WEBVTT - Pats from the Past, Episode 13: Tony Collins 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:07.120 Hey, welcome back for another episode of our Pats from 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.680 the Past podcast. Matt Smith and Brian Morey are pleased 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:14.000 to welcome as our guests for this episode, former Patriots 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.599 running back Tony Collins. Tony is joining us on the 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:18.720 Pats from the Past podcast that has brought to you 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:21.360 by who but W. B. Mason your one stop shop 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:24.200 for all of your business needs. Tony, thanks for joining 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:24.680 us today. 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:27.720 Not a problem, man, I love to do it. 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:30.280 So I think first things that I think Patriot fans 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.319 and a little primmer maybe for the younger bunch out there. 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:36.560 And Brian and I unfortunately can't consider ourselves that because 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:39.960 we watched you play. But Tony's Patriot's career was from 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:42.680 nineteen eighty one to nineteen eighty seven. But we're now 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.720 in twenty twenty, Tony, and we're in very different times 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:47.760 here in twenty twenty. But if you would let the 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:49.519 fans know what you're up to. 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:53.360 Today, Well, right now, I'm retired and having a great 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:57.280 time with my grandkids. I have a foundation that I 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:01.080 do a golf tournament every year. Unfortunately with the coronavirus 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:03.960 who got canceled this year. But one of the things 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:08.480 that I do. I help athletes and also help kids 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.280 get off to college in my little small town back 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:14.880 in Pinanne. So with my foundation and with my grandkids, 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:16.000 I'm keeping real busy. 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:19.000 Yeah, because for a while you were working with a 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.280 company that does help with high school athletes with recruiting. 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:26.640 Right right in CSA, a company out of Chicago. We're 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:28.399 doing a lot of doing a lot of good work 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:32.400 with those guys, and no longer working with them right now, 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:34.640 but still just just trying to help out as much 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:38.600 as I can with high school athletes, giving them advice 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:39.399 and stuff like that. 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:45.039 You know, So, Tony, you know, let's go back to 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:49.120 the early eighties or late seventies. Even you're at East Carolina, Okay, 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:53.000 East Carolina University where you ran for twenty two hundred 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:57.440 yards average six yards of carry, and the Patriots make 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:00.560 you their second round pick forty seventh overall the nineteen 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:03.600 eighty one NFL Draft. I also drafted one of your 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:05.040 high school teammates that year. 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:07.280 Yeah, yeah, crazy. 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:12.000 But so tell me what your first thought was about 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:15.280 being selected by the Patriots and what you knew about 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:16.400 New England at that time. 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:20.440 Oh wow, Well, actually, you know, coming out, you know, 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:25.000 going to the Combines and everything. A lot of the 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:27.600 scouts were telling me, and my agent was telling me 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:29.480 I was gonna probably get drafted in the fourth or 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:30.200 the fifth round. 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:31.560 So you know, that was good. 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:33.840 It doesn't matter to me. I just wanted to get drafted. 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:37.840 I didn't really care who I went with with either either. 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:41.560 So and when New England picked me, it was it 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:43.840 was great, man, it was fantastic. I really didn't know 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:47.040 too much about New England. I didn't really know. I 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:51.320 knew they were in Boston somewhere, but I didn't know 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:54.360 exactly what town the stadium was at. 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.079 And they flew me in and. 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:01.360 Put me up in the I think was the Red 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:03.079 Fox in or something like that. 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:08.280 The end zone still exists, still exists, Yeah, yeah, yeah 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:08.560 it does. 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:09.440 It still exists. 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.280 Put me up in the in that hotel, and I 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:15.880 met up with Brian Holloway. He got drafted number one 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:18.600 with the Patriots that year, and I got drafted number 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:22.000 two and became friends with him and we're still friends today. 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:24.240 But it was a great time, man, You know, to 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:27.040 not expected to be in to be drafted in the 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:31.560 second round. Uh, but uh, it was great when I 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.760 got here. You know, Horace Ivory was here and Vegas Ferguson. 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:38.360 Ferguson was here and most of the tupuol real great 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.040 great friend of mine was was there as well, and 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:42.080 it was a great time. 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:43.880 Sam was still here, right, Sam cunning. 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:45.760 Sam Cunningham was here, still there too. 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:48.360 I got to play, got the opportunity to play with 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:49.440 Sam Bam cunning Man. 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.400 Yeah, for sure did so, Tony at the time. That's 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:54.720 ron Earnheart was your first coach in the NFL. 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:59.119 Correct, Ronni Head was our head coach. And we went 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:01.000 two and fourteen my rookie season. 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:03.600 Yeah, yeah, how different. 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:05.200 How difficult was that, Tony? 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:07.760 It was tough, man, it really was. 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:10.280 You know, coming from a winning program of East Carolina 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.080 and Houston winning. You know, you you went in high 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.000 school and I was winning in college, and you know, 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:18.760 you get to the pros where you where that's where 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:21.960 you want to be at any any anyway, and uh, 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:25.240 you know, to go to and fourteen and when you 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:27.560 go back and I remember some of the games. We 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:29.200 were in a lot of the games that year. 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:30.839 Your largest loss was fourteen. 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:32.760 Yeah, we never got blown out. 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:35.159 We were in a lot of games, but it was 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:37.280 always something that would come up at the end, and 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:40.280 then we got we got into a little stick where 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:43.080 we were figuring out, you know, how we're going to lose. 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:45.839 And we just kept losing and kept losing and kept losing. 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:46.480 Uh. 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:48.279 It was a tough year, man, It really was a 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:48.800 tough year. 