Speaker 1: Check. All right, Thomas, how are we looking? Y'all? Good?
Speaker 1: I like this? You like this? Combination is a good combination.
Speaker 1: This is I never said this is good combination. I
Speaker 1: like you. I appreciate it, all right, Uh, ROMI Radio, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna bring us back? Yeah yeah, yeah, all right, bro,
Speaker 1: let's do it. Thank y'all for tuning in. Um Peanut
Speaker 1: Tillman And this is the NFL Player's Second Acts podcast,
Speaker 1: and today my co host Roman Barbara Walter's Harberg. What's up?
Speaker 1: What's up? Wrong? What's up? Thank you? Um. I don't
Speaker 1: know why I'm Barbara Walters today, but because you look
Speaker 1: older than me, that's why. I mean, if you're gonna
Speaker 1: call me somebody, I'm much rather be the one lady
Speaker 1: that got locked up. Oh, she'd be with Snoop all
Speaker 1: the time. Yeah, Martha Stewart, that's it. Yeah, let me
Speaker 1: be Martha Stewart. You're gonna be who you gonna be. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm Oprah. But Mark Stewart's not a journalist. Though Barbara
Speaker 1: Walters is a journalist, Mark Steward doesn't do that. This
Speaker 1: is my podcast too, So I'm gonna be Markeda and
Speaker 1: you're gonna be Oprah today. Let's let's let's do it.
Speaker 1: Let's do it right now. We got a special guest. Uh.
Speaker 1: This guy played fifteen years in the NFL, five time
Speaker 1: Pro Bowler, he was an All Pro two thousand and
Speaker 1: two Watch Paid Man of the Year winner. Right now,
Speaker 1: he's the executive vice president of Football Operations. Mister Troy Vincent,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. What's up are Yeah? So, man,
Speaker 1: when I when I when I grow up, I want
Speaker 1: to I want to be just like you. I'm just
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that. I'm I'm real thrilled to have you,
Speaker 1: to have you on this show, because I think you
Speaker 1: are the embodiment of what we talk about when we
Speaker 1: talk about, you know, your second act, of what you're
Speaker 1: gonna do post you know, post football, and what you've
Speaker 1: done in a short period of time has been truly
Speaker 1: amazing to watch and see. Well, it doesn't feel like
Speaker 1: it's been a short period of time. I lost my hair.
Speaker 1: You see him now in bald Well. We're gonna talk.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about that. We got something for the
Speaker 1: hair again. We always started to show off with one
Speaker 1: of the main questions, and for me, I knew it
Speaker 1: was time to hang up my cleats, even though I
Speaker 1: didn't want to play the game torment acl when I
Speaker 1: was what thirty six years old? So at that point
Speaker 1: in time, yeah, chances are no one's going to pick
Speaker 1: up an old corner. We played the same position. So
Speaker 1: when did you officially know it was time to hang
Speaker 1: up your cleats and retire? Probably year eleven? Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: year eleven, I knew that. I was kind of my
Speaker 1: seventh season now in Philly. I was told by both
Speaker 1: Phenius Williams and Hardy Nickerson at a Christian retreat. We
Speaker 1: were just talking about transition and and Reggie White, and
Speaker 1: they were sharing with me like when do you know?
Speaker 1: They asked that same question, when when would you know?
Speaker 1: And Hardy was the first to jump out there, you
Speaker 1: you understand or you know when it's your time when
Speaker 1: you don't want to do the things that you love
Speaker 1: doing before and he gave the illustration. You know, Hardy
Speaker 1: used to bring it and he loved contact. Well. I
Speaker 1: was that same way. The things that I used to do,
Speaker 1: the things that I was known for, I just I
Speaker 1: didn't want I just I wasn't loving that every single day, right,
Speaker 1: And that was around year eleven, and then we had
Speaker 1: some young guys in Philly that was they were about
Speaker 1: to just explode. But I knew it was about that time,
Speaker 1: and I could buy a few more years, so to say,
Speaker 1: just based off of what I had did previously. But
Speaker 1: year no question, year eleven when I knew, you know what,
Speaker 1: it's really about that time for me, that that expiration
Speaker 1: date on my body, I felt it. You know you're
Speaker 1: talking about that because you played fifteen, right, so you're
Speaker 1: still bought some time. Like you spoke on and I've
Speaker 1: listened to some of your other podcast, Troy, that you've
Speaker 1: done comes just piggyback on what Pete Nutt said earlier. Man,
Speaker 1: you are a living legend. You were on my wall
Speaker 1: when I was growing up because you played dB. I
Speaker 1: watched you growing up from your time and when you
Speaker 1: first got into the league too, when you were a dominant,
Speaker 1: truly dominant with Philly, going to Miami after that, continue
Speaker 1: on prolonging your career. It's really special to watch and
Speaker 1: also seeing you now post career, you truly are the
Speaker 1: vision board or what every other NFL player says, this
Speaker 1: is what it's supposed to look like. When you played
Speaker 1: football for as long as you do and still be
Speaker 1: able to take advantage of the time you're in and
Speaker 1: then once you're done, continue to move on with that.
