Counting the Days While My Mind Slips Away

by Ben Utecht

  On this night I had one of my best games of the season, especially in terms of blocking. I caught all four balls thrown my way on the day for forty-nine yards, which led all tight ends, but my work as a receiver was just the icing on the cake. Most of our blocking schemes had me go up against the same Patriots player, whom I will not mention by name. I blocked him really effectively all night long. Of course, I was also holding on to his jersey right up under his armpits most of the time, which the refs never saw, but that’s beside the point. That’s what you do, what you have to do, to block effectively in the NFL.

  As the game went on I could tell this guy was getting more and more frustrated with me. At one point Peyton called a play where I zone-blocked this same Patriots player. I came up into his chest, got leverage, grabbed hold under his armpits again, and just shoved him right down the field. Our running back scampered out for about a five- or seven-yard gain behind my block. When the whistle blew I released my grip. All of a sudden the Patriot player punched me with a closed fist right into my face mask. The punch didn’t hurt me, since it went into my face mask. It might have hurt his hand, I don’t know. Instead of punching back, I walked up close to him, put my face right into his face, and said as calmly as anyone can talk in the middle of a football game, “Did you honestly just punch me in the face like a little girl?” Then I turned and walked back to our huddle.

  The next play was another running play. I ended up blocking the same player again. When the whistle blew I released my block and again turned to go back to the huddle. As I turned to go I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and here was the same player again, a look of conviction in his eyes. “Man, you’re right,” he said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

  “No problem, man,” I said. I grinned all the way back to the huddle.

  The whole team was smiling all the way home because we came out of there with a 27–20 victory, our second in a row over the Patriots. We didn’t then know it, but that win set us up for our biggest win of the season, but that’s for the next chapter.

  CHAPTER 13

  THE ULTIMATE

  AFTER WE DEFEATED THE PATRIOTS for our eighth straight win it looked like we had the inside track to gain home field advantage throughout the playoffs, just as we had the year before. But in the NFL, appearances change quickly. We beat the Bills the following week to go 9-0, but we then proceeded to lose four of our next six games. In a couple of those games we just looked flat, while we lost the other two on last-second field goals. In one of those games, the loss to Tennessee in Nashville, their kicker hit a sixty-yard field goal on the next-to-last play of the game. The NFL record is sixty-three yards, so, yeah, that loss hurt. I took that one really hard. Late in the fourth quarter I caught what should have been the winning touchdown. Instead I was flagged for offensive pass interference and we had to settle for a field goal. The four-point difference opened the door for the Titans. If not for that penalty, we would have gone home with a win. Believe me, I heard about my penalty the next week when we watched film of the game. Nine years later the play still bothers me.

  We managed to pull out a win at home on the last week of the season against the Dolphins to finish the year with a 12-4 record. The Patriots had the exact same record, but because we had beaten them that season, we were the number-three seed in the playoffs while the Patriots were number four. Both of us had to play games in the first round against the wild card teams.

  We beat the Kansas City Chiefs 23–8 in the first round of the playoffs. I don’t remember much from the game except one play where I threw a block against Jared Allen and opened a gaping hole for Joseph Addai, who basically walked into the end zone for a touchdown. The Patriots also took care of business against the New York Jets, 37–16.

  Our game against the Chiefs should have been our last home game of the playoffs. The next week we went to Baltimore to play the number-two-seeded Ravens. Just like the year before, their fans hated us. Ray Lewis was still their middle linebacker and still as good as ever. Terrell Suggs had another year of experience and was becoming one of the top defensive players in the game. We had our work cut out for us. The whole game came down to a defensive struggle. Neither team scored a touchdown. However, we had a weapon few teams could match. Between the 2005 and 2006 seasons the Colts signed the Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri, the same kicker who had kicked the game-winning field goal in their three Super Bowl championships in 2001, 2003, and 2004. Nothing can shake Adam. In the Baltimore game he kicked five field goals to give us a 15–6 victory.

  That win should have sent us to San Diego to play the number-one-seeded Chargers. The whole time I played for the Colts we never played well against the Chargers. However, New England went down to San Diego in the second round of the playoffs and beat them 24–21. That meant we had to play the Patriots, with the winner earning a trip to the Super Bowl. This is where the week eight game becomes so important. Because we won the head-to-head battle against the Patriots, the AFC Championship Game was to be played at our house, the RCA Dome. We’d already proven we could win in Foxborough, but there’s nothing like playing at home. Everyone on the team liked our chances.

