NFL Films: Playing With Fire (1989)

[Music] so hi i'm steve sable and welcome to playing with fire this film is about men whose will to win an almost fanatical pursuit of excellence was so extraordinary that it forever defined their careers and earned for them a lasting place in the folklore the national football league now we're also going to take a look at two very different active players who have carried forward this torch of spirit and devotion playing with fire is a collection of essays really but it's also a story of the heart and how it beats a little differently in all of us it's a story of inspiration and the various shapes it has taken over the years in the national football league so let's begin with a player whose path to the summit was filled with potholes now a lesser man than phil sims would never have navigated this bumpy road to super bowl stardom [Music] on a typical southern california day the new york giants won their first super bowl behind a powerful performance by their quarterback phil simms [Music] the super bowl mvp was nearly flawless as he hit on 22 of 25 passes including all 10 he threw in the decisive second half for sims this shining moment was the fulfillment of a dream always dreamed that i would play in the super bowl play well be on the winning team and you know and i had myself winning being the mvp of the game in my dreams too i mean i had and i think that all the athletes all of us all people we dream and you always hell why would i want to dream and dream of going to super bowl and losing you know if i want to dream i'm going to do it up on that fateful day in january of 1987 phil sims led the giants into the promised land ending a 30-year championship draw it was truly a day of deliverance for this long-suffering nfl franchise but above all it was a day of redemption for the persistent quarterback from little known morehead state who first came to new york in 1979 as a rather unpopular number one draft pick new york giants first round selection quarterback phil sims morehead state [Applause] the booing carried over to the playing field [Music] although sims displayed considerable talent and a refreshing enthusiasm there were some who thought he did not have the stomach to make it in new york his first five seasons ended with injury the promise of a great career had become paralyzed by a nagging self-doubt that seems to test all great athletes at some time in their life i many times it said well maybe this is the way it's going to be you know maybe you're not quite as good as you think you are and maybe you're just not going to get a chance to show that you can do the job because of injuries because of this it was tough and i had nothing else to fall back on it's like i said well i think i'll just quit and go coach i couldn't do that so i just hung in there and i played and kept doing my best working out doing what i could do and things turned around for me with the patience of job phil sims overcame adversity beginning in 1984 and continuing for three consecutive seasons sims started every game tossing aside any lingering doubts about his durability and his passion for winning in 1986 sims remarkable will was the catalyst for a memorable season that rightfully earned a place in nfl history it was a year of clutch fourth down plays i've come from behind heroics that fueled dramatic last-second victories it was a season that seemed to draw upon divine inspiration it was high drama infused with noble purpose fourth and seventeen two receivers left one on the right james dropped back to the 40s sam's grows completely in yes at the 30-yard line first down for phil simms there was little doubt that the fire that burned in 1986 had been smoldering close to the surface during those early years of frustration that could well have devoured a lesser man here's a guy who's had a fight through adversity probably as much or more than anybody else with a with a press that has been on him and the fans have been on them but he had to fight through it by himself and i think that he willed himself into being an outstanding performer the super bowl exercised the demons that had been clinging to sim since 1979. the next challenge is sports ultimate achievement performing at a high level over a long period of time while the giants have been unable to retrace their championship steps sims has not been detoured on his own road to success not only has he showcased the glitter and dazzle that big games demand but more importantly he has time and again revealed the grit and toughness that winning quarterbacks are all about i have a tremendous amount of confidence in phil simms as a player because i know that when he goes on the field he's going to take his shots he's going to blame himself first for things that don't go well he's not a second guess or he doesn't criticize his teammate teammates and yet he's a tremendously competitive and i think he's a visibly competitive guy and it's quite obvious you can win a championship with them but i think you can sustain excellence with them also [Music] sustaining excellence means taking your shots and then fighting back with a spirit and will that refuses to acknowledge defeat for 10 seasons sims has been knocked down and kicked around only to persevere and stand tall as one of the finest quarterbacks of the 1980s one of my friends in college said one time he says the worst thing you can do is