February 11, 2022 • 19 mins
Danieal Manning played safety for the Texans from 2011 through 2014. The native Texan caught up with Drew Dougherty of Texans TV, and the two discussed his arrival in Houston, playing for Lovie Smith and the Bears from 2006-2010 and much more.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's not often that I can say I covered this
guy's final high school game, but I also covered his
final NFL game. I don't know that I can say
it about anybody but the man himself, d Man, Danielle Manning.
He was a Houston Texan here, you know, really when
the team first found the postseason for the first time,
and then you had a second stint with the club.
(00:22):
But it's good to catch up with you, Man. I
missed you. How are you, Danielle? And I'm blessed. I'm
really blessed. Man. Just relaxing, taking it easy and enjoy life.
Missing my guys. You know, I've been keeping up with
with Texans and we struggled a little bit. Yeah, yes
we have, but brighter days ahead, our ahead. And we'll
get into that a little bit later on the podcast.
(00:44):
But you said something interesting there. You said you've been
taking it easy, and I don't believe you, because if
you're farming, if you're ranching, you can't be taking it easy.
And that's kind of like right, it's pretty it's pretty wild,
you know. We got cattle and horses, and it's wild
getting into the ranching out there shooting guns and throwing
(01:04):
hatchets and just live in the country like Mane. And
you're here still in Texas, are you not? I am.
I have a house here in Burlison, Okay, And that's
why I'm just doing that. Man watching my kids grow up.
I got one getting ready to hit to college. I
don't know where he's going, but uh yeah, pretty exciting.
(01:25):
You just made me feel old, because let's rewind back
to the fall of two thousand. You were a senior
at Corsicana. You're playing in the playoffs. It's pretty deep
in the playoffs, if I remember correctly. You're playing against
Denton Ryan Texas Stadium, the old Cowboys home field, and
I was in the press box. I was covering it
(01:46):
for a website that doesn't even exist anymore, but I
covered all the big high school games back then. And
you were playing in the defensive backfield I think safety,
and basically, if you were on the right side of
the field, the opposing quarterback didn't even look your way.
He stayed on the left side. If you're on the
left side, was the same thing. He only went to
the right side. Because you were essentially the size you
were in the NFL and almost as fast as it
(02:07):
seemed like and you you look like you were a
man amongst boys. Yeah. That was fun, man, Yeah that
was that was my heyday. Yeah, man, that's so far away.
I look at my kids and now I'm like, wow,
I don't know if I did that play, but it
was fun. It was fun. So your oldest is in
(02:29):
high school heading into college next year maybe or what's
the story. Yeah, that's what it is. Um, he's narrowing
it down. I live here in Burlinston and I keep
pushing TCU and okay, he liked it, but he's like, man,
I'm just taking my time. I'm doing whatever comes to me.
So fair enough. Yeah, well take me take me back.
(02:49):
So you play of course Canada, you go out west
for a little bit, get into the NFL, and you're
a Chicago Bear. Uh and you were part of a
defense that was really really nasty when Love he Speak
was in charge. What was that like when you get
into the NFL? Take me through that? Well, I could
say this when I when I got in, I didn't
know what to expect. I was just playing ball and
(03:11):
I thought getting drafted. I thought I knew everything. But
Love He took me in and showed me what football
is all about you, And man, it was fun all
those years going back and forth to the playoffs, definitely
the Super Bowl and just learning ball, just hearing the
stories he having in his life and how he made
it to where he is now. Similar backgrounds. He's from
(03:34):
Blaywater or Big Sandy, Yeah, Big Sandy, Big Sandy, and
just talking about how we all grew up country boys
and we made and having a good time. A lot
of a lot of crazy stories he's telling me. But uh, yeah,
that was that was great. Yeah. The other night I
zoomed with a couple of year old teammates, Devin Hester
the return as well as Brian Earlocker Hall of Fame linebacker,
(03:58):
and they both we're just so excited that Lovey was
back as a head coach in the NFL. They talked
about how he was a player's coach in that Hey,
if you had an idea and you saw something Wednesday
in practice that you knew was not going to work
in the game, you could go to him and say, listen,
love you, I don't think that's that's a great idea.
