January 26, 2024 • 33 mins
49ers alumnus and three-time Super Bowl champion John Taylor joined the 49ers “You’ve Got Mail” podcast presented by Delta Dental to preview the Lions-49ers NFC Championship Game, discuss the makings of a championship roster and answer fan-submitted questions.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up, faithful, Welcome into the forty nine Ers You've
got Mail Podcasts presented by Delta Dental. I'm Lindsay Plaris.
Today I am joined by a very special guest, three
time Super Bowl champion John Taylor, for an alumni edition
of the pod. John, Thanks for taking.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The time pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
We were just talking about this that I interviewed you
and Tom Rathman last season during wild Card weekend head
of kickoff. One year later, the forty nine Ers are
back in it, playing in their fourth NFC championship in
five seasons. You played in the dynasty era of the Niners.
What does it take for a team to reach this
(00:43):
level of success in the playoffs year after year?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
It's one of those deals where the previous year you
feel as though you fell sure and you constantly had
that in your mind during the offseason, unfinished business. An
example when the Niners played Philadelphia last year. Now you know,
I'm from phillip I grew up back eats right across
(01:07):
the bridge from Philly, so I had to for a
full year live with them what they did to us, right,
And this was my explanation to them, I said, listen,
I said, you guys beat us. You beat us on paper,
Yes you did. I can't take that away from it.
You beat us on paper, But did you physically beat us?
(01:27):
And the answer to that question was no. I was
back there and they played Kansas City on Monday night,
down by ten came back in one. They played Buffalo
that following Sunday. Down by ten came back and went.
And I remember I flew out the following day, on
the twenty seventh, and I said to them before I left,
(01:51):
I said, I make your promise here. Now go down
to us by ten and a halftime. I guarantee you
you don't win. So they said, yeah, okay, right. So
I was back out here at the at the function
up at the Gold Bar in San Francisco, Treasure Island.
So you know, first kickoff, kick off to them, go down,
(02:13):
get three, three and out for us. They come back,
go down and field, get another three, come back to us,
three and out. We shut them down. Now we get
the ball back now, six touchdowns in a row.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And I said to them, I called them on zoom.
It was like crickets. Nobody would talk. I said, I
said to this to you guys, Last year you won
on paper, but you didn't physically beat us, and this
year you found that out. And see, with going through
(02:49):
this scenario, you have to remember this is the third
year in the row that you're playing for the NFC
Championship Game. You played down in southern California against the Rams,
last year against the Eagles. Now here we are back again.
Excuse me, third times a charm. Last time the Niners
(03:12):
won a Super Bowl with super Bowl twenty nine, I
had this theory. Last time they won was twenty nine,
super Bowl twenty nine, right, this is super Bowl fifty eight, right, correct?
Last super Bowl you won was twenty nine years ago.
Super Bowl twenty nine and twenty nine years ago, Eagle?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
What I like the signs. That's great. That's a good theory.
I like it. We were talking about this as well.
The forty nine Ers are coming off a grimy win
in the Divisional round over the Packers. Was their first
come from behind win of the season. What did you
learn about this team and that win?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
They had no quit, no quit whatsoever. And the thing
about it is you sit in and you listen every
week every week about different analysts, how they how they
view the game, how they view Bock Party. Well, everybody
has their ups and downs with rock Party. But I'm
gonna say this, all he seems to do is win,
(04:17):
and that's all you want. And that's all you want
is to win, you know what I mean. No game
is ever gonna look pretty. You know, there's gonna be
your EBB and flow, ups and downs. It's about how
do you come back from that example, remember that three
game skid that we had. You lost to Cleveland, then
(04:38):
you come home, I mean, you lost to Cleveland, go
to Minnesota and lose, then you come home and you
lose to Cincinnati. Everybody rocked rope rock Party off. Oh
he's not the quarterback Da da da da da. What's
he done since then? Just kept saying nothing, nothing but win,
you know what I mean. And he's the type of
he's the type of young kid that the moment doesn't
(05:04):
scare him.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I want to call back to your career Super Bowl
twenty three, Joe Montana. You helped complete a fourth quarter comeback,
had a ten yard pass in the back.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Of the end zone. What are the emotions that you
feel as a player when you have that game clinching play.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
It's that feeling that. Man, I've actually lived this, you
know what I mean, I've actually I mean growing up
as a kid, regardless of what sports you play, baseball, football, basketball, hockey,
whatever it is, you always say to yourself, if I
could make this basket, if I can make this catch,
if I can make this throw, we win the championship.
(05:47):
And it's no greater feeling to have the label of
world champion. That's a feeling that that's unbelievable. You know,
you wake up the next morning, look at the paper
and it says we're all champion. You got to have
a good feeling off of that.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Of course. So the last time the Niners and the
Lions played in the postseason predates your time in the NFL.
It was nineteen eighty three. What are your impressions of
this twenty twenty three Lions and Niners matchup.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well, I'm gonna say this, you cannot take Detroit lightly.
People say, oh, Detroit shouldn't be there. Detroit earned it.
I mean they've earned it. Look at some of the
teams they beat. They beat Kansas City Chiefs that year,
you know what I mean. A lot of teams haven't
(06:42):
been Yes, they're a different team now than they were
at the beginning of the year. So are the Detroit Lions.
Detroit has a young group that are hungry. They're out
to make a statement. They're gonna come in here the
weekend with nothing to lose because nobody giving them a chance.
You know, they right now feel disrespected in a way
(07:05):
because everybody's talking about the Niners, the Niners, the Niners.
You know, they're coming in here with a chip on
your shoulder, and we just got to knock that chip
off of the shoulder as soon as they hit. Give
them no breaks. You gotta score. If they score, you've
got to come back and score because recipe. I mean,
(07:27):
let's be realistic. Look at the speed that they have
on that team, and like I said, they're young, you know,
so it's it's gonna be a fight. I just I
just feel as though if the Niners play Niner football,
won't be no question you'll win the game.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
One of the big question marks heading into this game
is about one of the biggest playmakers on this team,
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel's got a shoulder injury. Limited in
practiced on Thursday, so it's a positive sign, but no
certain status on him. How does having Debo on the
field change this offense?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Well, it changes it a lot of ways. I mean,
because there's another threat, you know. I mean, we all
know what Debo can do. Detroit knows what Debo can do,
So with him on the field, it's a complete different scenario.
