Post by I definitely have a cock~~~ on Sept 16, 2015 12:17:17 GMT -5
Q&A with Joe Namath : Hall of Famer talks Andrew Luck, Colts' Super Bowl aspirations
Ahead of the Colts' home opener against the New York Jets on Monday night, Hall of Fame Jets quarterback Joe Namath, who currently sells the Joe Namath Rapid Cooker, spoke with The Star about Andrew Luck, Indy's Super Bowl aspirations and of course, Luck's fur coat and Fu Manchu mustache homage to Namath in a recent commercial.
Luck shares many similarities with Namath through the first three years of his pro career. Both were historically prolific over that span: In 1967, Namath became the first pro quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards in a season, and Luck set an NFL record for most passing yards in a quarterback's first three seasons (12,957) from 2012-14.
In his fourth season, Namath led the Jets to an upset of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. In his fourth season, many see Luck and the Colts as primed for a Super Bowl run.
Question: What are your impressions of Andrew Luck?
Answer: It's been nothing but good. Of course, I watched him at Stanford, too. I remember his father, (former NFL backup quarterback) Oliver Luck, and I've kind of been a fan of those guys throughout the years. I'm just thrilled for him; his demeanor, his character – we all have something that's not perfect or just right, but he appears to really be well-balanced and just a joyful person from what I've seen.
Q: There are a lot of similarities between your career through the first three years, and Luck's. What do you think is his ceiling? When it's all said and done, what will we be saying about Andrew Luck?
A: Well let's hope that's a good distance in the future. Right now, I'd be more concerned with Andrew about how he's approaching this season rather than look back at his first three seasons. Those three seasons are behind him. I don't think Andrew is anywhere near fulfilled with what he's done; he wants to win a championship to start with, and maybe more than that. So until he accomplishes that, I don't think he's going to be satisfied with the accolades and the statistics. I believe he's a man that's driven to win a championship.
Q: You won a championship in your fourth year. There were a lot of expectations in Indianapolis and around the country coming into this season, that the Colts would be legitimate Super Bowl contenders. How do you deal with that type of pressure as a young quarterback?
A: I really believe we've got to keep ourselves aware of what's happening around us, certainly aware of the situation. But it's almost like tunnel vision of what the goal is. It's almost like not hearing a lot of talk out there. It's one at a time. It's a team game. We've gotta stress that, too. There have been some other wonderful quarterbacks and some other wonderful players that haven't been on a championship team.So I don't know that there's pressure other than self-imposed pressure on Andrew. I don't know if it's reality that it's on his shoulders. Hey, those other guys have got to step up too, defensively and offensively. The fans know and the football people know that Andrew Luck is a champion. But it's a team sport and it's going to take the rest of the pieces to own up.
Q: There are some concerns about the Colts following their Week 1 loss in Buffalo. What's your assessment of the Colts this season?
A: Well I did see some of the game against Buffalo, certainly. They didn't have a good day, obviously. Sometimes you don't play up to your capabilities and you can't get out of your own way. I know that the Colts had an off day and it seemed like the motors were running high in Buffalo with anticipation and the urgency that they had kind of helped out their scheme. And it is just one game. I don't know of any team that felt like they played their best football last week throughout the league, even the winners.It's a game of mistakes and I go back to what my college coach (Bear Bryant at Alabama) told us when we were freshmen. The first meeting in the room, our college coach told us: "Look, I'm gonna keep you from beating yourselves." Beating yourselves? I was wondering, "What the heck is he talking about?" I had come from a championship team in Pennsylvania and then I hear Coach Bryant in Alabama talking about beating yourselves. I thought it was almost like playing scared or something.But you can keep from beating yourselves by not making mental errors, by not dropping balls, by not getting into the wrong position to do things. And I'll just bet you, I've gotta believe the Colts know they didn't play well enough because they did make too many mistakes that beat themselves.
Q: How do you think Andrew Luck would fare in a market like New York?
A: Well you see how the folks in Indianapolis and the Midwest look at Andrew; I don't think the folks in New York would look at him any differently. He's a fine man, he comes from a fine family, he does great charitable work. He's just an all-around respectful gentleman as well as a great athlete. If Andrew walks the streets of New York, I tell you what, New York's an intelligent sports group of people there and they know who's what. If they see Andrew, man, they'd be saying, "Hey, Mr. Luck! How you doin', buddy?" He's got the respect of the sports fan around the country right now.