Speaker 1: So I just want to make sure I gave you
Speaker 1: your glory as well on that. But you talked about
Speaker 1: when you had the young guys behind you, Lado, those
Speaker 1: other guys behind you, they were never going to become
Speaker 1: the players and the leaders and the stars that they
Speaker 1: were going to be with you in that same position
Speaker 1: that you, as long as you were in that locker room,
Speaker 1: you were almost being a hindrance to their true growth
Speaker 1: to who they were supposed to be because you may
Speaker 1: be talking to that being a good teammate, a good
Speaker 1: steward of the game, making sure that everybody continues to
Speaker 1: pull back. You know, you reached back and pull forward
Speaker 1: the way you were able to do that as example
Speaker 1: as a player and now also in your position. Now, yes, sir,
Speaker 1: and I would just say one thank you for the
Speaker 1: kind words. But I was brought into the National Football
Speaker 1: League when I was drafted by Miami. There were veterans
Speaker 1: like John Offerdaal and in the back end there was
Speaker 1: a gentleman by the name of J. B. Brown played
Speaker 1: at Maryland that these individuals were the ones who kind
Speaker 1: of shared with me. I had a chance to see
Speaker 1: what leadership was, in particular around John Offerdall. He was
Speaker 1: a middle linebacker for his number fifty six. He taught
Speaker 1: me how to be a pro. And what is being
Speaker 1: a pro showing up every day, you know, taking care
Speaker 1: of your business, detailing your work, but being a student
Speaker 1: of the game. Fast forward when I went to Philly,
Speaker 1: Bobby Taylor was there, but I was Even though we
Speaker 1: were only three years apart, I was still considered the veteran. Again,
Speaker 1: fast forward maybe year six, I think maybe five or six,
Speaker 1: you draft Leedo and Sheldon Brown and Dark was there.
Speaker 1: Dark and I came to Philly together. You had Brian Westbrook,
Speaker 1: but Dark. But I was the kind of the the
Speaker 1: leader in the locker room. One, I was a PA rep. Two.
Speaker 1: I had a good body of work on the field
Speaker 1: where where the teammates respected you. These men were phenomenal leaders.
Speaker 1: They were for good for the best football player ever
Speaker 1: played with Brian Dawkins. But he didn't have to talk
Speaker 1: why because if you wanted an answer, you had challenges
Speaker 1: that you whether it was with the head coach, the coordinator,
Speaker 1: front office, A Troy will handle it. But you you
Speaker 1: were watching these young men, in particular Sheldon and Brian,
Speaker 1: and that's Brian Westbrook as well, but DONK you saw
Speaker 1: him growing, but you knew that you need to leave that,
Speaker 1: and that's you need to leave so that these men
Speaker 1: could be really truly what God has called them to be.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of I think I did what I
Speaker 1: needed to do there. Obviously fell short of a super Bowl,
Speaker 1: won a lot of a lot of football games, championship games,
Speaker 1: but it was time for these men to be who
Speaker 1: God had called them to be in the locker room,
Speaker 1: and that's exactly what happened. And went on to Buffalo.
Speaker 1: And I sound hard for you to do, though, leaving them, no, sir,
Speaker 1: And I mean that sincerely because I the game has
Speaker 1: done more for me than I can ever do for it,
Speaker 1: and my walk with Jesus Christ allows me to walk
Speaker 1: into that meekness and understand this is not only good
Speaker 1: for me, because selfishly, I could have stayed. I got
Speaker 1: the same contract offer in Philly to stay and close
Speaker 1: out there that I did in Buffalo. But I don't
Speaker 1: know if the story would have been the same with
Speaker 1: Bryan was Sheldon with Leedo, with Westbrook and even McNabb.
Speaker 1: So um, I didn't no no regrets, and it was
Speaker 1: just all part of I felt like my body of
Speaker 1: work and my DNA, but just leaning on faith. I
Speaker 1: think one time you I saw you speak. It was
Speaker 1: earlier in my career, and I think you might have
Speaker 1: said you wanted to You might have wanted to have
Speaker 1: an investment firm or financial firm or and I younger
Speaker 1: my career, I took note. I still remember that to
Speaker 1: this day. And I was like, man, he playing football,
Speaker 1: he want to be a financial He wanted his own bank. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: he ons some he ons some other stuff. He on
Speaker 1: a different level. What prepares you to to have that
Speaker 1: type of mindset? How did you? How did you get
Speaker 1: her first job? How did you get that first internship.