You can't in a sense. You hear them talk about
during the year Rock parties full.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Arsenal.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, yeah, who he had in his arsenal. Oh well,
if he doesn't have display the person, then they can't win.
I disagree with that. Okay, let's say Debo didn't play.
Next man Up's got a step up. That's how it works,
you know what I mean. You can't say, well you
(08:55):
beat us because we didn't have our number one receiver.
That other team doesn't care about not having you number
one receiver. That's not their problem, that's your problem. So
for us, if he does not play, next man Up's
got to step up. And Jenkins did that last week.
So I don't see, you know, if of course you
want him to play, But if he doesn't play, like
(09:17):
I said, next man up, let's keep moving.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
We talk about the forty nine ers arsenal of weapons.
I mean, there's plenty Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Brandon I,
Deebo Samuel. Then you've got Rock Perty, who closed out
the year as one of the best statistical qbs in
the league. Does this lineup remind you of any of
the Star Sunted rosters that you played on.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, it reminds me pretty much of Super
Bowl team twenty three and twenty four. We were pretty
much the same same thing, you know what I mean.
We had players just in a sense lined up, you
know what I mean. It was like, if this one
goes down, somebody's gonna step in and we're not gonna
miss beat. We're going to keep right on moving, keep
(10:02):
right on moving. And this team right here is pretty
much the same way. You know, you have guys that
haven't played much. I saw Connolly last week and you
look and you go, wait a minute, where'd he come from.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
It's a nice seventeen yard reception at the end of
the day, right.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That's right. Player that came in just stepped up, and
that's what it's about. Next man up. Just take care
of your responsibility, take care of your role, and let's
move forward.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
One of the hallmarks of San Francisco's offense that has
stood the test of time is that pride that the
wide receivers taken blocking. We saw it in the eighties,
we saw it in the nineties, we're seeing it now.
How was that instilled during your.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Era, Well, we looked at it this way. You're not
always going to get a pass. The game is not
built around just throwing you the ball. The game is
built around a group of guys working in one goal,
and that is to put that ball in the end zone.
So if we're not getting the pass, the next thing
(11:07):
for us to do block for the running backs, you
know what I mean. I used to love blocking downfield
because my motto was like this, during the game, you're
gonna hit going for You're gonna get hit going for
a pass. So my philosophy was always this, I'm gonna
get my shots just like you're going to take your shot.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
And if I'm coming downfield for a block with a
running back coming, here's my time to try to punish
you like you try to punish me on a reception.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yes, you gotta give it, yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
So we just we just kept that mentality all along.
It was about, you know, and a lot of times
we would joke with each other as receivers to see
if you took care of your block on this particular play,
because you know, when you go in the meetings, it's
easy to rewind that filmy, Hey, did you get such?
Said yeah, I got him in everybyd the film Here
you are over here and he's down here.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
The tape tells all the tape.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
As Bill used to say to us, the eye and
the sky don't lie.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
You're one of a few receivers that got to play
with Joe Montana and also Steve Young. You saw what
a Hall of Fame quarterback is. What were the attributes
that they had that made them championship caliber quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
The determination that they didn't have no quit in him,
regardless of how the game was going along, how it
was progressing along. Didn't quit. We didn't give up, you
know what I mean. There were plenty of games that
we played in where we were actually getting blown away,
but we didn't quit. And our minds game ain't over,
(12:53):
you know, it's not over. Prime example eighty nine in Philadelphia,
when we were losing to Philly. They had written us off.
All this game is over with what happened. We came
back and win. You know, that's the thing with both
of those quarterbacks. There was never a quit in them.
And their preparation for a game was unbelievable. You know
(13:15):
what I mean. Anytime, anytime you could sit there and
you call a play and you know where one, two, three,
and four are supposed to be off a blink of
a knife, if you leave one, you know, four are
supposed to be over here and you can turn and throw.
You know, that was the difference.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
And what were they like in the huddle, both of
those guys.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
It was funny. There's a lot of times when there
were TV timeouts and people were thinking, I wonder what
they're thinking about in the huddle, what they're saying in
the uddle. A lot of times they people be in
the huddle cracking jokes, you know, just to just to
lighten the atmosphere in the huddle. Prime example, when we
played Super Bowl twenty three down there. I'm sure you
(14:00):
heard this story about we're in the huddle and Joe
comes in the huddle and he's talking and then all
of a sudden he goes to Harris Barton we used
to call him h He said, your h it goes
Giant Candy over there on the front row to bleachers.
Right now, we're in the game super Bowl, lose it,
TV time out. Everybody turns around and looks, sure not,
(14:21):
they're Jihn Candy front roller bleachers. With the blows, game resumes,
we go down and field. We win. But that's how
calm they were in the huddle, you know, And that's
what you have to be. You can't panic. In other words,
prime example last week, I mean, let's be realistic to
get it was a sloppy game, was a bad game
(14:43):
every if you look at it, the way the game
was flowing was like every time we do something, they
come back and do something. Every time we score, they
come right back and score. But the team didn't quit
that final drive right there. That was the signature of
a team that's willing to do what it needs to
(15:04):
do to win. And that's what it's about. I mean,
we all Like I said to them last week when
I was there at the game, I said, Hey, I
want to see all y'all next week. That's what you
want this week. I want to be able to see
you in two weeks.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I like that timeline. We've also heard that same description
of a cool, calm collected brock Party. What are the
attributes of his game that really catch your eye in
his last two years of his career.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Well, number one, he's, like they said, mister irrelevant, right,
I looked at I've always looked at brock Party like
this from day one. When I saw him in a
training camp his rookie year, and I looked at him
when he was staring, and I just thought to myself,
I said, damn, I said, that young kid, not too bad, right,
(15:59):
keep looking, keep looking. And when he finally got his
chance to play in the preseason, I said to myself,
one good thing about him is when he scrambles, he
doesn't take his eyes down. He's still looking down the field.
