PaCkFan_n_MD
01-28-2011, 04:20 PM
I couldn't agree more with this story. Go Pack Go!
http://packersnews.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110127/PKR01/110127113/Butler-Wolf-pass-along-some-Super-Bowl-wisdom
Former Green Bay Packers Super Bowl player, GM share wisdom
If LeRoy Butler had the chance, he’d give Aaron Rodgers one piece of advice going into Super Bowl XLV.
The former Green Bay Packers All-Pro safety would tell the team’s 27-year-old quarterback to avoid the trap that too easily infects a young player’s thinking.
“Don’t say, ‘You know what, I’m not going to let a lot of pressure get to me because I’ll be back here,’” Butler said. “I’m sure Dan Marino said the same thing.”
Butler and the rest of the Packers from the mid 1990s know what’s at stake when the Packers play Pittsburgh in Arlington, Texas, on Feb. 6. They’ve been on both sides, as winners in January 1997, when the Packers walked out of the Louisiana Superdome with the franchise’s first title win in 29 years, and the following year, when they lost to John Elway’s underdog Denver Broncos in San Diego in Super Bowl XXXII.
The difference is indescribable. As Vince Lombardi famously said of the NFL: There are only two places, first and last.
“People used to ask, ‘You feel better because it was John Elway’s first one?’” Butler said. “Hell no! What kind of question is that?
“I hate even seeing the highlights of that Denver game.”
Ron Wolf, the general manager who put together Super Bowl teams, remembers the feeling of regret that offseason after losing the chance to be a back-to-back Super Bowl champion. He said that at the time his mind searched for all the things he might have done differently, and he still blames himself for not standing firm on some personnel decisions, probably, he thinks, because the Packers had won the previous Super Bowl.
Specifically, he would have tried to talk defensive end Sean Jones into playing one more season. Jones retired in 1997 after injuring his back while lifting weights that offseason, and the Packers apparently didn’t put up a fight. Butler said he thinks Jones easily could have been talked into playing one more season.
In that second Super Bowl, starting defensive end Gabe Wilkins injured his knee and was unable to play through it. With no backup of note, the Packers were unable to slow Broncos halfback Terrell Davis, who was the game’s dominant player and gained 157 yards on 30 carries.
“That’s why (losing) stays with you a little bit longer,” Wolf said, “because you know deep down, I’m talking about myself, I gave in to situations normally I never would, and I shouldn’t have, and I think that cost us the game. We didn’t have any defensive linemen that wanted to go out and play — we had some guys out there giving their all that did play, and some of the big shots didn’t play. Had we kept some more guys, more leaders on the team, that wouldn’t have happened, I don’t believe. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered, maybe we were destined to lose anyway, but you still think about those things.”
Getting ready for a Super Bowl includes much more than a usual game because of the two weeks between the conference championships and Super Bowl, though Butler and Wolf said they actually liked much about the extra time for game preparation and enjoying the moment.
Butler savored his time in New Orleans and San Diego, and the players’ VIP treatment. He recalled calling the exclusive Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, Calif., to see if he and a couple teammates could play a round — the Packers stayed at a hotel on the course — and was told the day was booked. Then he said he played for the Packers.
“’Cool, your tee time is 1:19,” was the answer.
“It was the coolest experience,” Butler said. “I remember in New Orleans bumping into some of our fans, and some of them had tears in their eyes because it was 30 years since the Packers had been to a Super Bowl.”
The Packers’ trip to the Dallas area this year will be more like San Diego in that things are spread out. The Packers’ hotel is in Irving, which is about a 25-minute drive from Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, and about a 25-minute ride from downtown Dallas, where players figure to spend some free time.
In New Orleans, the team hotel was in the French Quarter, which is filled with restaurants, shops and bars.
“New Orleans was enjoyable, San Diego was not enjoyable, and I’m not sure why,” Wolf said. “New Orleans, maybe it was the newness of (being in the Super Bowl). To me New Orleans is the perfect place for that Super Bowl, because you can walk everywhere, you walk to the stadium, you can walk anywhere you have to go, you don’t have to rely on all sorts of things, made it a lot easier.
“San Diego, we were in La Jolla, there wasn’t much to do. You’re there to play a football game, I understand that, but at the same point at some time you have to let go and let your hair down. I did not enjoy San Diego at all.”
Still, the most pressing message from those past Packers Super Bowl participants is how difficult it is to get there. Wolf pointed out the Packers are the 10th different team in a row to represent the NFC.
With all but Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett making their first Super Bowl appearance on the Packers’ roster — John Kuhn was a practice-squad player when he was with Pittsburgh’s Super Bowl team in the 2005 season — Butler said he’d hammer home to teammates they can’t count on getting back.