Here's why, and he would scrap it and he would
(04:18):
work with you and make things happen other than being
a players coach. What's your what's your memory about Lovey
that makes you think this guy's this is the reason
this guy is a successful head coach. Man like you saying,
those guys knew exactly what he how he is. He
listens to you and competitive spirit and he's very stern,
(04:41):
but he wants to win and he wanted to make
men everywhere he goes, you know. And I'm glad he
had the opportunity to coach in college because he got
to prove that again. But one on one meetings with
love you, I know, head coaches normally don't coach a position.
He was he was coaching me up at Nicols. Then
(05:02):
we'll have about one on one talks and one on
one meetings, and he had me reaching out to guys
about this position and how to make it in how
to be a professional in the NFL. And that was
that was something I needed and he knew it. So
that was a great That was a great time, you know.
And that's something that I saw from you when you
came to the Texans as far as helping other guys,
(05:24):
but on other sides of the ball too, on all offense,
as well. I mean I remember you chit chatting and
getting guy's ears and saying, hey, I saw this, I
noticed this, this could be better. I noticed when you
do this, the other guy might count. You know. You
were always very proactive about that, and not in a
pushy way, not in a you know, listen to meet type.
Where it was it was, hey, I want this. By
telling you this, it's gonna help us wind. You'd kind
(05:46):
of get a little bit of that from Lovey. I did,
I really did, And he did promote that. He promote
that with everybody on the team, whether you're the guy
on the bench and never probably got the chance to
play in or the starters. I mean he was personal
with the media at times, and I mean he's just
a great guy to be around, you know, like like
(06:07):
a huncle or dad. You know. I got to know
his son's pretty well, his wife, and they were they
man lovely family and I'm happy for love I really am. Yeah,
it was really cool. They were a lot of them
were there yesterday at the press conference. So you had
a great run there in Chicago and then you're a
free agent and thankfully for the Texans, you come to
(06:28):
town during the lockout, and you signed on the same
day with cornerback Jonathan Joseph, and instantly you two were
two big reasons the defense went from being the worst
in the NFL in twenty ten to be in one
of the best, if not the best, just one season later.
Why did you choose Houston? You take the money out
of it. Why did you choose the Texans? Well, I
(06:49):
wanted to play in my back, my home state, you know,
and Dallas and Houston. Well, I grew up a Cowboys stand.
I'm not too far from Dallas, so we will hold
that against you. Nah nah. And I'm glad because it
turned out great. You know, I said, Man, I got
to get back home and Houston, the players that they had,
(07:13):
the young guy that we had, they had something there
and I wanted to be a part of that. I
remember Demiko Ryan giving me a call. You know, he
had a great year this year. Yes, he did. Demiko
called me and hey, man, we can be living legends
if you come here, and I'm like, cool, Yeah, I'm
gonna take that. Pick that offer up. Yeah, that's not
like talk coming from a guy like that, isn't Nah?
(07:38):
Demiko one of a kind man, One of a kind.
So once you get here and you get through the
first day of signing and everything, what was it like
getting into that locker room, getting accustomed to things and
learning that Wade Smith defense because you were you were
just like everybody else in the locker room, and that
was a new defense for them. They were going from
four to three to his three four right. Well, you
(07:58):
know what those guys in that locker room, man, you
could see that they wanted to win, and at that point,
that's all you really need to jail. And I just
felt like I wanted those guys. I've been I feel
like I've been there as long as Duke guys been there.
I've been there. And just the atmosphere was right for
that team, for that organization and for that city. It
(08:19):
was it was right. Yeah. And the start to that season,
it's lots of upslots of downs, and you guys played
in some phenomenal games. You beat the Steelers, they've been
in the Super Bowl the year before, you have a
shootout in New Orleans with Drew Brees at the height
of his powers with the Saints. You know, you guys
go three three to start things out, but then you
guys really go on to tearry. You win six seven
(08:41):
straight and kind of lock things up in the all
the while losing guys like Mario losing, Matt Shob and
Matt Liner getting TJ. Yates in there losing. You know,
at times, Andre Johnson and Aaron Foster basically were tag teaming,
you know, tagging in, tagging out because of hamstring injuries. True, true, man,
that was that was that was a test of that team.
(09:01):
Man injury prone. Next man up. You got injured. For goodness,
say you broke your leg and you still can't say
yeah yeah, man. Again, that's testaments of that team. The
training staff, man, I know I still talk to some
of those guys and the doctors. Man. Uh, it was
just a wild year, man, it was. It was. You
(09:21):
couldn't write a better script than that. Even though we
didn't win the Super Bowl or whatever. But man, that
team knew how to win. In after that season, we
knew how to win. What do you remember about those
crowds at home later in the season on into the
playoffs or Energy Stadium? Man, it was packed out almost
every weekend. Man, that it was loud. I remember one
(09:43):
time tone Antonio Smith was coming out with that mask
and the crowd was man, they were so loud. I said, wow,
they were still cheering after me, still as loud as
they were with Antonio. I was like, man, what is this?
