May 27, 2023 • 32 mins
Happy Birthday to Hall of Fame offensive lineman Jackie Slater! Celebrate by listening to an episode of Rams Iconic where Jackie sits down with D’Marco Farr to discuss how his practice habits shaped his legendary career, what is was like going against all-time greats like Reggie White, and which moments stand out from his 20-year career with the Rams.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Rams Iconic. I'm your host, DeMarco far
and this is the podcast where I get to catch
up with some of the greatest players in Rams history.
It's a chance for you, who the fans, to take
a trip down memory lane, reminisce about some of the
greatest moments you've had as Rams fans, but also an
opportunity to introduce to some of our newer fans the
iconic players that have made this franchise what it is
(00:25):
right now, what it is today. My next guest embodies
all of that. He's one of the all time greats.
And I don't just mean in horns with the Rams.
I'm talking NFL all time greats, seven time Pro Bowler.
He was a mainstay, and I think we need to
change the word mainstay to this guy's first name because
he embodies mainstay. He's a mainstay on the Rams offensive
(00:46):
line for twenty seasons, twenty years. People. In two thousand
and one, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall
of Fame. Please welcome in the Iconic the man, mister
what in the world, Jackie Slater, Big Jack.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It's good to see you, yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Good to see you too. Good to be seen.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
It is good to be seen, man, it really is
good to be seen.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I can tell you I've been watching you and listening
to you to do a fantastic job, and I think
sometimes it's hard to imagine how that guy who used
to get up the field so quickly as the defensive
tackle is doing so beautiful a job of the talking
about our team and our players and giving us a
really lot of insight into what's going on with the organization.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Well, I used to get up the field only on
the defensive right when I was away from you. I
paid a hefty price for trying to get off the
football on your side of Jackie.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
We had some good times, did we did?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
We did? What are you up to these days? What's
going on?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
I get to well, I'm just wrestling now. Man. It's
been it's been a turbulent year, you know, as you know, for.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Everybody, not only the local football team, but you know,
those of us who have been covering the team, those
of us who are just you know, trying to trying
to live in a society right now that's got so
many things coming at us, you know. It's you know,
the social unrest that we're dealing with, I mean, the pandemic.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
It's just a lot going on, and I find.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Myself in a few different categories relative to this virus.
So I have to, you know, just make sure I'm
trying to do everything that all the professionals are advising
us to do, you know, so that I can keep
myself and my family safe.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
You know, we were talking about the current players and
what they're going through. I guess the age of social unrest.
You played in the seventies, eighties, nineties, and into you know,
the arts basically, So what was that like playing in
the seventies as a young player? You came in nineteen
seventy six. The world, this country was a lot different
(02:52):
in seventy six. What was it like for you back then?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Well, it was different than but the coming ground that
I that I seek to, that I sought to find,
it was the reason why I was in California to
begin with. And that common ground was interacting with people
who had the same goals that I had, uh and
that was to play professional football, to have a career,
(03:15):
to be on a good football team, and to be
a good teammate.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And so you know, unity in that arena.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
It did a lot for me, and I think it
did a lot for everybody on our team at that time,
as we dealt with so many issues that were going
on around us and outside us.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
It.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Things have gotten a lot better, believe it or not.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
In light of some of the things that we've seen recently,
they could be a whole lot worse.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And I can tell you I've seen worse.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
But you know, it's it's just the unity that we
had in the unity that that that that made us
all work toward a common goal. That what that allowed
us to really lay many of our differences aside. Yeah,
it's and I can tell your relative to my teammates
(04:05):
a DeMarco just like with you, my teammates from that era,
you know, like some of them.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Are like brothers.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Man.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
We still have these really good relationships.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
You know. It's funny, Jack, I never noticed what a
guy looked like or what his skin looked like until
we looked in the mirror. When we're out there, we're
on the same side. It's you know, blue versus whatever.
But you know, it's it's it's what happens when you
leave the building is when real life starts, if that
makes any sense.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
It makes a lot of sense, and that that was
the world in which I lived in. You know, I
in a way, sports was a safe haven for me because,
as you know, I grew up in the state of Mississippi.
I was in the public school system when they forced
the integration there, and it was.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
A turbulent time.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
But but still during those times, there was there was
unity to be found, and there were there were people
who were inclusive. There were people who you know, did
their best to you know, get along, and and those
were the people that I always found myself avitating towards.
Those who were accepting, those who were open, and those
who were you know, working towards the same goals that I.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Was working towards.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
I remember walking through the door of the first day
a bunch of a group of rookies, and we're asking
a bunch of questions, like what is it to be
a pro? How do you be? How do you stay
in the NFL for more than two years? And they
wouldn't tell us how. They would just point at you.
Do what he does, do whatever, do everything he does.
Two hundred and fifty nine games, Jackie, twenty seasons in
(05:31):
the National Football League. Did you ever think you would
play that long. Was that a goal of yours when
you started I want to play twenty seasons?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
No, No, it really wasn't.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
My goal was to play as long as I could
and to be as good as I could for that
period of time, and that was what I sank my
teeth into.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Now.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
One of the things that had me always concerned about
me accomplishing those goals, at least the ones it was
to long term longevity was the way that I work,
the way that I practiced. I mean, I felt like
you wanted to practice the game the way you wanted
to play it. And so, you know, you and all
the other teammates that I had will probably remember that
(06:11):
I practiced and hit and as hard and worked as
hard as anybody. And I always, in the back of
my head would wonder, you know, I wonder if this
is going to shorten my career because nobody else is
doing all this banging and running and hitting and looking
for opportunities to you know, mix it up like me,
and I wonder how this is going to work.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Well as it turned out, you know, I was.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I was fortunate enough to be injuries free, major injuries
that were stopping from playing and you know, I played
the game even at an older age the way I
always wanted to practice it, and I think that that
was a big part of my success.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Over the long haul. Hall was just consistently practicing playing
the game.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Well, you know, it's funny. Sean Gilbert was there when
I was rookie. Jimmy Jones had just come over from Dallas.
Mark Boutet was We were loaded. We were loaded those dudes.
Fred Stokes was a great guy that. Fred Stokes was
a guy that brought us together, all the rookies because
we were fighting everybody or trying to fight everybody that day,
and he said, hey, look, man, you're here to make
it in the NFL, not just here, but the NFL,
(07:18):
so work on your craft. But I remember my first
rep and I'm jumping ahead little bit, but I got
to get into the story since you brought it up.
My first rep in one on one, the pass rush,
the big deal offense and defensive line getting together. My
first rep was against you. I'm not even sure if
you remember. You're a starter. I was like three or
four on the depth chart, So that means Jackie goes
(07:39):
against the starter, then he sits out the backup comes
in and takes on the backup. Then Jackie comes back
in to take on the rest of the threes in
the fours, which is me. I asked me, how many
reps I've taken that defensive end of my life. Zero? None.
