Host: Joining us on the
phone line is former – God that sounds weird – former New
England Patriot, Ty Law. Hey, Ty.
Ty Law: Hey guys. How you
doing?
Host: I'm doing great. How are
you?
Law: Oh, I'm hanging in there
pretty good.
Host: You're unbelievable.
Hey, Ty…
Host: I've got to tell
you, that was pretty impressive. You know, in the back seat of that limo
doing that interview. I thought that was pretty impressive.
Host: Well, he was on his
way to the airport and…
Host: I liked it. I liked it.
Law: OK, well I'm glad you
liked it. You know I'm on my way out. It's the least I could do.
Host: I liked it. Well let me
ask you, you've had a chance now to let all of this sink in over the last
few days, how are you feeling about all of this right now?
Law: Oh I'm feeling good. I
mean, it's the nature of the beast. This is the business that I
chose to be in, and it comes with the territory. So I'm perfectly fine with
that.
Host: Did you expect this is the
way it would come down?
Law: I didn't expect anything less than that. It was going to happen sooner or later, for
one reason or another. Everyone was going to have to go through it at some
point in their career, and unfortunately, fortunately, whatever you want to,
however you want to use the term, it happened to me at this time.
Unfortunately though I'm injured right now,
so I don't know if that added to it or whatnot, but that's the only
downside, really, of it for me personally, that I'm injured right now.
Host: Hey, Ty, can you clear the
air? How did you and Belichick part ways?
Law: Oh, it was definitely a
gentlemen's agreement. It was a mutual agreement on both ends. It was just
time for both of us to move forward – I mean, with the team on his part, and me, personally, on my part, to
move forward and go to another organization. But that didn't take away our
relationship as far as what we accomplished together on the field by winning
championships. And like I said, we're perfectly fine with what happened
throughout the course of my career – with me being there for ten years and
our tenure together. We won football games, and that's the most important
thing. But there's no ill feelings towards me with Coach Belichick,
and vice versa.
Host: I talked to you during the
Super Bowl, and you pretty much knew that there was no way the Patriots were
going to pick up that cap number again.
Law: Right.
Host: But do you
still have an understanding with them? An open door policy that down the
road, if you do not get an exceptional offer somewhere else, that that
conversation could come back to the New England Patriots? And then maybe you
might be able to work something out with them financially?
Law: You know what, I don't
know. I mean, hopefully there's always an open door policy, whether it's now
or whether it's later on down the road in my career. You see a lot of times
where people leave to go on, for whatever reason, and come back to the team
that they started off with. So you never know what's going to happen
in the future. But right now I'm looking forward to moving on to another
team, another organization, and I know they're doing the same. This is a
business, and this is constant movement – everyone's always going forward. So you
never know what's going to happen in football from year to year.
Host: Ty, how difficult is it to
be on the open market as a free agent and not be 100% healthy?
Law: That part is
difficult to deal with, but the only thing that I can control right now is
me getting healthy, and my rehabilitation to try to expedite
the process of getting healthy as much as I can. I can't control what's
going to happen out there on the market even if I was healthy. But at
the same time, I am encouraged by the fact that my rehab is going well, and I
know I'll be available to play come next season. For whoever that's going to
be with, I don't know. But I'm going to be back
right at rare form ready to do what I do best.
Host: But given the
nature of your position where speed is obviously essential, and people want
to make sure that you can still cover the way you did when you were healthy,
what does that do in terms of perhaps detracting from your market value
trying to sell yourself to a team right now when you are not 100%?
Law: You know what, I don't
think, I'm not trying to [audio cut out] myself to
anybody right now because of – I mean,
I can't run, but I mean what I've done through the course of my career
speaks for itself. I don't have to sell anybody on anything.
Because once I come back healthy, I'll be ready to go.
Host: Ty, two questions. One, how much are you
going to miss the fans here? We can start with that. And two, are you
surprised about the changes the Patriots have made? Troy Brown's gone, Roman Phifer's gone, you heard about these guys being let go. Surprised about all
that? And the fans.
