Speaker 1: It's time now for another episode of the pat From
Speaker 1: the Past podcast. Max Smith along with Paul Broo and
Speaker 1: pleased to be joined by the newly inducted member of
Speaker 1: the Patriots Hall of Fame, number seventy five in your program.
Speaker 1: I don't know if seventy five would fit on him now, Paul,
Speaker 1: mister Vince Wilfork, Vince, you look tremendous.
Speaker 2: Thank you think? I think aside? Forty eight might do? Yeah,
Speaker 2: forty eight? Now do you set a fifty six? Do you?
Speaker 1: Does it feel normal like to be more like a
Speaker 1: normal human being as opposed to you know, one of
Speaker 1: you play.
Speaker 2: You know what the most amazing thing for me now
Speaker 2: is I can go basically in if they have a
Speaker 2: two X, I can fit it, you know. And that's
Speaker 2: I haven't had that since I was in sixth grade,
Speaker 2: you know. So it's a little different. But at the
Speaker 2: same time, I feel good, my body feel good, I'm healthy,
Speaker 2: and I've just been enjoying life. That's great.
Speaker 1: Why don't we Why don't you let Patriot fans know
Speaker 1: what are you up to now? I don't know that
Speaker 1: I'm up to the Lake and Greatest. But the last
Speaker 1: time I think I saw Vince besides the twenty sixteen
Speaker 1: playoff lost. Here is you must have had a spatuel
Speaker 1: in your hand. You must have been in front of
Speaker 1: a barbecue grill. Are you still in the grill business?
Speaker 1: What are you up to these days?
Speaker 2: You know? I live every day as it comes, and
Speaker 2: I enjoy I try to enjoy retirement, my kids and
Speaker 2: family and friends and taking a lot of time playing
Speaker 2: some golf, you know. And I love the outdoors. I
Speaker 2: love the fish. And so right now, you know, I'm
Speaker 2: real estate. I'm in truck and I got a you know,
Speaker 2: a couple of things solar and you know, I got
Speaker 2: I'm dimming and dabbing in a bunch of stuff. I'm
Speaker 2: always cooking, So cooking this part of who I am.
Speaker 2: So but you know, life is good. It's nothing stressful.
Speaker 2: Is I work at my own on my own schedule,
Speaker 2: wake up when I want to wake up. But it
Speaker 2: seems like I'm still on the football schedule because I'll
Speaker 2: pop up at six o'clock, like I have something to
Speaker 2: do at six o'clock, you know, And then I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: maybe I can go read and go for a walk.
Speaker 2: Well maybe I just head to them, you know, the
Speaker 2: course and play some golf. But you know, but living
Speaker 2: a simple life and happy life. That's that's what it's
Speaker 2: all about for me, because you know, for over twenty years,
Speaker 2: you know, high school and college and NFL, I had
Speaker 2: a structured life where you know, it was very demanding,
Speaker 2: you know, and I had schedule. I had to meet
Speaker 2: that schedule. I had routines, I had to be on
Speaker 2: a routine. And now I'm to a point where I
Speaker 2: don't have to do all of that.
Speaker 1: It's your time now, used.
Speaker 2: To be it is my time, and I'm probably working
Speaker 2: harder now. I move around a lot more now than
Speaker 2: when I played, but I move around how I want
Speaker 2: to move around now, and I just keep things fun
Speaker 2: and exciting because I'm a busybody. I like to be
Speaker 2: moving around. So but nothing spectackling. I live a born
Speaker 2: retirement life, and like I said, the majority of the time,
Speaker 2: I'm on a golf course.
Speaker 3: And we were, you know, just talking about this before
Speaker 3: we started. This is your first time back, yes, since
Speaker 3: that you know, you went to Houston the last couple
Speaker 3: of that two thousand sixteen playoff game. That was the
Speaker 3: the last time you were you were here at your
Speaker 3: let's stadium. Yep, that was you're enjoying the memories already.
Speaker 2: Man. You know, my first time back besides that last
Speaker 2: playoff game. And we got in Monday, and we kind
Speaker 2: of walked around a little bit and had to go
Speaker 2: out and get a sweater because I didn't pack. I
Speaker 2: packed like I was a Southern boy, so I didn't
Speaker 2: have any sweater or long pan. So I had to
Speaker 2: go pick up a jackie, me and my fiance and
Speaker 2: you know, just walking in it's and it's dark, right
Speaker 2: and about twenty yards away, I hear somebody we love
Speaker 2: you vents and I look back. I'm like, who the
Speaker 2: hell knowed me? It's dark outside, I got this sweater on.
Speaker 2: It's like I love you too, you know, And and
Speaker 2: that and that basically started my time back in Boston
Speaker 2: because from that moment until I since I've been up here.
Speaker 2: Now everywhere I go, you know, it's fans everywhere, congratulating me,
Speaker 2: hugging me, taking pictures and autograph And what makes me
Speaker 2: so happy is the excitement and the happiness I see
Speaker 2: on their faces. That that brings me joy to see
Speaker 2: a community that I fell in love with while I
Speaker 2: up here being excited and happy for me. So it's
Speaker 2: been a thrill everybody I encounter. I mean, I love Boston.
