Hall of Famer Andre Reed shares Buffalo Bills stories and chats with Nestor and Luke on Radio Row in San Francisco.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
game, andre reed, baltimore, years, super bowl, ring, buffalo bills, team, kay jewelers, hall, andre, offense, couple, people, jim kelly, thought, bills, fame, famer, famers
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Andre Reed, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Welcome back. WNS G Towson, Baltimore, Ed W and S g.net. We got jewelry on radio row, we’re in Super Bowl 50. That’s super bowl. L. I bet Andre Reed doesn’t know all of the Roman numerals of all the Super Bowls you participated in. You added some x’s and servies and some eyes, right? All that kind of stuff, right? Or
Andre Reed 00:19
else in there.
Nestor Aparicio 00:21
Oh, man, come on people
Andre Reed 00:24
who’ve been killing me all about it. So I gotta you know, I got it. I got it. All right.
Nestor Aparicio 00:27
Well, let’s you got a sense of humor. Yeah. Hey,
Andre Reed 00:30
right now, I mean, people would love to be in one of these games.
Luke Jones 00:33
You know what Andre read recently? Yeah. ESPN came out with a 30 for 30 on those for Buffalo Bills. Teams. I thought it was so well done. I mean, clearly, you know, Jim Kelly has been in the news the last couple years. Really? Yeah. But I and I remember this at the time. I mean, I was 10 years old at that time. I wasn’t a Bills fan. I’m a Baltimore guy. But you’re a football fan. Yeah. And I had a great deal of respect for the bills. And it’s amazing those first couple years. I mean, you’re thinking great game against the Giants lost the Washington. And then eventually, in many people’s minds unfairly, you guys turned into a punch line. And that is ridiculous. Because you made it to four straight Super Bowls. So I thought the 30 for 30 really did your team’s justice. And I like seeing Yeah, and
Andre Reed 01:17
it really depicted really what the town and a team meant to each other. I think after that third, I mean, if you heard Tasker, what he said in that he said, You know what, after that third or fourth subo, we played in so many games, that you know, it’s not an excuse, but we played more games and and a 10 year span than any team in history. Right. And we I think we’re just physically tired. We got physically tired after and the Cowboys just were, it’s not that they were a better team. Of course, they’re gonna say they were a better team. But I think after the third one, we just,
Nestor Aparicio 01:50
they were coming into their own kind of like cow Carolinas. Yeah,
Andre Reed 01:52
we’re just so tired, man. We are physically beat. Like physically from all the games and just the cold and all that just we’re just a tired football team.
Nestor Aparicio 02:02
So a couple stories for you. The day that you guys beat the Oakland Raiders, my dear friend MicroSIM Liana, the former cartoonist of the buffalo courier Express, got in the car and Baltimore, we drove up the buffalo to watch you guys just slobberknocker J Schrader, that was the first one that was before the Tampa game. Yeah, I have no, I mean, I’ve been in Baltimore, we’ve won championships, that stadium and that second if you guys remember literally like 38 The nothing at halftime or there was just this. It was like 41. And yeah, it was like two hours of crazy third quarter fourth quarter. Everyone knew you guys were going to Super Bowl that was just a
Andre Reed 02:39
recruiter put 60s 60 something on them. It was a glorious day. And
Nestor Aparicio 02:43
the other part of this is Ted marcher Broto was a dear friend of mine. Obviously you’re here for K jewelers. I guess. A good time to talk about the K gun offense regarding a gun offense. good segue. I like the Haman cake on K jewelers. Every kiss begins with Kay, we’ll sing it later.
Andre Reed 02:59
Today for you gonna sing it again? No, but I did sing it to myself. kiss begins with Jude said you were gonna sing it with me. What’s the next question?
Nestor Aparicio 03:09
10 March Rhoda, oh, great guy, man that we lost him two weeks ago. You know, I posted out some pictures and shared them of my time with him. It’s got to be kind of special for you. I mean, you sat in meetings with Ted. And Ted was very understated, very studious, very serious guy, but old school, like my and
Andre Reed 03:26
he just let us let us go man, let us be ourselves and knew what he had. And Mark knew we had and we at that time, you know, there wasn’t too many teams that were that were pretty stacked like we were. And that’s all the way from head to toe. That’s all the way top to bottom man. I mean, we had guys that can start for any team. And it just so happened we happen to be all together, you know, all together. There are no Super Bowl years. And you know, we win one of those. Do we get to three more? Probably not. Really? I mean, I would
Nestor Aparicio 03:58
say it was not winning. You think that spurred you on to continue course.