The similarities between Namath and Luck aren't limited to their success on the field. In 1969, just after Namath had made good on a guarantee that the heavy underdog Jets would beat the powerhouse Colts in the Super Bowl, he appeared on the "Ed Sullivan Show." Namath was asked about his plans for the offseason and said he would be going on a USO trip to Guam, Okinawa, Tokyo and the Philippines. Luck and some of his Colts teammates also went on a USO tour this past offseason.
Another parallel between the two quarterbacks is how their rise to stardom led to endorsement and other commercial opportunities. Sullivan asked Namath how he was handling the crush of commercial opportunities following the Super Bowl victory, to which Namath replied: "There have been a lot of opportunities that have come up recently since our victory in the Super Bowl. But my advisers have gotten together with these people and we just decided to wait and more or less pick the right opportunity and take our time."
Luck recently said something similar about his situation:
"I didn't want to overextend myself, and make sure I could focus on football. That was the plan. I managed to do well on the field, and certain opportunities come out of that. The more you do, the more you feel comfortable with how things operate."
Q: How does a young, rising star in the NFL handle the avalanche of commercial opportunities that comes his way while not losing focus on the field?
A: It starts at home, first of all. It's important that we have the leadership at home, the environment at home. Surrounding yourself with the right team (is critical) because one man can't handle the requests and the possible opportunities that come with that. But between he and his father and his mother, boy they sound like they're so well planted, they're so reasonable and intelligent and sincere people. I don't think he's going to have any problem at all.It's going to depend – and there's a fine line – you've got to take care of yourself, too. No one really knows what's in Andrew's mind. Maybe he shared it with his family and all. But we all change, too. There comes a time when your passion may want for one particular thing that you've been driven at for a good while, and you want to do something else, you want to expand into another area, not continuing necessarily to do what you've done your entire life in that one particular area. There's no telling where Andrew is going to decide to go; I don't know if he's decided that yet. I think he's probably still working on that championship, not getting caught up with too far down the road. He's already got that team around him and I bet it's a good one.
Q: Have you seen Luck's recent commercial in which he channeled his inner Joe Namath by wearing a fur coat and Fu Manchu mustache?
A: I haven't seen it but I'm gonna sure be looking for it! (Laughing) I think that's a wonderful idea. That's fun. And I'm glad he's game. He's got a sense of humor and he's game and sometimes you even have to trust those folks that are asking you to represent their company. I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Q: You had to leap over some hurdles that proved difficult on your journey to the Super Bowl, namely the defending AFL champion Oakland Raiders. For the past couple of seasons, the Patriots have been the Colts' main obstacle on that road. How does a team finally break through?
A: I don't believe that anything I say Andrew already doesn't know in a sense. The year we won the championship, we lost three games and two of them were to the last place team in the league. And the third one was the "Heidi Game" out in Oakland when things went a little bit squirrely.Of course in the games we lost I played poorly; I ended up throwing five interceptions in those two games and for the whole season I had 17. So I took that squarely – I blew those games. It's just: OK, learn from the last one and let's move on and be determined to play better. Because again, every week, man, these guys are pros and they can play.Lou Holtz once told us when we were getting ready for a team, he said, "Hey, listen: That team over there is gonna be ready. They didn't go to school just to eat their lunch." Every one of those teams out there are going to be fighting like heck, so whether it's one loss, four losses, five losses, you don't give up until you're eliminated and you keep looking to get better and better.
Q: Are the Colts good enough to reach the Super Bowl this season?
A: I don't know them well enough, but I've gotta believe they've got the players that can do it. I don't know. I really don't know. And right now, they don't know. They've got to play the way they're expected to play and last week they didn't play up to their own expectations.
Q: With your greatest moment on a football field coming against the Colts, does that franchise hold a special place in your mind?
A: Only because of the history, yes. Having a hometown guy from Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania playing tight end for the Colts – Jim Mutscheller – and I found Johnny Unitas and I got mesmerized with the way he played and I tried to emulate Johnny.The history of the Colts, yeah. I remember when they made the transition (to Indianapolis) and how difficult it was for the fans of Baltimore. But I know they were accepted in a beautiful way out there in Indianapolis. And the Colts, when I see that helmet especially, I get flashes, no doubt about it.