Speaker 2: I love everybody here. Some of my closest friends are
Speaker 2: from here, and this is the best fans that you
Speaker 2: can ever ask for.
Speaker 1: So are you surprised? Were you surprised? Were you nervous?
Speaker 1: You know, you didn't you didn't necessarily end as a Patriot,
Speaker 1: even though I know you're officially retired. Was there any
Speaker 1: hesitancy or were you surprised? Because I don't think we'd
Speaker 1: be surprised that Evince Wolfork's walking down the street. Of
Speaker 1: course you're going to belied, you know, that's the kind
Speaker 1: of player you were.
Speaker 2: But I'm surprised because I don't think they can see
Speaker 2: my face who I was. That's that's why that's what
Speaker 2: surprised me. I'm like then back of me, they just
Speaker 2: crossed the street, so how they like, did they follow
Speaker 2: me or did they see me? So maybe they saw
Speaker 2: me under some lights. But I'm not surprised about the
Speaker 2: love that Boston gives me because I've always given Boston
Speaker 2: one hundred percent of love back because they this is
Speaker 2: my family now, like Boston is home for me, you know,
Speaker 2: even though I went out and played two more years.
Speaker 2: But people tell you quick, I'm I'm a Hurricane and
Speaker 2: I'm a Patriot. You know, That's what it is. And
Speaker 2: even though I've been going all this well, I've always
Speaker 2: considered myself for Bostony because of the amount of time
Speaker 2: I spent here and with the connections and the friendships
Speaker 2: that I've encountered over my life here. And basically I
Speaker 2: grew here, honestly, you know, I was a twenty three
Speaker 2: year old kid come here, you know, and I grew
Speaker 2: from a kid to a man here with a family.
Speaker 2: So all I know is kind of Boston. So I
Speaker 2: love it, you know, I love it. That's great.
Speaker 3: They knew you because you're taking pictures all over the
Speaker 3: place and posted them.
Speaker 2: I had to do that. I had to do that,
Speaker 2: I mean, because I didn't know how. I didn't know.
Speaker 2: That's nice. It was nice Landmark. I was at like
Speaker 2: this arc and then you know, my marketing she started
Speaker 2: telling me how big of a deal this hotel I'm
Speaker 2: staying there. I'm like, okay, So she's like, you need
Speaker 2: to send the post out. I said, okay, I listened.
Speaker 2: You know, once in my lifetime, I listened, so I
Speaker 2: listened and it was like boom boom boom boom boom.
Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, well at least she was right. So
Speaker 2: but I'm you know, like I said, a lot of people,
Speaker 2: and I think a lot of reasons that people fell
Speaker 2: in love with me is they realized how of a
Speaker 2: normal person I am. I can relate to them because
Speaker 2: I had. I didn't have anybody sharing. I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: going shopping for me. You know, I cut my own rass,
Speaker 2: you know, I had, I bought a plow truck. So
Speaker 2: I was a man's man. You know. If I had
Speaker 2: to go grocery shop, I go grocery shop. If me
Speaker 2: and my family want to go eat, we go eat
Speaker 2: whatever they have available. We sit down and eat, so
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff. I think people kind of equate that,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm just as normous as everyone else, even
Speaker 2: though I have you know, the background of you know,
Speaker 2: Collo and playing college and Patriot. You know, go to
Speaker 2: Celsish game, I see it in the crowd. So you know,
Speaker 2: even now when I go to games, now, you know
Speaker 2: I see it in the stands. I don't I don't
Speaker 2: call for a box, I don't call for nothing special
Speaker 2: for me, you know, so I try to be as
Speaker 2: normal as possible, what I think over the over time,
Speaker 2: people grew to love that about me. You know that
Speaker 2: it's any day in Boston when I was here, you
Speaker 2: can walk up to me and catch me anywhere with
Speaker 2: that normal person.
Speaker 1: Be because this area respects and they embrace the regular
Speaker 1: human beings. They see the work getting double and triple
Speaker 1: team and everything like that, they realize you're grabbing your
Speaker 1: brown bag yep, hardhead on and going out to work.
Speaker 2: And that's how I am man. Even to this day
Speaker 2: in Houston, I'm saying, way, I don't hide, I don't
Speaker 2: try to call and say can you block this off up?
Speaker 2: Like no, I go, I'm going in with everybody else.
Speaker 2: We we all sitting and have a good time. We laugh,
Speaker 2: We talked football, we talked life. And I think that's
Speaker 2: one thing that draws people in with me because I
Speaker 2: just showed them how normal I can be. Like I
Speaker 2: know where where I come from. I know, you know
Speaker 2: what it's like to grind, and I'm a humble person.
Speaker 2: So I'm blessed to be in a position that I'm in.