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.279 And I think for Patriot fans. You know, Brian is 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:53.480 the director of the Hall of Fame here. You look 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.239 at some of the people that were on that team, Tony, 0:04:56.279 --> 0:05:00.440 you mentioned Brian Holloway, Okay, John Hanna is on that team. Nelson, 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:04.640 Steve Nelson's on that team. Steve Grogan is on that team, 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:10.680 Seem Cunningham, Steve. I mean, you look around as you're 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:12.680 a rookie in the NFL, You're seeing guys and going, 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:15.279 we've got some I'm not trying to put this on 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.479 the coaching staff by any stretch of the imagination, but 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:19.880 you look around. You had some pieces back then, didn't you. 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:22.440 Yeah, we had we had a lot of talent. Man, 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:25.000 We had we had talent at the receiver spot. We 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:27.680 had Russ Francis at tight end. 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:28.480 Uh. 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:32.719 I mean, we had a we had defensive places. Julius 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:36.560 Adam was a defensive vent. Steve Nelson, we had Rick Central, 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:39.400 we had uh, Mike Gaines. 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.120 And we're coming off a ten and six season the 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:43.600 year before. It wasn't like that. 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:45.440 It wasn't like that all of a sudden. I mean 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:47.359 this was kind of all of a sudden. It was 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:50.039 a two and fourteen year. And did you, guys ever 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:52.800 feel like you were overmatched though? Did you just it 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:55.000 was just like I said, kind of snake. 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:58.440 We never felt felt like we're over matched. We're in 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:01.720 every game, but we just it would always seem at 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:03.280 the end of the game we would find a way 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:05.159 to lose the game. And then we, like I said, 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:08.440 we got into a rut where, you know, and I 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:12.040 hate to say this, but you know, it was fourth quarter, 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:14.159 I think against the Buffalo Bills. 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:14.479 I don't know. 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:18.400 I think we're in Buffalo or whatever, and they won 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:19.599 the game at the end of the game with a 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:21.120 heil Mary pass or something like that. 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:23.080 But before they threw the hail Mary pass. 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:25.839 Uh, you know, I'm sitting on the sidelines and you know, 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.560 guys are talking, you know, Okay, how we're gonna lose 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:31.320 this game. And that's how that's how our mindset was. 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:34.360 That's we're losing so much. We couldn't we could never win, 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.440 We could never put it together. And sure enough they 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:38.960 threw the hair Mary and they beat this in that 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:39.560 game as well. 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:41.320 I'm gonna put you on the spot here for a second. 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:43.960 You're a rookie. You're not a wide eyed rookie second round. 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:46.440 Pick your talent, you know what that is, and you 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:48.880 believe in yourself and you're here in the NFL. But 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.360 when you were a rookie, and we mentioned a lot 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:53.839 of these names that are on that team, is there 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:59.200 a particular player Tony that you saw that really impressed you? 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.920 And what number one? 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:04.880 I mean there were a lot, you know, I could 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:07.440 I could call out a lot of guys, Steve Rogan, 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:12.120 standing Morgan, but the number one guy was John Hannah. 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.320 You know, I got the opportunity to to start as 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:19.200 a rookie, you know, uh uh Horse Ivy gets heard 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.440 and Vegas Ferguson gets hurt, and and I get the 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:24.760 opportunity to play in the first game because the Baltimore 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:31.160 Coats and and just watching and running behind John Hannah. Man, 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:33.239 it was it was. It was a thing of beauty. 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.240 I think I almost had a thousand yards that year. 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.040 Got Rookie of the Year for New England, and it 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:44.040 was just a pleasure, man. But the intensity not only 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:47.320 during the game, but the intensity uh at practice with him, 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:49.520 And that's one of the things that I kind of 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.720 picked up from him, that he was he was going 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.360 all out in practice and and that's one of the 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:56.920 things that I kind of picked up from him with 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:00.440 that where you know, you know, you know far as 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:04.200 how how well he practiced and being being there and 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:08.040 being behind him and watching him work hard, and it 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:10.480 kind of rubs up on you. And as a rookie man, 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.240 it was like for me, you know, you see all 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:16.560 these guys you know coming up, you know, even you 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:19.200 know John Hannah, he was he was here three or 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:21.960 four years before because I was watching John Hannah before 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:25.000 I got to college, and so, uh it was. 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:26.720 It was fun, man, it was. It was. 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:29.640 It was a great time for me just as a player, 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:33.480 individual player could to say, but as a as a 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:35.880 team player, you know, we're losing game, So it was 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:36.800 kind of frustrating. 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:38.200 I'm always curious. 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:40.320 So you came in you know Vegas Ferguson had set 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:42.720 a rookie record the year before for rushing because Sam 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.000 had sat out that season, held out all season in 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:49.240 nineteen eighty and then you came in and you mentioned 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:52.040 the Vegas got hurt, but you kind of ended up 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:55.560 taking over the lead role all season and then you set. 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:57.080 The rookie record for rushing. 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.120 Was there ever any tension between you and and other 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:03.520 running backs based on that because the new guy comes 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:05.079 in and just kind of takes the lead. 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:08.360 You know, absolutely not. Vegas Fergus was a good guy, 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:09.800 great running back. 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:10.120 You know. 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:11.800 One of the things that you know, some of the 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:14.120 things that I. 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:15.640 I just got drafted. The year before I got drafted, 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.200 he was he was their guy, the first round pick. 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:22.240 Yeah, and so they they really just got drafted the 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:24.840 year before I got drafted. He was he was their guy, 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:29.480 the first round pick. Yeah. And so they they really drafted. 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.520 And so they they really drafted me to return kicks. 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:33.079 You know, I did. 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:36.160 I did some kickoff returns in college, and so they 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.640 really drafted me to return kicks, and it was my 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:42.480 number one thing. So when at the beginning of the season, 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:45.080 I was starting and returning kicks at the same time. 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.800 And so but my mindset. 