Doug Flutie talks backing up TOM BRADY, and building the Franchise QB... FVS Live

On the first of a new series of LIVE Flutie vs Stegall episodes, Doug Flutie, Milt Stegall and Arash Madani talk everything QB!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Now, my last year of my career, I'm backing up Tom Brady. I'm 106 years old. I got a little cane and a walker, and I just had the pom-poms out and I was cheering. So, yeah, and Tom doesn't get hurt, and Tom's not getting too much. He doesn't come up the field. He's not coming. We're up 40 to nothing. Tom's out there taking the kneel downs, right? That's just the way it's going to be. So, but there were other situations where you knew that opportunity was coming and you stayed sure. So when you're behind a guy that is the guy, like a Tom, it's hard to make yourself prepare every week. The motivation is tougher, especially as the season gets on and it becomes a mental discipline.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

We have become North America's fastest growing football podcast. And now Flutie versus Stiegel is in person. Here we are in studio together. In person. The band.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

The band is here. Got the band back together. We're in Vegas and gonna go get it. And it's like we hadn't Milt and I hadn't seen each other in years. Well, we can remember the last year. We can't even remember.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

It's way back. Yeah. And you guys went golfing together. Milt Steagall went golfing, don't you? Yeah, no. The final frontier.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

75, 75-yard putt within two feet of the hole. It was absolutely amazing. He's about 57, 70 yards off the green, pulls out the putter. Milt Steagall showing him how it's ready, baby.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

I'm ready. So you two have followed each other's careers from afar. And and Doug, it's been what's been clear to me over the last year or so, like the admiration you had for Milt's career and Milt the same way as Doug. Like what's that like as a as a quarterback watching a receiver who's not a teammate, but you know, in the same league? And as a receiver watching a quarterback run around do their thing, what what stands out when you're watching some?

SPEAKER_03 1:54

I want to I want to start this off. Because I I was telling Doug, and don't get me wrong, I play with two, I play with a bunch of quarterbacks, but I played with two great quarterbacks, Kahari Jones and Kevin Glenn. But I told Doug, if I would have played with Doug, and I'm not joking when I say this, I would have had 2,500 yards. And I'm not joking when I say that. That's how great Doug was when he was on the football field. If Doug would have been 6'2, he would have been the greatest quarterback in football history because he would have got more of an opportunity. You remember when he was coming out, it was like, oh, he's too short, he can't play. That's why he didn't get that opportunity like a lot of other guys who were taller than him, who but who weren't at his level got to play. So, and I'm not just saying that because he's here. I've said that to him. You know, I've said this to other people that he was a special player, and if he would have got more of an opportunity, he would have been the greatest quarterback ever. And if I would have played with him, I would have had 2,500 yards.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

And I'm not joking when I say that. But it's funny, we're both thinking along the same line. The second you say, you know, when you admire a player from afar, it's like the first thing is I want that guy on my team. I want to play with that guy. I need to, God, we could, we could use this. You know, I had a a lot of great receivers over the years, and my thing became efficiency, get the ball out of my hand, get it in their hand, let him run. Milt was the big play guy. He was the guy that would have taken. I mean, I had my guy in Buffalo was was Eric Molds. He was that guy. Milt would have been it's I always joke about all it's yards per catch. And I don't know if it's because Milt, if it if it wasn't over a 20-yard catch, he wasn't gonna catch it. But boy, you know, it was it was a big place. And it was um it was fun to watch him from afar, and it was like the ball touched his hands and the run after the catch and the downfield stuff. Um, and that's what you think. The first thing that enters your mind is boy, it would be fun to play with that guy.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Right. So what what gives a quarterback confidence from you know with a receiver? Is it is it durabil durability, dependability, is it knowing the playbook?

