Perspectives - Mark Brunell

In this episode, Brian Sexton sits down with former quarterback, and Pride of the Jaguars member, Mark Brunell.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
The following presentation of the Jaguars Podcast Network is presented
by by Start Credit. Mark Brunel is still in many
ways the face of the franchise in Jacksonville, though it's

(00:25):
been nearly two decades since he last pulled on the
teal eight. More than any other player, the quarterback, who
is hand selected by Tom Coughlin to lead his first team,
represents the golden era of Jaguars football. Or thirty eight
or thirty seven four thirty six? Can the Jaguars make
something happen? Cornell under center and sends Keen an emotion

(00:46):
from the near to the far side. He'll take the
snap and drop back to throw pressure coming. He's dumping
out to the near side, pump back. It cuts across
the fifty franks and tackle of the forty five. He's
at the forty Mark Burnell running to the far side, left,
turn the corner thirty five thirty down to the inside,
both leaping for the twenty one. Mark Burnell with a
masterful run of twenty nine yards, and the clock continues

(01:09):
to run. This is perspectives the story of the Jaguars
first twenty five years as told by the people who
built the franchise. This is Mark Brunell, the scrambling style,
the guns lingers bravado, the big winds and crushing losses.

(01:29):
Mark Brunell lived the early years of the Jaguars and
years later. In some respects, it seems as if he
simply survived them. His name hangs high above the field
in the stadium he once lorded over as the quarterback,
as the gladiator whose name was praised every Sunday. But
it wasn't as easy as the warm, charming man who

(01:49):
isn't afraid of his legacy might lead you to believe
I was never a great quarterback. You won't look back
and say, you know, Mark Burnell was a great quarterback,
but I had some great moments. Brunelle and his teammates
didn't have many of those through the first twenty seven
games the Jaguars played in ninety six, sure, the win
in Houston to secure victory for the first time, and

(02:11):
the inaugural win over the Steelers in the inaugural season
gave everyone a taste of the glory that lay ahead.
In November, when a club fractured by mounting losses, a
difficult and demanding coach plus a polarizing player began a
run that would lead them to the brink of something special.
Pat is on their feet. The holder is Dan Strazinski.

(02:33):
The Jaguars playoffs hopes may indeed rest on display. It
is from thirty one yards. There's the snap the place,
but the kick is up. It's on the way, and
it's no good. It's no god, it's so good best
and the Jaguars are going to the class. Oh my goodness.

(02:54):
Nobody was more relieved that Morton had missed that kick
than I. We had the game won before that drive,
before the Falcons took that down and got got Morton
in field goal range with a third down, third and eight,
six thirty. I don't remember what it was, but I

(03:15):
remember thinking in the huddle, all right, we got this
play if we just you know, we're kind of in
four minute drill. We get a completion, we get a
first down. This is ours. So it's a big third down.
Because we don't remember the time, the specifics, I just
remember how important this third down was. So the play,

(03:36):
whatever the call was to, I go through my reads
while I decided to throw out to the comeback comebacks
wide open um. He catches the comeback. I don't even
remember the receiver, Brian. He catches the comeback, it's the
first down. We got another set of downs chances though,
We're going to ride this out in four minute offense
and win the game. I bounced it to him, bounce
it to him, wide open, and I just remember, now,

(03:58):
you didn't know you did? You? Just you know, comebacks
aren't the easiest to throw. But listen, UM, at least
get it in the general vicinity of the receiver. Um incomplete,
we gotta punt. They get it back. And so I'm thinking,
you know, if you complete one pass, this team's going

(04:19):
to playoffs. And I was just overwhelmed by it. I'm
on the sideline and I'm I'm sick to my stomach.
I just I can't stand myself. I'm thinking, oh no,
And you know you always say, you know, it's never
one player, it's never one play. You know that causes you.
But yeah, sometimes it is. Sometimes it's one player. Sometimes
it's one play. And that would have been on me.