Law: You know what, I'm going to definitely
miss the fans. Like I said before, it's one thing that I'm going to
definitely take into consideration for whatever team I choose to play for,
is what type of fan support do they have, because you get spoiled up there
with the great fan support that they have. So I'm definitely going to miss
it. I mean, they stuck by me through thick and thin, and I've gotten a lot of
personal things telling me how much
they're going to miss me, and things like that. So it has been great.
They've embraced me with open arms, so that's something I'm definitely going
to miss. As far as Troy Brown and Roman Phifer – they're being released, but
like I said it comes with the territory. You can see certain things coming,
even though you don't
want them to happen, but you can see they're coming. It's a part of the business that
we work in. It's a normal thing. It's going to happen to you one way
or another. So I don't care who you are…
Host: Yeah.
Law: …unless you just happen to retire all of a
sudden, which most of us are too hard-headed to do.
Host: [Laughter]
Law: I mean, it's going to happen.
Host: We had Lawyer Milloy on a few
weeks ago, and he had some interesting comments to make. Obviously, he was a
victim of what you're experiencing right now. And he talked about the fact
that in the Patriots organization, that the way it works is that the
individual players, because you guys work as a team – and obviously that's been a huge success
for you, you won three of the last four championships – because you guys play as a
team, it actually hurts the individual value of an individual player. You
think there's something to that?
Law: You know what, I mean I don't know, because
everyone's going to have their own interpretation of what it is. But if you believe
who you are, you go out there and perform, I mean people are going to recognize,
and people are going to notice. Because Lawyer himself, people knew what
type of player he was – even though he won as a team, he won championships – him as an
individual player, he still was a Pro Bowler. He still at the last minute got
a great offer. People found money, the Buffalo Bills found money to bring
Lawyer Milloy to the organization because of his individual performance and
his individual play so he can help that team. So everyone's going to have an
opinion about that. But…
Host: Well, let me give you an example…
Law: The team is what we are. And with the Patriots, we won as a team, and we liked it
that way. But there's a lot of great individual players that are a part of
that team. That's not, I don't think, taking anything away from that. People who
know football know who can play.
Host: Alright, let me give you an example of it.
We all know individually you're a better cornerback than the other guys that
replace you during the course of the year. Yet if you watch how the Patriots
played when Ty Law went down and out with an injury, from a defensive
secondary, they played exceptionally well. Matter of fact, most of us were
shocked at how well they played….
Law: Right, and that is. That's part of playing
as a team.
Host: But…
Law: It's also game plans and it's also schemes that dictate that. There's certain things that you could do as a
team, and as a defense, with me on the field that you probably wouldn't do with
some of the other guys. But I mean we're such a great team, and we played so
well together, we were able to make adjustments on the run. But those guys,
I can't take anything away from them. They went out there and performed, and
performed well. But you only ask a player to do what they can do, you don't ask
them to do something that they're not capable of. Just like as Troy Brown
went in, you can't ask him to do the same thing that you ask me to do. He's
not a pure cornerback. You have to make adjustments, but we're the
type of team that we can make adjustments, and we'll make do….
Host: But does…
Law: And we'll put more on other people's shoulders
to make up for that.
Host: But doesn't that hurt your value within
the organization when the other players are able to do it via the scheme of
whatever they're able to carry out and get the job done? And they're
doing it for a lot less money than Ty Law demands.
Law: No, that doesn't hurt me at all. I mean my
cap number is what it is whether I was healthy or I'm hurt. That thing
wasn't going to change, so I don't think that hurt me at all. Because if you
look at it, and the anticipation was, regardless if I was injured or not, I
had a 12.5 million dollar cap. And that was the reality of the situation, that's just what it was.
So we expect those guys to go in and play because they practice every day
too, just like we do, because we are a team. But if Tom Brady went down, we
expect Rohan Davey, or whoever that next quarterback might be, to go in
there and take us to the Promised Land. It's just the same thing – whoever goes down, we expect
you to step in.
Host: But Ty, cap number aside – and it was
obviously a big number, and it factored into this decision – do you think the
team's success, while you were sidelined in the second half of the season
and in the postseason, told the coaching staff that in some sense
you were expendable because they won without you?
Law: You know what, I don't, I don't know.