He's not looking to run. He's looking to pass the ball,
(16:19):
you know. And that's kind of hard to teach a
young quarterback because first thing in the young quarterback's mind
is get the ball. If he's getting pressure, he's trying
to get away. He's not looking down phield. He's just
trying to escape. That's one thing Brock does. When he
went upon him trying to escape, he keeps his eyes
down the field. So he makes some of those shows
(16:42):
and people are like, wow, can you believe it? Well,
he's just doing what he's been doing. You know a
lot of people don't give him credit because, oh, he's
the last person in the draft. He's this, he's that,
and always look at it this way. I remember when
I first came into the league. It's called the project,
(17:03):
you know what I mean. So you live with you
live with little things like that. Hey, you take it
in and you just say to yourself like this, Okay, no,
it's you. I don't get mad. I just make myself
that much better. I remember my rookie year and I
went up to Bill Washington. I said, Coach, I like
to return punch because they were having tryouts for punt returner. Right.
(17:26):
So I walked up to him and I said, hey,
I like to try out for Bill turned around and
said to me, I'll never forget this. He turned around
and said to me, now, you wouldn't be good at it.
You take too long of a stride, right, And my
response was My response was all I'm asking for is
a chance we do. You got to lose, right yep.
(17:49):
Fast forward to the Hall of Fame game. My rookie
year was playing Kansas City Chiefs. Dana Macklamore at the
time was a punt returner. He left Dana returning like
the first two punts, then all of a sudden he
goes tailor go in. So, of course you know I'm
shocked because you already told me I take too long
with stride, I'm not going to be good. Right. I
(18:11):
wound up with like three or four punt returns over
one hundred and fifteen yards in a touchdown. That's why
I became the punt returner. So fantastics always tell people
when they tell you can't do something, prove them wrong.
That's your best remedy. Prove them wrong.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
One similarity that I'm sure you know about as well already.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
But both of you have a baseball background. How did
that feed into your football career?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Well? Mine, it fed into me like this. It was
so funny. I never played a wide receiver in any
organized setting of football other than when we were growing
up as kids playing in the street. You know, everybody
wants to be the quarterback or a wide receiver, but
as far as any type of organized football, I never
(19:01):
played wide receiver until I went to college, and what
happened was. I was in high school. I was a
free safety. Right now, I played baseball. Baseball was my game.
I loved baseball. Right So when I went to college,
I walked on at Della State. I just walked on
and I told him, Hey, I want to be a receiver.
(19:23):
And people asked me, well, what made you want to
be a receiver? And this is what I told him.
I said, I played baseball for so long, and I
could catch that little white ball. I just knew, damn well,
I should be able to catch a football that's I
don't know how many times bigger than the baseball that tracks. Yeah,
so that's what made me want to be a receiver.
(19:45):
And I would always tell people. They go, but man,
so how'd you learn to do this and do that? Well,
first of all, you just look, you know. I remember
the first Super Bowl the Niners were when they played
excuse me, when they played Cincinnati, and the right I
(20:09):
was in college and I was sitting there looking at
that game. Because men Dwight Hicks came out of the
same high school. So I'm rooting for the forty nineties.
Nobody had no clue why I'm rooting for him. They
didn't realize that men and Dwight Hicks came out of
the same high school. He graduated with my older sister.
I played with a couple of his younger brothers, but
I knew Dwight, so they couldn't figure out why I'm
(20:30):
rooting for him. And I told him. I said, They said, man,
you weren't a base you were a baseball player. You
weren't no football player. I said, yeah, I said, But
the thing about it is I still love football. I
mean no, did I ever think that I would end
up playing professional football. No. The day of the draft.
This is how much I was thinking about getting drafted.
(20:52):
The day of the NFL Draft in nineteen eighty six,
I was upstairs sleep.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
One of the best draft day stories I've heard.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
That's how it happened. And the funny thing about it
was my older brother came up and told me, Man,
you know you just got drafted by San Francisco. I
was like, yeah, okay, and I laid back down and
went to sleep. It wasn't until my dad came up
and told me, he said, he's not lying to you.
You did get draft. That's when I realized. Because I
was always too small to play football, You know what
(21:24):
I mean, And.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Look at you now, three super Bowls later, just cattle cat.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Always tell people like this. They go, man, you know,
I don't see why they haven't gotten you into the
Hall of Fame. You deserve to be in there. And
I always tell people this. Listen. One thing, I was
never a stat person. I didn't care about stats. Only
thing I cared about was at the end of the
day that we have a w That's all I cared about.
(21:52):
Because first, like right now, I got three Super Bowl
rings and you can't get them back.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Was nobody, nobody can take those away.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
No, And I'm fortunate, and I always say this, I'm
fortunate to have been able to play in three Super
Bowls and to win all three super Bowls. There's players
that play in this league for ten fifteen years never
even get a chance to see the Super Bowl, you know,
so I can be more ecstatic. Put it that way.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I love it. So in this podcast, we actually do
let some fans submit some questions, and I cannot tell
you how excited people were to hear from you. The
list of questions was about this long, so I chose
a few of them. This one is from air Boss
and nine to nine to five zero. What made you
(22:47):
and Jerry Rice's relationships so successful?
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Well, it's a team effort. It's like this regardless regardless
of how you look at a teammate, I'll put it
that way, how you look at a teammate. In other words,
people a lot of people would always say to me, man,
why are you staying with the Niners? You could go
elsewhere and be that Jerry Rice receiver. That's not what
(23:14):
I'm looking for. That's not what I'm looking for. What
I'm looking for is what I ultimately wound up getting,
and that was three rings. You know, I don't I
never I never compare myself to anybody else. Always compare
myself to me. You know, can you get better? Because
you're not gonna be that person. You're not gonna do
(23:36):
what that person does. You're not gonna be able to
do what that person does. Everybody's different. And the thing is,
as long as you can get along, play together as teammates.
And like you said earlier, block and wise, Hey, I
might not have a pass all day long, they might
(23:56):
throw twenty passes to him that day on downfielding block
for her. Because ultimately, all I care about is.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
A w This one is from un Hefe del Desierto.
What have you enjoyed doing the most since entering retirement?
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Basically hanging out with my granddaughter. You know, she's a
lot of fun, you know, and it's so funny. People
always say to you, and you would say it yourself
a lot of times, and that is she's been here before,
just just from some of the mannerisms or some of
the statements that they make. You look at him and go,
(24:36):
how you know anything about that genetics? Yeah, yeah, And
I really basically just been enjoying that. You know. As
you know, when I retired from football, I drove eighteen
whiller for twenty two years. Didn't seem like I read that, Yeah,
it didn't seem like that loan, But yeah it was
(24:57):
twenty two years. So I mean I had fun doing
that when I retired out of there. But nothing beats
my granddaughter, you know, nothing beat.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
This one's from ann Annie twenty five. Mike Wilson said,
during your era, you all used to play charity basketball.
