February 3, 2022 • 31 mins
Time Machine: Greg Lloyd, Feb. 2, 2022
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome steel a nation. I'm stand severeign. It's my pleasure
of welcome in. One of the Steelers all time Great
Greg Lloyd now a member of the Steelers Hall of Honor. Greg, welcome,
great to see you. Thank you for having me. You're
a sixth round draft choice out of Fort Valley State
small school. The Steelers are notorious for finding guys at
(00:20):
schools like that throughout history. But even so, as a senior,
did you expect to a be drafted by the Steelers
or drafted by anybody in the NFL? Um? I did.
I actually was quoted by the Dallas Cowboys if you
can say that word, and um, that's why I thought
I was going. Dallas sent me a lot of paraphernalia.
(00:40):
They were interested. But Dallas was not the first team
to come to my college to work me out. Pittsburgh was.
Pittsburgh showed up um Thanksgiving Holiday, and Tom Dunaho actually
was a person, and I think I ran a timing
for me. He looked at it and the next words
out of his mouth was has anybody else been here
to see you? And you kind of got an idea then,
(01:01):
and then shortly there after they flood gate open so yeah,
I have an idea. Uh, that's that's great. It's been
so great at finding talents such as yourself. Um, you
played with a chip on your shoulder, you played with
an edge, which of course is a great thing. Uh.
And I wonder, coming from a smaller school, did you
(01:22):
feel you needed to play that way to prove yourself. Well,
I mean, you know, when you look at the history
of like you said, Pittsburgh spec his own defense. You know,
you had Mel Blunt from you know, Southern University, Donnie Schelle,
you know South Carolina State, John Star with Alabama and
m and you know slew other guys. I think l
C also went to you know, the aucasol Pine Bluff
(01:43):
I believe, And so you had a lot of the
spc U, you know, guys that were here that had
proven themselves. But again, you know, we're a different era,
coming into a different generation and still, um, Division two
college football was kind of I won't say frowned upon,
but it was looked upon as if I was at
the univer versus of George, You're a pit or somewhere,
I'd be third string. And so it's like, well, who
(02:04):
who's saying this? You know, somebody saying this that obviously
don't know me. You don't know my heart, and you
don't know my skill. So do me a favor. Put
me in the game with these guys, and I prove
of you that, you know, not only am I worth
it been there, but most of the time, I'm probably
better than them. And I found out when I got
in the league that everybody was kind of like, you know,
here I am. I got drafted in the sixth round,
so I'm here with the first round as I'm here
(02:25):
with Penn in Colorado and Nebraska and all those guys,
and I'm really not impressed. I'm not impressed because at
the end of the day, you know, it's like he
has to out work me. You know, he has the
same gear I have, but he has to not work me.
And where I came from, you know, I'm just not
gonna let somebody that work. But I was always taught
that I had to be better. I've got to, you know,
I've got to. If somebody's you know, is working out,
(02:47):
you know, an hour, I gotta work out the hour
and a half. And so that's always been a part
of me. So it wasn't so much the chip was
that I had the stats. I had the stats coming
out of college to be if I was at one
of those cards first round draft choice. But because of
where I went to college, everybody said, well, we're gonna
make him a six round And it was cool because
it gave me the opportunity to really progress. You know,
there was no pressure as a six round raft Chards,
(03:08):
there's no president. You gotta play right away, you know,
and it was like, oh, you know, this guy can play,
so we we kind of got to steal here. So
you know, I was, I was comfortable where I was,
but I played with a chip because again, you know,
I thought that where I went to school that people
didn't you know, they didn't respect that. And so every
time you lined up, not just in a game, but
to practice, you know, you got to show people that,
(03:30):
you know, this is where I come from, this is
what this is how we do things. It's no different.
We don't have the alumni, we probably don't have the facilities,
but what we do is we have something that you
can't teach. We have heart, and that's something that you
can't teach. You can't buy it. You know, either you
have it or you don't. You were a big reason
why the Steeler defense became Blitzburg. And I'm wondering if
the scheme was fit perfectly for you, or they developed
(03:54):
a scheme around your talents. Um you ask certain people,
certain people would say yes, and I would say I
would say no because the story behind this is that,
you know, you don't want to be that guy. But
when Carr came in in nine, they made me. They
wanted me to be a middle linebacker. Well, everybody knows
I played at that was my weight, soaking wet, you know,
(04:16):
I was TOI and to be an inside linebacker in
the in the division were playing and we played in
black and Bludhavish Cleveland ran the ball, you know, and
you had to be stopped Kevin Mack and guys like that.
So you know, we were we were, you know, that
kind of team we had. I didn't think that I
could match up with the offensive linement and things, so
they put me in at middle linebacker and I went home.
I literally went home. I was like, I just came
(04:38):
off my first Pro Bowl playing outside linebacker. And but
note I played right outside linebacker since I was six
years old, so there wasn't a whole lot that you
could tell me about it. From sixth grade, from six
years old straight through college, I played the same position,
so I kind of had an affinity for, you know,
what I was doing. And then they said, hey, we're
gonna put you in the middle in the middle, but
they didn't tell me the why behind it. It's just
(04:59):
we're just gonna stick you in there. And so I
remember doing one training camp. I was like, you know,
I mean a mante camp. I was like, you know,
I'm out. I'm going home because I'm frustrated because I
can't pick up the reads like I used to do it.
Nobody's trying to teach me anything. That basically like threw
me to the world. So I went home and the
first person who called me Tom done here Tom telling.
He goes, hey, what's going on? And I kind of
(05:20):
explained to him, like, you know, I'm not a middle linebacker.
I'm an outside linebacker. But and they're not trying to
teach me anything. They just kind of like you're on
your own. And I don't like this because it don't
feel right. And so he said, you gotta come back
and we can talk about it. Well, I come back
when they tell me I can play outside line back,
and uh BC got on the phone with me and
he called me, you know, and says, hey, you know,
(05:41):
he never called me by my name. I was always
ninety five, and he was like, hey, ninety five, what's
going on? And I just told him and he said, well, listen,
come back and we'll discuss it. And it really wasn't
a discussion. I came back and went to his office
and he basically said, you know, okay, you's side line back,
but what we want to do is we want to
put you in on dime because you have an infinity
for making plays all over the field, and we figured
we put you in the middle, you wouldn't have to
(06:02):
run all across the field and make a play. You
behalf way that He could have told me that two
weeks ago, we would have been cool. So you know,
it's just a matter of you know, knowing who your
players or stuff like that. So that's what happened, and um,
you know, from that moment on, it was like, yeah,
I mean, I could line up on the left side
and by the time the ball snaps, I'm on the
right side. But you know, I wasn't always rushing. I
I'm still rusting these big guys in the middle. I
(06:23):
wasn't rushing on the edge, and so you know, here
incomes Chad and you know, and Jason and then of
course KG and these guys were you know, they was
rushing in that Blissburg defense and I was just kind
of holding the middle down. So you know, it became
what it was. But I don't think it was booked
around me. I think it was booked around the talent
that we had. We had a lot of fast guys,
and we had a lot of guys. I had all
smart guys, and playing on that Blissburg defense, you had
(06:44):
to know where you fit and you had to make
sure that you did not miss your cue. One of
the things, Dicklabo you should say all the time is
don't go stick your head with them alone. Trust that guy.
And that's what made us work, you know, And so
you know, taking it to another level was how we practice.
That was the main thing. That group of backers was amazing.
