Speaker 1: Welcome to the official podcast. Erik Ellen here inside the
Speaker 1: studio with a good friend of mine, a long time jet,
Speaker 1: a four average jet that of course is Marty Lions.
Speaker 1: First off, I want to say congratulations at forty years
Speaker 1: so the Marty Lions Foundation. What does that mean to you? Well,
Speaker 1: it means that I've been surrounded by good people for
Speaker 1: forty years. Because you can't accomplish anything in life by yourself.
Speaker 1: And when you think about forty years, you think about
Speaker 1: all the kids and families that have come through the doors.
Speaker 1: And of course you think and you remember about all
Speaker 1: those children that you've lost, but you also remember the
Speaker 1: ones that God gave you back, that we were able
Speaker 1: to create hope and memories for the families. And you know,
Speaker 1: to be truly blessed to accomplish something for forty years,
Speaker 1: you really you count your blessings that you've got people
Speaker 1: that believe in mission, people that support you financially, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, we're just we're getting ready to gear up
Speaker 1: to see how we can go to forty two forty
Speaker 1: three because we're not going to stop. Very simply, what
Speaker 1: is the mission of the Martin Lions Foundation. The mission
Speaker 1: of the Foundation since day one, is to provide special
Speaker 1: wishes for termally ill children or children suffering with the
Speaker 1: chronic life threatening illness. Unfortunately, probably of the kids that
Speaker 1: we work with will not see the age of eighteen.
Speaker 1: And your line up, uh ten of them, and you
Speaker 1: go which seven won't make it? And you know, every
Speaker 1: now and then God gives you back that one that
Speaker 1: you didn't think was going to make it as a
Speaker 1: reminder that your work has meaning, that you're making an impact.
Speaker 1: So again, we've been fortunate. For forty years, we've raised
Speaker 1: over forty three million dollars, helped close to families. We
Speaker 1: just announced we're going to open up but another chapter
Speaker 1: out in California, which will now give us I believe,
Speaker 1: thirteen chapters. It truly is God's work. Though, Now, how
Speaker 1: difficult is it for you knowing that, yes, I'm going
Speaker 1: to be helping a certain number of people, but a
Speaker 1: number of these kids that I'm trying to help aren't
Speaker 1: going to make it. Well, I think one thing you
Speaker 1: have to realize is the rules to the game are
Speaker 1: never going to change. And there's been many times where
Speaker 1: I'll leave a pediatric ward and I'll see two or
Speaker 1: three kids and you get stuck in traffic going back
Speaker 1: from New Jersey to New York, and you get frustrated,
Speaker 1: and you have a little conversation with the man upstairs
Speaker 1: and you go, when's it all going to end? And
Speaker 1: then you're reminded that the rules aren't going to change.
Speaker 1: God didn't ask you to do this. You chose to
Speaker 1: do it and continue to do it. So we're all
Speaker 1: here to make an impact these kids that are being
Speaker 1: cheated out of life. If we take time to listen
Speaker 1: to them, we take time to understand their story and
Speaker 1: know that there's a name and a face. They're really
Speaker 1: true teachers in life. And the one thing that I've
Speaker 1: realized for forty years, none of these kids have ever said,
Speaker 1: why make They all understand that they're here for a
Speaker 1: short time. They're trying to make an impact to the
Speaker 1: people that will listen to them, the people that will
Speaker 1: take time to understand that they're not different, they're special
Speaker 1: and h The number one thing is, you know, they
Speaker 1: made me believe more in faith because they make me
Speaker 1: made me understand that faith is believing in something you
Speaker 1: can't see. But if you have enough of it, you'll
Speaker 1: be rewarded. You know, when you pass away, you'll get
Speaker 1: to see everything you believe that. We talked about this
Speaker 1: many times before, and I know a number of people
Speaker 1: who followed the Jets and followed Party Lions have heard
Speaker 1: this before. But I think we should go back. What
Speaker 1: three things happened in your life that made you decide
Speaker 1: that I have to do something well? When I was
Speaker 1: twenty five, my oldest son, Rocky, he was born on
Speaker 1: March four, My dad suddenly died of a heart attack
Speaker 1: on March eighth. And then a little boy that I
Speaker 1: was a big brother too, named Keith, died at five
Speaker 1: and a half of March Town. So in a matter
Speaker 1: of six days, you go from the old and high
Speaker 1: to the ultimate low. And for me, I asked the
Speaker 1: Good Lord, what am I doing wrong? What am I
Speaker 1: doing wrong in life? That you gave me a healthy son,
Speaker 1: but you took away two people that I loved dearly
Speaker 1: days went to weeks, weeks went to month, and you
Speaker 1: realized time is not gonna stop for any one of us.
Speaker 1: And then you realize that you had a platform. Your
Speaker 1: platform was playing in the NFL, but what was your
Speaker 1: real purpose in life? And my purpose was to take
Speaker 1: that platform, take the god given tools and the surroundings
Speaker 1: that I had and started foundation. I started it with
Speaker 1: Kenny Shroy, my teammate, roommate. We had six people sitting
Speaker 1: around the table. I didn't even know what nonprofit meant.