Speaker 2: I'm blessed to have the career I had to walk
Speaker 2: away from a game with one major injury, like that's
Speaker 2: unheard of playing the position I played, And so I'm
Speaker 2: truly blessing. I'm lucky. So I look at That's how
Speaker 2: I look at life. You know. You treat people the
Speaker 2: way you want to be treated. You treat what people
Speaker 2: with respect, you could demand it. So I've played like that.
Speaker 2: I lived my life like that, and that's why I
Speaker 2: get along with a lot of people.
Speaker 3: So when you go back to the beginning here two
Speaker 3: thousand and four, you talked about you're a Kane, You're
Speaker 3: a Hurricane Solver. You get drafted in the first round. Yes, sir, here,
Speaker 3: what was draft night like for you? Did you expect
Speaker 3: to be available with twenty one?
Speaker 2: No? I was pissed, you know, and I remember, you know,
Speaker 2: my father died of diabetes. So I wanted to do
Speaker 2: something to give back two diabetes. So I linked up
Speaker 2: with this this organization down there called DRII Dia Beata
Speaker 2: Research Interest Too, and we threw this like this little
Speaker 2: get together at a place called game game Stop, no
Speaker 2: game shop, game works, I'm sorry, game works in Miami.
Speaker 2: And it was just me and my family and a
Speaker 2: couple of friends and it was probably like thirty of us,
Speaker 2: and we raised like six thousand dollars that day. And
Speaker 2: I was sitting there and I knew we had six
Speaker 2: first rounders. I knew we had that. I'll say, well,
Speaker 2: I know I'm not going to be the last one,
Speaker 2: you know, because I've met with you know, Houston came
Speaker 2: down and met with all of us. Houston was picking
Speaker 2: at ten. Then Atlanta had eight. Atlanta was talking to
Speaker 2: me every day. So Atlanta was at eight. And then
Speaker 2: I went and visit Chicago, and I think Chicago had
Speaker 2: thirteen or fourteen. I went to Buffalo in Minnesota. Right,
Speaker 2: So I'm like, I know I'm gonna be off the
Speaker 2: board before you know. I'm not gonna be last hurricane. Right,
Speaker 2: So Atlanta comes, I'm like, okay, here's our first one. Boom,
Speaker 2: Atlanta comes. They picked a cornerback. I'm like, okay, ten,
Speaker 2: Houston got one, Okay, Houston. Houston comes, they pick a cornerback,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, what the hell now, mind you. At
Speaker 2: the time, Sean Teala had left and Keller Winzoe had left,
Speaker 2: so we had Jonathan Villma left, DJ Williams, Vernicrey and myself.
Speaker 2: So fourteen comes thirteen fourteen, comes Chicago. They picked Tommy
Speaker 2: Harris first Detackle take it. So I was like, okay,
Speaker 2: they went dtackle, but they went that route. Okay. So
Speaker 2: now I'm sitting I'm like, I have no clue where
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go. You know, Buffalo come up. I forget
Speaker 2: who Buffalo picked. And then Jets picked Jonathan Villma so
Speaker 2: he the third goe. Denver picked DJ william He's the
Speaker 2: fourth one. So here we go with Miami. So I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: at least I can stay home. Even though I grew up,
Speaker 2: I didn't grow up. I hated the Dolphins. I said, okay,
Speaker 2: at least I can stay home. Dolphins come Vernon Carrey,
Speaker 2: so I said, you got to being kidding.
Speaker 1: Is it amazing that the eighteen years later.
Speaker 3: All of them can do that with the around just
Speaker 3: shit there.
Speaker 1: And rattle them off, because because you don't forget, you
Speaker 1: don't forget.
Speaker 2: So here comes New England, right boom. They picked me.
Speaker 2: So I said, okay, I'm still pissed. First Round'm pissed.
Speaker 2: And I remember my defensive coordinator at the time, Randon Shendon,
Speaker 2: he coming. He came to me. He said, listen, no
Speaker 2: he called me. He said, Ben, listen, I know you
Speaker 2: pissed off, in you upset, but you're gonna be the
Speaker 2: first one to get a ring watch. I said, no,
Speaker 2: I don't want to hear that. I'm pissed off. And
Speaker 2: then DJ Williams came, and then are other guys they came.
Speaker 2: They was happy, you know, and I was still I
Speaker 2: was in. I was pissed off because I'm so competitive.
Speaker 2: I'm like, how the hell I'm the sixth Hurricane pick
Speaker 2: Like that on't make no sense. So I finally let
Speaker 2: it go, and I throughout my career, I say, well,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna show you I'm the best one of these
Speaker 2: Hurricanes that got drafted that year. That was the inside
Speaker 2: that was burning and driving me. And sure enough my
Speaker 2: first year Super Bowl, and I remember when I wanted.
Speaker 2: I called my defensive coordinator, Randon Shan and I said, listen, coach,
Speaker 2: you told me I was going to be the first
Speaker 2: one to win one, and you were right. And I
Speaker 2: kind of let it go. Then. So now I sit
Speaker 2: back with all those guys and I say, yeah, y'all
Speaker 2: went before me, But I had the better career and
Speaker 2: I played with the best team that you can possibly
Speaker 2: play with. So I'm okay where I got drafted, you know.
