Jerry Rice joined Sports Illustrated on Radio Row ahead of Super Bowl 58. The Hall of Fame wide receiver believes as lethal as the Niners offense is, the defense will be the reason San Francisco will be victorious.
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00:00 Jerry, legend.
00:02 Let's do it. I'm ready. Let's go for this.
00:04 What's up?
00:05 The Niners are back.
00:06 Yeah, they're back.
00:07 What they gotta do to bring the rain home, baby?
00:10 They gotta play together as a team.
00:12 Okay.
00:13 They can't afford mistakes.
00:15 Uh, you know, this thing about Brock Purdy being this game manager, I mean, manager and stuff like that.
00:24 Come on, man. Be for real.
00:26 This guy is like 17 and 4. He threw for like over 4,000 yards this season.
00:34 But it's gonna come down to defense.
00:36 I seriously believe that you win championships with defense.
00:41 Both Chace Young, that's secondary. They gotta go to work.
00:45 Yes, yes, yes. So, let's talk defense.
00:49 I don't know how in the world the Niners got Chace Young over there.
00:53 But what do you think, what level of the defense has to show up this Sunday to be able to stop Pat, to be able to stop that offense from scoring the most points in the game?
01:05 They're gonna have to play their best football game.
01:07 I mean, but this is what you work for.
01:09 Every day, you know, getting up, you know, even, you know, doing training camp, preseason, going through that, regular season.
01:19 Now, in the playoffs, you get an opportunity, one game, one game.
01:25 They're gonna have to play their best, you know, defense and put pressure on Patrick Mahomes to try to get him out of rhythm just a little bit.
01:37 The running back, Pacheco, right?
01:39 Yeah, yeah, Pacheco. He's running. He's running.
01:41 That dude runs hard, man. He runs hard, man.
01:42 You know, the physicality of him, they're gonna have to stop him. And they just can't let Patrick Mahomes run all over the place and get the ball to Travis, Kelsey, and just, you know, make it into their own playground.
01:54 So, Jerry, you played in a whole bunch of these Super Bowls, played in a whole bunch of them.
01:59 What was a game day routine that stuck with you in all five of those games?
02:05 Give me something that you did before everyone in the Super Bowl knew what you did.
02:08 I can't disclose that.
02:09 I can't. Hey, man, I'm gonna tell you, man. We always put the first 15 plays in the night before the game.
02:15 I knew exactly the opportunities I was gonna have during the game. I'm up all night long playing the game in my head already.
02:22 I get up the next day. I can't eat breakfast because I'm nervous. If I eat something, I'm probably gonna throw it up.
02:29 Ten o'clock, we have a meeting. First bus goes at 130. Go to the stadium, put my uniform on.
02:35 Yeah. Decide to relax on this table a little bit. Fell asleep.
02:39 My teammates walking by and they said, what's up with Jerry? This is the Super Bowl. He's asleep.
02:43 But what I was saying is I already had put the work in. Yeah. I knew exactly how the game was going to go down.
02:53 I had played it already. And I went out there and guess who was the most valuable player?
02:59 We already know. They'll go. They'll go. We have Chanel over here. Chanel, how are you doing?
03:07 I'm good. Talk to us a little bit about the FedEx and HBCU Student Ambassador Program.
03:11 So the FedEx Student Ambassador Program is a collection of eight different HBCUs and they pick two people from the HBCU.
03:18 So it's 16 of us total. And throughout the year, they have different seminars that we go to.
03:23 And most of them are just like, what is your personal brand, career writing or resume building?
03:28 So we go to those seminars just to get how to develop after college, college readiness or workforce readiness.
03:35 So those different things. And then we have different opportunities.
03:38 So this was an opportunity for me. And I love that FedEx partnered with HBCUs to have this opportunity for students like me.
03:46 So, Jerry, you obviously played in the HBCU. She has on. Yes.
03:50 So what kind of advice would you give a young athlete or just a young student that's leaving college, going into the workforce?
03:58 Well, you know, first of all, you know, with FedEx, what they're doing with the mentorship, the development leadership,
04:07 then you have to gain also experience all of those things.
04:11 So, you know, for FedEx to take this on, I think they're trying to level the field just a little bit more.
04:17 And they've been doing it for over 20 years. And, you know, with scholarships, grants, all of those things happening, too.
04:24 So, you know, what I would say is probably, you know, hopefully there's other companies like FedEx that's going to step up to the plate.
04:32 And and put these guys in a position where they can be successful.
04:37 So, OK, I told you earlier we have Brendan up here.
04:42 He's going into the draft. He played great football at USC for the last two years.
04:46 What are little little tips, little things that you're giving him to get ready to take on the next level?
04:54 Just just continue to be himself and just work hard, you know, because you lead by example.
05:03 You know, when I came into the league, you had Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Dwight Clark, Roger Craig, all these great stars.
05:11 And I felt I had to earn it. Yes. So every day you put that uniform on, you go on the field and you work hard and you prove to your teammates that, hey, look, I deserve to wear this uniform and be a part of this team.
05:23 Yeah. So that and he's always bragging about he's bigger than me. He's faster than me and stuff like that.
05:29 And I have to I had to reel him back in just a little bit because I said, look, you know, either look at my stats.
05:37 Yeah, there's a lot until you break all my records or you break some of my records.
05:44 OK, you brought up stats. I'm glad you got that real quick.
05:48 So you had the most receptions in NFL history in the playoffs.
05:54 It just got snapped by a tight end in Travis Kelsey last week.
05:58 How like impressed are you that a guy like Travis Kelsey or a tight end or did you even think that will ever get broken ever?
06:06 You know, I never think about the records or anything like that. So it's great that, you know, that he broke my record.
06:12 But, you know, you got to look at Travis and the opportunities that he's going to have doing a ballgame.
06:17 Yeah. You know, he's a tight end. Plus, he's a slash. I feel like a receiver, too.
06:21 Yeah. And he's going to be matched up against linebackers and safeties and mismatch and stuff like that.
06:27 I'm not going to I'm not going to give out our strategy. What are we going to try to do to him or whatever?
06:32 But him and Patrick Mahomes, you could see that chemistry just like what I had with Joe Montana.
06:38 Yeah. And I'm sure they just going to continue to put numbers up. So congratulations, Travis Kelsey.
06:45 Don't break any more of my records. Before we get out of here, obviously, we're on Sports Illustrated.
06:50 We're talking SI here. What would you say is the most memorable SI cover that you've had?
06:56 Because you got a whole bunch of things. I don't know. So you take me way back.
07:00 I don't know, man, but I thought it was an honor for me to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
07:07 Yes. It meant that I did something right, you know, and that people didn't take me for granted or whatever.
07:14 And the work that I put in, you know, just basically paid off.
07:18 So I couldn't just point at one. But it's just that I love the game of football.
07:23 Yeah. And to be honored by Sports Illustrated to do something like that.
07:28 With Sports Illustrated, we have an HBCU legend and we have an HBCU future legend here.
07:34 Thank you so much for talking to us today. He's a real go go. You to go. You to go.
07:39 I keep telling you. We're both the GOATs.
07:42 - Okay.
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