Speaker 1: All I knew is I had to do something. I
Speaker 1: needed a vehicle so that I could move on. Because
Speaker 1: there's that old saying time heals everything, and I totally
Speaker 1: disagree with that saying. I think time allows you to
Speaker 1: find a vehicle to cope with the loss. It never
Speaker 1: takes it takes away the pain because there's always going
Speaker 1: to be an event, there's always going to be a
Speaker 1: celebration where there's a missing there's an empty seat, there's
Speaker 1: somebody missing. But we can't stop living because somebody has
Speaker 1: passed away. We can't all children, all the people that
Speaker 1: you've helped over the years. I know, like they say,
Speaker 1: being a parent, you don't you love them all. You
Speaker 1: love them all the same, but um you feel about
Speaker 1: them in different ways because they're all unique. But that
Speaker 1: being said, what are some of the wishes that you
Speaker 1: guys have been able to help provide of late that
Speaker 1: have stood out right? Well? I think number one the
Speaker 1: first wishes always go to Disney just want to go
Speaker 1: to Disney. Or number two they'd like to meet a
Speaker 1: so called celebrity. Uh. Number three might be a shopperings free.
Speaker 1: Number four we've been able to buy a couple of
Speaker 1: dogs so that they can have some companions. You know.
Speaker 1: First Holy Communion dress, which is very simple. In the
Speaker 1: early eighties, e I can coming in right behind going
Speaker 1: to Disney. Everybody wanted a camp quarter. And we couldn't understand.
Speaker 1: As you're given the family and the child whatever they want,
Speaker 1: give them the world to give them their wish and
Speaker 1: it was very simple. They wanted a camp quarter. So
Speaker 1: we we're good friends with PC Richards. We had a
Speaker 1: family down in Florida from the Florida chapter. They had
Speaker 1: a child that was two and a half years old,
Speaker 1: which was underneath our threshold of three. So we made
Speaker 1: an exception. I went to the board. I said, you
Speaker 1: know what, two and a half is very close to three,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately this child that's two and a half may
Speaker 1: not make it to three. Their wish is a simple
Speaker 1: camp quarter, So we dropped shipped them a camp quarter.
Speaker 1: I believe on a Monday or Tuesday, they had a
Speaker 1: surprise birthday party for their son in the hospital. It
Speaker 1: wasn't his birthday, but they had a celebration, took some pictures,
Speaker 1: created some memories. The child end up passing away on
Speaker 1: third stay. I talked to the father on Friday and
Speaker 1: he said, I want to return the camp quarter. I said,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't want the camp quarterback. It's it's
Speaker 1: yours and your family. And he said, if it wasn't
Speaker 1: for you, wasn't for your organization, it wasn't for the
Speaker 1: people that believe in your organization, we would have nothing
Speaker 1: to hold onto. You gave us an opportunity to create
Speaker 1: memories of our son. We can never thank you enough.
Speaker 1: And that's a simple camp quarter so you know, to
Speaker 1: help these families, Uh, it's just a It's a tremendous opportunity.
Speaker 1: It's like the more you give, the more you receive.
Speaker 1: And the simple thank you at the time of the
Speaker 1: event or the time you fulfill the wish is one thing.
Speaker 1: But to hear about it, to run into people in
Speaker 1: the community that will come up and say, hey, are
Speaker 1: you Marty Lyons, And I'll say, uh, I am. They say,
Speaker 1: you know what. You You sponsored my child in the eighties.
Speaker 1: You sponsored my child in the nineties, we never had
Speaker 1: an opportunity to tell you thank you. And again I'll say, well,
Speaker 1: how are they doing? And there was more than likely
Speaker 1: they say unfortunately they passed away. But you you gave
Speaker 1: us that opportunity. You gave us memories, and that's what
Speaker 1: we try to do, create that hope because the families.
Speaker 1: As difficult as it is to lose the child, it's
Speaker 1: even more difficult to try to move on. What are
Speaker 1: the images in the videos mean to you? When you
Speaker 1: see these kids experience something that they had always wished
Speaker 1: for and they probably thought there was never a chance
Speaker 1: that this was going to happen. Well, I think it's
Speaker 1: again it's a reflection on everybody involved with the foundation.
Speaker 1: It makes you feel good, makes you feel satisfied. It
Speaker 1: makes you realize that I was fortunate to be a
Speaker 1: professional athlete, fortunate enough to come to New York in
Speaker 1: nine to be drafted, fortunate enough to be still affiliated
Speaker 1: with the Jets forty three years later, and to look
Speaker 1: at what we've accomplished as a group. It's very satisfying.