Speaker 1: I've been very, very intentional from high school, Like football
Speaker 1: was not who I was. Football was away for me
Speaker 1: to get a free education. Yeah, come back home and
Speaker 1: help my mom period. But I knew there wasn't gonna
Speaker 1: be nine. Well, go ahead, and when you saw what
Speaker 1: I saw in Trenton, New Jersey, I didn't want to
Speaker 1: be what I saw right. I wanted no parts of that,
Speaker 1: and then when I gave my life to crisis sixteen,
Speaker 1: sport was just a mechanism for me to advance, to
Speaker 1: accelerate in life. So I was always intentional every year
Speaker 1: from year one to year fifteen, if there was a
Speaker 1: program or resource that was available, either through the NFLPA,
Speaker 1: through the league office, or the club, I was there,
Speaker 1: hands up. And I was one of the last people
Speaker 1: that the team was gonna cut. They was gonna keep
Speaker 1: the quarterback, and now I know they were going to
Speaker 1: keeping me based off of my contract and my performance.
Speaker 1: But it was just I treat it every year as
Speaker 1: an individual year, saying that I got to get through
Speaker 1: this year. I don't know what the team's going to do.
Speaker 1: And I never priced myself out of the market because
Speaker 1: most of that, man, you really no. I did exactly
Speaker 1: what I thought I should do because I never wanted
Speaker 1: to go into a season where I could be a
Speaker 1: cat casualty. Why to say that I'm the highest paid
Speaker 1: at my position. I was always tag transition. I'm good
Speaker 1: staying one through five, one through ten. Why because if
Speaker 1: the season doesn't go right from a win lost standpoint,
Speaker 1: you bring a new coach in who are they looking
Speaker 1: at who making the money and how do I restructure
Speaker 1: the people going to measure you. Well, he's making all
Speaker 1: of his money and he's only performing at this level.
Speaker 1: So that was my mentality every year was to perform.
Speaker 1: I had known centives in my contracts because if you
Speaker 1: were paying me the three and a half million dollars
Speaker 1: big salary, four million dollars big salary, why are you
Speaker 1: giving me an incentive to lead, lead the team and
Speaker 1: pass breakups or interceptions. That's what you're paying me to
Speaker 1: do or to play in this mini games. So my
Speaker 1: mentality was just different. I don't want any extra, just
Speaker 1: pay me for what I do on Sunday, Mondays and Thursdays.
Speaker 1: It's just amazing that, I mean, your mentality. I wish
Speaker 1: you would have been the veteran on my team early
Speaker 1: in my career and maybe Jillion. You know, this is
Speaker 1: really great. So this is something that me and Peanut
Speaker 1: really love to really deep dive into a specially not
Speaker 1: even on the podcast. Bless you excuse me, is that
Speaker 1: after you retired, how did you handle your identity like
Speaker 1: personally and publicly and like what was that new normal
Speaker 1: like for you being tied to the nfls for as
Speaker 1: long as you have been and now you're no longer
Speaker 1: a player. We all kind of go through this, uh,
Speaker 1: this sense of this feel of like almost lost at times.
Speaker 1: I think it begins why you play and how you
Speaker 1: represent yourself. I was representing the body of Christ, my
Speaker 1: wife and my family. I happen to be an athlete.
Speaker 1: So just managing that, and I would share that, share
Speaker 1: that with any pro or any athlete. You have to
Speaker 1: control who you are. I played the game. The game
Speaker 1: is not you know, and I'm still to this particular
Speaker 1: day and that new new normal that transition from time
Speaker 1: to time I got. I have to debunk the myths
Speaker 1: that are associated with an athlete. Yes, black athlete, So
Speaker 1: all of those things and to this very day in
Speaker 1: my position today as I raised my children. So but
Speaker 1: you have to be intentional about it. And I was
Speaker 1: very intentional about how I showed up from in the
Speaker 1: locker room. Hey looking over, Nope, I don't do any
Speaker 1: interviews when I had no clothes on them. And I
Speaker 1: tell that, you know. It was just the little things,
Speaker 1: how to engage with the media, being transparent, managing that brand,
Speaker 1: your personal brand. Frankly, it allowed me to be in
Speaker 1: a position am I'm in today. I'm not surprised because
Speaker 1: all of the things that you and I learned as
Speaker 1: you all were leaders on your team, all of those
Speaker 1: are transferable skills that nobody told us in the c suite.
Speaker 1: Everything that we learned about communication, resiliency, teamwork, communication, those
Speaker 1: are intricate values that the game presents to each of
Speaker 1: us that play, and they all transition over to the
Speaker 1: corporate world. I know the game's done a lot for you,
Speaker 1: but you've also done a lot for the game as
Speaker 1: far as like helping players out in their second acts.
Speaker 1: I know you brought them the NFL Business Management, the
Speaker 1: broadcast boot Camp, and how recept of our current and
Speaker 1: former players of you in the NFL creating these programs.
Speaker 1: I think they've been extremely recept I'm a product, yes,
Speaker 1: YouTube And what makes me proud why people go, well,
Speaker 1: why when I see individuals my colleagues like Peanut and Roman,
Speaker 1: you all make me so proud and make us so
Speaker 1: proud because this is who we really are, right like
Speaker 1: you represent the best of who we are. But oftentimes
Speaker 1: we get one or two examples and everyone gets painted
Speaker 1: with that same brush. Yes, so my affinity and love.