That was nice? Man? I was like, was um, I
have I have family that lives in Houston and they
(10:04):
was talking about how much that the city was on
fire those years, you know, and that was made made
me feel good. Man. That was cool. Yeah, twenty twelve
goes really well done and the way you like it.
You know, you start out eleven to one and then
we saw what happened there at the very end. You
leave the Texans for a little bit, but you come back.
(10:25):
What was the second time around like for you? Ah,
it was different. Um. I wasn't mentally where I wanted
to be. I mean, certain things had happened. The organization
kind of took a change, so it was back to business,
but it wasn't as fun as I liked. So that
(10:47):
which was led to mind me making a decision of
return because I didn't want to play for any other
team after that, I was like, no, I'm done. I'm
gonna be a Texan for life. Yeah. So uh yeah, yeah,
play well, but I just football wasn't in me anymore.
It's understandable if it's not any I hear you guys
say it all the time. You got to get out because, yeah,
(11:07):
it's not something you can do if you're not a
thousand percent committed. I'm just not a competitor that way,
just to do it for the money. Sure, I wanted
to really play and make a difference because I know,
at the end of the day, you can't play this
game long, so you better play it the right way.
It was the Bears game. When you guys go up
there on Sunday Night Football that second year in twenty
(11:27):
twel was that? Was that your favorite game as a
Houston Texan? Personally it ranks up there. It was a
lot going on that week. Man, I was getting sold,
many people calling me media about that game, and I
never really thought about that game. Now I did circle it,
but as the season went on and progressed before we played,
(11:49):
I never thought about that game. I really didn't. And
that but very fun game. A little it gets a
couple of takeaways. Texans winning game. I mean, yeah, you
had made the speech to the team the night before.
Gary Kubyak, he talked a few times Kubyak did after that,
how you gave one of those chills speeches where you
(12:12):
you really fired guys up and got got guys inspire.
I did. I still, man, I still up on top
of the chair and poked over everybody. And it was
a good one. It was a good one. Man. Well,
what are your favorite memories? What's your favorite memory of
your your time playing as a Texan um tailgating with
some of the fans. Uh, sometimes after wins? Right now,
(12:36):
what happened before? I didn't do anything, seeing people and
just trying to be regularly let him know and football player,
we're doing great job. But I just want to have fun.
He helped me relax a little bit. Then I would
circle back and come inside the stadium. Not bad. I
did not know that was it was quiet. I was
quiet about it. Would you like that? Huh? Would you
(12:59):
eat anything when you went tailgating? No? I didn't. I
didn't do anything. Okay. I've been hanging out taking pictures,
just mingled, okay, and just mingled, and or I say, hey,
I'm not taking any pictures, man, So I don't. I
didn't want to get in trouble. I guess I can
talk about it now because you can talk about I
wish you would have let me back no back then,
because Skirfield and I would have followed you around, got
some video, would have been oh man, I would have
had a gold we got fun. I would have bummed
(13:21):
in one of my games that hunting. Yeah, it's you're
probably right. You're probably man. And I used to get
a lot of guys the team when I played. They
would joke with me because I didn't listen to all
the love round music listen to that when I played,
I listen to some jazz. I had an old spirit
man and listen to jazz R and B before I played.
(13:44):
You know, you might be surprised, but I asked as
part of an interview I do on a weekly basis
here now. I asked these guys, Hey, what do you
listen to before the game? How much do you sleep
before the game, what do you eat before the game.
It's almost eighty percent guys listening to something calm on game.
And like like Larremie Tunsel, left tackle pro bowler. He
says he listens to shot a Oh man, damn it. Yeah,
(14:05):
So it's you're not alone. You're probably a trend setter
if anything. Yeah, even those times in the locker room,
I know you were fighting over the radio. Who was
in charge of it back then? I can't remember Antonio? Yeah, Uh,
Connor ballwin yet because y'all were right by that little
gap in the line. We don't let anybody touches that's right. Yeah,
(14:29):
and then we wouldn't and then it was offense against defense,
and we didn't let offense. Who do you keep in
touch with us still from from your Texans days? Man?
