Speaker 1: It's time out for another edition of our Pats from
Speaker 1: the Past podcast Matt Smith without Brian Morey. Sorry that
Speaker 1: Brian couldn't be here, but we're thrilled to be in Columbia,
Speaker 1: South Carolina and the hospitable David Patton as our guest. David,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us today and thank
Speaker 1: you for letting us be here.
Speaker 2: Hey man, the pleasure is all mine.
Speaker 3: I'm just excited to be given this opportunity just to
Speaker 3: reminisce a little bit and just share where I am today.
Speaker 1: Well, so let's start with that, because I think Patriot's
Speaker 1: fans want to know. We're here in Columbia, South Carolina
Speaker 1: and we are in the A Wall Ministry. So tell
Speaker 1: Patriot fans what are you doing today?
Speaker 3: Well, A wall is an acronym for a way of life,
Speaker 3: and it's a spiritual ministry.
Speaker 2: But I focus on.
Speaker 3: The art of living or uh not, not so much
Speaker 3: as stressing and emphasizing religion because I was I was
Speaker 3: always raised to be a strong man of faith, and
Speaker 3: just over the years I saw that, you know, it
Speaker 3: seems like religion has done more harm than good. So
Speaker 3: the premise has kind of been, you know, to focus on,
Speaker 3: you know, the expectation that God just wants us all
Speaker 3: to have a better way of life. So that's kind
Speaker 3: of what the ministry represents. We try to stress and
Speaker 3: emphasize that no matter what walk or life, what you're doing, Uh,
Speaker 3: just be be all that you can be to the
Speaker 3: glory of God.
Speaker 2: And that's kind of that's kind of what what the
Speaker 2: ministry stands for.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get into that in a lot more detail
Speaker 1: later on. But why was that something that interested you?
Speaker 1: Why was that a path that you decided to choose.
Speaker 2: Well, like I said, I was raised in the church.
Speaker 3: As from a from a baby, I mean, growing up
Speaker 3: growing up in Columbia, South Carolina.
Speaker 2: You know it was it was work football in church.
Speaker 3: And you know along the way, we all we all
Speaker 3: have our wayward days.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: Throughout my college days, I I turned my back on
Speaker 3: God and I believed that early on God shut the
Speaker 3: doors to my dream of planning the NFL. And once
Speaker 3: I got my act together and got back in right
Speaker 3: relationship with Christ. Uh, I know for a fact that
Speaker 3: God opened the door. And that's how I made it
Speaker 3: to the NFL. Because Uh, I actually made it to
Speaker 3: the NFL A year out of college, and I had
Speaker 3: worked for a coffee being factory and I was working
Speaker 3: on that job, which was a streamous job, so I
Speaker 3: really couldn't even work out. And I went to the
Speaker 3: University of South Carolina's pro timing day and I got
Speaker 3: picked up by the New York.
Speaker 2: Giants from that workout.
Speaker 3: A year off working in a coffee being factory and
Speaker 3: not even training. But what took place over that over
Speaker 3: the course of that year, uh I, I had a come.
Speaker 2: To Jesus moment. Uh I, I I got back on track.
Speaker 3: I rededicated my life to Christ and and and I
Speaker 3: believe that God fulfilled my my lifelong dream. And you know,
Speaker 3: once I, once I made it to the NFL, there
Speaker 3: were there are so many distractions, and there's so many
Speaker 3: things that you can get caught up in. I made
Speaker 3: up a commitment to God that if he, if he
Speaker 3: kept me an and and blessed me with a ten
Speaker 3: year career, that I would dedicate him when I retired,
Speaker 3: not knowing that I would be called to the ministry
Speaker 3: along the way, but I was. And so just when
Speaker 3: I retired, man, uh I just felt the calling to
Speaker 3: to to get out here on my own and and
Speaker 3: start a work from scratch. Uh, as you can see,
Speaker 3: you know, we're we're we're at the the bottom level.
Speaker 2: We we're we're establishing the foundation of it. Uh.
Speaker 3: It's a it's a long, hard journey. It's it's tough work,
Speaker 3: but it's very rewarding because Y I I I think
Speaker 3: we find the truth in the places, uh, the secret places,
Speaker 3: the places where there's not a lot of notoriety, there's
Speaker 3: not a a lot of attention.
Speaker 2: So y you tend to find out just to you are.
Speaker 3: And although it's been a tough couple last couple of years,
Speaker 3: everyone dealing with COVID, just having strong faith in God
Speaker 3: and trusting that no matter how how difficult it is,
Speaker 3: no matter how difficult it may be, it's it's been
Speaker 3: a blessing and it's been rewarding and God has kept
Speaker 3: us through that.
Speaker 2: So that's what I feel.
Speaker 3: Kind of it was the commitment that I made to
Speaker 3: Christ to commit to him. But I was called to
Speaker 3: the ministry and I just felt like, you know, starting up,
Speaker 3: starting a new work, and that's how that's how we
Speaker 3: got here.
Speaker 1: So I want to go back to what you said,
Speaker 1: how you got into the NFL, because I think there's
Speaker 1: this urban myth out there, and maybe it's me, maybe
Speaker 1: it's others. You know, they hear the story about Kurt Warner. Oh,
Speaker 1: Kurt was working at a grocery store packing, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: bagging groceries and things like that, and somehow he got
Speaker 1: his way into into playing football. Let's you were working
Speaker 1: on a coffee being truck? Were you hauling beans on
Speaker 1: a coffee bean truck? Was it? What was the job it?
Speaker 3: It was a f It was a f a factory,
Speaker 3: and and I I think the factory was responsible for,
Speaker 3: you know, several different types of foods. But I worked
Speaker 3: in the coffee bean section, and the the responsibility of
Speaker 3: our job was to load for eighteen wheeler trucks truck
Speaker 3: trailers of three hundred and seventy five seventy five pound
Speaker 3: coffee bean bags. And it was a lot of basically
Speaker 3: like uh uh. I used to equate it to uh
Speaker 3: hang cleans, because you you're snatching from the ground and
Speaker 3: then your partner throws the bag. You have to control it.
Speaker 3: Then the next set you throw the bag. So I
Speaker 3: did that for a year's time, and and I think
Speaker 3: that that's what kind of increased my explosiveness because I
Speaker 3: you know, I was a typical uh you know, I
Speaker 3: was generally.
Speaker 2: Fast for for for for that point in my life.
Speaker 3: You know, when I was in college, I ran like
Speaker 3: a four four or five, uh mid four or five range.
Speaker 3: But after working in the coffee being factory for that
Speaker 3: year and going to the Universe South came out as
Speaker 3: pro timing day.
Speaker 2: I ran a four to two seven that day, not
Speaker 2: even training.
Speaker 3: So I think that was a little bit of the
Speaker 3: blessing of the law and the work I was doing.
Speaker 1: So when you get to New England, do you ever
Speaker 1: say to Mike Woysik, who was your strength and conditioning
Speaker 1: coach when you start in New England, Hey, I've got
Speaker 1: an exercise program that maybe we should get these guys on.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take seventy five pound coffee bags throw them
Speaker 1: to each other. It's a pretty good workout. To just
Speaker 1: suggest that to him.
Speaker 3: Well, I didn't think about that at the time, But
Speaker 3: I will tell you this, I'll never forget this story.
Speaker 2: I tell my kids all the time.
