September 24, 2025 • 28 mins
On the latest Off the Edge with Cam Jordan podcast, Cam is joined but Colts pass-rush icon Robert Mathis for a raw and unfiltered conversation about life in the trenches. Mathis shares how watching Derrick Thomas shaped his game, the origins of his signature tomahawk chop, and what it meant to cross the 100-sack milestone. He opens up about teaming with Dwight Freeney to form one of the NFL’s most feared pass rush duos, the lessons he learned from veterans like Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne, and why his road from Alabama A&M to Super Bowl champion still drives him today. Cam and Robert swap stories on chasing quarterbacks, wrecking game plans, and what it takes to leave a lasting legacy.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome on edg Off Edge the Podcast with me your
host Cam Jordan. I'm sitting here with the man who
needs no introduction, somebody who's been a pro bowler and
all Pro somebody who spent their entire fourteen year career
with the Colts of the NFL's all time leader in
forest fumbles. I mean, he's a man who punches the ball, out,
who finds the ball. It's a knack sometimes. I'm telling you,
(00:25):
I still watch film like, how did he do this
for such a long time at such a high level.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
We talked about a member of the Coach Ring of
Honor and.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
A black college, Black College Football Hall of Fame representing Alabama,
A and M, which I thought he was more country
than he is because apparently he's from like, you know,
that Atlanta side, which I'm not gonna hold it against him,
But we talked about none other than Robert Mathis aka
the Misico getter one hundred and twenty three sacks. Oh man,
(00:53):
it's time for this week's Drive for Success conversation with
anybody Toyota. Let's go places. We talk about just formidable
defensive ends. Somebody who I used to watch film one
be like bro, you got a non stop motor.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
It was you and Dwight Freedy.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
But what they don't understand is how hard it is
to get that ball out. And you you are the
NFL all time like I said, fifty three or fifty
four over the punch us like sad, Yeah, I'm getting that.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Oh yeah it was tell me how first the first
off zone six east? That to be exact. Let's let's
let's get that correction. But no appreciate you having me, man,
And it's just a pleasure just to speak a sack
pass rushers, speaking of speaking amongst sack pass rushings. So uh,
(01:40):
just those are things that we practice every single day
because if you know, as a sack man, you you
have to sharpen your tools every day. If you don't
do it, the tools will get dull and uh and
you just have to do it every day. So these
are things that my past rush uh D line coach
uh John Cheer, he demanded that we do something past
(02:03):
rush related every single day and and it carried over.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, look, I how skills they we had.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
We had a saying it as for minority line skills,
if you don't use them, you lose it. So you
gotta be able to work those skills every day. Hey,
and I bring my hands to work every day.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I'm trying to choke it, tight end out.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
But you, I'll say you he was finding that for
that ball, man, that's different. I mean I feel like
I've I've had emphasis on like, oh, let's push the
ball out, let's get the handle the ball like you know,
whatever it is. I've had quarterback in hand hand on
the ball ripping out, and for some reason they want.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
To double clutch with me.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I see guys like you, I see, I see you
know Vaughn hit them with like a little like three
figure tap and the ball be out.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Some guys just have a knack for finding the ball.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
My team at Chris Rope had one like he He
slid underneath the tackle, popped up, slapped the ball and the.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Ball was out immediately.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I'm like, bro, I punched the ball and somehow it's
like hit a quarterbacks ripcage and he's double clutched it.
I'm like, godly, So for you, like, it's one thing
to have a vision and focus on it.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Man, for you to get a fit over fifty of
the things knocked out, that's that's legendary.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Well, the background background story, I grew up watching Derreck
Thomas and he actually did started a tomahawk chop. So
what I do whenever I'm able to get to the quarterback,
which is not easy, by the way, for the people
out there, you do the same thing. You secure the
tackle and you tomahawk with the opposite hand, and it
(03:34):
just so happened. The football will come out if you
if you're getting pushed put pushed past the quarterback, just
chicken wing it. Throw your hand out there, knock the
ball out. And as long as you work those things
every things, every day, it'll work out to your favor.
But you have to do it every single day. It
gets boring, but hey, you have to do it.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Hey, things don't get boring when you're obsessive about your craft.
There's nothing boring about repetitive motions. That means when you
get tired and it's fourth quarter and the games on
the line, and you've played sixty snaps, you play sixty
five snaps and you've been fighting double teams chips this
fat person called the office of Lineman.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
You you know, like this is what you rely on.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Those those repetitive motions come skills, and that's a skill
set right there, so somebody we may never see again.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I mean fifty over fifty forced bubbles.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Well, well, I teach my guys to be a technician
about your technique, and that's doing a little things right
over and over and over. That's why you can say
it gets boring. But to us as rush guys, is
never boring because you get to the quarterback, get them down,
do your sack dance, and in this mandatory have a
(04:50):
sack dance mandatory man mandatory, you know, and and just
keep it going on to the next one.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Absolutely, And I mean the fact that I've got you here,
a man who's at over one hundred sacks, we say,
one hundred and twenty three. I now know what it
feels like. You know, I'm finally a match shoot. I
feel great about it. I'm like, man one hundred twenty
three sacks. I don't think I've ever had my water's dreamed,
not like be here. In my mind when I first
got to leak, I wanted like forty or fifty sacks.
(05:19):
We had the privilege to be in a couple Pro
bowls together, and I was like, I was watching you
and I was watching Robert Quinn, you know, going off
for the high teens in the sacks, and I was like, man,
I was like, I gotta get there. I got ten,
I got twelve, and then I finally got like that
the fifteen and a half. I was like, man, it's
a threshold up here. You know, what what does it
mean for you like to be on that one hundred
(05:39):
plus sack list.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
You don't sneeze at it, man, because you because you
understand how tough it is to get to get they
get to the quarterback, they're gonna they're gonna scheme against you.
Once you become a guy that's on the radar, they're
gonna make sure you don't get to their their franchise.
