February 5, 2023 • 48 mins
Legendary San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs QB Joe Montana joins Mike Silver to discuss the highs and lows of Montana’s Hall of Fame career. Montana looks back at his final game at Candlestick Park, playing as a backup to Steve Young, being traded from the 49ers to the Chiefs, and how the rules during his era allowed defenders to intentionally injure quarterbacks and ultimately led to many of his 27 surgeries. They also discuss Brock Purdy’s elbow injury, who the 49ers should play at QB next season, and how he nearly died when he crashed a race car into a tree, and how fans can purchase some of his own prized memorabilia. #volume #Herd
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume, well way back before I was a big
time podcaster. At the volume, I was a rookie beat
writer twenty four years old working for a down to
funk newspaper called The Sacramento Union, covering one of the
(00:24):
greatest football teams, if not the greatest of all time,
the nineteen nine San Francisco forty Diers. I got thrown in.
I wore a giant straw hat at training camp, was
nicknamed huck Finn and was complete idiot. Didn't know what
I was doing at all, and so very nice people
(00:44):
there took took pity on me, including the quarterback. You
did upgrade to a nice leather looking had at one
point that see that this is why so Joe Batana.
He's done a few things on the football field, but
people don't understand the recall um that he has. And
that's an incredible note. I did start out with a
(01:05):
ridiculous straw hat. There was a series of them that
got bigger. I was like full sombrero. This is in
Rockland where it was very hot. I did actually go
leather and uh and you were often wearing a helmet,
though not always. Yeah, my hair today and I do
actually vividly remember the first time that we ever talked
(01:27):
up in Rockland. You would go to the pool between practices,
which was behind the locker room, and I'd be screwed
around going off the high dive, you know, and we, uh,
we were able to have conversations that weren't like, hey,
on that third and seven throw, were you trying to
throw to uh? To Jerry? And uh? It was good?
(01:49):
So how are you man? Good to have you been good? Yeah,
it's good to be here. Everything's going good looking, looking
forward to the big game coming up and um, everything's
going good looking for a new granddaughter, a grandson on
the way now coming up here in the next few weeks,
being number three, and yeah, I've just been fun down here. Um,
(02:12):
you're watching these guys hit the golf ball like I
wish I could. You're you're down at Pebble Beach the
episode of the Golf World right now. Yeah, that's awesome, amazing.
I have so many topics to get into. Um, I
will start with the Super Bowl because you brought it up.
You are you know, of course, so much of your
(02:32):
career was associated with the forty niners, but you are
a proud former Kansas City chief as well. Um, is
it easier for you when they're not playing each other
and you could just go gug home for the Chiefs.
I just wear red when they play each other, right,
and then I got my red on right this matter?
But uh, yeah, no, I mean it was it's always
(02:55):
fun to see him play each other. That that would
be great. Um, you know how it was for the
forty Niners with all the injuries like in that game
all of a sudden, Uh didn't even didn't even have
a shot. And I think I could could have thrown
some passes better than Bertie at that point in time
when they're throwing back in the game after Josh got
(03:16):
a concussion, I might not have been able to avoid
the rush, but I feel like you could have probably
thrown its slants a couple of things. Actually was throwing balls.
What we were we were doing an event, me and
Steve Bono and JT. John Taylor. We were into Pasadena
in the Rose Bowl doing an event playing this thing
(03:37):
called Catch a Pass. So we were throwing passes and
we we said, okay, we're only coming, we gotta put
the game and they put it up on the jumbo
tron and so we got to watch the game while
we were doing this up on the JumboTron and the
rose ball, so um it was you know, hey, Bones
can still throw it. Not not so much about me,
but none step Bones was playing it. Yeah. For people
(04:00):
who remember the late eighties, h John Taylor catching passes
in southern California probably brings back some first for rampants. Unbelievable. Um,
you know, football is not like every other sport. You
even now when the rules have been changed drastically, but
(04:22):
even now, you can cleanly knock out the quarterback of
the other team, and if it's in an elimination game,
that usually helps your chances of victory, uh greatly. Um,
you know you obviously experience that twice in playoff games.
We'll take them one at a time, since we're going
down to every lay in. You're playing the New York
(04:45):
Giants at the Metal Ends. Your future teammate Jim Bert
hit your hit you right up in here, and that
I think your head hit the frozen astroturm. Yeah, it's
just how funny, like one little thing really um triggers
a concussion like that. I mean, you wouldn't you wouldn't
(05:05):
you look at it and you watch it and you go, well,
it didn't look like you hit it that hard, but
it's weird. If you hit it in the right spot,
it's got You're done and how you go and you know,
and they didn't. You know, I probably could have gone
to the sidelines at some point and come try to
come back in like they did back then. But you
know nowadays, as soon as that happens, you know you're done.
(05:26):
See do you remember it? I don't remember. I remember
the hit part of it, and then after that, I don't.
Um from that point until some point in the in
the ambulance um, before we got to the X rays
and stuff. UM's one. I kind of remshed oart remembering things.
(05:49):
And then you heard the score in your head probably
started hurting even more. Yeah, absolutely, well I think the
past ictor was picked off and run back for a
touchdown too. It's what they said, did you and Jim Everer?
You guys are both so funny and you were on
the can't you ever joke around about it? Yeah? No,
But you know what, if you look at the head,
(06:10):
it wasn't a vicious hit. It wasn't like he was
it wasn't like he took me down into the ground
and trying to plant me, and then he just hit
me and I got off balance. And when the quarterbacks
were stupid. In some cases they call you smart, but
we always want to watch the dang throw right, So
you try to keep your head up. And then what
(06:30):
happens is your body hits, and then your head is
still looking up. And then as your body hits, and
then your head goes womb and it gets a whiplashing
into the turf. And so that's all happened. And yeah,
I didn't know anything against Jim at all. No, we
laughed about it a bunch of times and affecting with him,
and he would fit with Sims and Parcel to the
(06:52):
same thing. We laugh about it all the time. Um,
I'm not such a fan of the other one. So
at nineteen nine D I'll set the scene for you,
young ones. Joe had just won his second regular season
m v P I think in a row. Um, he
had won the two previous Super Bowls, was coming off
(07:12):
maybe the greatest performance in Super Bowl history before since,
and the forty Niners were the number one seed hosting
the NFC Championship Game. Trying to win three in a row,
which has never been done against the Giants. Great rivalry.
Had had an epic regular season game. You threw a
touchdown to John Taylor, Um put the forty Niners ahead.
(07:35):
It was a very tight game. Um. And then I
can still picture it looking down at candlestick. Leonard Marshall
came off the blind side and why don't you take
it from there? Yeah, you know, it was so funny.
I got fleshed out of the pocket and to my right,
and I the funny thing was, is I just dodged
(07:56):
lt right so and I see Jerry down the field
and I as I stepped to throw the ball, Lara
Marshall was coming. He was playing the other defensive end,
and so he had come out of full speed rush
and I basically backed up right into him coming full speed,
and he hit me and then he had he had
his hand in my hand and when we get the
(08:16):
ground and just kind of ripped back on my hand
and it ended up breaking my hand in that. But um, yeah,
I mean, if you can get the quarterbacks out of
the game, you know he still even today, it makes
a big difference. Yes, I mean, that's that's always I
remember you telling me because people didn't really know about
the hand part, you had a start room thing and
(08:37):
a chest thing and uh, you know you look miserable.
You've been hit really really hard. But just yeah, I
just heard so bad from being compressed into the ground
because I tore some some ligaments in the in my
sternom area and I didn't even know my hand was broken.
That's what That's what bad area. Yeah, and so Leonard
(08:59):
Marshall just as just to make sure had the hand
going down and decided to put his hand on the scale. Yeah,
just a little bit. Uh. And that's a crazy thing
because Steve Young would have started that Super Bowl. Of course,
LT forced the fumble or recovered the fumble forced by
Er Howard. At the end they got a field goal.
(09:21):
And uh well okay, that brings us to our next topic,
which is also related to the last forty game that
was played. Uh, the elbow. So I hate to do
this to you, but Brock Purty just tore the older
collateral ligamented his elbow after the hit from has On Reddick.
There's a lot of talk about it might be six months.
(09:44):
You have way too much experience with elbow injuries and absences. Uh,
you know, what do you think? Yeah, I tore my
I toured my pronator off, so it's not as bad
as that. And so they just reattached that and what
anytime you're doing the ligaments and that it and if
(10:05):
I don't know if that's the exact Tommy John injury
because I don't know that, but from you know, when
you get into something where you're putting that much stress
on your elbow all the time, as a baseball picture
does or as a quarterback does you know, you that
ligament takes a lot of runt and it I don't
think I'd ever seen the quarterback get hit to where
(10:29):
they where they tour that lait. So it's kind of
a freaky accident to happen. But for my understanding, you know,
they're they're saying that if it is and well medicine
has gotten a lot better and rehab, they still say
that he may not even make next year. So now
it puts the photoments in kind of a strange predicament.