(04:41):
And um, he misses that field goal. I thought I couldn't.
I couldn't. I couldn't believe it. Morton doesn't miss from
that distance. Just doesn't miss so anyway, Uh Buffalo, no
chance gonna be called Jim Kelly, k gun. They never
lose up there. All right, let's give a shot, Brian.

(05:03):
That was it. Let us go up there and compete
and see what happens. No one gives us a chance.
Most of the guys in the locker room probably, you know,
if they were being truthful, didn't give us a chance.
Let's go play football. We've got a little role here. Obviously,
we've we've we're getting a couple breaks. We're here. Let's
go compete and see what happens. That was it there?
What's it anything like? Hey, I know it's Jim Kelly.

(05:26):
We're gonna go up there. Some guys might have been
spouting off all the confidence they had, and you know,
we've got some momentum and all this stuff bull crap.
Nobody thought we could win that game. Um, and I
know you're not supposed to say that, but you know,
it's just the odds are stacked against you. We were
just happy to be there. And some guys might give

(05:47):
you a different perspective and see say different things and
and and for me, I just thought, well, I get
to go against Jim Kelly in his place in a
playoff game day. It's pretty cool. Um, we just went
up there and played Get off the bus, it's cold, snow,
gotta walk through some hotel. It wasn't overly impressive, stayed

(06:10):
in the walk in there is just miserable, but it
was where Jim Kelly made his career. Get some great players,
and uh see what happens? Was it all I can
give you? I think I threw a couple of picks.
Clyd Simmons had a couple of big plays. Defense came
up when we needed them to. Uh, Natron ran well.

(06:33):
Um receivers, Kenyan, Jimmy did well. I think I had
to pick six. That didn't help things. So but I'll
tell you what. It was a team that, regardless of
how they thought this game would go, we still went
up there and we thought, you know what, we're going
to compete and no matter how ugly it gets early on,

(06:56):
no matter how bad it might seem for four quarters,
this group is going to fight. This group is gonna
try to make a play. This this team has some grit,
there's some there's some resolve about them. We're gonna go
out there and compete. We got no business being on
this field. We had no business being in the playoffs.
But here we're here, we are We're gonna go and

(07:17):
together we're gonna go compete and see how this turns out.
That was it. That was it, That was it, and
we won. Made some plays at the end. You gotta
make some place. What I loved about that was that
we are able to We were able to overcome some
really really bad place plays that lose games for you. Um,

(07:38):
we also were able to come up with that big
play that wins games for you. So you got both
in one game, you know, And and that's why it
was a close game. I think it was thirty seven.
It went down to the end, and we had guys
step up and we had guys go out there that
just did their job. It was Tony signature game as

(08:01):
a pro. It was Natron's his his runs. I had
a couple of throws in there, Clyde Simmons. Within that game,
there were a career identifying moments and we all kind
of got to be a part of them, which was
kind of cool. The thing about the Buffalo game is

(08:22):
that we go to Denver. All that Denver kind of
overshadowed how great Buffalo was. Would have talked a lot
about it. It's amazing. It was as big, if not bigger,
than Denver. The only difference is one got you to
the a f C Championship game. One got you into
the next round. So um, just a great moment. Love

(08:44):
that game. The euphoria of that when alone could have
carried them back to Jacksonville, but the fans who lined
the road from the airport to that night to welcome
them home built their belief into something that would lift
them a mile high that day. Uh. Personally, I got
to play against John Elway. I went to the Stanford

(09:07):
football camp when I was a sophomore in high school
and guess who was there? John Elway. His dad was,
His dad was, Jack was the head coach of Stanford
at the time. I'm remembering my years correctly. I just
know I was on Stanford's campus and John Elway he
was there. He's one of my favorites. Um how, he
is my favorite growing up. Um California kid. Anyway, just