Why because the past rusher, the franchise past rusher, is
the only guy that can neutralize three other franchise players
(06:06):
on one plate at any particular time. If you can
beat the offensive WindMan, sack the quarterback, and prevent the
quarterback and throwing it to his past catcher, you neutralize
three guys on one plate. And if you're a guy
that they respect enough to assign two or three guys
onto you, that's that lets you know how tough it
(06:29):
is to get to a quarterback. And we're not going
to speak about the the Michael straight hand Brett Favs
type of respect.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Respect no matter how they comes, as long as they
as they come through good way.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
They say, a sack is a sack is a sack.
So hey, absolutely, man, absolutely, I hope I get a couple.
All he fell down. I take that, you know, touch
turn out of bounds. Hey, whatever the case and whatever,
no doubt whatever, Man, I take it.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
But yeah, he at the end of the season, they
don't They don't ask how you got there. They said,
did you get there?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Did you get the answers? Yes, that's it, that's it,
my brother. Hey, hey, I pray you get fifteen to
twenty more of those.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Man, I appreciate, I say now that we're tired. Man,
look now, now I gotta start hutting your teammates and whatnot.
Go get like all right now, go hey, Like is
it crazy to think like as you were after you
hit that one hundred sack threshold and you started like
counting down the guys you're walking down with every sack
and you end up in the pandy of the twenty
(07:38):
five greatest pass rushers of all times on that list,
Like what is it? Were starting to look at those sacks,
would you start like, hey, I need three more to
pass this guy up, or hey another one.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Here is going to help me.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I didn't start.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Was what was your perspective on this?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I didn't really It wasn't really real until you got
past like the one hundred and tenth show, because I
just want to get I wanted to get to one hundred,
like you said you wanted to get to fifty. Once
you passed fifties, okay, I'm going to start tracking. I'm
going to start tracking walking boys down. And uh that
was the case. And especially with the Coats, it was
(08:15):
you know, Dwhite Freendie was He's the guy, you know,
he's the mount rushmore past rushes. So once I got
to striking range, all right, so well let's I can
absolutely okay, yeah yeah, So once I got to that
that first shoulder, oh man. So and this is a
(08:36):
guy that me and him were we came up in
this game together, so they lets you know, damn we
can we can really make some noise in this thing. Man.
So that's how it was. You got to the one hundred,
one hundred tens. So now you want to start. Yeah,
I'm looking at Derek Thomas, he had one twenty six.
I couldn't get there, but hey, you ever chance he
(08:58):
got a tence bro we got Hey, we got a chance.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Look we got we got fifteen games left in the
regular season. I'm like, man, I say, okay, we gotta
really start coming on year.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
You got another year or two, don't do it.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I mean, look, I'm assumed saying what's in front of you?
You know, we have fifteen opportunities left in this season.
Who knows this this next offseason, I'm like, I got
three more in me and be like Klais Campbell heading
in the year eighteen. Or it could be like, hey,
my wife said, I gotta go. Here we go, we
go pack this up ahead on to the next inventure.
But that's just it with with every week it comes
(09:32):
that much more important, Like this this past week didn't
get one and somehow lost this game. You're like, man,
I was like, every one of these plays gets that
much more important.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Team, what it got? What it got towards the end?
What did what did you feel like? How did you
know after fourteen seasons seasons you you had had enough.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Well obviously your mind tells you you can. You can
play however loan you desire, which is twenty twenty five years.
But your body starts talking to you every every every week.
It was something going wrong in my body, so you're fourteen.
I mean it started out it was a toe, it
was my knee, then the other knee, then heilp a stinger,
(10:13):
three stingers in a row. So your body, my body
started talking to me. So I had to listen to it.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
But your body will let you know.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
It's gonna let you do.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
There was like like right around like year seven, year eight.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I remember I used to like wake up like bro,
I am not kicking back, like used to be good
by Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Now it's Thursday, it's Friday.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
I said, I don't know if I can do this
forever now, but some of you know, you start taking
care of your body the way that we need to
go through acupuncture, cupping, dry needles, the electric stem the
like the body feels good like some some weeks, like
like this week it's Tuesday. Usually I feel like I'm
hit by a train by Tuesday that delayed on the lay,
(10:53):
I said, muscle sword.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
This is real. Doms.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I feel like you've a bed in a whole fight
with Terrace Crawford out there like Canelo getting a body shots,
going to work, and here we are.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I'm like exactly, I'm like, I'm like this Tuesday, I'm like, hey,
we're gonna run a mile.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
We go w some sprints.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
I said, eight, we're back, eating right, getting your body,
body right, getting always prepared like that does a huge
thing for you. You a contrast, if you believe in it.
I believe in hot tub. I'm a big Are you
a cold guy?
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I became a cold, tough guy, like midway midway through
my career.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Okay, these things that I don't do. I do not
partake in the cold. But she was out in Indianapolis
where it snow. I'm here for heat and the heat along.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
The thing about that once you got to that threshold,
you know what your body needs. I watched I watched
Riggie Wayne. He kind of taught me how to take
care of my body. He was a cold tub guy,
and I was like, man, left that I'm not getting
in the cold tub. But I saw that it helped.
(11:57):
It sped up recovery and reduce inflammation. So you know
what you need. And at this point, like you said,
you what to see your fifteen for you sixteen Yeah yeah, man,
you know you know exactly what you need. So I'm
not gonna do I'm not gonna go out and play basketball,
pick up basketball, I'm not going to do none of
that stuff. Everything is football related and just just keep it,
(12:22):
keep it in focus. Man.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
He reps is low, Like reps is low with the family.
So like I got four kids, they're like, Dad, come
play basketball.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Come this week one. Oh yeah, I'm in there.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
We two.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Hey, we gotta tamp it down now. Week three, Hey, man,
I can, I can.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I I'm quarterback if you need if you want to
go run routes cool, Oh you need, you need an outlet,
I can pass to you. We're not We're not playing
for games now. Hey, we gotta we gotta tamper down.
I gotta save my best for this next fifteen weeks.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Look at him, listen, you go run, you go do
all that I got you.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Absolutely, I'm gonna be right there. Run me my slant son,
yeah yeah, run me that post go.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah. No, I'm not covering you. No, I'm not. Nope, no,
that's over.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
But when I think about, how are you able to
you know, become the strip sack king, you know, with
the all time NFL leader with forty seven.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Career strip sacks? Crazy, what's so another one like five
or six just forced punch out? It's crazy? You know?