(10:52):
Uh you know with the other two guys, Yeah, it
really does. Um, we'll get to that to set because
I want to stay on the elbow. So for people
who weren't aware. In training camp, in coming off that
second m v P in a row um, you suffered
your elbow injury, ended up having surgery and missed the
(11:16):
entire season. I think what what compounded that, Mike was
I had here the season before or two seasons before,
I had had tendonitis on the elbow. So I was
getting shots before every game, and so that that court
is zone they say, just eventually tears down the tendant
or the ligaments or ligaments or whatever. And it got
(11:39):
to the tendon that held that to the bone, and
I was just playing catch training camp. Would remember Dave Wymer,
who I played with and right before in one of
the started one of the practices, and in the training camp,
and it just I just felt something go. And every
time I threw I could, it wasn't I could, it
(12:00):
wasn't right. And then so they Waite did a little
check on it in the editor. It all the way
off the boat, and I'll never forget. So you missed
the entire season. The Forty Nights ended up rowling and
went ten and six, but did not make the playoffs.
Had a rough year. Our buddy Steve Bono had some
really nice moments and really Steve Young, Um, Steve Young
(12:23):
had the passing title. And so the next year, coming
back to trading camp, it was kind of being talked
about as a competition, although you know, it was always
weird with you guys. And I'll never forget the day
in Rockland when you came off during a practice and
you did not look happy at all, and uh, something
(12:47):
had happened to the elbow again. Yeah, I thought we
had taken care of it initially. And what when they
did that? They stapled the drill holes in your bone
and then they pushed the attendant first day to sew
it back together, and then they pushed it back through
the hole in the bone. Then they stayed let on
(13:08):
the back. And one of the staples was every time
I threw, would zing my hand like like you hit
like your funny bone on your elbow. You know, That's
what would happen every time I threw. So they went
in to take that staple out, and while they were
taking the staple out, they accidentally hit the owner nerve
(13:31):
and dead in my hand. So these two fingers, I
had no grip strength, so I couldn't along to the ball.
So That's what really took me longer than anything to
come back, was that part of the injury, not so
much the injury itself, and they were trying to fix,
you know, that little take that thing out of there.
But uh yeah, and then took a while to come
(13:51):
back after that. Yeah, because I hear the word older
with Purty and I remember the owner nerve. That's how
I learned what it was. And uh so, okay, so
he Joe ends up missing the entire season, but back
then you could come off I are seamlessly and uh.
(14:11):
At the end of the season, the forty Niners were
the number one seed and had had clenched it and
they were gonna play one last Monday night game at home.
That didn't mean anything to the Niners. Bill Musgrave, who
they was a young quarterback and they wanted to hold
on to. Uh. They decided to give him arthur scopic
surgery on his knee that may or may not have
(14:32):
been medically necessary. I think Bill would probably say it
was maybe pushing it a little bit in terms of
but be that as it may. The kind of the
world knew that you were going to play the second half.
Steve Young, who was the m v P that year.
UH played the first half and the second half. You
(14:53):
came out and you know, one of the most chilling
moments ever candle stick because if nothing else, you know,
these people that you have brought so much pleasure to,
we're gonna say goodbye. UM, and you came in, You
threw a touchdown past you looked like you and then
you threw one more at the end that you know. UH,
(15:14):
the offensive coordinator at the time, has told me the
story about how George Seyffert, the head coach, was not
happy that a run had been changed to a pass.
That coordinator was Mike shadd But I'll tell you who.
I'll tell you who was happy, Like sixty five thousand
people one what do you? What do you? What do
(15:41):
you remember? Did George get bad at you were just
bad at Mike. I think he just got mad at Mike.
You can see him throw down the headsets on the
sideline video, but because he was upset. But you know,
I think every time I see Mike, I thank him
again over and over for changing that to a pass.
(16:01):
What just for for people who might not understand the backdrop?
Why would Georgia been bad that his quarterback throw a
touchdown pass. He didn't really want me to leave, but
he didn't want me to play. So if you feel
one touchdown, you know you should. It's okay, yeah it
makes sense Cyne coore and half. But if you're throwing
two in the game, you know, even though you we
(16:25):
knew it didn't mean a lot to us, it meant
a lot to me and it also still meant a
lot to the team. We're in Detroit, you know those guys,
so um, it was just a big difference for me
when I went to go other places to have you know,
a video of it showed that you know, we're knowing
(16:45):
I throw one, but I threw two, and you know
I could have thrown a couple more, probably played played
more of the game. But it is what It isn't
my thank Mike all the time? What's your arm? All
the way back? Because I didn't you know, those two
years in Kansas City, you were really, really good, you
got to the conference championship game, you got back to
the playoffs. What was your arm? It was? I don't
(17:12):
like we're somewhere around halfway through the season. Oh wow, Yeah,
I just never got a chance to get back on
the field. Interesting. Okay, so I've never really talked to
you about this, but one of the weird things is that,
so now it's the playoffs, Um, Steve Young is quarterbacking
(17:33):
in the playoffs for the first time. It's a big deal.
But you were the backup. You were standing right there,
including that famous ninety two NFC championship game against the Cowboys,
uh with you know, doing whatever backups do. But I mean,
that's a really weird thing. It wasn't like, oh Joe's
(17:54):
not healthy, you were, you were you m what was
that experience like for you that Dallas? It was hard
in ways because you know, if that would have been switched,
they take me out right and instead they continue to
let him play. And I never ever got a chance
(18:14):
again to get back on the field because I don't
think he wanted me to see that I might be
able to do something else, you know, against the Cowboys.
But that's just my feeling, um, But you know, you
look at the games where the playoff games where I
got taken out of where we were behind games at
a lot of times when we come back to win
(18:36):
late in games. So why do you why do you
take me out? Um? This hard to understand the whole
situation was was kind of crazy once Bill left. It's
a great point because in the you guys were the
number one seed. You played the Vikings at home, and
it was, um, not you're not a great day for
(18:58):
anyone on the team at the time, and they had
a great pass rush and um you did ultimately get
taken out of that game. That was Steve's first year.
And I think people who freak out right these in
this era about quarterback awkwardness controversies, I don't. I want
you to understand. We have Joe here, who is the
best who's ever done, and we have Steve Young, who's
(19:20):
a first ballot Hall of Favor on the same team
for six years. Six years. It was hard to the
hard part about seven you can understand a little bit maybe,
but that's the year I came back from my back surgery. Yeah,
so I don't know any of they thought something else
(19:41):
was going on. I was. I waited about five. So
I remember offensive line coach Bob McKittrick was begging the
offensive lineman, don't everybody gets fined a hundred bucks if
somebody hits it. I miss I miss Bob McKittrick. So
(20:03):
the famous uh, the famous game in Philly at eighty nine,
which was the third regular season game I evercovered, where
you got sex six times in the first half and
I think eight overall and came back from uh way
down against the Eagles and one. But there's the famous
story is the offensive liignman are waiting to get just
(20:25):
reamed out because they you keep getting hit, and Bob
gathers them around and he uh, he looks at them
and says, hey, if any if anybody knows any prayers,
if you know the Lord's prayer, you might want to
say it now. And he looks at Harris Barton, who's Jewish,
and says, and Harris, if you know any Jewish prayers,
you might want to say those two. It was fun
(20:48):
to be around he was. There was only one of
those uh, no doubt. You went through um the elbow
thing and ultimately were the same. We're hoping that Broc
Purty when he's back, whether it's six months like they're
hoping or a year, is looks like he did in
(21:10):
these eight games, nine games. What do the forty Niners do?
Because before that championship game, it was gonna be Purty
next year on a rookie contract, that tray Lass probably
would have hug around and been the backup if unless
they've got a great train offer. But what do you
do if you're them? Now? Well, I start Jimmy. I mean,
(21:33):
if you look at how many games is Jimmy one?
I mean, you know for the longest time. Yeah, the
questions were out with Jimmy for a while, but um,
the one thing he's been able to do is win
games for those guys. And yeah, you'll make a mistake
here and there, but you know some of those things,
you know, I don't just put on Jimmy, like you
(21:54):
don't call it seven step drop one from two yard
line and put him back during the back of that
end zone. Then you feel pressure as a quarterback, the
first thing you're gonna do is your first steps are
gonna be trying to retreat to make room. And and
it happens, happened to almost everybody that you stepped out
of the back of the end zone. But don't put
him there, right and and yeah he made it crazy
(22:15):
throw and mistake in the playoff game a couple of
years ago, but he has won a lot of games.
I can't say the same for Tray, right, you don't
know that from him, So I think you got it.
You know it is me and I don't. I don't
go down there. I don't hang around down there. So
this is just my thoughts. You start the guy who's
(22:36):
won all the games for you, right, you got to
figure out, you know, the backup situation with trade is
Tray you know the offense well enough? Or is he
meant for that offense or not? And I think that's
the biggest decision they have. But me, I don't think
it's I don't think it's hard. I think you just
start jimming. Well. The only the hard part is that
(22:59):
jim he has a no franchise tag clause and he's
a free agent, so you gotta really show him the
love to try to get him back. Yeah, I mean,
I agree you, But I think I think when you
when they started trade, I think that was that was
a test of trade, not a Jimmy. You know. Unfortunately,
(23:23):
you know for Jimmy getting hurt. You know, he he
still want a lot of games before he got hurt, right,
and so he put him in that position to be
able to go to go on that run to begin with.
So I don't know, I don't I don't see an
issue with it myself. But that's just me and nothing
(23:45):
against Trey, but he just doesn't have the game experience
underneath them to have and that kind of good team.
