Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast, an NFL podcast for
Speaker 1: the players, by the players. Here is your host, fourteen
Speaker 1: year NFL veteran and Hall of Famer A Nius Williams.
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast. I am
Speaker 1: A Nisus Williams. We have maybe our most accomplished panel.
Speaker 1: I have three of my Hall of Fame brothers and
Speaker 1: one soon to be. That's right, we're speaking to ahead
Speaker 1: of time. He's a sack master. We're talking about him later,
Speaker 1: and we're talking about secrets of excellence. First, we have
Speaker 1: the NFL's all time leading Russia. He rushed on my
Speaker 1: defense at least a hundred yards each game. That is
Speaker 1: the great Efant Smith, sorry Arroganzon the Cardinal teammates. Secondly,
Speaker 1: we have one of the greatest passers and leaders of
Speaker 1: all time, Jim Kelly. Next we have the ultimate monster
Speaker 1: of the midway linebacker Brian Erlacker. What a full head
Speaker 1: of hair. And lastly, one of the greatest pass Russias
Speaker 1: of the twenty one century, the Marcus ware. Welcome, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: so glad to have all of you have accomplished so
Speaker 1: much on the football field, But what is the one thing,
Speaker 1: and don't sugarcoated it. Don't try to be modest. What's
Speaker 1: the one thing that you yourself see as your legacy
Speaker 1: in it? Well, you know, first of all, and Neil's
Speaker 1: thank you for having us, Uh, to be honest with
Speaker 1: you when you start thinking about the legacy. Now, I'm
Speaker 1: turning fifty this year, so I look at the legacy
Speaker 1: a little bit differently now than I did when I
Speaker 1: was actually playing the game of ball. Um, it's actually
Speaker 1: it lies within my family. Uh at the end of
Speaker 1: the day. Uh, you know, the football is something that
Speaker 1: I did. It's something that I absolutely loved and was
Speaker 1: very very passionate about it. But when you peel back
Speaker 1: the onion and you really get down to really life itself, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, football has come and gone. My family is
Speaker 1: still here, so you know, and I'm just because I
Speaker 1: have these records and so forth, people remember some of
Speaker 1: the things that I've done. But every day I wake
Speaker 1: up and I put my funeral ground, I walk in
Speaker 1: my house, I see my kids, I see my wife,
Speaker 1: I see all the things that are really really, really
Speaker 1: truly important and uh, and so to me, that legacy
Speaker 1: is right there. Because I lost my mom two years ago.
Speaker 1: Just lost my father in law in December day after
Speaker 1: his ninety first birthday. And when you're putting people in
Speaker 1: the ground, man, you start to realize that life is
Speaker 1: much broader than just that East Smith twenty two on
Speaker 1: the back of a jersey. And so I look at
Speaker 1: the Legacy a little bit differently. Now, real quick you
Speaker 1: saying that to to this players that will hear this podcast,
Speaker 1: What were you thinking? You know Legacy, because you mentioned
Speaker 1: it's different. Now, when were you thinking when you play?
Speaker 1: I think when I was playing, Legacy was all about
Speaker 1: winning Super Bowls and leaving the mark on the game
Speaker 1: got you, which is a true statement. But you start
Speaker 1: to realize that as you start to creep to that
Speaker 1: age above thirty and you know that the end is near,
Speaker 1: and you start thinking about what's next, um and and
Speaker 1: what life would be like beyond the game. Uh, then
Speaker 1: you really start to look at the little ones in
Speaker 1: the eyes. I mean because I had two daughters, uh,
Speaker 1: and and one of my sons, my youngest son, my
Speaker 1: oldest son. Now, when I was playing, I was going
Speaker 1: into thirty one day when I was probably thirty one
Speaker 1: years old, and my kids was on the side of
Speaker 1: the the guarney as it was getting to push me
Speaker 1: back right before they took me out, and I can
Speaker 1: see them, and it just changed. Everything changed the way
Speaker 1: I approached the game, changed the way that I actually
Speaker 1: thought about playing her. It changed a lot of different
Speaker 1: things now because I had people that really were counting
Speaker 1: on me to be there for the rest of their
Speaker 1: lives and so h you know, the game itself as
Speaker 1: a beautiful game, and we played the game because we
Speaker 1: love it number one, And I'm so thankful that fans
Speaker 1: and so forth get a chance to enjoy the talent.