So I'm looking at George Dyer, the d line coach,
and he was the de coordinator. He said, what do
you want me to do? I want you to win.
(08:01):
Go out there and try to beat Jackie. Great. I
come off the football, I'm trying to figure out the distance.
Before I knew it, I got hit with a two
piece to the face mask bith Then I got dropped
in the heat because your head budded me. The first
guy I saw was Isaac Bruce. He was standing on
the other side of the field just laughing like I
saw that, and so I'm thinking, man, maybe Jackie's dirty.
(08:23):
But what I learned after when I started to play
a little bit more was that's not dirty. That's game speed.
That's what the NFL is about. This is how they play.
They played for keeps on every single play. So it
wasn't about being dirty or being rough in practice. It
was about getting ready for game day. Game day is
a whole different animal.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Exactly. It certainly is.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
And as I said, I always wanted to chase the
rhythm that I thought I.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Would need on Sundays.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I didn't want to practice and then have to turn
it up in the games. I wanted to When I
was playing football, I was always playing football. I was
always playing football and trying to get ready and trying
to win. And so if you make it a habit,
I found that if you make it a habit of
winning trying to win, then you're gonna have a lot
of success when it really matters when other people are
(09:15):
all of a sudden trying to win.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
You know, I like that. It seems like today we're
trying to not hit as much. But from a guy
that played twenty seasons, I mean getting yourself ready for
game to that actually makes a lot more sense, you
know what I mean? Well, why should Sunday be a shock?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Exactly?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
For me, it's very difficult to imagine myself, even in
a sophisticated offense like the one that coach McVay is running.
It's hard for me to imagine myself being successful because
I know he takes care of his guys. He doesn't
let them play in the preseason, and I don't know
what they do in practice and everything relative to a
(09:53):
lot of hitting, but I know if you don't play
in the preseason, you know. I felt like the preseason
games were necessary evil to me. I had to get
into games to get my game honed, all aspects of it.
I mean, I would there were never there were times
that I would never chop block one of my teammates
in practice.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I would never do that.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
And there were times that I would never, you know,
let a hand slip from the chest to the throat
and squeeze. I had to If I got a chance
to do those things in the preseason game, then then
I then I could hoe them and I could use them,
and I could get my penalties in the preseason or
or find out what was wrong or what was not
(10:32):
what was working, and and that way I could take
my full arsenal into the regular season and try to
see My goal was to always have the Los Angeles
Rams to win at the right tackle spot, and I
felt like if if I did that consistently, then every year,
when the coaches do what they always do, which is
evaluate the team, the talent and see where we need
(10:55):
to improve that when they looked at the right tackle spot,
they would say, Okay, let's go to the next bot
because we know that's that's gonna.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Work for us.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
And that's pretty much what happened for twenty straight seasons.
And I just have to comment when you said put
your hand around a guy's throat and squeeze, your whole
demeanor didn't change. I mean, I've never heard somebody like
described that so casually. Now people get to see what
I'm talking about. Yeah, that was my first rep against them,
(11:24):
so I always want the right tackle win. And about
Sean mcmay, if he had a right tackle like you
on this team right now, I bet he would change
his game plan. I would. I mean he would have to.
I mean, when you have a guy like you, a Maller,
a guy that's that can go from Maller to Finesse
in a heartbeat. Uh, That's the thing that impressed me
so much about you. One more story. When I was
(11:46):
still in college, one of our guys, one of our seniors,
was playing for the Seahawks. He had just left us
and he played for the Seahawks. So he gave us
a bunch of the tickets and it just so happens,
he was lined up against you. So we're out there,
go tyh Oh my god, get up, Tyrone. Oh my god, Tyrone?
Are you okay? You know what I mean? And this
(12:06):
is a senior, this is a guy that's been throwing
people around for four years. And I'm like, oh, Jackie
is just treating this dude like a rag doll. That's
what the league is like. So yeah, man, but winning
for twenty years being that guy, your approach to the game,
when you got the knock on the door for the
Pro Football Hall of Fame when you started your your candidacy,
(12:27):
were you ever nervous about not getting in after twenty
years into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Absolutely not, absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
In fact, that's interesting and I will share with you
that I played in the last college All Star game
that they had back in Stokey, Illinois.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
It was a game to feature to defending Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Champions against this recently drafted group of guys you know,
from all over the country, Guys like Mike Haynes and
Archie Griffin and Chuck Muntsey myself, we all played in
that game together. When I got there to that game,
DeMarco I was the only African American offensive lineman there,
and I was third string at every position, Centergarden tackle
on both sides.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
And we were doing sid Gilman the Hall of Famer
and Air Parsig where the head coaches and the offensive
line coaches and and we were just in bowld mode.
It was all walking around and touching people that you're
supposed to block and everything.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
And I had never ever done that in my life.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
And you know in college when I played with Walter Payton,
Walter Payton got struck in practice and on several occasions,
and our quarterbacks got sacked in practice in some of
our drills.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
So it was a it.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Was a totally different environment coming from there to that
bowl game environment where one to step in touch.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
And I'm thinking, okay, well I just got married. I
got everything I owned in the green.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
For the locker back here in my room they got
and I'm getting behind two weeks before I go.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
To camp, and they got me stepping and touching. Wow.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
And so I decided to get him about that time
the hustle blow and we were going to go down
to where we would do a little bit more scrimmaging
and get a little bit more physical. Well, on the
way down there, Sid Gilman told me, he said, Jackie,
he said, he said, we do our hitting down here.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
He said, you came off the bottle two hundred over, don't.
We don't want to do that. And I'm thinking, my god.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
What what? How am I going to make it? I'm
thinking about leaving there and going to camp so I
can compete. Well, anyway, I thought about it, and I
went on and I came out the next day and
I said, hey man, I'm not getting any reps. I
only get about two or three reps when we go
down to the to the scrimmage here.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
So I got to get my reps here.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
So I told the guy, I said, hey man, I'm
coming off, and I did the same thing. Sid jumped in,
stopped the drill, and I had five straight one on
one drive blocks during that period of time.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
And then I'm I'm you know last I got after
the first couple of guys, But the last couple you
got guys like Stevene House and Leroy selling and guys
like that. And the last couple of guys they flipped
me around pretty good. Well, I'm tired, and we go
down to now the hitting part. So I guess Sid
was going to show me, and he told me to
get in there at right guard because I was tired. Man.
(15:15):
But the thing that he didn't realize, or nobody realized,
is that I had worked up the lather by this time.
So if you give me, I'm a ten straight opportunities,
I want to be all about.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
And that's what happened.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
They moved me to the start and right guard spot,
and from that point on to Marco, I felt like, Okay,
this is what you have to do with the big guys. Consistently.
I got the right attitude. I just got to consistently
do it.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
What year was that?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
This is in nineteen seventy six.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Nineteen seventy six. Okay, so by nineteen ninety four you
forgot how to get warning about I'm coming off the ball.