(09:30):
a chance to compete against him, I thought was pretty cool. Now,
we stepped into Denver a little with a little different
mindset that we stepped into buffalo. Um, more confidence, momentum,
little swag about us. We didn't use that word back then, swag,
but we thought, you know, going in again, what were

(09:56):
they thirteen and three or something again and all the
stuff on the outside. You haven chance, John elwill you
can't do it two weeks in a row. All right,
same approach, but just a little bit more confident. We
just did it. Maybe we could pull it off again.
We get that first quarter and I think it's twelve
to nothing. No chance, right, no chance. But again, you know,

(10:18):
let's just keep competing, let's just keep fighting. Let's make
some plays. I'll see what happens. Maybe I get it
down to the end, we pull it off. That's what happened.
Made some plays offensively, defensively. Um, it was cool. I
never looked at the papers. I don't remember jaguards until afterwards.

(10:38):
I don't. It was just it was a great moment.
It was really really cool. The fly over. I wasn't
a fan of the flyover. I didn't like it. I
didn't like anything about it. It was too soon to me,
it was it was it was rushed. Don't we have

(11:01):
more work to do? Why? Why are we doing this
big celebration coming home with forty thousand or whatever it
was in the stadium. We've got another, We've got the
a f C Championship game. I never liked it. Then
looking back, I didn't. I didn't like it didn't feel right.

(11:21):
It was I get it. The fans loved it, and
it still talked about. I didn't want to get on
a microphone in front of all those people. Love them.
I thought it was great that they were out the
support and it was an awesome moment, but even at gosh,

(11:42):
what was I twenty five at the time. I hadn't
been around a long time, but I thought this, this
is not right. I didn't like it. It just was.
It was just too soon. And yeah, great moment, but
for me, person link, I thought it was the wrong

(12:02):
thing to do. More perspectives following this from Vistar Credit
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We never forget that it's your money, all loan subject
to approval, insured by n c u A. Surely this
team was just entering its window of opportunity. These Jaguars

(12:45):
would be a force, or at the very least a
factor in the a f C for as long as
Brunel was in the huddle. The windows slam shut on
a human night in New York when Giants linebacker Jesse
Armstead's helmet and the quarterbacks need collided and set the
Jaguars future to this side line, or so it seemed.
I hope you can appreciate that through the sound of

(13:05):
your car radio, your scary oh at home, wherever you
may be. The shame thing along our network. Mark Brunel,
number eight is on the field. The track wards are
on Monday Night football and the energy is unbelievable here
at all Tells Stadium. I knew it was a big deal,
but to me, it wasn't that big a deal. I

(13:25):
had done this in college. I had hurt my knee
in college m c O A c L major reconstruction. UM,
so I'd hurt my knee before and um and I
had come back from that. So when I hurt. When
I hurt my knee again, like I'm coming back. I've

(13:45):
done it before. I don't know how long it's gonna take,
don't know how bad it is. Um, But I I never,
I never thought I was in jeopardy of losing my team, um,
whether it was Rob or Steve. In my mind, it
was all right, hold down the fort. I'm gonna get

(14:06):
back as fast as I can. In college now, granted
I was eight nineteen years old. I came back from
an A c L and M c L in five months.
It was fast. It's fast, and I thought, all right,
I guess if there's a moment on this whole thing
to brag on myself, it would be this. I worked.

(14:27):
I worked, I worked hard and uh in the weight room,
whether it was rehab, treatment, treatment, it was something. There
was something about being the strongest I could be, being
the fastest I could be, getting back as fast as
I can, UM. And I knew I would work, and
I woul knew they'd do the right things. And I
knew if they said it was gonna be four weeks,
I was gonna make it too. Never never doubt that.