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:52.480 Was, you know, you know, my my coming into training camp, 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.760 you know, Vegas. Fergus is the number one pick. I 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:58.040 mean it was the number one back. Horace Ivy was 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:00.280 a number two back, and I was the number three back. 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:02.920 But I had a mindset man that you know, you know, 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:06.480 I watch these guys practice and during training camp, and 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:07.239 I'm saying. 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:09.319 You know, these guys aren't better than me. I mean 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:09.960 I can. 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:12.280 I'm just as good as these guys. So one of 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:14.280 my main things was, you know, I wanted to learn 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:17.560 to learn the playbook. Learn the playbook, don't make mistakes, 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:20.400 and when I get the opportunity to play, uh, you know, 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:22.960 don't make any mistakes and you just you just just 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:25.480 do your best. And it came down for me, well, 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.800 you know, I'm believing and I'm working hard. One of 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:31.400 the things that I did my my rookie season, I 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.839 was you know, watching John Hannah in the beginning, uh, 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:36.959 and just going off of him. You know, I was 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:38.960 the first one on the field, last one off the field, 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:41.040 first one in the weight room, last one out of 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:42.839 the weight room. And one of the things that I did, man, 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:46.080 I said, you know, you know, you know, during training camp, you. 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:47.840 Know, the guys would go down to the to the 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:48.800 little bar and. 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:55.959 Uh, and Rhode Island and parent, Yeah, frank College, that's it. 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:57.920 And so but I was stay in my room, learned 0:10:57.920 --> 0:10:58.679 that playbook. Man. 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:00.839 I had to get that playbook because I didn't want 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:03.520 to make any mistakes, and so I wanted to be mentally. 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:04.840 Prepared as well as physically prepared. 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:07.360 And the opportunity came, and it's just like you know, 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:10.560 you know, you don't wish anybody to get hurt, but 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:13.160 you know, I know what my opportunity. Whenever I got 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:16.200 a chance to practice or cance to play, I couldn't 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:19.640 make any mistakes. And fortunately for me, you know, Horace 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.360 Aubrey goes down the second week of training camp and 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:24.800 then Vegas goes down the last week of training camp, 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:27.439 and so I really I'm the only healthy, healthy running back. 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:31.439 I think it was me and Andy Johnson back then, 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:34.040 and so they I got. I got the start, man, 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:35.320 I just kept it the whole year. 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:39.040 I mean that rookie year. You were the clear leader 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:41.719 in rushing attempts your rookie season. But there was a 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.240 little bit of a running back by committee feel with 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:47.720 Ferguson and Sam Ben and Donnie Calhoun, and so then 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:50.200 a coaching change comes about after your rookie year and 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:55.120 here comes Ron Meyer fresh out of SMU, and then 0:11:55.160 --> 0:12:00.320 to be coupled with that is a strike. But did 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:04.400 you get a sense, as crazy as that second year was, Tony, 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:09.000 the things were being you know, that it was becoming 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:11.840 more of you, your position at running back, that you 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:13.760 were going to be the number one back as you 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.400 entered into your second year. How did you look at 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:17.720 it going into your second. 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:19.720 Year and going into my second year? 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:23.720 Man, I you know, I had already made up in 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:25.880 my mind that I was going to be the man. 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:28.719 You know, I'm not going to give my position up. 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:31.520 I worked my bat off during the off season. Uh, 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:35.040 and once the training camp started, I was ready. I mean, 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:40.240 I want to be that guy. And I can't remember 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.280 what happened with Horace or what happened with Vegas, but 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:47.800 you know, my second my second year, I think Robert 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:49.679 Weathers came in and. 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:51.840 He did very well, and a couple of. 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.760 Running backs came in, and before you know it, Vegas 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.080 was gone and Horace Ivy was gone, and you know, 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.840 and and I'm the guy now, you know, And like 0:12:59.880 --> 0:13:04.640 I said before, it was really just understanding, you know, 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.040 the playbook and understanding you know, what I had to 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.600 do to be prepared. And you know, you know they 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:12.840 talk about you talk about the football game and and 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.680 you know the off season. You know, really your off 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:20.160 season is as a month and maybe January and February 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.440 and that's that's that's all the months we took off 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:25.360 back then. And I'm pretty sure the guys are working 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:27.560 all the year around now, but uh. 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:29.120 There is no off season. 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:30.800 You know, you if you wanted to be one of 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.040 the best best players in the NFL, you had to 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:36.360 work year round and get your body right for for 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:36.960 training camp. 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:41.640 And that obviously was a nine game season. You guys 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:44.800 ended up being in the playoffs that year. They kind 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:47.960 of tweaked the format a little bit. Yeah, and did 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:51.200 that feel like a taste of playoff football for you? You 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:53.760 guys went to Miami for the playoffs. Obviously it was 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:56.960 a division opponent, but you know, did it actually feel 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:58.439 like a playoff atmosphere? 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:02.400 You know, you know, playing the nine games, you know, 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:03.319 you just. 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.520 It did, but it didn't because you know, you you 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:10.439 you didn't play the whole season. You didn't know what 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:13.120 you know, what the outcome was gonna be, or or 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:16.320 how everybody was gonna go with it. But uh, you know, 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:18.440 as a football player, you know you're playing the game, 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:20.320 so you know, you play to win. 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:21.240 Uh. 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:23.880 You know, we we had the tools, we had, we 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:26.440 had what we wanted, but there was there was some 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:30.080 things missing uh in it. And you know, Ron Myers 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:31.640 was a great coach. I got to give it to him, 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:34.040 but you know, he was a college coach, and you know, 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:37.320 you got you got guys like Stanley Morgan and John 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:41.920 Hannah and Pete Brock and and and you know, Steve Nelson. 