They had a good defense and they had a good
off I mean, you're not You're you handed a guy
a team sort of like somebody else I know, got
handed a good team. So rather than too and fourteen
when I got so they you just you know, you
(24:10):
gotta go with the guy who's been winning the games
and he gets the offense and you know, go from there.
Uh so let's go back to you know, you and
Bill Walsh took the game to a different level with
the you know, the early West Coast offense stuff, and um,
you know, you guys went through a lot together in
(24:31):
in he was alternating you and Steve in in one
game he did it. He did it alternating starts at times,
and you know it was hard on you guys. Um,
I know you guys were very very close later, Um,
how hard was it to stay you know, in a
(24:52):
good place with Bill as all that was going on.
It was it was really hard. I mean, there was
like there was no real reason to be what was
going on was going on other than they were trying
to appease Steves somehow, and they gave him not about
appeasing people, right, you know, Yeah, he came in later
(25:14):
on and played well, but that doesn't take away from
what I had already done and was doing and can
can and continue to do still after that. And that
was the hardest part on me, was you know, I
can understand everybody's gonna have a bad year, but do
you pull somebody because you have up and down season?
(25:38):
Everybody goes through that. I mean, take a look around
the league. Love Aaron Rodgers, Brady and you can you
can pick him aut right and and say, look, not
not a good year, not a good year, not a
good year. Do you come back and if they're on
the same team, do they not start? Absolutely they started,
But um it's just it was just a weird situation
(26:00):
that whole time. And it was just hard to stay
focused as much as you want because a lot of
it made you play differently than what you normally play
because you try to do things that you wouldn't normally do,
like in a game. Um, so that was weird. But
(26:22):
I remember after the nineteen nine season, obviously before you
hurt the elbow. Uh, George had Seaford had announced a
plan to give Steve Maybe he hadn't announced it, but
it had been reported that there was a plan to
give Steve Young some designated starts in then I d
one season. I didn't know what that meant, but imagine
(26:43):
it was going to get to play all the easy teams.
I was gonna have to play all the time. One
he's gonna come out looking great. I'm I'm gonna be
fighting my butt off to win tough games. And yeah,
then I go, how is that fair? When I just
had one of the best seasons I'd had? And I said, statistically,
(27:05):
what I mean, it doesn't make sense to me because
I can understand if I had a bad year and
you were thinking about it, But it was his contract
was up and they were trying to keep them. That
was the only reason. Yeah, And he told me that's
what he Oh, that's what George told you. Yeah, you
were told me that I'll never forget. So I have
(27:26):
this vivid memory. It was minicamp and I feel like
it was eighty nine and it was my first year,
so I it really was one of my first days
ever at the facility in Santa Clara. And what had
happened was, uh, the forty diers had tried to cut
the salaries and maybe successfully cut the salaries of three
(27:48):
Steve veteran players. I believe it was key to Turner
Eric right, Uh, Jim Fawnhors maybe um and Ronny Lott,
the great, your great friend and one of the great
players in history, didn't take it well and he boycotted
the first day of minicamp and to show his displeasure
(28:09):
and so um there was a big media thing outside
the locker room and uh afterwards, and I didn't really
you know, I was very new. I didn't know off
the record, on the record, or like if we were
ever going to have real conversations, and uh, I was
just kind of hanging around and uh, I remember talking
(28:29):
to Ronnie and Ronnie said, you know what, man, this
business is so fft. He's like, they're gonna they're gonna
do it to me some day too. And I said,
they're not gonna do it to you know, you're Ronnie
a lot. There's no way and you walk by and
you go and they're gonna f me too some day
and I was like, yeah, right, and then sure enough,
(28:51):
three years later, Joe Bartana traded to the Kansas City Chiefs.
So it taught me a lot. Yeah, I know, it's
crazy with some of the things they try to do,
and you know, they think because they can get away
with and try to keep people and um guys especially
they know wanted to stay with the team. But you know,
(29:11):
I mean look at Keenick. You know, it was a
huge and he right, I don't know was that before
after he's injury. I think it was. I think he
was playing still in eighty nine and then maybe maybe
that happened after that. Yeah, but yeah, no, that was
once my wife's second favorite player, Well it might be first,
(29:33):
was he Well, I'll tell you she has great taste
because so full disclosure, I grew up a forty Niner
fan in l A. And uh may or may not
have been, you know, super super happy when I was
sixteen years old and they had that incredible season and
(29:54):
won the first Super Bowl and all that and that.
So I was I was a huge right fan, you know,
because he had this knack for getting to the man
right as the football arrived. If you remember He's the
real reason we didn't lose it the Cowboys after the
catch with his satan touchdown Stating Town. Everybody forgets about that,
(30:16):
and even the Cowboy fans forget about that. I remember huntingly,
but they had just outlawed Teraway Jerseys, I think. And uh,
he just would not let go of Drew Pearson. And
then the next play, Pillars forces the fumble, Stucky recovers
and then you're going like this. But yeah, so you
(30:36):
know I talked about how people we're nice to be
back when I was clueless. Eric was all, you know,
he's from East St. Louis, very tough, tough neighborhood, and
he used to say silver were you're from. You ain't
got no dog, and you you ain't got no dog
and yet And for five years it was this running
joke until that day you were gone. When I came
(30:56):
to a bidicap practice and I was like, for what,
we got double hoticides, we got bloody classes. You know,
I was yelling at around the locker room, and everyone
knew the joke because I've been five years of it,
and uh, I was like, well, I'm hard, but yeah, no, Eric,
one of the unsung heroes. You know, he won four
(31:17):
Super Bowls. He was a rookie in one great starter
and uh and as you know, a complete, complete character.
You played with another one of my favorite humans um
in Kansas City, Derrick Thomas, who you know, the late
great Hall of Favor and probably the social coordinator of
(31:39):
the entire NFL at that point. Uh what what a
what a great player, you know what that was? That
was another Really we we should have won a super Bowl.
They're easily, you know. We we screwed up late in
the season and we ended up losing the game we
should have won. And instead of playing Buffalo, and then
Buffalo game cost us home field advantage and we would
(32:02):
put it was fifty degrees in sunshine in Kansas City,
and we'd already beat in Buffalo earlier in the year,
and we had to go up there to play. And
I don't know when you could do things, certain things
with balls. I wanted to try, but you know, because
I could not throw the ball from here to the
(32:22):
window over there. So you felt you felt a little
deflated out there, like yeah, just a little bit, this
is amazing. So and did you get knocked out of
that game? If I recalled, Yeah, that's another one. That one.
I'm pretty sure it was that one. Yeah, because I
covered your last one. That was the one I got
(32:44):
tackled to the side and then when I was going down,
I hit my head on Bruce Smith's meat and hit
me right in the temple. And you know, concussions usually
don't I don't know, I can't. I can't ever remember
feeling one except for that one. It felt like a
lightning boat went across my head and I was like,
oh my god, it was I never felt anything like that.
(33:08):
That's kind of what made me retire up to the
next year. You know, have to um. During that whole year,
I was all I was thinking about was my health
and the kids and being able to play with them.
And I still had twenty seven surgeries in the end,
but you know, I still could do a little bit
of things and um at that point in time. But yeah,
(33:28):
that that uh, that team was there was one guy
that reminded me it might have been the only defensive
back that might have been a better athlete than Eric
right to me, and as Dale Carter a lot of
freaking nature man. Yeah, what a player. And then we
(33:48):
had a huge secondary too. Um. I mean, yeah, that
was a good team we had. We had we had
a team to show one that that was The game
has changed a lot, and so it's kind of like
when people ask me to compare basketball eras, I'm always like,
what rules are using? Are using the illegal defense and
the two man is so stuff? Are using today's space. Again,
(34:10):
it's really the same with football and quarterbacks. And people
don't really understand. But you played in an arrow where
defensive backs could definitely do more coverage wise, and and
you were fair game. You know, defenders got two steps
after you released the ball. They could hit you here,
(34:30):
they could hit you here, they could hit you in
the these um and you you just said twenty seven surgeries.
And I've had this conversation with you, I've had it
with l Way, I've had it with Marino and others. Um,
how when you watch how protected quarterbacks are today, you know,
does it feel weird? Does it feel better? What? What?
(34:51):
You know? We watched the game and we enjoy the
game just like anybody else. Um, you know, sometimes you
look at a little bit different because I wouldn't I
can't even begin to think about Danny Marino playing in
today's age. Oh my gosh. I mean, look at all
the things he did while he was playing, and I
(35:13):
think he's the most unsung guy that anybody ever talks about,
and that what he accomplished. And you know, turn the
tough time there, and his receivers weren't very big. Yeah,
granted they were fast and quick and they could do
the things that they needed to do with him, But
I just can't imagine how long he would have played
if you couldn't, you know, And yeah, it's it's it's
(35:38):
fun to watch the games still today, but it is different.
And you know what's so funny is like you look
at I when I for the longest time, I still
look back to the guys who played that kind of
distance before me and look at the game. Then, oh
my gosh, they what they did wide receivers back then,
they throw him in jail today. I was I always
(36:03):
having dinner about five years ago in Florida with Burrito
in a big group, and you know, he's a Pittsburgh guy.