SPEAKER_00 3:49

What is it, Doug? Well, it's it's being under fire together and then making plays, and then you st you build this trust, and you build the trust by a daily routine and practice and and always being, you know, depth of route, whatever. I mean, there's there's specifics to it, but by doing it day after day after day, you build that confidence and trust in each other, and then under a game situation, you start coming through. And now, and I I keep going back to Eric Moles as that guy from me in Buffalo, he's one-on-one, he's not open. Yeah, he's fine. I'm putting the ball up, he'll make a play. The guy you know the DB's not gonna get it. Yeah, chances are he'll catch it or there's gonna be an interference call, and you just build that trust. Because if you're if you're waiting for a guy to be open every time you throw the ball, you're gonna hold the ball. It's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Yeah, it's not gonna happen. So you talked about if Doug was over, you know, a few inches tall or he was always kind of pegged as the undersized guy. That's still going on today. You know, like Kyler Murray's the first one. No, no, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_03 4:49

Not as much because now, and Doug and I we spoke about this, you you want your quarterback to be a little bit of mobile now, to be able to move around. Yeah. So with that guy uh not always having to be, you know, behind uh the offensive line, having to move around. You want that mobile guy. Most of the mobile guys are are are shorter guys. They aren't 6'4 or 6'5, you know, they're between 5'10 and maybe 6'1 or 6'2. So they're getting more of that opportunity now to go out there and play. You talk about Kyler Murray, you talk about other guys getting those opportunities now. So it's good because uh you don't want to pigeonhole anybody. It's unfortunate that Doug didn't get all the opportunities uh he he should have had, but he paved the way. So now these guys are getting their opportunities to go out there and and play some football, too. I think two is like 5'10, 5'11.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

So uh it's a good thing to see. Okay, so let's talk about this because you bring up two uh we talked about Kyler Murray. We can just go through quarterbacks that that have gotten shots and have had no production. You've been in quarterback rooms where you're probably sitting in there saying to yourself, man, I'm better than I'm better than these guys getting shots ahead of me. Don't say any names.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

First of all, you've got to believe that or you don't belong. You've got to believe I can do that. I can be on the the only time I ever didn't feel that way was real early in my career, and I was in the uh quarterback room with with Steve Grogan. Okay. And I'm like, his from a knowledge standpoint, I just knew I didn't quite belong yet. Athletically and all that, I had that, but it was coming. You get in that room, um, and it's a business, right? The guy that's making the big money, the guy that's a first-round draft choice, they've got the GM's neck on the line, the head coach's neck on the line, all that. They try to make that guy the guy. They want him to be successful. And you're just waiting for your chance. And it's frustrating, but also it's a team sport, and you're being supportive and you're trying to help everybody along, and we all talk game plan, everything else, and sidelines. But dot dot dot. You're just chomping in the boot waiting for that chance. And the the key to anything is when that opportunity shows, you better perform and you're stepping out there and you're going. And that I don't know. I I was always looked at as the band-aid. I was a guy that can make us competitive. The Kirk Cousins, right now, for Raiders, right? If he needs to play, they're gonna be competitive. Kirk is a wet band aid, but we won't talk about that now. But he's gonna make him competitive. Yeah, you're gonna have a veteran guy that can make you competitive. And that's what they looked at at me like, yeah, we can win with Doug. He's not our guy. While he, while we're doing this, let's find our guy. And that's the NFL mentality is we need a guy that we is a bridge guy, and we need our franchise guy. Let me ask you a question, Doug.

SPEAKER_03 7:29

Knowing that you were better, and we won't say any names, knowing that you were better than the guy that they were playing, and they were playing because they had so much invested in him, did that impact you mentally, saying, like, hold on, I need to be out there. I'm better than this guy. Why aren't I playing?

SPEAKER_00 7:43

I think it it keeps your edge, it keeps you fighting. It makes you, I it's frustrating, but it keeps you motivated to be ready when that time.

SPEAKER_03 7:53

And it in there were Did you know that this guy eventually is gonna see it?