You just kind of just did it. I mean, that
was my warning. I'm setting your hearts back. Oh so,
Jackie's coming hard right.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
You were a pro, and I assumed that you knew
exactly what you were doing.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
So I said, I still had tape with my name
on my helper. Jackie, I'm not a pro yet. I'm
in between here, man, I will.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
I will admit DeMarco that after seeing you move around
as a youngster and seeing you inside over those guards,
when I saw you, I thought to him, I said,
the first thing I began to do is analyze what
I thought your strengths were relative to the way you
were physically built.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
When you first saw me. Oh yeah, wow.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
And so what I what I can what I what
I concluded right away was this guy's a dynamically explosive
off the ball. First two or three steps can kill
you dead if you don't do it right. And then
he's probably not real rangey once he takes that two
or three steps and gets up the field. And so
what I tried to do was play you based on
(16:58):
what I thought anatomically your strengths were.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
See, look you you had me dialed in from the
word go. I knew it. See, I knew it from
the word.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Some time I'm wrong. Sometime I was wrong about it,
but not too often.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
I'm trying to figure out this man has eighteen years
experience on me, See what I mean, I'm trying to
figure out where the bathroom is, and he's already broken
me down. But sure, exactly right, you know, And between
you and Tom Newberry and Leo Goez. Oh god, the
guys that were on that team, on that offensive line. Uh,
you were the guys that taught me how to work
and not fight, how to work to win. But don't
(17:32):
embarrass you know what I mean. We're all trying to
get better out here. So yeah, that that that that
was a big deal. Hey, on this podcast, we do
this thing and there's so many plays with you, two
hundred and fifty nine games and they gave me a
stat twenty four quarterbacks and thirty seven running backs in
twenty seasons. I mean, that's that's a ton and you've
had a lot of success. When I went back through
(17:52):
your career, and this is funny about NFL players past
and present. We all think the league started and ends
with us, but watching your career and how great and
how dominant the LA Rams were in the eighties and
moving into the nineties and then when the wheels kind
of came off and then everything else happened. But went
in the NFC West and going to the playoffs every
(18:13):
single year and just having so much success. We do
this thing on this pod and it's fun. If you
could pick one play my favorite play when you look
back at something specific in your career. I know there
was a lot, but if there's one play that stands
out the most, take your time and describe it a
little bit for us. If there's one play that you
can remember that stands out above all.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Oh man, that is that is one heck of a question, man,
Because you know, when you get to be my age,
and you know, you have a tendency to look back.
And I find myself often, you know, lying in bed
or sitting when I'm alone it was quiet, and my
mind drifts to my career. I think about some of
(18:56):
the great players that I had to play against, some
of the unique talented guys, some of the Hall of
Fame guys. You know, I played against guys like how
We Long and Mark Gasteno and two Tall Jones and
I mean Fred Dean, and I mean Reggie White and
(19:18):
in the list in the list Ray Childress. I think
about those guys, and I marveled at how I was
able to get through, you know, how I was able
to get through playing against guys like that and not
get embarrassed.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
But I think one of the.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Things that I would think that I would put my
finger on is you know, we played the Philadelphia Eagles,
and it wasn't the game in Philadelphia in the playoffs
where we beat them and nobody expected us to and
I kind of neutralized Reggie White. They came to Anaheim
Stadium and Reggie White at this time was done there
pretty much unblockable. I mean, this guy was dominating people
(19:56):
like you wouldn't believe. And I remember after this game
was over with, I remember us sitting in the meeting
room and our offensive line coach, one of the best
of all times, Hudson Howe, he went through the film
and then about four different times as he went through
that film, he would point out something I did and
(20:18):
he said, we can't do this. The room was full
of young men and he young much younger guys, and
he said, we can't do this. This is going to
get our quarterback killed. We can't make plays like this.
And each time it was me doing something that he
did not teach. Well, he did it four times because
I chopped. I got the guy on the ground four times.
(20:41):
But what happened was I chopped Reggie White, he hit
the ground, he got up running and Jim Everett still
had the ball in his hand. And then Jim threw
the ball and Reggie would touch him on the back
and look downfield. That happened four times on seven step
drops in that game, and every time I did it,
Hudson would call me out in front of those young
(21:03):
offensive linemen. Then he said, I need to talk to you, Jackie,
and he had everybody leave the room, and when they
left the room, I'm thinking, okay. He walked up to
me after the door closed, when the last guy walked out,
and he shook my hand and he said, hell of
a job. He said, you know why I had to
get on you in front of this group of guys
(21:23):
about what you did? And I said, yeah, I think
I understand. He said, no, the reason why I had
to get on you and come down on it is
because most of the guys in this room would not
have been thinking the way you were thinking. You only
chopped this guy when he, at three hundred and fifteen pounds,
was running fast as he could, full speed, and then
(21:44):
you chopped him, and his momentum kept him on the
ground for another second and a half and by the
time he got up and ran toward the quarterback, it
was too late. He said, But if one of these
young guys tried to do that against him and didn't
time it right and didn't think.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Through it just right. We got a dead quarterback, so
you understand.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
And he shook my hand, and it was one of
those moments where I've always felt like, Yeah, you gotta
be technically silent, you gotta do things right. But you
got to know your opponent. You got to be able
to look at body bills and recognize what their strengths are.
You got to understand momentum and how to handle and
manage momentum.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
And so these are some things I took a lot
of pride in.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
And nobody else was thinking about chopping Reggie White on
seven step drop.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
On a grass field in Anaheim but me. But I
knew exactly when to do it, and I was just
so pleased that it worked out the way it did.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Well. Yeah, nobody was crazy enough to try. You know,
you paid a heavy price if you tried to cut
Reggie and it didn't work out for you, you know
what I mean?