> www.indystar.com/story/sports/nfl/colts/2015/09/15/q-joe-namath-hall-famer-talks-andrew-luck-colts-super-bowl-aspirations/72312394/
Ahead of the Colts' home opener against the New York Jets on Monday night, Hall of Fame Jets quarterback Joe Namath, who currently sells the Joe Namath Rapid Cooker, spoke with The Star about Andrew Luck, Indy's Super Bowl aspirations and of course, Luck's fur coat and Fu Manchu mustache homage to Namath in a recent commercial.
Luck shares many similarities with Namath through the first three years of his pro career. Both were historically prolific over that span: In 1967, Namath became the first pro quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards in a season, and Luck set an NFL record for most passing yards in a quarterback's first three seasons (12,957) from 2012-14.
In his fourth season, Namath led the Jets to an upset of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. In his fourth season, many see Luck and the Colts as primed for a Super Bowl run.
Question: What are your impressions of Andrew Luck?
Answer: It's been nothing but good. Of course, I watched him at Stanford, too. I remember his father, (former NFL backup quarterback) Oliver Luck, and I've kind of been a fan of those guys throughout the years. I'm just thrilled for him; his demeanor, his character – we all have something that's not perfect or just right, but he appears to really be well-balanced and just a joyful person from what I've seen.
Q: There are a lot of similarities between your career through the first three years, and Luck's. What do you think is his ceiling? When it's all said and done, what will we be saying about Andrew Luck?
A: Well let's hope that's a good distance in the future. Right now, I'd be more concerned with Andrew about how he's approaching this season rather than look back at his first three seasons. Those three seasons are behind him. I don't think Andrew is anywhere near fulfilled with what he's done; he wants to win a championship to start with, and maybe more than that. So until he accomplishes that, I don't think he's going to be satisfied with the accolades and the statistics. I believe he's a man that's driven to win a championship.
Q: You won a championship in your fourth year. There were a lot of expectations in Indianapolis and around the country coming into this season, that the Colts would be legitimate Super Bowl contenders. How do you deal with that type of pressure as a young quarterback?
A: I really believe we've got to keep ourselves aware of what's happening around us, certainly aware of the situation. But it's almost like tunnel vision of what the goal is. It's almost like not hearing a lot of talk out there. It's one at a time. It's a team game. We've gotta stress that, too. There have been some other wonderful quarterbacks and some other wonderful players that haven't been on a championship team.So I don't know that there's pressure other than self-imposed pressure on Andrew. I don't know if it's reality that it's on his shoulders. Hey, those other guys have got to step up too, defensively and offensively. The fans know and the football people know that Andrew Luck is a champion. But it's a team sport and it's going to take the rest of the pieces to own up.
Q: There are some concerns about the Colts following their Week 1 loss in Buffalo. What's your assessment of the Colts this season?
A: Well I did see some of the game against Buffalo, certainly. They didn't have a good day, obviously. Sometimes you don't play up to your capabilities and you can't get out of your own way. I know that the Colts had an off day and it seemed like the motors were running high in Buffalo with anticipation and the urgency that they had kind of helped out their scheme. And it is just one game. I don't know of any team that felt like they played their best football last week throughout the league, even the winners.It's a game of mistakes and I go back to what my college coach (Bear Bryant at Alabama) told us when we were freshmen. The first meeting in the room, our college coach told us: "Look, I'm gonna keep you from beating yourselves." Beating yourselves? I was wondering, "What the heck is he talking about?" I had come from a championship team in Pennsylvania and then I hear Coach Bryant in Alabama talking about beating yourselves. I thought it was almost like playing scared or something.But you can keep from beating yourselves by not making mental errors, by not dropping balls, by not getting into the wrong position to do things. And I'll just bet you, I've gotta believe the Colts know they didn't play well enough because they did make too many mistakes that beat themselves.
Q: How do you think Andrew Luck would fare in a market like New York?
A: Well you see how the folks in Indianapolis and the Midwest look at Andrew; I don't think the folks in New York would look at him any differently. He's a fine man, he comes from a fine family, he does great charitable work. He's just an all-around respectful gentleman as well as a great athlete. If Andrew walks the streets of New York, I tell you what, New York's an intelligent sports group of people there and they know who's what. If they see Andrew, man, they'd be saying, "Hey, Mr. Luck! How you doin', buddy?" He's got the respect of the sports fan around the country right now.