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Oh, yeah, you knew, you knew, and there were two different situations where you knew you were gonna get on the field at some point. All right. So you had to keep yourself. You knew you were gonna get now. My last year of my career, I'm backing up Tom Brady. I'm 106 years old. I got a little cane and a walker, and I just had the pom-poms out and I was cheering. Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

So, yeah, and Tom doesn't get hurt, and Tom's not. He doesn't come up with you. He's not coming. We're up 40 to nothing. Tom's out there taking the kneel downs, right? That's just the way it's gonna be. So, but there were other situations where you knew that opportunity was coming and you stayed. So when you're behind a guy that is the guy, like a Tom, it's hard to make yourself prepare every week. It it the motivation gets tougher, especially as the season gets on, and it it it becomes a mental discipline.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

So I mean, we're sitting here with two Hall of Famers. You're you're the face of the franchise as a receiver. And there are times you might be looking over just being like, this quarterback isn't it? How how do you deal with that as a player? How do you go communicate that to management, to the head coach? Is it what's what's the role of a star player when things aren't going well and you're saying to yourself, man, we need to do something, but I also got kind of know my role here. You have to know your role.

SPEAKER_03 9:16

You have you have to stay in your lane because it's not your place to do that. It isn't. It's not your place. I mean, there there are certain ways where you can give hints, but for you to go to management or the head coach and say, okay, I think this needs to happen as a receiver, as any other, that's it's just not your place. Anybody on the team. You know, the coaches coach, the management, they do, they're gonna do what they want to do. All you can do is go out there and do your job. That's all you can do. And it may be impacting your job that the best uh person for that position is not in there, but it's not your place to go out and say that.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

And it's hard enough for the guy out. Okay, the guy's struggling at quarterback, let's say he's not getting the ball out the people. And if if if some star guy on the team starts speaking up, it makes that guy's job even harder. And now you're undermining the confidence even more, and you're starting the clicks in the locker room, and you've got to try to be supportive as possible.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

You've got to, you gotta which brings us to Philadelphia, where it seems like there's always some kind of soap opera. So when that happens, when there's conflict like that that spills out publicly, whether it's real or not, you know, everything gets dissected. It's not just now with AJ Brown, Jalen Hurts. I mean, you think back to TO and Donovan McNabb and on and on we can go all over the place, then how do you deal with that?

SPEAKER_00 10:29

That you gotta get yourselves, you gotta get the guys together in the same room and and get get on the right direction. That's you it it's so easy, especially off season. Yeah, it's so easy because people are apart and removed and not seeing each other on a daily basis. If you don't know someone, it's easy to talk bad about them. It's easy to when you get back together, yeah, that that's when you you start working together again towards a common goal and all that. And yeah, there's limitation, you know. Maybe Jalen Hurts isn't the best arm as far as standing in the pocket and throwing the ball up the field, and he's managed to win. Yep. You know, he's fine, he finds ways to win. He's I early in my career in New England, they were afraid to let me throw the ball. We were throwing the ball eight to twelve times a game for 70 yards and finding ways to win.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

You know, so you you gotta come together, find a way. And it just I find that when there's a lack of communication between the individual players to each other, that's when things can divide and and and those types of things start to happen.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

You you've been in a situation where there's been division like that?

SPEAKER_03 11:33

Yeah, without a doubt. And Doug, you mentioned a lot of things, but the most important thing you said was you gotta go out there and win. Yeah, that's the only way you're gonna resolve this issue, regardless if it's fabricated or not. You gotta go out there and win. You don't go out there and win, they're gonna be like, I told you there was so much division within this team. Even if there's not division in any division, even if they're not bickering uh one another. If you don't go out there and win, they're gonna say yes, they're gonna pile on even more. Only way you're gonna go out there and shut these folks up, the outside pundits, whoever it may be, you gotta go out there and win. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