Speaker 2: So it's always an inside joke, but a great story.
Speaker 2: I'll never forget it. You know that that was one
Speaker 2: of the things that one of the multiple things that
Speaker 2: drove me to be the best I could be.
Speaker 3: I had some talent with you on that defensive flight too.
Speaker 3: Huh No, no shortage your first round picks on that line.
Speaker 2: Now, I'm thinking it was three years we had eighteen
Speaker 2: or nineteen first rounders University of my mean three year
Speaker 2: span and with our class being the top one with
Speaker 2: six in the first round, I think we tied somebody.
Speaker 2: And at that time, I really didn't know what what
Speaker 2: that meant. I mean, I'd be like, man, this is
Speaker 2: what we do. We Hurricane, we go to the NFL.
Speaker 2: We may have good careers. But you look at it now,
Speaker 2: it's like, and you know, six in the first round
Speaker 2: haven't happened. You know the longevity that you know, Hurricanes
Speaker 2: we typically have and the production. You know, so if
Speaker 2: you go and look at you know, all the great
Speaker 2: Hurricanes that played and where they went and how they
Speaker 2: played in the NFL their careers, they had amazing careers.
Speaker 2: So now I'm able to sit back and be like, yes,
Speaker 2: I'm part of that fraternity down at the University of Miami.
Speaker 2: Not only did we did it in college, we also
Speaker 2: did it at the highest level, you know, and being
Speaker 2: a Patriot Hall of Fame, and that just speaks volume
Speaker 2: of not only my play, but from everywhere that I
Speaker 2: that I come from, from my upbringing, you know, from
Speaker 2: my coaches and how school and in college, and a
Speaker 2: lot of a lot of credit go to Bill Belichick
Speaker 2: because Bill and Craft believed it in me. Took a
Speaker 2: guy from a thirty four from a four to three
Speaker 2: penetrating defense, brung him in the system and had to
Speaker 2: teach me the system, you know. And I just remember
Speaker 2: those days just trying to learn it. Everything I was
Speaker 2: doing was too fast. So it was like everything was
Speaker 2: opposite of college. You know. I got to stay front
Speaker 2: side in college NFL, when we stay in backside. I
Speaker 2: was fast. I had to be fast in college quick.
Speaker 2: In college I had to slow down. And then pros.
Speaker 2: So everything I was trained and learned to do as
Speaker 2: a high school and a college splayer, I had to
Speaker 2: retrain who I was to be a football player in
Speaker 2: this type of defense.
Speaker 1: And so Keith was here, you're rookie trail yep, right,
Speaker 1: and so you're splitting. I mean he's starting at the time,
Speaker 1: you know. And was that pissed off fence will Fork
Speaker 1: taking the field in training camp or did you feel
Speaker 1: like me and I got a lot to learn. I'd
Speaker 1: better not be as pissed off and try to be
Speaker 1: a sponge with all these different things that they're thrown
Speaker 1: at you right out of the chute, and let me
Speaker 1: work my way, let me learn this, and then let
Speaker 1: me see how I can contribute after I learned this.
Speaker 1: What was your mindset?
Speaker 2: Like my mindset was I need to be on the field,
Speaker 2: and it really wasn't. I was upset I didn't start,
Speaker 2: you know because in college, only year I started was
Speaker 2: my last year there. You know, I played behind two
Speaker 2: defensive tackles in college my first and second year, but
Speaker 2: my playing time I played more than them. So that
Speaker 2: really didn't bother me. And I knew Keith Trelor was
Speaker 2: an older guy coming in and he never really played
Speaker 2: in his defense, so it was new to him too.
Speaker 2: And he was an older guy, and you know, you know,
Speaker 2: just age ketchup. You know, I used to see him
Speaker 2: rub his knees and all this stuff and put all
Speaker 2: the stuff on in his locker, and we used to
Speaker 2: laugh at him. He said, don't worry about a young buck.
Speaker 2: You don't get my age. One day you're gonna be
Speaker 2: doing the same thing I'm doing, you know. But me
Speaker 2: and me and Keith had a great relationship. It was
Speaker 2: no it was never no jealousy there. We learned off
Speaker 2: each other because every time I had to do something,
Speaker 2: even though I was a rookie, he had to do
Speaker 2: it because we both had to learn how to be
Speaker 2: a nose tackle. Because think about it, we were trying
Speaker 2: to replace the great Ted Washington at that position. So
Speaker 2: and also in my mind was like, okay, New England
Speaker 2: Pagers just won a Super Bowl and they picked me
Speaker 2: first rounder. I can't let them down. So all that
Speaker 2: drove me. And I know how I work, in the
Speaker 2: work I put in with study and stuff, it wasn't
Speaker 2: gonna be a problem for me to hit the field
Speaker 2: and start making plays. I just needed to understand the
Speaker 2: system I was in, and I think by year three
Speaker 2: that's when I really got a hold of what it
Speaker 2: took to be a nose tackle. In his defense, and
Speaker 2: from year three on it was history.