Speaker 1 (13:19):
How is it that you sort of go h underacknowledged
for this feet Like I feel like in terms of
first ballot Hall of Famers, once you hit that one
fifteen and above one twenty for sure, like i'd say
first ballot, and here we are saying like, hey, like
you're still waiting on your time. How is it that
you're sort of you know, not being talked about as
(13:39):
a dominant pass rusher and the pantheon that of pass rushers.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Well, I think the bulk of my career I was
playing with Dwight D. White is that he was that
guy for the Aapolis Colts. But hey, I earned my
seat at the table as well. But you know how
that goes. You have to you have to get the
votes that you're how the control of getting. So it
is what it is man right here.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
So you say, like you know whatever that is, but
you were under undersize for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Like I remember you know, like it was it was you.
But you're sitting there at what two you played at
two forty five?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Two thirty five? But what the what the frontier.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Five speak to thirty five? So we're going to put
in the media, uh the media book it was it
was six two two forty five nose air six feet
thirty five.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
My gosh, Like, that's that's the astronomical like advantage that
you have just in terms of leverage.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Sure, but the fact that you were doing as a
two thirty.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Five sub two fifty, I don't know if like I've
dropped under two seventy once in my career.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
At a preseason last year, I was like, oh, I'm
too light. I said, no, too light. I was like,
I don't like I don't like it. I don't like
how I'm black in power.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
And I got back up to thirty five and I
was like, two thirty five is the lightest I've ever
played this last two years.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I'm getting to thirty five.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
And I'm like, I'm quick, I'm fast, I'm had, y'all,
I'm mobile, I'm hostile.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Thirty five.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
I saw I wouldn't have a year ago. I looked
down at the scale and I saw two sixty and
I was discussing at myself my belly. A hey, man,
I don't know what too, certainly I can't even fathom that.
But yeah, it's just body type. Man. You you your
power guy, So that's what you do, right.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
You gotta know what you're good at it. I don't know, brother,
Like we've seen that long arm happen now it was.
It was a transition. We've seen a long arm. Take tar.
You fast guys talking about you know the power, that's
your lane. We got you Von Miller, your elite steps.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Equal equal shifted feet and shifted feet equals not not
set your gravity for an office a linement, and.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
We know where that hand place we could go.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
I promise you it was weight transition. We got three
hundred pounds going one way. You just keep it going
that weight. So I'm not gonna try to do a
chop swim slap that you do. Man, I'm not. That's
not me.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I'm I'm gonna chop to mars down because I really
want to get their feet moving too.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I feel like I'm missed it pushed by himself, Like
I get you the spot and I can push you
by I need that. I'm trying to race. I'm trying
to race to my spot. Sometimes I'm like, that's where
I want to go. We gotta push. Thank you, stupid,
you wonderful man, you for this beautiful pleasant But man,
what I would I have to think about what you
what you've been able to do. I mean in your era,
(16:31):
like low key undersized you, Elvis Duomerville. You know, we
look at the pantheon the guys like that. It made
you unique, especially you coming from an HBCU, Like how
how does how do young Robert get to Alabama?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Hey, the choice was very easy for me because I
only had one. They offered me a scholarship and it
just so happened to be the last scholarship of that
particular year because the guy that they actually it turned
them down on National Signing Day, and so they offered
me the opportunity and only had one, so I took it.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Stay less.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
I got a shout out to the heel Alabama and
the Princeville. It's Vegas, Alabama.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Veaszy, no doubt, I mean, you know so then so
then you go ahead and we go to uh, you
go to Indiapolis Colts.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
You know that first year. You know, did you have
like a welcome to NFL type moment?
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Oh? Man, yes, yes, short answer, yes, a long answer.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So if you played the two thirty five, what did
you come into the league.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
At two twenty? Hey, it was it was so funny
the story. Man, it's so funny because I come in
obviously I had to do the core for the special
teams kick off, kickoff return, punt return. And my first
in the game was a preseason I got handled, I
(18:03):
got ran over and the guy made a tackle. But
during the season it's so fun I think we were
playing a Jets and we was gonna kick off return,
so we got into a mix up skirmish or whatever,
and a cornerback came in and he was talking. He's like, man,
get your old two hundred and twenty five pounds defense
(18:25):
in face. Ass. Hey, this stopped me from whoever I
was engaged with, and I just started laughing. Man, it's like, bro,
so we're doing this in the middle of a rock hey. Facts.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Hey, you know when you're in the churches, boys, boys like,
may you feel a little light today?
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Have you had?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Have you had some tacos?
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Maybe you should gonna get another steak and you were here,
like man, out of everything I could, this is me.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
I had plenty of light days in my career, Sir.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Man, I say, we got We got the defensive end
on the Saints.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Chris Ruff my dog weighed into like two thirty something
one day and I said two thirty eight. I said,
big fella, go play safety. Big fella, like you ain't
they You know he's liked bro.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
He's like, what I eat all I can?
Speaker 3 (19:13):
That's two for it. Tell him come see me. I
got it. No, no, he give us all nolt, slipper,
shameless plub. Let's go. I got it.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Hey, the fan facts.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I mean, but so you you were over there again,
over there a coat, You get your welcome moment.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
You you boke up.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
You say you played at two thirty five. So we
gave pails there two forty on a heavy year.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I actually got this. I got the fifty one in
the middle of the season and I was like, oh no,
I felt my stomach bouncing, So I can't do this.
I can't do this.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
That's crazy. Hey, you gotta know who you are. You are,
you know you you solid? You shredded every every muscle,
muscle speak for themselves. You know you figure your way.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
But you you say you entered you know any coats
you had, you had the O G with you. What
did you take from you know, Dwight Freeney, What did
you take from Rege?
Speaker 3 (20:03):
What do you what like?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
What? What did you take from Tony Dungee? It's outed
to my guy, Tony Dungee.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
You know what I'm saying. From coach Dongee. I took
no excuses, no explanations from Peyton. I took how to
be a student of the game from Reggie Reggie Wayne.
I took how to uh just keep you know, prepare
my body and just how to preserve how to preserve
my body from Dwight. I took how to approach the game.
(20:33):
Uh he was he was a one year ahead of me.