Speaker 1: It tells you that you don't have to be a
Speaker 1: professional athlete to make a difference. All you have to
Speaker 1: do is care. And I think if the world looked
Speaker 1: back at the pandemic, we saw the kindness of the world,
Speaker 1: and we saw so much hatreds And if people realize
Speaker 1: if we just respected people for who they are, but
Speaker 1: you can listen to their opinion. You don't have to
Speaker 1: agree with it, but listen to it, and don't judge
Speaker 1: him for it, because you know what, We're all going
Speaker 1: to be judged one day by by by God when
Speaker 1: we pass away, He's gonna judge us. Who are we
Speaker 1: to judge other people for the way they want to
Speaker 1: live their lives. Just respect it. It doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be the same as yours. Just respect it. Oftentimes I
Speaker 1: have a problem right now with how much hatred there
Speaker 1: is or why people are so angry when they refuse
Speaker 1: to take a step back and maybe to see what
Speaker 1: they have or what others don't um with you providing
Speaker 1: continually to provide to others. What do you say to
Speaker 1: young players when you talk to them about there are
Speaker 1: opportunities off the field. Yes, it's great to be in
Speaker 1: the National Football League, but you're not going to be
Speaker 1: in the NFL forever. What I tried to explain to
Speaker 1: him is that there's a responsibility, there's an obligation, and
Speaker 1: there's an opportunity. You're playing in the NFL. So you've
Speaker 1: fulfilled your dream as a little kid. Now take it
Speaker 1: one step further. Used this platform to find your purpose
Speaker 1: in life. I was years ago, probably twenty years ago.
Speaker 1: I was in the church in Alabama, and it was
Speaker 1: a Baptist church and I was there with a friend
Speaker 1: of mine and probably people. I was sitting in the
Speaker 1: back of the church and the minister got up that
Speaker 1: day and he started reading from the Book of Luke
Speaker 1: and he said, he who as much much is expected,
Speaker 1: and he would go on and on, and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden he'd stop and he'd go remember he
Speaker 1: who has much much is expected. Well, yeah, the whole
Speaker 1: time he was saying that quote, I felt like he
Speaker 1: was looking at me. At one time he said it.
Speaker 1: Like the third time I got up, I looked around
Speaker 1: me to see if there was somebody behind me, and
Speaker 1: there wasn't. So I said to my buddy, who's a
Speaker 1: minister down there, I said, rich, how did you do that?
Speaker 1: And he says, do what? And I said, every time
Speaker 1: that the minister said he who as much much is expected,
Speaker 1: he was looking right at He said, that's your message
Speaker 1: that you need to carry on and tell people he
Speaker 1: who as much much is expected, don't look at your
Speaker 1: own life from the inside out because it gets distorted
Speaker 1: human nature, animosity, jealousy, It really gets distorted because people go, well,
Speaker 1: I work as hard as him, why don't I have that?
Speaker 1: But if you look at your own life from the
Speaker 1: outside in and you realize how fortunate you are, how
Speaker 1: blessed you are, then you can put the backside of
Speaker 1: that quote on much as expected. Everybody has to find
Speaker 1: that spot in life where you're comfortable with who you
Speaker 1: are and then expect more out of yourself than what
Speaker 1: you're given. It's like Archie Manning once he told all
Speaker 1: of his boys Eli Peyton, you know, be more than
Speaker 1: you were born to be. That's open ended. You know,
Speaker 1: none of us know what we were born to be.
Speaker 1: But just be a little bit more. What's that golf
Speaker 1: tournament like? What was it like? This year? You just
Speaker 1: had it and it's a big fundraiser for you, and
Speaker 1: you get all the guys coming back and together and
Speaker 1: the ladies, and then you finished the eighteen holes and
Speaker 1: everybody comes to dinner. Can you describe that environment. It's
Speaker 1: exciting because number one, we sold out in a matter
Speaker 1: of five weeks. We over sold the golf portion, and
Speaker 1: we oversewld the dinner. And then when the people come
Speaker 1: in number one, it's been a long day. So you
Speaker 1: apologize for that new You make sure that they understand
Speaker 1: that one day out of our life, we had a
Speaker 1: long day playing golf. And then I have some of
Speaker 1: the kids that have survived their illness or are still fighting.
Speaker 1: They get up and speak and when now as a sponsor,
Speaker 1: you can identify where your money's going, it's not me
Speaker 1: telling the story, it's a recipient telling the story. And
Speaker 1: then we have parents that have lost a child talking
Speaker 1: about what it is to lose a child. And then
Speaker 1: we have special awards that we have named after some
Speaker 1: of the children. We have an award after Mr Hess
Speaker 1: that we give out to an athlete, and we want
Speaker 1: to recognize all the children that have passed away to
Speaker 1: keep their memories alive and then let their parents know
Speaker 1: and let everybody know that they were important in our lives.
Speaker 1: They came here not to make a you know, uh,
Speaker 1: an impression. They came here to make an impact. And
Speaker 1: there's a big difference. You know, everybody can make an
Speaker 1: impression you. You know what I met with the age
Speaker 1: nice guy. You made an impression on me. But you've
Speaker 1: always said that to me. But the way that you
Speaker 1: can change somebody's day by just saying hello, because people
Speaker 1: don't realize it and be honest with you. I didn't
Speaker 1: work really realize it until we had a little girl
Speaker 1: named Lauren that had a brain tumor and I used
Speaker 1: to call her after she went through her kemo or radiation.
