Photo by Miller

I got a text from Quinn asking me if I would write a little bit about 2006’s final drive. Detailing my thougts and feelings on the final drive. I think for the rest of my life whenever it is the BYU vs Utah week I will always be reminded of that game in 2006. Even as I sit here typing, I have above me on a shelf the ball I took the final knee with. I wanted the ball that Johnny caught, but I don’t know if anybody knows where that ball currently resides. I just held on to the next best thing.

Well where do I begin.

When Dan Coats caught the touchdown on the goal line off of the play action I really thought that was the go ahead TD that would seal the game. Although Utah had a good amount of time left on the clock with the ball in their hands I believed our defense would hold the Utah offense and we would be back out on the field to run the clock out.

Yet, because of past games in my career I hesitated for a moment because there are so many crummy variables that every game is filled with. I knew that the offense needed to keep their heads in the game. Understand that our last TD wasn’t close to being the final play of the game. If we had to go out there and get a first down to seal the game or put another drive together we needed to be ready. I remember I was walking the sideline and I found Jake Kuresa and told him that we needed to make sure everyone was mentally prepared for whatever could happen.

After refocusing the offense I turned my attention to the defense.

There was a play where Aaron Wagner almost intercepted a pass to end it. I remember it played out in slow motion to my eyes because I knew that could have sealed the deal. When it wasn’t caught I had a feeling that Utah kind of got a second life. At that point I knew the offense was going to need to be ready. When Utah started getting some plays in big chunks my first thought was, “you’ve got to be kidding me. There’s no way it can end like this.” We had been in games over those last few years that had ended so crazy and somehow we ended up losing. To that point there had only been a few games where we had come from behind to win, but for many of us we remembered games like Stanford in 03, Boise St., UNLV and NM in 04, TCU, Utah and Cal in 05, and Arizona and BC in 06. Games where we fought so hard to get right there to win and in some cases even scored what we thought was the game winning score, but somehow still fell short.

When they continued to move the field I went back to the offense and said it looked like we are going to have to get ready to go into our two-minute offense and we would probably need to score. The best thing about that moment was nobody looked at me like “you think so” or “really”, they just nodded and said OK.

Moments later Utah hit that screen play for the TD and the stadium erupted. Looking back I’m glad that we got together as an offense before they scored because in our minds we were already prepared for what we needed to do. When Utah scored there was no quick rally needed. From that point until we took the field no words where needed, we were simply focused on the task at hand. Each person in their own way had already mentally prepared themselves for the final drive.

The last Thought I had was, ” I’m not going home with the game ending like this.”

Before games Matt Allen and I used to joke around and say “let’s just go out there, win this one, go home happy and kiss our wives.” At that point in the game , for whatever reason, that phrase was also what was being repeated in my head. I wanted to make sure I went home with the game ending with us on top. So after Curtis Brown returned the kick Coach Anae got the offense together on the side and basically said. “it was a two minute situation and we needed a touchdown to win.” I can remember glancing at the clock knowing we had over a minute and just running through all our two minute rules. No sacks, if you need to use a time out, get out of bounds to stop the clock, when do we take time outs and when do we want to spike it, than we took the field.

There are certain plays in that drive that stick out to me as key plays.

First was the catch by Bryce Mahuika. Bryce did a great job of avoiding a tackler and picking up an extra 5 yards and in 2 minute offense, every yard is crucial. There was also a play where I checked down to CB and he made a few guys miss to get out of bounds. That “fight” in Curtis to shed those tacklers is what gave us the few extra seconds we needed at the end.

On the fourth down to Johnny I could tell that the Utah student section had come down on the field thinking that they were going to rush the field when the play ended. I just kept my mind on my reads and knew if they rushed two or three men I wouldn’t have to force anything and I would be able to move defenders with my eyes and feet and make a play to keep the drive going.

As it turned out they only rush a three, so I had the time to move defenders and it opened up Johnny in the middle for the fourth down conversion.

The big play to McKay Jacobsen was really what set us up for the final completion. When we lined up for that play I knew I would have to squeeze the ball in a tight window, but if I could hold the nickel defender  with my eyes, using Johnny to pull him towards the middle, McKay could push the defense vertical, break his route of sharpe and we would be able to pick up the yardage we needed.

McKay did a great job of feeling the hole and settling and the play worked, just as I had imagined.

The next play I took a shot to Johnny on a fade, because Johnny had man to man coverage. He had been winning all night and they left him matched up on another defender besides Weddle. I thought it would be a sure thing. The defender made a great play so we were down to 3 seconds and the last play.