“Every play counts,” Butler said. “Every missed tackle, every interception, every dropped interception. There’s no second chances, you have to take advantage of your opportunities. A lot of guys take that for granted, ‘Well, I just missed intercepting a pass,’ or ‘I missed a tackle, I’ve got plenty of time in the third quarter to make that up.’ You may not ever get that opportunity again. Obviously you want to have fun, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime type deal, and everything counts.”
http://packersnews.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110127/PKR01/110127113/Butler-Wolf-pass-along-some-Super-Bowl-wisdom
Former Green Bay Packers Super Bowl player, GM share wisdom
If LeRoy Butler had the chance, he’d give Aaron Rodgers one piece of advice going into Super Bowl XLV.
The former Green Bay Packers All-Pro safety would tell the team’s 27-year-old quarterback to avoid the trap that too easily infects a young player’s thinking.
“Don’t say, ‘You know what, I’m not going to let a lot of pressure get to me because I’ll be back here,’” Butler said. “I’m sure Dan Marino said the same thing.”
Butler and the rest of the Packers from the mid 1990s know what’s at stake when the Packers play Pittsburgh in Arlington, Texas, on Feb. 6. They’ve been on both sides, as winners in January 1997, when the Packers walked out of the Louisiana Superdome with the franchise’s first title win in 29 years, and the following year, when they lost to John Elway’s underdog Denver Broncos in San Diego in Super Bowl XXXII.
The difference is indescribable. As Vince Lombardi famously said of the NFL: There are only two places, first and last.
“People used to ask, ‘You feel better because it was John Elway’s first one?’” Butler said. “Hell no! What kind of question is that?
“I hate even seeing the highlights of that Denver game.”
Ron Wolf, the general manager who put together Super Bowl teams, remembers the feeling of regret that offseason after losing the chance to be a back-to-back Super Bowl champion. He said that at the time his mind searched for all the things he might have done differently, and he still blames himself for not standing firm on some personnel decisions, probably, he thinks, because the Packers had won the previous Super Bowl.
Specifically, he would have tried to talk defensive end Sean Jones into playing one more season. Jones retired in 1997 after injuring his back while lifting weights that offseason, and the Packers apparently didn’t put up a fight. Butler said he thinks Jones easily could have been talked into playing one more season.
In that second Super Bowl, starting defensive end Gabe Wilkins injured his knee and was unable to play through it. With no backup of note, the Packers were unable to slow Broncos halfback Terrell Davis, who was the game’s dominant player and gained 157 yards on 30 carries.
“That’s why (losing) stays with you a little bit longer,” Wolf said, “because you know deep down, I’m talking about myself, I gave in to situations normally I never would, and I shouldn’t have, and I think that cost us the game. We didn’t have any defensive linemen that wanted to go out and play — we had some guys out there giving their all that did play, and some of the big shots didn’t play. Had we kept some more guys, more leaders on the team, that wouldn’t have happened, I don’t believe. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered, maybe we were destined to lose anyway, but you still think about those things.”
Getting ready for a Super Bowl includes much more than a usual game because of the two weeks between the conference championships and Super Bowl, though Butler and Wolf said they actually liked much about the extra time for game preparation and enjoying the moment.
Butler savored his time in New Orleans and San Diego, and the players’ VIP treatment. He recalled calling the exclusive Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, Calif., to see if he and a couple teammates could play a round — the Packers stayed at a hotel on the course — and was told the day was booked. Then he said he played for the Packers.
“’Cool, your tee time is 1:19,” was the answer.
“It was the coolest experience,” Butler said. “I remember in New Orleans bumping into some of our fans, and some of them had tears in their eyes because it was 30 years since the Packers had been to a Super Bowl.”
The Packers’ trip to the Dallas area this year will be more like San Diego in that things are spread out. The Packers’ hotel is in Irving, which is about a 25-minute drive from Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, and about a 25-minute ride from downtown Dallas, where players figure to spend some free time.
In New Orleans, the team hotel was in the French Quarter, which is filled with restaurants, shops and bars.
“New Orleans was enjoyable, San Diego was not enjoyable, and I’m not sure why,” Wolf said. “New Orleans, maybe it was the newness of (being in the Super Bowl). To me New Orleans is the perfect place for that Super Bowl, because you can walk everywhere, you walk to the stadium, you can walk anywhere you have to go, you don’t have to rely on all sorts of things, made it a lot easier.
“San Diego, we were in La Jolla, there wasn’t much to do. You’re there to play a football game, I understand that, but at the same point at some time you have to let go and let your hair down. I did not enjoy San Diego at all.”
Still, the most pressing message from those past Packers Super Bowl participants is how difficult it is to get there. Wolf pointed out the Packers are the 10th different team in a row to represent the NFC.
With all but Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett making their first Super Bowl appearance on the Packers’ roster — John Kuhn was a practice-squad player when he was with Pittsburgh’s Super Bowl team in the 2005 season — Butler said he’d hammer home to teammates they can’t count on getting back.
“Every play counts,” Butler said. “Every missed tackle, every interception, every dropped interception. There’s no second chances, you have to take advantage of your opportunities. A lot of guys take that for granted, ‘Well, I just missed intercepting a pass,’ or ‘I missed a tackle, I’ve got plenty of time in the third quarter to make that up.’ You may not ever get that opportunity again. Obviously you want to have fun, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime type deal, and everything counts.”