So who were the best ballers on the forty nine ers?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Everybody but me? See I was when I played. I
would I didn't have no I wasn't a big basketball
I'm a player. You know, back East, you could only
play during the summertime. Lets you go into a gym
or something like that. Basketball wasn't really my thing. I
(25:42):
played it have fun with it because I could jump.
That was the thing. I had good leaping ability. You know.
When I played for the for the Niners charity team,
I was the one who jumped center at the beginning
of the game every game. And when I would come
out to jump center, whoever I was jumping against would
look at me like are you serious until they saw
(26:06):
me jump. You know, then it was a different stort Hey, that.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Was your specialty. I like it. This one is from
Javier three sixty seven. Was game day fashion as big
of a deal when you were playing? And what was
your game day fashion? What did it look like?
Speaker 2 (26:25):
No, it wasn't. It wasn't the way it is now.
My game My game day fashion was a sweatsuit every game.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Okay. Was that a superstition?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
No?
Speaker 1 (26:37):
No, it's just comfortable.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Just comfortable, okay, just comfortable. I wasn't your I wasn't
per se, your typical football player, you know what I mean.
I didn't my first vehicle that I came to the
game and was a minivan. That's what I drove, was
a minivan. You know, everybody else range Rovers, Mercedes, horses.
(27:02):
You know, I had a horse, but I preferred my
minivan more than anything.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Did you come into the league with the minivan.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
No, I got that. I got the mini van deal
from my dad my rookie year. My dad had before
the draft even came around, my dad had bought this Astro,
uh it was called it was a Chevy Astro mini van,
but it was customized by a company called chow Choo Customs. Okay,
(27:37):
they did truck conversions and al Camino conversions. So I
had saw my dad's and I really liked it. You know,
had a spoiler in the front, schoop, had three little
small windows in the back. It was just it was
just nice. And when I looked at it, and I
to myself, I looked at I said, oh, man, I said, yeah,
I like that.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
That's what I imagine the most tricked out mini van known.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
To the man. Mine was. No, mine was. I was
pretty pretty stared. I mean a regular mini van, you know.
I had the back sofa folded down into a bed.
I had a television, uh DVD player and also a
cooler and so built them cooler.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
You'll have to share pictures of this online. This is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Oh yeah that I used to love that van. I
had had a lot of fun with that van and
it was so funny I want. I actually wound up
giving it to my older brother because every time I
would go back east, I was like, you know, why
am I wrinting the car? Why don't I just send
a vehicle back here? Leave it at Dad. So when
I come home, I got a vehicle to drive. So
(28:51):
I did that for like three years, and then my
niece became of age to drive. So I made a
deal with my brother that if he gave my PI
third car, then I give him my vent a minivan. Yeah,
we made it even swap like that, so of course,
you know my niece loved me then.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Of course. All right, So last question before I let
you go, what is your favorite play of your career?
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Slant slant pattern, that's what That's what I broke into
at Delaware State. When I first went to Delaware State,
I'll never forget when I came across the field, everybody
that was there looked at me. Especially one of my
best buddies right now. He looked at me and said,
(29:41):
who in the hell is this reject coming over here?
That's what he said about me, right until I got
over there and I actually started playing. They put me.
You know, when you first go in and you're on
the demo squad. You got the cards, you know. So
I'm standing back there and the coach pushs me in
(30:02):
and he goes, this is what you're doing. You're running
the slang. Okay, he hits me in stride. I catched
the ball, put a move on on her defensive back,
and run away from everybody. Coach turns and looks at me.
So I heard him tell my position coach put him
on the other side, was going to run that same thing. Well,
we did the same thing, same play. I did the
(30:25):
same thing, caught it, put a move on the guy,
and ran away from everybody. So I'll never forget this.
I never started playing at Dell State because they had to.
I transferred from Johnson C. Smith to Dell State. So
I wound up being able to play the last three
games and I'm dressing. I'm sitting on the sideline his
(30:47):
homecoming and we're losing and the coach goes tailor go
in the game. So I go in the game. Now
this is my first time in the game for Dalla
State playing and all together. The quarterback comes in. His
name was Rod Smith. Rod comes in and he goes, hey, man,
we're gonna run that slat pattern. I said, okay, it
(31:10):
works for me. He hits me in stride. I split
everybody score. We went home coming right. Get drafted by
San Francisco forty nine ers. What player? What play am
I known for with the Niners? Slat?
Speaker 1 (31:24):
This slant? This slant I think of the I think
of the Monday Night to ninety yard touchdowns, and they
were I believe they were both slams.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
If I correctly, yeah, yeah, they both were slapt And
see that. That was my thing because I always felt
like this, if you hit me in stride and if
the guys just on my tail, I'm getting away. I'm
definitely gonna get away because as soon as I catch it,
next thing's coming out, it's gonna be my arm because
I'm gonna stiff on me. That's gonna give me that
(31:54):
little distance that I need. And if you don't get
a touch on me when I come offline. There's a
game that we played in New Orleans. A matter of
fact that Candlestick and I just came off the field
and I said to Bill, I said, you know, I said,
whenever we run a slam, I said, and they roll
coverage up. I said, the cornerback never touches me. I said.
(32:15):
If Joe looks to the right and then just Will's
back left, he's gonna hit me in that hole. Nobody's
gonna touch me. We go back in the following series
he sends that play in sure enough, that's exactly what happened.
He hits me in the gap. I split everybody touchdown.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
The rest is history.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
That was always say this. People would always say, man,
but you're going across the middle. My motto was always
like this, You're gonna get hit, so you might as
well catch the ball and get hit for a reason.
Why let him have a free shot.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Words to live by. Thank you so much for your time.