And when Chad was there and then of course he
left to go, uh to Seattle, it's just been a
(07:05):
never ending issue. You mentioned this earlier on Greg when
you talk about the legacy. When you look at all
the positions on a football field. The Steelers have certainly
had excellence at every position, but perhaps none more so
in bulk than linebackers. And I wondering when you came in, Uh,
was there a feeling that, Hey, I'm following Ham and
(07:28):
Lambert and Russell and on and on and on. Um,
yes and no, yes and no. The thing about Legacy
is that, you know, the first person I got to
meet Joe Gray, and I said, Joe Green's hand, and
I realized that I was still a kid, you know,
and it was like wow, and being around Joe and
coaching and you know, and then kind of watching film
(07:48):
on what these guys did, and then I got you know,
I was playing with Brian Kolen at the time, who
came through that arrow, Ham and Lambert and those guys,
and you know, this kind of had to teach you
how to practice, you know, a standing that you know,
even even my guy David Little God rest her soul,
and it was like, we teach you how to practice.
And one of the things that you know, I loved
about coaching was coaching Old made sure that if you
(08:10):
were a linebacker, you wasn't just it wasn't just about
your position. You need to know what everybody on the
field was doing, and you didn't know how everybody fit.
And it was kind of tough because you know, it
was hard enough to just understanding what you had to
do on the play. You had to know what you mean,
a linebacker on one side and the other side was doing,
so you know how everything fit. And uh, Kyle just
kind of fell right into that again, you know, having
(08:31):
him as a coach. I don't know if that's something
that somebody told him about, but he had the same thing.
And so we would get a little quiz and stuff
like that, you know, sometimes in practice, after practice, before
game how you fit in the game. So being an
outside linebacker and being a backer, you know, one of
the things you know about what we did was we
took pride in and you look up in the standard
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you see fifty eight and you look up in the
stand and you see, you know, you know, all those
numbers and things of that nature, and you go, how
do I get mine? You know number up there? Well,
you gotta do something, you know, you got you gotta
do something. These guys want four Super Bowls, and on
top of that, they were probably you know, they were
they were, They were great people. They're great people in
their community and stuff like that. So how do I
get to be that? Well, you gotta win. Everybody loves winmen.
(09:14):
You know, Pittsburgh still a stadium would be full if
you five and then eleven. I've been there and would
be there if you. It'll be full if you said.
But for somebody to wear your jersey, you gotta do something.
So how do I take my game from being six
round draft choice average to being six round draft choice here?
And it's like, you know, you have to dedicate yourself
another practice and you gotta do those things. But you
(09:34):
have to become that leader. You have to do things
that you're asking other people to do. And so, you know,
it was truly, you know, one of those things that
honor to come behind the Hams and the Lambers and
people compare you, you know, in a way to them,
which I think there's still no comparis because those guys
had their own thing that they did back then, and
even even within did so we had to we had
to set the standard. And I think getting back to
(09:57):
winning was in our error. Our error. It was getting
back to winning. We got back to when we got
back to being a dominant defense and things that So
in that early nineties, that was that was us. We
were the guys that I think projected onto the guys
that came behind us to win, you know, in two
thousand and five, and then we all Super Bowl three
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and we don't like talk about that, but you know,
it was the beginning of something, and it was how
we practice, how we carried ourselves, the things that we did,
and um, so we you know, we took pride in that,
and I think when people saw that, it made us like,
you know that that group of linebackers that these are
the guys. Now they're getting to die. And then every
line back and that came behind that, you know, that's
(10:39):
the standard. You know. So Lambert and those guys were
our standard. And now we became the standard for the
guys that are behind us. And it's gonna keep going.
And like you said, and like when people talk football,
and they talked Pittsburgh football, you talk about your line,
but especially at three four defense, if they if you
don't have four good linebackers, doesn't work that great analysis.
(11:01):
And you came in for the legendary Chuck noll Um
and I wondered two part, Greg if you were a
bit and awe of him, given who he was and
all he had achieved. And secondarily, I think everybody football
fans everywhere have seen the famous NFL clip of Bill
(11:24):
Kauer grabbing you on the sideline and saying, just rush
the quarterback. You understand me, just you Your head has
turned away, like, you know, because people were worried about
getting spin on and all that kind of stuff. But
I'm wondering to compare and contrast you know, those those
two coaches well again, and I would kind of like
following what I said, Coach No being called the Emperor,
(11:50):
he he he made you better, but he wasn't just
about a football and not that Kyle was. But he
wasn't just about football. Coach No was wanted. He was
a family or in a guy like the Rooty's organization.
It's very familiar or in it, you know, and strong
in that nature. And Coach No used to always tell
us that you know, you play this game, but it's
not your life's work. It's not your life work. You
(12:13):
play this game, then you're going to do your life's work.
But when you're playing, you play like it's your last game.
You know, that's how you wanted you to do. But
one of the things again I liked about Coach was
like at the beginning of a meeting in the morning
and we got meets, everybody's you know, going on. You
guys may have that and somebody walks in the room
and it's like, you know, you're still talking to the person. Okay, guys.
(12:33):
Coach No, wasn't that guy. You know, we had lookouts,
but when he came out of his office when we
were sitting in the meeting rooms, but when he would
grace the door, it was crisening. Everybody like everybody see coaching.
And he would walk to the hould him. That's how
it was BC being a players coach. He would come
in and he would be at the poll him and
(12:54):
guys like, yeah, what what's called h And he said okay, guys, okay,
he said okay, okay, guys. And it was just but
it wasn't a disrespect. It was just that he let
us get away with a little bit more than everybody
else was probably a little bit more afraid of Chuck
than it was. So it was just kind of a
different or you know, it's just or Chuck wasn't a
hands on kind of talk to you guy. He was
kind of like you didn't know how to take him.
(13:16):
And I had a really good story for you on
that one. Mike. I'm a Georgia boy, you know, and
coming from Georgia, we don't get snow. And when we
do get snow, everything chucked down. I don't care if
it's that much or it's that it's a shutdown, first
year standing Alleghanty Center. It snows practice. I look up,
I'm like, you know, practice day, I'm not coming out,
(13:36):
so I'm end it dead, you know. And so phone
ring rapped. Berlin says, hey, what are you doing? And
I'm like, what do you mean? And like he says,
why are you not here? And snowing? He's like, you know,
I can't tell you what exactly what he's said, but
he's like, you need, you need to get over here.
And when you get here, stopped by Chuck's office, and
then of course six round draft choice been injured. Hearts
(14:00):
like this, now, mind you ill walked in tennis shoes.
Everybody who anything about snow, No, that's not good. I
walked in tennis shoes from allighantor center, underneath that bridge,
across the clock bar, across the parking lot work because
I don't know how to driving snow. Connie the first
person I see, Secretary of Front and she says, coaches, wait,
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no year, and I'm going, all this, it's not good.
This is not good, I promise you. I'm thinking, I
think I'm getting cut and I can't read him. I
walked in the door, knocked on the door, and I'm
serin him. It's like yes, sir, like yeah, I have
a little bit of military background for RTC. So I'm
serving him like sir. And he turns around and he's
got a little bit of a smirk on his face,
(14:41):
and I go, okay, I might be okay. I might
be okay, and he looks at me and he goes.
He says, hey, every year, every now again, we draft
guys from Georgia and we know you guys don't get
snow and stuff like that. He said, but here in Pittsburgh,
if it snows, if it thunders of his lightning, we're
gonna practice like they'd be your last. And I'm thinking, like, okay,
(15:01):
if that's it, I got this, And I was like,
I said it never happened again, and so that was
my you know, running with him. But he was a lot,
just a lot different than than Kyle in that regard.
