TRANSCRIPT: Patricia Recalls Junior Seau Patriots Story

Former New England Patriots coach Matt Patricia recently appeared on Games with Names with Julian Edelman and recalled a terrific story about Junior Seau’s return to the club ahead of a West Coast trip during a 2008 Patriots Schedule that included match-ups against both Seattle and the Oakland Raiders. Here’s the full transcript below:

The law firm, what do you got? The law firm.

“It’s a story that involves Junior Seau. Oh, my gosh. So we’re getting beat up at linebacker. We have some injuries. And Bill [Belichick] says to me, he goes, ‘Hey, where’s Junior?’ Because he wasn’t.. he was playing for us, but he was… I was like, ‘I don’t know.’ He’s like, ‘Give him a call, find out.’ I was like, ‘Hey, June.’ I go, ‘Where are you?’ He’s like, ‘Fiji.’ I was like, ‘The island?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m surfing.’ I was like, ‘Okay, well, Bill wants to bring you in. We’re beat up Are you ready to go or what?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m ready.’ I was like, ‘All right, well, how fast can you get here?’ He’s like, ‘I don’t know. I’ll get there as soon as I can.’ I was like, ‘Great.’ So I go back to Bill, and I was like, ‘Hey, Junior’s in Fiji surfing.’ I was like, Fiji is like…”

That’s far. Far.

“And he’s like, ‘When can he get here?’ I’m like, ‘He’s trying to get here as soon as he can.’ We’re playing in Seattle. In Seattle. So I was like, ‘Well, he can get back to the West Coast.’ I’m like, ‘He can just meet us in Seattle.’ He’s like, ‘No, he’s got to come back. He’s got to take a physical before he signs the contract.’ I’m like, ‘We’re going to fly him all the way…?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, he’s going to fly all the way here.’ I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ So I called Junior and I was like, ‘Hey, bro, you got to fly all the way to Boston. You got to get…’ So I think he was getting into Boston on Thursday. I called him on Monday. I was like, ‘You got to fly.’ And then we’re going to get on a plane and we’re going to fly all the way back to Seattle. This is going to be awesome.'”

“So Junior, June bug’s great. So June flies in, does the physical. Junior is like, an unbelievable human specimen. He’s always in shape. It doesn’t matter. So he’s great, passed the physical, gets on the plane to fly to Seattle. He’s like, ‘Buddy, what’s the plan?’ I’m like, ‘You’re not playing, but we want you to get on the team, you’ll play next week. Get you in shape. Make sure you’re ready to go.’ All that stuff. He’s like, ‘All right.’ I’m like, ‘You’re actually probably going to be active for the game because everybody’s hurt.’ I’m like, ‘But I’m not playing you.’ He’s like, ‘Okay, all right, no problem.’ So, we get into the game. I think it was… I have to ask Brew [Tedy Bruschi] on this one. So, I think it was Gary Guyton, right?”

Gary Guyton.

So Gary is another one of my linebackers that I had at Georgia Tech, right?”

Quick fact, Gary Guyton set up Matthew Slater with his wife. Shout out, Gary – matchmaker.

“Nice. Gary is great. So Gary and Jerod [Mayo] were like, that was Batman and Robin. That’s what they were for me, right? So Gary, I think, takes out Brew. We’re in the game. Hits him. So now, Bruschi is down.”

Friendly Fire.

“Yeah, friendly fire. So now Teddy’s down. So Teddy’s out of the game. So I’m like, ‘Junior, you got to go in.’ He’s like, ‘What?’ I’m like, ‘We’re out of bodies.’ So I’m like, ‘You got to go.’ So, put Junior out there right before the half. [Seahawks’ QB] throws like a little route. Now, Deion Branch is on Seattle. So this is Deion, obviously played for us. I love Deion, but he’s in Seattle. So Deion catches like a checkdown. He goes for like 60 some yards. We missed the tackle. We have like 11 missed tackles on the play. I think everyone missed him like seven times. Junior missed him five. Junior misses him so bad, he goes blowing by me, I grabbed him, I literally throw him back. I’m like, ‘Go get him! He’s still running!’ I throw him back in there. He takes off.”

“All right. So, game’s over. We’re staying in California. It was back-to-back games. So we get in the meeting on Monday or whatever, and we’re getting ready to go on Wednesday. And Bill’s like, we were done practicing pads at this point because it was late in the season. He goes, ‘Hey, look,’ he goes, ‘Junior, he missed, he missed Deion like four times.’ He’s like, ‘He’s got to practice his tackling.’ I was ‘Okay.’ He’s like, ‘Tell him to bring his pads to practice.’ I was like, ‘What?’ He’s like, ‘Tell him to get his pads, get his equipment, get out there for post-practice.’ I was like, ‘Sweet.’ So I’m like, ‘Hey, Junior,’ I’m like, ‘Bring your pads to practice.’ He’s like, ‘What?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, you had some missed tackles.’ I’m like, ‘It wasn’t good on tape.’ I’m like, ‘Bill wants to do some tackling after practice.’ He goes, ‘Does he realize I’m like the NFL’s all-time leading tackler?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, well, you’d have one more if you just tackled him before the half.’ So I’m like, ‘Get your pads on. Let’s go. We got to go.’ So he gets his pads. And so I’m like, ‘Hey, Benny [BenJarvus Green-Ellis], I need your help post-practice.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, coach, whatever you need.’ Ben, I love Benny.”

Benny, BenJarvus Green-Ellis.

“I’m like, ‘We’re going to do one-on-one tackling, you and Junior Seau, like post-practice. He was like, ‘What?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s going to be great.’ So they’re like 10 yards apart, whistle and Bill’s over there and throwing. So whistle goes, and Junior’s like, POW, just drills him. And I was like, I’m looking at Benny. Benny gets up. Junior looks at me. He’s like, ‘We going again?’ And I’m looking at Bill. I was like, so it was like, POW, POW and now Junior is now like, ‘Is that enough? You guys good? Have you seen enough?’ Benny’s like, helmet, I’m pretty sure it’s sideways. It’s just one-on-one bloodsport at this point. I’m like, ‘Are we done here?’

This is post practice?

“This is post practice on the road. Dude surfing like a week earlier. I’m like, ‘Are we done here yet or what?’ Yeah, so we did one-on-one tackling with Benny. That’s Benny…he took them all.”

He was a team guy. That’s a team guy right there. He didn’t fumble. Never. When we were doing the research for this game, to this point in his career, he never fumbled in high school, college or pros. Mr. Ball Security. Ball Security. Ball Security is job Security.

“There’s nothing more important than the ball. The other one that he says is like, ‘When you carry the ball, you carry the fate of the entire organization in your hands.'”

He said, ‘Not just organization, the f*****g region. This is a big region.’

(Editor’s Note: This transcription was done using the available footage and is subject to typographical errors. Please let me know of any errors in the comments below.)

About Ian Logue

Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.

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