Speaker 1: As I always say, you can't lead the player if
Speaker 1: you don't love them, and loving that means you take
Speaker 1: the good to everything that comes with us, because we
Speaker 1: can be a mess at times, but you can't lead
Speaker 1: us if you don't love us. Right, So when I
Speaker 1: watched and I read and I was mentored by, I
Speaker 1: would feel like some of the the best, and then
Speaker 1: my pastors it was, Okay, why are we not succeeding?
Speaker 1: Why aren't people giving us the opportunity. We finished college,
Speaker 1: we play ball, our ball as our resume, but we
Speaker 1: have all of these skills that most great leaders in
Speaker 1: Fortune fifty Fortune five hundred companies had, but we're not
Speaker 1: getting a shot. So as a player, I went to
Speaker 1: the University of Penn. We talked to the mid nineties
Speaker 1: to say, how do we create programs that will allow
Speaker 1: players to get an introduction into things that they want
Speaker 1: to do or have interest in post their playing experience,
Speaker 1: and this is why you're playing nineteen ninety six, Yes,
Speaker 1: every Tuesday, every Friday. That's where I spent my time
Speaker 1: on campus, meeting with the professors, saying we have players
Speaker 1: that want to get in real estate. They don't have
Speaker 1: time to go back to school. Can we do certificate programs?
Speaker 1: Can we do programs that will allow them the introduction
Speaker 1: into these businesses. So broadcast all of the all of
Speaker 1: the boot camps, all of those things were created back
Speaker 1: in the mid nineties, and they have year after year
Speaker 1: broadcast boot camp, all of those things, the Harvard programs, Northwestern.
Speaker 1: It was so that the player had an opportunity when
Speaker 1: he took the helmet off, whether it's him, his spouse,
Speaker 1: his partner, to go back and learn some of the
Speaker 1: things that are important if you wanted to get into
Speaker 1: this business. Right. I didn't even know you were doing
Speaker 1: that while you're playing. The fact that you made time.
Speaker 1: This is unbelievable that you're sharing all this with me
Speaker 1: because I don't think most people know this. We know, Troy,
Speaker 1: you gotta understand most of us. The first time we
Speaker 1: ever meet you is when you're doing that media training
Speaker 1: when we first get in, and the one thing that
Speaker 1: you say that always stands out is what you just
Speaker 1: said earlier, is that, hey, the media is an outlet
Speaker 1: to your brand, that you must work with them. It's
Speaker 1: the way you tell your own story and working with
Speaker 1: the media that's a first introduction, most players get to
Speaker 1: who Troy Evince. It is so Roman when you say that.
Speaker 1: Remember we all come into the league where they say, hey,
Speaker 1: what does the NFL stand for? No? No, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: we're gonna flip that, right. Yeah, the NFL means notice
Speaker 1: for life when you do things right. Ah see see
Speaker 1: I'm using yea. And we need to be sharing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we have to if we do just a little things right.
Speaker 1: You don't have to be a star. Yeah. People that
Speaker 1: we come in contact with from a media standpoint, business standpoint,
Speaker 1: partnership standpoint, people standpoint, we actually are put on notice
Speaker 1: for life if we just treat people right. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: we always lean to oh it means not for long,
Speaker 1: not for long, No, we're gonna flip that, or the
Speaker 1: no fun league. Yeah, and you probably hit on this
Speaker 1: a lot and you but I want to know from
Speaker 1: your perspective, because this is some of your terms that
Speaker 1: you that I've heard and read that you use. Is
Speaker 1: that what is a servant leader and what does that
Speaker 1: mean to you? So a servant leader is someone who
Speaker 1: is I serve. I'm using the term I I serve
Speaker 1: those who are really leading, even though I may have
Speaker 1: the title structurally. But I'm a servant leader. I want
Speaker 1: to address what you want to do. I want to
Speaker 1: serve you because when you went, I went. So that
Speaker 1: servant leadership is being selfishness. I mean, just my ego.
Speaker 1: I'm okay, and I use this now in my management style.
Speaker 1: This goes to that servant leadership. I always say, no
Speaker 1: author of ownership. I don't need my name to be
Speaker 1: on the paper. I don't need to be the person
Speaker 1: that's at the podium speaking. Allow me to serve you
Speaker 1: and the world and the team and everybody wins. Were
Speaker 1: you always like that? No, not always, No, sir, No, sir, Peanut.
Speaker 1: At the age twenty one, you couldn't tell me nothing,
Speaker 1: and if something happened, I wanted to make sure I
Speaker 1: got my credit. Today it's not about credit, and Peanut,
Speaker 1: I was so ready for transition at any time, So
Speaker 1: I don't take anything for granted. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you can see in the background my bookcase. Yeah, when
Speaker 1: that bookcase have books, so that the next leader who
Speaker 1: is going to occupy this seat, whether that happens, they
Speaker 1: want to make a change tomorrow or next week. When
Speaker 1: I pick up my book back and leave tonight I
Speaker 1: don't own any of these things, but people have to.