ever beat phil on anything because he will leave there and go and practice until he's good enough and he will come back and beat you and and i think and he's right that's sums up my personality and so far my life and things don't work well i'll go away and try to get it done until i can come back and make a respectable showing and get it done phil sims plays with a fire and determination seldom seen even in the highly charged world of pro football that makes him a winner pat fisher stood five foot nine inches tall and weighed 165 pounds and was as good an acorn as you could find at a time when nfl teams were looking for oaks the cardinals drafted him out of nebraska in 1961 and after a brief tryout as a receiver number 37 became their left cornerback a position he owned for seven years he was a small but angry tornado that whirled out and whacked anyone who approached his funnel he had perfect form he had great form yeah i think he i think his height helped him because he was able to get down there and get down below you're still getting your chest to hit down where you get hit and lift fischer reduce the art of tackling to a simple matter of angles and leverage stay low keep my head up while i make contact lift and take at least one of his legs away from him if i can get him off the ground with one leg i'm going to win the war because now he doesn't have any power what he has to have is both legs driving in order for him to run over me traded to the redskins in 1975 few players ran over number 37 but even in washington his skirmishes with backs and receivers were part of a 17-year battle for respect [Music] pat couldn't have been five nine 170 at tops that's what they wrapped him up in a lot of tape and i was six five and a little bit more and coach lombardi used to always say well this is like taking candy from a baby pat fisher shows that size and speed is not necessarily the number one requisite for a football player never missed a practice never missed a game played 110 he was as tough as nails loved the game tremendous competitor fischer played the corner with his head first and his body second this enabled him to anticipate a receiver's every move [Music] if you can remember back in those days they played a lot of bump and run man-to-man defense and he'd be on you like your underwear no matter he was like a fly you could never get rid of him you're whacking him and you think you're open and there he is and when you did catch a ball in his area he let you know he would nail you he would take on full backs half backs a guard pulling out he'd dip underneath him because pat fisher attacked much larger players with such relish it's surprising that he is a soft-spoken scholarly man who appears more at home in the classroom than on a football field most important is to avoid the fear once you win that war that's the middle thing that it's not going to hurt and and that big you can win the war it's kind of exciting to do it if pain isn't going to be a part of it only embarrassment is left if i fail to make the contact and get him down you have to be a hitter you have to run through people now what makes you a good football player is how often you do that if you do it every play you're going to be a great football player you tackle like a rope or a crab he hits you with all fours legs arms everything and without exception he hurts you every time he tackles you he'd catch a high pass from him and he jump on your back and get his fingers in your eyes and claw you to death that first game was a pretty good experience for me because you know i got out there and he started talking to me and and he intimidated me threatened to break my leg this that you know he was probably the the one guy that i've ever played against in professional football where when you came off the line of scrimmage you had to know where he was at fisher was fearless and tenacious many players have these qualities but few could shape them into such a frightening and unrelenting force [Music] from whistle to gun he beat on agitated outwitted and intimidated receivers he was the pepper in the redskins stew distraction is is the key to the why you want to intimidate make them think about you make them know and realize that if they do catch the ball you're going to have they're going to have to pay the penalty for it and over a period of time the war will be won by the guy that's more aggressive fisher's most famous jewels were fought with the eagles harold carmichael number 17 an oak who outsized the acorn by 11 inches and 50 pounds [Music] go through the receiver to the bone and in that case with harold carmichael it was always proved to be a valuable instrument go through him to the ball go through him to the ball if you want to run inside you may catch it and you may get the first down but i'm going to have to hit you [Music] i'm going to have to punish you for doing it that's the rule few could deny their admiration for this toy terrier who kept nipping at their heels his peers respected fisher for his spirit and spunk for they realized that few players had mined the ore of their talent so completely pat fisher was not that fast not that big but he had to he had a heart loved the game smart football player should be an all-pro should be in the hall of fame someday pat fisher packed such intensity into every play focused his talent with such skill aged with such grace that he played more games