This is the stinking truth. Let's get right to business here, okay? Because with training camps opening, first of all, we're seeing a lot of rookies first. The rookies come in, they get oriented for about a week, and then we go to the veterans. I'm just kind of curious. We all love story time with Stink, okay? Everyone gather around at Stink's knee here and listen to a story. What do you remember most about your first day as a rookie in the NFL? Well, I'm going to parse this out in two pieces, okay? Because in my rookie year,
playing for the Redskins and Joe Gibbs, the rookies and first-year players came into training camp first. So we were in training camp for a week. And I was literally the only center in training camp. So I took every rep of every practice. And during that time, we scrimmaged the Steelers twice. So we had two practices on Monday, two practices on Tuesday, two practices on Wednesday, one morning practice, and then an evening scrimmage with the Steelers in Carlisle, two practices on Thursday, two practices on Friday. Saturday morning, we loaded up on a bus at like 4 a.m. and drove to La Trobe. We practiced against the Steelers in the morning and then scrimmaged them at night, like a 40-play scrimmage. And I'm like,
literally taking every snap of every practice just i mean and this is full pads beat the living piss out of one another practice right and i remember the thing i distinctly remember is being in latrobe no air conditioning their dorms didn't have air conditioning like so the break between practice like hey you can go we got dorms for you you know where you can go lay down and you walk into the dorm and it's hotter in the dorm than it was out and like screw that i just went back to the gymnasium just sat there you know trying to have my eyes my hands in ice right um because they took such a beating But I'll never I'll never forget because I was a huge Steeler fan. Right. I mean, I can go through those 70 Steelers teams like Elsie Greenwood and Joe Green and Steve Furness and Jack Hammond, Jack Lambert and Tony Torpedo Schell and, you know, and Mel Blunt and John Colbin and Mike Webster, my favorite player to play center and Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swan, John Stallworth, Benny Cunningham. You know, I can go through them all. And I love the Steelers. And Joe Green was their defensive line coach. And so we're doing one on ones. Right. And it's just us first year players against their whole teams in camp. Their veterans are in camp. Right. And and at that point.
God rest his soul. I love, I love, I mean, I just got coached by the best coaches in the world. From my college coach, Dan Cozzetto, God rest your soul, to Joe Bugle, God rest your soul, Jim Hannafin and Alice Gibbs, God rest your souls. I got coached by Hall of Fame coaches. But at that particular point, it was Saturday, I was ready to kill my offensive line coach because he's in my ass 24-7. And something broke out.
And he and Joe, he and Joe Green start, you know, Joe Green is six foot five. You know, he's still a big man. And Joe Bugle is, you know, you know, five eleven Western Pennsylvania, you know, get off my couch guy. Right. And they get into a shouting match with one another.
And and Joe Bugle is like, you know, strutting like a freaking like a like a like the the like the hen house rooster. Right. He's just like a little bandy rooster. And he's in his ass. There's a yell at me. And I'm like, I hope Joe Green beats the shit out of him because I'm not coming to help. Right. I'm just going to watch it. Enjoy it. And of course, it didn't happen. So that was my first week of my rookie training camp. You're you're around veterans. Yeah. Before you even were around your veteran teammates in Washington. We were playing against their starting defense. Yes. We're scrimmaging as they're starting. What a time. What a time. So then then.
It was funny because then, you know, when you're in it, you're just in it. Right. Then we go to the first day of regular training camp. And it's always funny because the first thing that happens is you're walking into the locker room and you're seeing guys. carrying out hefty trash bags. The veterans came in and because of the numbers, they ended up cutting, you know, 15 guys. Like, so 15 guys are like, you beat the living piss out of these guys for, for an entire week. They bailed you out and they're all walking. Oh, with a trash bag over their shoulders. So then I'm like, Oh, like I'm walking to my locker. It's all going to be packed up in a hefty bag. I'm like, ah, so I walk in and my stuff is still there. So I go, okay, apparently I'm, I'm okay now. You're safe for now. Yeah. So we go through warmups and we do all our things for practice on Monday morning. And the first drill we run, that's kind of a team oriented drill was one-on-ones.
O-line versus D-line, but it was something we hadn't done before. It was run block one-on-ones. And as sure as I'm sitting here, Mike, I swear to you, this is what ran through my mind. The first rep was Joe Jacoby at six foot. seven, 315 pounds, just the most heavy-handed dude you've ever been around. Should be in the Hall of Fame. Without question, Joe Jacoby was an all-pro tackle, all-pro guard, and just, like I said, one of the most heavy-handed guys you have ever been around versus Dexter Manley. All-pro defensive end, you know, I mean, just yoked. And they do one-on-one run block off the bat. And these two monsters just hit. And the sound it made. Have you ever been to a PGA event? Oh, yeah. You know, you think you're a pretty decent golfer. Hey, man, I can hit a 300-yard drive, you know, and all that stuff. And then you stand.
On the tee box. And one of those guys hits a ball. And first off, the sound it makes is like no sound you've ever heard. Right. And the effortlessness with which they swing and the power. And like I said, the sound and the way it jumps off the club face. It's like, whoa, they're playing a different game. Right, right, right. So here's Joe Jacoby lined up against Dexter Manley. And it just came. They came off the balls. Whoa. And like it startled me.
And I'm like, I've never heard that sound before. And like I piddled down my leg a little bit. Henceforth, the name stink. Like I peed my pants a little bit and I thought to myself and I swear to you, I thought this. I don't belong here.
And I really I mean, I really almost talked myself out of making a football team the very first day of practice because I was like, that sound I've never heard. I don't know if I belong here. I really thought that. And even though you didn't think about how like, all right, well, I was practicing against Pittsburgh Steelers regulars last week. I had to be making we had to be making that kind of noise. But it was just it was just different. Right. It was just different. And anyhow, of course, I went on, you know, to make the team and play for a long time and all that stuff. But those are two distinct memories I had.
you know, playing for the Washington Redskins as just a rookie with just nothing but rookies and first-year guys and, you know, practice kind of squad guys. And then, you know, when the vets came in, it was just, it was, and it was a different time because we were literally, you know, practiced hour 45, two hours, twice a day, just beating the living piss out of one another. Well, good luck to all the rookies, the drafted rookies, the undrafted free agents as you begin your NFL careers and hopefully, you know, long NFL careers. Piece of advice. Don't talk yourself out of making a football team.
Don't like you've got to be consistent. You got to bust your ass. Don't make mental mistakes. And if you make a mistake, make it 100 miles an hour and try to take somebody's head off. And if you do that, you got a chance. But the guys I've watched and witnessed tons of guys that were more talented than me that talk themselves out of making a team. And, you know, luckily for me, I had to remind myself my one thing. And I looked in the mirror before I left for training camp. This is honestly a good story. I went into my childhood bathroom with a mirror. I looked at myself and I said, I literally talked to myself and said, the only way you don't make this team.
is that you're not good enough. And if you're not good enough, you can live with that. But I was like, it's not going to be from a lack of preparation. It's not going to be from mental mistakes. It's not going to be from busting my ass and trying to take somebody's head off. All those things are, those things are non-negotiables. But if I'm not good enough, I'm not good enough. And that, so that's my advice to every rookie, every free agent rookie, every man, don't talk yourself out of making it in the NFL.