(14:51):
Um so um, we get into the opening, not being
there for opening day. It was excruciating. It was hard.
I wanted Rob to do well for Rob because he
was really Rob was was my favorite backup. Whole another story,

(15:12):
whole other story. But Rob, Rob had my back. Wasn't
trying to get my job. It wasn't competitive. We were
friends two ends the spectrum as far as personalities. But
I loved him, um protecting me, help me for a
young guy, knew the right things that anyway, I wanted
Rob to do well. I wanted us to win. And

(15:34):
but I would be lying to you if I told
you I'm looking at him, I'm thinking when he's playing
real well in Baltimo, I'm thinking Rob's pretty good. I'd
better get back real quick. I better hurry, I'd better
hurry my ass up. And uh, I wanted to be
out there so bad. And then and then Steve Matthews

(15:55):
the Giants game Week two, I thought, we don't have
a chance. That Joker goes out there and he had
five run plays and maybe ten passes in the in
the game plan that and it goes out there and
franchise record for to two points. I'm thinking, gosh, anybody
can do this. If Matthews can't. No, I'm just I'm
just kidding. I was happy for him, but then I
got back, Um, I shouldn't have played that game. Wasn't ready,

(16:21):
couldn't move, hurt like a mother. Um, but I faked it.
I convinced the who I needed to convince. I get
just enough on the on the testing, whatever it was
I think it was. I forget the name of the
machine and stuff. Yes it was the Cibex. I hated
that Sibex was horrible. Convinced Mike Uh said the right

(16:43):
things to Tom, said the right things to Dr Lucy
and Dr Tangerin. They just, I mean, just barely, you know.
It was enough to clear me. I just wanted to
get out there and compete. I wasn't gonna miss Monday Night.
I just wasn't. I can't. It's my team, I miss it. Um.
I was the best chance to win. I was their

(17:03):
best chance to win, and so I had to be
out there. That was it. Brunelle and the wonderfully talented
Jaguars would win three out of every four games they
played to the next three seasons, making the playoffs every
year and making their fans giddy as they climbed higher
and higher into that stratosphere reserved for those teams with
Super Bowl credentials. Smith and McCardell, Hardy and Brackens, Tony

(17:26):
and Taylor thrilled fans and built the demand for the
NFL and Jacksonville. No victory in franchise history inflamed expectations
like the sixty seven title way that wiped out Miami
a week later, though the losses were nearly as devastating
in the home team's locker room. By far the most

(17:46):
painful moment Um as a Jaguar. I'm still not over it.
I never will be UM. And it was not career defining,
but a moment that could have been Um very career defining,

(18:12):
if that makes any sense. Quarterbacks responsibilities, You've got one job.
One job is a starting quarterback, is to win a
Super Bowl for your team. Anything short of that you've failed. Obviously,
there are situations and circumstances, and but that's the ultimate goal.

(18:34):
We got. We got really close that year to achieving
that goal. And why I'll never get over it. It'll
never I'll never stop feeling the pain when that game
comes to mind, or when it's when we talk about it,
when I re about it. When I hear about it,
it'll never stop hurting because in my mind, if I

(18:55):
play better, we win. If I play better, we win,
um marked And you know that, no, no, no, no no.
If I play better, we win. That's the job of
the quarterback. Um if and interception here, interception there, misread.
There's only a few plays that I remember from that game,

(19:17):
none of which are are very good. If I played better,
we win. And that's that's tough. That's hard to swallow,
but it is what it is. Winning, especially the kind
of winning the Jaguars were accustomed to, can stand down
rough edges and at least create the illusion of smoothness.
That wasn't always the case when it came to the
relationship between Brunelle and Conflin. Not unlike Lombardi and Star

(19:41):
or Nolan Bradshaw, the demands of a coach who never
seemed to look back after winning and never look forward
after losing, took its toll, as losing took over in Jacksonville.
That's who Tom was. There's nothing bad about that, but
at times it was hard. It was hard for all
of us. But he here's what, here's here's Tom. What