at cornerback than any player in nfl history to joe capp football was always a matter of fun and chance above all it was a game of challenge where spontaneity netted better results than playbook planning the former minnesota viking quarterback often turned a football field into a bowl ring although in him there ran the blood of the bull not the matador [Music] he's the only offensive player i ever met the quarterback who would attack defensive players and he would charge at him didn't have to run wood [Music] some form of challenge is necessary on every play that you play and if you don't come up to that line of scrimmage as a quarterback ready to challenge that defense they're going to eat you up i think it was against the rams i think it was uh sometimes he was mad at some player over there i think he's number 58 or one of the linebackers so joe gets under center and he goes set one hot tail 58. so yeah he's uh jose joe's fun to play with joe capp always managed to mix laughter with victory he led the university of california to its last rose bowl in 1959 before winning the canadian football league's grey cup championship with bud grant he came to a losing viking franchise in 1967 there his sense of humor was sorely [Music] tested vikings fans held their breath every time he lofted the football his passes wobbled never whistled but more often than not they were caught and the vikings found the leader in this gutsy quarterback who never ducked a linebacker's punch on the field or off of it lonnie warwick and joe capp got in a real fight one night after a ball game after we lost the green bay packers lonnie was saying it was the defense's fault and joe said no it was the offensive fault and they got to a fist of cuffs about the thing so we break it up and uh pretty soon they sneak out well there's a fence there a wooden fence around the yard so to make sure no one got hurt the rule was that one stayed on one side of the fence and the other stayed in the other side of the fence so they just had a little fence in between them and they just went toe to toe with the fence in between and knocked the hell out of each other [Music] he was not your typical kind of quarterback you know he was ready to give his all in all situations and that's what i think we rallied behind 1969 cap rallied the vikings to a come-from-behind win over the rams for their first ever playoff victory [Applause] one week later he personally crushed cleveland for the nfl title a game best remembered for the indelible mark capped left on the browns defense it is rare one one player's invincible will motivates a team to victory it is rarer still when that same man's humble humanity inspires a team to a sense of brotherhood [Applause] probably one of the better things that we had as a team was our closeness as a team among both black and white players and i think that joe cap was kind of a key to that i got to the team you know and maybe there were some parties going on with uh with the wall street gang over here and and maybe some over here with the black guys and i got invited all of them i said hey man but why don't we have a party together you know i'm a mexican you know i mean i get invited why don't we all have a party john henderson all right i remember when they won the 1969 nfc title game against cleveland and carl was up there waving his fist and he said joe he said you're my brother and he meant it and he was crying and joel was crying and he had this big joe had this big bottle of champagne in his and he just smashed the champagne on his locker because that was a very important thing for a black player to tell joe capp that's why they won a lot of games with your plan i know for a fact that there is no most valuable viking there are only 40 most valuable vikings i i just can't accept this thank you because of a contract dispute joe capp never played again for the minnesota vikings but the men he left behind went on to become one of the league's most closely knit and competitive teams that is the legacy of this quarterback whose habit of playing from his heart won him the admiration of his teammates his fans and even his opponents he was he was a good leader and sometimes that makes up for skill uh as far as you know whether the ball is a is a spiral or a duck if it got there and if if the receiver knew that if he didn't catch the damn thing and it was catchable that joe would say something about it i would love to play with a guy like [Music] that in the nfl every sunday is a day of deliverance each man believing his will and spirit are unwavering no matter what obstacles lay in his path [Music] for reggie white that devotion is divinely ordained this man is a true believer through people looking at reggie white i want them to see jesus so that they can maybe come and ask me hey what what makes you do this what makes you get past the guy get to the quarterback what makes you get 21 sacks in 12 games i let them know hey it's jesus [Music] the first time i met him were introduced in a church and i looked at them and of course the the normal thing that you think dad this this guy's big as the church service went on we cried together we prayed together and i knew then where his heart was i knew he had the power i really did but i didn't realize it was this much power that power a lot of people would not understand and that's that's what i have i feel like in that edge that when