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:45.040 You know, they're they're not really kind of used to 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:48.320 that college atmosphere. And then Rob go get him, go 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.200 get him thing. And uh, I think that's that's one 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.000 of the things that kind of hurt Ron when he 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:58.960 was here, because you know, you know, there's a big 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:01.040 difference in coaching college as kids, and there's a big 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:03.760 difference in coaches grown coaching grown men. 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.560 You're listening to the Pats from the Past podcast presented 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:09.000 by who Butt W B. Mason. 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:09.400 W B. 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:11.880 Mason delivers all of your business essentials for free with 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:16.520 no minimum mortar, breakroom, furniture, facilities, maintenance, office supplies, and 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:19.680 so much more for the fastest delivery of business products. 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:22.600 Nobody does it better than who but W B. Mason 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:27.160 and so Tony after that strike season and you get 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:29.600 a real sense of what business is like in the NFL. 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:33.120 Here we go in nineteen eighty three, and to help 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:36.920 maybe remind Patriot fans personally, that was your best year 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:41.720 a Pro Bowl season, still the franchise record holder for 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:44.560 single for yards in a single game. How would you 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:46.440 look at that nineteen eighty three season, Tony? 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:52.360 As as as as individual individually it was great, But 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:54.680 as a team, you know, we still didn't, you know, 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.800 reach the point where we wanted. We didn't make the playoffs. 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.120 We I can't remember. I don't know if you were 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:02.320 even eight and eight then eight? 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:04.120 Yes what you were? Yeah? 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.480 Yeah, so, but it wasn't a sense of of of 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:12.520 of success as a team. But as an individual, you know, 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:14.080 making it to the Pro Bowl is one of the 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.680 things that you know, every every player wants to experience 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:21.120 and to achieve. And I got that opportunity to do that, 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:22.720 and you know, I got to give it to my 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:26.560 offensive line. I was running behind Johnhannah and Brian Holloway 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:31.200 and Ron Mooon. You know, these guys peep Rock. These 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:34.320 guys were some good, some good. I had a good 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:36.560 line in front of me and mostly the two pool 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:40.400 was was was there blocking and it was a great 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:42.640 time for me that that year individually. 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:45.480 So okay, so let's talk about the game. 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:47.360 We went for one hundred, two hundred and twelve yards 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:51.120 September eighteenth, nineteen eighty three against the Jets. Twenty three carries, 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:56.480 two hundred and twelve yards, three touchdowns. You had six 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.720 carries of ten plus yards, five of those went for 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:01.000 twenty plus yards. 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:01.760 What was it? 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.360 Just like the red seeds opening up. 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:07.959 You know, it's one of those days like you know 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:10.919 the basketball players say when you when they're shooting in 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.719 the rims, the rim looks like it's just twelve inches 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:19.680 wide or something like that. Every hole was just huge, man, 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:23.840 during that game, and everything just clicked. You know, you 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:27.800 you you always, you know, you visualize, you visualize something 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.159 like that. You visualize you're going through the hold and 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.640 rushing for touchdowns after touchdowns, and that's something that. 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:37.440 It was a special day for me that day. 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:39.679 You know, I tell the story when I do. I 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:41.439 used to do a lot of talking, you know, I 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:43.480 said that, you know, I still hold the record two 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:47.199 hundred twelve yards for the Patriots, and it's over almost over. Well, 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.640 it's over. It was over thirty years now. And I said, 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:52.120 as long as Tom Brady is there, I'm not even 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:55.959 worried about my record being broken. 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:57.320 But Tom Brady's gone now, so. 0:17:57.640 --> 0:17:58.760 Now you gotta be worried. 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:03.600 Not to get that ypportunity to break my record now. 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:05.680 So not to make it feel old, but it's actually 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:10.439 thirty six years. Wow, thirty six years. And if you 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:12.879 think about where the franchise was when you did that 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:16.080 in nineteen eighty three and where the franchise is today, 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:20.000 it's got a surprise. You guys like Curtis Martin, who 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:22.920 is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You know 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:25.520 that record still stands. That's got to make you feel 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:26.359 pretty proud, doesn't it? 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:28.760 Yeah? It does, it does? It really does. You know. 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:32.160 I'm really proud of that because there were some great 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:34.679 backs to come out of there, out of New England, 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:36.720 and there are probably going to be some more good 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:40.240 backs coming. They got a good one right now. But yeah, 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:42.600 you know, it feels good. It feels good to hold 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:44.560 a record like that. And you know, like I said, 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:47.399 the records are meant to be broken. So I'm looking 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:49.480 forward to it being broken now. You know, I think 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:53.320 I've held it long enough, but so I would love 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:55.880 to see somebody else break it and take that ring 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:56.240 for me. 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:59.760 So nineteen eighty four rolls in, and that's kind of 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:03.440 a a strange season, but probably at that point in 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.239 our team history, maybe not so strange, maybe just par 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:07.960 for the course. 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:09.920 But you guys go nine and seven. 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:15.399 Ron Meyer gets fired halfway through the season, after firing 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:18.920 Rod Russ, Raymond Berry gets hired. He's not even working 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:21.679 in football at the time. He brings Rod Rust back 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:24.240 and goes four and four, and you had a quote. 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:26.719 I'm gonna you can tell me if this is accurate. 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:27.640 I read this quote. 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.080 Raymond Berry earned more respect in one day than Ron 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:32.399 Meyer earned in three years. 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:39.720 I said, yeah, I mean it's true, man, you know, 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:43.400 and not talking taking anything from Ron Myers. 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:46.520 Hold on, Tony. So I'll just give you a quick 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:49.920 Ron Meyers story. And you know, may he rest in peace. Obviously, 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.680 may he rest in peace. But when I was doing 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:56.280 radio and Providence, we used to have him on. He 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:58.600 was working for like a gambling site and would have 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:00.560 him on every week to talk about football. 