John Faithful to be featured in the next episode of
the forty nine Ers You've Got Mail podcast presented by
Delta Dental. Make sure to submit your questions to our
forty nine Ers YouTube page on the community page, and
don't forget to subscribe to our podcast so you can
be the first to listen to our latest episodes. That's
(33:10):
it from US Nighter fans. Protect your teeth and your
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dental coverage today
What's up, faithful, Welcome into the forty nine Ers You've
got Mail Podcasts presented by Delta Dental. I'm Lindsay Plaris.
Today I am joined by a very special guest, three
time Super Bowl champion John Taylor, for an alumni edition
of the pod. John, Thanks for taking.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The time pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
We were just talking about this that I interviewed you
and Tom Rathman last season during wild Card weekend head
of kickoff. One year later, the forty nine Ers are
back in it, playing in their fourth NFC championship in
five seasons. You played in the dynasty era of the Niners.
What does it take for a team to reach this
(00:43):
level of success in the playoffs year after year?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
It's one of those deals where the previous year you
feel as though you fell sure and you constantly had
that in your mind during the offseason, unfinished business. An
example when the Niners played Philadelphia last year. Now you know,
I'm from phillip I grew up back eats right across
(01:07):
the bridge from Philly, so I had to for a
full year live with them what they did to us, right,
And this was my explanation to them, I said, listen,
I said, you guys beat us. You beat us on paper,
Yes you did. I can't take that away from it.
You beat us on paper, But did you physically beat us?
(01:27):
And the answer to that question was no. I was
back there and they played Kansas City on Monday night,
down by ten came back in one. They played Buffalo
that following Sunday. Down by ten came back and went.
And I remember I flew out the following day, on
the twenty seventh, and I said to them before I left,
(01:51):
I said, I make your promise here. Now go down
to us by ten and a halftime. I guarantee you
you don't win. So they said, yeah, okay, right. So
I was back out here at the at the function
up at the Gold Bar in San Francisco, Treasure Island.
So you know, first kickoff, kick off to them, go down,
(02:13):
get three, three and out for us. They come back,
go down and field, get another three, come back to us,
three and out. We shut them down. Now we get
the ball back now, six touchdowns in a row.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And I said to them, I called them on zoom.
It was like crickets. Nobody would talk. I said, I
said to this to you guys, Last year you won
on paper, but you didn't physically beat us, and this
year you found that out. And see, with going through
(02:49):
this scenario, you have to remember this is the third
year in the row that you're playing for the NFC
Championship Game. You played down in southern California against the Rams,
last year against the Eagles. Now here we are back again.
Excuse me, third times a charm. Last time the Niners
(03:12):
won a Super Bowl with super Bowl twenty nine, I
had this theory. Last time they won was twenty nine,
super Bowl twenty nine, right, this is super Bowl fifty eight, right, correct?
Last super Bowl you won was twenty nine years ago.
Super Bowl twenty nine and twenty nine years ago, Eagle?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
What I like the signs. That's great. That's a good theory.
I like it. We were talking about this as well.
The forty nine Ers are coming off a grimy win
in the Divisional round over the Packers. Was their first
come from behind win of the season. What did you
learn about this team and that win?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
They had no quit, no quit whatsoever. And the thing
about it is you sit in and you listen every
week every week about different analysts, how they how they
view the game, how they view Bock Party. Well, everybody
has their ups and downs with rock Party. But I'm
gonna say this, all he seems to do is win,
(04:17):
and that's all you want. And that's all you want
is to win, you know what I mean. No game
is ever gonna look pretty. You know, there's gonna be
your EBB and flow, ups and downs. It's about how
do you come back from that example, remember that three
game skid that we had. You lost to Cleveland, then
(04:38):
you come home, I mean, you lost to Cleveland, go
to Minnesota and lose, then you come home and you
lose to Cincinnati. Everybody rocked rope rock Party off. Oh
he's not the quarterback Da da da da da. What's
he done since then? Just kept saying nothing, nothing but win,
you know what I mean. And he's the type of
he's the type of young kid that the moment doesn't
(05:04):
scare him.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I want to call back to your career Super Bowl
twenty three, Joe Montana. You helped complete a fourth quarter comeback,
had a ten yard pass in the back.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Of the end zone. What are the emotions that you
feel as a player when you have that game clinching play.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
It's that feeling that. Man, I've actually lived this, you
know what I mean, I've actually I mean growing up
as a kid, regardless of what sports you play, baseball, football, basketball, hockey,
whatever it is, you always say to yourself, if I
could make this basket, if I can make this catch,
if I can make this throw, we win the championship.
(05:47):
And it's no greater feeling to have the label of
world champion. That's a feeling that that's unbelievable. You know,
you wake up the next morning, look at the paper
and it says we're all champion. You got to have
a good feeling off of that.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Of course. So the last time the Niners and the
Lions played in the postseason predates your time in the NFL.
It was nineteen eighty three. What are your impressions of
this twenty twenty three Lions and Niners matchup.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well, I'm gonna say this, you cannot take Detroit lightly.
People say, oh, Detroit shouldn't be there. Detroit earned it.
I mean they've earned it. Look at some of the
teams they beat. They beat Kansas City Chiefs that year,
you know what I mean. A lot of teams haven't
(06:42):
been Yes, they're a different team now than they were
at the beginning of the year. So are the Detroit Lions.
Detroit has a young group that are hungry. They're out
to make a statement. They're gonna come in here the
weekend with nothing to lose because nobody giving them a chance.
You know, they right now feel disrespected in a way
(07:05):
because everybody's talking about the Niners, the Niners, the Niners.
You know, they're coming in here with a chip on
your shoulder, and we just got to knock that chip
off of the shoulder as soon as they hit. Give
them no breaks. You gotta score. If they score, you've
got to come back and score because recipe. I mean,
(07:27):
let's be realistic. Look at the speed that they have
on that team, and like I said, they're young, you know,
so it's it's gonna be a fight. I just I
just feel as though if the Niners play Niner football,
won't be no question you'll win the game.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
One of the big question marks heading into this game
is about one of the biggest playmakers on this team,
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel's got a shoulder injury. Limited in
practiced on Thursday, so it's a positive sign, but no
certain status on him. How does having Debo on the
field change this offense?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Well, it changes it a lot of ways. I mean,
because there's another threat, you know. I mean, we all
know what Debo can do. Detroit knows what Debo can do,
So with him on the field, it's a complete different scenario.