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah, but I did.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
I caught the tail end of that because I think
we went to Green Bay in ninety four when I
was a rookie, and you and him were tangling again,
and it seemed like it was a the game was
over here and it was just you two in another battle,
you know what I mean. Yeah, And it was it
was I think you shut him out for the first half,
And it was the first time I seen Reggie White
(23:08):
come out of the locker room straight meat. He had
took up he took off all his tape. Reggie was
visibly frustrated. And then you got hurt and we had
to put in weighn Gandy and it was good night
Irene from there.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Yeah, that's pretty much the way I remember that outing. Uh,
it was. It was a different time for me.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
I was I was a little bit longer in the
tooth at that time, and and I recognized that Reggie
was still playing at a very, very high level, and
so there was no doubt about it. It was not
going to be standing an operational protocol relative to the
coaches and what they were asking me to do. It
was about understanding what we were trying to do schematically
(23:46):
and making sure that this guy didn't impact impact us
in a negative way.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
All I remember is Reggie had a big old donut
stat wise for that first half, and it was just
you and him go. It was. It was fun for
me to watch that live, Like I felt like I
had the best seat in the house for like a
heavyweight battle. It was great. Man, I cannot let you
get out of here without talking about your son a
little bit. Matt Slacker. He's been in New England his
entire career and nine time pro bowler, three time Super
(24:14):
Bowl champion. How about that? How about that? I mean,
you've just got to be so proud of him.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
I am, I am. I think he was probably more
a little bit more amazed. I'm a little bit more amazed.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Because you know my son, you know, he grew up
watching what I did and wanting to do it. And
I didn't discouraged it because he was a small, smaller guy,
and you know I didn't.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I just didn't see.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
He had warm glasses and he had you know, asthma
and everything else, and I'm thinking, you know this, we
need to do baseball and track and field or something
if he's fast enough to do it.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
And he was, you know, a good enough athlete.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
And I mostly encouraged him academically, and that was one
of the reasons why he went to ucl A and
and all of that but you know, the young man
has an has an unbelievable work ethic. He has unbelievable
respect for the people that are playing this game because
he was around a lot of different my teammates over
(25:15):
the years, and and he knew how hard people were working.
He saw people dealing with injuries.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
And all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
And he has a he has a respect for the game,
and he believes that there's a right way to do
do it and and that's what he's tried to do.
And and you know, he rarely ever has had to
ask me for any advice. He's just consistently done things
the right way. And I and I, my wife and I,
(25:41):
as you said, we're very proud of him and thankful
also that the National Football League has provided him an
opportunity to, just like it did me, to use the
god given abilities that we have in a sport that
we love playing.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Every now and then when I do watch him play,
he was just here this past year in so far
when he gets on his man on special teams, and
a credit to him and you that he's made an
unglamorous position special teamer a glamorous spot, so much so
that the Rams went out and drafted a Matt Slater clone,
(26:15):
you know what I mean. So he's made that spot
his own. But every now and then when I see
him get on the block, he always gets on the
right shoulder. And I could see your influence. He may
not have asked you about how to block guys, but
every now and then I see that like a mini
version of Jackie out there blocking on special teams, which
is scary.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
That's really interesting.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
I just never thought he'd handle the physical rigors of
the sport the way as well as he has. But
I gotta I gotta give it to him. He is
really he's really been a hard worker. He pounds the
gym like like nobody else. He does all the running
that they asked him to do, and he takes a
lot of proud He probably wouldn't want me saying this,
(26:57):
but he said, Dad, you know, I've been around here
nine and I'm still the fastest guy here. He takes
a lot of pride in that, and and and it.
He has a great work ethic, and that that's what
I think you need to have to survive in or
sport like this man. But he's you know, I was
right about the one part of it. Me not wanting
(27:19):
him to deal with it because of his size, because
he's had his share of injuries. As you might imagine,
he's playing the position that he plays as is almost
as bad as what I was doing.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
It's like a car wreck all the time. So yeah,
it comes with us with this downfalls as well.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
But but we we get to steer the car, you know,
So it is it is kind of fun that way,
you know. And I have to say this about and
I love Andrew. Fifteen seasons in the National Football League
is impressive, but it's hard for me to be like
over the moon because I played with you. I played
with the dude that's done it for twenty seasons. So
I still see Andrew Whitworth as well. You've got somewhere
(27:57):
to go a little bit more to go before I
have to give you that what in the world Jackie
Slay to respect. But he's a talent man, I mean,
to play that long in the trenches is very impressive.
You've got to be impressed as well. Well.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
I'm certainly impressed with him. And I made the statement
a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
This past year, you know, when he was out and
all of that and rehabbing you know, the guys in
it is a valuable part of what coach McVeigh has
tried to do here. Coach mcveiy is, you know, everybody
views him as a very smart guy that generally makes
good decision with with what he wants to do in
(28:34):
the field and the people he wants to deploy to
do it. But there's this one element that he wasn't
able to provide, and that was experience and worth that
at work ethic on display. And so when you look
at a guy like Andrew Whitworth, who has been around
as long as he has, who is obviously keeping himself
(28:56):
physically fit the way he needs to be strong and
to be able to do the job, and then working
as hard as anybody else, this is the type of
guy that when you have a young team like the
Rams have the second youngest team in pro football, I
think you need to have a guy like that who
works hard, who talks the talk and walks the walk.
(29:17):
And that's what Andrew has done is he has said
this is the way you have to do it, and
he has done it the way you have to do it.
And then he shows up on Sundays and he does
it again and so his contribution to what has happened
over the last three four years here in Los Angeles
is immeasurable.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
And fairy tale endings. When they ask me what's the
coolest moment in my life of football, one of them
is carrying you off the field in Saint Louis. Wow,
that was awesome, I said, Jackie. May not even know
my first name, but I understand what this moment is about.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Man.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
You are never going to see a guy that plays
twenty years with one football team, not in this NFL. Wow,
And not on the offensive line, no way. So that
is a fairy tale end that was.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
That was an unbelievable day for me.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
And as you know, DeMarco, I had I busted up
my trice up and had a torn trice up and
so probably shouldn't even been in the game, but uh,
you know it was important for me, It was important
for the coach at that time and who felt it
was important for the organization that I that I play
that twentieth season, the innaugurl season of the Rams in
(30:28):
Saint Louis, and I did it. And and uh you know,
when when someone got the idea to pick my big
butt up and take it.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
When they got the idea to do that.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
I mean.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Somebody had to somebody had to volunteer to be underneath
that load.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Oh yeah, I had the right cheek and after about
farm stuff. So I'm like, okay, when are we gonna
put him down? But that was a big moment. Man.
But hey, Jackie, thank you for joining us. Now this
this has been huge for me, and this has been
huge for us. You're an icon your numbers retired. When
we started talking about doing a podcast called rams Iconic,
(31:08):
the first name that came up is you, because we're
all still chasing you no matter what we've done for
this franchise or in this league. I mean, it's you
still dwarf us, you know what I mean, You're still
larger than life. And I'm so glad every time we
get to catch up and see each other at functions
or I see you on TV, you know, chopping it up.
I just love seeing it and I love telling stories.
(31:29):
And thank you for joining us on rams Iconic. Man,
I really appreciate it that I can do it tomorrow, good,
no doubt. That's a wrap on another episode of Rams Iconic.
Thanks to all our fans for tuning in. And do
us a favor. Hit that subscribe button to be notified
when new episodes drop. You can also leave us a
review and let us know which rams icons you would
like to hear from next. Look, this is always this
(31:51):
is fun for me, so help us out and before
you know what, the twenty twenty one season will be
upon us and we cannot wait for you to step
inside the Rams House with us. There's still time to
be among the first to experience so Far Stadium and
you guys have got to see this. To join us
in purchase tickets, visit the rams dot com Slash twenty
twenty one. That's Rams dot Com Slash twenty twenty one.