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:02.679 And I don't know what it was. 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:04.840 I think it was like, I don't know whether it 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:07.600 was something to do with Billy Sullivan and he said, 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:11.800 he said to me, oh yeah, I lined up to 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:13.280 piss on that guy's grave. 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:18.320 I was like, damn, coach, geez. So I don't think 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:20.359 we need to worry about offending him in heaven. So 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:20.840 go ahead. 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.399 You know, Raymond Berry is is a Hall of Famer. 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:34.280 He's played the game with the best. And when he 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:37.919 came in, man, he just you know, it was like, Okay, 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:41.359 this is the Raymond Berry that that that has done 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:45.240 what we want what we want to do as as individuals. 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:48.920 And the way he the way he helped he went, 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:53.359 he went about practice, it was totally different. When he 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:58.320 came in. He had he helped practice in a different 0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:00.520 way than than I've ever seen it. You know, he 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:04.919 had offensive lineman catching passes, he had offensive linemen uh 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:08.719 picking up fumbles. You know, everybody had to everybody had 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:12.719 to learn how to to recover a fumble. 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:14.359 Uh. 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:18.760 That I think that year we let the the NFL 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:22.760 uh in turnovers or something like that, and we're up 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:25.640 there very high. But it was the way he went 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:28.840 about himself and the way he went about the way 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:32.800 we went about practice, and we started believing that we 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:35.680 could win. And and that's what it all. That's when 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:36.520 it all turned around. 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:39.760 Man. We we actually started believing that we could win. 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:42.600 The other thing that happened that year was Craig James 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:46.200 came into the mix, and you know he was Ron 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:50.399 Meyers guy from college, right, so, and he kind of 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:53.600 took over you. You saw your carries go way down. 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:55.040 What was that like for you? 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:57.879 I mean it was it was kind of frustrating, But 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:00.280 at the same time, you know, you know, I'm a 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:02.960 team player, so you know, I understand. And I don't 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:06.280 know if people knew this, but Craig Jane, Craig Jane 0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:09.640 was the fullback and I was the half back. 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:12.159 Can you believe he's listed as a fullback? I was. 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:14.280 When we were looking into this, I said, I said, 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:15.720 that's got to be a typo, and then I looked 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:16.040 to do it. 0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:17.960 Craig fullback. 0:22:18.040 --> 0:22:21.520 That's I mean, I never would, right. He certainly wasn't 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:22.600 a lead blocker, right. 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:25.320 And see, that's that's the way Ron Myers, because Ron, 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:29.000 I'm not sorry, Raymond Barry, he wanted He wanted me 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:31.600 and Craig on the field at the same time, coach. 0:22:31.800 --> 0:22:36.680 So yeah, and so, but the problem was that Craig 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:42.720 couldn't block and so true story. And so he was 0:22:42.760 --> 0:22:44.480 at the fullback position and I was at the running 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:48.480 back position. But I could block, and so he would 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:50.280 he would get most of the carries. Now, Craig is 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:53.080 a good it's a good football player. He's a good runner, 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:56.400 but he just couldn't he wasn't he wasn't that blocking back. 0:22:56.480 --> 0:23:01.760 And and but uh, coach very wanted us the field 0:23:01.760 --> 0:23:04.159 at the same time. So uh, he moved Craig to 0:23:04.240 --> 0:23:06.560 fullback and up and I played the running back position. 0:23:07.080 --> 0:23:08.680 And I didn't get a lot of carris because she 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:13.880 couldn't block. But at the same time, what what what 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:16.119 I took a role of catching the ball out of 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:18.280 the backfield. I think I think I called about sixty 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:21.200 three passes that year or something like that. I'm not sure. 0:23:21.200 --> 0:23:22.840 I think it was in the sixties or something like that. 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:28.400 But yeah, and so my role my role was is 0:23:28.680 --> 0:23:31.560 to block catch passes running when when they get give 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:34.560 me the ball and and and and I didn't I 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:37.280 didn't mind that because you know, I want to win. 0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:38.880 I wanted to make it to the super Bowl. 0:23:39.200 --> 0:23:41.680 But but when you were saying that Craig couldn't block Tony, 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:45.160 I think all your teammates and a stute fians knew 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:48.600 you could block name. What was what was your nickname? 0:23:48.640 --> 0:23:48.920 Tony? 0:23:49.480 --> 0:23:55.880 They called me the Blade because I wouldn't cut him down. 0:23:56.600 --> 0:23:58.359 I had a great time. I know, we were playing 0:23:58.359 --> 0:24:02.360 against the Jets one day and uh, I was blocking 0:24:02.480 --> 0:24:05.080 you know one of the one of the plays when 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:08.040 they would toss the ball to trag uh in the 0:24:08.040 --> 0:24:12.439 fullback position, and and my man was Mark Casino. He 0:24:12.600 --> 0:24:14.600 was the guy I had to block Mark Gasino. So 0:24:14.760 --> 0:24:17.760 I'm not gonna I'm not gonna hit Mark GASONO. I 0:24:17.760 --> 0:24:21.040 I'm gonna cut Mark Gastino. And man I was cutting him. 0:24:21.440 --> 0:24:21.640 Uh. 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:24.000 That's the when I got the name the Blade. After that, 0:24:24.040 --> 0:24:27.600 because you know, we we we ran the we showed 0:24:27.600 --> 0:24:32.639 the practice, uh not the practice, but the film after 0:24:32.680 --> 0:24:35.040 the game. And I must have blocked him about six 0:24:35.160 --> 0:24:37.440 or seven cut him about six or seven times that day. 0:24:38.160 --> 0:24:40.119 He was he was pretty pissed at man. Yeah, he 0:24:40.680 --> 0:24:44.880 really was. And every time and every time I would 0:24:44.880 --> 0:24:46.800 cut him in, I said, Man, I had to go low, 0:24:46.840 --> 0:24:49.840 and because she's so big, I kept trying to be 0:24:50.040 --> 0:24:52.240 friendly with him, well might. 0:24:52.440 --> 0:24:55.879 And I heard that he got pretty cautious because you know, 0:24:56.000 --> 0:24:58.199 he knew you would coming low, and so he had 0:24:58.240 --> 0:24:59.920 to be he had to be mindful of that. 0:25:00.480 --> 0:25:02.160 There was there was one play man. 0:25:02.240 --> 0:25:05.960 It was so funny where I'm it's like maybe in 0:25:06.000 --> 0:25:09.560 the fourth quarter and I'm getting ready to cut him again, 0:25:09.760 --> 0:25:12.399 and I think, like I'm gonna cut him, and I 0:25:12.440 --> 0:25:14.600 don't cut him, and he just backs up and he 0:25:14.680 --> 0:25:17.240 wallows out and he just takes hisself all out of 0:25:17.280 --> 0:25:17.680 the play. 0:25:18.760 --> 0:25:20.439 As a football player, you have to see it. 0:25:20.480 --> 0:25:23.239 And you know, when you see that other film, it's like, 0:25:23.280 --> 0:25:25.360 this guy does not want to be cut no more 0:25:25.440 --> 0:25:27.040 for the rest of his life, you know what I mean. 0:25:27.720 --> 0:25:31.320 So so, Tony, you talked about, you know, how you 0:25:31.720 --> 0:25:34.119 gained you as a team, gained so much confidence with 0:25:34.200 --> 0:25:36.640 Raymond as you were winding out that eighty four year. 0:25:36.760 --> 0:25:39.960 In eighty five, how did that How did that feel 0:25:40.000 --> 0:25:42.320 as you guys started training camp and you started the 0:25:42.359 --> 0:25:45.440 eighty five season. Could you feel that confidence building? 0:25:45.880 --> 0:25:46.919 So? Absolutely? 