Speaker 1: I'm more concerned about the fans because they really don't
Speaker 1: enjoy the talent. They look at the performance and the performances.
Speaker 1: That's it. They don't know nothing about the individuals that
Speaker 1: are out there on the football field. I like that.
Speaker 1: What about you, Jim, what's your legacy? Wow? Um, I
Speaker 1: mean hit on a lot, uh From the standpoint of me,
Speaker 1: I remember even growing up in a little small town
Speaker 1: of Pennsylvania and looking at the team that I lives
Speaker 1: and players like a Terry Bradshaw Raser Steeler and thinking
Speaker 1: of my legacy being able to take care of mom
Speaker 1: and dad and have them look back on life and
Speaker 1: think that, uh, you know what, these dreams do come
Speaker 1: true with the work ethic. But as I get older,
Speaker 1: I never realized in a million years that the things
Speaker 1: that I've been through in my life, um, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have to endure them, from standpoint of them telling me
Speaker 1: I would never play football again, to standpoint after you know,
Speaker 1: going to one super Bowl thing you might even go back,
Speaker 1: and then wind up going to four super Bowls in
Speaker 1: a row, and thanks to him he ended those with
Speaker 1: three and four with a loss, but uh but being
Speaker 1: but going four years in a row. And then after
Speaker 1: I retired, having a son born on my birthday on
Speaker 1: Valentine's Day, and the dreams I had, and then as
Speaker 1: I fast forward to the things I've been going through
Speaker 1: now having kids for three times, and and then traveling
Speaker 1: to the country speaking and realizing how many people not
Speaker 1: just uh, you know, adults, but kids coming up to
Speaker 1: me and tell me how I've been an inspiration to
Speaker 1: their their father, their mother, or even themselves, saying that,
Speaker 1: you know, they looked at life a little differently now
Speaker 1: after hearing some of the things I went through that
Speaker 1: they think all professional athletes have, you know, have a
Speaker 1: good have to have everything they wanted to know, the money,
Speaker 1: the fame, the fortune, you know, the bright lights. And
Speaker 1: it's not always like that for everybody. But the thing is,
Speaker 1: it's your attitude that you have being able to make
Speaker 1: sure you make it difference for others. And I know
Speaker 1: the life I'd be given and I would never wish
Speaker 1: upon anybody. But I also look back and say, you
Speaker 1: know what, I remember those days, how much fun I had,
Speaker 1: the people I had as my teammates, the love that
Speaker 1: I have on that team, to love that I still
Speaker 1: have with the players that I have right now, but
Speaker 1: right now knowing that I am making a difference out
Speaker 1: there for so many other people that um, if they
Speaker 1: had to do it over again, they would totally take
Speaker 1: it a different way. And I came up with the saying,
Speaker 1: make a difference today for someone who was fighting for
Speaker 1: their tomorrow. And that's legacy I would love to leave.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody will go through that, But you know
Speaker 1: what I live eaching every day I enjoyed myself. The
Speaker 1: good Lord decides to marrows my day, well, I'm going
Speaker 1: out with a smile on my face and a pulled
Speaker 1: drink on my other hand, and I'm going I'm smile,
Speaker 1: so we'll leave with that. I'm enjoying each and every day. Now, well,
Speaker 1: I can tell you this gym for all of us,
Speaker 1: just seeing your fight and seeing your resilience, it's it's
Speaker 1: obviously the Lord at work, but it also takes a
Speaker 1: man departner with him and not quit. I've had I've
Speaker 1: had um great leadership from my father who raised ship's
Speaker 1: boys were probably more of a leader and then anybody
Speaker 1: would ever think. And that was my son who lived
Speaker 1: to be eight and a half years old. He never
Speaker 1: spoke a word, but he changed my life for the good.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I'm like everybody. You know your dream about
Speaker 1: teaching and coaching your little boy, you know, growing up
Speaker 1: and raising a son. But good Lord had different plans
Speaker 1: from me, guys, to make a difference for others, and
Speaker 1: through my Shun, even though he never spoke for she
Speaker 1: has made a difference for so many people out there.