Speaker 3: Ted Washington is the only guy in that locker room.
Speaker 3: I've been here for twenty three seasons. He's the only
Speaker 3: guy that ever scared the ever living crap out of me.
Speaker 3: I was frightened of him, you know, just as personal aside.
Speaker 3: I can tell you a long story but for another podcasting. Right, So,
Speaker 3: but you have you know, you have Keith obviously, who
Speaker 3: was instrumental in you guys learning.
Speaker 2: But you got Richard.
Speaker 3: Seymour on the one side, Ty Warren on the other
Speaker 3: just to be part of that, I mean, probably the
Speaker 3: greatest defensive line team history.
Speaker 2: I would thank you no question.
Speaker 3: Just what was it like to be out there with
Speaker 3: all those you know, you got Brew and Ravees and
Speaker 3: it is behind you, I mean.
Speaker 2: Ty Long and then the second like, man, what a
Speaker 2: defense man? Let me tell you something. Me and Ty
Speaker 2: we talked about this and we didn't realize when we played,
Speaker 2: but I would put our front three against any front
Speaker 2: three in history in the third or four to two
Speaker 2: gap of defense, I'll put us up against it. It
Speaker 2: didn't matter. I don't care who you come talk to, Okay,
Speaker 2: I don't care who you bring up. I would put
Speaker 2: that three up against anybody. Hey, what we had up front?
Speaker 2: You had three first rounders, and then don't forget Jarvis
Speaker 2: Green the second round, and that he was he was
Speaker 2: our our hybrid. You know, if Richard need to blow
Speaker 2: a tidy, need to broke, he come in. But he
Speaker 2: was our third down specialist, so we knew. And then
Speaker 2: we had third down. We had five, but you had
Speaker 2: we had Brew and we had Ted or Ted Johnson
Speaker 2: in the middle, and then we had Willie McGinnis and
Speaker 2: Mike Rabel and don't forget Roosevelt was over you see.
Speaker 2: And then you go on the back end, you got
Speaker 2: Ty locking down one side, you got a Sante Samuel
Speaker 2: and Pool on one side. Then you got Wilson in
Speaker 2: the back, and you had Harrison. So yes, our defense
Speaker 2: was stacked.
Speaker 1: So Vince to that point. Okay, And I think a
Speaker 1: lot of Patriots fans have been talking about this. It
Speaker 1: doesn't get the run that maybe it should get nationally. Okay,
Speaker 1: I take nothing away from it, but offense sells. Everybody
Speaker 1: loves the quarterback, and there's nobody greater than Tom. But
Speaker 1: that defense, you're now starting to see maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit of movement. It took them a while. Ties in
Speaker 1: the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Richard had to be
Speaker 1: knocking for a few years. Do you finally see some
Speaker 1: movement nationally that maybe you guys are getting the respected
Speaker 1: You understand that defense.
Speaker 2: Deserves You have to. You have to because if you
Speaker 2: look at those players, not only they changed offenses we
Speaker 2: played against, but we had a lot of teams and
Speaker 2: defenses try to mimic what we did defensively. So we
Speaker 2: was a trendset of all this new era stuff that guys,
Speaker 2: all of a sudden you start seeing running the thirty
Speaker 2: four defense in sentate five, you know, or sending four
Speaker 2: like we started all that. They tried to figure out
Speaker 2: what we were doing. So they took what we were
Speaker 2: doing and try to implement it in their system. You see,
Speaker 2: but you just can't. It got to be both. You
Speaker 2: got to know how to coach and you got to
Speaker 2: know how to play it. It has to be both.
Speaker 2: You can't have one in the other. And we had both.
Speaker 2: We had defensive minding coaches. We had Romeo Cameo and
Speaker 2: we had Bill Belichick that was back in the days
Speaker 2: New York. They coached together. And then with the saving
Speaker 2: in Alabama, So you look at Alabama what they do
Speaker 2: and in college, So that Tree, that Parcelles Trigg, that
Speaker 2: Bill Belichick Trigg is everywhere. And what we did defensively,
Speaker 2: A lot of people don't like it because we wasn't flashy.
Speaker 2: We wasn't flashed, you see, a lot of people didn't
Speaker 2: like it because we didn't have the big plays like that. No,
Speaker 2: we was very very consistent at being consistent.
Speaker 1: Last year in the Hall of Fame ceremony when Richard
Speaker 1: went in, Bruski was there, and Bruski there was a
Speaker 1: panel discussion and it was Ty Warren, Willie McGinnis and
Speaker 1: Richard Seymour and Brusk goes, let me stand behind them,
Speaker 1: and he stood behind them for a second. He goes,
Speaker 1: nobody can see me. And he comes up in between
Speaker 1: me goes, what do you think I think it was
Speaker 1: like playing linebacker when these guys were here. Yes, you
Speaker 1: guys did all the work. Rabel, Bruce, Ki, etc. They
Speaker 1: just show you they cleaned up. Thanks for what you
Speaker 1: guys did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we you know. And this is two gapping isn't fun.