Andre Reed 04:02
Of course. It’s like anything in life. You know, you you want to write the ship and get it right. And we were we did the best we could to make it right. And people are going to, you know, bash us and say, Well, you, you played in four and all the other all the other teams, like oh, we don’t want the bills in there. They just lose. You know what? You would love to be there. There’s a lot of guys that would love to be on that stage that never, never will be and never have a chance to be. So. And in that manner. The way I look at it is you know, we did something special. But there was a reason why that happened to
Nestor Aparicio 04:37
Andrew rejoining us here from Kay Jewelers, and obviously for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Give me the lowdown. This is we’ve tweeted out the picture of the Hall of Fame ring. You know Jonathan rolls his through Baltimore Ray will be rolling his
Andre Reed 04:50
eyes looks like a big wheel. That’s it. It’s really big. Yeah. And
Nestor Aparicio 04:53
the interesting part about it is those cats like we all just assume rays will be there two years now and that’s sort of rubber stamped The same way that Brett Farve, you know, wasn’t easy for you, right? I mean, there, I remember you wrote what are this area
Andre Reed 05:06
was it? It wasn’t easy for me period and anything, I’ve always I’ve never been giving something, just, you know, just hair. You know, I had this angle here, it always had to try to prove myself every,
Nestor Aparicio 05:21
once you’re done, you’re not proving anything like, you know, once the records are there, then it becomes a popularity contest or in your position to be the wide receiver. It was waiting in line. Yeah, it means you got to wait in line just waiting in line,
Andre Reed 05:33
you got to take your lumps, you got to you know, you got to, hey, it’s a pecking order. And, and I said this over here on another radio station that, you know, everybody that’s on the ballot, that starts out on the ballot is potentially a Hall of Famer.
Nestor Aparicio 05:48
And then it becomes about lobbying amongst supporters. I know a lot of these people have called for you, you never want to lobby for yourself, but then you get tapped on the show. Did you? Did you think it was going to happen? Be like, if it didn’t happen? Well,
Andre Reed 06:01
I think it’d be different. I mean, definitely, I’d be you know, just like wow, I, you know, made it just kind of impact on the game and I didn’t even get, you know, no, no accolades for it. You know, and, and this is the ultimate accolade of course, because it’s your you’re the you’re at the pinnacle of your your sport. I didn’t have this bring in jacket in the bust in Canton, by myself. I mean, there’s, you know, my teammates and family and friends that, you know, were there to pat me on the back and hit me in the head too. So it’s such a it was a process that I had to deal with and I had to come to grips with. of why Okay, well, not this year, a Chris Carter had to wait six years, Tim Brown had to wait a long time. So it, you know, it was only one I think one or two Hall of Famers that made your first ballot and Jerry, and I think Steve yard was the larger meeting on the first about, but it doesn’t matter. Now. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been and what you went through and all that kind of stuff.
Nestor Aparicio 07:02
Does it change your life? What’s that? How’s it changed your life?
Andre Reed 07:05
Um, yeah, it’s not that I wasn’t recognized before, but they don’t just say hey, there’s Andre Reed, you know, he played for the bills. There’s Andre Reed, he’s a Hall of Famer.
Nestor Aparicio 07:13
Tell me about the ring. Because I know you’re here for K and the K gun and
Andre Reed 07:17
the K gun. Kay Jewelers. You know, K is the official ring of the the Hall of Fame now that it’s called the ring of excellence. And as you can see how excellent
Nestor Aparicio 07:26
pick this one up. This is the one is that come out. Okay. That’s a
Andre Reed 07:29
replica ring. This this one here is, as you can see the colors a little different. It’s a little heavier name on it. Yes. And that’s got your name on it, too. Now this is actually yes, it does. So that’s my replica. So when I when I took my size, they made a replica of it was just beautiful. So it and they do a great job they have they have officially took over the making of the rings and every inductee including this year’s class will get their rings in the fall. And every living Hall of Famer in the next three years will have this ring.
Nestor Aparicio 08:04
Tell me about the AFC champion do you have for those? ever aware of them? How often do you wear this one?