  And then the game started.

  The first quarter went sort of like what one might expect from a game between such big rivals. They got the ball first and ended up having to punt. We didn’t do much on our first possession and punted it back to them. Then they put together a drive and scored a touchdown. We answered with an Adam Vinatieri field goal. At the end of the first quarter we trailed 7–3. Sure, it would have been better to have been in the lead but there was still a lot of football to go.

  New England scored another touchdown on their first possession of the second quarter. Now we were down 14–3. Again, there was no need to panic. We just needed to take the ball down the field and answer. Instead, their cornerback Asante Samuel intercepted a pass intended for Marvin Harrison and ran it back for a touchdown. Now we were staring at a 21–3 deficit.

  We got the ball back and did absolutely nothing with it. In three plays we ended up losing fourteen yards and had to punt from our own three-yard line. That gave them the ball at our forty-eight-yard line. If they scored another touchdown, the game would basically be over.

  On their first couple of plays of that possession they tried running the ball, without success. Then their quarterback, Tom Brady, started tossing the ball around and they moved down to our twenty-eight. On the next play, Brady completed a pass to their tight end Ben Watson, which put the ball on our nineteen. Our crowd fell silent. Everyone seemed to be in shock at what was happening.

  But then I saw a yellow flag on the field. The refs called offensive pass interference against the Patriots, which moved the ball back to our thirty-eight. One of their guys jumped offside before they snapped the ball again, moving the ball back to the forty-three. Now it was third and really long. Brady went back to pass, but one of our defensive ends, Raheem Brock, tackled him for a six-yard loss. They had to punt the ball back to us. We dodged a huge bullet on this sequence of plays.

  We got the ball back on our own twelve-yard line with three minutes left in the half. We put together a good drive, taking the ball all the way down to their eight-yard line. The drive stalled out there and we ended up kicking another field goal, which made the score 21–6 at the half. Everything about this game so far made it look like our season was going to end short of our ultimate goal, again, at the hands of the Patriots, again.

  A lot of the game is foggy to me. However, I clearly recall Tony Dungy’s halftime talk to the team. Coach is not one of these fiery guys who yell and scream. If he were, this was the time to let us have it. Instead, he sat us all down and said to us, “We’re going to get the ball to start off the second half. Okay. Terrence,” he said to Terrence Wilkins, our return guy, “you’re going to run the ball back to the twenty-five. Then Peyton, you’re going to hand the ball off to Dominic on the first play. Then you’re going to pass it to . . .” And
Coach Dungy went on down the line of every play we were going to run and how it was going to turn out. Then he added, “And we will score a touchdown to pull within one score.”

  After talking to the offense he spoke to the defense. He said, “When they get the ball back, Dwight, Robert, Bob, and all you defensive players, we’re going to hold them to a three-and-out and force them to punt the ball back to us.

  “After the punt we’re going to take the ball down the field and score again, then go for two and tie this game up. . . .”

  He kept going from there until he had described exactly how we were going to pull off the greatest comeback in the history of the AFC Championship Game. What got me was how focused and confident Coach Dungy was as he said this. He didn’t give off even a hint of panic or worry. Instead he told us how we were going to go out and win the game.

  And that’s exactly what happened. We scored a touchdown on our first drive. Our defense forced them to punt after three plays. We went down the field again and scored another touchdown and made the two-point conversion. The Patriots scored a touchdown on their next possession, but we answered with one of our own to tie the score at 28. We then traded field goals to make it 31–31. The Patriots retook the lead with a field goal late in the fourth quarter to go ahead 34–31. Peyton took over from there. We scored the go-ahead touchdown with a minute to go in the game. Marlin Jackson ended the Patriots’ comeback attempt when he intercepted a Brady pass to cement the win.

  With that we were on our way to the Super Bowl.

  I only had one catch in the AFC Championship Game, but I still had a good game as a blocker. However, I hyperextended my knee late in the third quarter and had to come out of the game. Bryan Fletcher took my place. I was disappointed I got hurt, but the game wasn’t about me. It was about the team. Everything at this point was about the team. We all did whatever it took to win. And it paid off. We were on our way to the ultimate game.