We called a timeout and went to the sideline to discuss what we wanted to do. When they had played man-to-man the play before Zac Collie and been open in the back of the end zone. We thought if they went with the same coverage Zac could get open again for the score. If Zac wasn’t open, or they went to a different coverage we would just read out the three receiver side and find the open man.

 When we took the field CB was the first to ask me what I wanted him to do. I just said if I don’t get the ball off quick just try to get open somewhere in the end zone. When we got closer to the line Johnny asked the same thing, I told him to “run a fade again, but if the fade isn’t there find a way to get open when I’m scrambling.”

 When I got to the line I surveyed the defense and recognized that there was no way they could play man coverage in their presnap alignments. I knew they were going to drop 9 or 10 into coverage.

That is when my thoughts took me back to the quarterback meeting room in November of 2005. I know all of those close losses -which I mentioned earlier- were tough for a lot of BYU fans, but I also know that there’s no way anyone had a harder time swallowing them than I did.

 I hated losing! I couldn’t take another lose… and I wouldn’t.

After the 05 loss to Utah I decided I would sit down at the computer in the QB room with a pad of paper and the game film and make a list of all the things I could have done differently to insure our team wins that game in overtime. Especially on the last play. I remember closing my eyes with my hands on the remote thinking of every possible scenario, decision, even steps that I could have made to win that game.

I don’t even remember how long I was in that room but when I walked out with a sheet full of ways to win. I felt that if I was presented with a similar scenario, I knew exactly what I needed to do.

As I stood on the 15 yard line and glanced up at the clock, then back down to the defense and my teammates, I took a deep breath and had a feeling like I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I knew from their alignment they were only going to rush a couple -it was just like the year before. I knew I would just buy as much time as I could with my feet and throw the ball only when I found an open guy.

When I was shuffling left pointing, I knew I would eventually find an open receiver because they were working so hard to get open. My receivers where running all over and the Utah defenders where stationary, I knew we had them.

After the snap when Johnny and Zac were covered, it turned into a school yard play. Where you tell everyone to “get open and I’ll find you”.

When they brought the LB to put more pressure it forced me right and I felt everyone move right. I knew I was going to need to locate the initial rusher to determine how much time I was going to have before I needed to throw it.

It was than that I saw this one white jersey cutting through the flow. I knew if he could get through the clutter he would be open. I took a few more steps to my rigth, as I saw him clear the last defender, I let it loose.

As I jumped to throw it I knew it was going to be a touchdown. When I was on my back looking through my legs I saw Johnny go to his knees -and for a second I thought, what if the throw wasn’t long enough and he’s on his knees out of the endzone!!

But when there was a huge roar and I saw Johnny get up to he’s feet in celebration I knew we had done it. I ran straight to my line and jumped up on Travis Bright. It was pandemonium. BYU fans, reporters, cameras were all in the mix, I was wondering how so many BYU fans got the field so quickly?

There was a moment during that celebration where I was hoisted on my teammates shoulders and I got to hold my helmet up towards our fans -kind of sounds like that part from Nacho Libre when he says ” do you remember when I  ripped my blouse. That’s a moment I will always remember because of the effort that went into the performance. 

I grew up on an old tape called “Greatest Moments In BYU Football History”. I would gather the neighborhood kids and have them watch the beginning of the tape to fire them up before we played pick up games in the street in front of my house.  I actually brought that tape into the locker room at BYU and we would watch it on the TV’s.

Guys laughed because I knew the narrator’s part word for word. BYU’s tradition meant so much to me and at that moment when I held up my helmet and was on my teammates shoulders I felt lucky to be apart of another great BYU moment.

I get asked all the time about that Utah game and when did I see Johnny and how did it feel. That one play was definitely a great moment and one I will always remember, but to be honest it was a culmination of many things, of years of work, that made that game and that play so special to me. In that game there was a group of guys on our team, on both sides of the ball that had been through so much adversity. Through all the adversity we never lost the belief that we could do it. The road to get to that opportunity was a difficult road to travel. The thing that made it so special was that everyone was prepared. Everyone wanted it so bad because we wanted to overcome the hardships that we had been through and just go out there and win it…and we did!

 On a side note:

I also get asked what Weddle and I were talking about when we were walking down the field together before I took the knee to end the game. Earlier that year, during the summer, a couple of my buddies and I were fishing at Fish Creek down by Scofield Reservoir. One of my friends was also friends with Weddle and had told Eric that he was going fishing with me that weekend. I guess Eric likes to fish also and wanted to come. I told my friend to tell him No… that I couldn’t fish with him until after the season, I wasn’t going to fish with a Ute that I was going to be playing later that year.