Speaker 1: And number one his daddy, Thank you, Jim. You know, Brian,
Speaker 1: I remember seeing you in college. How much you wait,
Speaker 1: But I remember returning punts just crazy, that's how bad
Speaker 1: we worked, returning to kick off some punts. I mean,
Speaker 1: everybody else to put back there. So that's how that's
Speaker 1: how bad our team was. Even as you've heard Jim,
Speaker 1: you've you've heard him, what what do you think is
Speaker 1: your legacy? So mine is on the same lines as
Speaker 1: you know as I I've been retired for six years now,
Speaker 1: I think as you're playing, you kind of have your
Speaker 1: your legacy and minded what you think you want to be,
Speaker 1: what you want to leave behind as a football player.
Speaker 1: And immediately after I retired, it was it all changed
Speaker 1: right away because you know, football was great, like it
Speaker 1: was so good to me. I love football. I enjoyed playing,
Speaker 1: I love being My favorite thing on football is bear
Speaker 1: on my teammates all day. Man. I love going to
Speaker 1: work every day. I love being around those guys. I
Speaker 1: love being in the locker room. I didn't like meetings,
Speaker 1: but they were fun. I didn't like going because you're
Speaker 1: in there for four hours a day. Man, it's old.
Speaker 1: But hold up. Send it to the high schoolers. Yeah
Speaker 1: who think? Okay? Let me Yeah, So we go to
Speaker 1: the meetings or four hours a day on on a
Speaker 1: short day, and they're not fun, but our coaches made
Speaker 1: them fun. So I love going to work. I love
Speaker 1: being the way were I love being a practice with
Speaker 1: my teammates. Um, I think my legacy as a player
Speaker 1: was to be good. I want to be a good thing,
Speaker 1: that's all all. I want to be remembered this as
Speaker 1: a good teammate. And I said that all of Fame speech,
Speaker 1: But I don't remember that as a football player. I
Speaker 1: want to be remembered as a father, as a role model,
Speaker 1: as a guy who does other things outside of football.
Speaker 1: You know, my kids, and I said this in my
Speaker 1: speech as well, my kids in my legacy. You know,
Speaker 1: they were sitting down the front row there as I
Speaker 1: was up there giving my speech. And you see it
Speaker 1: more and more. The further are you you are removed
Speaker 1: from football, the more you realize that. I feel like, um,
Speaker 1: and it's been great since I've been out, it's been great,
Speaker 1: you know, because when you're playing, you're so into you
Speaker 1: and football and what you need to do to get
Speaker 1: better and how you're gonna help your team win. You are,
Speaker 1: You're good. You're still a father, don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: You're still father. But you can't put your hands on
Speaker 1: like not like in a physical I'm just saying you can't.
Speaker 1: I can't mold your kids. You can't mold your kids
Speaker 1: the way you want to because you're not there as
Speaker 1: much as you want to be. So now that when
Speaker 1: you retired, you're there all the time. It's been great,
Speaker 1: you know. I've had so much fun with them, Um,
Speaker 1: coaching my son and you're in football. Just being around
Speaker 1: my daughters and being able to be a part of
Speaker 1: everyday life, taking the school, you know, picking up whatever
Speaker 1: I need to do, I can do it. It's just
Speaker 1: nice to be a part of that. And the biggest
Speaker 1: thing to me is that they are my legacy. In
Speaker 1: my opinion of football was great, loved it fun, but
Speaker 1: I don't I don't want to be remembered as I
Speaker 1: don't remembered as a father of my three children. What
Speaker 1: the thing is, you know, for me, it's it's something
Speaker 1: that didn't even have anything to do with football. The
Speaker 1: same thing you're saying about your son, you're saying about
Speaker 1: your family and kids. You're saying about your family and kids.
Speaker 1: And what we're trying to really get people to understand
Speaker 1: is that football is great. There was something that we
Speaker 1: did and it was amazing, But to everyone in this world,
Speaker 1: the main thing and what's the most important thing is family.