Speaker 1: They can go right to the book and see my
Speaker 1: notes from yesterday on the topic of football. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: I'm updating these things every day so that transition is
Speaker 1: smooth coninuity. Yeah, that's right, so someone can take what
Speaker 1: has been created and take it forward. Rumors and speculations.
Speaker 1: And you went from player engagement to being the VP
Speaker 1: of football. Ops. Do you want to be commissioner? No,
Speaker 1: you don't want the job at all. Right now, I
Speaker 1: served the commissioner and I served the game. I see
Speaker 1: here you say that you serve the commissioner. That's really
Speaker 1: That takes a lot, a lot of self I don't
Speaker 1: want anybody to get it twisted. Yeah, I am owning
Speaker 1: my space today. Yeah, and I get asked that question
Speaker 1: off today, I serve Commissioner Roger Goodell, and I'm waiting
Speaker 1: for my wife to tell me when it's time to
Speaker 1: come home so we can go back in the community
Speaker 1: and continue serving the community. But I get asked, I
Speaker 1: see what he goes through. I'm good right where I'm at. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love get Maybe I want to get your job,
Speaker 1: and yeah, that might be a good one. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be past and then I take your job. Well, you
Speaker 1: can serve me. No, I do that anyways, Peanut, I
Speaker 1: do that anyways. You know that. So so Troy. Number
Speaker 1: two things we got to get accomplished from this this
Speaker 1: whole thing. Number One, we're gonna get Peanut a job,
Speaker 1: all right, that's number one. We're gonna get somehow another
Speaker 1: we're gonna work Peanut into this job. And then number
Speaker 1: two is we gotta know because for you to start
Speaker 1: off on the players side, now to go to the
Speaker 1: NFL side, and as players, we all know who Troy
Speaker 1: vented this. We have all this like this love, this
Speaker 1: understanding of how you great, how great you are, and
Speaker 1: how much you've really improved the NFL side of it,
Speaker 1: Like the NFL is in a much better place since
Speaker 1: you've crossed over. Are you ever going to be able
Speaker 1: to come back and roum my position there is? I
Speaker 1: never left the game. Yeah, I wore one uniform. I
Speaker 1: served as a as a I never was an employee
Speaker 1: of the players in the associal but I served in
Speaker 1: the leadership role. Today. I served the game and my
Speaker 1: uniform may be a different color, but the mission is
Speaker 1: the same. Yeah, it is ensuring that NFL football is
Speaker 1: the best and the most competitive sport in the world
Speaker 1: by serving the game as you the player. So it's
Speaker 1: never changed my mentality. So it wasn't a crossover to me.
Speaker 1: Hey listen, I ran for the executive director's position, lost,
Speaker 1: didn't get the position. I didn't go. I just hey,
Speaker 1: at that particular time, God said no, yeah, at door closed.
Speaker 1: But my passion for the game itself and the players,
Speaker 1: past president of future will never change. That's that's what's up. Well,
Speaker 1: we're gonna hold those thoughts because right now we got
Speaker 1: to pay a couple of bills. Say, all states to
Speaker 1: gotta pay these bills. Boss. So Troy, I know Tracy
Speaker 1: her offense TP, her office is uh right around a
Speaker 1: quartum TP, Trace Perman, great friend of mine. I text
Speaker 1: TP constantly about the rules. I am texting, I am
Speaker 1: tweeting the NFL, the reference the officials. I talked to Rome,
Speaker 1: I talked to all my boys about the rules. How
Speaker 1: do you deal with the constant criticism with with your
Speaker 1: jobs as it pertains to like rules and stuff. How
Speaker 1: does how do you deal with that? Well, one you
Speaker 1: have to really that's part of it. Just like a
Speaker 1: player you gotta take ye good with the good, you
Speaker 1: take the not so good when it's not so good, right,
Speaker 1: you just have to stay stay even killed okay with
Speaker 1: and I get asked the question, if there's one thing
Speaker 1: that you would do, what would you change with the league?
Speaker 1: Continue reducing that rule book. I think that the rule
Speaker 1: book because it's you're talking about one hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: plus pages of rules, and it's really complex. And if
Speaker 1: it's if it's complex to the player and sometimes the coach,
Speaker 1: it could be really complex to the fan. I still
Speaker 1: don't know all the rules for the game correct. And
Speaker 1: that's so reducing that where just the average Joe, the
Speaker 1: average Mary could just say, oh, I understand that, but
Speaker 1: I would say this, And this is one of the
Speaker 1: things that I've learned just over the last six years.