Speaker 1: She'd go back to school and I'd call her and
Speaker 1: I say, Lauren, you went back to school. That had
Speaker 1: to be exciting. How was it? And she'd say, I
Speaker 1: was invisible today. I said, Lauren, what do you mean
Speaker 1: you were invisible? She said. I said, at the same
Speaker 1: lunch table everybody walked by. I mean, nobody wanted to
Speaker 1: have lunch with me. Nobody said anything. And that's not
Speaker 1: kids being mean, because adults do it. Sometimes we don't
Speaker 1: know what to say, but we have to say something
Speaker 1: because if you don't say something, in their world, it's
Speaker 1: another day where they're invisible. It's another day where nobody
Speaker 1: said anything kind to him. It's like the first thing
Speaker 1: you should do in the morning is look at yourself
Speaker 1: and say, hey, how can I make a difference. And
Speaker 1: I've read a poem or three lines, probably years ago
Speaker 1: that I try to recite to myself every day. It says,
Speaker 1: to dream anything you want. That's the beauty of the
Speaker 1: human mind. Try to tell people dream as much as
Speaker 1: you can, because if you can dream it, you can
Speaker 1: see it, you can touch it, it might just come true.
Speaker 1: The second line goes to do anything you want to do.
Speaker 1: That's the strength of the human will. Your body might quit,
Speaker 1: but don't let the spirit. Don't let your human will
Speaker 1: deter you from doing anything. And the third line is
Speaker 1: probably the most important one says trust yourself to test
Speaker 1: your limits. That is the courage to succeed. You know,
Speaker 1: sometimes we have to think outside the box. Sometimes when
Speaker 1: you are are putting together something like the Foundation, you
Speaker 1: have to trust yourself that you know what you're making
Speaker 1: the right decisions, you're taking everybody's opinion, and you're doing
Speaker 1: what's right for the kids. And it comes down to
Speaker 1: you believe in in yourself. You can take those three
Speaker 1: lines and you can use them in corporate America. You
Speaker 1: can use them out there on the football field, you
Speaker 1: can use them in your everyday life to make sure
Speaker 1: that every day you try to make a difference. We're
Speaker 1: going to transition to football, even though that sounds quite
Speaker 1: impossible at the moment. But with that being said, if
Speaker 1: somebody wants to help Marty Lions forty three years down
Speaker 1: the road in terms of your organization now in this
Speaker 1: forty year, and they can help you in three and beyond,
Speaker 1: how can they do it? All they have to do
Speaker 1: is go to the Marty Lions Foundation dot org. You
Speaker 1: can donate online. You can send us a message that
Speaker 1: you'd like to volunteer. You can send a message that
Speaker 1: maybe you have an in kind donation that you want
Speaker 1: to do. Um I encourage people if you want to volunteer,
Speaker 1: come to the foundation. Let us teach you how to
Speaker 1: fulfill a wish and let you make contact with the family.
Speaker 1: You're that you're the coordinator of their wish. So now
Speaker 1: you're involved in every step and you build a relationship
Speaker 1: and you get to see these families that every single
Speaker 1: day for somebody's family, they get up in their routine
Speaker 1: is the same. You know, they picked their child up
Speaker 1: out of bed, they'll wash them, they'll feed them, they'll
Speaker 1: put them in a wheelchair. And then it's every day,
Speaker 1: every single day, and we've got to understand how fortunate
Speaker 1: we are. And because we're in that position, it's our responsibility.
Speaker 1: The opportunity is going to be there e A. If
Speaker 1: it's not with the Marty Lyons Foundation, it's with There's
Speaker 1: a lot of nonprofit organizations out there that need help,
Speaker 1: and I campaign for every one of them. And I
Speaker 1: tell the people that I talked to find the one
Speaker 1: that fits into your life, Find the one that you
Speaker 1: can make a full commitment to. Find the one that
Speaker 1: as you're working, the rewards are coming back to you.
Speaker 1: That's where you're going to give and that's where you're
Speaker 1: gonna make a difference. Congratulations, we salute you, We love you.