Speaker 1: Family is the most important thing that is, and that's
Speaker 1: the legacy that all of us always wanted. It wasn't
Speaker 1: the money, it's not the watches, it's not the crazy
Speaker 1: stuff that you can go buy whatever you would, you
Speaker 1: would you you know, make it from football, but it's
Speaker 1: something that you strive for and uh, when you think
Speaker 1: about like little intangible things of the impact that you make.
Speaker 1: We were great because we knew how to fight. We
Speaker 1: knew how to fight. Jim Kelly know how to fight.
Speaker 1: You knew how to fight. Everybody had some type of
Speaker 1: fighting them and we talked each one of those guys
Speaker 1: on our team. And so now even when you guys played,
Speaker 1: if it was guys that you played with, you see
Speaker 1: them and you see what you talked them. But you
Speaker 1: also taught them how to fight. And that's a legacy
Speaker 1: that we as everyone here, we've left for everyone in
Speaker 1: the NFL is like we have that mentality of fighting.
Speaker 1: But also to the normal fans, the fans look at
Speaker 1: us as role models because they're going through a lot
Speaker 1: of the things in their lives and they also want
Speaker 1: to fight, and they sort of branch themselves onto us.
Speaker 1: But because that's what we do, right, But then we're
Speaker 1: normal too, because family is the most important thing that
Speaker 1: drives each one of us. So for me, legacy and
Speaker 1: having that mentality of being able to fight, because when
Speaker 1: I watched every one of you that came before me,
Speaker 1: I've seen the fight in your eyes when y'all come
Speaker 1: out of that tunnel every week. I've seen that fight
Speaker 1: in the locker room, you guys leading, And I said,
Speaker 1: I want to be that guy. I want to be
Speaker 1: that guy that's doing it because he's impacted me. And
Speaker 1: I'm a young child right now, but I can become
Speaker 1: just a smige it of that guy right there. I
Speaker 1: can almost do the same thing that he's been doing.
Speaker 1: And the question, based on what you accomplish on the field,
Speaker 1: how has it helped you in what you're doing now, Well,
Speaker 1: I think football teaches you so much. I'm just how
Speaker 1: did there's so many ups and downs in football? You know, football,
Speaker 1: game practice, your career, the injuries, whatever it is you
Speaker 1: gotta go through to get to the game on Sunday.
Speaker 1: I think life's the same way. Not everything is gonna
Speaker 1: be perfect all the time. I think football teach you
Speaker 1: to deal with that and get through it. Um lean
Speaker 1: on people if you need to. You've got friends, family,
Speaker 1: wherever you lean on, and also look inside yourself, you know,
Speaker 1: to see how how mentally tough you are, how physically
Speaker 1: tough you are to get through these situations. Um, post football,
Speaker 1: I mean it was it was a change because you
Speaker 1: don't have those guys ever there to to talk to,
Speaker 1: to lean on, your coaches to talk to, or the trainer,
Speaker 1: whoever it is to lean on. Exience, Yeah, you gotta.
Speaker 1: Then you turn into your wife, you turn into your kids,
Speaker 1: your brother. It's a different people you lean on. Because
Speaker 1: I don't care how tough we think, we all need.
Speaker 1: We all need to help. And I think that's what
Speaker 1: I realized the most when I retired, is that I'm
Speaker 1: gonna need some help making this transition from football, from
Speaker 1: a football player to a regular person and doing things
Speaker 1: that normal people do all the time. So that was
Speaker 1: the hardest thing for me. Um, you know, I still
Speaker 1: haven't done a whole lot since I retired. I'm still
Speaker 1: enjoying being a father and I haven't got bored yet.
Speaker 1: My big things when I got bored you, but it
Speaker 1: finds something to do. I haven't got two I turned
Speaker 1: for to you last year, So I still got some times.
Speaker 1: I got some time to get bored still, So my
Speaker 1: kids will be, you know, off in college, and in
Speaker 1: five years I'll have all three of them out of
Speaker 1: the house. So then I'm as something I'm gonna get bored.