The similarities between Namath and Luck aren't limited to their success on the field. In 1969, just after Namath had made good on a guarantee that the heavy underdog Jets would beat the powerhouse Colts in the Super Bowl, he appeared on the "Ed Sullivan Show." Namath was asked about his plans for the offseason and said he would be going on a USO trip to Guam, Okinawa, Tokyo and the Philippines. Luck and some of his Colts teammates also went on a USO tour this past offseason.
Another parallel between the two quarterbacks is how their rise to stardom led to endorsement and other commercial opportunities. Sullivan asked Namath how he was handling the crush of commercial opportunities following the Super Bowl victory, to which Namath replied: "There have been a lot of opportunities that have come up recently since our victory in the Super Bowl. But my advisers have gotten together with these people and we just decided to wait and more or less pick the right opportunity and take our time."
Luck recently said something similar about his situation:
"I didn't want to overextend myself, and make sure I could focus on football. That was the plan. I managed to do well on the field, and certain opportunities come out of that. The more you do, the more you feel comfortable with how things operate."
Q: How does a young, rising star in the NFL handle the avalanche of commercial opportunities that comes his way while not losing focus on the field?
A: It starts at home, first of all. It's important that we have the leadership at home, the environment at home. Surrounding yourself with the right team (is critical) because one man can't handle the requests and the possible opportunities that come with that. But between he and his father and his mother, boy they sound like they're so well planted, they're so reasonable and intelligent and sincere people. I don't think he's going to have any problem at all.It's going to depend – and there's a fine line – you've got to take care of yourself, too. No one really knows what's in Andrew's mind. Maybe he shared it with his family and all. But we all change, too. There comes a time when your passion may want for one particular thing that you've been driven at for a good while, and you want to do something else, you want to expand into another area, not continuing necessarily to do what you've done your entire life in that one particular area. There's no telling where Andrew is going to decide to go; I don't know if he's decided that yet. I think he's probably still working on that championship, not getting caught up with too far down the road. He's already got that team around him and I bet it's a good one.
Q: Have you seen Luck's recent commercial in which he channeled his inner Joe Namath by wearing a fur coat and Fu Manchu mustache?
A: I haven't seen it but I'm gonna sure be looking for it! (Laughing) I think that's a wonderful idea. That's fun. And I'm glad he's game. He's got a sense of humor and he's game and sometimes you even have to trust those folks that are asking you to represent their company. I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Q: You had to leap over some hurdles that proved difficult on your journey to the Super Bowl, namely the defending AFL champion Oakland Raiders. For the past couple of seasons, the Patriots have been the Colts' main obstacle on that road. How does a team finally break through?
A: I don't believe that anything I say Andrew already doesn't know in a sense. The year we won the championship, we lost three games and two of them were to the last place team in the league. And the third one was the "Heidi Game" out in Oakland when things went a little bit squirrely.Of course in the games we lost I played poorly; I ended up throwing five interceptions in those two games and for the whole season I had 17. So I took that squarely – I blew those games. It's just: OK, learn from the last one and let's move on and be determined to play better. Because again, every week, man, these guys are pros and they can play.Lou Holtz once told us when we were getting ready for a team, he said, "Hey, listen: That team over there is gonna be ready. They didn't go to school just to eat their lunch." Every one of those teams out there are going to be fighting like heck, so whether it's one loss, four losses, five losses, you don't give up until you're eliminated and you keep looking to get better and better.
Q: Are the Colts good enough to reach the Super Bowl this season?
A: I don't know them well enough, but I've gotta believe they've got the players that can do it. I don't know. I really don't know. And right now, they don't know. They've got to play the way they're expected to play and last week they didn't play up to their own expectations.
Q: With your greatest moment on a football field coming against the Colts, does that franchise hold a special place in your mind?
A: Only because of the history, yes. Having a hometown guy from Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania playing tight end for the Colts – Jim Mutscheller – and I found Johnny Unitas and I got mesmerized with the way he played and I tried to emulate Johnny.The history of the Colts, yeah. I remember when they made the transition (to Indianapolis) and how difficult it was for the fans of Baltimore. But I know they were accepted in a beautiful way out there in Indianapolis. And the Colts, when I see that helmet especially, I get flashes, no doubt about it.
> www.indystar.com/story/sports/nfl/colts/2015/09/15/q-joe-namath-hall-famer-talks-andrew-luck-colts-super-bowl-aspirations/72312394/