Speaker 3: One day I felt so good going into work, and
Speaker 3: I was one of those players. I never really boasted
Speaker 3: about having the greatest skill set or being the most
Speaker 3: dominant player. But what I would put up against anybody
Speaker 3: was my work ethic. I really loved to train, I
Speaker 3: loved to practice. And one day it was all season
Speaker 3: program and I went and I said, Mike, I feel
Speaker 3: so good today. I'm gonna make you quit blowing the whistle.
Speaker 3: And I ran so many sprints that day. He literally
Speaker 3: had to stop blowing the whistle because I never would stop.
Speaker 2: And the thing about it, I was an eight year
Speaker 2: bet at that.
Speaker 3: Time, so the problem was and the reason I believe
Speaker 3: he stopped blowing the whistle was because all the young
Speaker 3: guys had to keep runn because they weren't gonna let
Speaker 3: me outdo them. So you know, it was a little
Speaker 3: culmination of how many sprints I ran that day.
Speaker 2: And then, you know, looking out for the younger guys.
Speaker 1: How do you think you got on the Patriots and
Speaker 1: maybe specifically Coach Belichick's radar, because in two thousand and
Speaker 1: one he was in the second year of his program
Speaker 1: where you were free agent at that time, David, Is
Speaker 1: that how you got on their radar? Were you unsigned
Speaker 1: at the time?
Speaker 3: Well, when I started out, I started out on four
Speaker 3: one year free agent contracts and the Patriots were actually
Speaker 3: gonna sign me my third my fourth year. But what
Speaker 3: happened was, at the time, because I had played on
Speaker 3: three one year minimum minimum based contracts, the only team
Speaker 3: that offered me some signing, some signing bonus money was
Speaker 3: the Cleveland Browns, which is fifty thousand dollars. So at
Speaker 3: that time, I felt there was a lot of money,
Speaker 3: and at the time I needed to make as much
Speaker 3: money as I could, so I opted to go to
Speaker 3: the Browns over the pass because the Pats were.
Speaker 2: Just gonna bring me in as a free ager.
Speaker 3: So uh, throughout the c Over the course of that
Speaker 3: next year, the the Browns wanted to sign me to
Speaker 3: a three year extension, but I ended up hurting my
Speaker 3: toe and my production kind of fell off, so they
Speaker 3: took the contract their extension off the table. So the
Speaker 3: following year came around, Cleveland was gonna bring me back
Speaker 3: as a free ager, but then the Patriots offered me
Speaker 3: a fifty thousand signing bonus. Long story short, once I
Speaker 3: get into training camp, Bill told me.
Speaker 2: He told me up front, he said, David, you come here, Oh,
Speaker 2: we're gonna.
Speaker 3: Give you fifty thousand dollars to sign and you're gonna
Speaker 3: have a legit chance to play and be a starter.
Speaker 3: So when I get there, they signed Charles Johnson, Torrence
Speaker 3: Small Birdie Mammy, So you got you got three ten
Speaker 3: year plus high production receivers, and here I am the
Speaker 3: fourth year guy and I don't have them any stats.
Speaker 3: So I'm like number six or seven on the depth chart.
Speaker 3: And when I get there, you know, I'm feeling some
Speaker 3: type of way. I'm kind of in the tank. And
Speaker 3: Charlie was like, no, David, we brought you here. We
Speaker 3: know you're gonna make the team because you're gonna be
Speaker 3: our kick returner and you're gonna play receiver for us.
Speaker 3: I said, but you know, I thought I was gonna
Speaker 3: have a chance to be a starter. Well, two weeks
Speaker 3: in the camp, I had played so well. Bill called
Speaker 3: me out of the meeting. And you know, doing training camp,
Speaker 3: you don't want to get caught out of a meeting
Speaker 3: because it ain't too many tells. That's a good thing.
Speaker 3: But it cast me out of the meeting. I grabbed
Speaker 3: my playbook and they told me to grab my playbook.
Speaker 3: Some thinking I'm getting ready to get exactly right. And
Speaker 3: I go into the meeting and Bill's like well, Dave,
Speaker 3: you know we told you we were gonna give you
Speaker 3: an opportunity to be a starter here. Well, you've performed
Speaker 3: so well, I just want to know what it would
Speaker 3: take to sign you to.
Speaker 2: Three year extension and the rest is history.
Speaker 1: So you're looking around at that scene you're brought in,
Speaker 1: you think you're gonna be a starter. You're right. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think Patriot fans looked at that two thousand and
Speaker 1: one team and they're going, Okay, Charles Johnson, burn E Manuel,
Speaker 1: who's David Patton? Towards Small? They knew who Troy was,
Speaker 1: but they really didn't know there was all these other guys.
Speaker 1: Were you in competition with them? Did you think in
Speaker 1: training camp were you trying to judge yourself based on
Speaker 1: what they were doing or were you just saying I'm
Speaker 1: gonna worry about me and let the chips fall where
Speaker 1: they are because I know what I can do.
Speaker 3: Well, that's kind of always been the mentality. You know,
Speaker 3: only where about what you could control. But I knew
Speaker 3: what I was told that I would have the opportunity
Speaker 3: to be a starter. And by the time we get
Speaker 3: the training camp, you've got three you know, pros who've
Speaker 3: put in at least ten years, so needless to say,
Speaker 3: you're just gonna think that you know, well, maybe they're
Speaker 3: gonna get the nod over me.
Speaker 2: But it goes back, it calling back.
Speaker 3: It all comes down to what you do when you
Speaker 3: get your opportunity, and every opportunity that I got to
Speaker 3: make a play, I did that, and you know I
Speaker 3: beat all those guys out, and I believe Troy and
Speaker 3: I we ended up being the starterst that year.
Speaker 2: I think Charles Johnson ran number three.
Speaker 1: Do you remember Freddy Coleman?
Speaker 3: Uh, And Freddy Coleman was like the special team's big
Speaker 3: catch against the Jets.
Speaker 1: Jets, I think it was the only propetitor. It was
Speaker 1: a huge player that set up I think the game
Speaker 1: when he kield.
Speaker 3: Goals exactly couldn't and they couldn't happen to a better
Speaker 3: guy because he was He was like one of those
Speaker 3: high personality guys.
Speaker 1: So so here you come, new team, new situation. Okay,
Speaker 1: they got this entrenched guy quarterback. He's been around for
Speaker 1: a long time, big gun, I'm your go root guy.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be able to throw it to me when
Speaker 1: he goes down. David, what were you thinking? What were
Speaker 1: you thinking when Drew went down.
Speaker 3: I had played that entire preseason with Tom Brady on
Speaker 3: the third team offense.
Speaker 2: So who are we Who.
Speaker 3: Are we going up against in training camp? The number
Speaker 3: one defense? And I can tell you we gave number one,
Speaker 3: the number one defense problems Tom and I. And I'm
Speaker 3: telling you, Tom, if you didn't know Drew Brees, I
Speaker 3: mean Drew Blet, so what was the one hundred million
Speaker 3: dollar quarterback at that time?
Speaker 2: You would have thought Tom was the starter.
Speaker 3: Just his leadership style, I mean, his composure to plays,
Speaker 3: the throws that he made in practices. So when Drew
Speaker 3: gets knocked out of the game against the Jets and
Speaker 3: I see Tom running into the game, It's like, in my.
Speaker 2: Mind it was in slow motion.
Speaker 3: I was like, Oh, we getting ready to go because
Speaker 3: we had already had so much chemistry. And when he
Speaker 3: comes in, you know everyone knows the story. Well, I'll
Speaker 3: say it like this. He wasn't what he is today.