As Eric and I were walking towards the ball we were joking about our future fishing expedition to Scofield Reservoir and the fish we would catch.

Like all of you I hope BYU can get it done this weekend. I believe they will and I think they believe they will. Sounds to me like this one could be. . .another great moment in BYU football history!

Go Courgars.

What was I doing last night – oh nothin much, just cheering on my most hated enemy, the manifestation of all evil as I know it…the Utes!! A Dirty, Nasty, but nonetheless Necessary evil.

Thanks to a stumble in Fort Worth (that was a ROUGH Thursday night at Applebee’s in Clifton, NJ – the waitresses thought I was gonna explode) – we were knocked out of the drivers seat in regards to our goals of a Conference Championship and January bowl bid.  BUT, as I told some of the guys in Provo after that game – we were still on the bus.  Well, thanks to our friendly foes, this time clad in black, to the north – we are back in the driver’s seat…controllers of our own destiny.  What more can you ask for – November 22nd will be for all the marbles!!

A couple answers to questions:

Ralph, on October 10th, 2008 at 9:01 am Said:
Quinn,
Could you get Brian to comment on Giants GM Jerry Reese?

Ralph, I absolutely love Jerry Reese.  He is a very hands on GM, and it has paid off for all to see – one of the best Super Bowl victories ever last year, and a possible defense in the big show again this year.  Talking to some of the veterans on the team who have been in 4 or 5 other organizations – they say the Giants are hugely unique in the depth we have at EACH position (i.e., how many teams can say that their Quarterback AND backup QB are both 1st overall draft picks – plus one of the NFL’s best O Lines to protect the investments at Quarterback) and that is largely due to the wisdom of Reese in how he built this team and the guys he went after.  He is a great person, a great GM – and I think there are only good things to come with him in that position.

Allan, on October 10th, 2008 at 10:03 pm Said:
Bryan is the kind of quality person any young lady would be proud to bring home to meet her parents!

As it stands, Bryan has been dating a senior BYU cheer leader. She’s barely 5 feet tall.

Now, if I were the physical specimen that he is…I would want to marry volleyball, basketball or track star.

Bryan, we want to see 4 or 5 son’s of Bryan Kehl playing Cougar football in the future, not gymnasts!

You are the best!

Allan, I really appreciate your kind words and support.  I too hope to see 4 or 5 of my kids playing in Cougar Blue.
PS That cheerleader wants you to know she’s 5′4″  ”

It was good to see so many CSU and BYU alumni on the sideline and I was waiting for Beck or Denney to join in on the celebration. Personally I like to see that kind of excitement. I understand that it’s a penalty, but for that CSU team just think how much emotion that gave them.

Shortly after Porter’s display of Ram enthusiasm he left the stadium to get ready for his game against the Denver Broncos. It really is too bad that he couldn’t have been there for the Rams go ahead score in the fourth quarter. Oh wait….that celebration would have been about as early as the MTN handing out the Stihly player of the game to CSU’s Farris before the Cougars final drive.

Did Todd Christiansen second that “player of the game” vote?

Adam, on September 17th, 2008 at 9:56 am Said:
Quinn- this is awesome stuff. Thanks for getting Bryan to do this. And tell him we could have used a few more sacks out of him last year.

Adam, I couldn’t agree with you more!!! One of my greatest frustrations was in regards to pressure on the quarterback – and I would bug our coaches almost weekly that they should blitz me more.  But, it was to no avail…my lot was primarily to help in pass coverage, and so that’s what I dutifully did.  In an average game of 65 defensive snaps I usually rushed the quarterback on only about 10 of those (I would keep track) – how I would have loved to have been able to rush 35, 45, or 55 times!! (Obviously, not all 65 of those were passing plays – but in our conference, the majority were)

West, on September 24th, 2008 at 6:25 pm Said:
Oh so so sad! But now I gotta know what you sang, if they wouldn’t let you sing the fight song. What did you sing Kehl? What did you sing?! We gotta know.