I talked J Joe every now and again? Uh? Um, yeah,
we saw him, k Jack okay. Um, Antonio, we talked.
(14:49):
I'm real good friends with Chap. We still talk. I
don't know if he's still up there. Um Tyler the chaplain. Yeah,
I talked to trap John. He's the he knows everybody
I need. Oh Man, we talked, so yeah, uh it
may be some more. I don't want to lose man.
The thing I missed that team, Yeah, I do. And
(15:11):
we was on to something, man, and I don't it
just you know how the business is. It just we
gotta gotta do what's best for them, and we understand that.
So it's the beauty of the NFL. It's also the
cruelty of the NFL, you know, like exactly, greatness and
excellence is not meant to last sometimes, so m you
gotta take care of take opportunities you get and make
(15:33):
the best out of it, no doubt. Hey, so what's
next for you? Man? What's going on? What's the what's
the future hole for you? I don't know. Um, if
Lovey calls and asked me to want to come coach,
I'll come back and try to coach, all right, I would,
I would right now. Man. I'm I'm gonna wait watch
my kids. You know. I have three in high school,
(15:54):
so they're coming out back to back. So I want
to be around next year if I need to travel
because I want to see them play. And just got married,
been married for three years, just had another baby. Congratulations,
thank you, she's she's too too right. Yeah, man, I
started all over. Yeah you did hit the reset button thera.
(16:16):
Oh man, But I got a lovely wife and everything
is everything is great. Um, getting to see my family
now because I emerged myself in football, and there's a
lot of people I missed out. Man, I can tell
you a great story. Yeah two years ago, you know,
I just found out who my biological father was. I
(16:37):
did not know that. Really, Yeah, how would that go down?
What happened? Well, you know, people say things that they
don't need to talk about, and I got wind of it,
and I just wanted to make rumors. So I called
the guy up and we got a test done and
he turned out to be my father. So we we've
(16:58):
been hanging out, you know, and getting the norm. Uh,
got to see my whole side of the family that
grew up in the same town I grew up in,
but didn't didn't I know my family? Wow, Yeah, that's great. Huh.
I'm guessing you learned some things about yourself that you
maybe see. Oh I see that in him? Man? Is
(17:18):
that tru um the talent? Some of that time, My
dad played professional baseball. Really, yeah, he played. He got
drafted out of high school some Worthy Detroit, and then
he went to college at TCU, and then he got
drafted again to the Reds, Cincinnati Reds, and he played
(17:40):
like nine years. Really he made it to the big leagues. Yeah,
he didn't make to the big leagues. He was on
there and farm teams. But uh, yeah, yep, I knew. Okay,
so you play obviously played football in high school, and
I'm pretty sure he did track as well. Were you
a baseball player? Was a baseball player? Was a baseball player?
All four? Baseball? Basketball, football, and track? Was that? Yeah?
(18:02):
I did? I didn't play them all in high school, Okay.
All I did was football and track football, track. Okay.
And in the hunt you ran like the hundred I
guess or you were in back then you probably ran
it like eight seconds, right, because you're Yeah, that's what
it seemed like watching you in high school school? You
what I was clo the ten fifteen in high school.
(18:23):
I believe it, like I trust seeing you on the field.
I believe it is earlier that, Like a week or
two before when I was covering those games, I saw
Arlington Lamar play somebody, and they had a pretty good
team that year. And they had a receiver who was
a junior. Okay, they ran like an option or a wish.
They ran some sort of running offense. They threw the
ball maybe twice a game, but the two times they
(18:45):
threw it to this guy, it was like, what's going on?
Why doesn't he get the ball more? A and who
is this? Well it turns out it was Jeremy Warner.
He went on to win gold medals in the four
hundred meters and he had like long hair, had the
bullet and like a Pok Cashelle necklace. But yeah, I
remember seeing Jeremy Warner, Danielle Manning and a few other
(19:05):
the heralds of Ennis, Texas were getting getting going there.
You know my um what Zach Carroll is the coach
in the Ennis I mean in Athens. That's where my
kids go to school. Okay, oh yeah, it's funny. Life
is coming back around. Huh coming back around. Man, I'm
just sitting back in Jordan. I'm not even hustling and
(19:25):
bustling anymore. Man. Danielle, it's so good to see you,
my friend. I'm glad you're doing well. Congrats on the
marriage and the baby, and good thank you with the
rest of life, with your children moving forward, taking to college,
and hey, don't be a stranger. Let's do this again
sometime soon. So I'm oh, yeah, no problem.