So you can get away with like maybe saying something
to Kyle that you couldn't get away we're saying with Chuck.
Chuck didn't. He didn't like celebrating. He would always say
(15:22):
stuff like, you know, act like you've been there before,
and if he said something it was golden. You don't
get to voice your opinion back kind of thing. And
that thing with me and BC was like, you know
what we're talking about, a blitz that was happening. I
remember like it was yesterday, blitz that was happening, and
it was like everybody's not on the same page. And
so it's like everybody's not on the same page. I'm
(15:44):
not gonna blitz there and let that guy come out
of there and I gotta cover him, and they're gonna
look like I was supposed to cover him and he run,
so I didn't, And so I go to the sideline
and then trying to explain to a coach and he's
going basically just rush and I'm going and okay, I
I got it. I hear you. But I'm looking like
I really, you don't get this. You don't get what
(16:07):
I saw. You was over here. You didn't see what
I said, but I understood, and he was he was
absolutely right, But I was trying to protect six points.
You sure you sure did that well? Uh you not
only the sack total, Greg, but the amount of forced
fumbles that you created. And I'm wondering you took up
(16:28):
martial arts, and I'm wondering if that training help you
tomahawk guys across the risk and forced fumbles like that. Absolutely.
I mean I met uh my coin name I'm gonna
cong I met him through Terry Long when I first
came in. You know, if I first got here and Terry,
it was you know, it was unbelievable. Terry was a
you know, for a big guy. You know, he could
(16:50):
get his foot up there. And I just one day
and practice. I asked him, you know, hey man, you know,
so you introduced me master call. You know, I was
on the size and for ours outline back away in
two and pounds. Back then, that was that was light,
you know, and that was starting beginning to start of
what they called this hybrid you know, defensive and slash
linebacker that could cover and Russia at the same time.
And I was I was that guy, and um so
I need an edge. And when I went to Master Kong,
(17:12):
you know, the first thing, one of the first things
that I told him that I want to work on
my hands. And so, you know, that's what we did.
And you know, we've had this relationship for thirty plus years.
Seventh degree black belt now And one of the things
that he taught me and I got Roy Woodson and
Carna Lake and Willie Williams and even John Kobe you know,
came over. But one of the things that you know
we worked on it was like, you know, we we
(17:33):
do a lot of hands to hands one on one,
especially being a you know, a defensive guy. You know,
I like a lot of corners like that. Sometimes you're
not in a play, you know, guys just running you
all cousins running play, you know, did it. But as
as as an interior guy, you're always doing something. You're
always doing something with your hands. And you know, I've
got you know, tight ends that are you know looking
down at me. I got office in line and got
looking down to the first time I met John Z. Kobe,
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I was like like fee five cafe and so, you know,
working your hands was a good thing. And so the
time you got I learned that and I got to
playing football, I could see there were certain places on
a guy that I could hit. There were certain things
that I could do to trap guy's hands that would
you know, cause you know, cause the ball to come out.
And yeah, it was, it was. It was. It becomes
(18:14):
second nature. It's not something that you're thinking about. It's
just something that you do. You have to react to it,
so it's reaction. It was more reaction there than it
was you know, you know, I want to think about it.
And the reaction of it was a causation of you know,
fumbles and things in that nature. And but it happened
so fast that you don't have time to think about it,
you know, things that nature. So yeah, it was it
was second nature. The quickness and all that stuff. That's
(18:34):
that's that's what came up. So it became secondaty. And
it was also something that we practice in practice. We
practice how to you know, fumbles and how to get
out you know, things from the front, from the back
and things like nature. But it was something that we
did and it's something that you have to do in
order to you know, to to perfect it. You know,
you mentioned the legacy of the Great Street of linebackers,
and one of the parts of the legacy is great
(18:57):
outside tandems. Um We've got and I've had a number
in Pittsburgh over the years, certainly. Um. And I remember
in the settings similar to this interviewing Kevin Green and
without asking the question, God Rest his soul, Kevin brought
you up as a big part of his success. And
(19:20):
I'm wondering, I think it's a pretty obvious question if
you felt the same what he meant to you and
enabled you to do on your side of the field. Um. Yeah, yeah,
I mean you know that's that's a tough one. But yeah, um,
KG and I were, you know, we were close, probably
(19:42):
not as close as we probably could have been, Probably
closer than probably most of my brothers that I haven't
my brother, but we were close that we could have
been closer. But um, yeah, I mean we talked a lot.
I mean, he had a sick mind like I did,
and I understood it and he understood me. And did
you like the quivering quake you know it was? Yeah?
(20:06):
I did. I did. I mean, I mean, can we
come up with something better? Yeah, but I did. I
mean the thing about it was to look over and
see nine one on that side, and you know, knowing
what we had talked about, knowing how we had practice
and stuff in there, I'm getting chills and uh and everything.
So it was it was so real. I mean, it
(20:28):
was like we went we went into practice. I mean
I said it to you like this, the way we practice,
the way we talked, and the things that we talked
about doing, and the things that we challenged each other on.
It was like, you know, when you do work, you
have an expectation, and when you don't do the work,
you're hoping what we expected because of the way we practice,
where were prepared, we expected to be successful. And when
(20:52):
anybody else, no matter who went down, whether it was
a major peace or mind and peace of the puzzle
you're talking about a rod Woods Center, myself or Cardeal
Lake or you know, any of those guys, when a
major piece went down, we were so together that you
could put anybody in there and the train, you know,
it was just as fast. And one of the things
(21:13):
I loved about that is that everybody on that team
from You know, we accepted Kevin when he came in,
even though he played three years. Whether we accepted him
because we love the way he played when it was
a passion for the game, when he was a pass
rushing and he just bought another dimension to to to
us that we hadn't had in a while. You know,
a guy that we know can go and put pressure
(21:33):
on the quarterback. But as a friend, the guy off
the field, he was, he was, he was out there.
He was out there a little bit, but I was,
you know, and so we you know that I've been
in this house, he's been the mind. We spent some
time together. I knew his kids in the mind. And
and I think when you start talking about tandem and
you start talking about relationships and football, the closer you
(21:56):
are to somebody like that, the easier just to play
with somebody like that. I mean, did I trust him
with my life? Absolutely? Did he trust me with his absolutely?
But it was the challenge of standing on the sideline
going you know records who were playing. It goes, all right,
I'm gonna get there before you get there, and I
would go meet me there, you know kind of thing
we see. Kevin had the advantage because Kevin didn't have
(22:18):
to cover met Calf out of the backfield, he didn't
have to cover Baron Sanders. I did, and so that
was that was the deal. And it was like, you know,
causing fumbles in the backfield, having tackles on the other
side of the ball. I always tell him, I said,
you know what, I got just as many. I said,
you look at my my calls for So it was
that thing. But you know, it was fun. The thing
(22:40):
was it was fun, and we made it a competition
where it was fun and it was like, come on,
I mean, you're like, dude, I got double team. Are
you seriously You're seriously gonna count that? And that's how
we did. But that was the fun of it. We
we we had a great time with it. And then,
like I said, there were times, you know, I think
the Super Bowl, I think him and I may have
been the last two to lead a locker room and
(23:02):
we were sitting there looking I'm looking at him and
he's looking at me, and I'm going, how do we
lose that buddy? You know? And it was tough, but
losing him probably one toughest days of my toughest days
in my life. Man, and it's um, it's still it lingers,
It's still lingers. We you know, you know, I mean
(23:24):
Carnell and some of the guys were sitting last night
and you know, when you say it, it just feels
so unreal. It didn't feel natural, you know, you know
what they said, and I said, he wasn't the only one.
