Former NFL quarterback and Super Bowl 38 star Jake Delhomme recently spoke with Covers on a variety of football-related topics, including his ties to New Orleans, the resiliency of the city, and what he learned as a teammate of Football Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner:
You're a Louisiana guy through and through – can you talk about the personal pride you feel when New Orleans hosts a Super Bowl?
New Orleans is such a great city. And I think the biggest thing … you think about Mardi Gras, and the passion and the music and the food and the culture, and when you combine the love that people in Louisiana have for football, and especially New Orleans, certainly they love their Saints, but … it’s a way of life. It’s a way of life.
And New Orleans does a great job. It knows how to throw a party. And it’s so easy to get around downtown New Orleans, everything is so centrally located. It’s just a vibe all week long. I’ve been to many Super Bowls in different areas, and it’s just different. It’s so spread out. With New Orleans, and everything being so condensed, it’s just awesome.
The city has had to deal with another terrible tragedy; can you speak on the resiliency of Louisianans, and how they band together through the most challenging of times?
For me personally, it hit close to home. One of the victims in this terrible tragedy was a kid that I knew, and I know the family well. Tiger Bech, the football player. I know his younger brother really well, Jack Bech, he’ll be drafted into the NFL this year. He played at TCU. I played football with Tiger’s uncle Brett (Bech), we were teammates with the Saints for three years. It hit very close to home.
Everyone hates it, it’s terrible, but you’re there for one another. And so many things have gone on in New Orleans from Katrina and all the hurricanes that (they) get hit with, and everybody just pulls together. They bond. And that’s one thing that the Louisiana spirit is all about. You’ll give your shirt off your back to your neighbor. You’re there for them, and then you eat along with it.
It’s about comfort. That’s what people love about it so much. You enjoy life. And we enjoy it a little bit more than most, it feels like. It’s just a certain way of life.
Louisiana is 25th in the U.S. in population, but ranks inside the top 10 in active NFL players. What is it that makes Louisiana such a football hotbed?
(Football is) the king. There’s not really anything that’s a close second, to be quite honest.
It starts in high school. In Louisiana, high school football is like religion. That’s church on Friday night. That’s what it is. Players love it, coaches love it, families love it. Mothers. Grandmothers. We all know men like football, right? But you get so many women that love it. You think of these small towns, these “Friday Night Lights” … that’s what makes up a lot of these communities.
I know for me, growing up and playing football in Louisiana, there was so much talent. And your dream was always to play in the Superdome, because that’s where they held the state championships. And as a young freshman in high school, you think, “Oh my gosh, that’s where Archie Manning played for the Saints.”
I think we have a lot of speed in Louisiana. We’re not the state that’s going to produce the most offensive linemen, but the skill positions … I think we produce our fair share of quarterbacks, defensive linemen, safeties, cornerbacks, receivers, it’s that athletic type of (player) that we produce, and they turn out to be good football players that love the game and love to compete.
You were the only redshirt freshman to start in Division I in 1993, and you set multiple school records at Southwestern Louisiana – but you went undrafted despite having a very strong collegiate career. What did you make of your options at that time?
I (started) all four years in college, and I (left) as the all-time leading passing yardage leader in the state of Louisiana history, but wasn’t invited to the combine, barely had any workouts. It wasn’t like the teams or scouts were beating down my door. So that was difficult … more just a shot to the ego, a pride situation. And you didn't really and truly have the internet back then, and access to these sites and draft boards and prognosticators. You just kind of went to work every day.
Then I had a workout for a few scouts, I went to a local pro day with the Saints, and lucky for me I was the only quarterback, and had a pretty good day. And the draft came and went, I didn’t have any preconceived idea that I would get drafted, but just hoping to join as a free agent. It wasn’t until a few weeks after the draft that I ended up getting a call from the Saints, that they wanted to bring me in on a minicamp tryout basis.
I was so close to signing with a Canadian football team to go up there, because I wanted to try to further my career, and it worked out. I signed with the Saints, I went for the weekend on a tryout basis, and that Sunday after the minicamp tryout, they were like “We’re going to sign you to the roster.” Lucky enough I was able to do enough to stick around on the practice squad the latter part of that year.
Your pro career saw you spend time in NFL Europe backing up Kurt Warner. Can you talk about what you learned from him, and what set him apart even then? Did you see a future Hall of Famer in him?
First things first: I don’t think I saw a future Hall of Famer in him, because at that time, I was 21, I might have just turned 22, it was after my rookie year. And I don’t know if I knew what a Hall of Fame player in the flesh would look like.
I was allocated to NFL Europe, and I was going to play for the Amsterdam Admirals, and we had training camp in Atlanta, all six teams had camp there, for a month before the teams were cut down. And you would scrimmage every weekend with each other before we flew over to our respective cities. And I remember we were the only two; he was 26 years old, MVP of the Arena League. And what a fantastic human being, first and foremost.