0:25:47.000 --> 0:25:51.239 Man, We we didn't know, you know, you know, one 0:25:51.280 --> 0:25:54.240 of the things that that Raymond taught us was you know, 0:25:54.400 --> 0:25:57.000 believe yourself, worked hard, you know, you get on the field, 0:25:57.000 --> 0:25:59.520 you know, give everything you got, and that's something that 0:25:59.560 --> 0:26:01.560 we just we just took it on the field. But 0:26:01.840 --> 0:26:06.840 the confidence that we had, I'm not really sure how 0:26:06.840 --> 0:26:09.200 many games we ran and we won in a row 0:26:09.359 --> 0:26:12.600 that year, but we were confident. And I think we 0:26:12.600 --> 0:26:16.800 were confident because of because of what we knew we had. 0:26:17.200 --> 0:26:19.199 We had. We had some great talent. I think we 0:26:19.320 --> 0:26:21.160 drafted Irban Friary that year, and. 0:26:22.040 --> 0:26:24.879 You know we had you know, Stanley Morgan, you know 0:26:25.280 --> 0:26:28.399 Lynn Dawson at a tight end, and we were just 0:26:28.560 --> 0:26:31.720 stacked all over Man Andre Tipping on one end, down 0:26:31.800 --> 0:26:35.200 Blackman at the other end. We had Raymond clay Born, 0:26:35.320 --> 0:26:40.000 Ryan Lippett, Rowland James on defense, Fred Marion. We we 0:26:40.280 --> 0:26:42.640 had a great team and we just had to put 0:26:42.680 --> 0:26:45.120 it all together. And so we were really confident. But 0:26:45.200 --> 0:26:48.840 more confident I think the more thing, the more common 0:26:49.000 --> 0:26:52.000 because of who Raymond Barry was and the way he 0:26:52.160 --> 0:26:54.720 the way he was teaching us and teaching us to win. 0:26:55.280 --> 0:26:58.040 You know, they always say, like when there's a quarterback 0:26:58.240 --> 0:27:01.720 controversy on a roster, if if you have if you 0:27:01.720 --> 0:27:04.080 have two quarterbacks, you have none kind of thing. But 0:27:04.200 --> 0:27:08.159 you guys, you guys used both Tony Easton and Steve 0:27:08.200 --> 0:27:12.359 Grogan that year. You know, both suffered injuries at different 0:27:12.359 --> 0:27:16.080 points in that season and still were able to go 0:27:16.119 --> 0:27:19.480 eleven and five, make the playoffs, and and become the 0:27:19.520 --> 0:27:22.640 first team to win three road playoff games to reach 0:27:22.680 --> 0:27:25.959 a Super Bowl. Can you talk about your perspective of 0:27:26.000 --> 0:27:27.760 the Easton Grogan dynamic. 0:27:29.040 --> 0:27:32.919 I mean, you know, Steve Grogan was my guy. You know, 0:27:33.040 --> 0:27:36.479 that's you know, I'm just you know, I'm I'm I 0:27:36.560 --> 0:27:38.479 like Tony Easton. I haven't seen him in years now, 0:27:38.560 --> 0:27:40.480 so I don't know even what he's doing right now. 0:27:40.520 --> 0:27:43.560 But Steve Grogan was my guy. I mean, he was 0:27:43.640 --> 0:27:47.280 the guy who I looked at as a as a leader. Uh, 0:27:47.440 --> 0:27:50.000 don't get me wrong. Tony was a great player. He 0:27:50.359 --> 0:27:53.520 did well. You know, it's you know, one of the 0:27:53.520 --> 0:27:57.000 things that I had to say about Tony when he 0:27:57.080 --> 0:28:01.359 got into a kind of a tough game, you know, 0:28:01.440 --> 0:28:03.640 he would kind of kind of shy away a little bit, 0:28:04.040 --> 0:28:07.880 and you definitely wasn't going to get that from Steve Grogan. 0:28:08.520 --> 0:28:12.000 But one thing great about Steve Grogan man that you know, 0:28:12.200 --> 0:28:14.639 I really found out that, you know, a lot of 0:28:14.760 --> 0:28:18.080 guys thought that he he was our guy. And but 0:28:18.160 --> 0:28:20.160 you know, Tony Easton did some things. You know, when 0:28:20.160 --> 0:28:23.520 Steve went down, Tony came in, he played well. Uh 0:28:23.560 --> 0:28:27.760 and but Steve never you never you never see you 0:28:27.880 --> 0:28:31.240 never seen Steve put about anything or he would always 0:28:31.320 --> 0:28:33.560 be trying to help Tony in any way he could 0:28:34.359 --> 0:28:37.719 when Tony was starting and Steve was the backup. And 0:28:37.720 --> 0:28:41.000 that's one thing that I admired about about that with Steve. 0:28:41.040 --> 0:28:42.960 But but you know, Steve was my guy. 0:28:43.120 --> 0:28:46.640 I mean, it's it's really unbelievable. On a team that 0:28:47.160 --> 0:28:50.200 had that kind of a year, that won those games 0:28:50.240 --> 0:28:51.840 on the road, that had to win those games of 0:28:51.880 --> 0:28:53.360 the road in order to get to the franchises for 0:28:53.360 --> 0:28:56.400 a Super Bowl, a quarterback controversy can te team apart. 0:28:56.440 --> 0:28:58.680 It's done it, you know, countless times in the history 0:28:58.680 --> 0:29:01.479 of the NFL. But it did with you guys. And 0:29:01.640 --> 0:29:05.200 to the point that this play I always remember is 0:29:05.280 --> 0:29:09.680 watching is Easton finding you at the Orange Bowl in 0:29:09.720 --> 0:29:12.920 the AC Championship game. That touchdown gave you guys a lead, 0:29:13.160 --> 0:29:15.080 and you never looked back in that game. I mean, 0:29:15.120 --> 0:29:17.400 to me, that that was just a good time of 0:29:17.520 --> 0:29:20.240 him waiting and waiting and waiting and finding you and 0:29:20.320 --> 0:29:23.239 hitting you. And that put you guys in the lead, 0:29:23.320 --> 0:29:24.440 and you never relinquished the lead. 0:29:24.880 --> 0:29:28.000 Yeah, And you know, like I said, Tony was a 0:29:28.040 --> 0:29:28.800 good player man. 0:29:28.880 --> 0:29:31.480 You know, if you you if he had his confidence 0:29:31.520 --> 0:29:34.280 going and and everything was going well for him, you know, 0:29:34.320 --> 0:29:36.240 he was going to get the ball to you. And 0:29:36.440 --> 0:29:40.360 and like I say, it was at that point, uh, 0:29:40.400 --> 0:29:43.239 you know, making the playoffs and and everything was just 0:29:43.360 --> 0:29:45.440 kind of clicking our way. I think one of the 0:29:45.440 --> 0:29:48.600 biggest things that that that people and I'm pretty sure 0:29:48.600 --> 0:29:52.920 everybody knows that our defense was was was crazy, crazy 0:29:52.960 --> 0:29:55.719 good that year. We i think we led the NFL 0:29:55.760 --> 0:29:59.160 and turnovers and you know, we we would always I 0:29:59.200 --> 0:30:02.040 mean we we went into games thinking that we're gonna 0:30:02.040 --> 0:30:05.200 get turnovers. As a as an offensive player, I'm waiting 0:30:05.240 --> 0:30:07.600 on the sidelines, I mean we're you know, thinking we're 0:30:07.600 --> 0:30:10.840 gonna get a fumble or or interception or something. That's 0:30:11.000 --> 0:30:13.120 and that's how we're thinking. And I think that was 0:30:13.160 --> 0:30:15.560 the that that had to do a lot with coach 0:30:15.640 --> 0:30:18.440 Barry Man. Coach Barry was you know, he he he 0:30:19.000 --> 0:30:21.040 did a lot of different drills, but at the same 0:30:21.080 --> 0:30:23.280 time he would talk to you in a way let 0:30:23.320 --> 0:30:26.200 you know what to expect and what you should what 0:30:26.280 --> 0:30:28.680 you should expect and that that was one of the 0:30:28.680 --> 0:30:31.200 biggest things that I took from Coach Barry was the 0:30:32.080 --> 0:30:34.280 mindset of the game and how you got to get 0:30:34.320 --> 0:30:36.880 your mind thinking that you can win, thinking that you 0:30:36.920 --> 0:30:39.400 can beat that guy across from you, thinking that you know, 0:30:39.640 --> 0:30:42.120 this is how this play is gonna go. And and 0:30:42.160 --> 0:30:44.840 then you know you you do what you you got 0:30:44.920 --> 0:30:46.640 your steps, you do your steps, you do what you're 0:30:46.640 --> 0:30:47.320 supposed to do. 0:30:47.800 --> 0:30:48.880 And one of the things that. 0:30:50.520 --> 0:30:54.240 I admire about coach Coach Barry is you know, you 0:30:54.320 --> 0:30:55.800 never see him get upset. 0:30:55.840 --> 0:30:58.000 You never see him him lose it. 0:30:58.040 --> 0:31:02.120 You never see him uh, I never see I never 0:31:02.160 --> 0:31:05.600 even heard me yell any time, unless he's just yelling 0:31:05.720 --> 0:31:08.160 for fun or any something like that. Never seen him 0:31:08.240 --> 0:31:10.240 yell out. A guy always come up to you and 0:31:10.280 --> 0:31:13.200 tell you what you need to hear and get back 0:31:13.240 --> 0:31:15.120 in there. You know, he didn't baby us at all, 0:31:15.200 --> 0:31:18.160 but he showed us and he taught us how to win. 0:31:19.120 --> 0:31:23.280 So Tony, you guys obviously break that eighteen game losing. 0:31:23.040 --> 0:31:24.200 Streak at the Orange Bowl. 0:31:24.280 --> 0:31:27.080 You go to the Super Bowl and we all know 0:31:27.160 --> 0:31:30.680 what happened there. But and as a fan, you know, 0:31:30.720 --> 0:31:32.640 we were all hyped up. I had my Bury the 0:31:32.640 --> 0:31:38.160 Bear shirt on. And then after the Super Bowl that 0:31:38.240 --> 0:31:41.680 big story breaks in the globe about a drug scandal, 0:31:42.120 --> 0:31:45.200 and as a fan, we were like, here we go again, 0:31:45.960 --> 0:31:49.440 this is just typical Patriots, right, Yeah, so you were 0:31:49.480 --> 0:31:52.280 involved in that. You've since written a book called Broken Road, 0:31:52.360 --> 0:31:56.360 Turning My Mess into a Message. Can you kind of 0:31:56.400 --> 0:32:00.240 take us back into kind of how that all transported 0:32:00.320 --> 0:32:03.040 and what it was like in the nineteen eighties that 0:32:03.080 --> 0:32:06.360 because it wasn't just the Patriots that had these problems. 0:32:06.680 --> 0:32:08.800 What was it like, you know in the eighties, what 0:32:08.840 --> 0:32:11.480 was that culture? And then how did it kind of 0:32:12.320 --> 0:32:13.720 bubble up here in New England? 0:32:14.200 --> 0:32:14.840 Well, I can. 0:32:14.960 --> 0:32:18.000 I can tell you my experience and my experience, you know, 0:32:18.400 --> 0:32:20.880 like I said, my rookie season when I came in 0:32:20.960 --> 0:32:26.160 and I took Vegas Ferguson's job, and Horace Ivey was 0:32:26.160 --> 0:32:28.280 a back up and he got hurt and Vegas got 0:32:28.320 --> 0:32:32.120 hurt and I got the opportunity to play my fourth 0:32:32.280 --> 0:32:37.880 season in the league. The beginning of the season, I 0:32:38.000 --> 0:32:40.360 got crack ribs. And I don't know if you guys 0:32:40.400 --> 0:32:41.560 have read crack ribs before. 0:32:41.600 --> 0:32:43.040 It's something really painful. 0:32:43.120 --> 0:32:44.720 People say it's one of the most painful things that 0:32:44.760 --> 0:32:45.680 you can ever experience. 0:32:45.840 --> 0:32:47.240 Right, yeah, it is. 0:32:47.720 --> 0:32:51.239 And so here's my predicament right now. So I got 0:32:51.280 --> 0:32:56.080 the opportunity, so I can either sit down doing doing 0:32:56.120 --> 0:32:56.640 training camp. 0:32:56.680 --> 0:32:58.760 You know, Robert Weathers was there. We had a couple 0:32:58.720 --> 0:32:59.800 of other backs that were there. 0:32:59.800 --> 0:33:02.520 You know, these guys are hungry and ready to go. Uh, 0:33:02.560 --> 0:33:07.240 So I can either rest up my ribs or take painkillers. 0:33:07.520 --> 0:33:09.800 Those are my choices, you know, to stay, to stay 0:33:09.840 --> 0:33:12.800 on the field. So I chose painkillers because I wanted 0:33:12.800 --> 0:33:14.240 to stay on the field. You know, I'm a team player. 0:33:14.240 --> 0:33:16.080 I want to win, I want to play. And so 0:33:16.280 --> 0:33:20.600 I started taking painkillers in eighty four and uh, I 0:33:20.600 --> 0:33:24.720 got addicted to painkillers. You know, I was taking painkillers 0:33:24.720 --> 0:33:28.720 that whole year because my ribs really never really never 0:33:28.840 --> 0:33:29.440 healed up. 0:33:30.360 --> 0:33:32.720 Because you know, if I got hit in my. 0:33:32.720 --> 0:33:36.360 Ribs, because I would I would take courtisan shots before 0:33:36.400 --> 0:33:41.280 the game and courtison shots at halftime along with the painkillers. 0:33:41.280 --> 0:33:43.720 So you know, during the game, you know, if I 0:33:43.760 --> 0:33:47.200 get hit, I don't even feel it until after the game. 0:33:47.720 --> 0:33:52.880 And so uh got got what got with the painkillers? 