This was given in response to my telling of how rookies are forced to stand and sing before meetings, repeatedly, while at training camp.  Anyway, I had to sing several times, and although the easy choice would be something along the lines of “Choose the Right” or “Popcorn popping on the Apricot Tree” I instead went with pop culture – here are the songs I can recall: Alicia Keys “If I aint got you”, The Temptations “Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch”, Boys II Men “I’ll make love to you” (probably the funniest of them all, due to the title of the song and the frightening fact that Jon Goff, the other rookie linebacker, and I sang it together…like a duet – oh, the pain!!)

bagotricks, on October 1st, 2008 at 10:10 am Said:
Kehl,

Thanks for taking the time to write a little for all of us who drink heavily from what you stand for.
I don’t want to sound preachy myself, but how do you make it to church? Are you able to have a calling with your nfl schedule?
I’m not around what you are, and I think for all of us keeping ourselves in the path of light and growth can be difficult at times. What do you do to keep your spirit strong?

Honestly, and perhaps to some very visibly, that is the hardest part about playing this level of football.  I already wrote about why I play the game, and why I chose to keep playing at this level – so check out those entries for more on that subject.  As for making it to church – doesn’t happen near as much as I’d like to.  I was able to go every week until the season started – but since there’s only been 3 times that I got to go.  However, coming up we do have some primetime games, so I am looking forward to those days as I should be able to slip away and attend in the morning.  I currently don’t have a calling, but I told the missionaries on Monday that if they don’t call me to go out teaching with them I will be ticked!!  My weekends are very busy, but my weeknights after work are pretty free.  In order to keep my spirit strong I try to stay away from the bad parts of the NFL and some of its players, and stay close to the good.  The team chaplain holds a bible study every Wednesday after practice and meetings that I attend, and we also have a devotional type meeting called “Chapel” every Saturday night in the hotel wherein either the chaplain or someone he invites gives a message (these can be both very odd and boring or very spiritual and very motivating).  Also, I told our community events coordinator to schedule me for every service opportunity they are involved with, and so that is always a nice chance to both give back and consequently be filled as most weeks we have a service event of some kind.  At any rate, in my time out here in the treacherous work-place I have found added support for my long-held belief that to ‘stay strong’ – “Search, Ponder, and Pray” works pretty well.  Don’t get me wrong – it is very hard, I feel very alone (only LDS player on the team), and, like I said, I question whether it’s worth it many days.  But, at the end of the day – all we can do is ‘fight the good fight’.

To answer this question John shared with me the advice he got from Chad Lewis when John was a sophomore.  Chad told John, “No matter what your goals are, no matter what mountain you want to climb, as long as you keep stepping you will reach the top.”  That is what John is doing in Miami. He is approaching each day as another opportunity to keep climbing the mountain.

Another nugget from Chad is something he told John his Junior year: “I guarantee you that what you are going through right now is the best preparation you can have for the NFL.”  This has given John a great perspective on his situation in Miami and an opportunity to reflect on his time at BYU.

Lesson #1:
John’s first 2 years at BYU were nothing like he dreamed.  He was thrown in as the starting QB before he was ready – fresh off his mission – and before he knew a lot about the college game.  His rookie year in Miami followed the same story line.  Playing on the worst team in the NFL, forced into the starting role before he really understand the game at that level.

Application:
John is excited about the opportunity to learn from Chad Pennington this year.  John and Chad stay late at the facility studying together every week.  John feels like this is a great opportunity to learn from someone who has a lot of NFL experience and is someone who is a lot like John.  Both pride themselves on being Smart, Accurate, Hard Working, and being a Leader.  The best thing about it for John is that Chad is playing well, which shows John that the way Chad prepares shows on Sunday.  John is taking advantage of Chad and trying to learn all he can so that when his opportunity comes, he will be prepared.

Lesson #2:
Early in his career at BYU John found himself in a lot of situations that he did not know how to handle on the field.  Coming out of high school, John had only lost one game.  Everything had always gone his way.  At BYU the ball was bouncing the other way.  John learned to take a look at what went wrong, and why the team got in that situation.  He then studied until he found ways to not put the team in those situations.

Application:
After losing to Utah in overtime in 2005 John went back and studied all the plays in the game, especially the last one to find multiple options of things he could have done to make the plays we needed.  He said he found 6 options of things he could do if he was in that situation again.  So when we were at Utah in 2006 and there was one last play to be run, John said he has completely confident in what he had to do.  He was not nervous.  “That play was a bit backyard-ish, but that is what I knew it had to be.  I knew I had to hold the ball as long as I could, I knew I had to run around and throw it at the last second.  When I saw the first LB rush, I knew the O- Line would pick him up.  When I saw the second LB come I knew I had to run and I would throw it right when he got close.”