Speaker 3: He wasn't the three hundred and fifty yard four four
Speaker 3: hundred yards a game quarterback. But at that time, he
Speaker 3: was the big play quarterback when we need a big play,
Speaker 3: when we needed a big throw. Because a good game
Speaker 3: for Tom at that time was was, you know, one
Speaker 3: hundred and ninety five, hundred and eighty five yards two
Speaker 3: hundred and fifteen, because we ran a lot of quick screens,
Speaker 3: you know, underneath routes and things like that. But when
Speaker 3: he came in, I just I really felt like we
Speaker 3: were really getting ready to well.
Speaker 2: At the very least, I knew he wasn't going to
Speaker 2: fall off in.
Speaker 1: And I think you described his first game. So here
Speaker 1: come the Indianapolis Colts, Peyton Manning. They're going up and
Speaker 1: down the field, scoring on everybody. I think Brady threw
Speaker 1: for one hundred and eighty yards and Twine Smith at
Speaker 1: a big game, both otis and tie return touchdowns for
Speaker 1: returning interception for touch On that game, you scored forty
Speaker 1: something points and beat the Colts, beat him pretty badly.
Speaker 1: That's what your team was, right Like, you're not based.
Speaker 1: It's not Tom throwing three fifty. It's getting something out
Speaker 1: of special teams, your defense scores. That's certainly gonna help
Speaker 1: run the ball, control the clock, don't throw it to
Speaker 1: the other team. And that's what Tom did then, didn't
Speaker 1: he exactly?
Speaker 3: I think that you know, when it's all sat and
Speaker 3: done and and Tom. Tom is sitting in his chair
Speaker 3: and and and he's ruh, reminiscing about his his beginning days.
Speaker 2: I think that Tom has a u A great respect for.
Speaker 3: That Patriots team that won the first three championships because
Speaker 3: he wasn't the the the goat, he wasn't the perinial
Speaker 3: three hundred and fifty quarterback. It was total team effort.
Speaker 3: It was total team's win. And and a defensively heavy
Speaker 3: u uh, a defensive heavily team.
Speaker 2: So uh.
Speaker 3: I think Tom w when we had the the reunion
Speaker 3: for the first three championships. He really showed a lot
Speaker 3: of respect for us because it was his younger days
Speaker 3: and and we kind of took up the slack.
Speaker 2: For him, you know, while he waited to develop.
Speaker 1: So so I mentioned quickly about the Indie game at
Speaker 1: home three weeks later. It was pretty close back to back.
Speaker 1: I can't remember exactly you played Indie there and when
Speaker 1: we were talking before, this happened that day and just
Speaker 1: to remind fans, you did something that has only happened
Speaker 1: three times in the history of the National Football League.
Speaker 1: You ran for a touchdown, threw for a touchdown, and
Speaker 1: caught a touchdown in the same game. Now, other guys
Speaker 1: have done that throughout their career and different things like that,
Speaker 1: but only three guys have done it in the same game.
Speaker 1: And the company that you keep are two Hall of Famers.
Speaker 1: The great Walter Payton did it in nineteen seventy nine.
Speaker 1: You became the second player to ever to do it
Speaker 1: in two thousand and one, and then Ladanian Thomlinson did
Speaker 1: it in two thousand and five. When you hear your
Speaker 1: name in that company, what do you think?
Speaker 3: Well, initially, I'm very home because I wasn't aware of that.
Speaker 3: But when I think about it, and you know, when
Speaker 3: I'm teaching my kids and when I'm talking to other
Speaker 3: young people, it that's just it. Everyone can't be the
Speaker 3: the All American every every player can't get the ACU accolades,
Speaker 3: every player can't make it to the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3: But to say that I did something that two Hall
Speaker 3: of famers did you know that?
Speaker 2: That r that's really humbling.
Speaker 3: And that makes me feel pretty good because that's just it.
Speaker 2: When I when I was giving.
Speaker 3: My opportunities, I always felt like I could be an
Speaker 3: a eighty catch ninety catch receiver any given season.
Speaker 2: But that just wasn't my role, I was a down
Speaker 2: the field receiver.
Speaker 3: I think, uh, when you look at my status, I
Speaker 3: averaged like fourteen point nine nine yards per catch, So
Speaker 3: I was the receiver that they counted on to go
Speaker 3: down the field. So Bill didn't wanna put me in
Speaker 3: a lot of situations where I was where I was
Speaker 3: catching uh, underneath routes, across the middle getting banged up.
Speaker 3: Cause you know, I'm I'm not a big, a big guy.
Speaker 3: But but to to to be mentioned in in in
Speaker 3: in that company makes me feel really good because I've
Speaker 3: got great respect.
Speaker 2: Walter Payton is one of my childhood idols, and.
Speaker 3: I played I think I played maybe my last uh
Speaker 3: the first three four years with bay Le dame Ley
Speaker 3: and thomasin and he was a phenomenal player. So you
Speaker 3: know that's something I can I can kind of rest
Speaker 3: my laurels on knowing that now.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk more about that game later on. But
Speaker 1: I wanted to advance a little bit in the old
Speaker 1: one year, I remember talking to Teddy Bruski and Willie
Speaker 1: McGinnis and they disagreed. Willie feels pretty strongly. I think
Speaker 1: Lawyer said the same thing you lost to the Rams,
Speaker 1: like almost at about the three quarter mark of that season. Ironically,
Speaker 1: that'd be the last wash you guys had as a
Speaker 1: team that year. Lawyer says, he goes, look at nothing
Speaker 1: good ever comes from a loss. There's no good that
Speaker 1: comes out of a loss. But but you guys felt like,
Speaker 1: you know what we went toe to told with these guys,
Speaker 1: and if we see them again, we can beat them.
Speaker 1: Do you share that same feeling?
Speaker 3: No question about it, Because in that game, we like
Speaker 3: to say in the NFL, every game can can be lost,
Speaker 3: and every game can go either.
Speaker 2: Way because you have that that that type of parity.
Speaker 3: But in that game, I forget, I forget what the
Speaker 3: famous score was, but what I do remember is that
Speaker 3: we went score for score. We couldn't stop them and
Speaker 3: they couldn't stop us. So by the time we get
Speaker 3: to the super Bowl that year, I mean, our confidence
Speaker 3: was really high because we remember that week and we
Speaker 3: felt like we had just a little bit more time
Speaker 3: we would have won that game. So going into the
Speaker 3: Super Bowl, when no one else other than our fans
Speaker 3: and us believed that we would beat the greatest shown
Speaker 3: on turf, we really had a strong confidence that we would.
Speaker 3: We were just as much the favorites as as as
Speaker 3: the rams, and you see what you see what the
Speaker 3: result was.
Speaker 1: So, you know, kid who grew up in South Carolina
Speaker 1: played it where you went to Western Carolina? Is there
Speaker 1: where you went to school? Yes, I can't imagine that
Speaker 1: there was much snow in a football season when you
Speaker 1: were playing. So here we come to the division around
Speaker 1: of the playoffs. The first time you've been in a
Speaker 1: playoff game, I would assume you know this is going
Speaker 1: to in all likelihood be the final game at Foxborough
Speaker 1: Stadium and it's snowing to beat the band. What were
Speaker 1: your thoughts when you got to the stadium and so
Speaker 1: uh uh oh, we gotta play in this.