But Dwight is his hot his football. I Q we
past rush i Q. I would say, nobody is ahead
of him. He knows how to dissect blocking schemes, uh
chip blocks. Uh the I you know, reading how the
(20:55):
quarterback is going to I mean, how to offensive linement
with their eyes, looking at their eyes, their knees, their
the amount of rhythms, things like that. Oh, Jeff Saturday
how to be a leader. Man. I came in the
era I man. I joined the team that was full
of guys. Bro uh this guys. So I try to
take a little bit from everybody that I see that's
(21:19):
successful in their particular department. And they were just somebody.
It was just a good run, man. Uh. I hate
that the Saints kind of derailed one one run, one
of those runs. But it's fine, it's fine. I'm over
it here.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
You got you got one.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
It's not like it's not like you're fifteen years in
and he ain't got a super Bowl, you know, fourteen
one early.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
I'm still hunting, Like I'm like, are you in the quarterdecks? Yeah,
but also wins. What I didn't want to hunt a win,
and I would have.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
I've been to an NC championship game and we felt
like got robbed, but you never and we never got back.
So I don't even I've been to the highest part
of mountain. I ain't been to the highest so you
got part of the mountain.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Indeed, you got robbed. But we're not gonna do that.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
That's gonna bring that's gonna bring them them dark days
out of me.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Just like you know, we were talking about But what
so you know you said, Dwight's a year ahead of you.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I didn't realize. I thought it was about three years
ahead of Eyway.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
You know, like when you guys play together, it was
it was poetry in motion. But when did y'all know
y'all could be a dominant duo? You know you're saying,
you say you started taking off of doubles Dwight Dwight,
of course double digits.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
So y'all had.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Bookeets Hey, Dwight was rolling early. I walked in the door,
Dwight was already rolling. And so my rookie year, I
had three and a half sacks. But and that's because,
and this is what I tell my guys that I trained.
That's because I relied on what I did in college,
like the talent that I had. But this is the NFL.
They're going to adjust by the next series. So to
(22:47):
where year two I had ten and a half. And
that was because I trusted the process. If it works
in practice against a guy Ryan Dean, he was the
offensive tackle that I work me and win against each
other for almost two or ten years. If it works
against him in practice, it's going to work against a
guy that doesn't know you in a game. So I
(23:07):
had to trust the move, get a plan, work a plan,
perform a plan. So that was the thing. So now
by year three, I had eleven and a half and
Dwight was like sixteen, and we was like, it was up,
it was it was up, it was up. And so
we're like, hey man, but we had that. We we
stole sacks from each other. That was the that was
(23:29):
the unique part of our relationship that we was the
we was each other's best cheerleader. Like he get to
the quarterback, like, yes, sir, so now all the tension
goes over there. Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Like those years, Like those years you get like, oh,
oh snaps, he got a two piece game, he got
oh he was crazy, he had three piece.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Oh yeah, it's still third quarter.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Brobody taking this party.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
And it takes a place.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
It takes a pass rushing to understand a pass rushing.
So if and there was no jealousy, it's just like Dwight,
get going. You're an alpha gat please go, go, go go.
So now the sentler is gonna slide that way, the
running back is gonna be over there, So I gotta,
I gotta, I.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Mean, I dream of those one on ones and now
now because.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
He going crazy, I'm about to go absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Love that.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Love that man I've had. I've had a couple of
pass rushers over the years. When they go double digits,
I'm not too far behind me or I'm just just
slightly ahead, because either way, I try to tell guys,
it goes full circle.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Those ones you missed you like, dang, that could have
been mine, but he got it.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Eventually he he's gonna fall off one and you will
be like, hey, brother.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Let me get that.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Yeah, way bad, thank you.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Man.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Hey, look that's what it's like. It's ours. It's gonna
stay at Bagarage.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
You know what I'm saying. He's gonna stay right at
my crills.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
But oh man, yeah, I mean you talk about you
at one twenty three, Dwight Freedi at one twenty five
and a half and.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
The same era. That's just disgusting work. When you know
you got Hall of famers on the team. You look
over you, you like you like little Spider Man, me.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Like you're a Hallo faper y'all had, y'all had them guns.
Maybe let's just talk about the culture in general, Like
after a loss, What did that locker room feel like
versus after a win?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
You know, man, it was devastating because a loss is
not expected. It was not expected, and you have coach
Dungee who doesn't yell, and that's worse than having somebody
that yells at you. It was like, we didn't get
it done. And at one time he said he said
the word, and it.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Was like, oh, oh he met that soft.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
He's just like, oh, you're a man. So that really
ever really stung. Uh. Obviously, with wins, we expect it
because we put the work in and everybody's professional. But
with the losses, man, they really hit hard because you
just don't go into a game thinking we can lose it,
and so when you lose a game, you just have
(26:16):
to recover, bounce back and just you know, right the
wrongs and just move forward. But that was just the
locker room with those guys, man, the high caliber, elite,
just an elite team. Man. It was just it was
just great. Man. It's great for you for production, it's
great for the city of Indianapolis, and it was just
(26:38):
great for development as a pleasant young player.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Absolutely, man, I appreciate you. Man showed me the peak
I eventually I want to get there. But thank you
so much for tapping in everything that you are.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Bro.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
You're a legend of the game. You should be a
first ballot. But it's fine, it's all right. You can
you get your time. You're definitely gonna get in there.
We appreciate you. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Thank you for everything.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Uh, you know we're gonna we're gonna let you slide
out of here for everything. Man, Hey, Rob, you're an amazing person.
You know the Pro Bowls, the Accolades, the forest fumbles,
the Super Bowl, that you winner, that you champion, that
you are. You will be a Hall of Famer soon,
I'm gonna say soon. And that was the Drive for
Success conversation presented by Toyota.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Let's go places, No purchase necessary, void We're prohibited ends
two eight twenty six. Open to legal residents of the
fifty US States and DC eighteen and over. For complete details,
how to enter prizes and official rules, visit Toyota's Game
Day Giveaways dot com.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Man, I'm just so excited to have a guy like
him come on to the pot, because I mean, it's Rob,
come on, Like, there's not too many guys who could
do it to the highest level of do it.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
For as long as he did it.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Fourteen years in the league. Again, all those all those sacks.
