: didn't have that four year gap, you know, because I
Speaker 3: ain't no telling what we would have published had not.
Speaker 3: I mean clearly, I know I will be in the
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame had I had we worked it out.
Speaker 3: That's one thing I for sure know. That's for sure.
Speaker 3: Not saying I was playing a game for that, but
Speaker 3: we were one maybe another three or four Super bowls,
Speaker 3: you follow me. So that same year they lost to
Speaker 3: the Coats with you know the situation with Bro God
Speaker 3: bless Riche as well.
Speaker 2: I was just like, man, that was supposed to be
Speaker 2: me and Tom hit me like, yo, did you see that?
Speaker 2: Hey Bro, I love you, but that was that was us?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know, you know at that particular time, you know,
Speaker 3: the organization and myself, we just couldn't get on the
Speaker 3: same page. And no regrets, regrets, but I do wish
Speaker 3: we could have done that the right way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I bet you. I'll tell you what. He's won
Speaker 1: a lot of games. Bill's won a lot of games.
Speaker 1: You've won a lot of games. But I bet you
Speaker 1: that Colts game, That Colt game that keeps him up
Speaker 1: when they're having a tough time sleeping or they getting
Speaker 1: jolted up in the middle of the night. That Colt game.
Speaker 1: And where were you for that game that probably keeps
Speaker 1: him up at night?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I'm pre sure it does, because look I
Speaker 3: still think about it too, you know. And guess what,
Speaker 3: I was in a different place. I'm over in to
Speaker 3: see I don't even know we didn't even make the playoffs.
Speaker 3: So I'm watching the game, but just to get the
Speaker 3: phone call from all my former teammates. Okay, fellas I've
Speaker 3: been gone for a whole season, and like guys are
Speaker 3: still thinking like we're supposed to be in the dog
Speaker 3: on Super Bowl. You know. It was more so like, hey,
Speaker 3: we knew this was gonna happen, you know, we kind
Speaker 3: of felt like something like this was gonna happen.
Speaker 2: And it's whether they want to blame it on me.
Speaker 3: They want to blame it on Bill and I don't know.
Speaker 3: And you know, but I apologize to my teammate teammates.
Speaker 3: I don't know if coach relitive did, you know, I
Speaker 3: don't know if he apologized the guy. But we're not
Speaker 3: gonna put it on that. But I wish, I really
Speaker 3: wish that debt didn't happen, you know.
Speaker 4: And there was no way that team was losing to
Speaker 4: the Bears if they had beaten the calls. That's that's revision. Well,
Speaker 4: he is the former Super Bowl MVP, and Dion, we
Speaker 4: thank you for joining us today. It's been awesome catching up.
Speaker 4: Appreciate your time, and we should we won't have any
Speaker 4: four year gaps anymore.
Speaker 2: We'll just make it real here, yes, sir man, and
Speaker 2: let all the guys know.
Speaker 3: Man, I'll be over there. Hopefully we can strike up
Speaker 3: some sort of deal. We can work something now, but
Speaker 3: we'll we'll figure that part out later.
Speaker 1: Great. Do you want to be well? And thank you
Speaker 1: so much for your time.
Speaker 2: Yes, sir. Thank you guys. Thank you for downloading this podcast.
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