Speaker 3: Well, as a receiver, you hate inclement weather because nine
Speaker 3: out of ten times, you know it's probably gonna be
Speaker 3: a uh a, a run heavy type of attack. But something,
Speaker 3: just something was just in the air that night. You know,
Speaker 3: when when the stadium's covered in you know it's a
Speaker 3: old stadium and and the Raiders are coming in out
Speaker 3: of out of Oakland, California. We felt like we had
Speaker 3: the advantage, we had the edge, cause worst case scenario,
Speaker 3: this is what we're accustomed to, this is what we used.
Speaker 3: We we we practicing this all the time, and and
Speaker 3: these guys are coming out of Oakland, California, you know,
Speaker 3: uh sunny uh sunny days. We just felt like that
Speaker 3: was an advantage for us. And once you get into
Speaker 3: that game, definitely, the the advantage goals to the offense.
Speaker 3: So uh, it's playoffs, man, y, y, y, you don't
Speaker 3: you don't look at anything as negative because y, you
Speaker 3: just wanna think that you're gonna be victorious. You're gonna
Speaker 3: do whatever it takes to get the the victory. And
Speaker 3: the way that game calmes down to it, I believe
Speaker 3: we won that game by three points. And the controversial
Speaker 3: call at the end of the game, you know, is
Speaker 3: a part of the game, but it is what it is.
Speaker 2: It went our way.
Speaker 3: But uh, it was one of the one of the
Speaker 3: the greatest games.
Speaker 1: I And you know, you talk about offense having the
Speaker 1: edge that in those conditions, and I agree with you,
Speaker 1: But there wasn't a lot of offense, especially for the
Speaker 1: Patriots through three quarters of the game. Tom scored to
Speaker 1: get it close. The tuck rule happens. Adam has what
Speaker 1: everybody agrees is the greatest kick in the history of
Speaker 1: the NFL. Forty eight yards. Nobody can see it goes
Speaker 1: through get you to overtime. But at that point in time,
Speaker 1: it looked like the offense was clicking. You had a
Speaker 1: huge game. Like Tom really looked to you. You were
Speaker 1: moving the sticks in that game. It looked like as
Speaker 1: the game war run, you were getting more confident. Is
Speaker 1: that a fair way to look at it.
Speaker 2: No doubt about it. Tom came in. I think it
Speaker 2: was pretty tight.
Speaker 3: We struggled a little bit in the first half, but
Speaker 3: after halftime, Tom Brady, I think it's on the Greatest
Speaker 3: Games to Glory.
Speaker 2: It's a clip where Tom comes.
Speaker 3: He goes down the bench and he talks to all
Speaker 3: of us receivers and he's like, hey, guys, I need
Speaker 3: the best routes you guys have chief, I need your
Speaker 3: best comeback routes. And that's just that's the impact Tom
Speaker 3: had because of the way that he trained. He really
Speaker 3: he literally tried to get faster. He tried to compete
Speaker 3: with us speed guys. He did all the speed drill
Speaker 3: works because he just wanted to get better in all areas.
Speaker 2: So when when.
Speaker 3: Your leader comes to you and tells you I need
Speaker 3: the best comeback routes, you've got.
Speaker 2: It just goes to another level.
Speaker 3: And that's what I was That's what I was alluding
Speaker 3: to when I said that, you know, in that type
Speaker 3: of game where inclement weather, we on the offense, we
Speaker 3: have the advantage because we know where we're going.
Speaker 2: So if you remember that game, I believe I had.
Speaker 3: Like one hundred and ten yards and I think I
Speaker 3: was the leading receiver for that game, and I had
Speaker 3: like eight catches.
Speaker 1: Popped up out of the snow, and fatter you, you
Speaker 1: weren't a very demonstrative guy, but the vision in my
Speaker 1: head is coming out of the snow, big first down point, right,
Speaker 1: You remember.
Speaker 3: That exactly Because the half of those routes and half
Speaker 3: of those completions, I was slipping down, falling down.
Speaker 2: But I had the advantage because I knew where I
Speaker 2: was going.
Speaker 3: So the defender he was slipping as well. So so
Speaker 3: it just was a part.
Speaker 2: Of it, man.
Speaker 3: And you know, Tom May the big throws and I
Speaker 3: was able to come down with them. How when the
Speaker 3: snow is beating you in the face and you hate,
Speaker 3: really you hate snow because snow kind of sticks to
Speaker 3: your gloves and it makes your glove gloves kind of slick,
Speaker 3: but the ball was just sticking, you know it.
Speaker 2: It was meant to be.
Speaker 1: I'm a long time I neightve New England are basically David.
Speaker 1: And when I hear somebody say Chief, I'm a big
Speaker 1: Celtics fan, and I think of Robert Perry. A lot
Speaker 1: of people in the Boston think Robert Parrish. Robert Parrish
Speaker 1: was the Chief Great Hall of Fame Center for the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics. How did David Patten get the nickname?
Speaker 2: Well? I was the Chief everywhere everywhere I played.
Speaker 3: I guess no one really likes the name David, or
Speaker 3: they say, when you're pretty cool, you get nicknames. Every
Speaker 3: team I played for, every level I played on, no
Speaker 3: one ever called me mama named David. They always came
Speaker 3: up with some type of nickname ll run. I think
Speaker 3: it started out with the New York Giants. Then it
Speaker 3: then it moved to Creating Bob cause I was I
Speaker 3: was uh really ripped cause I was taking creating as
Speaker 3: a sub ste a uh a supplement, so they called
Speaker 3: me Creating Bob. Then when I get to New England,
Speaker 3: I I believe Tom Tom started calling me Chief because
Speaker 3: being being raised in in country South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.
Speaker 3: My my father. He calls everyone chief, and I always
Speaker 3: struggle with people's name, so I'll be like, Chief.
Speaker 1: Let's get it.
Speaker 2: It's a good day, let's go Chief.
Speaker 3: So Tom just it kind of I guess it fit
Speaker 3: because I I I I was one of the the
Speaker 3: work ethic guys, you know.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: I used to always run ten go routes at the
Speaker 3: end of every practice with Tom. So I guess that
Speaker 3: kind of stood out to him. So he just started
Speaker 3: calling me Chief, and it kind of just stuck from there,
Speaker 3: and everyone started calling me calling me that, and it
Speaker 3: it kind of just I it.
Speaker 2: It followed me throughout the league.
Speaker 1: So you talked earlier about you know that you and
Speaker 1: Tom had developed some really nice chemistry and camaraderie and
Speaker 1: training camp AC Championship game in Pittsburgh, and Tom goes
Speaker 1: out and I think and at the end of the
Speaker 1: first quarter of the second quarter, here comes Drew off
Speaker 1: the bench, hasn't played a lick, gets whacked on the
Speaker 1: sideline on that touchdown drive. But talk about the play
Speaker 1: where he throws at words. There's only one guy who's
Speaker 1: going to catch the ball there, and talk about that
Speaker 1: play because you didn't really have an opportunity to develop
Speaker 1: chemistry with Drew, did you well?
Speaker 3: Throughout the throughout the course of the year, you know,
Speaker 3: everyone is going through practice and it's always the next
Speaker 3: man up mentality and talk. I mean, Drew, he was
Speaker 3: he was already used to being a man, so he
Speaker 3: just had to come back in and do what he did.
Speaker 2: And I'll never forget running that route. I think it
Speaker 2: was a.
Speaker 3: Corner route and I was the inside I was the
Speaker 3: inside slot guy to the right side and coming out
Speaker 3: of the break and I I remember coming around and
Speaker 3: I saw him. I saw the ball actually leave his hand.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh, I'm getting ready to score this touchdown.
Speaker 3: And Drew, Drew just had he he had he had
Speaker 3: a touch on the ball.