God blessed.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Thank you for everything.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I want to thank the fans, the listeners, everybody. Please,
where you get your podcasts, Tell a friend and tell
a friend to check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
all the podcast platforms.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Check out the NFL YouTube, the NFL's YouTube page.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
We're here, We're strong. We off the edge with me
your host, Cam Jordan
Welcome on edg Off Edge the Podcast with me your
host Cam Jordan. I'm sitting here with the man who
needs no introduction, somebody who's been a pro bowler and
all Pro somebody who spent their entire fourteen year career
with the Colts of the NFL's all time leader in
forest fumbles. I mean, he's a man who punches the ball, out,
who finds the ball. It's a knack sometimes. I'm telling you,
(00:25):
I still watch film like, how did he do this
for such a long time at such a high level.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
We talked about a member of the Coach Ring of
Honor and.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
A black college, Black College Football Hall of Fame representing Alabama,
A and M, which I thought he was more country
than he is because apparently he's from like, you know,
that Atlanta side, which I'm not gonna hold it against him,
But we talked about none other than Robert Mathis aka
the Misico getter one hundred and twenty three sacks. Oh man,
(00:53):
it's time for this week's Drive for Success conversation with
anybody Toyota. Let's go places. We talk about just formidable
defensive ends. Somebody who I used to watch film one
be like bro, you got a non stop motor.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
It was you and Dwight Freedy.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
But what they don't understand is how hard it is
to get that ball out. And you you are the
NFL all time like I said, fifty three or fifty
four over the punch us like sad, Yeah, I'm getting that.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Oh yeah it was tell me how first the first
off zone six east? That to be exact. Let's let's
let's get that correction. But no appreciate you having me, man,
And it's just a pleasure just to speak a sack
pass rushers, speaking of speaking amongst sack pass rushings. So uh,
(01:40):
just those are things that we practice every single day
because if you know, as a sack man, you you
have to sharpen your tools every day. If you don't
do it, the tools will get dull and uh and
you just have to do it every day. So these
are things that my past rush uh D line coach
uh John Cheer, he demanded that we do something past
(02:03):
rush related every single day and and it carried over.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, look, I how skills they we had.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
We had a saying it as for minority line skills,
if you don't use them, you lose it. So you
gotta be able to work those skills every day. Hey,
and I bring my hands to work every day.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I'm trying to choke it, tight end out.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
But you, I'll say you he was finding that for
that ball, man, that's different. I mean I feel like
I've I've had emphasis on like, oh, let's push the
ball out, let's get the handle the ball like you know,
whatever it is. I've had quarterback in hand hand on
the ball ripping out, and for some reason they want.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
To double clutch with me.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I see guys like you, I see, I see you
know Vaughn hit them with like a little like three
figure tap and the ball be out.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Some guys just have a knack for finding the ball.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
My team at Chris Rope had one like he He
slid underneath the tackle, popped up, slapped the ball and the.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Ball was out immediately.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I'm like, bro, I punched the ball and somehow it's
like hit a quarterbacks ripcage and he's double clutched it.
I'm like, godly, So for you, like, it's one thing
to have a vision and focus on it.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Man, for you to get a fit over fifty of
the things knocked out, that's that's legendary.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Well, the background background story, I grew up watching Derreck
Thomas and he actually did started a tomahawk chop. So
what I do whenever I'm able to get to the quarterback,
which is not easy, by the way, for the people
out there, you do the same thing. You secure the
tackle and you tomahawk with the opposite hand, and it
(03:34):
just so happened. The football will come out if you
if you're getting pushed put pushed past the quarterback, just
chicken wing it. Throw your hand out there, knock the
ball out. And as long as you work those things
every things, every day, it'll work out to your favor.
But you have to do it every single day. It
gets boring, but hey, you have to do it.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Hey, things don't get boring when you're obsessive about your craft.
There's nothing boring about repetitive motions. That means when you
get tired and it's fourth quarter and the games on
the line, and you've played sixty snaps, you play sixty
five snaps and you've been fighting double teams chips this
fat person called the office of Lineman.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
You you know, like this is what you rely on.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Those those repetitive motions come skills, and that's a skill
set right there, so somebody we may never see again.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I mean fifty over fifty forced bubbles.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Well, well, I teach my guys to be a technician
about your technique, and that's doing a little things right
over and over and over. That's why you can say
it gets boring. But to us as rush guys, is
never boring because you get to the quarterback, get them down,
do your sack dance, and in this mandatory have a
(04:50):
sack dance mandatory man mandatory, you know, and and just
keep it going on to the next one.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Absolutely, And I mean the fact that I've got you here,
a man who's at over one hundred sacks, we say,
one hundred and twenty three. I now know what it
feels like. You know, I'm finally a match shoot. I
feel great about it. I'm like, man one hundred twenty
three sacks. I don't think I've ever had my water's dreamed,
not like be here. In my mind when I first
got to leak, I wanted like forty or fifty sacks.
(05:19):
We had the privilege to be in a couple Pro
bowls together, and I was like, I was watching you
and I was watching Robert Quinn, you know, going off
for the high teens in the sacks, and I was like, man,
I was like, I gotta get there. I got ten,
I got twelve, and then I finally got like that
the fifteen and a half. I was like, man, it's
a threshold up here. You know, what what does it
mean for you like to be on that one hundred
(05:39):
plus sack list.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
You don't sneeze at it, man, because you because you
understand how tough it is to get to get they
get to the quarterback, they're gonna they're gonna scheme against you.
Once you become a guy that's on the radar, they're
gonna make sure you don't get to their their franchise.
Why because the past rusher, the franchise past rusher, is
the only guy that can neutralize three other franchise players
(06:06):
on one plate at any particular time. If you can
beat the offensive WindMan, sack the quarterback, and prevent the
quarterback and throwing it to his past catcher, you neutralize
three guys on one plate. And if you're a guy
that they respect enough to assign two or three guys
onto you, that's that lets you know how tough it
(06:29):
is to get to a quarterback. And we're not going
to speak about the the Michael straight hand Brett Favs
type of respect.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Respect no matter how they comes, as long as they
as they come through good way.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
They say, a sack is a sack is a sack.