It's not often that I can say I covered this
guy's final high school game, but I also covered his
final NFL game. I don't know that I can say
it about anybody but the man himself, d Man, Danielle Manning.
He was a Houston Texan here, you know, really when
the team first found the postseason for the first time,
and then you had a second stint with the club.
(00:22):
But it's good to catch up with you, Man. I
missed you. How are you, Danielle? And I'm blessed. I'm
really blessed. Man. Just relaxing, taking it easy and enjoy life.
Missing my guys. You know, I've been keeping up with
with Texans and we struggled a little bit. Yeah, yes
we have, but brighter days ahead, our ahead. And we'll
get into that a little bit later on the podcast.
(00:44):
But you said something interesting there. You said you've been
taking it easy, and I don't believe you, because if
you're farming, if you're ranching, you can't be taking it easy.
And that's kind of like right, it's pretty it's pretty wild,
you know. We got cattle and horses, and it's wild
getting into the ranching out there shooting guns and throwing
(01:04):
hatchets and just live in the country like Mane. And
you're here still in Texas, are you not? I am.
I have a house here in Burlison, Okay, And that's
why I'm just doing that. Man watching my kids grow up.
I got one getting ready to hit to college. I
don't know where he's going, but uh yeah, pretty exciting.
(01:25):
You just made me feel old, because let's rewind back
to the fall of two thousand. You were a senior
at Corsicana. You're playing in the playoffs. It's pretty deep
in the playoffs, if I remember correctly. You're playing against
Denton Ryan Texas Stadium, the old Cowboys home field, and
I was in the press box. I was covering it
(01:46):
for a website that doesn't even exist anymore, but I
covered all the big high school games back then. And
you were playing in the defensive backfield I think safety,
and basically, if you were on the right side of
the field, the opposing quarterback didn't even look your way.
He stayed on the left side. If you're on the
left side, was the same thing. He only went to
the right side. Because you were essentially the size you
were in the NFL and almost as fast as it
(02:07):
seemed like and you you look like you were a
man amongst boys. Yeah. That was fun, man, Yeah that
was that was my heyday. Yeah, man, that's so far away.
I look at my kids and now I'm like, wow,
I don't know if I did that play, but it
was fun. It was fun. So your oldest is in
(02:29):
high school heading into college next year maybe or what's
the story. Yeah, that's what it is. Um, he's narrowing
it down. I live here in Burlinston and I keep
pushing TCU and okay, he liked it, but he's like, man,
I'm just taking my time. I'm doing whatever comes to me.
So fair enough. Yeah, well take me take me back.
(02:49):
So you play of course Canada, you go out west
for a little bit, get into the NFL, and you're
a Chicago Bear. Uh and you were part of a
defense that was really really nasty when Love he Speak
was in charge. What was that like when you get
into the NFL? Take me through that? Well, I could
say this when I when I got in, I didn't
know what to expect. I was just playing ball and
(03:11):
I thought getting drafted. I thought I knew everything. But
Love He took me in and showed me what football
is all about you, And man, it was fun all
those years going back and forth to the playoffs, definitely
the Super Bowl and just learning ball, just hearing the
stories he having in his life and how he made
it to where he is now. Similar backgrounds. He's from
(03:34):
Blaywater or Big Sandy, Yeah, Big Sandy, Big Sandy, and
just talking about how we all grew up country boys
and we made and having a good time. A lot
of a lot of crazy stories he's telling me. But uh, yeah,
that was that was great. Yeah. The other night I
zoomed with a couple of year old teammates, Devin Hester
the return as well as Brian Earlocker Hall of Fame linebacker,
(03:58):
and they both we're just so excited that Lovey was
back as a head coach in the NFL. They talked
about how he was a player's coach in that Hey,
if you had an idea and you saw something Wednesday
in practice that you knew was not going to work
in the game, you could go to him and say, listen,
love you, I don't think that's that's a great idea.
Here's why, and he would scrap it and he would
(04:18):
work with you and make things happen other than being
a players coach. What's your what's your memory about Lovey
that makes you think this guy's this is the reason
this guy is a successful head coach. Man like you saying,
those guys knew exactly what he how he is. He
listens to you and competitive spirit and he's very stern,
(04:41):
but he wants to win and he wanted to make
men everywhere he goes, you know. And I'm glad he
had the opportunity to coach in college because he got
to prove that again. But one on one meetings with
love you, I know, head coaches normally don't coach a position.