Speaker 2: I I think I think between the two two.
Speaker 3: Of those guys, I would say Tom had the stronger arm,
Speaker 3: but Drew just had a He had a knack for
Speaker 3: patting the ball and and like just flicking it out there.
Speaker 3: So you know, it's the old adage, it doesn't matter
Speaker 3: who's in the game, it doesn't matter what the situation is.
Speaker 2: You have a uh uh.
Speaker 3: You have one responsibility that's to do your job, get
Speaker 3: open and catch the ball, and that's what we did.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of similarities. And you're gonna correct me
Speaker 1: and tell me I'm wrong, and that's fine, But it
Speaker 1: seems to me there's a lot of similarities between that play.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's just cause it's that side of the end zone.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's the fact that you're up in the air
Speaker 1: like that, because you were very similar. The Pittsburgh catch
Speaker 1: for touchdown and the Saint Louis catching the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: seems very similar. But they're not similar plays, are.
Speaker 2: They not at all?
Speaker 3: And I think everyone kind of gets those two plays
Speaker 3: mixed up thinking that they are the same, right, because
Speaker 3: they weren't the same area. But that the touchdown versus
Speaker 3: the Stealers was was a deep corner inside deep corner route.
Speaker 3: And then the touchdown in the Super Bowl wasn't.
Speaker 2: Out and up.
Speaker 3: And I'll tell you a quick story about that. That
Speaker 3: was supposed to be a quick out and the inside
Speaker 3: receiver was supposed to be running the corner route the
Speaker 3: touchdown catch against the Stealers, but we were playing against
Speaker 3: I believe it was Dexter McLean and he was an
Speaker 3: overly aggressive corner because he wasn't really fast wasn't really physical,
Speaker 3: but he was just really smart and he got a
Speaker 3: lot of jumps.
Speaker 2: He could he could read keys really well. And Charlie
Speaker 2: and Bill on the walkthrough in.
Speaker 3: The in the Saturday practice where we only out there
Speaker 3: thirty minutes, Charlie just at the last moment he said, Bill, I.
Speaker 2: Think we need to Oh maybe it was Bill, Yeah
Speaker 2: it was Bill.
Speaker 3: Bill said Charlie, I think we need to make that
Speaker 3: an out and up because we know Dasion McClean likes
Speaker 3: to sit on the routes, and we're inside the ten
Speaker 3: yards so we're inside the ten yard line. So if
Speaker 3: we get inside the ten yard line, let's change that
Speaker 3: out into a quick out and up to take advantage
Speaker 3: of him jumping on the quick out. And so it
Speaker 3: was in the same vicinity of the end zone, but
Speaker 3: one route was out, out and up and the touchdown
Speaker 3: against the Steelers was a deep corner.
Speaker 1: So do you put this play in the rope the
Speaker 1: walk through on the Saturday for the Super Bowl? You
Speaker 1: don't practice it. You've never practiced to play.
Speaker 2: We walked through it.
Speaker 1: You walked through it, but you didn't practice it. And
Speaker 1: so it comes into the huddle and Tom calls it.
Speaker 1: What's going through your mind?
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm getting ready to score the I didn't know
Speaker 3: it was gonna be the only offense touch up, but
Speaker 3: I just knew I was gonna score because Dester McClean
Speaker 3: was a really aggressive corner back and I d I
Speaker 3: just knew the play was gonna work. But when when
Speaker 3: the ball actually came, Tom put it on the He
Speaker 3: put it high in the outside to.
Speaker 2: The back corner.
Speaker 3: And I think when I came out of the the
Speaker 3: up portion of the the the route, I was more
Speaker 3: to the inside as opposed to the back pile line.
Speaker 2: I was. I was.
Speaker 3: I remember thinking in my mind cause I it was
Speaker 3: all slow motion. It's like you're watching television, Uh remember
Speaker 3: the Titans or something, and then it's the it's a
Speaker 3: a a key moment in the game, but it's.
Speaker 2: All in slow motion. I'm like, oh, he missed me.
Speaker 2: I said, I.
Speaker 3: Still gotta, you know, make it look like i'm'a try
Speaker 3: to get to it. And I just kept going up
Speaker 3: and and w When the ball hit my hands, if
Speaker 3: you if you look at the picture, it was a
Speaker 3: it was a a the uh the panorama view and
Speaker 3: the sports uh Sports Illustrated, so the picture that takes
Speaker 3: up the whole magazine.
Speaker 2: I'm catching the ball. The ball is like actually.
Speaker 3: On on the inside of my fingers, so it's kind
Speaker 3: of it's a funky catch.
Speaker 2: Nine other times I probably.
Speaker 3: Dropped the ball and I was able to hold on
Speaker 3: to it and drag my toes.
Speaker 2: On the back power or so.
Speaker 1: I think. When Ty intercepted the ball, it's like you
Speaker 1: stunned the Rims with like a pretty good right cross
Speaker 1: and wobble their knees a little bit. When you score
Speaker 1: with under thirty seconds to play or less to go
Speaker 1: into halftime, and you go in fourteen to three, what
Speaker 1: was the feeling because I don't think other than the
Speaker 1: fifty three of you guys, nobody thought you were going
Speaker 1: to win. When you're going in fourteen to three, just
Speaker 1: scoring before the half, what was the thinking like when
Speaker 1: you did that, Because at that point in time, I
Speaker 1: think the uh oh, we got something going on here,
Speaker 1: right exactly.
Speaker 3: I definitely believe that that's when we let everyone else
Speaker 3: know that we were the real deal. But as far
Speaker 3: as ourselves, I know, me personally, I had so much
Speaker 3: confidence going up against them because of how we played
Speaker 3: them in the regular season game.
Speaker 2: I never forget man.
Speaker 3: Throughout the course of the uh that we preparing for
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl, Bill had us line up five yards
Speaker 3: past the line of scrimmage to simulate their speed, and
Speaker 3: he told those guys listen, I don't care.
Speaker 2: I want you rough housing. I want you holding those guys.
Speaker 2: When Marshall Fault comes out.
Speaker 3: Of the the I believe they put Willie on him.
Speaker 3: They put Willie on whatever side he was lined up on,
Speaker 3: and Bill in the middle of one prot.
Speaker 2: He said, well, I don't care what you gotta do.
Speaker 2: You know, use a couple of extraplo lives.
Speaker 3: But you better knock this this guy out. So every
Speaker 3: play we played those guys so physical. I think if
Speaker 3: you were at the at the beginning of that game,
Speaker 3: Tory Holt caught a.
Speaker 2: Uh A d A A A A.
Speaker 3: Deep goal route on the left side and Tebucky Jones
Speaker 3: came and hit him like five yards out of bounds.
Speaker 3: I don't know if we got the pennanty, but thats
Speaker 3: that was the way we prepared to play 'em.
Speaker 2: Bill. Bill.
Speaker 3: He established in us the mentality that no matter what
Speaker 3: the outcome of that game, we were gonna be more
Speaker 3: physical than those guys. We were gonna let those guys know, Ay,
Speaker 3: you're you're in a war, You're in a fight. So
Speaker 3: we we we took away their strength. Bill was phenomenal
Speaker 3: for that manner. I'm not just saying he's perhaps one
Speaker 3: of the greatest coaches just because that's what everyone says
Speaker 3: now because of all.
Speaker 2: The success that he's had.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know if Bill had that much
Speaker 3: success prior to him getting with the with the UH
Speaker 3: with the Patriots. But you know, naturally, you know, you
Speaker 3: you get the you get the positive comments when you
Speaker 3: when you have the productivity to go with it. But
Speaker 3: I can honestly say this, this man, I've never been
Speaker 3: around a better football mind. I I he he wasn't.