That's something that you have to ask those guys, but it was going to happen regardless, I think. I don't think if that helped their
decision, I really don't know. I think the major determinate thing was that
I had a 12.5 million dollar cap. I understood that, the world understood
that, the Patriots, they should have understood that, and that's just something
that I think was the biggest hurdle to get over for everybody.
Host: Yeah, I got news…
Law: Not that they won, because we still won the
other Super Bowls with me in there. Just because we won one, I don't think
that takes away from the other nine and a half years that I've performed.
Host: I got news for you guys. I got news for
you, Ty: you were going no matter what. It didn't matter. The 12.5? You're
right. I mean once you got to that level, he was gone. Let me ask you this
though: one, have you talked to Tedy Bruschi, how's he doing? And two, tell us a
little bit about Belichick and the fact of how he uses like the Vanderjagt comments,
bulletin board material, to tweak you guys. Tell us that story because that
was fascinating to me.
Law: He's great at it. Just
like he's a great coach, he's a great motivator. He knows his Xs and Os, but he
knows how to push those buttons on, you know, as far as the team and as far as
individuals. If he knows that we need Rodney to step up and have a good
game, he'll find something about Rodney from another team – whether it be a lineman,
whether it be a receiver, a quarterback – he'll find something to strike
a nerve in Rodney. He'll do a search on Google: whoever and Rodney Harrison.
You know what I mean?
Host: Uh huh.
Law: Just so he can come in
there and read it to everybody. He found tapes of, you know like, what's the
guy's…Darrell Jackson. I think that's his name…
Host: Right.
Law: …Darrell, Darnell. He knew
more about me than I knew of him. But anyway…
Hosts: [Laughter]
Host: Who you talking about? From Seattle?
Law: Yeah, from Seattle, yeah.
So he found something that he, on TV – I think it was one of the
shows – that he had to show the whole
team about what he said about me, and he was like, 'Uh-oh Ty, he's gonna kick
your ass.'
Host: And he'll do that in front
of everybody?
Law: Oh, he'll do that in front
of everybody. But I mean we take it all in fun. But you know deep down inside it's going to strike a
little nerve to make you go out there and play
better. And that's just the fun that we have sometimes amongst that team.
Host: Hey Ty, is he always…
Law: He isn't all that uptight
as you guys might think he is.
Hosts: [Laughter]
Law: He's actually pretty cool
sometimes.
Host: Has he always been like
this? Back as a coordinator, has he always been like this, or is this
something that he's picked up as time has gone on here?
Law: Oh, I think he's always
been like that, even when he was our defensive back coach back in '96. We were young hot-heads,
and he came in and had the reputation for it. He was actually a pretty cool
guy back then, and a good secondary coach. He was cool
and he joked around. I mean, Coach Belichick, he loves a good joke.
Hosts: [Laughter]
Law: And he could laugh at himself.
That's one good thing about it, too, because there's plenty of jokes to go
around about him when we have our joke sessions and things during training camp. So I mean it was a great time there. Coach Belichick is a great
coach, and things just had to happen. They are the way they are with him.
This is a business and everyone should understand that. So there's no hard
feelings as far as people want to make it out because me and Coach
Belichick, we had issues maybe on policies and things like that, but
we got it together. Everybody else didn't. For some reason. People
want to keep focusing on like the negativity of the whole thing. So we got
together and ended up still winning football games and coming away with
another championship. He's a great coach, and we have a lot of great
players.
Host: You sound very pragmatic
right now. Obviously we've known you for a long time. You've been around for
a long time, and you're a guy that seems to be able to figure the landscape
out. Yet a year ago you got very, very emotional. And I don't know whether
you regretted anything you said that…you said an awful lot, obviously. Were
you hurt last year?
Law: We ain't going…hey, come on man. We ain't
gonna go back there. This is supposed to be a good time – win championships, free agency. It's
supposed to be a good time. We ain't gonna go back and talk about all that….
Host: No, I understand that. I
clearly understand that. I'm wondering though if you were in any way hurt
a year ago, and now you understand more of the business.