He was he was coaching me up at Nicols. Then
(05:02):
we'll have about one on one talks and one on
one meetings, and he had me reaching out to guys
about this position and how to make it in how
to be a professional in the NFL. And that was
that was something I needed and he knew it. So
that was a great That was a great time, you know.
And that's something that I saw from you when you
came to the Texans as far as helping other guys,
(05:24):
but on other sides of the ball too, on all offense,
as well. I mean I remember you chit chatting and
getting guy's ears and saying, hey, I saw this, I
noticed this, this could be better. I noticed when you
do this, the other guy might count. You know. You
were always very proactive about that, and not in a
pushy way, not in a you know, listen to meet type.
Where it was it was, hey, I want this. By
telling you this, it's gonna help us wind. You'd kind
(05:46):
of get a little bit of that from Lovey. I did,
I really did, And he did promote that. He promote
that with everybody on the team, whether you're the guy
on the bench and never probably got the chance to
play in or the starters. I mean he was personal
with the media at times, and I mean he's just
a great guy to be around, you know, like like
(06:07):
a huncle or dad. You know. I got to know
his son's pretty well, his wife, and they were they
man lovely family and I'm happy for love I really am. Yeah,
it was really cool. They were a lot of them
were there yesterday at the press conference. So you had
a great run there in Chicago and then you're a
free agent and thankfully for the Texans, you come to
(06:28):
town during the lockout, and you signed on the same
day with cornerback Jonathan Joseph, and instantly you two were
two big reasons the defense went from being the worst
in the NFL in twenty ten to be in one
of the best, if not the best, just one season later.
Why did you choose Houston? You take the money out
of it. Why did you choose the Texans? Well, I
(06:49):
wanted to play in my back, my home state, you know,
and Dallas and Houston. Well, I grew up a Cowboys stand.
I'm not too far from Dallas, so we will hold
that against you. Nah nah. And I'm glad because it
turned out great. You know, I said, Man, I got
to get back home and Houston, the players that they had,
(07:13):
the young guy that we had, they had something there
and I wanted to be a part of that. I
remember Demiko Ryan giving me a call. You know, he
had a great year this year. Yes, he did. Demiko
called me and hey, man, we can be living legends
if you come here, and I'm like, cool, Yeah, I'm
gonna take that. Pick that offer up. Yeah, that's not
like talk coming from a guy like that, isn't Nah?
(07:38):
Demiko one of a kind man, One of a kind.
So once you get here and you get through the
first day of signing and everything, what was it like
getting into that locker room, getting accustomed to things and
learning that Wade Smith defense because you were you were
just like everybody else in the locker room, and that
was a new defense for them. They were going from
four to three to his three four right. Well, you
(07:58):
know what those guys in that locker room, man, you
could see that they wanted to win, and at that point,
that's all you really need to jail. And I just
felt like I wanted those guys. I've been I feel
like I've been there as long as Duke guys been there.
I've been there. And just the atmosphere was right for
that team, for that organization and for that city. It
(08:19):
was it was right. Yeah. And the start to that season,
it's lots of upslots of downs, and you guys played
in some phenomenal games. You beat the Steelers, they've been
in the Super Bowl the year before, you have a
shootout in New Orleans with Drew Brees at the height
of his powers with the Saints. You know, you guys
go three three to start things out, but then you
guys really go on to tearry. You win six seven
(08:41):
straight and kind of lock things up in the all
the while losing guys like Mario losing, Matt Shob and
Matt Liner getting TJ. Yates in there losing. You know,
at times, Andre Johnson and Aaron Foster basically were tag teaming,
you know, tagging in, tagging out because of hamstring injuries. True, true, man,
that was that was that was a test of that team.
(09:01):
Man injury prone. Next man up. You got injured. For goodness,
say you broke your leg and you still can't say
yeah yeah, man. Again, that's testaments of that team. The
training staff, man, I know I still talk to some
of those guys and the doctors. Man. Uh, it was
just a wild year, man, it was. It was. You
(09:21):
couldn't write a better script than that. Even though we
didn't win the Super Bowl or whatever. But man, that
team knew how to win. In after that season, we
knew how to win. What do you remember about those
crowds at home later in the season on into the
playoffs or Energy Stadium? Man, it was packed out almost
every weekend. Man, that it was loud. I remember one
(09:43):
time tone Antonio Smith was coming out with that mask
and the crowd was man, they were so loud. I said, wow,
they were still cheering after me, still as loud as
they were with Antonio. I was like, man, what is this?