Speaker 3: He wasn't much for UH personality. And how d it's
Speaker 3: not that he doesn't have personality, because Bill has great personality.
Speaker 3: He's just so focused, he's so he's so dedicated to
Speaker 3: his responsibility. If if we could all take a page
Speaker 3: out of his book in terms of focus and commitment,
Speaker 3: much of us, many of us will be so much
Speaker 3: better off. And and a lot of times that gets
Speaker 3: misconstrued as not having a lot of personality. When we
Speaker 3: went back for the the the reunion Man. We had
Speaker 3: a great time with Bill. I saw a side of
Speaker 3: him that I really didn't witness much as a player,
Speaker 3: you know, so, but but his his mentality, his his
Speaker 3: defensive mentality, his leadership skills. He he literally had us
Speaker 3: so prepared going into any game. It it really didn't
Speaker 3: even matter that they were the the greatest show on turf.
Speaker 3: We just we knew, we knew how well prepared we were,
Speaker 3: and he had coached us up so well.
Speaker 2: He had us believing in ourselves.
Speaker 3: So I I, I mean, I know it probably sounds
Speaker 3: cliche to say that we knew we were gonna win
Speaker 3: win that game.
Speaker 2: I mean, what else? What else you gonna say? If
Speaker 2: you don't think you're gonna win, you probably not on
Speaker 2: that level anyway.
Speaker 3: But according to the the stats and what was going
Speaker 3: on at that time, that defeasts that they were accomplishing
Speaker 3: on the field. Yes, it was a long shot, but
Speaker 3: the way we were prepared, the way we were coached,
Speaker 3: we felt we had just as equal an opportunity to
Speaker 3: to to be the win of that game.
Speaker 1: And yet after kind of dominating for three quarters, something
Speaker 1: happens and uh and the Rams kind of f the
Speaker 1: switch and you guys are taking body blow after body
Speaker 1: blow after body blow. It's tied. The infamous should Madden
Speaker 1: saying they shouldn't play for overtime? You get down the field,
Speaker 1: Tom masterfully brings a team down, huge catch by Troy.
Speaker 1: What was your routine or what was your mentality? You
Speaker 1: saw the snowball kick when Adam kicked it, and you
Speaker 1: get to overtime and eventually he kicked you guys into
Speaker 1: the AFC Championship game. When he's going out into the field,
Speaker 1: what were you doing on the sideline at that point
Speaker 1: in time as he's getting ready.
Speaker 3: For the kick. I can honestly say I never I
Speaker 3: never even thought that he ever even had a chance
Speaker 3: to miss the field goal. No, naturally, he had just
Speaker 3: as much an opportunity to miss as he did to
Speaker 3: make it. But Adam had made so many big kicks
Speaker 3: after great kicks after great kicks.
Speaker 2: It kind of got to the point how we feel
Speaker 2: with Tom. We feel like we.
Speaker 3: In any given moment putting, when Thomas putting at the
Speaker 3: right position, he's gonna make the play, He's gonna he's
Speaker 3: gonna make the team better. And I think that's the
Speaker 3: way that Adam has established himself as the kicker. He
Speaker 3: was so good, he was so consistent, He had made
Speaker 3: so many great kicks. He made that he made it
Speaker 3: difficult look easy, and I can honestly say I never
Speaker 3: thought he was gonna.
Speaker 1: Miss Did you watch it? Did you is you? Are
Speaker 1: you a head down guy? Let's hear what the crowd
Speaker 1: has to say? Or do you watch it?
Speaker 3: I'm watching it because he he had removed the pressure. Now,
Speaker 3: the pressure probably was on it for the fans, but
Speaker 3: we seemless every day, day in and day out. We
Speaker 3: see how he goes about his craft. You know, kickers
Speaker 3: don't do much in practice, you know, but when it
Speaker 3: comes time for him to kick his field goals, man,
Speaker 3: he is down in. I'm telling you he's he's kneeling
Speaker 3: those things so he I know with them myself. He
Speaker 3: had built my confidence in him that I I just
Speaker 3: expected it to be.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 1: You were fortunate to be a part of three. You
Speaker 1: were on the team the last team that ever went
Speaker 1: back to back three Super Bowl championships. Your role was
Speaker 1: different certainly in three and o four, some because of injury,
Speaker 1: some because you know, the roster was changing over a
Speaker 1: different guys in there like Dion Branch and everything like that.
Speaker 1: So maybe this is a loaded question, But was O
Speaker 1: one by far and away your favorite memory of those
Speaker 1: three championships.
Speaker 3: Yes, and I will say that because I actually scored
Speaker 3: in O one, But in actuality, I I didn't have
Speaker 3: an opportunity to play in Old in in the OLD
Speaker 3: three Super Bowl against the Panthers because I I I
Speaker 3: suffered an injury. I tore myma niscus. But I I
Speaker 3: I trained really hard that all season. I came back
Speaker 3: and I won my my position back as the starting
Speaker 3: ex receiver. So that that year, if I'm not mistaken,
Speaker 3: I think that was my second biggest statistical year. It
Speaker 3: just it just happened the way that the game plan
Speaker 3: was when we went we went into the uh Super
Speaker 3: Bowl against the the the Eagles.
Speaker 2: We we we we we.
Speaker 3: We put the pressure on them in that they they
Speaker 3: they were a Cover two, they were a cover too
Speaker 3: heavy uh d uh defensive team, or they would play
Speaker 3: m uh man coverage. So but we put the pressure
Speaker 3: on them if they if they would come out in
Speaker 3: man coverage.
Speaker 1: We ha.
Speaker 3: We actually had a lot of shots built into that
Speaker 3: game plan, but they actually came out in a cover
Speaker 3: too heavy game plan, which is gonna always put the
Speaker 3: advantage to the offense, uh with the slot receivers.
Speaker 2: And that's why Dion gets.
Speaker 3: The MVP for that game, because they made a decision
Speaker 3: to run cover too heavy uh uh uh a cover
Speaker 3: two heavy defensive scheme. And now Dion is matched up
Speaker 3: against uh the nickel uh corner back and sometimes linebackers.
Speaker 2: And good luck with that.
Speaker 3: And so I I lead Dion had what one hundred
Speaker 3: and forty something yours on, like sixteen catches or something
Speaker 3: like that. It wasn't in a Super Bowl record time
Speaker 3: close to it, I think, yeah, you know the O
Speaker 3: one season, David, It's it's hard to nail it down,
Speaker 3: but I'm gonna ask you and kind of put you
Speaker 3: on the spot.
Speaker 1: Well, in a year with so many different memories, you know,
Speaker 1: and Drewsying his brother's running out nine to eleven with
Speaker 1: the Flags, and your game against the Colts and the
Speaker 1: AFC Championship, the Snow Bowl, the Super Bowl, was there
Speaker 1: one thing in your mind during that year? What was
Speaker 1: the one thing that sticks out if you can limit
Speaker 1: it to one that gives you the most joy or
Speaker 1: gives you the most satisfaction. When you look back at
Speaker 1: that year, you said it. You said you scored in
Speaker 1: the AFT Championship. You scored the only touch, the only
Speaker 1: offensive touchdown in the super Bowl that year, super Bowl
Speaker 1: thirty six, the Patriots first ever Super Bowl, was scored
Speaker 1: by David Patton.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I don't was it?