(32:12):
Big thanks to what in the world give me, what
in the world, What in the world, What in the
world Jackie Slider for joining us today. I'm DeMarco far
thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time on
rams Icon.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
I'm in
Welcome to the Rams Iconic. I'm your host, DeMarco far
and this is the podcast where I get to catch
up with some of the greatest players in Rams history.
It's a chance for you, who the fans, to take
a trip down memory lane, reminisce about some of the
greatest moments you've had as Rams fans, but also an
opportunity to introduce to some of our newer fans the
iconic players that have made this franchise what it is
(00:25):
right now, what it is today. My next guest embodies
all of that. He's one of the all time greats.
And I don't just mean in horns with the Rams.
I'm talking NFL all time greats, seven time Pro Bowler.
He was a mainstay, and I think we need to
change the word mainstay to this guy's first name because
he embodies mainstay. He's a mainstay on the Rams offensive
(00:46):
line for twenty seasons, twenty years. People. In two thousand
and one, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall
of Fame. Please welcome in the Iconic the man, mister
what in the world, Jackie Slater, Big Jack.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It's good to see you, yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Good to see you too. Good to be seen.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
It is good to be seen, man, it really is
good to be seen.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I can tell you I've been watching you and listening
to you to do a fantastic job, and I think
sometimes it's hard to imagine how that guy who used
to get up the field so quickly as the defensive
tackle is doing so beautiful a job of the talking
about our team and our players and giving us a
really lot of insight into what's going on with the organization.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Well, I used to get up the field only on
the defensive right when I was away from you. I
paid a hefty price for trying to get off the
football on your side of Jackie.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
We had some good times, did we did?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
We did? What are you up to these days? What's
going on?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
I get to well, I'm just wrestling now. Man. It's
been it's been a turbulent year, you know, as you know, for.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Everybody, not only the local football team, but you know,
those of us who have been covering the team, those
of us who are just you know, trying to trying
to live in a society right now that's got so
many things coming at us, you know. It's you know,
the social unrest that we're dealing with, I mean, the pandemic.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
It's just a lot going on, and I find.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Myself in a few different categories relative to this virus.
So I have to, you know, just make sure I'm
trying to do everything that all the professionals are advising
us to do, you know, so that I can keep
myself and my family safe.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
You know, we were talking about the current players and
what they're going through. I guess the age of social unrest.
You played in the seventies, eighties, nineties, and into you know,
the arts basically, So what was that like playing in
the seventies as a young player? You came in nineteen
seventy six. The world, this country was a lot different
(02:52):
in seventy six. What was it like for you back then?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Well, it was different than but the coming ground that
I that I seek to, that I sought to find,
it was the reason why I was in California to
begin with. And that common ground was interacting with people
who had the same goals that I had, uh and
that was to play professional football, to have a career,
(03:15):
to be on a good football team, and to be
a good teammate.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And so you know, unity in that arena.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
It did a lot for me, and I think it
did a lot for everybody on our team at that time,
as we dealt with so many issues that were going
on around us and outside us.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
It.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Things have gotten a lot better, believe it or not.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
In light of some of the things that we've seen recently,
they could be a whole lot worse.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And I can tell you I've seen worse.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
But you know, it's it's just the unity that we
had in the unity that that that that made us
all work toward a common goal. That what that allowed
us to really lay many of our differences aside. Yeah,
it's and I can tell your relative to my teammates
(04:05):
a DeMarco just like with you, my teammates from that era,
you know, like some of them.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Are like brothers.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Man.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
We still have these really good relationships.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
You know. It's funny, Jack, I never noticed what a
guy looked like or what his skin looked like until
we looked in the mirror. When we're out there, we're
on the same side. It's you know, blue versus whatever.
But you know, it's it's it's what happens when you
leave the building is when real life starts, if that
makes any sense.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
It makes a lot of sense, and that that was
the world in which I lived in. You know, I
in a way, sports was a safe haven for me because,
as you know, I grew up in the state of Mississippi.
I was in the public school system when they forced
the integration there, and it was.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
A turbulent time.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
But but still during those times, there was there was
unity to be found, and there were there were people
who were inclusive. There were people who you know, did
their best to you know, get along, and and those
were the people that I always found myself avitating towards.
Those who were accepting, those who were open, and those
who were you know, working towards the same goals that I.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Was working towards.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
I remember walking through the door of the first day
a bunch of a group of rookies, and we're asking
a bunch of questions, like what is it to be
a pro? How do you be? How do you stay
in the NFL for more than two years? And they
wouldn't tell us how. They would just point at you.
Do what he does, do whatever, do everything he does.
Two hundred and fifty nine games, Jackie, twenty seasons in
(05:31):
the National Football League. Did you ever think you would
play that long. Was that a goal of yours when
you started I want to play twenty seasons?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
No, No, it really wasn't.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
My goal was to play as long as I could
and to be as good as I could for that
period of time, and that was what I sank my
teeth into.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Now.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
One of the things that had me always concerned about
me accomplishing those goals, at least the ones it was
to long term longevity was the way that I work,
the way that I practiced. I mean, I felt like
you wanted to practice the game the way you wanted
to play it. And so, you know, you and all
the other teammates that I had will probably remember that
(06:11):
I practiced and hit and as hard and worked as
hard as anybody. And I always, in the back of
my head would wonder, you know, I wonder if this
is going to shorten my career because nobody else is
doing all this banging and running and hitting and looking
for opportunities to you know, mix it up like me,
and I wonder how this is going to work.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Well as it turned out, you know, I was.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I was fortunate enough to be injuries free, major injuries
that were stopping from playing and you know, I played
the game even at an older age the way I
always wanted to practice it, and I think that that
was a big part of my success.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Over the long haul. Hall was just consistently practicing playing
the game.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Well, you know, it's funny. Sean Gilbert was there when
I was rookie. Jimmy Jones had just come over from Dallas.
Mark Boutet was We were loaded. We were loaded those dudes.
Fred Stokes was a great guy that. Fred Stokes was
a guy that brought us together, all the rookies because
we were fighting everybody or trying to fight everybody that day,
and he said, hey, look, man, you're here to make
it in the NFL, not just here, but the NFL,
(07:18):
so work on your craft. But I remember my first
rep and I'm jumping ahead little bit, but I got
to get into the story since you brought it up.
My first rep in one on one, the pass rush,
the big deal offense and defensive line getting together. My
first rep was against you. I'm not even sure if
you remember. You're a starter. I was like three or
four on the depth chart, So that means Jackie goes
(07:39):
against the starter, then he sits out the backup comes
in and takes on the backup. Then Jackie comes back
in to take on the rest of the threes in
the fours, which is me. I asked me, how many
reps I've taken that defensive end of my life. Zero? None.
So I'm looking at George Dyer, the d line coach,
and he was the de coordinator. He said, what do
you want me to do? I want you to win.