And you know Tim Leicester and you know from COVID
and you know Timmy and I lived in Georgia together
and I hiped him with a football team there. It's
(23:44):
just something, I mean, so it you never have enough
to say, as nothing you can say, but just you know,
a great guy, and I mean I loved playing with it.
And I got a chance to recomble that when I
went to you know, Carol, and don't say it loud,
but you know he was there when I got there.
(24:04):
We kind of recome to that, and it wasn't the
same because I was hurt and you know, he was
playing well. So it was like, you know, I can't
do what I want to do to heppy out. So
it's like I'm gonna take a step back and I
want to watch, you know. And so I'm still you know,
I'm still a fan, and I think in I did
some coaching in Tampa and most of the film that
I broke down was of Kevin I Will showing stuff guys,
(24:27):
you know him pass rushing and you know some other guys,
never myself, and I was trying to get these guys understand,
like these guys, if you can do what these guys do,
you're gonna be okay. So you know, but yeah, that's
a special relationship there, and he holds a special part
of my you know, in my heart, and you know
he'll never be forgotten. I think the saying goes for
Chad and for you know, Levon. I think they feel
(24:48):
exactly the same way. Well, you're in the Hall of
Honor together forever. And the last thing for you, Greg,
you know you mentioned the Super Bowl. Um, there haven't
been many more devasta defeat, certainly on home field, then
the loss of the Chargers and four. But did that
serve as a motivational tool to get you to the
(25:11):
Super Bowl? And I realized that outcome wasn't what you wanted.
But I wonder if that was an undercurrent a theme
that drove you and the team to get to the
Super Bowl. I would say you know to ask the question.
I mean, I think it's you know, and I'm not
being you know, uh anything, but I think it's obviously
(25:33):
you know it was. It was for me. You know,
I did not watch that game. You know a lot
of times seasons oh with coachesn't want you to come
in and watch it, And my thing is like, why,
you know, there's no more games, I don't want to
see it. I didn't watch that game until we came
back to training camp. When we came back to training camp,
(25:53):
I did watch it. But the whole time, in the
all season, all you're thinking about is how does it
How is it that we can get back to where
we were here? And all the time people say, you know,
how hard it is to get back to a super Bowl.
You know, we're trying to get to a super Bowl,
but we've got to get past the a f C
championship game. We have to get past this an FC
(26:14):
championship game. But I think if you look back and
you look at the defense that we had that year,
the defense that we had in ninety four was better
than the defense we had when we went to the
Super Bowl, definitely better. And we managed I mean even
though it took you know, somebody throwing a pass an
end zone and getting it knocked down to get there.
(26:35):
I mean, you don't want to get there like that.
But we did what we had to do. But we
thought that the game that we played in San Diego,
we were a better defense at the time because we
had people in place that, you know, like say that
that were super and I think a lot of guys
took it upon themselves when I came to training camp,
I came to training to camp piste off. I came
trying to camp, and I told guys, you're not gonna
like me. You're not gonna like me. I don't have
(26:57):
time to be making friends this time. I don't have to.
And for that, if you want to be in the
super Bowl, we want to get back, here's how we're
gonna do. It's gonna start in training camp. And like
I said, we had a lot of guys that came
in first rounds and stuff like that, and we pumped them,
for lack of a better word, we pumpd them a
better If you're playing with me, I'd rather find out
what kind of man you are in training camp then
(27:18):
find out we got fourth and whatever we gotta do
in a in a playoff game, that's gonna, you know,
determine whether or not we're going to the super Bowl
or not. Now I gotta find out a few tough
or not. It's not the time and the time to
find out is play one training camp? Did you come
to play? You know, play to training camp. Did you
come to play? That's what it was all about. So
(27:39):
we would take pre season games like it was a
regular season game. And I know people would say, hey man,
these guys are playing like this is a regular season game.
But yes, that's how we did it. So we were
sending a message to everybody that that's what we're gonna
don play set ago getting that year outcomes totally different,
wasn't it. And so it was like, hey, here we come.
So my my, my, one of my best friends and
got rested. So who would you say? So after the game,
(28:01):
he told me, he said, I told these guys and
he coming, he always coming, you know, he said, I
told these guys. He said, you know, gonna have them
guys ready. He said, them coming. They said, you know
What're gonna have them ready. But that was the deal,
you know what it was like. So we knew we
were better. You know, the outcome wasn't that. But then
back then and you can say it, I can see
it now, and I know it may hurt some people's feeling,
but back then we were probably better on office, I mean,
(28:24):
on defense than we were on offense. And when our
offense had the ball to go in the score, we
didn't have the confidence that you probably have now. Would
have been Rothelberger and it's Rome Betters and all the
guys that the weapons that had we had that had
we had that, we went four Super Bowls Bank Bank Bank,
just like that, No, no doubt about it. But you know,
it is what it was at the time. And like
(28:46):
you said, yeah, I think everybody was laser focus. And
then you know, all the distractions were like, hey, we've
been here before. We know what we gotta do. Because
I understanding, we didn't know how to win. Even even
when Kyra came remember his first year, We're twelve and four.
We didn't know how to win. Buffalo came in and
embarrassed us. Buffalo came in at the twelve and four
we're the number one seed. They embarrassed that we out
(29:07):
of the playoffs, just like that, and you're looking around
like what happened? Because we didn't know how to win.
We we got there, we knew we had the talent,
but we could not put together what did we do?
And so you know, I guess the lesson is from
you know, their success in you know, and failure and
I failure to get past the first round. We learned,
(29:29):
we learned how to win, and then we took it
from there to the super Bowl. And then you know,
from there we had to you know, it's tough to
get back, you know, through you know, to to the
super Bowl. And you know, I said a lot of
respect for Buffalo for doing that four years in a row.
But that's even that is a feating itself. So you know,
we didn't want to be that guy, but it was
it was tough and uh and so I think that
(29:49):
that that got the ball rolling for even though it
took ten years for Pittsburgh getting back into the super Bowl.
It's like, hey, listen, we have it. We have we
know what to do. We have all that. We have
the coaches, we have the play airs, and we just
keep putting and plugging players in and put people in
right position. And then you acquire Roethlisberg here, you acquire
Polymu here, and you require you know, somebody else here
(30:10):
and Apport and other guys like that, and you've got
the pieces other puzzle, and you've got some guys that
can can get this done. And you've got some guys
that all they're hearing about is this is how they
used to do it, This is how they used to
do it. And you know, it gets kind of area sometime.
You know, you imagine, you know, you're coming in. All
you here is that Lambort and Ham and lambered Ham,
and you go, at some point, we don't want to
hear him. We want to hear our own name calls.
So I can imagine the Joys and and these other
(30:32):
guys you know that are playing and they're going, you know,
you know what about us. So you have to make
that legacy so that people can, you know, remember, And
that's what we did, and that's that's what we tried
to do. And like I think this honor kind of
says it all and says, yeah, you know, we respected
how you played. We respected the fact that you showed
up every Sunday, whether you hurt or not, and you
(30:53):
got it done, you know, And so for me, I think,
you know, it's it's it's it's not so much an
individual on it for me, but it's like the teammates
and the guys that I had around me. You know,
they won't say they forced me to, but they made
me play at a level that I could play with them,
(31:13):
and they held me to a standard as as well
as I held them to a standard. And because of that,
you know, we sit in you know, in Pittsburgh Hallibaum
Welcome steel a nation. I'm stand severeign. It's my pleasure
of welcome in. One of the Steelers all time Great
Greg Lloyd now a member of the Steelers Hall of Honor. Greg, welcome,
great to see you. Thank you for having me. You're
a sixth round draft choice out of Fort Valley State
small school. The Steelers are notorious for finding guys at
(00:20):
schools like that throughout history. But even so, as a senior,
did you expect to a be drafted by the Steelers
or drafted by anybody in the NFL? Um? I did.
