Marcus Allen Speaks

[2bikemike]

Hope this is not a repost.



GRETZ: From the Mouth of Marcus
Oct 01, 2004, 7:05:16 AM by Bob Gretz
Last week, Marcus Allen was in town working for CBS-TV on its coverage of the NFL. Allen spent several days around the Chiefs and filed a report that appeared on the network’s pre-game show.

He also took the time to make a live appearance on Carl Peterson’s weekly radio show on KCFX. On this Thursday night, the venue was Pete’s Inn, up in the northern environs of Kansas City. The other guest that night was linebacker Monty Beisel.

What Beisel, the big crowd watching and those listening to the show received was a real peak into what made Allen tick. Want to know why Marcus Allen is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Then read on.

What Allen had to say was also very apropos to what’s happening with the Chiefs as they attempt to shake their 0-3 record and grab a victory in Baltimore on Monday night. It’s about the mental mindset necessary to achieve greatness in the game of football.

Here’s some of what Allen had to say. Understand this: the printed word cannot translate the great passion in his voice as he talked to Beisel and the crowd. This was not Marcus Allen, playing Mr. Cool. This was Marcus Allen talking from the heart, revealing the heart beat that led him to Canton.

“It really boils down in my mind to attitude … despite what has happened, despite what is in front of them, all the hurdles, adversity, controversy, whatever, they have to find a way to win. Each individual has to look deep, deep within himself and find the motivation.

“I’m sure Monty you didn’t come here just to have a mundane existence. You want to make noise. When I came here, I wanted these people to recognize my name 100 years from now. That’s what it is, attitude. You cannot accept anything else but great play. If they end up getting a play on you, your attitude is it will never happen again and you know what, they are going to pay for it.

“I was lucky enough to be among all those Hall of Famers last year. Those guys recognized that they played with a purpose to be great, to make a difference, to standout. That’s what you want. You make some noise. You let people know you were here a 100 years from now. That’s what it’s all about.

“Teams have looked and the perception is, if your running game is anemic, you can come to Kansas City and get well. Those days are over with and that’s what you’ve got to tell each and everybody on that defense; the times are changing, you guys are ready to dominate, you guys are ready to step up and be recognized for the people and players that you are. You guys wouldn’t be in this league if you couldn’t play.”

Monty Beisel: “That’s something we are trying to build. The last two weeks you guys haven’t seen a finished product yet. You are not going to see it this week …”

Marcus Allen: “OK, listen here; enough of that, enough of that trying. Carl pays you to win. I get paid to win. I didn’t get paid to try. You can get anybody to try. I can get these people to try. You’ve got to win. You get paid to win; you get paid to make tackles.

“You can’t accept anything less. If you want to be great, if you want to be better than great, that’s the level you have to reach, and you have to take the guy that’s next to you along the same way. You’ve got to say, ‘Listen here, we are the baddest brothers on the block and nobody is going to come into our house and …

“I always said you have to have 12 men on the field to stop us, because you aren’t going to stop us with 11. I will not be stopped. That’s what you have to believe. That has to be your feeling beyond a shadow of a doubt. Let no doubts seep in. You’ve got to be the baddest guy on the field. I never said this out loud before but I had Joe Montana in front of me, but you know who I said the best player on the field? Me.

“It’s so difficult to put into words, to stand in Canton among these great, great players and we all have this one common denominator: we wanted to be great. I came into this league I wanted to be one of the greatest players who played. I didn’t want to be just a guy that played in the National Football League. Hopefully you have 11 guys on defense, 11 guys on offense that say the same thing: that they want to be one of the great players to play this game, not just a guy who played in this league. There are a lot of guys who played in this league.

“We are in a great, great fraternity. We are an elite group of people. One thing that I would not let determine my life was fear. That’s why I played with reckless abandon. I laid it on the line. Did I fail sometimes? I wouldn’t call it failing. Yeah, I fell short sometimes. But I succeeded by going out there and putting it on the line. I wanted the ball. I wanted the ball when nobody else wanted it. I wanted it when Coach (Paul) Hackett wanted to give it to somebody else.

‘There are two types of players in this game: those that know and those that don’t know. And when you don’t know, you can’t play in this league, or you won’t play for very long. But when you do know, the game becomes very, very easy and you can just play. Nobody wants to think out there. I just loved to react. Once you get that down, the game is all yours. Learn as much about it as you possibly can. Ask questions. That’s what I did. I would go to the secondary coach and ask, ‘What are you guys doing in this situation? As a running back, when I see this coverage, what are you guys doing?’”