Speaker 1: You know, Adams kicked to get you into over Like
Speaker 1: you guys were dead in the water. Man, you guys
Speaker 1: are dead in the water. The tuck roll happens, you
Speaker 1: get a new life. The odds of him making that
Speaker 1: forty eight yard field going are very good. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people in New England that believe
Speaker 1: that the tuck roll slash, that kick, that's what kicked
Speaker 1: things off. There are people who prefer the Snowball game
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl game because that was the game
Speaker 1: that really started the whole thing.
Speaker 2: But it was a game.
Speaker 3: It was an instrumental game where we got beat really bad.
Speaker 3: And I don't know if I don't know if it
Speaker 3: was that year prior to the Super Bowl or the
Speaker 3: following year, didn't we get beat by I want to
Speaker 3: say we got blown We got blown out by someone.
Speaker 1: And three you got blown up by Buffalo in the
Speaker 1: first game of the year.
Speaker 2: No, there was a game we got blown out and
Speaker 2: Bill came.
Speaker 1: In, Oh, Miami at Miami, you got smoked.
Speaker 2: And wasn't that prior to the Super Bowl?
Speaker 1: No regular ball, Miami regular season?
Speaker 3: Wasn't that in two thousand and one, Yes, sir, that's
Speaker 3: that was the instrumental moment for me because I remember it.
Speaker 3: To me, I felt like that's when it turned around
Speaker 3: for us, because not only had that never been done
Speaker 3: by coach to me, but the meaning of it. I
Speaker 3: mean you we come into practice, were feeling demoralized. Because
Speaker 3: you as a professional player, you live, you get measured
Speaker 3: every day. I'll never forget I had a coach tell
Speaker 3: me we have the greatest job in the world. We
Speaker 3: actually get evaluated on a day to day basis, and
Speaker 3: when after practice you can go and evaluate yourself as
Speaker 3: to how successful you were that day, did you get
Speaker 3: it done or not?
Speaker 2: You can literally know that every day.
Speaker 3: And so to come to come in to a Monday practice,
Speaker 3: a winn stay practice after a demoralizing loss, and you
Speaker 3: see a big hole at the end of the practice field.
Speaker 2: He like, what's going on? And he comes that he
Speaker 2: buries us in the meeting.
Speaker 3: But then when he goes to bury the ball, he's like, now,
Speaker 3: everything I've said to you guys, everything we messed up
Speaker 3: in this game, we're burying it right here, and we
Speaker 3: have a chance to start over from this point for
Speaker 3: and do something special.
Speaker 2: I will never forget that.
Speaker 1: So when away, David, do you think that that helped?
Speaker 1: Because I think one of the things that people find
Speaker 1: so successful about Bill in the program, and it's a
Speaker 1: program now after twenty somebody years, is you never get
Speaker 1: too high after the win, and you never get too low.
Speaker 1: And the players buy into that. You know, yeah, we
Speaker 1: won thirty one enough of this week, but it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter anymore what we did last week. It matters what
Speaker 1: we do this week. And maybe did that watching him say, yeah,
Speaker 1: you got your bunch kick. You were terrible in that game.
Speaker 1: But we're gonna forget about it. We're gonna learn from it,
Speaker 1: not talk about it anymore. Unlet's move on to the
Speaker 1: next week. Is it that kind of short term memory
Speaker 1: that helps make a team like that successful.
Speaker 2: No doubt about it.
Speaker 3: And think about that, because it's one thing to tell up,
Speaker 3: to tell your players to forget.
Speaker 2: Something, But that's that's that's not even possible. We can't
Speaker 2: even forget anything but not human nature exactly. But when you.
Speaker 3: Tell someone to bury it, now, I have a picture.
Speaker 2: Listen, I'll never lose this memory.
Speaker 3: And I'm gonna feel like doodo until I give a
Speaker 3: chance to get back on that field and and and
Speaker 3: get back to a win. But I've got to consciously
Speaker 3: make up in my mind that even though I sucked
Speaker 3: it up this past week, I gotta put that behind
Speaker 3: me and I gotta keep going.
Speaker 2: I've gotta move forward. Man.
Speaker 1: That's that's that's that's that's life.
Speaker 2: I will I will never forget that.
Speaker 3: And it's interesting that you say that Bill has established
Speaker 3: a program.
Speaker 2: You don't establish programs in the National Football League.
Speaker 3: You've you've got millionaires running routes and catching touchdowns and
Speaker 3: throwing passes and protecting the quarterback. How do you how
Speaker 3: do you start a program in the National Football League?
Speaker 2: But that is what he has done.
Speaker 3: And when people when people bring up the comparison between
Speaker 3: he and uh uh coach saving down at Alabama, to me,
Speaker 3: that's the difference between Bill and coach Shaven.
Speaker 2: Bill has done this with grown men.
Speaker 3: It don't matter where you've been Antonio Brown, Randy Monks.
Speaker 3: But when you come to the New England Patriots, you
Speaker 3: don't even you don't have to.
Speaker 2: Be told that you gotta change. You just fall in line.
Speaker 3: It's it's it's it's an underlying understanding.
Speaker 2: We're great here. We do things.
Speaker 1: We get it done.
Speaker 3: It matters how you do it. But at the end
Speaker 3: of the day, just just get it done. That's that's
Speaker 3: the program. Can you say what other coach will be
Speaker 3: able to say that they will be able.
Speaker 2: To do that. I'm not saying it won't ever be
Speaker 2: done again, but that's that's that's that's a tough beat.
Speaker 1: So why I look at you when you say that,
Speaker 1: and I hear the passion in your voice when you
Speaker 1: talk about that you won three the only the last
Speaker 1: team that went back to back. Oh Bill hasn't won
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl in ten years, and then the Patriots
Speaker 1: win three more in five years. When you look back
Speaker 1: to one and know that you were a part, that
Speaker 1: was the start of it, David, that was the start
Speaker 1: of it. What does that mean to you to be
Speaker 1: on the front end of what is? You know, you
Speaker 1: said it, it's never gonna get done again. It's never
Speaker 1: gonna happen again, and you were a part of that,
Speaker 1: and you're on the front end of it.
Speaker 3: No matter what what happens in my life, and now
Speaker 3: where I find myself in ministry or trying to compel
Speaker 3: people to be better when we live in such a
Speaker 3: such an information society, such a technic technological society, it's
Speaker 3: it's it's really tough trying to stress and emphasize faith
Speaker 3: and and and you know what we've just gone through
Speaker 3: with COVID. You know, I find myself in a different,
Speaker 3: a difficult place now because once you make it to
Speaker 3: the NFL, if you are privileged and you're blessed to
Speaker 3: be a part of a championship team, it's going to
Speaker 3: be almost impossible to try to re recreate that in
Speaker 3: another field. And I've been searching and seeking for that
Speaker 3: since the day that I've retired. But what I will say,
Speaker 3: no matter how difficult this wall, no matter how difficult
Speaker 3: ministry is, it's what I've experienced playing with the New
Speaker 3: England Patriots, being a part of that leadership staff, being
Speaker 3: a part of that team. No matter what degree of
Speaker 3: success I I reach off the field or outside of football,
Speaker 3: no matter how low it goes, I'm always a champion.
Speaker 3: I'm always a winner, and I think that that's what
Speaker 3: the Patriots, being a part of the New England Patriots,
Speaker 3: that that that foundational team, the team that won the
Speaker 3: first three championships in the four years, that will all
Speaker 3: I will always be mindedful that it's not about what
Speaker 3: you have accomplished. It's not about what you what you
Speaker 3: have done or are doing. The bottom line is is
Speaker 3: to remain focused and do your job.