0:33:52.920 --> 0:33:55.000 Man, and they just let the other things. 0:33:55.320 --> 0:33:57.760 Uh leed to marijuana because you know, I was that 0:33:57.800 --> 0:34:00.280 type of kid coming up as a as a kid, 0:34:00.400 --> 0:34:04.320 my mom and dad, we went to church, man, every Sunday. 0:34:04.760 --> 0:34:07.760 I didn't drink, I didn't smoke. I didn't do anything, man. 0:34:07.840 --> 0:34:14.279 And until nineteen eighty four, and so it was it 0:34:14.320 --> 0:34:14.799 was for me. 0:34:15.719 --> 0:34:17.799 It was it was like, you know, the pain, you know, 0:34:18.000 --> 0:34:20.920 the painkillers was something that they would just give us. 0:34:21.280 --> 0:34:24.080 You know, everybody was doing it, and everybody was taking 0:34:24.080 --> 0:34:26.799 painkillers because everybody wants to play. Everybody wants to stay 0:34:26.840 --> 0:34:29.840 in the field. You know, you you you get, you 0:34:29.920 --> 0:34:32.360 get your bell ring, they gave you the smelling sauce. 0:34:32.360 --> 0:34:34.600 You get back in the game. Yeah you got a concussion, 0:34:34.680 --> 0:34:37.080 but you know you're still playing. And that's how it 0:34:37.280 --> 0:34:40.320 was back then. Everybody's taking painkillers. Everybody's doing this and 0:34:40.640 --> 0:34:43.560 doing that. Well, I got so addicted to painkillers where 0:34:43.560 --> 0:34:46.200 I had to start smoking marijuana because I was getting 0:34:46.280 --> 0:34:51.120 sick after painkillers. And so that that led to that, 0:34:51.280 --> 0:34:55.200 and you know, you know, it's just a fact where 0:34:55.480 --> 0:34:58.719 everybody was doing it. You know, I'm not saying that's 0:34:58.760 --> 0:35:01.680 an excuse, but that that's the that's the way I 0:35:01.719 --> 0:35:03.360 got into it. But one of the things that I 0:35:03.640 --> 0:35:06.800 tell kids all the time, you know, I truly believe 0:35:06.880 --> 0:35:11.080 that the experience that I had going through those different 0:35:11.120 --> 0:35:14.239 things that I went through, that I can help somebody else. 0:35:14.239 --> 0:35:16.279 And that's why I wrote the book to, you know, 0:35:16.360 --> 0:35:19.279 to help to help encourage kids, you know, not to 0:35:19.520 --> 0:35:21.560 not to start with the painkills, not to do this, 0:35:21.719 --> 0:35:24.000 not to go down this road. I went down the road. 0:35:24.040 --> 0:35:25.960 I show you how, show you how bad it was, 0:35:26.239 --> 0:35:27.880 and so you don't have to go that route. And 0:35:28.560 --> 0:35:31.400 I really wrote it for that. But fortunately for me, 0:35:31.800 --> 0:35:34.280 it was great that other people really loved the book, 0:35:34.280 --> 0:35:37.600 and uh and so a lot of people got the book, 0:35:37.640 --> 0:35:39.560 and you know, I'm doing a lot of great things 0:35:39.560 --> 0:35:43.200 with that now as far as schools getting schools to 0:35:43.239 --> 0:35:45.480 get also get the book as well. 0:35:45.880 --> 0:35:49.520 So Tony, that that path that you went down ultimately 0:35:49.800 --> 0:35:52.960 led to the end of your football playing career. Was 0:35:53.000 --> 0:35:55.839 there a moment in time or can you remember something 0:35:55.920 --> 0:35:58.799 as it crystallized in your mind where you hit what 0:35:59.520 --> 0:36:02.200 you would maybe describe as a low moment that said, 0:36:02.560 --> 0:36:04.000 I got to stop this now, I got to turn 0:36:04.040 --> 0:36:05.440 my life around. Do you remember when. 0:36:05.280 --> 0:36:10.120 That was that that that wasn't until after, you know, after, 0:36:10.560 --> 0:36:12.600 you know, I think I just wanted to want to 0:36:12.600 --> 0:36:15.319 tell you guys this how how crazy life could be. 0:36:15.480 --> 0:36:18.440 And and I talk about choices all the time, you know, 0:36:18.600 --> 0:36:21.359 making good choices. One of the things that I talk 0:36:21.440 --> 0:36:24.600 about was the right choice. You know, sometimes you think 0:36:24.640 --> 0:36:26.560 it's the right choice, but it's not the right choice. 0:36:26.600 --> 0:36:29.600 I thought it was the right choice for me to 0:36:29.600 --> 0:36:32.000 to take those painkillers to stay on the field. I 0:36:32.000 --> 0:36:34.120 thought that was the right choice. And it wasn't. It 0:36:34.280 --> 0:36:36.879 wasn't the right choice. It was the wrong choice. And 0:36:36.960 --> 0:36:41.719 so you know, things happened in New England and they 0:36:42.200 --> 0:36:45.080 actually released me, and so I got released. I got 0:36:45.080 --> 0:36:47.600 picked up by the Indianapolis coach. Ron Myers was there. 0:36:47.800 --> 0:36:50.759 Ron Myers picks me up and I go to Indianapolis 0:36:50.800 --> 0:36:54.839 and man, I'm I'm you know, I'm playing well. I'm 0:36:54.840 --> 0:36:57.319 in the backfield with ridicters and Eric Dickersons was on 0:36:57.360 --> 0:36:59.879 the team at the time, and and you know, first 0:37:00.120 --> 0:37:01.560 on the field, last one off the field for some 0:37:01.680 --> 0:37:03.680 of the way, last on out the weight room. Uh, 0:37:04.280 --> 0:37:07.640 this is nineteen eighty seven, nineteen eighty eight season, and 0:37:07.719 --> 0:37:12.480 so everything's going great. Man, I'm I'm doing I'm doing fantastic, 0:37:12.600 --> 0:37:15.240 you know, you know, taking my drug tests every every 0:37:15.280 --> 0:37:17.880 every every day, every day their their drug testingmy and 0:37:17.920 --> 0:37:21.320 so I'm taking my drug tests every day. And and 0:37:21.320 --> 0:37:25.200 and about the third week of training camp, I go 0:37:25.400 --> 0:37:29.680 to a party. There's just a little little house party, 0:37:30.480 --> 0:37:33.799 you know, you know, just drinking. They're drinking beer and stuff. 0:37:33.840 --> 0:37:36.640 I'm not even I'm not even drinking. I'm just there. 0:37:36.880 --> 0:37:39.840 But I knew at this little house party there was 0:37:39.880 --> 0:37:42.120 gonna be some marijuana smoking going on. But you know, 0:37:42.120 --> 0:37:43.920 I'm not gonna smoke marijuana because I got to take 0:37:43.960 --> 0:37:45.799 a drug test the very next morning. I know I 0:37:45.840 --> 0:37:48.600 can't do anything. So I get to the party. Sure enough, 0:37:48.600 --> 0:37:52.240 they're smoking marijuana, doing whatever. But I'm chilling. I'm I'm good. 0:37:52.800 --> 0:37:55.960 And so the very next day, you know, I wake up, 0:37:56.000 --> 0:37:58.320 go take my drug tests, and go out and practice, 0:37:58.360 --> 0:38:01.719 have another great practice. And next day Roy Maris cast 0:38:01.760 --> 0:38:03.400 me into his office and he says, you know, we 0:38:03.480 --> 0:38:07.040 got a little problem. You've been tested for the third 0:38:07.040 --> 0:38:09.640 time for marijuana. And I was like, man, you know, 0:38:09.960 --> 0:38:14.160 I didn't didn't even do any marijuana. But I remember 0:38:14.520 --> 0:38:18.040 I'm in the room with marijuana smoking, and so I 0:38:18.120 --> 0:38:21.279 get I get caught for secondhand smoke by going to 0:38:21.360 --> 0:38:24.200 that party, and I get suspended for a whole entire 0:38:24.280 --> 0:38:27.480 year because I made a choice to go to a party. 0:38:27.520 --> 0:38:28.359 And if I would have. 0:38:28.320 --> 0:38:30.960 Stayed home, stayed in my dorm and not go to 0:38:31.000 --> 0:38:33.560 that party, you know, I probably I probably wouldn't have 0:38:33.560 --> 0:38:36.680 been suspended for that whole entire year. But I made 0:38:36.680 --> 0:38:39.719 that choice to go to that party, and it kind 0:38:39.719 --> 0:38:42.800 of like put me in a in a place where 0:38:43.800 --> 0:38:46.960 football was taken away from me. And that was probably 0:38:46.960 --> 0:38:50.000 the one of the most saddest things, uh that I 0:38:50.040 --> 0:38:51.880 had to go through in my life, and it was 0:38:52.080 --> 0:38:54.040 really a really dark place for me. 0:38:54.120 --> 0:38:54.319 Then. 0:38:55.920 --> 0:38:58.799 Man, sometimes I don't even like thinking about it. But 0:39:01.160 --> 0:39:03.239 it was a choice that I made. And that's one 0:39:03.239 --> 0:39:04.800 of the things that I talked about in my book. 0:39:04.840 --> 0:39:07.719 I talk about to kids all the time. You got 0:39:07.760 --> 0:39:08.720 to make good choices. 0:39:09.840 --> 0:39:14.719 So, Tony, who would you say ended up being your 0:39:14.760 --> 0:39:20.480 biggest support system as you try to recover from addiction. 0:39:21.160 --> 0:39:23.719 Well, I'll tell you this. I went through. 0:39:24.120 --> 0:39:26.959 I went through after I got I got a league 0:39:27.000 --> 0:39:29.840 of ninety. I came back, I got reinstated. That played 0:39:29.880 --> 0:39:32.360 my last I played my last season with the Dolphins. 0:39:32.400 --> 0:39:37.520 And it's still just I felt. I felt like a failure, man, 0:39:37.520 --> 0:39:39.319 I really did. I felt. I felt that I let 0:39:39.320 --> 0:39:42.560 my family down. That I know I could have had 0:39:42.600 --> 0:39:44.839 a longer career. I know I could have played longer. 0:39:44.840 --> 0:39:47.560 I know I could have been more productive as a 0:39:47.640 --> 0:39:52.520 father and as a husband, and I wasn't. And I 0:39:52.560 --> 0:39:54.879 went to a dark place for about eighteen years. Man, 0:39:56.000 --> 0:39:58.480 So at night, I think in two thousand and five, 0:39:58.840 --> 0:40:02.719 two thousand, two thousand and six, I think it was 0:40:02.760 --> 0:40:06.720 I'm not sure the exact time. I met this woman 0:40:06.760 --> 0:40:11.280 over the phone and I'm in Miami and she's she's 0:40:11.400 --> 0:40:16.080 in San Antonio, Texas. And uh, you got to read 0:40:16.120 --> 0:40:17.800 the book, man, you got to read the book. And 0:40:18.400 --> 0:40:23.200 that was that was my support system. She kind of 0:40:23.320 --> 0:40:25.400 changed my life. She changed my way of thinking. And 0:40:25.600 --> 0:40:28.120 and and when I always think about that, I always 0:40:28.160 --> 0:40:32.719 think about Coach Barry as well. When Coach Barry came in, 0:40:32.840 --> 0:40:35.640 he changed our way of thinking. And when I met 0:40:35.680 --> 0:40:39.480 my wife, who is my wife today, she changed my 0:40:39.520 --> 0:40:41.759 way of thinking. Because I was this negative guy for 0:40:42.160 --> 0:40:45.799 all these years and you're just thinking negatives, kind of 0:40:45.840 --> 0:40:46.960 really living through my son. 0:40:47.040 --> 0:40:48.200 My son was going off to the. 0:40:48.280 --> 0:40:51.160 University of Pittsburgh to play football, and kind of living 0:40:51.200 --> 0:40:53.719 through him, making sure he doesn't make mistakes like I 0:40:53.840 --> 0:40:57.480 made it. And uh, just not really living, just existing. 0:40:58.200 --> 0:41:01.279 And she came into my life and she changed my 0:41:01.320 --> 0:41:04.960 way of thinking. Man, And that's that's I really owe 0:41:05.000 --> 0:41:08.359 her a lot. I really think that, you know, God 0:41:08.600 --> 0:41:11.400 looked down on me and blessed me with this beautiful woman. 