So hey, absolutely, man, absolutely, I hope I get a couple.
All he fell down. I take that, you know, touch
turn out of bounds. Hey, whatever the case and whatever,
no doubt whatever, Man, I take it.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
But yeah, he at the end of the season, they
don't They don't ask how you got there. They said,
did you get there?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Did you get the answers? Yes, that's it, that's it,
my brother. Hey, hey, I pray you get fifteen to
twenty more of those.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Man, I appreciate, I say now that we're tired. Man,
look now, now I gotta start hutting your teammates and whatnot.
Go get like all right now, go hey, Like is
it crazy to think like as you were after you
hit that one hundred sack threshold and you started like
counting down the guys you're walking down with every sack
and you end up in the pandy of the twenty
(07:38):
five greatest pass rushers of all times on that list,
Like what is it? Were starting to look at those sacks,
would you start like, hey, I need three more to
pass this guy up, or hey another one.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Here is going to help me.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I didn't start.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Was what was your perspective on this?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I didn't really It wasn't really real until you got
past like the one hundred and tenth show, because I
just want to get I wanted to get to one hundred,
like you said you wanted to get to fifty. Once
you passed fifties, okay, I'm going to start tracking. I'm
going to start tracking walking boys down. And uh that
was the case. And especially with the Coats, it was
(08:15):
you know, Dwhite Freendie was He's the guy, you know,
he's the mount rushmore past rushes. So once I got
to striking range, all right, so well let's I can
absolutely okay, yeah yeah, So once I got to that
that first shoulder, oh man. So and this is a
(08:36):
guy that me and him were we came up in
this game together, so they lets you know, damn we
can we can really make some noise in this thing. Man.
So that's how it was. You got to the one hundred,
one hundred tens. So now you want to start. Yeah,
I'm looking at Derek Thomas, he had one twenty six.
I couldn't get there, but hey, you ever chance he
(08:58):
got a tence bro we got Hey, we got a chance.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Look we got we got fifteen games left in the
regular season. I'm like, man, I say, okay, we gotta
really start coming on year.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
You got another year or two, don't do it.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I mean, look, I'm assumed saying what's in front of you?
You know, we have fifteen opportunities left in this season.
Who knows this this next offseason, I'm like, I got
three more in me and be like Klais Campbell heading
in the year eighteen. Or it could be like, hey,
my wife said, I gotta go. Here we go, we
go pack this up ahead on to the next inventure.
But that's just it with with every week it comes
(09:32):
that much more important, Like this this past week didn't
get one and somehow lost this game. You're like, man,
I was like, every one of these plays gets that
much more important.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Team, what it got? What it got towards the end?
What did what did you feel like? How did you
know after fourteen seasons seasons you you had had enough.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Well obviously your mind tells you you can. You can
play however loan you desire, which is twenty twenty five years.
But your body starts talking to you every every every week.
It was something going wrong in my body, so you're fourteen.
I mean it started out it was a toe, it
was my knee, then the other knee, then heilp a stinger,
(10:13):
three stingers in a row. So your body, my body
started talking to me. So I had to listen to it.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
But your body will let you know.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
It's gonna let you do.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
There was like like right around like year seven, year eight.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I remember I used to like wake up like bro,
I am not kicking back, like used to be good
by Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Now it's Thursday, it's Friday.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
I said, I don't know if I can do this
forever now, but some of you know, you start taking
care of your body the way that we need to
go through acupuncture, cupping, dry needles, the electric stem the
like the body feels good like some some weeks, like
like this week it's Tuesday. Usually I feel like I'm
hit by a train by Tuesday that delayed on the lay,
(10:53):
I said, muscle sword.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
This is real. Doms.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I feel like you've a bed in a whole fight
with Terrace Crawford out there like Canelo getting a body shots,
going to work, and here we are.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I'm like exactly, I'm like, I'm like this Tuesday, I'm like, hey,
we're gonna run a mile.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
We go w some sprints.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
I said, eight, we're back, eating right, getting your body,
body right, getting always prepared like that does a huge
thing for you. You a contrast, if you believe in it.
I believe in hot tub. I'm a big Are you
a cold guy?
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I became a cold, tough guy, like midway midway through
my career.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Okay, these things that I don't do. I do not
partake in the cold. But she was out in Indianapolis
where it snow. I'm here for heat and the heat along.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
The thing about that once you got to that threshold,
you know what your body needs. I watched I watched
Riggie Wayne. He kind of taught me how to take
care of my body. He was a cold tub guy,
and I was like, man, left that I'm not getting
in the cold tub. But I saw that it helped.
(11:57):
It sped up recovery and reduce inflammation. So you know
what you need. And at this point, like you said,
you what to see your fifteen for you sixteen Yeah yeah, man,
you know you know exactly what you need. So I'm
not gonna do I'm not gonna go out and play basketball,
pick up basketball, I'm not going to do none of
that stuff. Everything is football related and just just keep it,
(12:22):
keep it in focus. Man.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
He reps is low, Like reps is low with the family.
So like I got four kids, they're like, Dad, come
play basketball.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Come this week one. Oh yeah, I'm in there.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
We two.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Hey, we gotta tamp it down now. Week three, Hey, man,
I can, I can.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I I'm quarterback if you need if you want to
go run routes cool, Oh you need, you need an outlet,
I can pass to you. We're not We're not playing
for games now. Hey, we gotta we gotta tamper down.
I gotta save my best for this next fifteen weeks.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Look at him, listen, you go run, you go do
all that I got you.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Absolutely, I'm gonna be right there. Run me my slant son,
yeah yeah, run me that post go.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah. No, I'm not covering you. No, I'm not. Nope, no,
that's over.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
But when I think about, how are you able to
you know, become the strip sack king, you know, with
the all time NFL leader with forty seven.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Career strip sacks? Crazy, what's so another one like five
or six just forced punch out? It's crazy? You know?