Right now John is really positive in his situation.  Like his start at BYU it is not what he had invisioned.  As John puts it,

“I am a second year QB who had an opportunity to get some experience as a starter.  I know what it is like to prepare as the starter.  I know how the coach’s treat you and what they expect out of you as a starter.  I played my first two games against two of the toughest defesnses on the road in two of the toughest stadiums, so I have experienced that.  I also know what it is like to come off the bench in the middle of the game, I did that last year too.  So I fell like there are not too many things that will be new anymore.”

WHEN PREPERATION MEETS OPPORTUNITY IT EQUALS SUCCESS

John has always been a hard worker and one who won’t settle for anything less than his personal best.  He approaches each game and each day as if he is the starting QB for the Miami Dolphins.  “I study the film and I have found what type of level I need to be at, I am getting to that level.”

John is preparing for his opportunity.  He knows it will come.  He doesn’t know what the situation will be, or when it will come, but when it does he knows he will be ready!

I -Quinn- would like to thank both Markell and John for taking the time to put this together. I wish John all the best. When John and I lived together I knew he would one day be in the NFL. I don’t know anyone that loved football and competing more then John. I wish him the best. Thanks John!!

“The greater purpose…

A bit over a week into camp we had the opportunity to see an early screening of a football movie that wasn’t due out for another 2 months.  It came on one of our rare half days (a momentous occasion wherein we only had meetings, practice and football half the day) so it presented a bit of a dilemma – go to the theater and watch this movie which may or may not be cheesy (it sounded cheesy and cheaply made), using up several hours of precious free time, or do something else, i.e., rest, study, talk to people at home, did I mention rest?  At any rate, there were only 20 to 30 of the 80 players at camp that ventured over to the theater for the viewing of “The Express.”

Sometimes the most profound epiphanies come in the most unexpected places.  I walked into the movie expecting to relax for a few hours.  I walked out with a vision.  In all, it was a good movie.  But it had a great message – an awe-inspiring message.  This true story shows how Ernie Davis overcame the odds and obstacles to change the way people in his day thought – and he influenced the lives of many people.  I won’t spoil the movie – but at the very end he is giving advice to a young man who, like himself, has incredible football ability and potential.  His simple words shook me –

“Football is just a game…what matters is what you play for.”

Sometimes the greatest wisdom, the messages we most need to hear are simple reminders of what we already know.  Football is just a game…but at BYU I learned that what you play for determines whether it remains just a game – a violent contest of men throwing their bodies into each other – or whether it transforms into a banner of hope and honor and courage.

I was reminded on that special half day that I knew better, had been taught more, and was going to play from a deeper place.  I looked for the closest opportunity to apply what I had learned, apply what I had already known – and it wasn’t far. The New York Giants training camp is renowned for it’s presence of fans at each and every practice.  On average, more than 2000 fans attend each humid day in Albany.  If you recall from before, I told how one rookie duty was the carrying of veteran helmets and shoulder pads off the practice field each day.  I explained how carrying up to 4 sets of pads and helmets was the last thing you wanted to do after being beaten and abused for 2 hours in the humid sun in an NFL training camp practice.  The second to last thing you wanted to do is stop along the way and sign autographs.  Not that you don’t appreciate the fans, or their support – you love both.  But you are tired, your hands are full, and you only have so many minutes to undress, ice, shower, and eat before the next meeting starts (In fact I was once late on account of signing too many autographs).  Most players sign none, or only a few, before heading into the locker room to maximize the short amount of free time we have each day.  I decided to sign for everyone that asked.  Nothing spectacular, but it seemed an easy enough way to push forward that Banner I’d been taught to carry.  Funny thing is I always got more out of it than I put in.  I left practice each day physically, mentally and emotionally drained.  But every day, 5 minutes into signing, and especially talking and interacting with the people, I soon found my spirits lifted, my mood changed, and I had forgotten, at least for a while, about the rigors of practice that day.

There are countless experiences I could relate about the literally hours I spent trying to, in a small way, give back to the people who came to watch us at training camp.  But I’ll show you the one that definitely touched me the most.  When camp ended and we got back to Giants stadium, there were several letters in my locker.  I’ve attached one I received from Kevin Corcoran as well as the picture he sent.  I do this not to beat the drum of Bryan Kehl – but to beat the drum of BYU, the drum of Tradition…Spirit…Honor, the drum of why I play the game:

Dear Bryan,

My wife wanted to know how I could tell you were a rookie and I pointed out that you were carrying two other players’ gear off the practice field.  It happens at every level of the game.  To me what really stuck out is that by far, you signed more autographs than any other player even with all the extra equipment.  It seemed that you walked slow enough to sign every football, hat, program or scrap of paper that the kids put in front of you.  I told my wife you were the picture we needed to have for our son Eddie.  I imagine you’re a good football player but as a person, I imagine you’re better.