You can't in a sense. You hear them talk about
during the year Rock parties full.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Arsenal.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, yeah, who he had in his arsenal. Oh well,
if he doesn't have display the person, then they can't win.
I disagree with that. Okay, let's say Debo didn't play.
Next man Up's got a step up. That's how it works,
you know what I mean. You can't say, well you
(08:55):
beat us because we didn't have our number one receiver.
That other team doesn't care about not having you number
one receiver. That's not their problem, that's your problem. So
for us, if he does not play, next man Up's
got to step up. And Jenkins did that last week.
So I don't see, you know, if of course you
want him to play, But if he doesn't play, like
(09:17):
I said, next man up, let's keep moving.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
We talk about the forty nine ers arsenal of weapons.
I mean, there's plenty Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Brandon I,
Deebo Samuel. Then you've got Rock Perty, who closed out
the year as one of the best statistical qbs in
the league. Does this lineup remind you of any of
the Star Sunted rosters that you played on.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, it reminds me pretty much of Super
Bowl team twenty three and twenty four. We were pretty
much the same same thing, you know what I mean.
We had players just in a sense lined up, you
know what I mean. It was like, if this one
goes down, somebody's gonna step in and we're not gonna
miss beat. We're going to keep right on moving, keep
(10:02):
right on moving. And this team right here is pretty
much the same way. You know, you have guys that
haven't played much. I saw Connolly last week and you
look and you go, wait a minute, where'd he come from.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
It's a nice seventeen yard reception at the end of
the day, right.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That's right. Player that came in just stepped up, and
that's what it's about. Next man up. Just take care
of your responsibility, take care of your role, and let's
move forward.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
One of the hallmarks of San Francisco's offense that has
stood the test of time is that pride that the
wide receivers taken blocking. We saw it in the eighties,
we saw it in the nineties, we're seeing it now.
How was that instilled during your.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Era, Well, we looked at it this way. You're not
always going to get a pass. The game is not
built around just throwing you the ball. The game is
built around a group of guys working in one goal,
and that is to put that ball in the end zone.
So if we're not getting the pass, the next thing
(11:07):
for us to do block for the running backs, you
know what I mean. I used to love blocking downfield
because my motto was like this, during the game, you're
gonna hit going for You're gonna get hit going for
a pass. So my philosophy was always this, I'm gonna
get my shots just like you're going to take your shot.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
And if I'm coming downfield for a block with a
running back coming, here's my time to try to punish
you like you try to punish me on a reception.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yes, you gotta give it, yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
So we just we just kept that mentality all along.
It was about, you know, and a lot of times
we would joke with each other as receivers to see
if you took care of your block on this particular play,
because you know, when you go in the meetings, it's
easy to rewind that filmy, Hey, did you get such?
Said yeah, I got him in everybyd the film Here
you are over here and he's down here.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
The tape tells all the tape.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
As Bill used to say to us, the eye and
the sky don't lie.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
You're one of a few receivers that got to play
with Joe Montana and also Steve Young. You saw what
a Hall of Fame quarterback is. What were the attributes
that they had that made them championship caliber quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
The determination that they didn't have no quit in him,
regardless of how the game was going along, how it
was progressing along. Didn't quit. We didn't give up, you
know what I mean. There were plenty of games that
we played in where we were actually getting blown away,
but we didn't quit. And our minds game ain't over,
(12:53):
you know, it's not over. Prime example eighty nine in Philadelphia,
when we were losing to Philly. They had written us off.
All this game is over with what happened. We came
back and win. You know, that's the thing with both
of those quarterbacks. There was never a quit in them.
And their preparation for a game was unbelievable. You know
(13:15):
what I mean. Anytime, anytime you could sit there and
you call a play and you know where one, two, three,
and four are supposed to be off a blink of
a knife, if you leave one, you know, four are
supposed to be over here and you can turn and throw.
You know, that was the difference.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
And what were they like in the huddle, both of
those guys.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
It was funny. There's a lot of times when there
were TV timeouts and people were thinking, I wonder what
they're thinking about in the huddle, what they're saying in
the uddle. A lot of times they people be in
the huddle cracking jokes, you know, just to just to
lighten the atmosphere in the huddle. Prime example, when we
played Super Bowl twenty three down there. I'm sure you
(14:00):
heard this story about we're in the huddle and Joe
comes in the huddle and he's talking and then all
of a sudden he goes to Harris Barton we used
to call him h He said, your h it goes
Giant Candy over there on the front row to bleachers.
Right now, we're in the game super Bowl, lose it,
TV time out. Everybody turns around and looks, sure not,
(14:21):
they're Jihn Candy front roller bleachers. With the blows, game resumes,
we go down and field. We win. But that's how
calm they were in the huddle, you know, And that's
what you have to be. You can't panic. In other words,
prime example last week, I mean, let's be realistic to
get it was a sloppy game, was a bad game
(14:43):
every if you look at it, the way the game
was flowing was like every time we do something, they
come back and do something. Every time we score, they
come right back and score. But the team didn't quit
that final drive right there. That was the signature of
a team that's willing to do what it needs to
(15:04):
do to win. And that's what it's about. I mean,
we all Like I said to them last week when
I was there at the game, I said, Hey, I
want to see all y'all next week. That's what you
want this week. I want to be able to see
you in two weeks.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I like that timeline. We've also heard that same description
of a cool, calm collected brock Party. What are the
attributes of his game that really catch your eye in
his last two years of his career.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Well, number one, he's, like they said, mister irrelevant, right,
I looked at I've always looked at brock Party like
this from day one. When I saw him in a
training camp his rookie year, and I looked at him
when he was staring, and I just thought to myself,
I said, damn, I said, that young kid, not too bad, right,
(15:59):
keep looking, keep looking. And when he finally got his
chance to play in the preseason, I said to myself,
one good thing about him is when he scrambles, he
doesn't take his eyes down. He's still looking down the field.