Speaker 2: I means you have to be a man to be
Speaker 2: able to two gap. And if you really want to
Speaker 2: see what type of players you have, and how tough
Speaker 2: and if you have some dogs or not make them
Speaker 2: two gap Because I remember talking with Randy Moss before
Speaker 2: and I was explaining him about two gap between two
Speaker 2: gaping then four to three penning trading. I said, listen, Randy,
Speaker 2: I can put you in the nine technique, in the
Speaker 2: one gap, and you can get the job done. Who
Speaker 2: you are right there. You can get the job done
Speaker 2: and you don't have to touch nobody. You could just
Speaker 2: run up feel and you just try to find the ball.
Speaker 2: You can do that, I say, But if I put
Speaker 2: you in the five where you got to put hands
Speaker 2: on somebody and control two gaps, that changes. So I say, yeah,
Speaker 2: a lot of guys get a lot of credit and
Speaker 2: a lot of recognition of these quarterback sacks and just
Speaker 2: running the field. I say, but what we did, it
Speaker 2: takes a real man to do that. And not only
Speaker 2: once you're talking about for sixty minutes. You're talking about
Speaker 2: for a season, and you talk about for a career.
Speaker 2: So time and time and time and time. We don't
Speaker 2: get no plays off. If it's a pass play, we rushing,
Speaker 2: we banging their heads, run play, we fighting doubles, triple
Speaker 2: we button head. If you one gaping, you can run
Speaker 2: on the air and don't have to touch her soul.
Speaker 2: You know, if you one gap him, if God misses
Speaker 2: their block with you, you scott free. You only got
Speaker 2: that one gap to worry about. But if you're telling
Speaker 2: me you can't run around this guy, you got to
Speaker 2: go through him. You got to control this. You got
Speaker 2: to knock him back. And you got these two gaps
Speaker 2: day in and day out. That's defense.
Speaker 1: And but what's sexier? And what we know?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 1: What what are the guys look at?
Speaker 3: You know, That's what I was gonna ask. Ever any
Speaker 3: resentment mean, did you guys ever go to Bill and
Speaker 3: just say hey, you know, just hey, we got the
Speaker 3: lead here, you know, turn the sluice a little bit here.
Speaker 2: No, Bill done it good? He you know what. Bill
Speaker 2: used to give us some bones here. And we got
Speaker 2: to a point where Bill trusted us enough, you know,
Speaker 2: and Bill knew what he had. Bill knew he had
Speaker 2: three first rounds basically for a first rounder with Jarvis. Yes, up,
Speaker 2: Bill that we can control the game. Once we get
Speaker 2: to a level in the game, he can let us
Speaker 2: loose and he can give us a bone. We had
Speaker 2: some plays where he'll call just for us, just to
Speaker 2: get us excited. You know. So I wouldn't never say
Speaker 2: Bill never, you know, didn't unleash us. He had. And
Speaker 2: it was games where Bill come in there and say,
Speaker 2: straight up, listen, this game gonna be one up front.
Speaker 2: If y'all can't win, we lose. He told us straight up,
Speaker 2: if you guys can't do this, we lose. He wasn't
Speaker 2: nothing about Tom. He wasn't nothing about no office. It
Speaker 2: wasn't nothing about scoring points. He told us straight up,
Speaker 2: if you three can't do this, we won't.
Speaker 1: Well, I've got one that's probably gonna come up on Saturday.
Speaker 1: And only because I was talking to him and it
Speaker 1: was a teammate of yours. And Devin told me that
Speaker 1: you said before the ravens AFC Championship game. It wasn't
Speaker 1: Bill saying it. He said, you said it, And you said, guys,
Speaker 1: this one's on us the front seven. We got the
Speaker 1: run covered. Yeah, it was Cedric Maxwell. Jump on my back,
Speaker 1: he said, jump on my back. I'm going to take
Speaker 1: care of you guys. And he said the next day
Speaker 1: after the win that Bill was in the auditorium going
Speaker 1: over the tape and he looks and he just circled.
Speaker 1: He goes, this is a dominating performance. Twenty eleven, a
Speaker 1: two championship game. Eleven tackles a couple of sacks. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's putting your money where your mouth is. Do
Speaker 1: you think of that when you look back at your career,
Speaker 1: evinces as one of your best games.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And I like that game because of what it
Speaker 2: meant for us. You know, we was coming up against
Speaker 2: a team that we always it's a grind. We knew
Speaker 2: what was gonna be physical. We knew they wasn't gonna
Speaker 2: lay down they We knew that they was gonna match
Speaker 2: whatever we put on the field. But in my mindset,
Speaker 2: it was like, listen, we better than them. This is
Speaker 2: our home turf, and we got it. Short playing and simple.