Law: I understand the business
last year. I've understood the business for a long time now. I kind of
studied the thing as I was coming through, so I probably had a better grasp
on it than most players do. So it's nothing that I learned from last offseason
to this offseason. I've been here, it's been ten years. So I pretty much
know the game.
Host: Have you talked to other
teams? Have you got anything that you see on the horizon right now that's a
possibility?
Law: Oh, definitely. It's been plenty of teams calling. I've been talking to teams but
we're gonna, you know, we're gonna keep that one team at a time. I
definitely get calls. I've definitely talked to organizations. But it's one
thing talking, it's one thing of going in and signing the contract and
acting on it. But right now my whole focus is getting healthy.
Everything as far as contracts, and who I'm going to play for, that will take
care of itself when I get healthy. Because if I don't get healthy, I won't
be playing with anybody. So I mean everything right now is a little
premature, especially with all the different teams that I got contacted by.
Host: But the injury you have,
they say you're going to have a 100% recovery. I mean it's not like
something that could carry on as years so on.
Law: Right.
Host: Do you find that it's
difficult – and I've already heard some
agents talk about this – that when guys
get over 30, and you're competing in the free agent market with younger
corners like Ken Lucas and Fred Smoot and Gary Baxter, people like that, and
Anthony Henry, do you find that that might be a little bit more difficulty?
I mean Champ Bailey last year got a huge deal, because of his
age, where he was. Not that he's a better player than you, but that they're
looking at it saying we get this guy for a longer period of time.
Law: Well I mean you can
assume that, but I mean people have been saying that about teammates
that I played with – Otis Smith – for a
long time. You know, 'He's getting old, he's getting this.' Guys are
playing a lot longer today than they have played in the past, for whatever reason.
Jerry Rice is 42 and still wants to play. So you can make that
assumption at 30, but people are really in their prime at 30. How long do guys want to play after that? I think that's up to
the individual how long they want to play. But that's the assumption. It's
all about what a team wants, and it depends on the organization. But if you
want a guy that's been to championships and has credentials and played on
the biggest stages, I think I will rank #1 out of any cornerback that's out
there. Youth is one thing – I guess that might be important to some teams,
and it should be – but production and statistics, no one can match me.
Host: Well he broke his foot, like he said, you
didn't break your confidence, right?
Law: That's right. That's definitely not broken.
Host: [Laughter]
Law: It did not break my confidence or my
ability to play. Like I said, to be honest with you man, I got this boot on.
I can come and have those guys right now with this boot on my foot.
Hosts: [Laughter]
Law: For what I see out there. [Laughter]
Host: You got that little wagon thing you got,
right? You put the one knee on there and…
Law: Oh, see now you missed the boat. I'm
off that now and [inaudible]. I'm off that, I'm walking.
Hosts: Alright.
Law: We'll see.
Host: Hey, how's Bruschi doing?
Law: Oh, Bruschi's doing great from last time I
talked to him. He was just happy to be taking out the garbage, so he's doing
good. And I think he'll be back in the Tedy Bruschi of old. Of course it's a
caution that, you know, because everyone cares about Tedy Bruschi and his
well-being. But he's going to be back ready to go, I'm pretty sure of that.
It was a scare to everybody, and then we got a habit as people and as media,
to blow things more than what it is to say he's probably not going to play,
but hey, he's doing his normal every day life right now. He's looking
forward to playing and that's what I got form him. So if that's the way he
feels, he feels he could come back and play, he's going to be the same Tedy
Bruschi. If he felt he couldn't come back and be the same guy, he wouldn't
even talk about playing football.
Host: Ty, I mean this sincerely, you've been a
great player with this team. We've enjoyed watching you play, and we've
enjoyed dealing with you over the past years. Hopefully we'll have the
opportunity to do it down the road, and I wish you the best of luck whichever
team you play for. And who knows, maybe, maybe even end up back here down the
road.
Law: Hey, you never know man. But it was a
pleasure playing up there too.
Host: And we enjoyed doing the show the couple
years we did the show. One time you lost the connection with the cell phone,
and it went out the window, but we had a blast doing it. Ty, we'll talk to you
soon.
Law: Alright. Thank you.
Host: Hey Ty, thanks. |