I actually was quoted by the Dallas Cowboys if you
can say that word, and um, that's why I thought
I was going. Dallas sent me a lot of paraphernalia.
(00:40):
They were interested. But Dallas was not the first team
to come to my college to work me out. Pittsburgh was.
Pittsburgh showed up um Thanksgiving Holiday, and Tom Dunaho actually
was a person, and I think I ran a timing
for me. He looked at it and the next words
out of his mouth was has anybody else been here
to see you? And you kind of got an idea then,
(01:01):
and then shortly there after they flood gate open so yeah,
I have an idea. Uh, that's that's great. It's been
so great at finding talents such as yourself. Um, you
played with a chip on your shoulder, you played with
an edge, which of course is a great thing. Uh.
And I wonder, coming from a smaller school, did you
(01:22):
feel you needed to play that way to prove yourself. Well,
I mean, you know, when you look at the history
of like you said, Pittsburgh spec his own defense. You know,
you had Mel Blunt from you know, Southern University, Donnie Schelle,
you know South Carolina State, John Star with Alabama and
m and you know slew other guys. I think l
C also went to you know, the aucasol Pine Bluff
(01:43):
I believe, And so you had a lot of the
spc U, you know, guys that were here that had
proven themselves. But again, you know, we're a different era,
coming into a different generation and still, um, Division two
college football was kind of I won't say frowned upon,
but it was looked upon as if I was at
the univer versus of George, You're a pit or somewhere,
I'd be third string. And so it's like, well, who
(02:04):
who's saying this? You know, somebody saying this that obviously
don't know me. You don't know my heart, and you
don't know my skill. So do me a favor. Put
me in the game with these guys, and I prove
of you that, you know, not only am I worth
it been there, but most of the time, I'm probably
better than them. And I found out when I got
in the league that everybody was kind of like, you know,
here I am. I got drafted in the sixth round,
so I'm here with the first round as I'm here
(02:25):
with Penn in Colorado and Nebraska and all those guys,
and I'm really not impressed. I'm not impressed because at
the end of the day, you know, it's like he
has to out work me. You know, he has the
same gear I have, but he has to not work me.
And where I came from, you know, I'm just not
gonna let somebody that work. But I was always taught
that I had to be better. I've got to, you know,
I've got to. If somebody's you know, is working out,
(02:47):
you know, an hour, I gotta work out the hour
and a half. And so that's always been a part
of me. So it wasn't so much the chip was
that I had the stats. I had the stats coming
out of college to be if I was at one
of those cards first round draft choice. But because of
where I went to college, everybody said, well, we're gonna
make him a six round And it was cool because
it gave me the opportunity to really progress. You know,
there was no pressure as a six round raft Chards,
(03:08):
there's no president. You gotta play right away, you know,
and it was like, oh, you know, this guy can play,
so we we kind of got to steal here. So
you know, I was, I was comfortable where I was,
but I played with a chip because again, you know,
I thought that where I went to school that people
didn't you know, they didn't respect that. And so every
time you lined up, not just in a game, but
to practice, you know, you got to show people that,
(03:30):
you know, this is where I come from, this is
what this is how we do things. It's no different.
We don't have the alumni, we probably don't have the facilities,
but what we do is we have something that you
can't teach. We have heart, and that's something that you
can't teach. You can't buy it. You know, either you
have it or you don't. You were a big reason
why the Steeler defense became Blitzburg. And I'm wondering if
the scheme was fit perfectly for you, or they developed
(03:54):
a scheme around your talents. Um you ask certain people,
certain people would say yes, and I would say I
would say no because the story behind this is that,
you know, you don't want to be that guy. But
when Carr came in in nine, they made me. They
wanted me to be a middle linebacker. Well, everybody knows
I played at that was my weight, soaking wet, you know,
(04:16):
I was TOI and to be an inside linebacker in
the in the division were playing and we played in
black and Bludhavish Cleveland ran the ball, you know, and
you had to be stopped Kevin Mack and guys like that.
So you know, we were we were, you know, that
kind of team we had. I didn't think that I
could match up with the offensive linement and things, so
they put me in at middle linebacker and I went home.
I literally went home. I was like, I just came
(04:38):
off my first Pro Bowl playing outside linebacker. And but
note I played right outside linebacker since I was six
years old, so there wasn't a whole lot that you
could tell me about it. From sixth grade, from six
years old straight through college, I played the same position,
so I kind of had an affinity for, you know,
what I was doing. And then they said, hey, we're
gonna put you in the middle in the middle, but
they didn't tell me the why behind it. It's just
(04:59):
we're just gonna stick you in there. And so I
remember doing one training camp. I was like, you know,
I mean a mante camp. I was like, you know,
I'm out. I'm going home because I'm frustrated because I
can't pick up the reads like I used to do it.
Nobody's trying to teach me anything. That basically like threw
me to the world. So I went home and the
first person who called me Tom done here Tom telling.
He goes, hey, what's going on? And I kind of
(05:20):
explained to him, like, you know, I'm not a middle linebacker.
I'm an outside linebacker. But and they're not trying to
teach me anything. They just kind of like you're on
your own. And I don't like this because it don't
feel right. And so he said, you gotta come back
and we can talk about it. Well, I come back
when they tell me I can play outside line back,
and uh BC got on the phone with me and
he called me, you know, and says, hey, you know,
(05:41):
he never called me by my name. I was always
ninety five, and he was like, hey, ninety five, what's
going on? And I just told him and he said, well, listen,
come back and we'll discuss it. And it really wasn't
a discussion. I came back and went to his office
and he basically said, you know, okay, you's side line back,
but what we want to do is we want to
put you in on dime because you have an infinity
for making plays all over the field, and we figured
we put you in the middle, you wouldn't have to
(06:02):
run all across the field and make a play. You
behalf way that He could have told me that two
weeks ago, we would have been cool. So you know,
it's just a matter of you know, knowing who your
players or stuff like that. So that's what happened, and um,
you know, from that moment on, it was like, yeah,
I mean, I could line up on the left side
and by the time the ball snaps, I'm on the
right side. But you know, I wasn't always rushing. I
I'm still rusting these big guys in the middle. I
(06:23):
wasn't rushing on the edge, and so you know, here
incomes Chad and you know, and Jason and then of
course KG and these guys were you know, they was
rushing in that Blissburg defense and I was just kind
of holding the middle down. So you know, it became
what it was. But I don't think it was booked
around me. I think it was booked around the talent
that we had. We had a lot of fast guys,
and we had a lot of guys. I had all
smart guys, and playing on that Blissburg defense, you had
(06:44):
to know where you fit and you had to make
sure that you did not miss your cue. One of
the things, Dicklabo you should say all the time is
don't go stick your head with them alone. Trust that guy.
And that's what made us work, you know, And so
you know, taking it to another level was how we practice.
That was the main thing. That group of backers was amazing.