You know, Danny all the court if at one point
we started talking about this and I go, Danny, if
you played under today's rules, how many yards would you
have thrown forward. He kind of just looked over and
he goes a fucking luck. You know they wouldn't. They
(36:27):
had to back up the brinks truck for Danny. Oh man.
I mean, do you think about how many years you
could have played under today's rules? Oh yeah, I mean
when you look at all the injuries and you look back,
and I mean we had guys who had a defensive
back from you know, I want to mention the team,
but you know he would blitz and he would die
(36:48):
with the quarterbacks plant leg in the front like literally
trying to take guys, blowing guy's knees out. It was
crazy back then and crazier before. And yeah, I understand
why they try to protect the quarterback is the only
guys it's always almost always standing still when they get hit, right,
But and the guy who hits you is usually outweighs
you by at least a hundred fifty pounds, and you
(37:12):
know you don't have a chance to protect yourself. And
that's what's the difference. Before can a guy stand in
there throw the ball accurately knowing that big sucker right,
there's plan in the ground behind me, and I'm going
to try to figure out how I'm going to protect
myself after I throw the ball? Did anybody ever get
that DV back whoever the enables d of heights when
(37:34):
he was around? Yeah, when when they would do it,
the Alignment went after him, a bunch of linemen what
would go after him all the times? And it's just
uncalled for and so many injuries you know in the
game already, there's no need to try to hurt somebody.
You are going to be part of this auction. It's uh,
it's coming up February tenth, I believe, and it's um,
(37:57):
it's yes, through the gold Knocks it it is g
O L D I N February Elite Auction. Portion of
the proceeds of what you sell will go to the
Four Rings Montana Family Foundation. You're a great foundation which
supports local children's charities. Um, you're selling. I mean, I
saw the list. It's I mean, I'll just get hope
(38:21):
free to hear. You can if you want out there,
you can bid on or by the Super Bowl nineteen
to twenty three jerseys, the real jerseys, uh a Super
Bowl MVP Trophy, the ball, the jersey, the jersey, the
nineteen and I think it was twenty the nineteen in
(38:44):
the three jersey. It was the same jersey and it's
never been done before. What happened there was I had
saved the jersey from the Super Bowl nineteen and I
was leaving to go to Miami, and Jennifer packed it
in my suitcase and beknownst to me, with a note saying,
(39:07):
I think you might want to wear this, And you
can if you look at the game film you can
tell the difference because the stripes are so far apart
on my sleeves, but they're real close on the other
guy's sleeves. So I work. So I think it's the
only time jersey has been more in the same suit
in two different Super Bowls. So it's it's pretty exciting
(39:27):
first of all. First of all, amazing move by Jennifer. Second,
did Brocko or Ted Walsh or anyone no like todayone? Figured? No,
not a and uh. And you know there's so many
things that you know, you look around and everybody's going, well,
why would you be doing this? And you know, and
my kids have seen them so long, and it's you
(39:49):
know a lot of the stuff is in storage, sitting there,
and I get asked all the time Hey, do you
have this? You know people are one of them are
looking to buy things of yours. And one of the
things about this is, you know it's mine because it's
coming from me. It's and it's reel and and uh,
it's things that I've been holding on too. And the
kids are taking little things that they wanted and most
(40:11):
important things. I got four rings and I got four kids,
and there get so that's where those go. So you
really planned that well, I'm considering. I now worked for
The Chronicle, where a columnist once infamously questioned your family
planning because Jennifer was going to give birth during the playoffs.
(40:33):
One of the worst things ever written. Probably, Yeah, but
you planned that well. Four rigs, four children. Perfect. Um,
I see that the ball. I wish she would have
stuck to her normal plan. She wanted six might have
be a good luckch on him, right. I feel like,
(40:55):
if you hadn't got traded at six was attainable. But
that's what I told Eddie. I go, you know, I
know you want another super Bowl, but you know, if
I just step around, we don't want a lot more.
And I kidd with him all the time. I can't
see Eddie getting worked up about that somehow though at all. Yeah. So,
(41:16):
in fact, one of the things you're selling is the
football we told. We told the story of the touchdown
pass against the Lions that got George Seyffert to yell
at bike shad. I had that football, um, and then
and then the jersey from your last ever game, which
I was at. It was you you and Marino do
Your's Eve Day. So I can't um both my full
(41:38):
uniforms from the last games I've played in the one
we played the Jot and the other one in Miami,
and they we we actually generated had him trained as
a full full uniform on that we that we had
in our way room for the longest time. We ended
up selling that house, and so things were just in
stories sitting around and I go to these autograph sessions
(41:59):
and people are going, hey, do you still have that
jersey or do you have this helmet? And um all
those things, and I go, yeah, I got a lot
of that stuff and shoulder pads that I wore forever
that I took the Kansas City with me. When you
look at him, you're you won't even believe it. And
they have this It's funny because they have this. One
of the guys said, why did you put that mole
(42:20):
skin on your shoulder pads? I said, because when I
was when I want to run, the shoulder pads because
we didn't have skin tight jerseys, shoulder pads would clang
back and forth and they made noise. Do already crazy?
So you put the mole skin on there. Yeah, there's
a's a lot of fun things, a bunch of trophies
and a little yeah, a bunch of good things. I
mean psychologically, it's does it kind of help you not
(42:44):
dwell in the past, or you know, is it more
spring cleaning vibe? Like what's the vibe of getting rid
of it? Just like it's tied. Yeah, it's just time.
You know, it's it's gonna clutter the kid's house if
something happens to me or Jennifer, they're just gonna have
to try to figure out what to do with it
at the same time. And you know, um, it's just
(43:06):
was the decision to say, hey, we're slowing down here.
I love watching football. Yeah, I love a little bit
of looking back, but I try not to think about
all the things. I think about the good times back then.
When I wish I was playing still absolutely like everybody
else has played the game. But I'm modan. You know,
I started business and um with one of them. My
(43:27):
sons is one of the partners, and the other one
started his own little venture fund too, and the kids
are all around us, and the grandkids, and it's just
it's fun for them to look back and but they've
seen it enough. It's time to let other people enjoy it.
I love it. Well, I'll let you go because you've
given me and it's said about a time. But I
(43:50):
just before I let you go. Patrick Mahomes, I mean,
what is it so my wife's favorite playing in the
league right now? By far? I mean, I'm looking for
something about him that I don't love, but I've yet
to find it. I mean, it just seems like he's
got the right temper but does everything he does, and
(44:11):
you know, and he just makes things happen with his feet,
with his arms, I mean those of all every way possible.
Knowing the man um, it's he's one of those guys
when they're on TV you want you want to try
to find him because they fun to watch, fun fun
to watch, and what you've talked to him is he
chill like, what's the what's the vibe? Yeah, I haven't
(44:33):
spoken much with him. Like I said, I'm kind of
I get. Most contact I make with people are usually
at the Super Bowl pregame pre days where all the
guys I run into by accidents somewhere. But other than that,
I don't. I stay away from the game. Um I
watch it, but uh, it's in my past. I love
(44:53):
my past in the game and what I played and
the joy that came from it. And now it's time
to enjoyed my life going forward and with with the
grandkids and the and the kids and before it's too late.
You know, you when you watch all these guys dieing young,
and you know I'll be sixty seven this year. So
um my, I'm on that countdown phrase and trying to
(45:17):
extend it as far as you can, and that you
know you're still on the countdown. You know, on the
downhill side, you know you you'll pull off the vehicle
and do outlive everyone. But it was even it was
What's so funny is I'm not sure if it was
listed in there, and I'm not sure what their plan is,
but I had this race car almost killing myself in
it was a Formula Ford. We did it. I did
(45:39):
an appearance for AUDI when they were switching the cars
out up at well Infinny of what they changed the
name so many times, but up there, yeah, And so
I gave us one the auction and one to take home.
So we auction to one off at the event, and
then I brought one home. And one day I used
to let the kids drive it faster than hell, open wheel,
(46:02):
open cock the and I was I take it down
to this straight away and let him drive it back
and forth. And there's a governor on it right. So
I turned the governor and they didn't know so you
could only go so fast, but they I was driving in.
I was going. The kids said I'll meet you down
to the bottom and the hill and I go okay,
(46:23):
And man, I was driving around the barn I was
looking for I couldn't find him. So I go down
and the road by the creek was like windy, and
I was getting on the gas and then all of
a sudden there's the kids in in this uh mule
klasaki mule. And there's no way I neither go into
the creek or I go under the vehicle, or I
tried to skirt around the side on went dead square
(46:45):
into a tree and probably had a big cut on
my foot and tractured my fibia. How long ago was this?
This was a while ago, and we had a charity
We had a charity event that I was probably been
I were sponsoring for our foundation, and uh, I had
(47:06):
to go there that night, and um, I had a
Bruce Sternham from the big bruise on my chest from
the hitting the steering wheel. I didn't I didn't have
the seatbelt on right, and I had the helmet on,
but I didn't have it tuck. I didn't have because
I didn't think I was going anywhere, and sure enough,
when you least expect it, and so we ended up
rebuilding it, and I figured it was I better get
(47:29):
rid of that too. Yeah, that's all right. Well, I'm
really glad you're still here. I thought the one first
start up from letter Marshall was your worst start above it,
but apparently, uh, that's what steering wheel probably tops it. Wow. Well,
I appreciate you time. Thanks my great talking to you.