(20:03):
I what I appreciate more what I appreciate now, more
than I ever did. I mentioned that his expectations were high.
They were they have to be, but you always knew
where you stood. It's not the case with a lot
of head coaches. I had other head coaches, and you
didn't know where you stood. I had coaches say, hey,

(20:26):
you're doing great, Love how you're competing. The next week,
I'm benched. Wait, wait, wait a minute, what about you?
Love how I'm competing. You knew where you stood. He
demanded a lot out of you, and if you didn't
meet those demands, you were going to have conversations with him.
Nothing wrong with that too. Um. He was probably more
firm with me because I was the quarterback, and I

(20:52):
don't know if he would say this, maybe more than
he needed to be at times, um understanding that I
wouldn't handle his critique or his coaching the way I
should have. I didn't always handle it real well. I

(21:14):
walked out of his office more times than not, really
piste off. A lot of that had to do. And
I can only speak for myself, my maturity level, and
really my perspective because I needed to understand at that
time more that he's trying to make me better. He's
trying to communicate to me where I stand. He's trying

(21:36):
to communicate expectations that he had of me. Um, it
doesn't mean I'm not his quarterback. It doesn't mean he
thinks he made the wrong decision. It doesn't mean that
he doesn't like me as the guy. Tom's perspective was
all right, I've got to get this kid better. I
gotta get him performing at a higher level. And how

(21:57):
he and that's how Tom did it. That's who Tom was.
I didn't understand that as much at the time. Um,
I would get upset. I would get you know, mad,
I would stomp off, Gosh, I'm down here too much?
And man, I got we we won the game, Like, yeah,

(22:17):
I threw an interception, but we won the game. Why
do I have to come down here? Um? So, But
I looked back now, and I and and I think,
you know what, one guy that gave me a shot.
There's one guy that brought me to Jacksonville. There's one
guy that said, Mark Bronell, you're my guy, and we

(22:40):
you are our franchise cary at one guy that's Tom Coughlin.
So I maybe not have liked how he coached. And
I may have been I might have been upset at times.
I may have might have been disappointed or or you know,
stopped off and pouted or it was mad or all
of this stuff. Okay, but guess what, that guy gave
me my shot. And if he doesn't, you know, I

(23:04):
don't know if I ever get a team. Who knows?
Who knows? But Tom Tom Coffin gave me my shot.
And I am forever grateful and I am for ever
indebted to him, for him believing in me. Um. And
you know what, the way he coached me, it worked,
It got me better, It lit a fire. Um and uh,

(23:27):
I've always respected him, I've um and I've always been
grateful for him giving me my chance. More perspectives following
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by n c u A. When Margat arrived in Jacksonville

(24:13):
in the spring of ninety five, he knew of plenty
of people in the organization, but he didn't know many
of them personally. By the end of the ninety season,
one man would have a dramatic impact on his life
with the Jaguars and to this day. You know, when
I think about Tony, I we were we were introduced,
we were brought together because of Tom coffin, the Jacksonville Jaguars,

(24:39):
the city of Jacksonville. I get that, but we've been
we've been really good friends now best friends for over
two decades, and most of our relationship, you know, go
so far beyond football. M h. We don't even we

(25:02):
don't even talk about football. We don't relive those moments.
Hey remember that game a Buffalo. Hey you remember that
one summer up in Stevens Point. Gosh, you remember that one.
It just doesn't come up, Brian, it just doesn't. That's
not that's not how we are connected. That's how we
initially got connected. But now going forward, Hey, he's my

(25:23):
best friend, he's like your brother. Um, things go something
really cool happens, we have a baby, he's there. Um,
we have to go through a tough time, house catches
on fire, he's there. Um. I could give you countless

(25:44):
examples of the good and the bad in our lives,
both sides. We just make sure we're there. That's what
best friends do. UM, recently had breakfast doesn't happen often,
but I need I need it. I need to be