people see what i do on the field they can come to me and ask me where you get the screen how do you do it and i can let them know you got to put your faith into action [Music] is i try to separate myself as a christian ball player to play the game fair to play like it needs to be played and to reach a level that that no one else has reached and that's to be the best at what i do after four nfl seasons white has been to the mountaintop the power of faith has delivered the most dominant defensive lineman in pro football white began his journey in 1985 with a different number 91 but the same power of conviction even as an nfl rookie white exercised his single-minded belief that he could obliterate all obstacles in his path to the [Music] quarterback a year later the number on his jersey changed as did the eagles head coach buddy ryan the architect of the bear super bowl defense recognized that he had not only a unique player but also a special man an uncommon respect bonds these two men together in a relationship that goes well beyond coach and player you know i tell you i'll tell you you know my coach buddy ryan i tell you he's so ugly when he cried he's gonna back his head avoid his face i'll tell you don't cut me for that buddy okay he is a player that has to dominate the game he's the best defensive lineman i've ever been around with the ability the good lord gave him unbelievable white's unearthly abilities can disengage any offense he is the main reason ryan can utilize so many different defensive alignments in the 46 he would put me on the nose that leads me one-on-one with the center that's usually an advantage for me i cannot use my quickness and strength to beat the center and then when we play the 43 put me back out at the end at times i guess it could confuse the offense wondering where i might be and that's something i think we use well there's nobody in the game that can wreck an offense like he can because he can line up at the nose guard he can line up a defensive end he's big and strong enough and fast enough to beat you in any any way possible this minister of defense will get down on his knees to accomplish his mission white's heart is the soul that provides the inspiration for an improving defense that focuses more and more on the big play back goes doug williams head sack back at the 30. eagles pick up the football running with the downfield reggie white reggie white comes up at the football and scores a touchdown that was almost like magic reggie white has probably never run this far in his life [Applause] while white has earned the respect of both the cynical philadelphia fans and his peers on the playing field reggie finds his main source of support in his wife sarah go reggie go reggie go reggie get him [Applause] [Music] i'm reggie white's fan but i'm an eagles fan also and i'm rooting all the time [Music] no matter what stadium i'm in i always express it and everybody around me knows [Music] come on [Applause] oh interception please you know i'm aware she's there and i know she's supportive he throws me one of these it means i love you although we've been married four years it just feels still you know it's still exciting that he's looking for me throwing me a i love you blowing a kiss just that smile and everything is just so spontaneous it still feels good it feels like i'm still a kid after four seasons reggie white has found the nfl to be kid stuff he is truly a man amongst boys perhaps on his way to football immortality yet his faith pushes him even further you learn more and more all the time but i think as a ball player you you learn more about yourself all the time i still don't feel like i've reached my potential yet and probably never will that makes you work harder before i finish playing i want to be satisfied but at least one or two seasons and uh pretty much not hadn't been satisfied yet the story of former eagles head coach dick vermeel is the story of old-fashioned virtues like sincerity integrity and courage it's the story of a fierce competitor who demanded from his players all-out effort all the time and from the fans the respect this effort deserved it's the story of the fickle world of sport and how the range of emotion can run from ridicule to reverence but most of all it's the story of how a coach molded a group of losers into a team of champions the turning point is such an easy question with the philadelphia eagles that's when dick vermeel came in at first i thought jake vermeel was just a hairy high school crazy coach from the napa valley and he got a little college coaching in he instilled the discipline that was so obviously lacking with the philadelphia eagle team and he was the catalyst that made everything happen when he arrived in 1976. what vermeel found pierced at the heart of everything he believed in the team he inherited didn't have the talent to win that he could accept what was inexcusable was that they didn't even have the heart to try there was a lot of players that did rebel against dick vermeel they didn't like him they wanted him out of there and these players who had played under a previous coach they didn't really care they wanted their paycheck and they wanted to go about their business but the more they rebelled against stick for meal the more dick for meal bellied up to him and after a while he just started throwing them away one at a time the house cleaning while swift did not produce