That was nice? Man? I was like, was um, I
have I have family that lives in Houston and they
(10:04):
was talking about how much that the city was on
fire those years, you know, and that was made made
me feel good. Man. That was cool. Yeah, twenty twelve
goes really well done and the way you like it.
You know, you start out eleven to one and then
we saw what happened there at the very end. You
leave the Texans for a little bit, but you come back.
(10:25):
What was the second time around like for you? Ah,
it was different. Um. I wasn't mentally where I wanted
to be. I mean, certain things had happened. The organization
kind of took a change, so it was back to business,
but it wasn't as fun as I liked. So that
(10:47):
which was led to mind me making a decision of
return because I didn't want to play for any other
team after that, I was like, no, I'm done. I'm
gonna be a Texan for life. Yeah. So uh yeah, yeah,
play well, but I just football wasn't in me anymore.
It's understandable if it's not any I hear you guys
say it all the time. You got to get out because, yeah,
(11:07):
it's not something you can do if you're not a
thousand percent committed. I'm just not a competitor that way,
just to do it for the money. Sure, I wanted
to really play and make a difference because I know,
at the end of the day, you can't play this
game long, so you better play it the right way.
It was the Bears game. When you guys go up
there on Sunday Night Football that second year in twenty
(11:27):
twel was that? Was that your favorite game as a
Houston Texan? Personally it ranks up there. It was a
lot going on that week. Man, I was getting sold,
many people calling me media about that game, and I
never really thought about that game. Now I did circle it,
but as the season went on and progressed before we played,
(11:49):
I never thought about that game. I really didn't. And
that but very fun game. A little it gets a
couple of takeaways. Texans winning game. I mean, yeah, you
had made the speech to the team the night before.
Gary Kubyak, he talked a few times Kubyak did after that,
how you gave one of those chills speeches where you
(12:12):
you really fired guys up and got got guys inspire.
I did. I still, man, I still up on top
of the chair and poked over everybody. And it was
a good one. It was a good one. Man. Well,
what are your favorite memories? What's your favorite memory of
your your time playing as a Texan um tailgating with
some of the fans. Uh, sometimes after wins? Right now,
(12:36):
what happened before? I didn't do anything, seeing people and
just trying to be regularly let him know and football player,
we're doing great job. But I just want to have fun.
He helped me relax a little bit. Then I would
circle back and come inside the stadium. Not bad. I
did not know that was it was quiet. I was
quiet about it. Would you like that? Huh? Would you
(12:59):
eat anything when you went tailgating? No? I didn't. I
didn't do anything. Okay. I've been hanging out taking pictures,
just mingled, okay, and just mingled, and or I say, hey,
I'm not taking any pictures, man, So I don't. I
didn't want to get in trouble. I guess I can
talk about it now because you can talk about I
wish you would have let me back no back then,
because Skirfield and I would have followed you around, got
some video, would have been oh man, I would have
had a gold we got fun. I would have bummed
(13:21):
in one of my games that hunting. Yeah, it's you're
probably right. You're probably man. And I used to get
a lot of guys the team when I played. They
would joke with me because I didn't listen to all
the love round music listen to that when I played,
I listen to some jazz. I had an old spirit
man and listen to jazz R and B before I played.
(13:44):
You know, you might be surprised, but I asked as
part of an interview I do on a weekly basis
here now. I asked these guys, Hey, what do you
listen to before the game? How much do you sleep
before the game, what do you eat before the game.
It's almost eighty percent guys listening to something calm on game.
And like like Larremie Tunsel, left tackle pro bowler. He
says he listens to shot a Oh man, damn it. Yeah,
(14:05):
So it's you're not alone. You're probably a trend setter
if anything. Yeah, even those times in the locker room,
I know you were fighting over the radio. Who was
in charge of it back then? I can't remember Antonio? Yeah, Uh,
Connor ballwin yet because y'all were right by that little
gap in the line. We don't let anybody touches that's right. Yeah,
(14:29):
and then we wouldn't and then it was offense against defense,
and we didn't let offense. Who do you keep in
touch with us still from from your Texans days? Man?
I talked J Joe every now and again? Uh? Um, yeah,
we saw him, k Jack okay. Um, Antonio, we talked.