Speaker 1: The official that is the common enemy. I'm gonna repeat that,
Speaker 1: the official has become the common enemy. I was just
Speaker 1: sharing this with Coach Fuel who heads our officiating department,
Speaker 1: him and Walter Anderson. Just yesterday. I said, at the
Speaker 1: end of the year, one of the things that we
Speaker 1: have to make sure and we have the data to
Speaker 1: support it in the video, to support this, the gamesmanship
Speaker 1: at our level today is something that I've never ever
Speaker 1: seen before. The gamesmanship that goals on in strategy. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: where you think that, you know, like the deception that
Speaker 1: is created. Not only are you trying to trick your opponent,
Speaker 1: guess who else you're trying to confuse that you're confusing.
Speaker 1: You've been in the rules as much as you can
Speaker 1: the moment. We do not talk about that enough. And
Speaker 1: literally I said, okay, I did that for eight years
Speaker 1: of my fifteen I did the officiating reporting. It's not
Speaker 1: because I I was a big fan of the umpire
Speaker 1: or the back judge or the side judge. I was
Speaker 1: giving my teammates its indication of this is what you
Speaker 1: can get away with with this crew or with this
Speaker 1: side judge. And we all know after the second series,
Speaker 1: we know how we're gonna play this game today. Yes,
Speaker 1: because you know what they call them, what they ain't
Speaker 1: gonna call exactly. Yeah, So I think that's so important
Speaker 1: that you're up they're telling these guys that because so
Speaker 1: when I got to New Orleans, Sean Payton, I'm sure
Speaker 1: he learned it from Philly being with you guys and
Speaker 1: around that whole Andy and everybody else that the officials
Speaker 1: report is big when you know what official group likes
Speaker 1: to call holdings really prevalent this week, hey, passing inference
Speaker 1: this week, they're lasting, lasting the league and personal foalcohol,
Speaker 1: So they're gonna let you live a little bit. So
Speaker 1: like these things, and referees have personalities just like players.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that is so important. And everybody right now
Speaker 1: is really on the roughing the passage. And I know,
Speaker 1: I know. The thing about you guys in the NFL
Speaker 1: that makes it so good and so hard to argue
Speaker 1: against is that you guys got the stats and numbers
Speaker 1: to back it up. Yes, right, No, Dad, he said, Daddy,
Speaker 1: He didn't say sets. We've got the data. D all right.
Speaker 1: So and I want to share this and this is
Speaker 1: not for you, Troy, because you know this, but I
Speaker 1: want to share it to the people and the listeners.
Speaker 1: Is that everybody's complaining about the from the pastor calls
Speaker 1: the one that happened with Grady Jared Old Brady, the
Speaker 1: one that happened. It's been a few this year that's
Speaker 1: been quite questionable at times to say, really Jones in
Speaker 1: the Grady Jared Ones, the ones that is kind of
Speaker 1: really really really elevated it right. So in two thousan
Speaker 1: eighteen through week six we had fifty three rough from
Speaker 1: the pastors. In two thou nineteen you had fifty nine,
Speaker 1: and two thousand and twenty through six weeks you had
Speaker 1: forty three. So trend in the down. In two thousand
Speaker 1: and twenty two thousand and twenty one you are back
Speaker 1: up to fifty two. And then in two thousand and
Speaker 1: twenty two this year, through six weeks, you were all
Speaker 1: the way down to thirty eight. So the behavior is changing.
Speaker 1: So you guys are really affecting the game without really
Speaker 1: affecting the game. And everybody complains about how soft it is,
Speaker 1: but I want to use your word in your terms,
Speaker 1: is that it's just the game is just different. It's
Speaker 1: not soft, it's just different. To kind of go into
Speaker 1: that and help us out, and I think this is
Speaker 1: important for we all grew up in the air and
Speaker 1: I used this term, it's a different game, it's a
Speaker 1: safer game, it's a better game. I grew up in Trenton,
Speaker 1: New Jersey and in Laura Bucks County, wanting to play
Speaker 1: for Buddy Ryan. Buddy Ryan's defenses had the let's say
Speaker 1: this aura or this reputation of putting people in the
Speaker 1: body bag. That was the mentality. If you were coming
Speaker 1: and wanting to play football, you were you just learn
Speaker 1: the game with bad intentions. I fast forward knowing what
Speaker 1: I know now, and I've always been on the player
Speaker 1: protection in the health and safety. I'm looking at my
Speaker 1: teammates and I'm seeing my teammates at forty five and
Speaker 1: at fifty in conditions that they should not be in. Right,
Speaker 1: So it makes me paulse and just say okay. And
Speaker 1: as Willie Lanier said this to me maybe twelve years ago, Troy,
Speaker 1: you can't allow our sport to become a blood sport.
Speaker 1: We all want the same thing to perform, get our
Speaker 1: ball on, make our paragraph five, go home with our
Speaker 1: families in one piece. But when you will we allow
Speaker 1: the game to go to that next level where it
Speaker 1: becomes a blood sport and people are trying to take
Speaker 1: each other's head off. That's not good for any of us.
