- All right. We have Steven Jackson.
We don't wanna waste any more time.
Just go. - All right, so here we go.
You got two teams. You played two out of the four teams.
You played the Rams, the Patriots.
We'll get to the Patriots in a second.
But first of all, do you root for the Rams?
Like, are you a Rams fan because of your time there?
- Yeahhh. - That's a no.
- That was a big breath. - That was a lean back—
- You saw that body language? - Yeah, I did.
That was bad body language.
- It is bad, I know.
- But you're one of the all-time greats in Rams history.
It's you, Dickerson, and Gurley and Faulk.
- Well, so wait. That's where I wanna go.
- But of course, he's gonna ask my question now, too
is, do you— all right.
So, first of all, do you root for the Rams?
Just start there. - I do.
But I— it's bittersweet, right?
- Yeah? - It's like, you give them
almost a decade, nine years
you give them everything you have.
Never better than 8-8.
- Right. - Nine seasons
I had six coaches, counting interim coaches— - Right.
- Yes. - So all I know is turnover.
- Yeah. - And now to see the success
of this group. - Before you is the Greatest
Show on Turf. - Yeah.
- After you is Sean McVay and this offensive explosion.
- Right. - In-between—
- Yeah, I'm just the meat. - Yeah.
Well, I know. So, so, I do.
I mean, you're one of the great running backs of all time.
You're 18th on the all-time rushing list.
- Wild. - Do you feel like
you're almost, like, the forgotten man
not only as a whole, but for the Rams?
Like, I feel like people just go
"Marshall Faulk" and "Todd Gurley."
And they forget that you were, like, a super stud
in the NFL for a long time.
- Yeah. Well, my favorite question to fans
that say they're real fans is, "Who's the leading rusher
for the L.A. Rams?" - Right.
- Most people say Eric Dickerson. It's like, well
you don't know your history. You didn't watch me, obviously.
- Yeah. - Right.
- And that's the frustrating part, is, you know
I understand that team leadership
and team wins come together.
And I just wasn't a part of that team.
- Right. - But when you talk about
individual and what a person put out on the field
what we worked hard to do? - Yeah.
- I just want some acknowledgement.
And sometimes I feel like I get skipped over
and it's not because of my talent.
I know that. It's just because
I just had a bad break, man. - Yeah, yeah that's what happens.
- Well, we talk about it all the time.
It's everyone says that wins isn't a statistic.
But yet, we treat it like
it's the greatest statistic of all time.
- You're right. Yeah. - That's kinda how it goes.
But what's funny is, is then you go to the Patriots
which, there's nothing better than Bill Belichick with a guy
that hasn't been getting respect from another team.
Happened with Corey Dillon. It happened with
you know, like, every safety, wide receivers.
Happened with Chad Johnson, our friend.
You go there.
What was your first meeting with Belichick?
Like, what were your— what was a great
Belichick story about who he really is?
- My story of Belichick is he calls me in December
LeGarrette Blount goes down, he gets hurt.
- That was the injury. - That was the injury.
He goes down, and I'm retired at this point in my head.
And it's Belichick. You know that voice.
It's very distinct.
And he goes, "Steven—" - "Hi, Steven."
- Yeah, yeah, exactly.
He goes, "Steven, uh, I got a question for you.
Do you wanna play football again?"
And I'm like, in my head
like, "Of course I do." - Yeah.
- But I'm like, they're in December.
This is the New England Patriots
and I'm a man of pride.
I don't wanna look bad.
Like, the—my last carry
I felt I still looked like myself.
I didn't wanna get to New England
and look like a shell of myself.
- Yeah. - And then people are like
"Oh, he's—" you know, "He's terrible.
He's trash." - Yeah, yeah.
- So I was more nervous about public opinion
about what I would look like.
- Mmm. - So I said, "Coach, you give me
two weeks to get in shape, I'll come."
What was it like going there
seeing their day-to-day preparation
and specifically, like, AFC Championship
getting ready for the Broncos that year
what that was like being a part
of that organization during that time?
- So, when you get there, you realize that there's
no place like it in the NFL, at least my stops.
There's not a lot of pictures in the hallways.
There's not a lot of "me, me, me," you know?
But what I found the most interesting
to your question, is getting ready for that AFC game
against the Denver Broncos, if I recall right
he asked me to talk to the team.
And he wanted me to talk to them about my NFL experience.
I'm like, "What do I have to teach these guys," you know?
You guys have been to now eight consecutive AFC championships.
- Right. - Gronkowski's laughing.
He goes, "I've never had not a bye," right?
- Right. - I'm like, I've only been
in the playoffs twice, first year and last year.
- Yeah. - And he's laughing like
"You got a bad break." - Right.
- So he asked me to talk about my plight
so I'm telling the team about my story.
And my story goes, there's a part of my career
where I won six games in three years.
- Wow.
I'm talking to the team about me winning six games
in three years. - Yeah.
- And you could just hear a pin drop.
And they just couldn't believe the amount
of eight consecutive 1,000 yards rushing
but the lack of wins to go with it.
It's almost like those guys wanted to win that game for me.
- Yeah. - And that was a special moment
because I didn't think my story was anything.
I thought I was just privileged to be there.
But to see that it was twofold, and that they wanted me
to kinda cap off my career with a win.
- Sure. - It meant a lot to me
and, you know, I'll always forever be grateful.
- And you got a touchdown in the AFC Championship Game in Denver.
- Do you think he was trying to, like
you know, Belichick, like, is he trying to show, like
"Hey, you guys are spoiled." - Absolutely he was.
- "And look how grateful this—." Yeah, OK.
- You can't take it for granted, right?
- Right, right. - And I think, if you're
Gronkowski, for example, he doesn't know anything else.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- He only knows Brady, Belichick
and playoff wins, you know what I'm saying?
- He assumes that Cincinnati's like that.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Now they're in a similar situation.
They haven't been in that situation
since your speech and that game of a road AFC Championship Game.
And since 2004, they've been to the playoffs, like, 13 times.
This has only happened three times, and the Patriots are 0-3.
- 0-3 on the road. - I'm curious
what is Belichick like the week of an AFC Championship Game?
- Very relaxed. Everyone— - Really?
- And I would say the whole team.
That's the, that was the other thing that was impressive.
From the running back coach to the special teams coach
to even just the team chaplain, it is—
- Nothing's different. - Nothing's different there.
It is normal.
Football in January and February is normal to them.
- It's the regular season. - Sounds like you were
in a bizarro world— - I was.
- Where you're like, "I've never been here before.
This is insane." And everyone's like, "It's Tuesday, Steven.
Take a seat." - Yeah, I'm normally
looking at my passport.
I'm in Costa Rica somewhere, right?
- Yeah. - And they're like, "Nah, man.
This is divisional round week."
- My only other thing is
if you could say anything to the basketball Stephen Jackson
what would you say to him? - Stak5, what's up?
- Do you guys, like, talk?
Do the Steven Jacksons talk to each other?
- No, we haven't talked in a while.
We've, we ran into each other before.
Um, oddly enough, it was in a nightclub
in San Antonio and I— we got each other's bills.
- Really? That's how you— Did you even—
- You don't wanna mess with that NBA money, man.
- Yeah, yeah. I'm like, no, no, no.
I'm not guaranteed. I'll take the small one.
- I didn't order three Ace of Spades.
- Right. So there's been some mixups.
- That's unbelievable. I love it.
We're happy to have you, man.
- Thank you, man. - Yeah, thanks for coming by.
- For real. - Seriously.