But I respected him as a player because he just said, “Hey, this is my last shot, I’m just gonna give it a go.” He was having a very good life, a very good career in the Arena League, he was in essence the face of Arena football. And so he gave it a shot. And I remember calling home after every scrimmage … things went well for me. I did pretty well. And I remember talking to my girlfriend, who’s now my wife, and I would say, “Yeah, I did pretty well in the scrimmage, but so did the other guy. And the other guy has a quick release, he anticipates, he’s good.” You couldn’t knock him.
And he was a lot more mature at that time. I was 21, 22. But it’s crazy how you grow up in football years. Here’s a guy who got cut the first time he went to NFL camp and didn’t know what he wanted to do, and then he’s stacking shelves at a grocery store, and then he goes to Arena football. But there was a purpose, he was ready mentally. And I wasn’t there yet. But I learned, watching him throughout the course of that season, watching how he dealt with adversity, and just mentally strong he was, and the work that he put in, and certainly it helped shape my career and my life.
He goes to the Rams, he makes the team, and the following year, he has to play – and not only does he play, he leads the Rams to the Super Bowl. And it’s this guy that I was in the same locker room with, same meeting room with, same bus rides with, on the field with, competed each and every day with, and it gave me a shot of confidence. I’ve stayed friends with him through this whole time, and honored I was able to be his teammate and to watch everything he went through as a player.
When you look back at your career – undrafted, backing up for several years in New Orleans, then leading a team that had gone 1-15 two years earlier to the Super Bowl – did you relish being in the underdog role?
I did.
I’m in New Orleans for six years, and Carolina’s in the division, and I sign with Carolina as a free agent. And it was down to two places: Dallas and Carolina. I visited both places, and at the time, Carolina, you knew they were kind of ascending. Two years prior, they were a 1-15 football team, they hire John Fox after that year, and they go 7-9.
But here’s the thing about that 7-9 team. And I followed them close, because they’re in the same division, and we played them twice. They started the season 3-0, then lost (eight) straight, then won four of their last five games, with nothing to play for, no playoffs in sight. The team finished so strong. And they finished so strong that they kept (the Saints) out of the playoffs.
We needed to win one of our last three games to make the playoffs, and the last game of the season, we’re playing Carolina. All we have to do is beat ‘em. And they’re a 6-9 football team. They beat us on the road in New Orleans 10-6, and they played with passion, with intensity, and with a purpose, with nothing to play for. And here we were in New Orleans at that time, with everything to play for. We were 6-2 at the midway point of the season, and we couldn’t get our foot in the door.
There was something about that (Panthers) team. Julius Peppers was a rookie. Steve Smith, Year 2. Dan Morgan, Year 2. Kris Jenkins, Year 2. You just had this young, ascending club. So I signed with them.
That was something that … just being on that field as a New Orleans Saint, with everything to play for, and it’s like we didn’t want it. And watching this Carolina team across the field with nothing to play for, and they just had this passion and this fire. And that helped in my decision to sign with them instead of Dallas.
You're one a select few in NFL history to have started a Super Bowl at quarterback. What was the lead-up to the game like for you? Were you ready? What did you learn?
I don’t think you’re ready for it, but you’re so insulated, because all you’re doing is football. Really, I was oblivious to the outside world.
Go back two weeks prior, and it’s Jan. 10, and the only reason I know the date is because that’s my birthday. We play the St. Louis Rams, the No. 1 seed, in St. Louis in the second round of the playoffs. We upset them in double overtime. After the game, I’m talking to my parents at the buses, and my agents, they made the trek (from Chicago), them and a couple of the marketing people.
They’re excited. And they told us – and we all remember this – “Hey, listen, you’re going to get inundated, we’ll take care of your interviews, we’ll handle everything.” Because they had Kurt Warner. They had gone through the exact same scenario two years earlier. Small-town boy, undrafted. And they said, “If y’all win the NFC Championship, your town …” – and they looked at my parents – “… will experience a media throng like you’ve never seen before. It’s gonna be a zoo.”
Sure enough, you fast forward a week, we play in Philly, we beat Philly, and we’re on our way to the Super Bowl. And by the time we land in Charlotte, it’s 12, 1 o’clock. The next morning, I got up and went to the facility. And I was told by my family – we live on a main highway in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana – that they had satellite trucks lined up outside my parents’ house. On the highway. Multiple trucks. And my uncle was the mayor at the time.
We’re proud of where we’re from, and we opened our homes, the city did, and my family, and we welcomed all the interviews. It was a different world. But I was so insulated that I heard about it, but I didn’t truly understand.
And then for us as players, it’s like, “Hey, get your tickets out of the way. Get everything out of the way leading up to the Super Bowl. Because when you get on the plane to go to the destination, you want to have that all done. It’s a business trip. And that was the mindset that we took. It’s a business trip.
So get everything out of the way. And the media grows and grows and grows each week during the playoffs, the media sessions in the locker room get bigger and bigger and bigger. But that’s the fun part of it, because your confidence is through the roof. It’s sky high. You’re playing well, and then you think about it: You’re about ready to play in the pinnacle of your career. Everybody aspires to play in the Super Bowl.