Eddie is 3 years old and in March 2007 he was diagnosed with Leukemia.  As they did more looking into the type of Leukemia he suffered from, his chance of survival at one point was 30%.  Since that time he has undergone numerous operations, countless treatments, all kinds of radiation, plenty of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant along with a five month relocation to Boston to be near the best doctors we could find.  Although we still have a very long way to go, the spot we are at on the path to recovery is a positive one.

I tell you this because you didn’t know his story when you took the picture.  You readily agreed to pose and smiled as if it were a family photo (too bad Eddie closed his eyes).  The picture was not taken out of sympathy for a little boy but just to make a kid happy.  I had the feeling you would have stayed and taken more had it not been for more kids needing more autographs.

He may not remember the day as he is too young now but when we tell him the stories of it, he’ll be reminded of who his favorite Giant is.  That moment of your time is all it took.

Sincerely,
Kevin Corcoran

I’ve been playing football since I was 8, and it was always my dream to play for ever.  Playing in the NFL is literally a ‘dream come true’, and it is soooo cool to play this game and have it be my job.  BUT…I don’t play for the money and I don’t play for the fame.  I was given football – so I’m going to try to use football to give back.  And so – I play for my family, my brothers on the team, my coaches and the fans….but most of all – I still play for that Y, that Banner of hope and honor and courage…most of all, I play for kids like Eddie.”

The day after…

“It’s a long story why, but I decided to interrupt recounting ‘why I play the game’ and give briefly ‘the day after a game of an NFL player.’  I will return to training camp and what I found there next week.

In all, an NFL week isn’t all that different than a week of college football…it’s just bigger, longer, and more thorough.  It’s a weekly cycle in which we try to peak physically and very importantly mentally for the game on Sunday.  In college there are time restrictions enforced by the NCAA – teams are limited to 20 hours Monday through Thursday…20 hours of meetings, practice, lifting, etc.  No such restriction in the league.

Monday is usually the day after the game and starts at 8:30 if you’re a rookie (note: at BYU we had the blessing of having the day after a game – Sunday – completely off from football, for obvious reasons).  That doesn’t seem early (which it really isn’t) but after a football game, especially at this level, your body really just doesn’t want to get up that next day.  I remember the first ‘day after’ a game of high school football – my body felt like I had been jumped and battered by about a dozen guys (11 to be exact).  That great feeling swelled larger in college, and now larger still in the NFL.  It looks like a physical game…and it feels like a riot. 

Anyway, the running and lifting starts at 8:30.  It’s not really all that intense, but it’s always interesting to go in there and see which of your body parts still work, which joints still function, and which muscles feel punctured – every week it’s a new surprise.  When you look in the mirror there are a myriad of bruises, blemishes, cuts, scrapes and wounds you seriously didn’t even know about.  And so you struggle through the run and lift, not because it’s hard but because your body is kinda like a plane with a few engines out. 

After the lift we have about an hour or so for lunch.  The food is pretty good, but as you can imagine, it gets a bit old after about 2 weeks.  But, it’s the same food every day, every week, all year.  The special teams meeting comes next and lasts 30 minutes.  This can be pleasure or pain – all depending on how you did the day before.  Make a good tackle – you and every guy on the team gets to see it.  Get knocked on your can – you and every guy on the team gets to see it.  Over, and over, and over again, accompanied by the special teams coordinator telling you in ‘choice’ words what he feels about your play.  Fortunately, I’ve been blessed to experience both the good and the bad of these meetings.  It’s a simple formula really – ball out and then you can sit back, relax and enjoy the meeting (easier said than done at this level of the game – I’ve probably been knocked down more times already in the 5 regular season and 4 preseason games I’ve played in here than all 50 I played in at BYU). 

Next comes a team meeting wherein the head coach tells the team, in ‘choice’ words, what he thought about the game, displaying various stats and figures to support his opinion.  Then we separate to Defense and Offense and watch parts of the film before separating again to position groups to watch the game in full.  Every play is reviewed, critiqued, analyzed and evaluated – good and mostly the bad.  Good plays are usually watched once – bad plays usually 5 -10 times (if you get blown up, or knocked down, the coach will usually stop the film at that exact point, so he can go back and forth over it several times). 