Speaker 1: So and here and Brian hit it right on. It's
Speaker 1: the people you're around, um she attitude that you surround
Speaker 1: yourself with. You talked about family. We all talked about
Speaker 1: families through this. I had five brothers, and with my
Speaker 1: five brothers and my wife and my two daughters, those
Speaker 1: were amazing people in my life. Even though I talked
Speaker 1: a little bit more about what my life has been
Speaker 1: since I retired, but I would not be here if
Speaker 1: it wasn't for the people I had in my life
Speaker 1: and my brothers not one time today or have a
Speaker 1: you know, the frown on their face when they saw
Speaker 1: what their brother was going through. Were my wife or
Speaker 1: my daughter or Bruce and Thurmon and all those guys
Speaker 1: that I played with always have been in there for me,
Speaker 1: and we're there for each other all the time. And
Speaker 1: I think by what we went through as a team
Speaker 1: um Fighting. We were in the a f U Championship
Speaker 1: game five out of six years we went through the
Speaker 1: four Super Bowls in a row we didn't win. It
Speaker 1: was almost preparing some of us for what we had
Speaker 1: don the road in life and how are we going
Speaker 1: to come together as a team after we get downe
Speaker 1: playing the game of football. And I learned so much
Speaker 1: through that. And I learned that, you know what, as
Speaker 1: I traveled and I looked, I don't have it that bad.
Speaker 1: There's so many people have what work shan I do?
Speaker 1: Just keep fighting and keep surrounding yourself with good quality
Speaker 1: of people with great attitudes. And for all those kids
Speaker 1: out there that are listening to this, they're gonna We're
Speaker 1: all gonna go through tough times for life. When you're young,
Speaker 1: you're gonna go through times. But you're like, I can't
Speaker 1: believe that's happening. Trust me, it's your attitude that you're having.
Speaker 1: How are you going to make that situation better? Because
Speaker 1: we all go through it, and we all went through
Speaker 1: And the thing, who do you strong yourself with? Who's
Speaker 1: going to change your attitude to make sure you make
Speaker 1: that better for somebody else that's watching you. And that's
Speaker 1: how I've learned throughout my trying times. And I even
Speaker 1: know that there's still times that I have ahead of
Speaker 1: me that I'm gonna go through. But as long as
Speaker 1: I continue to strong myself with the family I have
Speaker 1: and those whacker doodle teammates your mind, I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: all right. Right Well, I mean Brian said he touched
Speaker 1: on something, uh, and I think the Marcus and Jim.
Speaker 1: You know, when you're in the locker room, there are
Speaker 1: so many guys that you have so many things in
Speaker 1: common with, and when it comes down to that fight
Speaker 1: or having to run that extra five one teams or
Speaker 1: whatever it may be, and you're struggling and you got
Speaker 1: your team, it'll come on. Do you can make it?
Speaker 1: Make it? And they're pushing you to that. But when
Speaker 1: it comes to life, you look around and you find
Speaker 1: yourself in a tough situation. You look around and say,
Speaker 1: who's who's in his fox with me? And sometimes you
Speaker 1: feel like you and there by yourself because you don't
Speaker 1: have no one I can turn to my wife. My
Speaker 1: wife probably doesn't know where it liked for me to
Speaker 1: be in a foxhold like this. She could probably turn
Speaker 1: to me and say, well, you don't know what it's
Speaker 1: like to deliver a baby. I have no clue. But
Speaker 1: it's you're right. It is the fight. It's the fight
Speaker 1: to continue to survive. It's the fight to continue to persevere.
Speaker 1: It's the fight to get on the other side of
Speaker 1: whatever this is that's resisting us at this particular moment.