(47:50):
Thank you joall. See you guys in Arizona, say Hill
all your friends over there that I love and I
appreciate your man, I would do it, take care of
Thank you in in three
The volume, well way back before I was a big
time podcaster. At the volume, I was a rookie beat
writer twenty four years old working for a down to
funk newspaper called The Sacramento Union, covering one of the
(00:24):
greatest football teams, if not the greatest of all time,
the nineteen nine San Francisco forty Diers. I got thrown in.
I wore a giant straw hat at training camp, was
nicknamed huck Finn and was complete idiot. Didn't know what
I was doing at all, and so very nice people
(00:44):
there took took pity on me, including the quarterback. You
did upgrade to a nice leather looking had at one
point that see that this is why so Joe Batana.
He's done a few things on the football field, but
people don't understand the recall um that he has. And
that's an incredible note. I did start out with a
(01:05):
ridiculous straw hat. There was a series of them that
got bigger. I was like full sombrero. This is in
Rockland where it was very hot. I did actually go
leather and uh and you were often wearing a helmet,
though not always. Yeah, my hair today and I do
actually vividly remember the first time that we ever talked
(01:27):
up in Rockland. You would go to the pool between practices,
which was behind the locker room, and I'd be screwed
around going off the high dive, you know, and we, uh,
we were able to have conversations that weren't like, hey,
on that third and seven throw, were you trying to
throw to uh? To Jerry? And uh? It was good?
(01:49):
So how are you man? Good to have you been good? Yeah,
it's good to be here. Everything's going good looking, looking
forward to the big game coming up and um, everything's
going good looking for a new granddaughter, a grandson on
the way now coming up here in the next few weeks,
being number three, and yeah, I've just been fun down here. Um,
(02:12):
you're watching these guys hit the golf ball like I
wish I could. You're you're down at Pebble Beach the
episode of the Golf World right now. Yeah, that's awesome, amazing.
I have so many topics to get into. Um, I
will start with the Super Bowl because you brought it up.
You are you know, of course, so much of your
(02:32):
career was associated with the forty niners, but you are
a proud former Kansas City chief as well. Um, is
it easier for you when they're not playing each other
and you could just go gug home for the Chiefs.
I just wear red when they play each other, right,
and then I got my red on right this matter?
But uh, yeah, no, I mean it was it's always
(02:55):
fun to see him play each other. That that would
be great. Um, you know how it was for the
forty Niners with all the injuries like in that game
all of a sudden, Uh didn't even didn't even have
a shot. And I think I could could have thrown
some passes better than Bertie at that point in time
when they're throwing back in the game after Josh got
(03:16):
a concussion, I might not have been able to avoid
the rush, but I feel like you could have probably
thrown its slants a couple of things. Actually was throwing balls.
What we were we were doing an event, me and
Steve Bono and JT. John Taylor. We were into Pasadena
in the Rose Bowl doing an event playing this thing
(03:37):
called Catch a Pass. So we were throwing passes and
we we said, okay, we're only coming, we gotta put
the game and they put it up on the jumbo
tron and so we got to watch the game while
we were doing this up on the JumboTron and the
rose ball, so um it was you know, hey, Bones
can still throw it. Not not so much about me,
but none step Bones was playing it. Yeah. For people
(04:00):
who remember the late eighties, h John Taylor catching passes
in southern California probably brings back some first for rampants. Unbelievable. Um,
you know, football is not like every other sport. You
even now when the rules have been changed drastically, but
(04:22):
even now, you can cleanly knock out the quarterback of
the other team, and if it's in an elimination game,
that usually helps your chances of victory, uh greatly. Um,
you know you obviously experience that twice in playoff games.
We'll take them one at a time, since we're going
down to every lay in. You're playing the New York
(04:45):
Giants at the Metal Ends. Your future teammate Jim Bert
hit your hit you right up in here, and that
I think your head hit the frozen astroturm. Yeah, it's
just how funny, like one little thing really um triggers
a concussion like that. I mean, you wouldn't you wouldn't
(05:05):
you look at it and you watch it and you go, well,
it didn't look like you hit it that hard, but
it's weird. If you hit it in the right spot,
it's got You're done and how you go and you know,
and they didn't. You know, I probably could have gone
to the sidelines at some point and come try to
come back in like they did back then. But you
know nowadays, as soon as that happens, you know you're done.
(05:26):
See do you remember it? I don't remember. I remember
the hit part of it, and then after that, I don't.
Um from that point until some point in the in
the ambulance um, before we got to the X rays
and stuff. UM's one. I kind of remshed oart remembering things.
(05:49):
And then you heard the score in your head probably
started hurting even more. Yeah, absolutely, well I think the
past ictor was picked off and run back for a
touchdown too. It's what they said, did you and Jim Everer?
You guys are both so funny and you were on
the can't you ever joke around about it? Yeah? No,
But you know what, if you look at the head,
(06:10):
it wasn't a vicious hit. It wasn't like he was
it wasn't like he took me down into the ground
and trying to plant me, and then he just hit
me and I got off balance. And when the quarterbacks
were stupid. In some cases they call you smart, but
we always want to watch the dang throw right, So
you try to keep your head up. And then what
(06:30):
happens is your body hits, and then your head is
still looking up. And then as your body hits, and
then your head goes womb and it gets a whiplashing
into the turf. And so that's all happened. And yeah,
I didn't know anything against Jim at all. No, we
laughed about it a bunch of times and affecting with him,
and he would fit with Sims and Parcel to the
(06:52):
same thing. We laugh about it all the time. Um,
I'm not such a fan of the other one. So
at nineteen nine D I'll set the scene for you,
young ones. Joe had just won his second regular season
m v P I think in a row. Um, he
had won the two previous Super Bowls, was coming off
(07:12):
maybe the greatest performance in Super Bowl history before since,
and the forty Niners were the number one seed hosting
the NFC Championship Game. Trying to win three in a row,
which has never been done against the Giants. Great rivalry.
Had had an epic regular season game. You threw a
touchdown to John Taylor, Um put the forty Niners ahead.
(07:35):
It was a very tight game. Um. And then I
can still picture it looking down at candlestick. Leonard Marshall
came off the blind side and why don't you take
it from there? Yeah, you know, it was so funny.
I got fleshed out of the pocket and to my right,
and I the funny thing was, is I just dodged
(07:56):
lt right so and I see Jerry down the field
and I as I stepped to throw the ball, Lara
Marshall was coming. He was playing the other defensive end,
and so he had come out of full speed rush
and I basically backed up right into him coming full speed,
and he hit me and then he had he had
his hand in my hand and when we get the
(08:16):
ground and just kind of ripped back on my hand
and it ended up breaking my hand in that. But um, yeah,
I mean, if you can get the quarterbacks out of
the game, you know he still even today, it makes
a big difference. Yes, I mean, that's that's always I
remember you telling me because people didn't really know about
the hand part, you had a start room thing and
(08:37):
a chest thing and uh, you know you look miserable.
You've been hit really really hard. But just yeah, I
just heard so bad from being compressed into the ground
because I tore some some ligaments in the in my
sternom area and I didn't even know my hand was broken.
That's what That's what bad area. Yeah, and so Leonard
(08:59):
Marshall just as just to make sure had the hand
going down and decided to put his hand on the scale. Yeah,
just a little bit. Uh. And that's a crazy thing
because Steve Young would have started that Super Bowl. Of course,
LT forced the fumble or recovered the fumble forced by
Er Howard. At the end they got a field goal.
(09:21):
And uh well okay, that brings us to our next topic,
which is also related to the last forty game that
was played. Uh, the elbow. So I hate to do
this to you, but Brock Purty just tore the older
collateral ligamented his elbow after the hit from has On Reddick.
There's a lot of talk about it might be six months.
(09:44):
You have way too much experience with elbow injuries and absences. Uh,
you know, what do you think? Yeah, I tore my
I toured my pronator off, so it's not as bad
as that. And so they just reattached that and what
anytime you're doing the ligaments and that it and if
(10:05):
I don't know if that's the exact Tommy John injury
because I don't know that, but from you know, when
you get into something where you're putting that much stress
on your elbow all the time, as a baseball picture
does or as a quarterback does you know, you that
ligament takes a lot of runt and it I don't
think I'd ever seen the quarterback get hit to where
(10:29):
they where they tour that lait. So it's kind of
a freaky accident to happen. But for my understanding, you know,
they're they're saying that if it is and well medicine
has gotten a lot better and rehab, they still say
that he may not even make next year. So now
it puts the photoments in kind of a strange predicament.
(10:52):
Uh you know with the other two guys, Yeah, it
really does. Um, we'll get to that to set because
I want to stay on the elbow. So for people
who weren't aware. In training camp, in coming off that
second m v P in a row um, you suffered
your elbow injury, ended up having surgery and missed the
(11:16):
entire season. I think what what compounded that, Mike was
I had here the season before or two seasons before,
I had had tendonitis on the elbow. So I was
getting shots before every game, and so that that court
is zone they say, just eventually tears down the tendant
or the ligaments or ligaments or whatever. And it got
(11:39):
to the tendon that held that to the bone, and
I was just playing catch training camp. Would remember Dave Wymer,
who I played with and right before in one of
the started one of the practices, and in the training camp,
and it just I just felt something go. And every
time I threw I could, it wasn't I could, it
(12:00):
wasn't right. And then so they Waite did a little
check on it in the editor. It all the way
off the boat, and I'll never forget. So you missed
the entire season. The Forty Nights ended up rowling and
went ten and six, but did not make the playoffs.
