First off, what have you been up to since your playing days?
I wish I could say it’s been exciting. I’m a single dad who was coaching high school here in Texas. I was on TV for Fox and the Big 10 Network for a while, but I’ve mostly been just enjoying being a father. My son has lived with me most of the time and it’s just been great being able to pick him up and take him to school.
Other than that, it hasn’t been that exciting. Athletes when they retire they try to find those things that they can be great at, but it’s not easy to find another thing that you can be at the top one percent at.
As a coach, what lessons did you find yourself leaning on from when you played?
During my career I unfortunately had to play in a ton of different offenses my first six seasons. I only played in the same offense back-to-back years once. It wasn’t ideal as a player, but it did help me as a coach.
Brooks, Vermeil, Saban, Perles – I’ve been around some great coaches. Saban – no one knew X’s and O’s better than he did – and he knew how to push a player’s buttons. When you’re dialed in as a coach you know your players, and he knew how to motivate guys. – like a parent would. So I learned a lot from that.
You were a terrific baseball player as well – why football?
Baseball came easy. In my day I watched guys like Vince Coleman and Darryl Strawberry – there were so many African-American players then. My neighborhood had a lot of guys drafted, included Keith Mitchell. I figured I could do that too!
Baseball was the only sport I played since I was six years old. Practices were easy – much easier than football or basketball practices. Less running! I figured I could be the next Ken Griffey – then you start facing a different level of pitching! When I played for the Twins farm system the GM was interviewed and he said then he could see I was talented but that I didn’t love playing. Football was my passion – I even liked basketball more than baseball really.
Did you have anyone take you under their wings when you were drafted by the Rams?
No one player really. Jack Reilley was the offensive coordinator and he coached the heck out of me. Sometimes as a starting quarterback coaches are afraid to yell at you – they want to keep the relationship good and are afraid you have that direct line to the GM. But Rich Brooks believed in me too. They signed Steve Walsh before they drafted me to what was a big contract then. I beat him out in preseason but they started him in the beginning of the season. He just wasn’t able to get the ball to the guys who were open downfield. So that’s when they put me in.
I didn’t accomplish all that they had expectations for me to accomplish. They ended up firing Brooks too. We had seven rookies starting on offense and won five of our last eight, but it wasn’t enough I guess.
What happened that second season?
Then Dick Vermeil came in. They drafted Lawrence Phillips and wanted to build the offense around him. That second season I didn’t go to mini-camp – we just bought a new home and I wanted to get settled in there. On paper it was a voluntary mini-camp! I should have gone though – sometimes my head was probably bigger than it should have been. That didn’t go over well – can you imagine if a quarterback didn’t go to mini-camp today?
Well, they threatened to draft Jake Plummer after that! Me and Dick though – we had a great relationship. We still do. My dad passed in 2021, and if anyone was like a second dad to me, it was Dick.
How did you end up in Baltimore?
Dick Vermeil told me they were going to trade me. I didn’t play well – I was injured but I also just didn’t play well – I was rattled. I tried to do too much.
I had a couple of choices as to where to go. Baltimore offered a worse draft pick but Dick gave me the choice and I chose Baltimore.
Why?
Baltimore signed Scott Mitchell and I felt like I could beat him out. They signed Stoney Case later on. I had flashes that preseason – some good plays, but I threw an ugly pick and took some sacks. When Brian Billick called me in his office I thought he was going to tell me I was starting, but instead he told me I was third string behind Stoney Case. He told me he didn’t like the way I called plays and walked to the huddle. I was young and more ghetto then – today they’d call it swagger! But I was devastated when he told me.
I did like Brian’s offense but we didn’t get along. But Mitchell and Case didn’t perform well and I was dropping dimes in practice. I was just waiting – I knew they had to come to me! That was my best season when they put me in that year. We beat the Titans who made it to the Super Bowl – I threw for four touchdowns!
Were you aware of the Steelers rivalry then?
It’s funny because my first experience against the Steelers was when I played them as a rookie. That’s when they had Woodson, Lloyd, Kirkland…..they had friction’ studs. I was a rookie and never saw a 3-4 defense before. All the pass protections and schemes I was used to were based on four down linemen. All my communication was messed up. They’d drop one lineman and the effect it has on you – people don’t understand. All of your depth rules get messed up.
We were starting seven rookies on offense – we were just a bunch of dudes fresh out of college going up against Dick LeBeau’s fire-zone defense!
How did it go?
We got smashed! And that was the year after they traded away Jerome Bettis for some crazy reason. I have no idea what they were thinking. He lit us up! You could tell he had that game circled on his calendar. They just bullied us.
How did it go when you were in Baltimore?
In Baltimore I got to play against Kent Graham and Kordell Stewart – so we got some wins there!
In fact Brian Billick and me – we had our best moment during s Steelers game. I started a game 3-14 – it was a terrible half. But in the third quarter I threw a few big touchdown passes to Qadry Ismail and threw for like 200 yards. Billick and I didn’t like each other, but I remember him coming up to me and telling me he was impressed – that he didn’t know that I could come back when I started so poorly. That was a rare moment where we actually spoke with one another.
What do you think of the NFL today coming from the perspective of a quarterback who started so quickly?
I didn’t play football until my Junior year in high school and ended up starting my first year in the NFL. The NFL was just so much more difficult for most than college – you had to learn how to read coverages, match footwork with route concepts… But when I got there I was really well prepared already in college for those things. It’s still a big adjustment but I felt prepared for it.
When I retired and saw all of the college offenses afterwards – I didn’t think a lot of those would infiltrate the NFL game and be successful, like RPOs. I remember when Washington drafted RGIII and then Kirk Cousins. I knew what they were going to do. They were going to try that college offense style with RGIII but if it didn’t end up working they’d go back to the pro style offense with Cousins. It took a while but that’s what happened.
Back when I played you threw passes they don’t throw now. Those deep comebacks – those aren’t in many NFL playbooks now. You need to have those big arms then. The best quarterbacks now though – they don’t have to have those big arms. A lot of the game is about those short passes that end up getting receivers crushed by linebackers! I remember seeing Pierre Garcon in Washington getting crushed in those RPO offenses back then.
Now, I think playing quarterback is easier. I know I sound like one of the old-timers complaining about how the game has changed. But we didn’t have the gimme throws then like you have now. So many throws now are behind or at the line of scrimmage. There’s an art to that too but it takes less arm strength. I had to learn to appreciate that. Back then only a few quarterbacks had a 60% completion rate – now if you don’t have that you’re a bad quarterback. The game has evolved. And I’ve become a bigger fan of it now.