Speaker 1: You are Mr jet Uh speaking of being Mr jet
Speaker 1: How many years in the radio booth now for you
Speaker 1: and shooes Bob and I are going on twenty one
Speaker 1: and then I did I was fortunate enough to do
Speaker 1: the Jet Journal TV show for maybe eight years with
Speaker 1: MSG and then you know, I was fortunate enough to
Speaker 1: come here in VY nine and then retire in so
Speaker 1: you know, forty three years. I tell people I've seen
Speaker 1: the good, the bad, the ugly. I've been a part
Speaker 1: of all of it. But there's something about Joe Douglas,
Speaker 1: There's something about Rob sala There's something that you feel
Speaker 1: about this stability at the top, and you just think
Speaker 1: that maybe maybe they got it right. And I think
Speaker 1: it falls back onto the players to actually believe. Number one,
Speaker 1: believe in themselves. Number two believe in the system, and
Speaker 1: number three go out there and execute. You get paid
Speaker 1: to play football, that's your job. You don't get paid
Speaker 1: to lose games and go four and thirteen. And unfortunately,
Speaker 1: in the business world of the NFL, no no team
Speaker 1: will ever be the same. So the team is going
Speaker 1: to be special, but there's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: missing faces. Next year is not going to be the same.
Speaker 1: But you're going to into your second year with Rob Salah,
Speaker 1: Michael floor his offense, you know, and now it's time
Speaker 1: to adapt. It's time for the veteran leadership to take
Speaker 1: these young guys, take their energy, combine it all, start fast.
Speaker 1: You can't go one in three, two and two to
Speaker 1: begin of the year oh and four because if you
Speaker 1: divide it before they've moved it to seventeen. Used to
Speaker 1: divide the sixteen game schedule into quarters. If you if
Speaker 1: you go one in three, your next quarter, you gotta
Speaker 1: go three and one, And people go, well, they got
Speaker 1: a tough schedule. Well, you open up against Baltimore. Every
Speaker 1: team in the NFL should be tough, can be tough
Speaker 1: on a particular day. If you want to be the best,
Speaker 1: play the best, and the more you play the best,
Speaker 1: the more you're gonna build confidence. And you build confidence
Speaker 1: by winning games or understanding why you lost the game.
Speaker 1: You said you think the Jets have it right at
Speaker 1: the top, and I think everybody in this building feels
Speaker 1: the same way. Obviously I work here, so people can
Speaker 1: say you're a homer. I don't think we've ever had
Speaker 1: a structure like this with Hommi al Hai president, Joe
Speaker 1: Douglas at GM, and now Robert Sala as head coach.
Speaker 1: Would you have liked planning for Sala? He seems to
Speaker 1: connect so well with players, and he's, you know, people
Speaker 1: throw around the phrase leader of men, but he has
Speaker 1: some natural leadership qualities and I think he's a guy
Speaker 1: who also lives it the way he talks to people
Speaker 1: about strain. We saw him today with the six shirt
Speaker 1: on referencing the Navy Seals, saying that there's always more
Speaker 1: flight or fright or um flight or fight. Excuse me. Uh.
Speaker 1: He just has a way about himself present and I
Speaker 1: think people gravitate towards him. Oh, I would say, he's
Speaker 1: a people's person. You know. Here, I am sixty five
Speaker 1: years old. The first time I met him, you know what,
Speaker 1: I got goose bumps and I said, wow, you know what.
Speaker 1: Watching him on TV when he was a defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: for the forty niners, when the defense would come up
Speaker 1: with a big play and he'd run down the field
Speaker 1: and chest pump his guys. That's a guy that's fully committed.
Speaker 1: And I think last year, his first year as a
Speaker 1: head coach, he kind of tried to taper that energy
Speaker 1: because maybe he thought or maybe somebody said, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: head coaches aren't supposed to do that. So it'll be
Speaker 1: interesting to see how he interacts with this players this year.
Speaker 1: But you see more of that. I hope we do.
Speaker 1: I hope we see more of it. And uh, I
Speaker 1: would have loved have played for him. I think that
Speaker 1: the organization again, they have it right, this stability. They're
Speaker 1: bringing in the right players. You watch of these young
Speaker 1: kids play the energy that they bring, and it's got
Speaker 1: to be a mixture. You can't have all the youth
Speaker 1: without the experience. And I thought that that's one thing
Speaker 1: that hurt does Zack Wilson last year is unfortunately you
Speaker 1: you lost your quarterback coach in an accident. But there
Speaker 1: was no veterans in in the quarterback room because Joe
Speaker 1: Flacco had gone down to the Eagles, and Zach, I think,
Speaker 1: was trying to be too much too early. You know,
Speaker 1: you'd have that five yard opener and then there's you know,
Speaker 1: they're running a double out, and he had the twelve
Speaker 1: yard uh not open, and he tried to squeeze it
Speaker 1: in there and he didn't realize that. You know, these
Speaker 1: defensive backs are pretty fast. Take the five yards, let
Speaker 1: the receiver turn it up field. Maybe it turns into eight,
Speaker 1: maybe it turns into twelve. Take what the defensive as
Speaker 1: you to have have this year. You know, watching the
Speaker 1: first game, I think we all got caught up when
Speaker 1: Zak got hurt. But I remember going down on the
Speaker 1: field with two minutes ago, and I think if you
Speaker 1: combine all the quarterbacks, uh, their completion was seventeen out
Speaker 1: of thirty one. What impressed me the most out of
Speaker 1: the seventeen nine of them went to tight ends. When
Speaker 1: you can get the tight end involved in your offense,
Speaker 1: that's your quarterback's best friend. And I think you've got
Speaker 1: multiple tight ends that can play this year. Oh, no doubt, Tyler.