Had a rough year. Our buddy Steve Bono had some
really nice moments and really Steve Young, Um, Steve Young
(12:23):
had the passing title. And so the next year, coming
back to trading camp, it was kind of being talked
about as a competition, although you know, it was always
weird with you guys. And I'll never forget the day
in Rockland when you came off during a practice and
you did not look happy at all, and uh, something
(12:47):
had happened to the elbow again. Yeah, I thought we
had taken care of it initially. And what when they
did that? They stapled the drill holes in your bone
and then they pushed the attendant first day to sew
it back together, and then they pushed it back through
the hole in the bone. Then they stayed let on
(13:08):
the back. And one of the staples was every time
I threw, would zing my hand like like you hit
like your funny bone on your elbow. You know, That's
what would happen every time I threw. So they went
in to take that staple out, and while they were
taking the staple out, they accidentally hit the owner nerve
(13:31):
and dead in my hand. So these two fingers, I
had no grip strength, so I couldn't along to the ball.
So That's what really took me longer than anything to
come back, was that part of the injury, not so
much the injury itself, and they were trying to fix,
you know, that little take that thing out of there.
But uh yeah, and then took a while to come
(13:51):
back after that. Yeah, because I hear the word older
with Purty and I remember the owner nerve. That's how
I learned what it was. And uh so, okay, so
he Joe ends up missing the entire season, but back
then you could come off I are seamlessly and uh.
(14:11):
At the end of the season, the forty Niners were
the number one seed and had had clenched it and
they were gonna play one last Monday night game at home.
That didn't mean anything to the Niners. Bill Musgrave, who
they was a young quarterback and they wanted to hold
on to. Uh. They decided to give him arthur scopic
surgery on his knee that may or may not have
(14:32):
been medically necessary. I think Bill would probably say it
was maybe pushing it a little bit in terms of
but be that as it may. The kind of the
world knew that you were going to play the second half.
Steve Young, who was the m v P that year.
UH played the first half and the second half. You
(14:53):
came out and you know, one of the most chilling
moments ever candle stick because if nothing else, you know,
these people that you have brought so much pleasure to,
we're gonna say goodbye. UM, and you came in, You
threw a touchdown past you looked like you and then
you threw one more at the end that you know. UH,
(15:14):
the offensive coordinator at the time, has told me the
story about how George Seyffert, the head coach, was not
happy that a run had been changed to a pass.
That coordinator was Mike shadd But I'll tell you who.
I'll tell you who was happy, Like sixty five thousand
people one what do you? What do you? What do
(15:41):
you remember? Did George get bad at you were just
bad at Mike. I think he just got mad at Mike.
You can see him throw down the headsets on the
sideline video, but because he was upset. But you know,
I think every time I see Mike, I thank him
again over and over for changing that to a pass.
(16:01):
What just for for people who might not understand the backdrop?
Why would Georgia been bad that his quarterback throw a
touchdown pass. He didn't really want me to leave, but
he didn't want me to play. So if you feel
one touchdown, you know you should. It's okay, yeah it
makes sense Cyne coore and half. But if you're throwing
two in the game, you know, even though you we
(16:25):
knew it didn't mean a lot to us, it meant
a lot to me and it also still meant a
lot to the team. We're in Detroit, you know those guys,
so um, it was just a big difference for me
when I went to go other places to have you know,
a video of it showed that you know, we're knowing
(16:45):
I throw one, but I threw two, and you know
I could have thrown a couple more, probably played played
more of the game. But it is what It isn't
my thank Mike all the time? What's your arm? All
the way back? Because I didn't you know, those two
years in Kansas City, you were really, really good, you
got to the conference championship game, you got back to
the playoffs. What was your arm? It was? I don't
(17:12):
like we're somewhere around halfway through the season. Oh wow, Yeah,
I just never got a chance to get back on
the field. Interesting. Okay, so I've never really talked to
you about this, but one of the weird things is that,
so now it's the playoffs, Um, Steve Young is quarterbacking
(17:33):
in the playoffs for the first time. It's a big deal.
But you were the backup. You were standing right there,
including that famous ninety two NFC championship game against the Cowboys,
uh with you know, doing whatever backups do. But I mean,
that's a really weird thing. It wasn't like, oh Joe's
(17:54):
not healthy, you were, you were you m what was
that experience like for you that Dallas? It was hard
in ways because you know, if that would have been switched,
they take me out right and instead they continue to
let him play. And I never ever got a chance
(18:14):
again to get back on the field because I don't
think he wanted me to see that I might be
able to do something else, you know, against the Cowboys.
But that's just my feeling, um, But you know, you
look at the games where the playoff games where I
got taken out of where we were behind games at
a lot of times when we come back to win
(18:36):
late in games. So why do you why do you
take me out? Um? This hard to understand the whole
situation was was kind of crazy once Bill left. It's
a great point because in the you guys were the
number one seed. You played the Vikings at home, and
it was, um, not you're not a great day for
(18:58):
anyone on the team at the time, and they had
a great pass rush and um you did ultimately get
taken out of that game. That was Steve's first year.
And I think people who freak out right these in
this era about quarterback awkwardness controversies, I don't. I want
you to understand. We have Joe here, who is the
best who's ever done, and we have Steve Young, who's
(19:20):
a first ballot Hall of Favor on the same team
for six years. Six years. It was hard to the
hard part about seven you can understand a little bit maybe,
but that's the year I came back from my back surgery. Yeah,
so I don't know any of they thought something else
(19:41):
was going on. I was. I waited about five. So
I remember offensive line coach Bob McKittrick was begging the
offensive lineman, don't everybody gets fined a hundred bucks if
somebody hits it. I miss I miss Bob McKittrick. So
(20:03):
the famous uh, the famous game in Philly at eighty nine,
which was the third regular season game I evercovered, where
you got sex six times in the first half and
I think eight overall and came back from uh way
down against the Eagles and one. But there's the famous
story is the offensive liignman are waiting to get just
(20:25):
reamed out because they you keep getting hit, and Bob
gathers them around and he uh, he looks at them
and says, hey, if any if anybody knows any prayers,
if you know the Lord's prayer, you might want to
say it now. And he looks at Harris Barton, who's Jewish,
and says, and Harris, if you know any Jewish prayers,
you might want to say those two. It was fun
(20:48):
to be around he was. There was only one of
those uh, no doubt. You went through um the elbow
thing and ultimately were the same. We're hoping that Broc
Purty when he's back, whether it's six months like they're
hoping or a year, is looks like he did in
(21:10):
these eight games, nine games. What do the forty Niners do?
Because before that championship game, it was gonna be Purty
next year on a rookie contract, that tray Lass probably
would have hug around and been the backup if unless
they've got a great train offer. But what do you
do if you're them? Now? Well, I start Jimmy. I mean,
(21:33):
if you look at how many games is Jimmy one?
I mean, you know for the longest time. Yeah, the
questions were out with Jimmy for a while, but um,
the one thing he's been able to do is win
games for those guys. And yeah, you'll make a mistake
here and there, but you know some of those things,
you know, I don't just put on Jimmy, like you
(21:54):
don't call it seven step drop one from two yard
line and put him back during the back of that
end zone. Then you feel pressure as a quarterback, the
first thing you're gonna do is your first steps are
gonna be trying to retreat to make room. And and
it happens, happened to almost everybody that you stepped out
of the back of the end zone. But don't put
him there, right and and yeah he made it crazy
(22:15):
throw and mistake in the playoff game a couple of
years ago, but he has won a lot of games.
I can't say the same for Tray, right, you don't
know that from him, So I think you got it.
You know it is me and I don't. I don't
go down there. I don't hang around down there. So
this is just my thoughts. You start the guy who's
(22:36):
won all the games for you, right, you got to
figure out, you know, the backup situation with trade is
Tray you know the offense well enough? Or is he
meant for that offense or not? And I think that's
the biggest decision they have. But me, I don't think
it's I don't think it's hard. I think you just
start jimming. Well. The only the hard part is that
(22:59):
jim he has a no franchise tag clause and he's
a free agent, so you gotta really show him the
love to try to get him back. Yeah, I mean,
I agree you, But I think I think when you
when they started trade, I think that was that was
a test of trade, not a Jimmy. You know. Unfortunately,
(23:23):
you know for Jimmy getting hurt. You know, he he
still want a lot of games before he got hurt, right,
and so he put him in that position to be
able to go to go on that run to begin with.
So I don't know, I don't I don't see an
issue with it myself. But that's just me and nothing
(23:45):
against Trey, but he just doesn't have the game experience
underneath them to have and that kind of good team.
They had a good defense and they had a good
off I mean, you're not You're you handed a guy
a team sort of like somebody else I know, got
handed a good team. So rather than too and fourteen
when I got so they you just you know, you
(24:10):
gotta go with the guy who's been winning the games
and he gets the offense and you know, go from there.
