It seems unfortunate that you had such a great career and you have that incident and the ‘Phantom Sack’ incident come up right away when you search for your name online. It doesn’t seem fair. Do you feel that way as well?
Well, let’s mention the ‘Phantom Sack.’ It was the last game of the season for us, it’s the championship game, and we’re down 30-3 with like four minutes left to go. Frankly, my contract’s up. And Ernie [Zampese] is like ‘OK, two-minute offense.’ And I look at him and I go, ‘Really? We’re going to score 27 points in the final four minutes – I mean, c’mon.’ Frankly, I’ve got to say, I’ve never been a quitter, but I’ve already had seven sacks for the day and I wasn’t going to have eight, nine and 10. So, let’s put things in perspective. Were we going to make 27 points up in that amount of time? No. Was it the most brutal thing a quarterback has done? No. Phil Simms has done it a million times. Peyton Manning’s ducked it when there’s not a play there. And frankly every receiver was covered and there was nowhere to go with the ball. I’m not saying the ‘Phantom Sack’ because John Madden likes to blow things out, but trust me, that was way blown out of proportion; however, I did 100% take the dive. We were in a game that was pretty much over. That’s the way I look at it. And the Jim Rome thing, it’s funny. I threw a couple hundred touchdowns but I’m remembered for throwing a table and going after one reporter. It’s almost like Bobby Knight – how many games did he win in his college career? But we’re going to remember him for throwing a chair and down-talking a kid once? C’mon. I have more respect for the game and the whole deal, but it is funny how we like to remember specific events and things. That’s just the nature of the beast. I’m all good with it.
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Good stuff.