You dueled Tom Brady nearly evenly in one of the greatest Super Bowls in history. Looking back, do you ever question what you could or should have done differently? Are you ever able to let it go?
I don’t think you ever let it go.
I mean, here I am, I’m 50 years old, and leading up to the Super Bowl, one of the stations is going to show a replay of the game. Right? And I’m going to start getting texts from friends and people that were there, and they’ll be like, “Hey, the game’s on.” And I always ask the same question: “Does Adam Vinatieri miss the kick at the end?” Because all you can remember is that.
We got roped off the field. You don’t get a chance to shake the other team’s hand. The losing team gets roped off, and you’re kind of shuttled off. And I just kind of wanted to stand there and watch and soak it in, because as a player, you just feel like you’re going to get back there. We didn’t think we would lose. I think we were double-digit underdogs (Carolina closed at +7). But our mindset was, we’re gonna play it close, get them in a tight game, and we’re gonna win, because that’s what we did all season long.
Unfortunately, I’d like to think it was because we just didn’t get the ball again. We didn’t get it last. And you think about regrets … Now I look back and I think we went for two (points) a couple of times, and I kind of wish we had not chased those points. Kick the extra points. Because Vinatieri made the kick when the game was tied, 29-29. You’d like for him to try and make that kick with (the Patriots) behind. I think the pressure’s a little bit different.
Now, Vinatieri never seemed like pressure bothered him, so I don’t know if that would have made a difference. But you think about those things. And I think about any and every play in that game, what could I have done better, how could I have done this better or that better. I think I started out 1-for-9. New England’s defense had something to do with it. But you go through all those things in your mind, what could I have done to give us that one extra point to try to help us win.
We’ll move on to cheerier subjects …
I love (talking about it). You love it. When I go back to the week or two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, memories come back. And they’re great memories. You think of the practices, you think of the locker room, you think of the plane ride.
I vividly remember getting to the stadium that day, we were leaving on the Sunday prior to the game, and it started to snow in Charlotte, which, Charlotte’s not made for snow. I left three hours before I was supposed to be there for a 10-minute drive just because, “Oh my gosh, I gotta drive in the snow, I’m not missing this plane.”
And you think about how everyone’s in the locker room, and everybody has a camcorder. You just want to capture this moment, because you know how special it is. It’s still good feelings, don’t get me wrong.
As we watched Brady and the Patriots’ dynasty, many of us swore we would never see such dominance again. And yet, here are the Chiefs, with their own transcendent quarterback in Patrick Mahomes. As a fellow QB, what do you see in him that makes him so special?
I have such respect for him, just the way he plays. It’s never about him. He’s very unselfish. He takes all accountability. All accountability. If he makes a bad throw, or an interception, it’s his fault. And he always makes up for it. Watching him play against Buffalo in the (AFC) championship game, you just know he’s going to make a play, whether running or throwing. It just doesn’t matter. He has this competitive spirit. And he’s super-talented, and very, very smart.
He’s just got something about him. He has that “it” factor. You hear people say “I’m just tired of them winning.” Well, I hate to sound this way, but I’m not. Because we’re watching greatness. I think he’s a unicorn. I truly believe that. I think Tom Brady was awesome, don’t get me wrong. He was great. But Mahomes is a different level. To me, he’s a different level.
Tom, that team was awesome. They never made mistakes. He played great. But Patrick … the one Super Bowl he lost, he lost because they didn’t have an offensive line. They had both starting tackles out. And he had to run all over the place. He’s just a special player, and it’s that competitive spirit and drive and talent that he has.
And you watch the other All-Star on the team, Travis Kelce, and he had two catches (vs. the Bills), but he’s blocking, and celebrating and acting like caught 30 passes for 300 yards. He wasn’t pouting. And that’s what makes that team so great, along with Andy Reid and what they do offensively, and the things that they can do formation-wise, and things like that, it gives people fits.
Time to put your prediction hat on: What kind of Super Bowl are football fans in for when the Chiefs and Eagles square off on Feb. 9?
Listen, it’s hard to ever pick against Mahomes, right? I mean, he’s just a unicorn. With this Philadelphia football team, they looked a little banged-up on the offensive line, but you have two weeks to prepare. So how healthy will they be?
I just think they can give the Chiefs fits with their run game. It’s a different run game from when they played a couple of years ago. That’s just my opinion. Saquon Barkley, he’s just different. This guy is just on a different level.
But it’s gotta be a close game. The Chiefs haven’t won a game this year at all where they’ve destroyed somebody. Everything’s close. And I believe Washington was a team that was running out of steam, and they had a ton of fumbles. This one … I’d never go against Mahomes, but right now, in the back of my mind, it’s like “How are they gonna stop Saquon Barkley?”
Now, (the Eagles) can’t turn the ball over, they have to play sound football. And you don’t want to get into a passing type of game. Just stay ahead of the mistakes, so (Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve) Spagnuolo can’t come up with exotic pressures and things that he’s great at in crucial times.