Andre Reed 08:11
I wear this one when I have this jacket on or if I’m at an event people want to see it I want to see that and it’s not that the whole day the championship rings don’t mean anything. Sometimes I do wear him and a lot of time actually some of them don’t fit my fingers no more for some reason. You know maybe I’ll have my fingers were different back then or something but
Nestor Aparicio 08:31
I’m thinking you jammed a lot of things jammed a lot of them Yeah, Lee probably broke a couple of them right yeah jammed
Andre Reed 08:35
a lot of them but you know, this thing really has those have significance but this has that individual significance in that fraternity of you know what it means
Nestor Aparicio 08:46
I don’t want more to ask you because I was a huge Houston all or fan. All All. All. That was a blue Versary of the combat game. Frank Reich Maryland guy worth more right. Just got a gig. Right? Some thoughts about Frank Frank is about I mean, under appreciated, under appreciated,
Andre Reed 09:06
you know, student of the game. And really when we would have these meetings on Fridays and watch film. You know, Jim really didn’t take over those meetings. It was Frank, which is why he’s an OC right now. You know, he’s an offensive coordinator at he just got hired by Philadelphia. So it wasn’t like our our offense was so complicated like it is now in some offensive I mean, it was had its own, you know, wrinkles and stuff to it. But I think Frank knew a lot of things even more than Jim might have known and combat game he did it in college. He did it in the pros. Under appreciate it Yeah, I mean, maybe you wouldn’t say he was one of the greatest comeback player backups but he was a pretty good darn good one
Nestor Aparicio 09:50
lot of high integrity cats in your in your the Buffalo Bills of that era of that. I mean, I’ve gotten to know Bubba Parker over the years and obviously everything Jim Kelly has been through with Irma Tom isn’t a Steve Tasker. My god Steve comes around at those radio with us all the time. You have just high integrity. I guess that’s a that’s a real tribute not only to Ralph, but also Napoleon. Right. Yeah.
Andre Reed 10:09
And I think it was it was meant to be. And I think, you know, Bill’s in a hall of fame got in last year because of not only what he did with our team, but what he do in Indianapolis. They won a Super Bowl there one year, a couple years ago, and 18 had a little to do with that. He had a lot to do with it. Yeah. But I think, you know, when that happened for him, I was more happy for him than anybody because he deserved that. And, you know, we all deserve that. But we’re not going to, you know, look into male there’s going to be a Super Bowl ring in there. But, you know, things happen for reasons, man. And I think the lesson that was learned through all those years is, you know, never to give up and never really count your eggs before they hatch. Because, hey, you never know what could be in that egg. And, you know, we we let no stone unturned, and we cry, we cross every T dotted every i. And, you know, we the perseverance that we had all those four straight years, you know, is a teaching point and just sports itself.
Nestor Aparicio 11:08
Well, you haven’t given up right. Oh, never will. Absolutely. Andre rejoining us here for Kay Jewelers. Last. Looking at one more.
Luke Jones 11:14
It’s funny, because we talked to so many former players. Pro Football Hall of Famers. Yeah, the week of the Super Bowl. And we always talk about how the game has changed so much. I mean, it’s so so much of an emphasis on offense, but just watch the promo. Right. But I just I think back to those we did.
Nestor Aparicio 11:30
Yeah, we made fun of that yesterday.
Luke Jones 11:32
I think back to those early 1990s Buffalo Bills teams McKagan I mean, you guys were so good offensively. And I kind of think that was almost a precursor to a lot of what you see now. I mean, you know, Peyton Manning has done his thing with, you know, operating at the line of scrimmage for so many years. But you guys, in a way, I feel like you were really ahead of your time from an offensive?
Andre Reed 11:53
I think so. And everybody uses their package as a package and every game plan probably it has something to do with it. Right? And I’m not saying well, the bills were architects of that. But we ran it better to nobody ever did. And if somebody really brought that kind of offense back, it would be run differently because first of all, you have to have the right guys that understand what it means. The right quarterback. And of course the right offensive coordinator knows. So we just happen to be in the right place at the right time with all those players. And will it ever be done again? Probably not. Not in that manner.
Nestor Aparicio 12:28
Rex winds up there be good time for you alums to win it.
Andre Reed 12:32
Yeah, I hope so. I think you know, this year they were eight and eight and they’ve had, you know, one here to two wins during the season. They could have gotten you know, maybe shot in the playoffs. That’ll lot of guys hurt during the year and LaShawn was hurt a couple games Sammy was hurt. Defense really wasn’t the team. They weren’t a year before. And the quarterback, you know, Tyrod Taylor was such a surprise. Nobody thought that he would become the starter with EJ and then you had Matt Cassell early. But Tyrod did a great job so
Nestor Aparicio 13:01
they could learn it and Baltimore’s what it was, yeah,
Andre Reed 13:04
you’re right about that. Absolutely. Hi, Joe Flacco so yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 13:06
really nice to meet you man. You got a man Andre Reed for Kay Jewelers here with a Hall of Fame rings. You can check it out on our Twitter we put the picture up it’s too big for my finger but it’s it’s you just perfect. Thank you man. Thanks good luck in yellow jacket. Man when you get that
Andre Reed 13:19
can’t go to Nordstrom.
Nestor Aparicio 13:22
Andre Reed here we are live in Super Bowl 50 that Super Bowl l don’t take that as an affront Andre Reed All right. It is Super Bowl L is what it is. We are wn St. dotnet am 1570 and W and st Towson Baltimore and we never stop talking. Baltimore sports