Uh so let's go back to you know, you and
Bill Walsh took the game to a different level with
the you know, the early West Coast offense stuff, and um,
you know, you guys went through a lot together in
(24:31):
in he was alternating you and Steve in in one
game he did it. He did it alternating starts at times,
and you know it was hard on you guys. Um,
I know you guys were very very close later, Um,
how hard was it to stay you know, in a
(24:52):
good place with Bill as all that was going on.
It was it was really hard. I mean, there was
like there was no real reason to be what was
going on was going on other than they were trying
to appease Steves somehow, and they gave him not about
appeasing people, right, you know, Yeah, he came in later
(25:14):
on and played well, but that doesn't take away from
what I had already done and was doing and can
can and continue to do still after that. And that
was the hardest part on me, was you know, I
can understand everybody's gonna have a bad year, but do
you pull somebody because you have up and down season?
(25:38):
Everybody goes through that. I mean, take a look around
the league. Love Aaron Rodgers, Brady and you can you
can pick him aut right and and say, look, not
not a good year, not a good year, not a
good year. Do you come back and if they're on
the same team, do they not start? Absolutely they started,
But um it's just it was just a weird situation
(26:00):
that whole time. And it was just hard to stay
focused as much as you want because a lot of
it made you play differently than what you normally play
because you try to do things that you wouldn't normally do,
like in a game. Um, so that was weird. But
(26:22):
I remember after the nineteen nine season, obviously before you
hurt the elbow. Uh, George had Seaford had announced a
plan to give Steve Maybe he hadn't announced it, but
it had been reported that there was a plan to
give Steve Young some designated starts in then I d
one season. I didn't know what that meant, but imagine
(26:43):
it was going to get to play all the easy teams.
I was gonna have to play all the time. One
he's gonna come out looking great. I'm I'm gonna be
fighting my butt off to win tough games. And yeah,
then I go, how is that fair? When I just
had one of the best seasons I'd had? And I said, statistically,
(27:05):
what I mean, it doesn't make sense to me because
I can understand if I had a bad year and
you were thinking about it, But it was his contract
was up and they were trying to keep them. That
was the only reason. Yeah, And he told me that's
what he Oh, that's what George told you. Yeah, you
were told me that I'll never forget. So I have
(27:26):
this vivid memory. It was minicamp and I feel like
it was eighty nine and it was my first year,
so I it really was one of my first days
ever at the facility in Santa Clara. And what had
happened was, uh, the forty diers had tried to cut
the salaries and maybe successfully cut the salaries of three
(27:48):
Steve veteran players. I believe it was key to Turner
Eric right, Uh, Jim Fawnhors maybe um and Ronny Lott,
the great, your great friend and one of the great
players in history, didn't take it well and he boycotted
the first day of minicamp and to show his displeasure
(28:09):
and so um there was a big media thing outside
the locker room and uh afterwards, and I didn't really
you know, I was very new. I didn't know off
the record, on the record, or like if we were
ever going to have real conversations, and uh, I was
just kind of hanging around and uh, I remember talking
(28:29):
to Ronnie and Ronnie said, you know what, man, this
business is so fft. He's like, they're gonna they're gonna
do it to me some day too. And I said,
they're not gonna do it to you know, you're Ronnie
a lot. There's no way and you walk by and
you go and they're gonna f me too some day
and I was like, yeah, right, and then sure enough,
(28:51):
three years later, Joe Bartana traded to the Kansas City Chiefs.
So it taught me a lot. Yeah, I know, it's
crazy with some of the things they try to do,
and you know, they think because they can get away
with and try to keep people and um guys especially
they know wanted to stay with the team. But you know,
(29:11):
I mean look at Keenick. You know, it was a
huge and he right, I don't know was that before
after he's injury. I think it was. I think he
was playing still in eighty nine and then maybe maybe
that happened after that. Yeah, but yeah, no, that was
once my wife's second favorite player, Well it might be first,
(29:33):
was he Well, I'll tell you she has great taste
because so full disclosure, I grew up a forty Niner
fan in l A. And uh may or may not
have been, you know, super super happy when I was
sixteen years old and they had that incredible season and
(29:54):
won the first Super Bowl and all that and that.
So I was I was a huge right fan, you know,
because he had this knack for getting to the man
right as the football arrived. If you remember He's the
real reason we didn't lose it the Cowboys after the
catch with his satan touchdown Stating Town. Everybody forgets about that,
(30:16):
and even the Cowboy fans forget about that. I remember huntingly,
but they had just outlawed Teraway Jerseys, I think. And uh,
he just would not let go of Drew Pearson. And
then the next play, Pillars forces the fumble, Stucky recovers
and then you're going like this. But yeah, so you
(30:36):
know I talked about how people we're nice to be
back when I was clueless. Eric was all, you know,
he's from East St. Louis, very tough, tough neighborhood, and
he used to say silver were you're from. You ain't
got no dog, and you you ain't got no dog
and yet And for five years it was this running
joke until that day you were gone. When I came
(30:56):
to a bidicap practice and I was like, for what,
we got double hoticides, we got bloody classes. You know,
I was yelling at around the locker room, and everyone
knew the joke because I've been five years of it,
and uh, I was like, well, I'm hard, but yeah, no, Eric,
one of the unsung heroes. You know, he won four
(31:17):
Super Bowls. He was a rookie in one great starter
and uh and as you know, a complete, complete character.
You played with another one of my favorite humans um
in Kansas City, Derrick Thomas, who you know, the late
great Hall of Favor and probably the social coordinator of
(31:39):
the entire NFL at that point. Uh what what a
what a great player, you know what that was? That
was another Really we we should have won a super Bowl.
They're easily, you know. We we screwed up late in
the season and we ended up losing the game we
should have won. And instead of playing Buffalo, and then
Buffalo game cost us home field advantage and we would
(32:02):
put it was fifty degrees in sunshine in Kansas City,
and we'd already beat in Buffalo earlier in the year,
and we had to go up there to play. And
I don't know when you could do things, certain things
with balls. I wanted to try, but you know, because
I could not throw the ball from here to the
(32:22):
window over there. So you felt you felt a little
deflated out there, like yeah, just a little bit, this
is amazing. So and did you get knocked out of
that game? If I recalled, Yeah, that's another one. That one.
I'm pretty sure it was that one. Yeah, because I
covered your last one. That was the one I got
(32:44):
tackled to the side and then when I was going down,
I hit my head on Bruce Smith's meat and hit
me right in the temple. And you know, concussions usually
don't I don't know, I can't. I can't ever remember
feeling one except for that one. It felt like a
lightning boat went across my head and I was like,
oh my god, it was I never felt anything like that.
(33:08):
That's kind of what made me retire up to the
next year. You know, have to um. During that whole year,
I was all I was thinking about was my health
and the kids and being able to play with them.
And I still had twenty seven surgeries in the end,
but you know, I still could do a little bit
of things and um at that point in time. But yeah,
(33:28):
that that uh, that team was there was one guy
that reminded me it might have been the only defensive
back that might have been a better athlete than Eric
right to me, and as Dale Carter a lot of
freaking nature man. Yeah, what a player. And then we
(33:48):
had a huge secondary too. Um. I mean, yeah, that
was a good team we had. We had we had
a team to show one that that was The game
has changed a lot, and so it's kind of like
when people ask me to compare basketball eras, I'm always like,
what rules are using? Are using the illegal defense and
the two man is so stuff? Are using today's space. Again,
(34:10):
it's really the same with football and quarterbacks. And people
don't really understand. But you played in an arrow where
defensive backs could definitely do more coverage wise, and and
you were fair game. You know, defenders got two steps
after you released the ball. They could hit you here,
(34:30):
they could hit you here, they could hit you in
the these um and you you just said twenty seven surgeries.
And I've had this conversation with you, I've had it
with l Way, I've had it with Marino and others. Um,
how when you watch how protected quarterbacks are today, you know,
does it feel weird? Does it feel better? What? What?
(34:51):
You know? We watched the game and we enjoy the
game just like anybody else. Um, you know, sometimes you
look at a little bit different because I wouldn't I
can't even begin to think about Danny Marino playing in
today's age. Oh my gosh. I mean, look at all
the things he did while he was playing, and I
(35:13):
think he's the most unsung guy that anybody ever talks about,
and that what he accomplished. And you know, turn the
tough time there, and his receivers weren't very big. Yeah,
granted they were fast and quick and they could do
the things that they needed to do with him, But
I just can't imagine how long he would have played
if you couldn't, you know, And yeah, it's it's it's
(35:38):
fun to watch the games still today, but it is different.
And you know what's so funny is like you look
at I when I for the longest time, I still
look back to the guys who played that kind of
distance before me and look at the game. Then, oh
my gosh, they what they did wide receivers back then,
they throw him in jail today. I was I always
(36:03):
having dinner about five years ago in Florida with Burrito
in a big group, and you know, he's a Pittsburgh guy.
You know, Danny all the court if at one point
we started talking about this and I go, Danny, if
you played under today's rules, how many yards would you
have thrown forward. He kind of just looked over and
he goes a fucking luck. You know they wouldn't. They
(36:27):
had to back up the brinks truck for Danny. Oh man.
