Hustle, Heart and Hail Mary's: Q&A with Doug Flutie

BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 29: Quarterback Doug Flutie #22 of Boston College Eagles drops back to pass against Penn State Nittany Lions during an NCAA College football game October 29, 1983 at Alumni Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts. Flutie played at Boston College from 1981-84. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Doug Flutie

It's been thirty-one years since the world said hello to Doug Flutie.  The throw, the catch, the celebration, yes, it has been thirty-one years since Flutie threw the Hail Mary that goes down as one of the all-time greats in college football history.

Boston College beat Miami, went on win the Cotton Bowl that year, and Flutie won the Heisman.  His football life saw him drafted in the eleventh round by the Rams, play a season in the USFL (for the New Jersey Generals) and back to the NFL for stints with the Bears and Patriots.  He then headed north of the border to play in the CFL for the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders and Toronto Argonauts, winning three Grey Cups and being named the league's most outstanding player six times.  Flutie found his way back to the NFL playing for the Chargers, Bills and Patriots, earning a Pro Bowl spot in 1998 and Comeback Player of the Year honors as well.

Small in stature, Flutie's career will be remembered for his grit and determination, along with leadership, poise and heart.  He was on hand at this year's Orange Bowl on behalf of Capital One Cup, recognizing the best men's and women's Division I athletic programs.  For more information on the Cup, or to see where your school stands, fans can go to capitalonecup.com.

Of course there are the physical skills that wow us, but what are the intangibles that you focus on for a quarterback?

The number one thing is confidence.  Stepping into a huddle and having command of the huddle, when you get the team to understand that you know what you're doing, and they have full confidence in you, it goes a long way.

They look for leadership on and off the field, the way you carry yourself, all those things play come into it.  What the other guys get on the field is confidence.  If you're unsure about a play call, guys start to doubt.

Once they start believing in you, you make everyone around you better.  When you see your quarterback -- whether it's getting out in front and throwing a block, or diving after a loose ball, or running tough -- guys thrive off that.  They see a (positive) body language from their quarterback and they thrive off it.

Those are the intangible things. 

Then, when you get in a pressure situation, and you rise to the occasion, and they expect that of you and you expect that of yourself.  You make the guys around you better ballplayers because of it.

Is there any possible way to measure that?

That's what drives me nuts about the NFL combine.  Here's a bunch a guys, they show up, they're in their underwear, they're running forties, they're throwing a football with no one hitting them.  They are guys that are gods when it comes to drills.  Then all of the sudden, live bullets are flying, they put on the blinders and they don't see the field or they're afraid of getting hit. 

There's a thousand variables out there.  Give me a football player.  Give me a guy that can go out on the field, be an athlete and play football.

So if you have a player with all of the physical tools you want, how do you teach them confidence, leadership, poise, toughness, etc.?

You put them in situations.  You intentionally, as a coach, show up late to practice and see what happens.  A good leader is going to get the guys lined up and start them doing drills. 

You continually test them from a leadership standpoint.  Letting a quarterback (or other player on the team), handle a conflict between two other players.  Give him some input on a game plan.  Make him think for himself.  All those little things that go into a kid being a leader and getting the confidence of the guys around him.

I loved to play football.  So when coaches did those types of things to me, I was already throwing the ball around.  Getting guys lined up and throwing drills before drills started because I loved doing it.  A lot of the things I did that were considered leadership qualities, I didn't realize were leadership qualities.  I wasn't coached to be a leader.  I just enjoyed doing certain things.

Does a quarterback have to be a leader?

Sometimes coaches will not pick a quarterback to be a captain because they know he's already in a leadership role.  They want to put a leadership role on someone else and make them become a leader. 

How important is it for a football player to play with heart?  

Number one, you have to be mentally tough to be successful.  You just can't play the game of football without being thick-skinned, without being a hard worker and make the guys around you work just as hard.  That's what being a leader is all about.

The ability to throw a team on your shoulders...the guy I look to is Tom Brady.  It doesn't matter who is lining up at receiver, how many guys are injured in the offensive line, he makes no excuses, doesn't point the finger.  He throws it on himself. 

He's got a unique way of making everyone around him feel like they are the reason they're successful.  Whether it's a guy in the training room, a guy on the scout team, whatever.  Tom is one of the most amazing at that of anyone that I've been around. 

And of course we have to talk about the Hail Mary.  Obviously we know what happened when the ball was snapped, but what was that huddle like before the play?

It was matter of fact.  It was just like calling any other play in the huddle.  There was a confidence that if we execute correctly, we were going to catch it.  Because we threw it at the end of the half against Temple (earlier in the year) and completed it for a touchdown.

The guys had confidence in me, and I had confidence in Gerard (Phelan), Kelvin Martin, and Troy Stradford, who were in the game. 

I really, genuinely thought that if I could hold on to it just a little longer and get it to these guys, they were going to make a play for me.  Honestly, it wasn't like we were calling a desperation play in the huddle.  There was just a calm, confidence about the play call.  There was never a defeated feeling at all. 

We ran it basically three times.  Once in a bowl game against Notre Dame at the end of the half at the Liberty Bowl, where it went through the receiver's hands in the end zone.  Once in the Temple game where we completed it, and then the Miami one.  Two out of three and we were very confident about it.

And how about after, at what point did it all sink in?

The progression was that when it was caught, part of it surprise, part of it joy and excitement.  You don't know what to do with yourself, and there was a pig pile in the end zone that I ended up never getting near. We got in the locker room and I met up with Gerard and that was kind of an emotional part where it was a big win and all that.

I don't think it sank in until we got on the plane and we landed in Boston.  This was just college football in Boston, which is like second fiddle to pro sports, and there was like ten thousand people at the airport.  Gerard and I looked at each other were like, 'this is bigger than we thought.' 

Honestly to us, it was an exciting last second victory.  By the time we got back home and saw all the people and the reaction that it got.  We started to realized, it was Thanksgiving weekend, a national television audience, it was Miami a team that people loved to hate at the time, this was a bigger deal that we thought.

I'm always amazed that it's had the life it's had.  In recent years, people have gotten really good at throwing Hail Mary's and completing them.  Like every weekend somebody's catching one!  There are some plays out there, that athletically blow away the play that we made, but because of the weekend, the time, the place, all that, ours was a big deal.