immediate results as the eagles groped through two more losing seasons but even in defeat the seeds of the coming renaissance were planted particularly in a new gospel that vermeel spread with the conviction of a roadside preacher our thing is everybody's somebody most people don't know how well they can do something until they really test themselves and if you work real hard and invest a lot of hours and getting better and you're an unselfish person and you do what you're asked to do as hard as you can do it every day on the practice field well sunday it becomes just part of your personality that's it now we won't get a second chance ramil's passion was the force that held the eagles together as the slow and painful transition from plunderers to professionals evolved guys we're close and we almost got her done and i'll tell you you don't have to be embarrassed about your performance i'm proud of you i'm disappointed for you i'm disappointed for you i'm disappointed for the coaching staff and mr toast and everybody else but damn it we're a good football team and don't let anybody tell you different [Music] vermeel restored hope and confidence to a team that had lacked both for years he believed in honesty and hard work spirit and second effort his special talent was that he was able to inspire so many of his players to grasp these ideals [Music] with strong veterans like stan walters and all pros bill bergie and harold carmichael providing the foundation vermeel erected a monument to winning that had been lacking in philadelphia for over a decade [Music] 12 years 12 years have gone by since the eagles have been a winner we're going to come out winners today you work like winners you've played like winners sure we've won a couple we should have lost but i'll tell you something else we've lost a few we should have won we're right where we ought to be playing for the first winning season since 1966. hey god love all you all right first and goal for the eagles they're at the giant seventh to montgomery up the middle touchdown eagles bazaar japanese slanted intercepted intercepted by frank lemaster [Applause] that could do it [Music] [Applause] [Music] if you surround yourself with good people chances are things are going to go your way more often than not and fortunately my good people have are also good football players i think a lot of people be surprised to find out how well a guy can play if he has character and he's in the right atmosphere vermeel's success story was one of genuine concern and commitment he cared about his players and pledged his allegiance to those he believed in men like quarterback ron jaworski jaworski's first season in philadelphia was a coach's nightmare his highs were matched by his lows and impatient fans hardened by one losing season after another were unwilling to cut the young quarterback any slack you might as well guys you might as well write this i am not going to let the fans substitute my quarterback they've been doing that here for years and they have never come up with a quarterback they could win for him i've got one that can win for us they can boo all they want i'm not gonna take him out of there that's the only way a guy matures is to sit in there and throw nine innings ron jaworski now come here come here now come here i want you to hear me when i say this you never have to worry about me jerking you i know what jaworski would soon exceed even his coaches expectations [Music] from 1978 through 1980 he started and won more games than any quarterback in the nfl except terry bradshaw in 1980 vermeel's fifth season in philadelphia jaworski was chosen the nfc player of the year as he passed the eagles to the eastern division title with young men of promise and old men reborn the eagles captured the hearts and imagination of the country's most cynical fans [Music] the eagles defeated the dallas cowboys to win the championship of the national [Applause] conference [Applause] [Music] [Applause] but excitement and anticipation turned to despair as the dream of a super bowl championship quickly faded away in a lopsided loss to the oakland raiders the following season brought a fresh perspective and a renewed commitment not surprisingly vermeel asked his players to give even more in fact he insisted on it [Music] but the promise of an autumn of championship contention dissolved into a winter of discontent as victory proved beyond the eagles reach in five of their final six games [Music] a difficult truth had taken hold the harder vermeel worked the less his team achieved after a losing season in 1982 the fire that once played so passionately in his heart had burned out this is an emotional time for me and being way too intense and far too emotional i'll do as good a job as i can right now i'm going to take my own advice and step down out of coaching i am emotionally burnt out and therefore feel that i need a break i'm just burned out i hope very much my players can understand where i'm coming from i love those guys i love these people all the people legal organization and it's not an easy thing to do to say goodbye to them but as a professional coach i feel i owe it to him and i owe it to myself dick vermeel left the nfl a defeated man but his story goes far beyond winning and losing it's a celebration of the human spirit and how one man can truly make a difference in the lives of so many others the book may be closed but