Speaker 1 (13:19):
How is it that you sort of go h underacknowledged
for this feet Like I feel like in terms of
first ballot Hall of Famers, once you hit that one
fifteen and above one twenty for sure, like i'd say
first ballot, and here we are saying like, hey, like
you're still waiting on your time. How is it that
you're sort of you know, not being talked about as
(13:39):
a dominant pass rusher and the pantheon that of pass rushers.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Well, I think the bulk of my career I was
playing with Dwight D. White is that he was that
guy for the Aapolis Colts. But hey, I earned my
seat at the table as well. But you know how
that goes. You have to you have to get the
votes that you're how the control of getting. So it
is what it is man right here.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
So you say, like you know whatever that is, but
you were under undersize for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Like I remember you know, like it was it was you.
But you're sitting there at what two you played at
two forty five?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Two thirty five? But what the what the frontier.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Five speak to thirty five? So we're going to put
in the media, uh the media book it was it
was six two two forty five nose air six feet
thirty five.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
My gosh, Like, that's that's the astronomical like advantage that
you have just in terms of leverage.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Sure, but the fact that you were doing as a
two thirty.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Five sub two fifty, I don't know if like I've
dropped under two seventy once in my career.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
At a preseason last year, I was like, oh, I'm
too light. I said, no, too light. I was like,
I don't like I don't like it. I don't like
how I'm black in power.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
And I got back up to thirty five and I
was like, two thirty five is the lightest I've ever
played this last two years.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I'm getting to thirty five.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
And I'm like, I'm quick, I'm fast, I'm had, y'all,
I'm mobile, I'm hostile.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Thirty five.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
I saw I wouldn't have a year ago. I looked
down at the scale and I saw two sixty and
I was discussing at myself my belly. A hey, man,
I don't know what too, certainly I can't even fathom that.
But yeah, it's just body type. Man. You you your
power guy, So that's what you do, right.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
You gotta know what you're good at it. I don't know, brother,
Like we've seen that long arm happen now it was.
It was a transition. We've seen a long arm. Take tar.
You fast guys talking about you know the power, that's
your lane. We got you Von Miller, your elite steps.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Equal equal shifted feet and shifted feet equals not not
set your gravity for an office a linement, and.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
We know where that hand place we could go.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
I promise you it was weight transition. We got three
hundred pounds going one way. You just keep it going
that weight. So I'm not gonna try to do a
chop swim slap that you do. Man, I'm not. That's
not me.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I'm I'm gonna chop to mars down because I really
want to get their feet moving too.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I feel like I'm missed it pushed by himself, Like
I get you the spot and I can push you
by I need that. I'm trying to race. I'm trying
to race to my spot. Sometimes I'm like, that's where
I want to go. We gotta push. Thank you, stupid,
you wonderful man, you for this beautiful pleasant But man,
what I would I have to think about what you
what you've been able to do. I mean in your era,
(16:31):
like low key undersized you, Elvis Duomerville. You know, we
look at the pantheon the guys like that. It made
you unique, especially you coming from an HBCU, Like how
how does how do young Robert get to Alabama?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Hey, the choice was very easy for me because I
only had one. They offered me a scholarship and it
just so happened to be the last scholarship of that
particular year because the guy that they actually it turned
them down on National Signing Day, and so they offered
me the opportunity and only had one, so I took it.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Stay less.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
I got a shout out to the heel Alabama and
the Princeville. It's Vegas, Alabama.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Veaszy, no doubt, I mean, you know so then so
then you go ahead and we go to uh, you
go to Indiapolis Colts.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
You know that first year. You know, did you have
like a welcome to NFL type moment?
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Oh? Man, yes, yes, short answer, yes, a long answer.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So if you played the two thirty five, what did
you come into the league.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
At two twenty? Hey, it was it was so funny
the story. Man, it's so funny because I come in
obviously I had to do the core for the special
teams kick off, kickoff return, punt return. And my first
in the game was a preseason I got handled, I
(18:03):
got ran over and the guy made a tackle. But
during the season it's so fun I think we were
playing a Jets and we was gonna kick off return,
so we got into a mix up skirmish or whatever,
and a cornerback came in and he was talking. He's like, man,
get your old two hundred and twenty five pounds defense
(18:25):
in face. Ass. Hey, this stopped me from whoever I
was engaged with, and I just started laughing. Man, it's like, bro,
so we're doing this in the middle of a rock hey. Facts.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Hey, you know when you're in the churches, boys, boys like,
may you feel a little light today?
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Have you had?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Have you had some tacos?
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Maybe you should gonna get another steak and you were here,
like man, out of everything I could, this is me.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
I had plenty of light days in my career, Sir.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Man, I say, we got We got the defensive end
on the Saints.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Chris Ruff my dog weighed into like two thirty something
one day and I said two thirty eight. I said,
big fella, go play safety. Big fella, like you ain't
they You know he's liked bro.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
He's like, what I eat all I can?
Speaker 3 (19:13):
That's two for it. Tell him come see me. I
got it. No, no, he give us all nolt, slipper,
shameless plub. Let's go. I got it.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Hey, the fan facts.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I mean, but so you you were over there again,
over there a coat, You get your welcome moment.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
You you boke up.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
You say you played at two thirty five. So we
gave pails there two forty on a heavy year.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I actually got this. I got the fifty one in
the middle of the season and I was like, oh no,
I felt my stomach bouncing, So I can't do this.
I can't do this.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
That's crazy. Hey, you gotta know who you are. You are,
you know you you solid? You shredded every every muscle,
muscle speak for themselves. You know you figure your way.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
But you you say you entered you know any coats
you had, you had the O G with you. What
did you take from you know, Dwight Freeney, What did
you take from Rege?
Speaker 3 (20:03):
What do you what like?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
What? What did you take from Tony Dungee? It's outed
to my guy, Tony Dungee.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
You know what I'm saying. From coach Dongee. I took
no excuses, no explanations from Peyton. I took how to
be a student of the game from Reggie Reggie Wayne.
I took how to uh just keep you know, prepare
my body and just how to preserve how to preserve
my body from Dwight. I took how to approach the game.
(20:33):
Uh he was he was a one year ahead of me.
But Dwight is his hot his football. I Q we
past rush i Q. I would say, nobody is ahead
of him. He knows how to dissect blocking schemes, uh
chip blocks. Uh the I you know, reading how the
(20:55):
quarterback is going to I mean, how to offensive linement
with their eyes, looking at their eyes, their knees, their
the amount of rhythms, things like that. Oh, Jeff Saturday
how to be a leader. Man. I came in the
era I man. I joined the team that was full
of guys. Bro uh this guys. So I try to
take a little bit from everybody that I see that's
(21:19):
successful in their particular department. And they were just somebody.