He's not looking to run. He's looking to pass the ball,
(16:19):
you know. And that's kind of hard to teach a
young quarterback because first thing in the young quarterback's mind
is get the ball. If he's getting pressure, he's trying
to get away. He's not looking down phield. He's just
trying to escape. That's one thing Brock does. When he
went upon him trying to escape, he keeps his eyes
down the field. So he makes some of those shows
(16:42):
and people are like, wow, can you believe it? Well,
he's just doing what he's been doing. You know a
lot of people don't give him credit because, oh, he's
the last person in the draft. He's this, he's that,
and always look at it this way. I remember when
I first came into the league. It's called the project,
(17:03):
you know what I mean. So you live with you
live with little things like that. Hey, you take it
in and you just say to yourself like this, Okay, no,
it's you. I don't get mad. I just make myself
that much better. I remember my rookie year and I
went up to Bill Washington. I said, Coach, I like
to return punch because they were having tryouts for punt returner. Right.
(17:26):
So I walked up to him and I said, hey,
I like to try out for Bill turned around and
said to me, I'll never forget this. He turned around
and said to me, now, you wouldn't be good at it.
You take too long of a stride, right, And my
response was My response was all I'm asking for is
a chance we do. You got to lose, right yep.
(17:49):
Fast forward to the Hall of Fame game. My rookie
year was playing Kansas City Chiefs. Dana Macklamore at the
time was a punt returner. He left Dana returning like
the first two punts, then all of a sudden he
goes tailor go in. So, of course you know I'm
shocked because you already told me I take too long
with stride, I'm not going to be good. Right. I
(18:11):
wound up with like three or four punt returns over
one hundred and fifteen yards in a touchdown. That's why
I became the punt returner. So fantastics always tell people
when they tell you can't do something, prove them wrong.
That's your best remedy. Prove them wrong.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
One similarity that I'm sure you know about as well already.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
But both of you have a baseball background. How did
that feed into your football career?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Well? Mine, it fed into me like this. It was
so funny. I never played a wide receiver in any
organized setting of football other than when we were growing
up as kids playing in the street. You know, everybody
wants to be the quarterback or a wide receiver, but
as far as any type of organized football, I never
(19:01):
played wide receiver until I went to college, and what
happened was. I was in high school. I was a
free safety. Right now, I played baseball. Baseball was my game.
I loved baseball. Right So when I went to college,
I walked on at Della State. I just walked on
and I told him, Hey, I want to be a receiver.
(19:23):
And people asked me, well, what made you want to
be a receiver? And this is what I told him.
I said, I played baseball for so long, and I
could catch that little white ball. I just knew, damn well,
I should be able to catch a football that's I
don't know how many times bigger than the baseball that tracks. Yeah,
so that's what made me want to be a receiver.
(19:45):
And I would always tell people. They go, but man,
so how'd you learn to do this and do that? Well,
first of all, you just look, you know. I remember
the first Super Bowl the Niners were when they played
excuse me, when they played Cincinnati, and the right I
(20:09):
was in college and I was sitting there looking at
that game. Because men Dwight Hicks came out of the
same high school. So I'm rooting for the forty nineties.
Nobody had no clue why I'm rooting for him. They
didn't realize that men and Dwight Hicks came out of
the same high school. He graduated with my older sister.
I played with a couple of his younger brothers, but
I knew Dwight, so they couldn't figure out why I'm
(20:30):
rooting for him. And I told him. I said, They said, man,
you weren't a base you were a baseball player. You
weren't no football player. I said, yeah, I said, But
the thing about it is I still love football. I
mean no, did I ever think that I would end
up playing professional football. No. The day of the draft.
This is how much I was thinking about getting drafted.
(20:52):
The day of the NFL Draft in nineteen eighty six,
I was upstairs sleep.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
One of the best draft day stories I've heard.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
That's how it happened. And the funny thing about it
was my older brother came up and told me, Man,
you know you just got drafted by San Francisco. I
was like, yeah, okay, and I laid back down and
went to sleep. It wasn't until my dad came up
and told me, he said, he's not lying to you.
You did get draft. That's when I realized. Because I
was always too small to play football, You know what
(21:24):
I mean, And.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Look at you now, three super Bowls later, just cattle cat.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Always tell people like this. They go, man, you know,
I don't see why they haven't gotten you into the
Hall of Fame. You deserve to be in there. And
I always tell people this. Listen. One thing, I was
never a stat person. I didn't care about stats. Only
thing I cared about was at the end of the
day that we have a w That's all I cared about.
(21:52):
Because first, like right now, I got three Super Bowl
rings and you can't get them back.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Was nobody, nobody can take those away.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
No, And I'm fortunate, and I always say this, I'm
fortunate to have been able to play in three Super
Bowls and to win all three super Bowls. There's players
that play in this league for ten fifteen years never
even get a chance to see the Super Bowl, you know,
so I can be more ecstatic. Put it that way.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I love it. So in this podcast, we actually do
let some fans submit some questions, and I cannot tell
you how excited people were to hear from you. The
list of questions was about this long, so I chose
a few of them. This one is from air Boss
and nine to nine to five zero. What made you
(22:47):
and Jerry Rice's relationships so successful?
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Well, it's a team effort. It's like this regardless regardless
of how you look at a teammate, I'll put it
that way, how you look at a teammate. In other words,
people a lot of people would always say to me, man,
why are you staying with the Niners? You could go
elsewhere and be that Jerry Rice receiver. That's not what
(23:14):
I'm looking for. That's not what I'm looking for. What
I'm looking for is what I ultimately wound up getting,
and that was three rings. You know, I don't I
never I never compare myself to anybody else. Always compare
myself to me. You know, can you get better? Because
you're not gonna be that person. You're not gonna do
(23:36):
what that person does. You're not gonna be able to
do what that person does. Everybody's different. And the thing is,
as long as you can get along, play together as teammates.
And like you said earlier, block and wise, Hey, I
might not have a pass all day long, they might
(23:56):
throw twenty passes to him that day on downfielding block
for her. Because ultimately, all I care about is.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
A w This one is from un Hefe del Desierto.
What have you enjoyed doing the most since entering retirement?
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Basically hanging out with my granddaughter. You know, she's a
lot of fun, you know, and it's so funny. People
always say to you, and you would say it yourself
a lot of times, and that is she's been here before,
just just from some of the mannerisms or some of
the statements that they make. You look at him and go,
(24:36):
how you know anything about that genetics? Yeah, yeah, And
I really basically just been enjoying that. You know. As
you know, when I retired from football, I drove eighteen
whiller for twenty two years. Didn't seem like I read that, Yeah,
it didn't seem like that loan, But yeah it was
(24:57):
twenty two years. So I mean I had fun doing
that when I retired out of there. But nothing beats
my granddaughter, you know, nothing beat.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
This one's from ann Annie twenty five. Mike Wilson said,
during your era, you all used to play charity basketball.