the story is remembered it's one of belief of compassion and ultimately of achievement that is the legacy of dick vermeel i'm losing the denver broncos and i'm mean and i'm tough and i'm the best defensive end pro football's ever seen me lyle alzado don't slaughter the rose just cut it i remember last time i made one of these it was about put about 10 of these roses and these baby roses in my son the florist i'd rather you play football i had this anger in me i have a very short temper and uh i don't particularly like being pushed a certain way or blocked a certain way if in fact that happens i'll try to intimidate somebody by jumping in their face punching them or doing something and on the field that i don't really like or trust anybody or anything and i don't particularly think there's a person on this on this earth that can kick my ass when you think you're gonna get out of here tomorrow if i'm lucky yeah you look like marcus allen who'd you rather be marcus allen alzado say marcus allen why because he's a better athlete than me growing up in the city and going through some of the things i had been in uh you know being in jail and and getting to street fights a lot of street fights i learned a lot of things i'm the type of player who is more or less a rocky marciano type player i don't finesse people very much i beat on them until i can wear them down [Music] i never thought that i was the greatest athlete in the world and i still don't can't play golf can't play tennis can't do any of those things but i consider myself unusually strong and very nasty and that's the way i've gotten by alzado spent his first eight pro seasons in denver in that time the broncos went from rock bottom to super bowl 12 largely due to the play of number 77 and the orange crush defense but somewhere down the line things turned sour denver was a place that i fell in love with denver was a place that took away everything that i dreamt of too i gave him loyalty i gave them dedication they made me bitter by taking that from me they weren't that loyal to me they weren't that dedicated to me they burned me out it was time for me to leave [Music] [Applause] alzado moved on to cleveland where he gave the browns more pass rush than they'd had in years and helped unseat the steelers as division champions he was named the nfl's comeback player of the year but two seasons later he once again fell from grace they obviously felt that i was washed up and they sent me to the raiders for an eighth-round draft choice which was very embarrassing to me but i knew in my heart that i could still play i mean i had an injury i couldn't run you can't run you can't play i was told by our defensive coaches that lyle alzado didn't have the basic discipline you know to get involved in a defensive scheme where you could have the kind of continuity you needed to grow that was my mistake no way in the world that i should have ever listened to that lyle alzado had an ingredient that you just don't find he was a 1950 guy playing in the 70s and 80s we would have been a lot better off keaton because he had that inner toughness it was contagious [Applause] i'm going to get in the gap and pick those two guys you're going to come inside the middle now don't tell anybody we're doing it i'll take full concern and he was a very very dirt tough guy you just don't find today it's just not there and i regret to this day fortunately years later i had an opportunity to talk to lyle and he said that he still loved me so when they traded me to the raiders saying that i couldn't run it that i was that i was through as a player al davis came up to me and then put his arm around me and tom flores was there also and he said we know what you still have just show us alzado's fire burned hotter than ever in california he was reborn there as a raider and this aging bull became an all-pro with his third team and while he dished out punishment on the field he made many friends off of it do you have good handwriting no no do after joining the raiders lyle became a regular at the los angeles area children's hospital where his presence and concern helped ease the recovery process for countless convalescent kids think those of us who've been lucky enough to step in a pot of gold should give back and um i try and do that as much as i possibly can for 15 years pro football saw only the violent side of lyle zeta but when the raiders crushed the washington redskins to win a world title and alzado became a champion the other side of this complex man was revealed [Music] the next scene that i can recall vividly was when i'm walking down the sideline in tampa and the game is over and we're just running out the clock and i look over and here's this big tough nasty mean guy with tears in his eyes fulfilling his dream that will be his forever just like it's ours forever that would be his forever i'd like to end this program with a quote from the german philosopher arthur schopenhauer who said the greatest accomplishments are only achieved with a vehement and passionate will now i'm sure mr schopenhauer did not have pro football in mind when he wrote those words but really that's what playing with fire is all about i'm steve sable and thanks for joining us [Music] so you

Channel: Grey Beard

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Id: Pe7xQ6Lfmhs

Length: 47min 11sec (2831 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 07 2020