I mean, do you think about how many years you
could have played under today's rules? Oh yeah, I mean
when you look at all the injuries and you look back,
and I mean we had guys who had a defensive
back from you know, I want to mention the team,
but you know he would blitz and he would die
(36:48):
with the quarterbacks plant leg in the front like literally
trying to take guys, blowing guy's knees out. It was
crazy back then and crazier before. And yeah, I understand
why they try to protect the quarterback is the only
guys it's always almost always standing still when they get hit, right,
But and the guy who hits you is usually outweighs
you by at least a hundred fifty pounds, and you
(37:12):
know you don't have a chance to protect yourself. And
that's what's the difference. Before can a guy stand in
there throw the ball accurately knowing that big sucker right,
there's plan in the ground behind me, and I'm going
to try to figure out how I'm going to protect
myself after I throw the ball? Did anybody ever get
that DV back whoever the enables d of heights when
(37:34):
he was around? Yeah, when when they would do it,
the Alignment went after him, a bunch of linemen what
would go after him all the times? And it's just
uncalled for and so many injuries you know in the
game already, there's no need to try to hurt somebody.
You are going to be part of this auction. It's uh,
it's coming up February tenth, I believe, and it's um,
(37:57):
it's yes, through the gold Knocks it it is g
O L D I N February Elite Auction. Portion of
the proceeds of what you sell will go to the
Four Rings Montana Family Foundation. You're a great foundation which
supports local children's charities. Um, you're selling. I mean, I
saw the list. It's I mean, I'll just get hope
(38:21):
free to hear. You can if you want out there,
you can bid on or by the Super Bowl nineteen
to twenty three jerseys, the real jerseys, uh a Super
Bowl MVP Trophy, the ball, the jersey, the jersey, the
nineteen and I think it was twenty the nineteen in
(38:44):
the three jersey. It was the same jersey and it's
never been done before. What happened there was I had
saved the jersey from the Super Bowl nineteen and I
was leaving to go to Miami, and Jennifer packed it
in my suitcase and beknownst to me, with a note saying,
(39:07):
I think you might want to wear this, And you
can if you look at the game film you can
tell the difference because the stripes are so far apart
on my sleeves, but they're real close on the other
guy's sleeves. So I work. So I think it's the
only time jersey has been more in the same suit
in two different Super Bowls. So it's it's pretty exciting
(39:27):
first of all. First of all, amazing move by Jennifer. Second,
did Brocko or Ted Walsh or anyone no like todayone? Figured? No,
not a and uh. And you know there's so many
things that you know, you look around and everybody's going, well,
why would you be doing this? And you know, and
my kids have seen them so long, and it's you
(39:49):
know a lot of the stuff is in storage, sitting there,
and I get asked all the time Hey, do you
have this? You know people are one of them are
looking to buy things of yours. And one of the
things about this is, you know it's mine because it's
coming from me. It's and it's reel and and uh,
it's things that I've been holding on too. And the
kids are taking little things that they wanted and most
(40:11):
important things. I got four rings and I got four kids,
and there get so that's where those go. So you
really planned that well, I'm considering. I now worked for
The Chronicle, where a columnist once infamously questioned your family
planning because Jennifer was going to give birth during the playoffs.
(40:33):
One of the worst things ever written. Probably, Yeah, but
you planned that well. Four rigs, four children. Perfect. Um,
I see that the ball. I wish she would have
stuck to her normal plan. She wanted six might have
be a good luckch on him, right. I feel like,
(40:55):
if you hadn't got traded at six was attainable. But
that's what I told Eddie. I go, you know, I
know you want another super Bowl, but you know, if
I just step around, we don't want a lot more.
And I kidd with him all the time. I can't
see Eddie getting worked up about that somehow though at all. Yeah. So,
(41:16):
in fact, one of the things you're selling is the
football we told. We told the story of the touchdown
pass against the Lions that got George Seyffert to yell
at bike shad. I had that football, um, and then
and then the jersey from your last ever game, which
I was at. It was you you and Marino do
Your's Eve Day. So I can't um both my full
(41:38):
uniforms from the last games I've played in the one
we played the Jot and the other one in Miami,
and they we we actually generated had him trained as
a full full uniform on that we that we had
in our way room for the longest time. We ended
up selling that house, and so things were just in
stories sitting around and I go to these autograph sessions
(41:59):
and people are going, hey, do you still have that
jersey or do you have this helmet? And um all
those things, and I go, yeah, I got a lot
of that stuff and shoulder pads that I wore forever
that I took the Kansas City with me. When you
look at him, you're you won't even believe it. And
they have this It's funny because they have this. One
of the guys said, why did you put that mole
(42:20):
skin on your shoulder pads? I said, because when I
was when I want to run, the shoulder pads because
we didn't have skin tight jerseys, shoulder pads would clang
back and forth and they made noise. Do already crazy?
So you put the mole skin on there. Yeah, there's
a's a lot of fun things, a bunch of trophies
and a little yeah, a bunch of good things. I
mean psychologically, it's does it kind of help you not
(42:44):
dwell in the past, or you know, is it more
spring cleaning vibe? Like what's the vibe of getting rid
of it? Just like it's tied. Yeah, it's just time.
You know, it's it's gonna clutter the kid's house if
something happens to me or Jennifer, they're just gonna have
to try to figure out what to do with it
at the same time. And you know, um, it's just
(43:06):
was the decision to say, hey, we're slowing down here.
I love watching football. Yeah, I love a little bit
of looking back, but I try not to think about
all the things. I think about the good times back then.
When I wish I was playing still absolutely like everybody
else has played the game. But I'm modan. You know,
I started business and um with one of them. My
(43:27):
sons is one of the partners, and the other one
started his own little venture fund too, and the kids
are all around us, and the grandkids, and it's just
it's fun for them to look back and but they've
seen it enough. It's time to let other people enjoy it.
I love it. Well, I'll let you go because you've
given me and it's said about a time. But I
(43:50):
just before I let you go. Patrick Mahomes, I mean,
what is it so my wife's favorite playing in the
league right now? By far? I mean, I'm looking for
something about him that I don't love, but I've yet
to find it. I mean, it just seems like he's
got the right temper but does everything he does, and
(44:11):
you know, and he just makes things happen with his feet,
with his arms, I mean those of all every way possible.
Knowing the man um, it's he's one of those guys
when they're on TV you want you want to try
to find him because they fun to watch, fun fun
to watch, and what you've talked to him is he
chill like, what's the what's the vibe? Yeah, I haven't
(44:33):
spoken much with him. Like I said, I'm kind of
I get. Most contact I make with people are usually
at the Super Bowl pregame pre days where all the
guys I run into by accidents somewhere. But other than that,
I don't. I stay away from the game. Um I
watch it, but uh, it's in my past. I love
(44:53):
my past in the game and what I played and
the joy that came from it. And now it's time
to enjoyed my life going forward and with with the
grandkids and the and the kids and before it's too late.
You know, you when you watch all these guys dieing young,
and you know I'll be sixty seven this year. So
um my, I'm on that countdown phrase and trying to
(45:17):
extend it as far as you can, and that you
know you're still on the countdown. You know, on the
downhill side, you know you you'll pull off the vehicle
and do outlive everyone. But it was even it was
What's so funny is I'm not sure if it was
listed in there, and I'm not sure what their plan is,
but I had this race car almost killing myself in
it was a Formula Ford. We did it. I did
(45:39):
an appearance for AUDI when they were switching the cars
out up at well Infinny of what they changed the
name so many times, but up there, yeah, And so
I gave us one the auction and one to take home.
So we auction to one off at the event, and
then I brought one home. And one day I used
to let the kids drive it faster than hell, open wheel,
(46:02):
open cock the and I was I take it down
to this straight away and let him drive it back
and forth. And there's a governor on it right. So
I turned the governor and they didn't know so you
could only go so fast, but they I was driving in.
I was going. The kids said I'll meet you down
to the bottom and the hill and I go okay,
(46:23):
And man, I was driving around the barn I was
looking for I couldn't find him. So I go down
and the road by the creek was like windy, and
I was getting on the gas and then all of
a sudden there's the kids in in this uh mule
klasaki mule. And there's no way I neither go into
the creek or I go under the vehicle, or I
tried to skirt around the side on went dead square
(46:45):
into a tree and probably had a big cut on
my foot and tractured my fibia. How long ago was this?
This was a while ago, and we had a charity
We had a charity event that I was probably been
I were sponsoring for our foundation, and uh, I had
(47:06):
to go there that night, and um, I had a
Bruce Sternham from the big bruise on my chest from
the hitting the steering wheel. I didn't I didn't have
the seatbelt on right, and I had the helmet on,
but I didn't have it tuck. I didn't have because
I didn't think I was going anywhere, and sure enough,
when you least expect it, and so we ended up
rebuilding it, and I figured it was I better get
(47:29):
rid of that too. Yeah, that's all right. Well, I'm
really glad you're still here. I thought the one first
start up from letter Marshall was your worst start above it,
but apparently, uh, that's what steering wheel probably tops it. Wow. Well,
I appreciate you time. Thanks my great talking to you.
(47:50):
Thank you joall. See you guys in Arizona, say Hill
all your friends over there that I love and I
appreciate your man, I would do it, take care of
Thank you in in three
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