And when Chad was there and then of course he
left to go, uh to Seattle, it's just been a
(07:05):
never ending issue. You mentioned this earlier on Greg when
you talk about the legacy. When you look at all
the positions on a football field. The Steelers have certainly
had excellence at every position, but perhaps none more so
in bulk than linebackers. And I wondering when you came in, Uh,
was there a feeling that, Hey, I'm following Ham and
(07:28):
Lambert and Russell and on and on and on. Um,
yes and no, yes and no. The thing about Legacy
is that, you know, the first person I got to
meet Joe Gray, and I said, Joe Green's hand, and
I realized that I was still a kid, you know,
and it was like wow, and being around Joe and
coaching and you know, and then kind of watching film
(07:48):
on what these guys did, and then I got you know,
I was playing with Brian Kolen at the time, who
came through that arrow, Ham and Lambert and those guys,
and you know, this kind of had to teach you
how to practice, you know, a standing that you know,
even even my guy David Little God rest her soul,
and it was like, we teach you how to practice.
And one of the things that you know, I loved
about coaching was coaching Old made sure that if you
(08:10):
were a linebacker, you wasn't just it wasn't just about
your position. You need to know what everybody on the
field was doing, and you didn't know how everybody fit.
And it was kind of tough because you know, it
was hard enough to just understanding what you had to
do on the play. You had to know what you mean,
a linebacker on one side and the other side was doing,
so you know how everything fit. And uh, Kyle just
kind of fell right into that again, you know, having
(08:31):
him as a coach. I don't know if that's something
that somebody told him about, but he had the same thing.
And so we would get a little quiz and stuff
like that, you know, sometimes in practice, after practice, before
game how you fit in the game. So being an
outside linebacker and being a backer, you know, one of
the things you know about what we did was we
took pride in and you look up in the standard
(08:52):
you see fifty eight and you look up in the
stand and you see, you know, you know, all those
numbers and things of that nature, and you go, how
do I get mine? You know number up there? Well,
you gotta do something, you know, you got you gotta
do something. These guys want four Super Bowls, and on
top of that, they were probably you know, they were
they were, They were great people. They're great people in
their community and stuff like that. So how do I
get to be that? Well, you gotta win. Everybody loves winmen.
(09:14):
You know, Pittsburgh still a stadium would be full if
you five and then eleven. I've been there and would
be there if you. It'll be full if you said.
But for somebody to wear your jersey, you gotta do something.
So how do I take my game from being six
round draft choice average to being six round draft choice here?
And it's like, you know, you have to dedicate yourself
another practice and you gotta do those things. But you
(09:34):
have to become that leader. You have to do things
that you're asking other people to do. And so, you know,
it was truly, you know, one of those things that
honor to come behind the Hams and the Lambers and
people compare you, you know, in a way to them,
which I think there's still no comparis because those guys
had their own thing that they did back then, and
even even within did so we had to we had
to set the standard. And I think getting back to
(09:57):
winning was in our error. Our error. It was getting
back to winning. We got back to when we got
back to being a dominant defense and things that So
in that early nineties, that was that was us. We
were the guys that I think projected onto the guys
that came behind us to win, you know, in two
thousand and five, and then we all Super Bowl three
(10:17):
and we don't like talk about that, but you know,
it was the beginning of something, and it was how
we practice, how we carried ourselves, the things that we did,
and um, so we you know, we took pride in that,
and I think when people saw that, it made us like,
you know that that group of linebackers that these are
the guys. Now they're getting to die. And then every
line back and that came behind that, you know, that's
(10:39):
the standard. You know. So Lambert and those guys were
our standard. And now we became the standard for the
guys that are behind us. And it's gonna keep going.
And like you said, and like when people talk football,
and they talked Pittsburgh football, you talk about your line,
but especially at three four defense, if they if you
don't have four good linebackers, doesn't work that great analysis.
(11:01):
And you came in for the legendary Chuck noll Um
and I wondered two part, Greg if you were a
bit and awe of him, given who he was and
all he had achieved. And secondarily, I think everybody football
fans everywhere have seen the famous NFL clip of Bill
(11:24):
Kauer grabbing you on the sideline and saying, just rush
the quarterback. You understand me, just you Your head has
turned away, like, you know, because people were worried about
getting spin on and all that kind of stuff. But
I'm wondering to compare and contrast you know, those those
two coaches well again, and I would kind of like
following what I said, Coach No being called the Emperor,
(11:50):
he he he made you better, but he wasn't just
about a football and not that Kyle was. But he
wasn't just about football. Coach No was wanted. He was
a family or in a guy like the Rooty's organization.
It's very familiar or in it, you know, and strong
in that nature. And Coach No used to always tell
us that you know, you play this game, but it's
not your life's work. It's not your life work. You
(12:13):
play this game, then you're going to do your life's work.
But when you're playing, you play like it's your last game.
You know, that's how you wanted you to do. But
one of the things again I liked about Coach was
like at the beginning of a meeting in the morning
and we got meets, everybody's you know, going on. You
guys may have that and somebody walks in the room
and it's like, you know, you're still talking to the person. Okay, guys.
(12:33):
Coach No, wasn't that guy. You know, we had lookouts,
but when he came out of his office when we
were sitting in the meeting rooms, but when he would
grace the door, it was crisening. Everybody like everybody see coaching.
And he would walk to the hould him. That's how
it was BC being a players coach. He would come
in and he would be at the poll him and
(12:54):
guys like, yeah, what what's called h And he said okay, guys, okay,
he said okay, okay, guys. And it was just but
it wasn't a disrespect. It was just that he let
us get away with a little bit more than everybody
else was probably a little bit more afraid of Chuck
than it was. So it was just kind of a
different or you know, it's just or Chuck wasn't a
hands on kind of talk to you guy. He was
kind of like you didn't know how to take him.
(13:16):
And I had a really good story for you on
that one. Mike. I'm a Georgia boy, you know, and
coming from Georgia, we don't get snow. And when we
do get snow, everything chucked down. I don't care if
it's that much or it's that it's a shutdown, first
year standing Alleghanty Center. It snows practice. I look up,
I'm like, you know, practice day, I'm not coming out,
(13:36):
so I'm end it dead, you know. And so phone
ring rapped. Berlin says, hey, what are you doing? And
I'm like, what do you mean? And like he says,
why are you not here? And snowing? He's like, you know,
I can't tell you what exactly what he's said, but
he's like, you need, you need to get over here.
And when you get here, stopped by Chuck's office, and
then of course six round draft choice been injured. Hearts
(14:00):
like this, now, mind you ill walked in tennis shoes.
Everybody who anything about snow, No, that's not good. I
walked in tennis shoes from allighantor center, underneath that bridge,
across the clock bar, across the parking lot work because
I don't know how to driving snow. Connie the first
person I see, Secretary of Front and she says, coaches, wait,
(14:20):
no year, and I'm going, all this, it's not good.
This is not good, I promise you. I'm thinking, I
think I'm getting cut and I can't read him. I
walked in the door, knocked on the door, and I'm
serin him. It's like yes, sir, like yeah, I have
a little bit of military background for RTC. So I'm
serving him like sir. And he turns around and he's
got a little bit of a smirk on his face,
(14:41):
and I go, okay, I might be okay. I might
be okay, and he looks at me and he goes.
He says, hey, every year, every now again, we draft
guys from Georgia and we know you guys don't get
snow and stuff like that. He said, but here in Pittsburgh,
if it snows, if it thunders of his lightning, we're
gonna practice like they'd be your last. And I'm thinking, like, okay,
(15:01):
if that's it, I got this, And I was like,
I said it never happened again, and so that was
my you know, running with him. But he was a lot,
just a lot different than than Kyle in that regard.