Speaker 2: It's nothing else to talk about. So I knew going
Speaker 2: in what it meant, and I knew how much the
Speaker 2: team looked up to me, and they listen when I speak,
Speaker 2: So I had to always be careful of what I
Speaker 2: say when I say things, because I know they're gonna
Speaker 2: they're gonna take what I said and this is how
Speaker 2: it's gonna be. But I knew that game. I'm like
Speaker 2: listen here, they're not gonna beat us because we're gonna win.
Speaker 2: In up front, we don't want we don't want you
Speaker 2: guys back there worrying about to run. And we got this.
Speaker 2: I don't care if it's seven in the box or
Speaker 2: six in the box, because it was times where we
Speaker 2: had six men in the bike and we used to
Speaker 2: call it big. Bill, tell us you guys have to
Speaker 2: play big. We went short, okay, Coach, not a problem.
Speaker 2: If that's the game plan, we would do that. And
Speaker 2: I just knew how important that game was for us
Speaker 2: as an organization, as a patriot, for our fans, and
Speaker 2: being in front of our crowd, you know. And I
Speaker 2: always looked over there too. They had ed Reed, they
Speaker 2: had you know, Ray Lewis, they had a Loodinada, they
Speaker 2: had a squad.
Speaker 3: It was a great team.
Speaker 2: You guys had some great wars, great wars. So I'm
Speaker 2: saying it's us versus y'all. I don't care what you
Speaker 2: do offensively, Tom, I really don't care. It's US versus
Speaker 2: Ray and his defense period and what happened, right.
Speaker 3: So when you go, you know, Randy Shannon told you
Speaker 3: you're gonna be the first to win a ring. You
Speaker 3: win it as a rookie. Oh, this is easy. And
Speaker 3: I say this with all the respects, and I don't
Speaker 3: want to come off as a spoiled Nordle Bostonian. Who Oh,
Speaker 3: I had to wait ten years before I got another typle?
Speaker 2: How was that? Ten years? Like from to fourteen? You
Speaker 2: said it? Yeah, because that's the first thing I said.
Speaker 2: I win it my first year. Because you got to
Speaker 2: realize when I get down to University of Miami my
Speaker 2: first year, we win it, right, we win it. So
Speaker 2: the next year we go back Ohio State, we lost that.
Speaker 2: We all know what that is. So here I am,
Speaker 2: my first year in the league as a rookie, I
Speaker 2: win another one. So to me winning easy. And guess
Speaker 2: what I've lost? What three game? Four game in college?
Speaker 2: So it's like I'm used to winning. That's gonna happen
Speaker 2: all the time. Year one go by, we don't make it,
Speaker 2: your two go by, we don't make it your three.
Speaker 2: We go by it. So now I'm scratching my head.
Speaker 2: I'm like, man, jeez, I thought that's gonna be easy,
Speaker 2: you know. So you start appreciate what you've done and
Speaker 2: what you've accomplished and how hard it is to.
Speaker 1: Win because the other guys you're getting paid too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's like, okay, it ain't that easy, you know.
Speaker 2: So I had to humble myself like Okay, this don't
Speaker 2: come by all the time like that. So that's why
Speaker 2: what I would say to the Patriots fans is this,
Speaker 2: for two decades, we ran the NFL. Nobody would never
Speaker 2: see this again while we're living. I truly believe that
Speaker 2: we ran it. We need to appreciate what's been done
Speaker 2: and how it was done over these past two decades.
Speaker 1: Can you now that you're out of events? You know,
Speaker 1: Bill talks about it all the time. Bill's asked all
Speaker 1: the time, Oh Bill, what about this? What was your
Speaker 1: favorite thing? And he goes, It'll be time to think
Speaker 1: about that when it's over. It's now over for you.
Speaker 1: Can you look back at that kind of with a
Speaker 1: clear head and go, holy smokes, look at what we accomplished.
Speaker 2: Yes, And that's as I was planning. I never could.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't even allow myself to. But when I retired,
Speaker 2: and I tell people, it's like when I was in
Speaker 2: you know, my my train it got started rolling early
Speaker 2: in my life because of just what I've been through
Speaker 2: and it only sped up. You know, when I got
Speaker 2: to the NFL, I couldn't stop. You know, I couldn't
Speaker 2: stop my train. My train was rolling. And when your
Speaker 2: train roally, you don't have time to sit back and
Speaker 2: see who's all getting on and getting off the train.
Speaker 2: Because you're the conductor. You have to you have to drive.
Speaker 2: You have to make sure that train stay on track right.
Speaker 2: But soon it's over, that train stops and then you
Speaker 2: can step off and you can look back and say,
Speaker 2: I've been to all these places, I done, did all
Speaker 2: of this. Now you have a satisfactory of seeing dang,
Speaker 2: I can't believe I did this. But that only happens
Speaker 2: when it's over. And I'm not talking about when the seasons,
Speaker 2: so I'm talking about when your career is though, when
Speaker 2: you have time where you can sit back and understand
Speaker 2: what you really accomplish. And that's that's where I'm at. Now.