(08:01):
Go out there and try to beat Jackie. Great. I
come off the football, I'm trying to figure out the distance.
Before I knew it, I got hit with a two
piece to the face mask bith Then I got dropped
in the heat because your head budded me. The first
guy I saw was Isaac Bruce. He was standing on
the other side of the field just laughing like I
saw that, and so I'm thinking, man, maybe Jackie's dirty.
(08:23):
But what I learned after when I started to play
a little bit more was that's not dirty. That's game speed.
That's what the NFL is about. This is how they play.
They played for keeps on every single play. So it
wasn't about being dirty or being rough in practice. It
was about getting ready for game day. Game day is
a whole different animal.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Exactly. It certainly is.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
And as I said, I always wanted to chase the
rhythm that I thought I.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Would need on Sundays.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I didn't want to practice and then have to turn
it up in the games. I wanted to When I
was playing football, I was always playing football. I was
always playing football and trying to get ready and trying
to win. And so if you make it a habit,
I found that if you make it a habit of
winning trying to win, then you're gonna have a lot
of success when it really matters when other people are
(09:15):
all of a sudden trying to win.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
You know, I like that. It seems like today we're
trying to not hit as much. But from a guy
that played twenty seasons, I mean getting yourself ready for
game to that actually makes a lot more sense, you
know what I mean? Well, why should Sunday be a shock?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Exactly?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
For me, it's very difficult to imagine myself, even in
a sophisticated offense like the one that coach McVay is running.
It's hard for me to imagine myself being successful because
I know he takes care of his guys. He doesn't
let them play in the preseason, and I don't know
what they do in practice and everything relative to a
(09:53):
lot of hitting, but I know if you don't play
in the preseason, you know. I felt like the preseason
games were necessary evil to me. I had to get
into games to get my game honed, all aspects of it.
I mean, I would there were never there were times
that I would never chop block one of my teammates
in practice.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I would never do that.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
And there were times that I would never, you know,
let a hand slip from the chest to the throat
and squeeze. I had to If I got a chance
to do those things in the preseason game, then then
I then I could hoe them and I could use them,
and I could get my penalties in the preseason or
or find out what was wrong or what was not
(10:32):
what was working, and and that way I could take
my full arsenal into the regular season and try to
see My goal was to always have the Los Angeles
Rams to win at the right tackle spot, and I
felt like if if I did that consistently, then every year,
when the coaches do what they always do, which is
evaluate the team, the talent and see where we need
(10:55):
to improve that when they looked at the right tackle spot,
they would say, Okay, let's go to the next bot
because we know that's that's gonna.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Work for us.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
And that's pretty much what happened for twenty straight seasons.
And I just have to comment when you said put
your hand around a guy's throat and squeeze, your whole
demeanor didn't change. I mean, I've never heard somebody like
described that so casually. Now people get to see what
I'm talking about. Yeah, that was my first rep against them,
(11:24):
so I always want the right tackle win. And about
Sean mcmay, if he had a right tackle like you
on this team right now, I bet he would change
his game plan. I would. I mean he would have to.
I mean, when you have a guy like you, a Maller,
a guy that's that can go from Maller to Finesse
in a heartbeat. Uh, That's the thing that impressed me
so much about you. One more story. When I was
(11:46):
still in college, one of our guys, one of our seniors,
was playing for the Seahawks. He had just left us
and he played for the Seahawks. So he gave us
a bunch of the tickets and it just so happens,
he was lined up against you. So we're out there,
go tyh Oh my god, get up, Tyrone. Oh my god, Tyrone?
Are you okay? You know what I mean? And this
(12:06):
is a senior, this is a guy that's been throwing
people around for four years. And I'm like, oh, Jackie
is just treating this dude like a rag doll. That's
what the league is like. So yeah, man, but winning
for twenty years being that guy, your approach to the game,
when you got the knock on the door for the
Pro Football Hall of Fame when you started your your candidacy,
(12:27):
were you ever nervous about not getting in after twenty
years into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Absolutely not, absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
In fact, that's interesting and I will share with you
that I played in the last college All Star game
that they had back in Stokey, Illinois.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
It was a game to feature to defending Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Champions against this recently drafted group of guys you know,
from all over the country, Guys like Mike Haynes and
Archie Griffin and Chuck Muntsey myself, we all played in
that game together. When I got there to that game,
DeMarco I was the only African American offensive lineman there,
and I was third string at every position, Centergarden tackle
on both sides.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
And we were doing sid Gilman the Hall of Famer
and Air Parsig where the head coaches and the offensive
line coaches and and we were just in bowld mode.
It was all walking around and touching people that you're
supposed to block and everything.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
And I had never ever done that in my life.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
And you know in college when I played with Walter Payton,
Walter Payton got struck in practice and on several occasions,
and our quarterbacks got sacked in practice in some of
our drills.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
So it was a it.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Was a totally different environment coming from there to that
bowl game environment where one to step in touch.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
And I'm thinking, okay, well I just got married. I
got everything I owned in the green.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
For the locker back here in my room they got
and I'm getting behind two weeks before I go.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
To camp, and they got me stepping and touching. Wow.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
And so I decided to get him about that time
the hustle blow and we were going to go down
to where we would do a little bit more scrimmaging
and get a little bit more physical. Well, on the
way down there, Sid Gilman told me, he said, Jackie,
he said, he said, we do our hitting down here.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
He said, you came off the bottle two hundred over, don't.
We don't want to do that. And I'm thinking, my god.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
What what? How am I going to make it? I'm
thinking about leaving there and going to camp so I
can compete. Well, anyway, I thought about it, and I
went on and I came out the next day and
I said, hey man, I'm not getting any reps. I
only get about two or three reps when we go
down to the to the scrimmage here.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
So I got to get my reps here.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
So I told the guy, I said, hey man, I'm
coming off, and I did the same thing. Sid jumped in,
stopped the drill, and I had five straight one on
one drive blocks during that period of time.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
And then I'm I'm you know last I got after
the first couple of guys, But the last couple you
got guys like Stevene House and Leroy selling and guys
like that. And the last couple of guys they flipped
me around pretty good. Well, I'm tired, and we go
down to now the hitting part. So I guess Sid
was going to show me, and he told me to
get in there at right guard because I was tired. Man.
(15:15):
But the thing that he didn't realize, or nobody realized,
is that I had worked up the lather by this time.
So if you give me, I'm a ten straight opportunities,
I want to be all about.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
And that's what happened.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
They moved me to the start and right guard spot,
and from that point on to Marco, I felt like, Okay,
this is what you have to do with the big guys. Consistently.
I got the right attitude. I just got to consistently
do it.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
What year was that?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
This is in nineteen seventy six.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Nineteen seventy six. Okay, so by nineteen ninety four you
forgot how to get warning about I'm coming off the ball.