So you can get away with like maybe saying something
to Kyle that you couldn't get away we're saying with Chuck.
Chuck didn't. He didn't like celebrating. He would always say
(15:22):
stuff like, you know, act like you've been there before,
and if he said something it was golden. You don't
get to voice your opinion back kind of thing. And
that thing with me and BC was like, you know
what we're talking about, a blitz that was happening. I
remember like it was yesterday, blitz that was happening, and
it was like everybody's not on the same page. And
so it's like everybody's not on the same page. I'm
(15:44):
not gonna blitz there and let that guy come out
of there and I gotta cover him, and they're gonna
look like I was supposed to cover him and he run,
so I didn't, And so I go to the sideline
and then trying to explain to a coach and he's
going basically just rush and I'm going and okay, I
I got it. I hear you. But I'm looking like
I really, you don't get this. You don't get what
(16:07):
I saw. You was over here. You didn't see what
I said, but I understood, and he was he was
absolutely right, But I was trying to protect six points.
You sure you sure did that well? Uh you not
only the sack total, Greg, but the amount of forced
fumbles that you created. And I'm wondering you took up
(16:28):
martial arts, and I'm wondering if that training help you
tomahawk guys across the risk and forced fumbles like that. Absolutely.
I mean I met uh my coin name I'm gonna
cong I met him through Terry Long when I first
came in. You know, if I first got here and Terry,
it was you know, it was unbelievable. Terry was a
you know, for a big guy. You know, he could
(16:50):
get his foot up there. And I just one day
and practice. I asked him, you know, hey man, you know,
so you introduced me master call. You know, I was
on the size and for ours outline back away in
two and pounds. Back then, that was that was light,
you know, and that was starting beginning to start of
what they called this hybrid you know, defensive and slash
linebacker that could cover and Russia at the same time.
And I was I was that guy, and um so
I need an edge. And when I went to Master Kong,
(17:12):
you know, the first thing, one of the first things
that I told him that I want to work on
my hands. And so, you know, that's what we did.
And you know, we've had this relationship for thirty plus years.
Seventh degree black belt now And one of the things
that he taught me and I got Roy Woodson and
Carna Lake and Willie Williams and even John Kobe you know,
came over. But one of the things that you know
we worked on it was like, you know, we we
(17:33):
do a lot of hands to hands one on one,
especially being a you know, a defensive guy. You know,
I like a lot of corners like that. Sometimes you're
not in a play, you know, guys just running you
all cousins running play, you know, did it. But as
as as an interior guy, you're always doing something. You're
always doing something with your hands. And you know, I've
got you know, tight ends that are you know looking
down at me. I got office in line and got
looking down to the first time I met John Z. Kobe,
(17:53):
I was like like fee five cafe and so, you know,
working your hands was a good thing. And so the
time you got I learned that and I got to
playing football, I could see there were certain places on
a guy that I could hit. There were certain things
that I could do to trap guy's hands that would
you know, cause you know, cause the ball to come out.
And yeah, it was, it was. It was. It becomes
(18:14):
second nature. It's not something that you're thinking about. It's
just something that you do. You have to react to it,
so it's reaction. It was more reaction there than it
was you know, you know, I want to think about it.
And the reaction of it was a causation of you know,
fumbles and things in that nature. And but it happened
so fast that you don't have time to think about it,
you know, things that nature. So yeah, it was it
was second nature. The quickness and all that stuff. That's
(18:34):
that's that's what came up. So it became secondaty. And
it was also something that we practice in practice. We
practice how to you know, fumbles and how to get
out you know, things from the front, from the back
and things like nature. But it was something that we
did and it's something that you have to do in
order to you know, to to perfect it. You know,
you mentioned the legacy of the Great Street of linebackers,
and one of the parts of the legacy is great
(18:57):
outside tandems. Um We've got and I've had a number
in Pittsburgh over the years, certainly. Um. And I remember
in the settings similar to this interviewing Kevin Green and
without asking the question, God Rest his soul, Kevin brought
you up as a big part of his success. And
(19:20):
I'm wondering, I think it's a pretty obvious question if
you felt the same what he meant to you and
enabled you to do on your side of the field. Um. Yeah, yeah,
I mean you know that's that's a tough one. But yeah, um,
KG and I were, you know, we were close, probably
(19:42):
not as close as we probably could have been, Probably
closer than probably most of my brothers that I haven't
my brother, but we were close that we could have
been closer. But um, yeah, I mean we talked a lot.
I mean, he had a sick mind like I did,
and I understood it and he understood me. And did
you like the quivering quake you know it was? Yeah?
(20:06):
I did. I did. I mean, I mean, can we
come up with something better? Yeah, but I did. I
mean the thing about it was to look over and
see nine one on that side, and you know, knowing
what we had talked about, knowing how we had practice
and stuff in there, I'm getting chills and uh and everything.
So it was it was so real. I mean, it
(20:28):
was like we went we went into practice. I mean
I said it to you like this, the way we practice,
the way we talked, and the things that we talked
about doing, and the things that we challenged each other on.
It was like, you know, when you do work, you
have an expectation, and when you don't do the work,
you're hoping what we expected because of the way we practice,
where were prepared, we expected to be successful. And when
(20:52):
anybody else, no matter who went down, whether it was
a major peace or mind and peace of the puzzle
you're talking about a rod Woods Center, myself or Cardeal
Lake or you know, any of those guys, when a
major piece went down, we were so together that you
could put anybody in there and the train, you know,
it was just as fast. And one of the things
(21:13):
I loved about that is that everybody on that team
from You know, we accepted Kevin when he came in,
even though he played three years. Whether we accepted him
because we love the way he played when it was
a passion for the game, when he was a pass
rushing and he just bought another dimension to to to
us that we hadn't had in a while. You know,
a guy that we know can go and put pressure
(21:33):
on the quarterback. But as a friend, the guy off
the field, he was, he was, he was out there.
He was out there a little bit, but I was,
you know, and so we you know that I've been
in this house, he's been the mind. We spent some
time together. I knew his kids in the mind. And
and I think when you start talking about tandem and
you start talking about relationships and football, the closer you
(21:56):
are to somebody like that, the easier just to play
with somebody like that. I mean, did I trust him
with my life? Absolutely? Did he trust me with his absolutely?
But it was the challenge of standing on the sideline
going you know records who were playing. It goes, all right,
I'm gonna get there before you get there, and I
would go meet me there, you know kind of thing
we see. Kevin had the advantage because Kevin didn't have
(22:18):
to cover met Calf out of the backfield, he didn't
have to cover Baron Sanders. I did, and so that
was that was the deal. And it was like, you know,
causing fumbles in the backfield, having tackles on the other
side of the ball. I always tell him, I said,
you know what, I got just as many. I said,
you look at my my calls for So it was
that thing. But you know, it was fun. The thing
(22:40):
was it was fun, and we made it a competition
where it was fun and it was like, come on,
I mean, you're like, dude, I got double team. Are
you seriously You're seriously gonna count that? And that's how
we did. But that was the fun of it. We
we we had a great time with it. And then,
like I said, there were times, you know, I think
the Super Bowl, I think him and I may have
been the last two to lead a locker room and
(23:02):
we were sitting there looking I'm looking at him and
he's looking at me, and I'm going, how do we
lose that buddy? You know? And it was tough, but
losing him probably one toughest days of my toughest days
in my life. Man, and it's um, it's still it lingers,
It's still lingers. We you know, you know, I mean
(23:24):
Carnell and some of the guys were sitting last night
and you know, when you say it, it just feels
so unreal. It didn't feel natural, you know, you know
what they said, and I said, he wasn't the only one.