After this fun video session, the team takes the field for “corrections.” This is a run-through in jerseys and helmets wherein the plays executed poorly offensively are re-run – giving those players a chance to physically see and ‘correct’ those errors.  Defensively, the show team offense (comprised of back-up defensive players) runs through the plays we didn’t defend correctly so we can physically see and ‘correct’ our fits and assignments.  This lasts about 30 minutes and is the last commitment of the day, if you’re a veteran.  If you’re rookie, you get another hour-long meeting called ‘Player Development” – a lengthy weekly meeting wherein you are taught things I honestly learned in like kindergarten, but NFL players country wide seem to not know and or understand (just check the papers or Sportscenter each day and you’ll know what I mean).  After this, the day ends, about 3:00 – and it’s time to go home, rest, recoup, recover, and try to figure out how to get your limbs to move again.”

Oh, Canada….they are getting creative up in the Great White North. TO and OCHO need to start brainstorming some new celebrations. In the natural progression of things, what would be next? Tag, a quick game of dodge ball, four square….no, no, no…the snow man song. My little boy would dig that one.

Come on guys, can’t we just keep it simple? Maybe a Winnipeg leap… except you’ll get tired running 20 yards through the endzone and then searching for some fans. The officials needed to throw a flag and take some of their points away for that celebration.

“If the NFL Scouting Combine is a ‘wretched place’, then I guess training camp is a horrid place.  I don’t know, maybe its not that bad – but it certainly does make for a better story.

Anyway, I arrived in Albany, NY for training camp on Wednesday, July 23^rd, the day before we had to report.  I had heard so much about ‘camp’ I actually didn’t really know what to expect – some guys said, “it’ll be the worst month of your life,” while others claimed, ‘ah, it’s not that bad.’  I was very excited though, I mean this is it…the N – F – L…the New York Giants, the Super Bowl Champs!! How could you not be pumped?

So I checked into my luxury dorm room – where I’d be sharing a cubicle with a fellow player (i.e., Neanderthal) and 1 bathroom for 5 guys (i.e., cavemen).  Needless to say, I remember walking in my box of a room, looking at my mat of a bed and thinking ‘I have to sleep in that for 4 weeks? This is worse than the mission!!’  No, really though – you’re gonna take Million-dollar bodies, some multi-million, and put them in $50 mattresses…for 4 weeks…the 4 most physically tolling and grueling weeks of their year!?!.  I know, I know – it doesn’t make sense, right? Not unless you’re an NFL head coach, or a GM – ‘we gotta toughen these guys up…they gotta come together at camp…make em appreciate how nice they have it…Team First!’  Yeah, well I’m all for that jazz – but isn’t there a Marriot down the street…or at least a Motel 6?!

[note of interest: Everyone stays in these same dorm rooms: All the players (even Eli), the trainers, equipment personnel, coaches…everybody but 2 people (who I hope aren’t reading this blog, if you are – sorry)…the head coach, and the GM…umm yeah – they’re at that Marriot down the street…anyway, can ya blame em?]

A typical training camp day is just like that Rookie camp I explained before – only this lasts for 4 weeks.  Wake up between 6:30 and 7:00, meetings and practice seriously ALL day, some days have a 2 hour break there in the middle, but always get out of your last meeting at 9:30 at night – just in time to go home, call family or friends if you can, study your play book for the next day’s installment, and go to sleep and start over again.  Yeah, it gets really repetitive after about…oh, say 4 or 5 days.  It lasts for 4 weeks.  Oh, and in case you forgot – you body feels like death, you’re sleeping on cardboard (wet cardboard if you’re a rookie – I’ll explain later), you’re roommate probably snores, and you’ve seen outhouses more sanitary than your bathroom.