Speaker 1: Confidence when one of the stars of camp, you got
Speaker 1: c j Usam, I got Jeremy Ruckert in the mix,
Speaker 1: finally getting team rops coming back from the injury, gets
Speaker 1: a touchdown himself. Lawrence Case, you're making a transition from
Speaker 1: making place Joe Flacco. Is he the perfect guy for
Speaker 1: the situation these young jets are in. You added a
Speaker 1: bunch of vet in free agency, which he needed. We
Speaker 1: know that, But at the quarterback position, Zach goes down.
Speaker 1: We don't know the exact timetable. Fortunately escapes major injury,
Speaker 1: but he's gonna be out for a little bit. Fleck
Speaker 1: will look good out there today. We're taping after a
Speaker 1: joint session with Atlanta Spending Football. I've been a Joe
Speaker 1: fleck o fan. I watched him win a Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: I watched him become an m v P. The thing
Speaker 1: about Joe was he doesn't get too high. He doesn't
Speaker 1: get too low, and I really think that the way
Speaker 1: he throws the ball is a lot different than Zach Wilson.
Speaker 1: I think he has a little bit more touch on it,
Speaker 1: so it gets to receivers. Maybe not as fast as Zach,
Speaker 1: but not as hard as that. So watching him throw
Speaker 1: the ball today, he was right on target. Corey Davis
Speaker 1: would come out of his break, he's right there, you know,
Speaker 1: Elijah more right there. I think you have the skilled
Speaker 1: players now that all you have to all you have
Speaker 1: to do is get the ball to him, which now
Speaker 1: puts more pressure on the offensive line. I think the
Speaker 1: offensive line has got to be solid, starting with Connomer
Speaker 1: Governor in in the middle. He's got to be able
Speaker 1: to make the calls. He got two veterans tackle. I
Speaker 1: thought George Fan I thought he had the best year
Speaker 1: of any offensive lineman last year. You know, and uh
Speaker 1: Vera Tucker. That kid can play. He missed one play
Speaker 1: last year because he got a little dirt in his eye.
Speaker 1: He's a tough kid. They're moving him over. You bring
Speaker 1: in Tomlinson, so I think the offensive line will be solidified.
Speaker 1: You got running backs that can run the ball, but
Speaker 1: they also can catch the ball. Coming out of the backfield,
Speaker 1: and that has to be a touch pass. You're throwing
Speaker 1: it a little bit in front of him so that
Speaker 1: they can run and catch it. Never lose stride of
Speaker 1: going up the field. And I watched Joe throw today
Speaker 1: and I was pretty impressed with those passes. Also, defensively,
Speaker 1: you played on the famous front franchise history. But that
Speaker 1: being said, what do you think about the numbers? Possibly
Speaker 1: up front jets coming at you and waves. That's the
Speaker 1: way they want to do this around here. They don't
Speaker 1: want guys playing sixty five snaps. They want people fresh
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. Well, you know fresh and the
Speaker 1: fourth quarters. One thing you know, all I know is
Speaker 1: we played first downs, We played second down, we played
Speaker 1: third down, we played short yardage, we played gold line
Speaker 1: back then. I'm not a big rotation guy because I
Speaker 1: believe that on first and second down, you could be
Speaker 1: setting that offensive lineman up for a third down move.
Speaker 1: You could you could be in the third down and
Speaker 1: they pick up a first down and now you know
Speaker 1: how he's setting on you. Now you throw another guy
Speaker 1: in there and you start over. They have so much
Speaker 1: talent on the defensive line that, okay, if you want
Speaker 1: to rotate, rotate, But if you have somebody out there
Speaker 1: that's hot, that is really dominating the game, I vote
Speaker 1: to leave him in. Leave him in there. Ntil maybe
Speaker 1: laid in the third quarter, early in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: you want to give him a couple of plays out.
Speaker 1: But most of the players will tell you they don't
Speaker 1: want to come out. They don't want to come out.
Speaker 1: You know, if you're a little winded, if guys are
Speaker 1: running a hurry up all offense, if you're play after
Speaker 1: play after play, you know, maybe you get a little
Speaker 1: tired to raise your hand and they put somebody in
Speaker 1: for you. But you know they have the depth. So
Speaker 1: if that's the way they're going to play it, then
Speaker 1: you know. I just think that when you when you
Speaker 1: start rotating the players in there, you have to have
Speaker 1: better communication. Like when Joe and I we're playing together,
Speaker 1: Joe was outside, I was inside. I'd look over there
Speaker 1: to Joe and Joe give me a nod, or he'd
Speaker 1: look one way. It didn't matter what I plan on
Speaker 1: doing through to go or I knew what Joe was
Speaker 1: gonna do, and Joe is gonna take his tackle up
Speaker 1: the field, give him that stiff farm underneath his on
Speaker 1: the underside of his uh shoulder pad. He wanted me
Speaker 1: to hold the guard on the line of scrimmage to
Speaker 1: create that space. He was gonna come underneath. I was
Speaker 1: going to release outside. Two things can happen, well, three things.
