July 13, 2020 • 10 mins
Wayne Larrivee sits down with former Packers running back James Starks.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
For more than one hundred years, the Green Bay Packers
have been a benchmark for football excellence. Thousands of players
have helped pave the way, and we're here to tell
their stories. I'm Wayne Laravi. This is the Packers Alumni Spotlight.
(00:29):
When the Packers drafted James Starts in the sixth round
of the two thousand ten draft, they felt like they
were getting great value with that pick. After all, Starks
had racked up a pair of thousand yard rushing season
in college at Buffalo. But little did anyone know how
quickly that pick would have to pay off in a
super season. It was a Buffalo area. Or where did
(00:54):
you grow up? I grew up upstate New York. Um
Niagara Fasig Fawsome. Yeah, And when we think of Niagara Falls,
we don't think of a big, shitty, rough situation. But
you were, you were coming out of that. Yes, it's
I mean, it's it's different. You know a lot of
people don't really you know, you mentioned Aigara Falls, Like,
where's Niagara Falls? Everybody think is you know, towards attraction
(01:15):
and you know it's like a wonder of the world
or whatever, And so everybody coming down there and see
the falls and it's beautiful, and you know, they see
it on the night side and they don't understand what's
actually going on in that bubble, you know. So you
come to Green Bay, uh sixth round draft choice and
long behold. You spent a lot of time at rookie
year on the injured list, right, you were, like most
(01:35):
of that team you're injured. Yeah, yeah, most of the
most of my rookie year. I pulled my handstring because
at first I didn't really know how to practice, and
so I'm breaking tackles and trying to get to the
end zone every time. I'm going on full speed. You know,
I don't want to get cut, like it's my only opportunity,
Like I gotta try to do what I can do.
(01:56):
And I just didn't know how to practice. And I
popped my hands drinking, tried to come back to early,
popped it again. It just wasn't healing. And then I
got put on pup. So I was was going for
like six weeks. Whenever. The Packers of two thousand ten,
we're an outstanding passing team with an inconsistent running game
(02:17):
to say the least. Matter of fact, very late in
the season, they were still looking for one. They found
it when their rookie running back finally got healthy at
the end of the regular season and the playoff run
come back. I feel like the team like we were different,
you know, far as like our bond, our confidence, even
(02:39):
though we lost a few games. If you look at
that roster then I think it was a lot of injuries.
So so guys were starting to come back get healthy. Um.
And then, you know, I was young, I was still
learning and things like that. But I think coach Egger
did a great job of just you know, keeping me,
you know, in the loop, in the system far as
you know what I need to do, the plays, I
(03:02):
need to know what I'll be running. You know, I
understood all those things. So I never was nervous coming
in as a you know, Edgar Bennett was a great coach,
wasn't he. Um, And you mentioned he kind of kept
you in the loop. It's almost like he knew that
at some point in that season you're gonna have to
play a role. Yeah, I mean he he was confident
in me. Uh he he just knew that, you know,
(03:24):
I was young, you know, I would make those mistakes,
and he tried to put me in the best situation
to you know, understand what I'm getting myself into. Brandon
Jackson was the starter at the beginning of the season.
It didn't quite work out. As it went down, you
took over for him, um, and he mentioned to me
that that he made sure you knew that he had
your back. Talk about that relationship you and and Brandon Jackson.
(03:48):
He was tough. He was he was tough. I mean
like the older guys. They were tough on the younger guys.
You know, like they were good guys. You know you
could talk to him and you know they were they
are good people. But when you do something wrong or whatever,
you know, Brandon wasn't gonna try to help you. Wanted
you to learn from me a mistakes. So you know
it helped me. It helped me, like, uh learn how
(04:11):
to study, uh, how to how to prepare for the
week at the games and stuff like that. So I
think what they did do help me a lot. But
you know, everybody teach different. I try to help the
younger boys a little different, didn't They Let me ask
you about the playoff run. You guys make the playoffs,
you win a game over the bear is a tight
(04:31):
ball game. You your last team into the playoffs, you're
the sixth seed. You're going to Philadelphia. And I'm sure
you didn't know this at the time, but you guys
obviously started the season of Philadelphia and for the first
time in two thousand and ten, the Packers won in
Philadelphia for the first time since nineteen sixty two. Now
(04:52):
you got to go back there and win again. What
were your thoughts going into that Philadelphia game, because you
played a huge role in it. That's where all of
a sudden you had your coming out party. I was confident.