And all that being said, I still hate Philadelphia's offense. It's like throw the damn. I was like so frustrated watching that and the way they did things and all. But they won a division, didn't they? There's a hundred different ways to get it done. Yes, there really are. And, you know, it's if you're the running quarterback, if you're you know, if they got Tim Tebow a quarterback and they're afraid to throw the ball, but Tim's gonna run over five guys, whatever it takes to get it done, you find a way to get it done. And that solves it, you know what? It solves all ills until the off-season, and then they start looking at numbers. Yeah, the only time I got released was always in the middle of the offseason. Because I would make every team in training camp when they could see you on a daily basis, shoot, Doug does this well, he does that well, yeah, then the season would end. Uh, I'm 5'10 again.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Oh shit, you know, he is 5'9. He is 5'4. We need to get 5'2.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

You know, it's like it's amazing. So we know the name of the game's winning. But it's a business, as we we've often heard. And now we're at a time where every new NFL GM head coach wants to find their own franchise quarterback. Yeah. So there's there's different ways of looking at this. Do you go the method of Mahomes where he's being you know backing up Alex Smith? Do you do the Jordan Love where he sits for two or three years? Do you only have him under team control for five years until free agency? Do you be do you bring in the veteran, or do you just throw him right into the wolves? What what's what's your thought on this?

SPEAKER_00 13:37

My first thought is every year, and it's because of the hype of the draft, they they like make this made for I don't know how the draft became a made-for-tv event that everyone loves. But it's it's like you can you can pick up your phone and find out who the heck got drafted. It's like come so I that um that amaz that is boring TV to me. I'm it's it just amazing.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

So anyway, you're at every draft.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Every year, you got all the draft done. I'm not, I don't know, I'm on a surfboard somewhere during the draft. Um, but what amazed me is every year, because of the hype of the draft, there's five new saviors this year. Right. There's five guys. Oh, this is our franchise, that's our franchise. Oh, we're saved. The Jets are gonna be great again, the are great sometime. And the Browns are gonna be great. Yeah, it's like we're gonna be great. We got a first round draft. It's like I would rather take an established guy and find that established guy that that and pay him whatever to get him to my team that I believe in. I see all these qualities in him, and and we're gonna start winning. Um the young guy, it's a crapshoot. Now, Mendoza coming out is a he's a very mature kid. And I think the variables on her him are very low. I think you know what you're getting with him. But in general, you know, they think they're gonna draft a savior, there's gonna be a 20-year starter. Oh, there's five teams gonna have a 20-year starter. It happens once every five years. Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

And throwing them into the fire, there's so much that goes into it. But what are your thoughts on this?

SPEAKER_03 15:10

I I think it all depends on the makeup of the team. If if you have a team who's just a quarterback away from uh making the playoffs or or making a big uh turnaround from previous years, I think you come in maybe with the older guy, but your younger guy is ready to go if that older guy's not making it happen. I mean, I think I think that's what the Raiders are. I'm not sure. I mean, I don't know what Kirk Cousins is that gonna be your guy right away. I don't know. Are they gonna go with Mendoza right away? But I I think the Raiders are ready to win right now. Got the best center in the game. You invested a bunch of money on defense. They're ready to win right now. So it's gonna be interesting. But I think if Mendoza comes in and shows he can get it done, I mean, you got 20 million vested in current. That's not a lot of money, relatively speaking. And they're they're gonna put him in right now and say, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

You're our 20 million?

SPEAKER_00 16:03

What you say? I'll take 20 million.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

But it's also an interesting one because you say, Where's your where's your team? So you you both you guys both know I've been following Minnesota forever. They they go and spend the second most amount of money in free agency because they were convinced JJ McCarthy was the good guy. Right? Second year. You draft a kid and he's gonna be your savior right away. And then it blows up, and now all of a sudden, here's Kyler Murray coming in door one, here's Carson Wentz coming in door two, it's year three of JJ McCarthy. As like people are questioning, like, has he lost the locker room? What what happens when a young, like, how does a young guy lose a locker room?