Speaker 2: You have to put it in perspective, and that's what
Speaker 2: I'm doing.
Speaker 3: So, do you have one that maybe stands out, you know,
Speaker 3: one of those games, one of those titles, one of
Speaker 3: those moments that stands out for you above.
Speaker 2: The one that stands out to me is the it's
Speaker 2: what the the second Giants lost? What as eleven? Yep,
Speaker 2: that one stands out to me the most, and that
Speaker 2: one right there hurt me the most.
Speaker 1: Because we're show than the first Giants.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, because I thought the third Hooper Bowl,
Speaker 2: the second one we lost with then on eleven, I
Speaker 2: thought that team we had was a team full of
Speaker 2: guts and grind. I mean we were some grinders. I
Speaker 2: mean we were tough. We was mentally tough. And also
Speaker 2: I feel that at that moment, that was my defense.
Speaker 2: You see my handprint, My handprints was on that defense
Speaker 2: at that time. So when I delivered messages and when
Speaker 2: I spoke to guys and when we talk and we
Speaker 2: had meetings, they were locked in. I remember when I
Speaker 2: was looking at Chong and just how he was looking
Speaker 2: at me. It was like I saw fire. It was
Speaker 2: like he could have ran through that brick wall if
Speaker 2: I were told him and see it. Get me, get
Speaker 2: me kind of going now, because that's one that got
Speaker 2: away from us. Because that team, that team was a
Speaker 2: great football team and also be coming off of Myra,
Speaker 2: you know, her death, so we had all that bottle.
Speaker 2: Everybody wanted to win for mister Craft and Myra so
Speaker 2: and we had it all even like being we had
Speaker 2: it all like going to that Super Bowl. Bill told listen,
Speaker 2: we're gonna work where we're gonna also enjoy ourselves in
Speaker 2: this moment.
Speaker 1: And I remember that you remember that though it was
Speaker 1: a oh seven, that wasn't the case.
Speaker 2: No, you guys seven.
Speaker 3: You guys were from the moment we got on the
Speaker 3: plane to go with O seven, we were all up
Speaker 3: tight right right, And I felt like you guys were
Speaker 3: visibly up tight yep all week.
Speaker 1: And I remember in the hotel lobby in eleven it
Speaker 1: was a differ for look you wa wait a minute,
Speaker 1: Bill went to the Thursday night party.
Speaker 3: And I don't mean this to sound, you know, disrespectful.
Speaker 3: I think out of the Super Bowl teams that you
Speaker 3: were part of in that we were around, that was
Speaker 3: one of the lesser talented ones. But the way you
Speaker 3: describe it with with the grittiness and the toughness, I
Speaker 3: would agree with. But I mean, you guys had jewels
Speaker 3: back in the secondary, like chasing guys around in the
Speaker 3: AMC Title game like that team just got by on
Speaker 3: like you know, got him, got to it, just like
Speaker 3: Kevin Garnett Britain Balls.
Speaker 2: You know, you know, we was a younger group.
Speaker 1: We had a young you know, Nao, Cody, It's like.
Speaker 2: We were young, but they had the right mindset and
Speaker 2: an attitude. And you can win with that. You you
Speaker 2: can win with guys you can coach and you can
Speaker 2: teach and that's willing to learn and willing to listen.
Speaker 2: You can win with that. And that's why I say
Speaker 2: that Super Bowl was probably one of the hardest games
Speaker 2: for me.
Speaker 1: Okay, we got to wrap things up here in a second,
Speaker 1: so I'm going to finish with this one.
Speaker 2: Vince.
Speaker 1: The reason why we're here is because this weekend you
Speaker 1: get to be inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: What does that honor mean to you?
Speaker 2: Vince? You know, I I just spoke on being able
Speaker 2: to stop that train and look back with all you know,
Speaker 2: everything you've been through, and it says a lot about
Speaker 2: my teammates, the fans, staff, everybody that's affiliated with this organization.
Speaker 2: I am humble and honored to get this accolade. And
Speaker 2: this is for all of us. It's not just for me,
Speaker 2: it's for every fan that's out there. At at I
Speaker 2: stepped on that field, and I looked up in those
Speaker 2: stands that I c I can badly hear each other
Speaker 2: giving the calls, the music that we play, the excitement
Speaker 2: that came from the fans day in and day out,
Speaker 2: every Sunday, Monday, Thursday. They were there. They never left us.
Speaker 2: You know, That's what this is for. And that makes
Speaker 2: me feel good because I'm going into the Patriots Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame not only by myself, but with all of
Speaker 2: my fans and everybody else that I ran and encountered
Speaker 2: with through the course of my career. So this is
Speaker 2: a moment that I'm always going to cherish, and.
Speaker 1: This will for all of us well said, well deserved.
Speaker 1: And I hope you have a hell of a time
Speaker 1: this week, and I hope you can. I hope you
Speaker 1: can smell the roses.
Speaker 2: And enjoy it. Oh will you will enjoy it.
Speaker 1: Congratulations, n Congratulations, Thank you guys.
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