You just kind of just did it. I mean, that
was my warning. I'm setting your hearts back. Oh so,
Jackie's coming hard right.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
You were a pro, and I assumed that you knew
exactly what you were doing.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
So I said, I still had tape with my name
on my helper. Jackie, I'm not a pro yet. I'm
in between here, man, I will.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
I will admit DeMarco that after seeing you move around
as a youngster and seeing you inside over those guards,
when I saw you, I thought to him, I said,
the first thing I began to do is analyze what
I thought your strengths were relative to the way you
were physically built.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
When you first saw me. Oh yeah, wow.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
And so what I what I can what I what
I concluded right away was this guy's a dynamically explosive
off the ball. First two or three steps can kill
you dead if you don't do it right. And then
he's probably not real rangey once he takes that two
or three steps and gets up the field. And so
what I tried to do was play you based on
(16:58):
what I thought anatomically your strengths were.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
See, look you you had me dialed in from the
word go. I knew it. See, I knew it from
the word.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Some time I'm wrong. Sometime I was wrong about it,
but not too often.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
I'm trying to figure out this man has eighteen years
experience on me, See what I mean, I'm trying to
figure out where the bathroom is, and he's already broken
me down. But sure, exactly right, you know, And between
you and Tom Newberry and Leo Goez. Oh god, the
guys that were on that team, on that offensive line. Uh,
you were the guys that taught me how to work
and not fight, how to work to win. But don't
(17:32):
embarrass you know what I mean. We're all trying to
get better out here. So yeah, that that that that
was a big deal. Hey, on this podcast, we do
this thing and there's so many plays with you, two
hundred and fifty nine games and they gave me a
stat twenty four quarterbacks and thirty seven running backs in
twenty seasons. I mean, that's that's a ton and you've
had a lot of success. When I went back through
(17:52):
your career, and this is funny about NFL players past
and present. We all think the league started and ends
with us, but watching your career and how great and
how dominant the LA Rams were in the eighties and
moving into the nineties and then when the wheels kind
of came off and then everything else happened. But went
in the NFC West and going to the playoffs every
(18:13):
single year and just having so much success. We do
this thing on this pod and it's fun. If you
could pick one play my favorite play when you look
back at something specific in your career. I know there
was a lot, but if there's one play that stands
out the most, take your time and describe it a
little bit for us. If there's one play that you
can remember that stands out above all.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Oh man, that is that is one heck of a question, man,
Because you know, when you get to be my age,
and you know, you have a tendency to look back.
And I find myself often, you know, lying in bed
or sitting when I'm alone it was quiet, and my
mind drifts to my career. I think about some of
(18:56):
the great players that I had to play against, some
of the unique talented guys, some of the Hall of
Fame guys. You know, I played against guys like how
We Long and Mark Gasteno and two Tall Jones and
I mean Fred Dean, and I mean Reggie White and
(19:18):
in the list in the list Ray Childress. I think
about those guys, and I marveled at how I was
able to get through, you know, how I was able
to get through playing against guys like that and not
get embarrassed.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
But I think one of the.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Things that I would think that I would put my
finger on is you know, we played the Philadelphia Eagles,
and it wasn't the game in Philadelphia in the playoffs
where we beat them and nobody expected us to and
I kind of neutralized Reggie White. They came to Anaheim
Stadium and Reggie White at this time was done there
pretty much unblockable. I mean, this guy was dominating people
(19:56):
like you wouldn't believe. And I remember after this game
was over with, I remember us sitting in the meeting
room and our offensive line coach, one of the best
of all times, Hudson Howe, he went through the film
and then about four different times as he went through
that film, he would point out something I did and
(20:18):
he said, we can't do this. The room was full
of young men and he young much younger guys, and
he said, we can't do this. This is going to
get our quarterback killed. We can't make plays like this.
And each time it was me doing something that he
did not teach. Well, he did it four times because
I chopped. I got the guy on the ground four times.
(20:41):
But what happened was I chopped Reggie White, he hit
the ground, he got up running and Jim Everett still
had the ball in his hand. And then Jim threw
the ball and Reggie would touch him on the back
and look downfield. That happened four times on seven step
drops in that game, and every time I did it,
Hudson would call me out in front of those young
(21:03):
offensive linemen. Then he said, I need to talk to you, Jackie,
and he had everybody leave the room, and when they
left the room, I'm thinking, okay. He walked up to
me after the door closed, when the last guy walked out,
and he shook my hand and he said, hell of
a job. He said, you know why I had to
get on you in front of this group of guys
(21:23):
about what you did? And I said, yeah, I think
I understand. He said, no, the reason why I had
to get on you and come down on it is
because most of the guys in this room would not
have been thinking the way you were thinking. You only
chopped this guy when he, at three hundred and fifteen pounds,
was running fast as he could, full speed, and then
(21:44):
you chopped him, and his momentum kept him on the
ground for another second and a half and by the
time he got up and ran toward the quarterback, it
was too late. He said, But if one of these
young guys tried to do that against him and didn't
time it right and didn't think.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Through it just right. We got a dead quarterback, so
you understand.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
And he shook my hand, and it was one of
those moments where I've always felt like, Yeah, you gotta
be technically silent, you gotta do things right. But you
got to know your opponent. You got to be able
to look at body bills and recognize what their strengths are.
You got to understand momentum and how to handle and
manage momentum.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
And so these are some things I took a lot
of pride in.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
And nobody else was thinking about chopping Reggie White on
seven step drop.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
On a grass field in Anaheim but me. But I
knew exactly when to do it, and I was just
so pleased that it worked out the way it did.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Well. Yeah, nobody was crazy enough to try. You know,
you paid a heavy price if you tried to cut
Reggie and it didn't work out for you, you know
what I mean?
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah, but I did.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
I caught the tail end of that because I think
we went to Green Bay in ninety four when I
was a rookie, and you and him were tangling again,
and it seemed like it was a the game was
over here and it was just you two in another battle,
you know what I mean. Yeah, And it was it
was I think you shut him out for the first half,
And it was the first time I seen Reggie White
(23:08):
come out of the locker room straight meat. He had
took up he took off all his tape. Reggie was
visibly frustrated. And then you got hurt and we had
to put in weighn Gandy and it was good night
Irene from there.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Yeah, that's pretty much the way I remember that outing. Uh,
it was. It was a different time for me.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
I was I was a little bit longer in the
tooth at that time, and and I recognized that Reggie
was still playing at a very, very high level, and
so there was no doubt about it. It was not
going to be standing an operational protocol relative to the
coaches and what they were asking me to do. It
was about understanding what we were trying to do schematically
(23:46):
and making sure that this guy didn't impact impact us
in a negative way.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
All I remember is Reggie had a big old donut
stat wise for that first half, and it was just
you and him go. It was. It was fun for
me to watch that live, Like I felt like I
had the best seat in the house for like a
heavyweight battle. It was great. Man, I cannot let you
get out of here without talking about your son a
little bit. Matt Slacker. He's been in New England his
entire career and nine time pro bowler, three time Super
(24:14):
Bowl champion. How about that? How about that? I mean,
you've just got to be so proud of him.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
I am, I am. I think he was probably more
a little bit more amazed. I'm a little bit more amazed.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Because you know my son, you know, he grew up
watching what I did and wanting to do it. And
I didn't discouraged it because he was a small, smaller guy,
and you know I didn't.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I just didn't see.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
He had warm glasses and he had you know, asthma
and everything else, and I'm thinking, you know this, we
need to do baseball and track and field or something
if he's fast enough to do it.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
And he was, you know, a good enough athlete.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
And I mostly encouraged him academically, and that was one
of the reasons why he went to ucl A and
and all of that but you know, the young man
has an has an unbelievable work ethic. He has unbelievable
respect for the people that are playing this game because
he was around a lot of different my teammates over
(25:15):
the years, and and he knew how hard people were working.