(26:04):
able to connect and catch up. And sometimes it it's
it's three weeks, sometimes it's a month. We talked to
each other at least once a week. Letten, he's my
best friend, just like everyone listening here probably has a
best friend, and you can identify I don't I uh,
best way to put this. I wouldn't want to do
life without him. Um. I've got some very valuable, valuable relationships,

(26:30):
and I have some really close friends. Um, but uh,
none more closer than my friend Tony. It's um, yeah,
he's my guy. Tony's running Jacksonville ended after two thousand one.
Tom's last days were in two thousand two. Mark followed

(26:50):
in two thousand three. I understood when Tom was fired.
When you get a new head coach, they typically bring
in a quarterback. I understand. I understood that, but we
hired Jack del Rio. He was a former player, so
he didn't really fit into the This is what head
coaches do, mold Um. I had played against him. We're

(27:12):
both packed ten guys. We weren't friends, but I you know,
I played against him when he was in Minnesota. I
was with Green Bay, and Um, in my mind, I thought,
all right, this is a new start. I'm the guy here.
I've got plenty of football left. I feel good about this.
We're getting up to the draft and I'm hearing rumblings
about they might take a quarterback in the first round.

(27:34):
I had a position coach come up to me and said, listen,
listen all that crap. We're not taking a quarterback in
the first round. Fair enough. I think I'm out of
the quarterback challenge or some event down and out in
l A or something on the West Coast. Drafts going on,
Drafts going on. They've got like Quarterback Club or something
like that. I'm throwing a football around in the sand

(27:54):
and I'm not really paying attention to the draft, but
I am because I've heard some things about about possibly
taking a quarterback and it wasn't just Jack and Shack
was here, and so I thought there was a possibility that,
you know, maybe they take somebody some kind of looking.
Sure enough, uh, Jaguars picked Byron left, which I knew

(28:15):
I was gone. That was it. I knew my days
were numbered. Now I knew I would, in all likelihoods
start the next season. I knew that if depending on
how things go, determine how much playing time I would get.
I knew two things if I wanted to keep my job,
I had to win early and stay healthy. Neither one

(28:37):
of those happened. I cut open my elbow, ended up
you know where, oh and three cut up my elbow.
That was it for me. And I knew that golden
era shined to the Jaguars fans, but it wasn't as
glamorous to be Mark Brunell. An entire city rolled out
the red carpet, but oftentimes Brunell found himself wanting to

(28:57):
step off it and out of the limelight. He enjoyed
the city so much he returned years later and now
it's home. But those days back in the nineties weren't easy,
and clearly they wore on it so much so that
he needed to talk about one moment it wasn't so good,
as if clearing the air would lift some of the
burden of having been less than perfect on and off

(29:18):
the field. I remember going to doing a radio show
and I was going to be there for I think
I was gonna talk on the radio for an hour
and I was gonna sign for an hour. Maybe this
was just a signing thing. Maybe I was just signing
somewhere where I was at Sears for a period of
time and I was gonna sign for this time. That
was the agreed time. Well it was supposed to sign

(29:39):
for an hour, but it was a two hour line.
Nobody knew back then. All right, well, you know, we
gotta cut this line off. And this just stands out
to me, and I feel terrible about it. At one hour,
Mark Burnell gets up and walks out, leaving an hour
of people right there. I got cursed at I got this,
you know, just yelling at me as I'm walking out
of the serious and I thought, man, I wish I

(30:04):
was I wish I handled that better, you know what
I mean. Life is different from Brunel these days. The
guy who arrived at quarterback is now a coach, and
no matter how that road twisted and turned over the
last fifteen years. He's grateful to be right here right now.
Things are really really good and it has everything to

(30:26):
do with that trade and late April and nineteen that
was the beginning of something really special. There are moments
in your life that launch you into your destiny. There
are moments in your life that just take you wherever
you're you, take you out of where you are, throw

(30:48):
you into a new environment, situation. You don't even know
what it means, but you look back you think wow.
Jackson