Speaker 1: And I use this which I typically never go in
Speaker 1: this direction because it's really commercial. In two thousand and
Speaker 1: twenty one, ninety one of the top one hundred TV
Speaker 1: shows in America were NFL games. Why because they love
Speaker 1: points they love the excitement when we look at from
Speaker 1: the bottom, these young boys are getting it on. So
Speaker 1: it's so true. And Peanut was, he was so he
Speaker 1: was ready for this part of the interview, Like this
Speaker 1: is what he's been geared up for. You know, you
Speaker 1: know why all right, when they call illegal contact it's
Speaker 1: five yards, it's not they're gonna get him a first
Speaker 1: down because they want points. Like It's just all I'm
Speaker 1: saying is just from a defensive standpoint, help us out.
Speaker 1: I get ninety one of one hundred top shows. Can
Speaker 1: we get a little bit of help on defense? I'm now,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a little biased. I'm talking to my defensive
Speaker 1: players out there. I'm looking out for them. You said
Speaker 1: you're looking out for your teammates. I'm looking out for
Speaker 1: all defensive players in the NFL right now. I'm just
Speaker 1: trying to make it. Just help us out a little bit.
Speaker 1: And they hit If I hit a guy after five yards,
Speaker 1: why is it an automatic five yard? Automatic first down? Five?
Speaker 1: Just this moved me four or five yards. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Why I just help us, help us,
Speaker 1: help us out defensively, help us out in that department.
Speaker 1: I get points. I get People want to see points
Speaker 1: on the board. People say it's a boring game when
Speaker 1: the score is ten to three, I think the defenses
Speaker 1: are balling. I think that's a slapp in the face
Speaker 1: on us. Many of us would agree with that. We
Speaker 1: can't have a good defensive matchup. How come it can't
Speaker 1: be two defensive coordinators just going out of like, man,
Speaker 1: these guys are playing chess. That means the defenses are
Speaker 1: playing amazing. I hate forty five to thirty three? Where's
Speaker 1: your defense at? But I get it. It's it's a
Speaker 1: brand that's bad. Listen, this is what I would say
Speaker 1: to this. I remember now, this is not the league office,
Speaker 1: And don't be sitting here blaming trop I'm not. I'm
Speaker 1: not blaming. I don't have a boat. You got thirty
Speaker 1: You got thirty two member clubs. If you really want
Speaker 1: to impact the game, here's one I think you can appreciate. Okay,
Speaker 1: tell me why I pass interference? Is this spot foul?
Speaker 1: Why don't you just make that like college? For sure? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah them? Fifty yard penalties are huge. You don't recover
Speaker 1: from it. And what you typically when you get that
Speaker 1: forty to fifty yard penalty? The next play, he can
Speaker 1: kick a pa I mean a field He's already field
Speaker 1: goal arrange. But what when those teams are in that
Speaker 1: red zone area the percentage of them scoring, it's do
Speaker 1: the roof. Yeah, so hey, we really want to change things.
Speaker 1: All membership has to do is hey, or the coaches
Speaker 1: make PI a yardage a yardage. I've been saying that
Speaker 1: for a while though, I'm keeping that. I'm all for that.
Speaker 1: So so, Troy, I got one real thing. Um, this
Speaker 1: is the only thing I'm on my soapbox about. And
Speaker 1: this is just that, you know, as a former safety,
Speaker 1: having to set the edge and you did too. I
Speaker 1: mean the fact that I can't just take the old
Speaker 1: lineman's knees out anymore and now I gotta take him
Speaker 1: up high I'm doing. I'm just saying that one roman
Speaker 1: I was and hey, for transparency, I'm on u alls
Speaker 1: pot on the podcast here in my second act. That
Speaker 1: was one that That's what I'm not proud, Okay, I
Speaker 1: appreciate that of what I did. I got six trophies.
Speaker 1: I'm not proud of those six trophies. And people go,
Speaker 1: what do you mean? Six people are not didn't play
Speaker 1: because of what I did to them coming off of
Speaker 1: that edge. They never returned back to the field. So
Speaker 1: why people go, well, how does the big block a little?
Speaker 1: I know, if I get the top of my helmet
Speaker 1: or the side of my helmet, if I hit that
Speaker 1: right spot on that knee, he's is over. Those are
Speaker 1: the kind of things like things like cut block, chop block,
Speaker 1: blind those things were like think about even the term itself.
Speaker 1: We grew up in an era where a blind side
Speaker 1: block Peanut used to used to, you know, help out
Speaker 1: your teammates during the week with with with restaurant gift
Speaker 1: cards when you got big hits, big tackles inside. I mean, hey,
Speaker 1: think about that we talk offline when we now somebody
Speaker 1: you declease somebody. Yeah, it's just a different I can't
Speaker 1: go to a parent today and ask their kids, hey,
Speaker 1: your kids should be participating in football. Yeah, it's how
Speaker 1: to understand that. It's such a it's such a unique
Speaker 1: situation to be in too, because Troy, what you're saying
Speaker 1: is not you're not wrong, but like we grew up
Speaker 1: with this different mentality. Look, I played for junior Buddy
Speaker 1: Ryan and Greg Williams, and it was like that was
Speaker 1: the mentality you're saying, because I played for him too,
Speaker 1: that was it? What did he used to tell you?