Speaker 1: Joe can hit the quarterback, you can throw the ball,
Speaker 1: Joe can get the sack, or Joe flushes him. If
Speaker 1: I have containment, I get the sack. So it's so
Speaker 1: important to have that communication. And sometimes when you're rotating
Speaker 1: the players in and out, maybe that communication breaks down.
Speaker 1: Example in the Philly games, you can't have your defensive
Speaker 1: tackle slanting in. Your outside defensive ends slanting in and
Speaker 1: there's no containment on the outside. You know, we were
Speaker 1: talking about it outside Lamar Jackson, perfect example. You have
Speaker 1: to be disciplined. It's not just getting the pressure on him,
Speaker 1: it's having the pocket collapse at the same time. You
Speaker 1: get that pushed by your two defensive tackle. He's feeling
Speaker 1: the pressure, he's stepping back. It starts to collapse from
Speaker 1: the outside. He's got to go back to get outside.
Speaker 1: You got plenty of time to catch up. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: know it's not sexy because people would say, how are
Speaker 1: the Jets gonna be successful this year and say Jack
Speaker 1: Wilson's gotta throw thirty two touchdown passes, four thousand yards
Speaker 1: and all that other stuff. For you, it's the little things,
Speaker 1: because what we saw early in two thousand twenty one
Speaker 1: Jets were losing a lot of football games by double digits.
Speaker 1: What we saw on the back half of the year is, yeah,
Speaker 1: they want some games, weren't able to close some. Tampa
Speaker 1: comes to mind right away. That was probably the most
Speaker 1: complete impressive performance of the year, and they were unable
Speaker 1: to finish the deal. So the next step is winning
Speaker 1: those close games, right because they should be in. They
Speaker 1: should be in games from get here right. Well, you
Speaker 1: gotta start fast and finish strong. And there's no lead
Speaker 1: too big in the NFL that a team can't come back. Example,
Speaker 1: the Falcons play in New England in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: What they have them down to three at one time,
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden they score. Now it's
Speaker 1: twenty eight to ten, and your defense goes out there
Speaker 1: and they create a third three and out, and then
Speaker 1: your offense goes out there and they score another one.
Speaker 1: Now it's now you've got the defense playing on their heels.
Speaker 1: You've got a coaching staff going, whoa, whoa, you know,
Speaker 1: how how do we stop this? You know, the problem
Speaker 1: was you took your foot off the gas. If in
Speaker 1: the NFL, if teams can beat another team by fifty points,
Speaker 1: they're gonna do it. They're gonna do it as a
Speaker 1: reminder that maybe the next time we play it, we're
Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna try to embarrass you. There's oh scholarships here,
Speaker 1: there's no hey, let's pull it back. Let's not bloods anymore.
Speaker 1: Let's take a knee. No, no, no, this is the NFL,
Speaker 1: my second game, my rookie season. We lose. We go
Speaker 1: in a halftime, it's thirty five to three. In New England.
Speaker 1: We lost fifty six to three. They embarrassed us, you know,
Speaker 1: and coming from Alabama, I never experienced that. And I
Speaker 1: sat there and we get on the plane and I
Speaker 1: remember Matt Robinson coming up to me and he goes, hey, rook,
Speaker 1: what's wrong with you? And I go, I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed.
Speaker 1: You know, we lost fifty six to three. And he goes, well,
Speaker 1: don't think too hard about it, because we gotta play
Speaker 1: next year, next week. Let it go. Yeah, you gotta
Speaker 1: let it go. But it's still human nature. It sits
Speaker 1: in the back of your mind, just like a quarterback.
Speaker 1: You throw an interception, you have a bad pass, you
Speaker 1: you know, you've got to let that last play go
Speaker 1: because you can't hit it back. You gotta keep moving forward.
Speaker 1: And that's something that I think Zach learned last year.
Speaker 1: Now he got hurt last year, he got hurt this year,
Speaker 1: and people say, and I was one of the ones
Speaker 1: that said, you know, when he got hurt, why didn't
Speaker 1: you run out of bounds? But we already know the
Speaker 1: results of what happened when he came inside. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: it's easy to say that, I know because I say
Speaker 1: the same thing in the press box. I didn't have
Speaker 1: a problem with the play, But as soon as people
Speaker 1: see him go down, well that's a young guy's mistake.
Speaker 1: What the hell are you doing? No, he was just
Speaker 1: being Zack Wilson. What if he spun in and didn't
Speaker 1: fall down and picked up another ten yards, we would
Speaker 1: be going, wow, you know, look at look at the
Speaker 1: athletic ability to Zach Wilson. It just you know, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: injuries are part of the game. I saw a lot
Speaker 1: of guys on that I played with, like Bob Crable,
Speaker 1: Lance Smell, you know, outstanding linebackers. Non contact injuries, you
Speaker 1: know took away their career. You know, I'm worried about McKay.