I just wanted to show, you know, Green Bay, like, man,
I'm more than capable of handling with every y'all give
to me. I wanted to show you all that you know,
I can't handle a load, you know. So I wanted
(05:13):
to go out there and it was a big game.
You know. I wasn't nervous at all. I just wanted
to show people I was different, you know, Like, so
when they gave me the opportunity, I was just happy.
I just didn't want to mess up. That was like
the big thing, Like, man, don't fum ll hold the
ball high and tight, don't do none of that. So
I say, I just wanted to do good. I just
didn't want to mess up. So so you win that game.
(05:35):
Now you go to Atlanta, they're the number one seed,
They've had a week off, and you're playing on a
Saturday night in Atlanta. The dome is filled, the noise
level was incredible. Talk about that game because I know
you played a big role in it. But Aaron Rodgers
had a night for all nights. Yeah, he was on
and I think the first game they kind of they
(05:57):
kind of whooped us, you know, so everybody wanted to
revenge and and now we're like up and coming. Our
offices is kind of going. Now now he's smooth. We
we get a chance to to to replay him, and
everybody just want to prove a point, like, man, y'all
beat us. But we wasn't. We wasn't who we are now.
So that was like a statement game. Aaron throwing throwing
(06:19):
dimes like you always doing. You know, everybody clicking just
on the same page line doing what they have to
do it. You know, it's we want But James, you
know what we saw was that all of a sudden,
this Packers team, unlike the regular season team, had a
running game, bona fide running game and you were it. Yeah. Man,
(06:40):
I just thank God for that. You know, I think
God just put me in the opportunity. And you know,
sometimes you know, you just don't know when you're gonna
be called whatever. But it's like doors just open for
me all the time. And that's why I always thank God,
because you know, that's once in a lifetime, you know,
the thing that you get put on the Super Bowl
team and start something like that. You know, so you
(07:02):
win in Atlanta and then you go to Chicago for
the NFC Championship game, Um, and you played the Bears twice,
that type of thing. You guys seem to go in
there with a lot of momentum and got off to
a really good start, didn't you. We're doing good, man.
Everybody had that chip on their shoulder, was rolling, you know,
everybody having fun. We're smiling, laughing. And practice, you know,
(07:23):
it's everybody just on point at every situation. Practice is
going good practices in the early you know, everything is executed,
you know, to professions. So when we're playing people, we're
having a good time, we focus, we lasered in, you
know what I mean. You get a look from somebody
and you just know what I mean, let's go, you know,
So tell me about that game. As I mentioned, you
(07:45):
guys got up early in that game, but the Bears
came roaring back as you would expect they would, and
it became a pretty hotly contested battle down the stretch,
didn't it. Yeah, I mean, it's always going to be
a battle. That's the rivalry. You know what I mean,
is it to this day is a rivalry. So oh
that's something you know, you would expect, like you can
be up four team then somebody else gonna get hot.
(08:08):
So it's just something that's gonna happen. Yards of Philadelphia,
then six in Atlanta, and seventy four against the Bears
in the NFC title game. But the Super Bowl proved
to be Stark's biggest challenge. Against the powerful Steelers defense,
he would be asked to block. That was tough, you know,
(08:33):
because I was I was then blocking like Paulo Malo
him like everything. I'm blocking big guys and at the
time like I wasn't. I wasn't used to block, and
we didn't block much of at ub so and the
Super Bowl is a little different. Uh, you know, it
was a little different. I had to learn block and
protections and stuff or whatever. So it's a little different.
(08:55):
But I say, overall, like the experience, it's just different. Man.
When you won the Super what was that like for
the team, for you guys, for everyone? Yeah, my my
nana was there. You know, she was facing a little
you know, cancer arrest in piece. You know, she was
able to come to the game though, Uh, you know
it didn't she she got to see it, you know
(09:15):
what I'm saying. My mama was there, My brothers and
sisters was there, you know what I mean. So, you know,
my my other grandmother had died, so she didn't get
to see it. But like everybody that I really wanted
to be there, it was there. So so that that
was mass specially James Starks set a franchise rookie post
season rushing record with three hundred and fifteen yards in
(09:37):
four games. Where would the Packers have been that year
without him? James played seven years in the NFL, all
with Green Bay, rushing for more than twenty five hundred yards.