Now to the rookies.  In this regard, I really can’t complain – I’ve heard of far worse than we got.  But I’ll still complain a little bit.  Basically, the vets got hazed their rookie year, it pissed them off, so now they feel it their “duty” to keep the “tradition” going on.  Anyway, here are some things the Giants do: rookies carry the Veterans pads and helmets off the practice field.  This may not seem like much – but trust me, when you just got hammered in a 2-hour NFL practice, it’s 85 degrees with 80% humidity, your body is beat and tired – the last thing you want to do is carry 3 helmets and shoulder pads off the field.  But you do it anyway – cuz if you don’t – trust me, something worse will happen (involving the cold tub and tape…or your car keys, and your car not being where it was when you parked it…or etc, etc).  Rookies have to sing at all the meetings.  So about 8 minutes before each meeting starts (you arrive 10 minutes early – cuz if you arrive on time, you’re already late – and you get fined $1600) the veterans start tapping their cups, pick out a poor, timid, helpless rookie, and start chanting his name.  That rookie must stand on his chair, state his name, school and signing bonus (to which they always whistle and ‘oooh’ – whether its “4 mil”, or “14 thousand”), then sing, loud and clear, a song of their choice, but not their school fight song (a couple of us tried that in Mini Camp in May – ended up with completely purple hands and feet for 5 days).  Now, at this point you might think to shirk, back down, or refuse…but then you run the risk of being dyed purple…that and all 6’4” 268 pounds of RB Brandon Jacobs stands up and with his deepest, most intimidating brute of a voice I’ve ever heard starts chanting ‘cold tub, cold tub, cold tub.’  Then 280 pounds of DE Justin Tuck yells ‘oh, you gonna get involved!!’  So you sing…you sound absolutely terrible, but you sing, you get it over with, for today at least, and you sit down…and hope they don’t boo, and chant “cold tub” yet again.  So this occurs several times a day – and the worse the singer, the more they get requested to sing.  Here’s another rookie haze: have you ever slept in a wet bed? (having been older than like 4)  Well, I have. On a miserable, hard training camp day…they snuck in our rooms before we got home, drenched our beds in water, caked that in ice, then covered the mess with our pillows.  Your sheets – soaked, pillows – soaked, mattress – soaked…the floor – linoleum, your body – horribly tired.  So, you suck it up – have no other options – and sleep in the cold, wet bed…for tomorrow is another training camp day.”

…to be continued in: The darkest days of training camp

Every Wednesday, former Cougar great and current New York Giant Linebacker, Bryan Kehl will be giving us the inside scoop on what it’s like to play in the NFL.  I thought because you all liked hearing about my BYU football experience, you might also like to hear what it’s like at the next level.  Bryan was a great college player and I have no doubt he’ll bust into the starting line-up for the Giants very soon.  Enjoy…

“Where to begin?  I guess I’ll start by giving a brief re-cap of this year (good golly, it’s gone fast)

Seems like yesterday I was standing in the lobby of the Planet Hollywood Hotel in Vegas – about 1:00 in the morning, Dec. 22nd – still trying to recover from our crazy win over UCLA.  I’d narrowed down and chosen my agent, and he met me real quick in the lobby to congratulate me on the win and thank me for choosing him.

I had a week to relax, then I was off to sunny SoCal the 1st of January to train for the combine in late February (the Combine – I’d get into talking about that wretched place, but I’m not trying to write a book).  Anyway, I spent 2 months in Cal, training twice a day, eating (being fed) 6 times a day, gained 10 pounds, and performed very well at the combine. Then I moved home to get ready for pro day in mid-March, kept training, actually got to sleep the night before pro day, and consequently performed even better in every category – including shaving more than a tenth off my 40 (4.68 at combine vs. 4.56 on pro day).

Then came the slowest part of my bleak existence – the waiting game ‘til draft day, followed by the day (days) itself – perhaps the slowest day EVER!!! Time crawled, stars passed away, the great green Earth came to a standstill…okay, not really, but it seemed like it.  Anyway, I got the call Sunday morning, about 3 minutes before my name came up on the TV.  It was all so surreal – the moment is sort of a blur in my mind as I look back…my reaction, my family’s cheers, the words of the scout and Coach Coughlin on the phone, the implications of moving to New York…alone – crazy!!

Spent the weekend of May 8-11th being introduced to the rigors of the NFL at rookie camp – bus picked us up from the hotel around 7 in the a.m.…hold tight, cuz you wont see that hotel, or more importantly, that bed, again ‘til about 9:30 that night.  Yup, in the facility the WHOLE day – like 14 hours!! Meetings, practice, meetings, practice, meetings…sleep…start over, meetings, practice….must have been 2 weeks crammed into 3 days.

I got to go home for a couple days – then back out to the Meadowlands May 15th for training, OTA’s and Mini camp – to live in a hotel, the La Quinta Inn (hey, I thought we’re in the NFL…aren’t these the Super Bowl champs!?!) for 6 weeks ‘til June 24th. And yes, if you were wondering – living in a hotel sucks!!

June 24th finally came, I said my goodbyes to my lovely 5th floor hotel suite and headed home for a month and much needed rest before reporting to training camp July 24th.

July 24th – training camp…

….to be continued.”