It was just a good run, man. Uh. I hate
that the Saints kind of derailed one one run, one
of those runs. But it's fine, it's fine. I'm over
it here.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
You got you got one.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
It's not like it's not like you're fifteen years in
and he ain't got a super Bowl, you know, fourteen
one early.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
I'm still hunting, Like I'm like, are you in the quarterdecks? Yeah,
but also wins. What I didn't want to hunt a win,
and I would have.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
I've been to an NC championship game and we felt
like got robbed, but you never and we never got back.
So I don't even I've been to the highest part
of mountain. I ain't been to the highest so you
got part of the mountain.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Indeed, you got robbed. But we're not gonna do that.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
That's gonna bring that's gonna bring them them dark days
out of me.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Just like you know, we were talking about But what
so you know you said, Dwight's a year ahead of you.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I didn't realize. I thought it was about three years
ahead of Eyway.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
You know, like when you guys play together, it was
it was poetry in motion. But when did y'all know
y'all could be a dominant duo? You know you're saying,
you say you started taking off of doubles Dwight Dwight,
of course double digits.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
So y'all had.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Bookeets Hey, Dwight was rolling early. I walked in the door,
Dwight was already rolling. And so my rookie year, I
had three and a half sacks. But and that's because,
and this is what I tell my guys that I trained.
That's because I relied on what I did in college,
like the talent that I had. But this is the NFL.
They're going to adjust by the next series. So to
(22:47):
where year two I had ten and a half. And
that was because I trusted the process. If it works
in practice against a guy Ryan Dean, he was the
offensive tackle that I work me and win against each
other for almost two or ten years. If it works
against him in practice, it's going to work against a
guy that doesn't know you in a game. So I
(23:07):
had to trust the move, get a plan, work a plan,
perform a plan. So that was the thing. So now
by year three, I had eleven and a half and
Dwight was like sixteen, and we was like, it was up,
it was it was up, it was up. And so
we're like, hey man, but we had that. We we
stole sacks from each other. That was the that was
(23:29):
the unique part of our relationship that we was the
we was each other's best cheerleader. Like he get to
the quarterback, like, yes, sir, so now all the tension
goes over there. Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Like those years, Like those years you get like, oh,
oh snaps, he got a two piece game, he got
oh he was crazy, he had three piece.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Oh yeah, it's still third quarter.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Brobody taking this party.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
And it takes a place.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
It takes a pass rushing to understand a pass rushing.
So if and there was no jealousy, it's just like Dwight,
get going. You're an alpha gat please go, go, go go.
So now the sentler is gonna slide that way, the
running back is gonna be over there, So I gotta,
I gotta, I.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Mean, I dream of those one on ones and now
now because.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
He going crazy, I'm about to go absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Love that.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Love that man I've had. I've had a couple of
pass rushers over the years. When they go double digits,
I'm not too far behind me or I'm just just
slightly ahead, because either way, I try to tell guys,
it goes full circle.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Those ones you missed you like, dang, that could have
been mine, but he got it.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Eventually he he's gonna fall off one and you will
be like, hey, brother.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Let me get that.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Yeah, way bad, thank you.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Man.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Hey, look that's what it's like. It's ours. It's gonna
stay at Bagarage.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
You know what I'm saying. He's gonna stay right at
my crills.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
But oh man, yeah, I mean you talk about you
at one twenty three, Dwight Freedi at one twenty five
and a half and.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
The same era. That's just disgusting work. When you know
you got Hall of famers on the team. You look
over you, you like you like little Spider Man, me.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Like you're a Hallo faper y'all had, y'all had them guns.
Maybe let's just talk about the culture in general, Like
after a loss, What did that locker room feel like
versus after a win?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
You know, man, it was devastating because a loss is
not expected. It was not expected, and you have coach
Dungee who doesn't yell, and that's worse than having somebody
that yells at you. It was like, we didn't get
it done. And at one time he said he said
the word, and it.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Was like, oh, oh he met that soft.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
He's just like, oh, you're a man. So that really
ever really stung. Uh. Obviously, with wins, we expect it
because we put the work in and everybody's professional. But
with the losses, man, they really hit hard because you
just don't go into a game thinking we can lose it,
and so when you lose a game, you just have
(26:16):
to recover, bounce back and just you know, right the
wrongs and just move forward. But that was just the
locker room with those guys, man, the high caliber, elite,
just an elite team. Man. It was just it was
just great. Man. It's great for you for production, it's
great for the city of Indianapolis, and it was just
(26:38):
great for development as a pleasant young player.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Absolutely, man, I appreciate you. Man showed me the peak
I eventually I want to get there. But thank you
so much for tapping in everything that you are.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Bro.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
You're a legend of the game. You should be a
first ballot. But it's fine, it's all right. You can
you get your time. You're definitely gonna get in there.
We appreciate you. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Thank you for everything.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Uh, you know we're gonna we're gonna let you slide
out of here for everything. Man, Hey, Rob, you're an amazing person.
You know the Pro Bowls, the Accolades, the forest fumbles,
the Super Bowl, that you winner, that you champion, that
you are. You will be a Hall of Famer soon,
I'm gonna say soon. And that was the Drive for
Success conversation presented by Toyota.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Let's go places, No purchase necessary, void We're prohibited ends
two eight twenty six. Open to legal residents of the
fifty US States and DC eighteen and over. For complete details,
how to enter prizes and official rules, visit Toyota's Game
Day Giveaways dot com.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Man, I'm just so excited to have a guy like
him come on to the pot, because I mean, it's Rob,
come on, Like, there's not too many guys who could
do it to the highest level of do it.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
For as long as he did it.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Fourteen years in the league. Again, all those all those sacks.
God blessed.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Thank you for everything.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I want to thank the fans, the listeners, everybody. Please,
where you get your podcasts, Tell a friend and tell
a friend to check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
all the podcast platforms.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Check out the NFL YouTube, the NFL's YouTube page.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
We're here, We're strong. We off the edge with me
your host, Cam Jordan
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