Speaker 1: You when you walked in, I said you could, You
Speaker 1: look like you could give him at least five snaps.
Speaker 1: You thought fifteen. Just make sure you spread it out
Speaker 1: because you have a lot of go routes. There's a
Speaker 1: guy who's maybe around your age, a little bit older
Speaker 1: or something. He's still doing it. He's gonna be forty
Speaker 1: four in August. Are you surprised that Tom's still doing
Speaker 1: it and doing it as well as he's doing it.
Speaker 2: No, I'm not surprised. And this is the reason why.
Speaker 3: You know, when you've played the game, you definitely have
Speaker 3: a better, much better perspective than those who haven't played
Speaker 3: the game. Not only does Tom play the most protected
Speaker 3: position in the National Football League, he is probably his
Speaker 3: type of play, being a pocket passer, being a sixty
Speaker 3: attempt quarterback. You know, it doesn't require a lot of
Speaker 3: physical wear and tear. Now, I know what you're gonna say,
Speaker 3: w what about all the sacks and what a what
Speaker 3: about all the the the physicality of of eluding the
Speaker 3: the the two hundred and ninety pound defensive ends and
Speaker 3: and three hundred pound tackles. But if you think about it,
Speaker 3: one of the greatest to ever do it, one of
Speaker 3: the greatest at that position.
Speaker 2: I mean, Tom really hasn't been hit that much, So
Speaker 2: it doesn't shock.
Speaker 3: Me that he's still playing this long, particularly the way
Speaker 3: in which he takes care of himself, the fact that
Speaker 3: Tom wasn't a high draft pick, the fact that Tom
Speaker 3: wasn't always the goat from the beginning. He's developed I believe,
Speaker 3: such a humble mentality that no matter what what degree
Speaker 3: of success he experiences, Tom will never forget where he
Speaker 3: comes from. And I I say that because when we
Speaker 3: had the reunion, I hadn't seen Tom in what ten
Speaker 3: fifteen years.
Speaker 2: And he was still the same guy.
Speaker 1: What I remember about that reunion and I was there
Speaker 1: with you cause we produced a TV show around it
Speaker 1: is there's David Patton, and there's Otis Smith, and there's
Speaker 1: Lawyer Malloy, and there's Ty law there's Teddy Bruski, Willie
Speaker 1: McGinnis in the back of the room with the Scalley
Speaker 1: cap on, almost afraid to be there. He didn't wanna
Speaker 1: take away from you guys because I w I think
Speaker 1: Tom remembers that Tom was riding shotgun on.
Speaker 2: That teams.
Speaker 3: And that was one of the That's what amazes me
Speaker 3: so much about him. You're you're talking about one of
Speaker 3: the the most recognizable people.
Speaker 2: In the world. You're talking about one of the most
Speaker 2: likable people in the world.
Speaker 3: The only people who hate Tom are his opponents and
Speaker 3: and the fans of his opponents teams.
Speaker 2: Right, But Tom's pretty well loved.
Speaker 3: I mean he he's married to a a a very
Speaker 3: pretty lady. Uh the second one. I mean, he's he's
Speaker 3: got it going on and to remain humble. I I
Speaker 3: tell you, Ma'm the the media will always try to
Speaker 3: manipulate what what the true character of a person is
Speaker 3: because the reality is human nature is jealous. We don't mind,
Speaker 3: we don't mind people having success, but we kind of
Speaker 3: hate it when someone has extreme success. We don't like
Speaker 3: for for someone to be great for an extended period
Speaker 3: of time, cause you start to envy it. So I
Speaker 3: think that that's where I've I've heard some people say that,
Speaker 3: you know, Tom's arrogant.
Speaker 2: Or he's not humble. I I've never witnessed a time.
Speaker 3: When I've been with him, when I've when I've had
Speaker 3: the opportunity to be around him and we sh I
Speaker 3: I we stayed in contact with each other, I would say,
Speaker 3: up until about five six years after retiring, and then
Speaker 3: you know, life just takes you in different you know,
Speaker 3: to a different level, you know. So I haven't talked
Speaker 3: to him much since since that point, but we we
Speaker 3: kept in contact. He would return my text message, aymen,
Speaker 3: I'm praying for you to have a successful season.
Speaker 2: Chee.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that man, that that means, That means the world,
Speaker 3: because you know, a lot of people forget where they
Speaker 3: come from, and I I don't think that Tom is
Speaker 3: one of those people. I think he'll he'll always be
Speaker 3: respectful and honor that that first wave of guys that
Speaker 3: came in and established the Patriot wate.
Speaker 1: Last one here for me on this is you know,
Speaker 1: I I don't know how easy it is for you.
Speaker 1: You're down here in South Carolina, you're trying to establish
Speaker 1: this new career for yourself, and you talked about getting
Speaker 1: at the ground floor and hum beginnings and who knows
Speaker 1: where that's gonna take you. But you mentioned what it's
Speaker 1: like that you you're a champion and nobody can ever
Speaker 1: take that away from you. I think you got a
Speaker 1: little chance to see it five years ago when they
Speaker 1: were the reunion for the two thousand and one team,
Speaker 1: And I wonder if you realize, Look, your name isn't
Speaker 1: Tom Brady or maybe even Teddy Bruski, or maybe even
Speaker 1: William McGuinness, But in the New England area, David David
Speaker 1: Patten's name means something. You know. Maybe you're not the
Speaker 1: household name that those other people are, but when you
Speaker 1: talk to a Patriot fan, then you say the words
Speaker 1: David Patten, Oh I know him? Yeah, the game against
Speaker 1: the Cults, how about the catch against the Steelers, how
Speaker 1: about the catch against the Rams? What does that mean
Speaker 1: to you? To know that you have a legacy back
Speaker 1: in New England and Patriot fans will never ever forget
Speaker 1: who you are.
Speaker 3: That means a lot, especially when you think about the
Speaker 3: type of people that are in that area. You know,
Speaker 3: tough people, oh, you know, work ethic people doing doing
Speaker 3: the tough years. I remember when they used to show
Speaker 3: the the the footage of you know, the years when
Speaker 3: the the Pats struggle and they the fans would come
Speaker 3: to the games with the with the bags on their heads.
Speaker 3: And then when we got there in the old one
Speaker 3: season and we actually turned it around.
Speaker 2: You never ran.
Speaker 3: Across a fan that that wasn't genuinely appreciative of it.
Speaker 2: And so to to to to know that.
Speaker 3: My name resonates with them, cause I I think that
Speaker 3: they they appreciate they they appreciate players that come and
Speaker 3: give their all to the team and to the organization.
Speaker 3: And I think that that's what means means the most
Speaker 3: to me, because you know, you you you gonna always
Speaker 3: appreciate the the great players or the players that have
Speaker 3: a lot of uh stats. But so many times I've
Speaker 3: had fans come to me and say, I really appreciate
Speaker 3: your career. I appreciate the way that you laid it
Speaker 3: all on the line. That's not always That's that's not
Speaker 3: always the case. Listen, Let's be honest. Sometimes there are
Speaker 3: guys that that you know sambag and they don't give
Speaker 3: their all, but then you have those guys that are
Speaker 3: going to give you their last. And when someone recognizes that,
Speaker 3: that that that that's really special.
Speaker 1: That's our path for the past podcast. David Patton was
Speaker 1: our guest. David, thank you so much for your time,
Speaker 1: great stories, great information.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
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