And you know Tim Leicester and you know from COVID
and you know Timmy and I lived in Georgia together
and I hiped him with a football team there. It's
(23:44):
just something, I mean, so it you never have enough
to say, as nothing you can say, but just you know,
a great guy, and I mean I loved playing with it.
And I got a chance to recomble that when I
went to you know, Carol, and don't say it loud,
but you know he was there when I got there.
(24:04):
We kind of recome to that, and it wasn't the
same because I was hurt and you know, he was
playing well. So it was like, you know, I can't
do what I want to do to heppy out. So
it's like I'm gonna take a step back and I
want to watch, you know. And so I'm still you know,
I'm still a fan, and I think in I did
some coaching in Tampa and most of the film that
I broke down was of Kevin I Will showing stuff guys,
(24:27):
you know him pass rushing and you know some other guys,
never myself, and I was trying to get these guys understand,
like these guys, if you can do what these guys do,
you're gonna be okay. So you know, but yeah, that's
a special relationship there, and he holds a special part
of my you know, in my heart, and you know
he'll never be forgotten. I think the saying goes for
Chad and for you know, Levon. I think they feel
(24:48):
exactly the same way. Well, you're in the Hall of
Honor together forever. And the last thing for you, Greg,
you know you mentioned the Super Bowl. Um, there haven't
been many more devasta defeat, certainly on home field, then
the loss of the Chargers and four. But did that
serve as a motivational tool to get you to the
(25:11):
Super Bowl? And I realized that outcome wasn't what you wanted.
But I wonder if that was an undercurrent a theme
that drove you and the team to get to the
Super Bowl. I would say you know to ask the question.
I mean, I think it's you know, and I'm not
being you know, uh anything, but I think it's obviously
(25:33):
you know it was. It was for me. You know,
I did not watch that game. You know a lot
of times seasons oh with coachesn't want you to come
in and watch it, And my thing is like, why,
you know, there's no more games, I don't want to
see it. I didn't watch that game until we came
back to training camp. When we came back to training camp,
(25:53):
I did watch it. But the whole time, in the
all season, all you're thinking about is how does it
How is it that we can get back to where
we were here? And all the time people say, you know,
how hard it is to get back to a super Bowl.
You know, we're trying to get to a super Bowl,
but we've got to get past the a f C
championship game. We have to get past this an FC
(26:14):
championship game. But I think if you look back and
you look at the defense that we had that year,
the defense that we had in ninety four was better
than the defense we had when we went to the
Super Bowl, definitely better. And we managed I mean even
though it took you know, somebody throwing a pass an
end zone and getting it knocked down to get there.
(26:35):
I mean, you don't want to get there like that.
But we did what we had to do. But we
thought that the game that we played in San Diego,
we were a better defense at the time because we
had people in place that, you know, like say that
that were super and I think a lot of guys
took it upon themselves when I came to training camp,
I came to training to camp piste off. I came
trying to camp, and I told guys, you're not gonna
like me. You're not gonna like me. I don't have
(26:57):
time to be making friends this time. I don't have to.
And for that, if you want to be in the
super Bowl, we want to get back, here's how we're
gonna do. It's gonna start in training camp. And like
I said, we had a lot of guys that came
in first rounds and stuff like that, and we pumped them,
for lack of a better word, we pumpd them a
better If you're playing with me, I'd rather find out
what kind of man you are in training camp then
(27:18):
find out we got fourth and whatever we gotta do
in a in a playoff game, that's gonna, you know,
determine whether or not we're going to the super Bowl
or not. Now I gotta find out a few tough
or not. It's not the time and the time to
find out is play one training camp? Did you come
to play? You know, play to training camp. Did you
come to play? That's what it was all about. So
(27:39):
we would take pre season games like it was a
regular season game. And I know people would say, hey man,
these guys are playing like this is a regular season game.
But yes, that's how we did it. So we were
sending a message to everybody that that's what we're gonna
don play set ago getting that year outcomes totally different,
wasn't it. And so it was like, hey, here we come.
So my my, my, one of my best friends and
got rested. So who would you say? So after the game,
(28:01):
he told me, he said, I told these guys and
he coming, he always coming, you know, he said, I
told these guys. He said, you know, gonna have them
guys ready. He said, them coming. They said, you know
What're gonna have them ready. But that was the deal,
you know what it was like. So we knew we
were better. You know, the outcome wasn't that. But then
back then and you can say it, I can see
it now, and I know it may hurt some people's feeling,
but back then we were probably better on office, I mean,
(28:24):
on defense than we were on offense. And when our
offense had the ball to go in the score, we
didn't have the confidence that you probably have now. Would
have been Rothelberger and it's Rome Betters and all the
guys that the weapons that had we had that had
we had that, we went four Super Bowls Bank Bank Bank,
just like that, No, no doubt about it. But you know,
it is what it was at the time. And like
(28:46):
you said, yeah, I think everybody was laser focus. And
then you know, all the distractions were like, hey, we've
been here before. We know what we gotta do. Because
I understanding, we didn't know how to win. Even even
when Kyra came remember his first year, We're twelve and four.
We didn't know how to win. Buffalo came in and
embarrassed us. Buffalo came in at the twelve and four
we're the number one seed. They embarrassed that we out
(29:07):
of the playoffs, just like that, and you're looking around
like what happened? Because we didn't know how to win.
We we got there, we knew we had the talent,
but we could not put together what did we do?
And so you know, I guess the lesson is from
you know, their success in you know, and failure and
I failure to get past the first round. We learned,
(29:29):
we learned how to win, and then we took it
from there to the super Bowl. And then you know,
from there we had to you know, it's tough to
get back, you know, through you know, to to the
super Bowl. And you know, I said a lot of
respect for Buffalo for doing that four years in a row.
But that's even that is a feating itself. So you know,
we didn't want to be that guy, but it was
it was tough and uh and so I think that
(29:49):
that that got the ball rolling for even though it
took ten years for Pittsburgh getting back into the super Bowl.
It's like, hey, listen, we have it. We have we
know what to do. We have all that. We have
the coaches, we have the play airs, and we just
keep putting and plugging players in and put people in
right position. And then you acquire Roethlisberg here, you acquire
Polymu here, and you require you know, somebody else here
(30:10):
and Apport and other guys like that, and you've got
the pieces other puzzle, and you've got some guys that
can can get this done. And you've got some guys
that all they're hearing about is this is how they
used to do it, This is how they used to
do it. And you know, it gets kind of area sometime.
You know, you imagine, you know, you're coming in. All
you here is that Lambort and Ham and lambered Ham,
and you go, at some point, we don't want to
hear him. We want to hear our own name calls.
So I can imagine the Joys and and these other
(30:32):
guys you know that are playing and they're going, you know,
you know what about us. So you have to make
that legacy so that people can, you know, remember, And
that's what we did, and that's that's what we tried
to do. And like I think this honor kind of
says it all and says, yeah, you know, we respected
how you played. We respected the fact that you showed
up every Sunday, whether you hurt or not, and you
(30:53):
got it done, you know, And so for me, I think,
you know, it's it's it's it's not so much an
individual on it for me, but it's like the teammates
and the guys that I had around me. You know,
they won't say they forced me to, but they made
me play at a level that I could play with them,
(31:13):
and they held me to a standard as as well
as I held them to a standard. And because of that,
you know, we sit in you know, in Pittsburgh Hallibaum
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