0:41:11.480 --> 0:41:13.919 And she made me feel like I'm this special guy 0:41:14.040 --> 0:41:16.879 and and uh, and I've been with her ever since. Man, 0:41:16.920 --> 0:41:19.560 in life is fantastic. You got the opportunity to wrote, 0:41:19.560 --> 0:41:23.280 to write a book, started a foundation, and started speaking 0:41:23.320 --> 0:41:26.600 all over the country. And man, life is great. Man, 0:41:26.640 --> 0:41:29.360 I can't I can't complain about anything. I'm in Louisiana 0:41:29.440 --> 0:41:34.480 right now, just having a great time. Man, everything is fantastic. 0:41:34.880 --> 0:41:38.120 Well that sounds awesome, Tony. I guess I would ask 0:41:38.160 --> 0:41:41.880 you this. You know that you've got you have perspective 0:41:41.880 --> 0:41:43.760 in your life, is what it sounds like. And maybe 0:41:43.760 --> 0:41:46.319 your life has helped give you perspective. But I guess 0:41:46.360 --> 0:41:49.920 i'd want to ask you is what kind of joy 0:41:50.400 --> 0:41:53.759 do you receive in seeing young people being able to 0:41:53.760 --> 0:41:56.799 talk to one people and the ability maybe to even 0:41:56.840 --> 0:41:59.120 if you just affect one kid when wherever it is 0:41:59.120 --> 0:42:02.799 that you're going, that that he gets the fact that 0:42:02.840 --> 0:42:05.040 I need to make good choices. As you talk about 0:42:05.280 --> 0:42:06.920 how much joy do you get out of the do 0:42:06.960 --> 0:42:07.560 you get out of that? 0:42:07.600 --> 0:42:10.319 Tony? That's that's that's what I live for. Man. 0:42:10.360 --> 0:42:12.200 If you, if you ever get a chance to read 0:42:12.239 --> 0:42:15.400 my book, man, you you should tack into that, because 0:42:15.480 --> 0:42:18.800 you know, I went through some things, and I truly 0:42:18.840 --> 0:42:22.160 believe God allowed me to go through some things where 0:42:22.840 --> 0:42:24.560 I really shouldn't be here today. 0:42:24.760 --> 0:42:28.040 I really should be dead, and I'm not dead. 0:42:28.360 --> 0:42:32.640 And so my perspective was, Okay, why am I still alive? 0:42:32.680 --> 0:42:34.840 And there's other people that you know, done some of 0:42:34.880 --> 0:42:36.879 the things that I've done, or even not even as 0:42:36.920 --> 0:42:39.359 worse as I've done, and they're not here anymore? Why 0:42:39.400 --> 0:42:43.080 am I still alive? And I had to understand that 0:42:43.320 --> 0:42:45.720 I have a purpose. It wasn't just to play football, 0:42:46.040 --> 0:42:48.799 you know. Football was was part of my purpose, but 0:42:49.239 --> 0:42:52.600 my purpose now as a human being, as a as 0:42:52.640 --> 0:42:55.400 a man, is to to tell my story to let 0:42:55.480 --> 0:42:58.160 kids know to understand you know, this is this is 0:42:58.200 --> 0:43:01.279 the road that I went down and and so I'm 0:43:01.360 --> 0:43:04.040 here now so I can tell you not to go 0:43:04.200 --> 0:43:08.080 this way. And Uh, I've we we've had a great 0:43:08.120 --> 0:43:11.680 time with the Foundation where we help high school uh 0:43:11.880 --> 0:43:16.000 not just players, but high school students go off to college. 0:43:16.040 --> 0:43:19.200 We give out scholarships and we you know, we're not 0:43:19.840 --> 0:43:22.800 not at the level as as Lebron James or anything 0:43:22.880 --> 0:43:24.960 like that, but we do as well as much as 0:43:24.960 --> 0:43:27.480 we can to help these kids, understanding that you know, 0:43:27.600 --> 0:43:30.880 going off to college is the first step that you 0:43:30.880 --> 0:43:34.279 guys need to go get an education, work hard, and 0:43:34.440 --> 0:43:37.680 and you know, have those have those morals where you 0:43:37.920 --> 0:43:40.040 know you're trying to help somebody. And one of the 0:43:40.040 --> 0:43:43.480 things that we teach kids is it's all about helping. 0:43:44.160 --> 0:43:45.800 You want to you want to love, You want to 0:43:45.880 --> 0:43:49.120 love love people. You want to help people, because it's 0:43:49.160 --> 0:43:52.800 gonna all come back to you. Uh, whether you believe 0:43:52.840 --> 0:43:56.240 it or not. Man, when you give, you're gonna always receive. 0:43:56.320 --> 0:43:57.719 And I truly believe. 0:43:57.480 --> 0:43:59.719 That's a law. That's what I was brought up as 0:43:59.760 --> 0:44:00.400 a Christian. 0:44:00.920 --> 0:44:02.800 My mom and dad taught me that and some of 0:44:02.840 --> 0:44:05.560 the things that that I've learned as a man and 0:44:05.600 --> 0:44:08.640 as a football player, when you work hard, you're gonna 0:44:08.640 --> 0:44:11.320 get rewarded. When you when you give, you're going to receive. 0:44:11.400 --> 0:44:13.879 And when you love, you're gonna you're gonna get loved back. 0:44:13.920 --> 0:44:17.200 And and and that's the thing that you know, I'm 0:44:17.360 --> 0:44:18.600 really proud of seeing. 0:44:18.680 --> 0:44:19.479 You know, my kids. 0:44:19.600 --> 0:44:21.719 You know, I have a big, big family, have a 0:44:22.200 --> 0:44:25.360 uh you know, we have like eight kids between my 0:44:25.800 --> 0:44:29.920 wife and myself and about eleven grandkids now and uh, 0:44:30.000 --> 0:44:31.840 and just teaching them the same things. 0:44:31.840 --> 0:44:35.719 But like I said, it's so it's so rewarding to see. 0:44:35.520 --> 0:44:37.880 And everybody's not gonna get and I know that everybody's 0:44:37.920 --> 0:44:38.480 not gonna get it. 0:44:38.520 --> 0:44:40.040 But when I get that call. 0:44:40.160 --> 0:44:41.799 One of the things that that I do with my 0:44:41.840 --> 0:44:44.480 wife always gets on me to tell me to stop doing. 0:44:44.560 --> 0:44:47.759 I would when I would go speak to schools, I 0:44:47.760 --> 0:44:51.000 would give these kids my phone number. And she said, 0:44:51.280 --> 0:44:52.880 you know I would and I would be getting all 0:44:52.960 --> 0:44:55.359 these calls. But but you know, you know, I want 0:44:55.360 --> 0:44:57.959 to help man. I just want to help kids, and uh, 0:44:58.040 --> 0:45:00.480 and I would give kids my phone number and we talking. 0:45:01.000 --> 0:45:01.200 Uh. 0:45:01.360 --> 0:45:03.600 You know, whenever you know, you get this kid that 0:45:03.719 --> 0:45:06.160 you know, you know, afraid to go to his mom 0:45:06.200 --> 0:45:06.959 and dad or something. 0:45:06.960 --> 0:45:08.520 For some reason, He's gonna come to me. 0:45:09.120 --> 0:45:12.400 And if the situation is to a point where I know, 0:45:12.719 --> 0:45:14.120 you know, I got to I got to tell your 0:45:14.120 --> 0:45:15.759 mom and dad this, and we got to do this. 0:45:15.920 --> 0:45:18.840 And so, you know, it's just a great feeling to 0:45:19.320 --> 0:45:23.840 see a kid turn his life around and be successful. 0:45:23.880 --> 0:45:25.880 And we have a lot of kids now we've. 0:45:25.719 --> 0:45:28.200 Been doing we've been doing our tournament now for about 0:45:28.360 --> 0:45:31.840 for about twelve years, and you know, see kids growing 0:45:31.920 --> 0:45:34.120 up and having kids, and they come back to you 0:45:34.160 --> 0:45:36.520 and thank you, and it's it's. 0:45:36.719 --> 0:45:39.080 It's more rewarding than scoring any touchdown. 0:45:39.239 --> 0:45:41.759 Believe me, that's incredible. It sounds like you have an 0:45:41.840 --> 0:45:45.120 awesome impact I have. I have one final question. It's 0:45:45.160 --> 0:45:46.960 I'm gonna go back to football here for a second, 0:45:47.480 --> 0:45:50.400 because I feel like as I look at today's game 0:45:51.080 --> 0:45:53.799 and particularly the Patriots and the offense they run here, 0:45:54.320 --> 0:45:57.520 but you would still very much fit because you could block, 0:45:57.719 --> 0:45:59.400 you could catch out of the backfield, and you were 0:45:59.400 --> 0:46:01.680 a good runner. So I guess my question is do 0:46:01.719 --> 0:46:05.360 you feel like you would still be a great running 0:46:05.360 --> 0:46:08.200 back in today's game? And maybe who would you compare 0:46:08.239 --> 0:46:10.920 yourself to in today's game as a player. 0:46:11.640 --> 0:46:12.040 Wow. 0:46:12.040 --> 0:46:15.480 Man, there's a lot of great players. Man, but I 0:46:15.600 --> 0:46:19.040 feel that I would I would love to play now 0:46:19.200 --> 0:46:27.000 the way you can't get hit as hard as I 0:46:27.040 --> 0:46:29.320 would love to play now. Man, those guys got the 0:46:29.480 --> 0:46:32.680 name man. But uh, yeah, I think I would fit 0:46:32.719 --> 0:46:35.239 pretty good coming out of the backfield and you know, 0:46:35.320 --> 0:46:36.680 being able to do some of the things that I 0:46:36.760 --> 0:46:40.680 would do. And you know, I'm thinking about somebody that 0:46:40.320 --> 0:46:41.600 that that's. 0:46:41.200 --> 0:46:45.360 Playing now, and I remember, I can't even think of 0:46:45.360 --> 0:46:46.000 my man's name. 0:46:46.880 --> 0:46:48.960 He wrote number thirty three for the Patriot, but he's 0:46:48.960 --> 0:46:50.040 in the Patrios Hall of Fame. 0:46:50.120 --> 0:46:53.080 Was this guy's name, Kevin Kevin Funk? When Kevin Falk 0:46:53.200 --> 0:46:55.560 was playing, man, I used to root for him so bad. 0:46:57.120 --> 0:46:59.560 Uh, that's a good comparison, that's an interesting comparison. 0:47:00.080 --> 0:47:03.319 Yeah, he wore he wore the same number as me. 0:47:03.440 --> 0:47:06.319 And uh, great guy too. I got it opportunity to 0:47:06.320 --> 0:47:08.800 meet him and talk to him a lot. He's coaching 0:47:08.840 --> 0:47:11.719 down the l s U now and and uh but uh, 0:47:12.320 --> 0:47:15.759 I think really just seeing him doing the things that 0:47:15.800 --> 0:47:19.080 he did, and you know, I can't really put my 0:47:19.120 --> 0:47:21.120 finger on some of the guys that are that are 0:47:21.120 --> 0:47:22.799 in it. But there's a lot of great running backs 0:47:22.840 --> 0:47:24.279 that are playing the game right now. 0:47:24.320 --> 0:47:24.520 Man. 0:47:24.600 --> 0:47:27.040 And and uh, like I said, Man, they got it 0:47:27.160 --> 0:47:27.920 made in the shade. 0:47:27.960 --> 0:47:29.719 Man, they can't get hit in the head no more. 0:47:32.360 --> 0:47:34.400 We used to get knocked out. Man. I must have 0:47:34.440 --> 0:47:37.919 been knocked out about four or five times, Uh, doing 0:47:38.000 --> 0:47:38.560 my career. 0:47:39.560 --> 0:47:42.440 That's great, Tony. Well, our guest has been former Patriots 0:47:42.480 --> 0:47:46.280 running back Tony Collins. I'll tell you what football fans 0:47:46.280 --> 0:47:48.200 and Patriot fans out there, I'm going to make a 0:47:48.320 --> 0:47:50.799 recommendation to you that Tony said for himself about a 0:47:50.800 --> 0:47:53.319 couple of times. The name of the book is Broken Road, 0:47:53.800 --> 0:47:56.480 Turning My Mess into a Message. And you want to 0:47:56.520 --> 0:47:58.799 read a good inspirational story about a guy who's turned 0:47:58.800 --> 0:48:02.080 his life around, let me tell you should read that book. Tony, 0:48:02.280 --> 0:48:04.399 thank you for joining us today and all the best 0:48:04.440 --> 0:48:04.919 would be well. 0:48:05.600 --> 0:48:07.520 Thank you guys. You guys have a great one. Thanks 0:48:07.680 --> 0:48:09.400 Thanks Tony, Thanks safe. 0:48:10.120 --> 0:48:13.960 Thank you for downloading this podcast. Subscribe on Apple, google Play, 0:48:14.000 --> 0:48:17.040 and everywhere else you listen. Like the show, Please rate 0:48:17.120 --> 0:48:20.239 and review us. Listener comments and ratings help keep us 0:48:20.280 --> 0:48:23.479 high on the podcast rankings. 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