Speaker 1: If you cut the what? Oh? If you if you
Speaker 1: if you kill the head, the body would die. That
Speaker 1: was That's what you did. That's not right. Because we
Speaker 1: know better, the Bible tells us. Because I read that,
Speaker 1: I'm now held responsible for his work. Yes, yeah, because
Speaker 1: we know better today, gentlemen. Again, it's not man, Tita
Speaker 1: got No, I'm not getting sod. But I got kids
Speaker 1: and I got grandkids. I'm speaking to millions of parents, yep,
Speaker 1: about their children participating in the sport that we love. Yes,
Speaker 1: I get that question comes up all the time. I
Speaker 1: respect this, I like it. I like that. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: to change your view, peanut, I want to hear it
Speaker 1: a little bit. You change it a little bit, you
Speaker 1: change My wife won't even she doesn't want my son
Speaker 1: to play football until later. And also because football is
Speaker 1: a sport that you can pick up later in life
Speaker 1: and still be great at it. Understand, you were a
Speaker 1: great example that yourself, Troy. You were mostly a basketball player,
Speaker 1: track guy up until you got what was that Pennsbury
Speaker 1: High School? Right having twelfth grade? Yep, until you were
Speaker 1: later you were all about being baby MJ Michael Jordan.
Speaker 1: So you cut your hairball back in the day. Now
Speaker 1: you have to cut your hairball. So you know at
Speaker 1: the time you made these things happen, and just maybe
Speaker 1: speak on just you know, finishing us off. You're kind
Speaker 1: of getting us ready up out here. Is that as
Speaker 1: you go back to these high schools and have these
Speaker 1: conversations with these young moms dads about their family and
Speaker 1: their children participating in the sport that we love, you
Speaker 1: have to lean on the health aspect of it first.
Speaker 1: And I know you really light up when you talk
Speaker 1: about the health and safety and all the things that
Speaker 1: you guys, just strikes that you've made in football roll
Speaker 1: it's a non starter if I don't. Yeah, it's where
Speaker 1: they want to begin the conversation, and then it allows
Speaker 1: it sets the stage for me to talk about all
Speaker 1: of the things that the game provides, whether they play
Speaker 1: professional football, go to college. But the strides that have
Speaker 1: been made from return to play. We just suggested the
Speaker 1: concussion protocols, just the advancements in metal, the advancements in equipment.
Speaker 1: Today we can talk, we can be on the offense
Speaker 1: talking about where our game has evolved from a health
Speaker 1: and safety standpoint, player protection. Twelve years ago, we were defended.
Speaker 1: I mean, we were backpedaling. We didn't have any answers.
Speaker 1: But I just think the evolution of the game the
Speaker 1: athlete today bigger, faster, stronger, and now with flag. If
Speaker 1: I can just a little let me get put that
Speaker 1: little plug in. I talk about the future of football
Speaker 1: is flag. I didn't say the future of professional football.
Speaker 1: But when we think about flag football and football being
Speaker 1: for all, it literally is it takes down all of
Speaker 1: the barriers that other sports and our sport currently used
Speaker 1: to have with gender, race, class, disability. Flag football there's
Speaker 1: a position in a place for everyone. Oh yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: with that room. I think we should definitely get on
Speaker 1: a get a pro football flag team, and we can
Speaker 1: get it together. I think we can. Until somebody pull
Speaker 1: a hand or do something crazy. It sounds great like
Speaker 1: it does on paper, It sounds great. We should get
Speaker 1: a Legends flag team. My old coaches and I'm like, bro,
Speaker 1: that sounds great on the white board, coach, But yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: until we got to get out here and run it.
Speaker 1: I'm feeling you. But Troy, we appreciate you, man, Thank
Speaker 1: you for coming out on the show. This was fun.
Speaker 1: If you're getting good, I'm so proud of you all.
Speaker 1: Thank you keep doing what you do. Thanks Troy, Man.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it. Man. You really not only informed us, you
Speaker 1: really blessed us with your time, your knowledge, your experience.
Speaker 1: And I hope the listeners got all that too. Man.
Speaker 1: This guy is amazing and I would tell anybody to
Speaker 1: anytime you can spend any type of quality time and
Speaker 1: sit down and listen to anything Troy Vincent has to say,
Speaker 1: you better try and do it. It's well worth your
Speaker 1: time and your experience. Thank you, man, and I want
Speaker 1: to also thank all the listeners for tuning in. Please
Speaker 1: please spread the word, give us a rating and a review.
Speaker 1: Make sure you hit that click on that follow button
Speaker 1: anywhere on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere else
Speaker 1: you may get your podcasts.