So who were the best ballers on the forty nine ers?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Everybody but me? See I was when I played. I
would I didn't have no I wasn't a big basketball
I'm a player. You know, back East, you could only
play during the summertime. Lets you go into a gym
or something like that. Basketball wasn't really my thing. I
(25:42):
played it have fun with it because I could jump.
That was the thing. I had good leaping ability. You know.
When I played for the for the Niners charity team,
I was the one who jumped center at the beginning
of the game every game. And when I would come
out to jump center, whoever I was jumping against would
look at me like are you serious until they saw
(26:06):
me jump. You know, then it was a different stort Hey, that.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Was your specialty. I like it. This one is from
Javier three sixty seven. Was game day fashion as big
of a deal when you were playing? And what was
your game day fashion? What did it look like?
Speaker 2 (26:25):
No, it wasn't. It wasn't the way it is now.
My game My game day fashion was a sweatsuit every game.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Okay. Was that a superstition?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
No?
Speaker 1 (26:37):
No, it's just comfortable.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Just comfortable, okay, just comfortable. I wasn't your I wasn't
per se, your typical football player, you know what I mean.
I didn't my first vehicle that I came to the
game and was a minivan. That's what I drove, was
a minivan. You know, everybody else range Rovers, Mercedes, horses.
(27:02):
You know, I had a horse, but I preferred my
minivan more than anything.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Did you come into the league with the minivan.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
No, I got that. I got the mini van deal
from my dad my rookie year. My dad had before
the draft even came around, my dad had bought this Astro,
uh it was called it was a Chevy Astro mini van,
but it was customized by a company called chow Choo Customs. Okay,
(27:37):
they did truck conversions and al Camino conversions. So I
had saw my dad's and I really liked it. You know,
had a spoiler in the front, schoop, had three little
small windows in the back. It was just it was
just nice. And when I looked at it, and I
to myself, I looked at I said, oh, man, I said, yeah,
I like that.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
That's what I imagine the most tricked out mini van known.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
To the man. Mine was. No, mine was. I was
pretty pretty stared. I mean a regular mini van, you know.
I had the back sofa folded down into a bed.
I had a television, uh DVD player and also a
cooler and so built them cooler.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
You'll have to share pictures of this online. This is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Oh yeah that I used to love that van. I
had had a lot of fun with that van and
it was so funny I want. I actually wound up
giving it to my older brother because every time I
would go back east, I was like, you know, why
am I wrinting the car? Why don't I just send
a vehicle back here? Leave it at Dad. So when
I come home, I got a vehicle to drive. So
(28:51):
I did that for like three years, and then my
niece became of age to drive. So I made a
deal with my brother that if he gave my PI
third car, then I give him my vent a minivan. Yeah,
we made it even swap like that, so of course,
you know my niece loved me then.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Of course. All right, So last question before I let
you go, what is your favorite play of your career?
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Slant slant pattern, that's what That's what I broke into
at Delaware State. When I first went to Delaware State,
I'll never forget when I came across the field, everybody
that was there looked at me. Especially one of my
best buddies right now. He looked at me and said,
(29:41):
who in the hell is this reject coming over here?
That's what he said about me, right until I got
over there and I actually started playing. They put me.
You know, when you first go in and you're on
the demo squad. You got the cards, you know. So
I'm standing back there and the coach pushs me in
(30:02):
and he goes, this is what you're doing. You're running
the slang. Okay, he hits me in stride. I catched
the ball, put a move on on her defensive back,
and run away from everybody. Coach turns and looks at me.
So I heard him tell my position coach put him
on the other side, was going to run that same thing. Well,
we did the same thing, same play. I did the
(30:25):
same thing, caught it, put a move on the guy,
and ran away from everybody. So I'll never forget this.
I never started playing at Dell State because they had to.
I transferred from Johnson C. Smith to Dell State. So
I wound up being able to play the last three
games and I'm dressing. I'm sitting on the sideline his
(30:47):
homecoming and we're losing and the coach goes tailor go
in the game. So I go in the game. Now
this is my first time in the game for Dalla
State playing and all together. The quarterback comes in. His
name was Rod Smith. Rod comes in and he goes, hey, man,
we're gonna run that slat pattern. I said, okay, it
(31:10):
works for me. He hits me in stride. I split
everybody score. We went home coming right. Get drafted by
San Francisco forty nine ers. What player? What play am
I known for with the Niners? Slat?
Speaker 1 (31:24):
This slant? This slant I think of the I think
of the Monday Night to ninety yard touchdowns, and they
were I believe they were both slams.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
If I correctly, yeah, yeah, they both were slapt And
see that. That was my thing because I always felt
like this, if you hit me in stride and if
the guys just on my tail, I'm getting away. I'm
definitely gonna get away because as soon as I catch it,
next thing's coming out, it's gonna be my arm because
I'm gonna stiff on me. That's gonna give me that
(31:54):
little distance that I need. And if you don't get
a touch on me when I come offline. There's a
game that we played in New Orleans. A matter of
fact that Candlestick and I just came off the field
and I said to Bill, I said, you know, I said,
whenever we run a slam, I said, and they roll
coverage up. I said, the cornerback never touches me. I said.
(32:15):
If Joe looks to the right and then just Will's
back left, he's gonna hit me in that hole. Nobody's
gonna touch me. We go back in the following series
he sends that play in sure enough, that's exactly what happened.
He hits me in the gap. I split everybody touchdown.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
The rest is history.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
That was always say this. People would always say, man,
but you're going across the middle. My motto was always
like this, You're gonna get hit, so you might as
well catch the ball and get hit for a reason.
Why let him have a free shot.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Words to live by. Thank you so much for your time.
John Faithful to be featured in the next episode of
the forty nine Ers You've Got Mail podcast presented by
Delta Dental. Make sure to submit your questions to our
forty nine Ers YouTube page on the community page, and
don't forget to subscribe to our podcast so you can
be the first to listen to our latest episodes. That's
(33:10):
it from US Nighter fans. Protect your teeth and your
budget with dental plans from Delta Dental. Get Fumble free
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