SPEAKER_00 16:42

I don't know, you lose the locker room, okay. You struggle, but when they start bringing in the other guys, it motivates him. I he will he will be the best version of JJ McCarthy going forward. Whether that's good enough, I don't know. But Drew Brees in San Diego uh struggled. He was tried to make Drew the starter in the second year. I played a lot threw come back in, they go and draft Phillip Rivers. It was like throwing a switch. And Drew Brees became Drew Brees. Took us to the playoffs. Now he got injured and then had to end up doing it in New Orleans. But it's a great motivator. It's a great it it it all of a sudden it's like okay, you're giving up on because a lot of times when you're and I don't know because I'm not a first-round draft choice, I wasn't a top guy that you know they had all these expectations for, but they feel like they're just gonna walk in and continue what they were doing in college, and it's not quite that easy. And now all of a sudden you realize you got to work this much harder, you gotta, and sometimes it takes a little wake-up call.

SPEAKER_03 17:44

It could motivate him or it could also work against him. Now he's thinking like they gave up on me. They gave up on me. I I don't care anymore. Mentally, I'm checking out. I'm not the guy. I'm not gonna be the star. He he's not gonna be the starter. He knows he's not gonna be the star. It's gonna be Kyler Murray coming in. They're gonna give him every opportunity to be the guy. And if Kyler Murray blows it up, they're gonna sign him to a long-term deal, and that's it for JJ McCarthy. So it could go that way or the other way. But another another question I asked, Doug, and I know it worked out for Drew Brees, but if that takes to motivate you, maybe I don't want you to be my guy. I drafted you in the first round. I gave you some decent money. That should be the biggest motivating factor. And I know it worked for Drew Brees, but if that's what it takes, maybe you're not deserving to be the guy.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

That's true. Yeah, the self-motivated guy is the guy you need, the guy from the beginning. But sometimes when they come into the league, they don't know what it takes to be an NFL quarterback. What does it take? It it takes 24-7 full-time commitment. It is a job. And now the kids understand it, I think, more than we did back then. You know, the off-season was when I first started in the NFL, the off-season was the offseason. It was offseason. It was one little three-day mini camps. They live at the facility now. And that's why the young guys can play right away is because they have all this off-season work and they're there 24-7 with the coaches and they're working game planning stuff. Yeah, game plan about offense stuff. Um and the coaches are looking at them. The coaches have some time and be like, hey, there might be something here. Yeah, they have the the ability. And yeah, I always said this the reason they the reason that all the offseasons become what it is and they're there full full time is because coaches can't be coaches unless they got the players around. They can only watch so much film and come up with so many ideas. And they got to be there 24-7. So they want the players around to to do something. But that's that's why it gives the young guys a chance now. Like when I came out, even if you were top draft choice, you were sitting three or four years waiting for your opportunity. Yeah. And now the expectation is to play right away because they have the time to spend with them. Guys, this has been great.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Yeah, you know, hey, it's good to do this in person.

SPEAKER_03 19:58

Wow, I just I get to see your faces. I mean, I know you guys enjoy seeing my face more than learn seeing your face.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Yeah, one thing I wanted to add is earlier, and I let it go, um, off of Milt's point of the smaller quarterback now getting opportunities. The nature of the game has changed. The nature of the game, uh, we what we were doing in Canada, spreading it out, slinging it around, putting guys in shotgun quarterback as a runner, gravitated into college ball, now it's into the NFL. Yeah, five receiver sets. You have five wides, you separate from the line of scrimmage in shotgun, RPO, all that lends itself to the athletic smaller quarterback having a chance. Yeah. So you need to go back to college, huh? I want to be 20 years old. Get some NIL money. I wouldn't even have to go pro. I'll just take NIL money. I'll take NIL money.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Yeah. Um, this has been great. It's the offseason edition of Flutie versus Stiegel. We have a bunch more episodes coming up. Great to see you both. We'll see you guys next time.