He played in five post seasons to NFC championship games
and Super Bowl forty five. Not bad for the one
pick in the draft from the side of Niagara Falls
(09:59):
that few visitors ever seen. H
For more than one hundred years, the Green Bay Packers
have been a benchmark for football excellence. Thousands of players
have helped pave the way, and we're here to tell
their stories. I'm Wayne Laravi. This is the Packers Alumni Spotlight.
(00:29):
When the Packers drafted James Starts in the sixth round
of the two thousand ten draft, they felt like they
were getting great value with that pick. After all, Starks
had racked up a pair of thousand yard rushing season
in college at Buffalo. But little did anyone know how
quickly that pick would have to pay off in a
super season. It was a Buffalo area. Or where did
(00:54):
you grow up? I grew up upstate New York. Um
Niagara Fasig Fawsome. Yeah, And when we think of Niagara Falls,
we don't think of a big, shitty, rough situation. But
you were, you were coming out of that. Yes, it's
I mean, it's it's different. You know a lot of
people don't really you know, you mentioned Aigara Falls, Like,
where's Niagara Falls? Everybody think is you know, towards attraction
(01:15):
and you know it's like a wonder of the world
or whatever, And so everybody coming down there and see
the falls and it's beautiful, and you know, they see
it on the night side and they don't understand what's
actually going on in that bubble, you know. So you
come to Green Bay, uh sixth round draft choice and
long behold. You spent a lot of time at rookie
year on the injured list, right, you were, like most
(01:35):
of that team you're injured. Yeah, yeah, most of the
most of my rookie year. I pulled my handstring because
at first I didn't really know how to practice, and
so I'm breaking tackles and trying to get to the
end zone every time. I'm going on full speed. You know,
I don't want to get cut, like it's my only opportunity,
Like I gotta try to do what I can do.
(01:56):
And I just didn't know how to practice. And I
popped my hands drinking, tried to come back to early,
popped it again. It just wasn't healing. And then I
got put on pup. So I was was going for
like six weeks. Whenever. The Packers of two thousand ten,
we're an outstanding passing team with an inconsistent running game
(02:17):
to say the least. Matter of fact, very late in
the season, they were still looking for one. They found
it when their rookie running back finally got healthy at
the end of the regular season and the playoff run
come back. I feel like the team like we were different,
you know, far as like our bond, our confidence, even
(02:39):
though we lost a few games. If you look at
that roster then I think it was a lot of injuries.
So so guys were starting to come back get healthy. Um.
And then, you know, I was young, I was still
learning and things like that. But I think coach Egger
did a great job of just you know, keeping me,
you know, in the loop, in the system far as
you know what I need to do, the plays, I
(03:02):
need to know what I'll be running. You know, I
understood all those things. So I never was nervous coming
in as a you know, Edgar Bennett was a great coach,
wasn't he. Um, And you mentioned he kind of kept
you in the loop. It's almost like he knew that
at some point in that season you're gonna have to
play a role. Yeah, I mean he he was confident
in me. Uh he he just knew that, you know,
(03:24):
I was young, you know, I would make those mistakes,
and he tried to put me in the best situation
to you know, understand what I'm getting myself into. Brandon
Jackson was the starter at the beginning of the season.
It didn't quite work out. As it went down, you
took over for him, um, and he mentioned to me
that that he made sure you knew that he had
your back. Talk about that relationship you and and Brandon Jackson.
(03:48):
He was tough. He was he was tough. I mean
like the older guys. They were tough on the younger guys.
You know, like they were good guys. You know you
could talk to him and you know they were they
are good people. But when you do something wrong or whatever,
you know, Brandon wasn't gonna try to help you. Wanted
you to learn from me a mistakes. So you know
it helped me. It helped me, like, uh learn how
(04:11):
to study, uh, how to how to prepare for the
week at the games and stuff like that. So I
think what they did do help me a lot. But
you know, everybody teach different. I try to help the
younger boys a little different, didn't They Let me ask
you about the playoff run. You guys make the playoffs,
you win a game over the bear is a tight
(04:31):
ball game. You your last team into the playoffs, you're
the sixth seed. You're going to Philadelphia. And I'm sure
you didn't know this at the time, but you guys
obviously started the season of Philadelphia and for the first
time in two thousand and ten, the Packers won in
Philadelphia for the first time since nineteen sixty two. Now
(04:52):
you got to go back there and win again. What
were your thoughts going into that Philadelphia game, because you
played a huge role in it. That's where all of
a sudden you had your coming out party. I was confident.