He saw people dealing with injuries.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
And all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
And he has a he has a respect for the game,
and he believes that there's a right way to do
do it and and that's what he's tried to do.
And and you know, he rarely ever has had to
ask me for any advice. He's just consistently done things
the right way. And I and I, my wife and I,
(25:41):
as you said, we're very proud of him and thankful
also that the National Football League has provided him an
opportunity to, just like it did me, to use the
god given abilities that we have in a sport that
we love playing.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Every now and then when I do watch him play,
he was just here this past year in so far
when he gets on his man on special teams, and
a credit to him and you that he's made an
unglamorous position special teamer a glamorous spot, so much so
that the Rams went out and drafted a Matt Slater clone,
(26:15):
you know what I mean. So he's made that spot
his own. But every now and then when I see
him get on the block, he always gets on the
right shoulder. And I could see your influence. He may
not have asked you about how to block guys, but
every now and then I see that like a mini
version of Jackie out there blocking on special teams, which
is scary.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
That's really interesting.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
I just never thought he'd handle the physical rigors of
the sport the way as well as he has. But
I gotta I gotta give it to him. He is
really he's really been a hard worker. He pounds the
gym like like nobody else. He does all the running
that they asked him to do, and he takes a
lot of proud He probably wouldn't want me saying this,
(26:57):
but he said, Dad, you know, I've been around here
nine and I'm still the fastest guy here. He takes
a lot of pride in that, and and and it.
He has a great work ethic, and that that's what
I think you need to have to survive in or
sport like this man. But he's you know, I was
right about the one part of it. Me not wanting
(27:19):
him to deal with it because of his size, because
he's had his share of injuries. As you might imagine,
he's playing the position that he plays as is almost
as bad as what I was doing.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
It's like a car wreck all the time. So yeah,
it comes with us with this downfalls as well.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
But but we we get to steer the car, you know,
So it is it is kind of fun that way,
you know. And I have to say this about and
I love Andrew. Fifteen seasons in the National Football League
is impressive, but it's hard for me to be like
over the moon because I played with you. I played
with the dude that's done it for twenty seasons. So
I still see Andrew Whitworth as well. You've got somewhere
(27:57):
to go a little bit more to go before I
have to give you that what in the world Jackie
Slay to respect. But he's a talent man, I mean,
to play that long in the trenches is very impressive.
You've got to be impressed as well. Well.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
I'm certainly impressed with him. And I made the statement
a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
This past year, you know, when he was out and
all of that and rehabbing you know, the guys in
it is a valuable part of what coach McVeigh has
tried to do here. Coach mcveiy is, you know, everybody
views him as a very smart guy that generally makes
good decision with with what he wants to do in
(28:34):
the field and the people he wants to deploy to
do it. But there's this one element that he wasn't
able to provide, and that was experience and worth that
at work ethic on display. And so when you look
at a guy like Andrew Whitworth, who has been around
as long as he has, who is obviously keeping himself
(28:56):
physically fit the way he needs to be strong and
to be able to do the job, and then working
as hard as anybody else, this is the type of
guy that when you have a young team like the
Rams have the second youngest team in pro football, I
think you need to have a guy like that who
works hard, who talks the talk and walks the walk.
(29:17):
And that's what Andrew has done is he has said
this is the way you have to do it, and
he has done it the way you have to do it.
And then he shows up on Sundays and he does
it again and so his contribution to what has happened
over the last three four years here in Los Angeles
is immeasurable.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
And fairy tale endings. When they ask me what's the
coolest moment in my life of football, one of them
is carrying you off the field in Saint Louis. Wow,
that was awesome, I said, Jackie. May not even know
my first name, but I understand what this moment is about.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Man.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
You are never going to see a guy that plays
twenty years with one football team, not in this NFL. Wow,
And not on the offensive line, no way. So that
is a fairy tale end that was.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
That was an unbelievable day for me.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
And as you know, DeMarco, I had I busted up
my trice up and had a torn trice up and
so probably shouldn't even been in the game, but uh,
you know it was important for me, It was important
for the coach at that time and who felt it
was important for the organization that I that I play
that twentieth season, the innaugurl season of the Rams in
(30:28):
Saint Louis, and I did it. And and uh you know,
when when someone got the idea to pick my big
butt up and take it.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
When they got the idea to do that.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
I mean.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Somebody had to somebody had to volunteer to be underneath
that load.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Oh yeah, I had the right cheek and after about
farm stuff. So I'm like, okay, when are we gonna
put him down? But that was a big moment. Man.
But hey, Jackie, thank you for joining us. Now this
this has been huge for me, and this has been
huge for us. You're an icon your numbers retired. When
we started talking about doing a podcast called rams Iconic,
(31:08):
the first name that came up is you, because we're
all still chasing you no matter what we've done for
this franchise or in this league. I mean, it's you
still dwarf us, you know what I mean, You're still
larger than life. And I'm so glad every time we
get to catch up and see each other at functions
or I see you on TV, you know, chopping it up.
I just love seeing it and I love telling stories.
(31:29):
And thank you for joining us on rams Iconic. Man,
I really appreciate it that I can do it tomorrow, good,
no doubt. That's a wrap on another episode of Rams Iconic.
Thanks to all our fans for tuning in. And do
us a favor. Hit that subscribe button to be notified
when new episodes drop. You can also leave us a
review and let us know which rams icons you would
like to hear from next. Look, this is always this
(31:51):
is fun for me, so help us out and before
you know what, the twenty twenty one season will be
upon us and we cannot wait for you to step
inside the Rams House with us. There's still time to
be among the first to experience so Far Stadium and
you guys have got to see this. To join us
in purchase tickets, visit the rams dot com Slash twenty
twenty one. That's Rams dot Com Slash twenty twenty one.
(32:12):
Big thanks to what in the world give me, what
in the world, What in the world, What in the
world Jackie Slider for joining us today. I'm DeMarco far
thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time on
rams Icon.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
I'm in
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