Speaker 1: It's the understanding of the attitude of the fight that's
Speaker 1: saying that this too shall pass at some point. I mean,
Speaker 1: because you know, you're not in the every super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and you're not having winning seasons every year. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: there is an exception, but but then you also have
Speaker 1: those times when there is dry seasons because it and uh,
Speaker 1: I mean you're going six and ten and you're going
Speaker 1: four in the four in twelve and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't feel good. But yet you have to
Speaker 1: finish the season, and you have to prepare every week
Speaker 1: as if you're going out to win. And so I
Speaker 1: think it's that fight, uh, that we we look to
Speaker 1: at times and we find ourselves in corners by ourselves
Speaker 1: because we're not in that locker room any longer. And
Speaker 1: and and so whether or not you're able to pick
Speaker 1: up the phone and call one of your boys and
Speaker 1: have a sit down conversations because he is going to
Speaker 1: doing his thing, and you're doing your thing, and everybody
Speaker 1: spread out now during their things. So the communication lines
Speaker 1: are not as natural as they once were, and so
Speaker 1: things have changed dramatically. But the beautiful thing about it
Speaker 1: is we do have those fundamentals that have taught us
Speaker 1: those things, how to survive, how to uh persevere, how
Speaker 1: to stand on your own two feet and become your
Speaker 1: own leader. I mean, amongst a bunch of alpha dogs,
Speaker 1: obviously there's one that emerges up, or two that merges up,
Speaker 1: or three or four that merges up in every locker room.
Speaker 1: And that doesn't mean that the others in our alpha
Speaker 1: dogs neither. It's just the fact that leadership has to
Speaker 1: yield to somebody at some point and allow this thing
Speaker 1: to shape, take shape, so it can be so the
Speaker 1: ship can be driven in the right direction. Say that again,
Speaker 1: leadership sometimes has to be you have to yield. Everybody
Speaker 1: can't be the chief. You have to have. You gotta
Speaker 1: have some Indians. And so at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: whether that quarterback is designated as that guy and he
Speaker 1: earned the right to do that, or if it's that
Speaker 1: wives or that linebacker on the defensive side the ball,
Speaker 1: or if it's that running back or combination, because performance
Speaker 1: also dictates who's leading without even speaking, because when it
Speaker 1: comes down the net cut of time, some people turn like, hey, hey,
Speaker 1: I need you to make it. So what you're saying
Speaker 1: is performance has its own voice. Yes, performance definitely has
Speaker 1: its own voice. But I think the thing that we
Speaker 1: all turn to is that consistency in our lives. I
Speaker 1: think that's where stability comes at. It's a key word
Speaker 1: in the in the consistency in our lives. Those things
Speaker 1: that stay consistent in one's life you can hold on
Speaker 1: to like this. It's the things that up and down
Speaker 1: like yo yo's that give you pause, things that says
Speaker 1: I don't know if I can really trust that because
Speaker 1: it's inconsistent. And I think that's what we all have
Speaker 1: built our careers upon, is being consistent for thirteen, fourteen,
Speaker 1: how many years you play twelve, fifteen. You don't play
Speaker 1: fifteen years without being consistent correct, And you don't play
Speaker 1: fifteen years without having the level of humility. You don't
Speaker 1: play fifteen years or fourteen years without having some type
Speaker 1: of focus and something beyond yourself correct. And so that
Speaker 1: sacrifice is is what we bring into the real world,
Speaker 1: whether it's in business, whether it's in our home. Uh.
Speaker 1: And those are the type of things some of the
Speaker 1: things that we tried to I tried to instill with
Speaker 1: them my kids. Boys and girls, you must understand you
Speaker 1: have to be able to make your own decision and
Speaker 1: be okay with it. Great leaders find themselves on the island,
Speaker 1: sometimes by themselves. But for me, uh, if you had
Speaker 1: about four or five words like teamwork, right, that's one
Speaker 1: thing you always take from football, being a leader, being
Speaker 1: able to take that step, being that guy, like he said,
Speaker 1: being that chief to say no, right, and then being
Speaker 1: able to change, being able to change because every year
Speaker 1: when you go into work, if you had the right mentality,
Speaker 1: he was like that guy that could take my job. Right.
Speaker 1: And but that's what made us great because we went
Speaker 1: into that the whole season of that guy can take
Speaker 1: my job and he's not going to do that. And
Speaker 1: then there was not a new guys that you're trying
Speaker 1: to get a championship team against. And I'm gonna make
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make sure I said right. Because when you're running,
Speaker 1: the dream is easy. But when your legs start to
Speaker 1: get a little weary and your dreams start to fade away,
Speaker 1: then you drop off, and then you have to face reality.