I just wanted to show, you know, Green Bay, like, man,
I'm more than capable of handling with every y'all give
to me. I wanted to show you all that you know,
I can't handle a load, you know. So I wanted
(05:13):
to go out there and it was a big game.
You know. I wasn't nervous at all. I just wanted
to show people I was different, you know, Like, so
when they gave me the opportunity, I was just happy.
I just didn't want to mess up. That was like
the big thing, Like, man, don't fum ll hold the
ball high and tight, don't do none of that. So
I say, I just wanted to do good. I just
didn't want to mess up. So so you win that game.
(05:35):
Now you go to Atlanta, they're the number one seed,
They've had a week off, and you're playing on a
Saturday night in Atlanta. The dome is filled, the noise
level was incredible. Talk about that game because I know
you played a big role in it. But Aaron Rodgers
had a night for all nights. Yeah, he was on
and I think the first game they kind of they
(05:57):
kind of whooped us, you know, so everybody wanted to
revenge and and now we're like up and coming. Our
offices is kind of going. Now now he's smooth. We
we get a chance to to to replay him, and
everybody just want to prove a point, like, man, y'all
beat us. But we wasn't. We wasn't who we are now.
So that was like a statement game. Aaron throwing throwing
(06:19):
dimes like you always doing. You know, everybody clicking just
on the same page line doing what they have to
do it. You know, it's we want But James, you
know what we saw was that all of a sudden,
this Packers team, unlike the regular season team, had a
running game, bona fide running game and you were it. Yeah. Man,
(06:40):
I just thank God for that. You know, I think
God just put me in the opportunity. And you know,
sometimes you know, you just don't know when you're gonna
be called whatever. But it's like doors just open for
me all the time. And that's why I always thank God,
because you know, that's once in a lifetime, you know,
the thing that you get put on the Super Bowl
team and start something like that. You know, so you
(07:02):
win in Atlanta and then you go to Chicago for
the NFC Championship game, Um, and you played the Bears twice,
that type of thing. You guys seem to go in
there with a lot of momentum and got off to
a really good start, didn't you. We're doing good, man.
Everybody had that chip on their shoulder, was rolling, you know,
everybody having fun. We're smiling, laughing. And practice, you know,
(07:23):
it's everybody just on point at every situation. Practice is
going good practices in the early you know, everything is executed,
you know, to professions. So when we're playing people, we're
having a good time, we focus, we lasered in, you
know what I mean. You get a look from somebody
and you just know what I mean, let's go, you know,
So tell me about that game. As I mentioned, you
(07:45):
guys got up early in that game, but the Bears
came roaring back as you would expect they would, and
it became a pretty hotly contested battle down the stretch,
didn't it. Yeah, I mean, it's always going to be
a battle. That's the rivalry. You know what I mean,
is it to this day is a rivalry. So oh
that's something you know, you would expect, like you can
be up four team then somebody else gonna get hot.
(08:08):
So it's just something that's gonna happen. Yards of Philadelphia,
then six in Atlanta, and seventy four against the Bears
in the NFC title game. But the Super Bowl proved
to be Stark's biggest challenge. Against the powerful Steelers defense,
he would be asked to block. That was tough, you know,
(08:33):
because I was I was then blocking like Paulo Malo
him like everything. I'm blocking big guys and at the
time like I wasn't. I wasn't used to block, and
we didn't block much of at ub so and the
Super Bowl is a little different. Uh, you know, it
was a little different. I had to learn block and
protections and stuff or whatever. So it's a little different.
(08:55):
But I say, overall, like the experience, it's just different. Man.
When you won the Super what was that like for
the team, for you guys, for everyone? Yeah, my my
nana was there. You know, she was facing a little
you know, cancer arrest in piece. You know, she was
able to come to the game though, Uh, you know
it didn't she she got to see it, you know
(09:15):
what I'm saying. My mama was there, My brothers and
sisters was there, you know what I mean. So, you know,
my my other grandmother had died, so she didn't get
to see it. But like everybody that I really wanted
to be there, it was there. So so that that
was mass specially James Starks set a franchise rookie post
season rushing record with three hundred and fifteen yards in
(09:37):
four games. Where would the Packers have been that year
without him? James played seven years in the NFL, all
with Green Bay, rushing for more than twenty five hundred yards.
He played in five post seasons to NFC championship games
and Super Bowl forty five. Not bad for the one
pick in the draft from the side of Niagara Falls
(09:59):
that few visitors ever seen. H
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