Speaker 1: I think McKay has got uh. I would approach McKay
Speaker 1: just like I do all the salespeople that I have
Speaker 1: atlantic When I de scope a job, I do not
Speaker 1: start with what you did wrong, because if I start
Speaker 1: with what you did wrong, I'll never get to what
Speaker 1: you did right because it's just go on and on
Speaker 1: and on. And when I do get to what you
Speaker 1: did right, it doesn't seem like a compliment. I think
Speaker 1: McKay needs all that positive reinforcement to let them know
Speaker 1: that hey, you're a number one draft choice, you're a
Speaker 1: left tackle, you're a big man, but you have to
Speaker 1: be fully committed not just to yourself but to your
Speaker 1: team and take the little steps given the encouragement he needs,
Speaker 1: and those little things that he's doing right, and blow
Speaker 1: him up to big things. Yeah, and he did a
Speaker 1: lot of and then then he's got to want it.
Speaker 1: He's got a want. We can't want it form. That's
Speaker 1: that's that doesn't work all the way from the NFL
Speaker 1: all the way down to peewee football. So so everybody
Speaker 1: to a man said that he wanted he put it
Speaker 1: into work here this summer unfortunate. You're really excited for
Speaker 1: the start of the season, so are we. We're gonna
Speaker 1: end it right here. Joe Cleco one of three senior
Speaker 1: finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. All the
Speaker 1: nine needs now is a vote in January and he
Speaker 1: will be getting his jacket, and Canton and I will
Speaker 1: be there number one and number two. He will get
Speaker 1: the I think that for the first time in a
Speaker 1: long time, he'll be recognized and everything will be validated
Speaker 1: on who he was as a person, who he was
Speaker 1: as a teammate, and the way he played the game.
Speaker 1: And that's the most important thing is it's not what
Speaker 1: you think or you know what you thought of yourself
Speaker 1: as a player. It's what the people you played against.
Speaker 1: And when you have Anthony Monio's, DWIGHTE. Stevenson, Joe the Lamellier,
Speaker 1: all those guys that have been in the Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame saying you know what the toughest guy went against
Speaker 1: was Joe Clucko. I mean, if we had fifty three
Speaker 1: Joe Klucko's we would have won the Super Bowl. Joe
Speaker 1: cared about his teammates. He made sure his teammates were ready.
Speaker 1: When I came in as a rookie, he took me
Speaker 1: underneath his wing. He said, hey, you know, this is
Speaker 1: what you gotta do. You gotta get stronger. He goes,
Speaker 1: because I don't have a choice. I gotta play alongside
Speaker 1: of you for as long as I'm here. And then
Speaker 1: first part of the season we get into it. He
Speaker 1: gets into a fight, and I do you know the
Speaker 1: most responsible thing. I held him back. I pulled him
Speaker 1: out of the fight. And he looks at me and
Speaker 1: he says. We get back to the huddle and he says,
Speaker 1: you ever do that again, I'll kick your ass right
Speaker 1: here in front of everybody. He goes, because you either
Speaker 1: fight with me or you leave me alone. And right
Speaker 1: then and there, I had a teammate. I knew that
Speaker 1: when he was in a fight, right or wrong, I
Speaker 1: was going to get in. If I was on in
Speaker 1: a fight, I didn't care what the other ten guys
Speaker 1: on the defense we're gonna do. I knew I had one.
Speaker 1: I knew Joe would be in that fight with me.
Speaker 1: And what makes it so special to me to see
Speaker 1: Joe have this opportunity, is the friendship that we still
Speaker 1: have after forty three years, that means a great deal.
Speaker 1: And you know, his son, Danny grew up into grew
Speaker 1: up in the locker room. He was fortunate enough to
Speaker 1: play in the NFL. He has three Super Bowl rings too,
Speaker 1: with New England one with the Colts. And he was
Speaker 1: a heck of a player. Heck of a player. And
Speaker 1: I'm not saying this in disrespect, but he'll never have
Speaker 1: that Hall of Fame hall of famering like his dad will.
Speaker 1: That will make it complete. Well, Uh, Marty Lions, you
Speaker 1: are doing Hall of Fame things with the kids Marty
Speaker 1: Lions Foundation forty years um, congratulations, bravo. And if hum
Speaker 1: an opportunity to help, not just Marty or anybody else,
Speaker 1: I think I think we all should do something because
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people out there in need. And uh,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming by. My pleasure, e A.
Speaker 1: It's always a pleasure to be here at the facility,
Speaker 1: to sit and talk with you and just to let
Speaker 1: the people know that are watching this podcast. You don't
Speaker 1: have to be a professional athlete to make a difference.
Speaker 1: All you have to do is care, and all of
Speaker 1: us have that opportunity in life. Whether you take it
Speaker 1: or not, it's your choice. I encourage you to do it. M.