Speaker 1: Reality is not playing football anymore. Reality is family. And
Speaker 1: then you get into the point to where your reality
Speaker 1: is your family, and your family is now your team.
Speaker 1: But how can you sort of respond to your team?
Speaker 1: And what I mean by that, I can't talk to
Speaker 1: my wife the same way or my girlfriend the same
Speaker 1: way I talked to my friends. Right, they can't work out.
Speaker 1: I can't work out with them and do the same
Speaker 1: stuff I used to do. But so you have to
Speaker 1: figure out how to change. Change. But that's what football
Speaker 1: told us how to do, how to change and still
Speaker 1: be that leader, still be that guy at Alpha Doll,
Speaker 1: but now for your family. And that's what I see
Speaker 1: a lot of guys struggle with. I see a lot
Speaker 1: of guys struggle when they come out of the league.
Speaker 1: They have everything that they need, but they don't know
Speaker 1: how to use it. They don't know how to use
Speaker 1: it in a different environment, and so they think that
Speaker 1: the environment shouldn't change. No, you should be a chameleon.
Speaker 1: You've been doing that for all these years. You should
Speaker 1: be in a change with your environment. Adapt because you
Speaker 1: got the two Here here's the word, and we do
Speaker 1: it all the time. We call it in game adjustments,
Speaker 1: we may post game adjustments, in game adjustments and pregame adjustments. Period.
Speaker 1: It's adjusting to the situation, because every situation will have
Speaker 1: a change in it. I mean there are times when
Speaker 1: we're going into a football field and we're not prepared
Speaker 1: for a certain kind of blitz and they may get
Speaker 1: us on this time, but when we come to the
Speaker 1: sideline and making adjustment, so that that's exactly what you're
Speaker 1: talking about. The change. I said adjustment, but the word
Speaker 1: really is changed. And because every day, and one thing
Speaker 1: I learned since I retired is I don't have have
Speaker 1: Jimmy Johnson or Barry Switch or somebody setting the schedule
Speaker 1: for me. No more. I don't have nobody sending that schedule.
Speaker 1: I don't have nobody to drive me to go, drive
Speaker 1: me to get up and go, work up, get in
Speaker 1: the weight room and train like that. No more. All
Speaker 1: being set is completely routine, guys. And after the post
Speaker 1: life or force football routine is much different than the
Speaker 1: in football routine. What what has to flip the mentality?
Speaker 1: Because I call it, you call it consistent. My word
Speaker 1: is a bit a thermostat and stood at thermometer. It's
Speaker 1: it's and what I Sometimes when guys leave the game,
Speaker 1: they're tired of the rigidy, so they won't want to
Speaker 1: be free. Free. But but the more we remind ourselves
Speaker 1: to think about in our lives what we actually did
Speaker 1: in the game. Yeah, I went through bell polsy so
Speaker 1: so my face contorted. It's back and last mate. And
Speaker 1: and when I talked to one guy who been through it,
Speaker 1: he said, man, you're not depression. I said so no.
Speaker 1: And then in my my I'm a pastor, so my
Speaker 1: church member life, you still don't preach yes, And when
Speaker 1: I still would do all my speaking engage and I
Speaker 1: mean I was contorted. I saw you this summer exacting
Speaker 1: thing on the football field. What do we learn? You play,
Speaker 1: you you injured, you go if you can go, you
Speaker 1: can go. You're not injured, right. But the whole point
Speaker 1: is to remember that that perspective. It's this life is
Speaker 1: not Roses. There's no sech thing. How much money you have,
Speaker 1: you could avoid different things. It's the bitter get yourself
Speaker 1: to yet it's kind of like, get yourself together and
Speaker 1: think about, Man, you can do this. Stay tuned for
Speaker 1: part two. This has been so good we have to
Speaker 1: do too. This has been the NFL Legends podcast. To
Speaker 1: provide feedback or request a topic for discussion, email us
Speaker 1: at NFL Legends at nfl dot com.