(14:49):
I'm real good friends with Chap. We still talk. I
don't know if he's still up there. Um Tyler the chaplain. Yeah,
I talked to trap John. He's the he knows everybody
I need. Oh Man, we talked, so yeah, uh it
may be some more. I don't want to lose man.
The thing I missed that team, Yeah, I do. And
(15:11):
we was on to something, man, and I don't it
just you know how the business is. It just we
gotta gotta do what's best for them, and we understand that.
So it's the beauty of the NFL. It's also the
cruelty of the NFL, you know, like exactly, greatness and
excellence is not meant to last sometimes, so m you
gotta take care of take opportunities you get and make
(15:33):
the best out of it, no doubt. Hey, so what's
next for you? Man? What's going on? What's the what's
the future hole for you? I don't know. Um, if
Lovey calls and asked me to want to come coach,
I'll come back and try to coach, all right, I would,
I would right now. Man. I'm I'm gonna wait watch
my kids. You know. I have three in high school,
(15:54):
so they're coming out back to back. So I want
to be around next year if I need to travel
because I want to see them play. And just got married,
been married for three years, just had another baby. Congratulations,
thank you, she's she's too too right. Yeah, man, I
started all over. Yeah you did hit the reset button thera.
(16:16):
Oh man, But I got a lovely wife and everything
is everything is great. Um, getting to see my family
now because I emerged myself in football, and there's a
lot of people I missed out. Man, I can tell
you a great story. Yeah two years ago, you know,
I just found out who my biological father was. I
(16:37):
did not know that. Really, Yeah, how would that go down?
What happened? Well, you know, people say things that they
don't need to talk about, and I got wind of it,
and I just wanted to make rumors. So I called
the guy up and we got a test done and
he turned out to be my father. So we we've
(16:58):
been hanging out, you know, and getting the norm. Uh,
got to see my whole side of the family that
grew up in the same town I grew up in,
but didn't didn't I know my family? Wow, Yeah, that's great. Huh.
I'm guessing you learned some things about yourself that you
maybe see. Oh I see that in him? Man? Is
(17:18):
that tru um the talent? Some of that time, My
dad played professional baseball. Really, yeah, he played. He got
drafted out of high school some Worthy Detroit, and then
he went to college at TCU, and then he got
drafted again to the Reds, Cincinnati Reds, and he played
(17:40):
like nine years. Really he made it to the big leagues. Yeah,
he didn't make to the big leagues. He was on
there and farm teams. But uh, yeah, yep, I knew. Okay,
so you play obviously played football in high school, and
I'm pretty sure he did track as well. Were you
a baseball player? Was a baseball player? Was a baseball player?
All four? Baseball? Basketball, football, and track? Was that? Yeah?
(18:02):
I did? I didn't play them all in high school, Okay.
All I did was football and track football, track. Okay.
And in the hunt you ran like the hundred I
guess or you were in back then you probably ran
it like eight seconds, right, because you're Yeah, that's what
it seemed like watching you in high school school? You
what I was clo the ten fifteen in high school.
(18:23):
I believe it, like I trust seeing you on the field.
I believe it is earlier that, Like a week or
two before when I was covering those games, I saw
Arlington Lamar play somebody, and they had a pretty good
team that year. And they had a receiver who was
a junior. Okay, they ran like an option or a wish.
They ran some sort of running offense. They threw the
ball maybe twice a game, but the two times they
(18:45):
threw it to this guy, it was like, what's going on?
Why doesn't he get the ball more? A and who
is this? Well it turns out it was Jeremy Warner.
He went on to win gold medals in the four
hundred meters and he had like long hair, had the
bullet and like a Pok Cashelle necklace. But yeah, I
remember seeing Jeremy Warner, Danielle Manning and a few other
(19:05):
the heralds of Ennis, Texas were getting getting going there.
You know my um what Zach Carroll is the coach
in the Ennis I mean in Athens. That's where my
kids go to school. Okay, oh yeah, it's funny. Life
is coming back around. Huh coming back around. Man, I'm
just sitting back in Jordan. I'm not even hustling and
(19:25):
bustling anymore. Man. Danielle, it's so good to see you,
my friend. I'm glad you're doing well. Congrats on the
marriage and the baby, and good thank you with the
rest of life, with your children moving forward, taking to college,
and hey, don't be a stranger. Let's do this again
sometime soon. So I'm oh, yeah, no problem.
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