  •  •  •

  The Super Bowl is played two weeks after the conference championship games. Believe me, you need that extra week just to secure the tickets you need for family and friends and to arrange all their travel and lodging. I wanted everyone in my family and Karyn’s to be there, along with our friends Jeremy and Adie. My mom and dad came down for the game, along with my sister and her boyfriend Doug (now husband). Karyn’s parents made the trip, as did her brother and her sister and brother-in-law. Every player had a Cadillac Escalade for the week in Miami, so that was pretty cool. I couldn’t get everyone from our entourage in it, but we could get quite a few.

  Everything about the Super Bowl is different than a normal game. For one thing, we spent an entire week in the host city. Normally on a road game, we fly down the day before and fly home right after the game. Because we had so much time in Miami, the team was going to allow our wives to stay with us in our rooms. Bill Polian explained this to the team in a meeting with all the team personnel, players, and our wives a couple of days after we beat the Patriots. He just sort of mentioned it, then moved on to the next item on his long list of things every player needed to know about the logistics of the week and game ahead. Before he could move on, however, Peyton raised his hand and said, “I think we should talk a little bit more about the wives staying with their husbands. We’ve never done that for any game. I think we should discuss it a little more before we decide to do it.”

  “Okay, Peyton, we will discuss it,” Polian replied. “Now, the next item we need to talk about . . .” he said and kept going.

  A few minutes later Peyton spoke up again with something like, “Excuse me, Mr. Polian.”

  “Yes, Peyton.”

  “I’ve decided that wives are not going to be allowed to stay with their husbands. We’ve come too far and this game is too big for us to deviate from the way we’ve done things all season long. I think if we are honest with ourselves and we really look at the magnitude of this game and what it means to all of us, we will all agree that we need to continue doing our game preparation the same way we have all year long. So we’re not going to have wives stay in the same rooms as their husbands.”

  The funny thing is, no one disagreed with him. Well, some of the wives were not happy, but Peyton was right. We kept our normal game preparation and routine all the way down to room assignments. It was our way of trying to treat the biggest game any of us had ever played in as just another game.

  •  •  •

  However, you cannot treat the Super Bowl like another game. I’ve already written about my experience on media day and the craziness that surrounded our team the whole week we were in Miami. For me, the most important moment was the one I shared with my father before I ran out onto the field with our kickers and long snappers. That is the one Super Bowl memory I hope I never lose.

  After that moment with my dad, I found myself in a surreal place. All the music and pageantry around the game were like nothing I had ever experienced. In the week before the game, our kicker, Adam Vinatieri, warned us not to blink at the start of the game. “Everything is going to happen so fast and it is easy to get lost in it,” he warned, “so don’t blink. Don’t get caught up in it, or the game will get the best of you.”

  I thought about his words as I stood on the sidelines while Adam and the kicking team ran out onto the field for the opening kickoff. The referee held up his arm, blew his whistle, then dropped his arm. Adam started running toward the ball to kick it. As he did the entire stadium erupted in flashes of light as tens of thousands of cameras clicked at the same time to catch the moment. I wondered if Neil Armstrong would have been jealous of me standing in this sea of stars. I watched the ball fly high in the air as the flashes of light kept going. Then the ball landed in the Bears’ all-star kick returner Devin Hester’s hands. Ninety-two yards later Hester celebrated in the end zone after running the kick back for a touchdown. Just like that we were behind 7–0.

  Having the other team run back the opening kickoff for a score in the ultimate game can knock some teams completely off-balance. They panic and never recover, especially on a night like this. It had rained all day and it rained all through the game. Standing on the field, soaked to the skin, socks wet, losing, that’s not any fun. I felt it. The moment it was clear Hester was going to score I felt sick to my stomach. Then I glanced over to my right. There stood Tony Dungy. He wasn’t paying any attention to Hester or the Bears. Instead he was calmly talking to a couple of the other coaches with a play sheet in front of him, planning what we were going to do next. Then I looked to my left. There stood Peyton Manning talking strategy with our offensive coordinator, Tom Moore. Neither looked surprised or stunned that the Bears had scored.

  The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach went away and a peace came over me. I knew that all we had to do was trust in our abilities and in one another and we were going to be okay. A Bible verse came to mind that says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.”I That’s how I approached this game. I knew if I went out on that field and gave every ounce of my ability, I was going to walk away a winner.

  My biggest play in the game came in the second quarter. We were behind 14–9, but we had driven the ball all the way down to the Bears’ one-yard line. Peyton called an inside zone run to the right. The ball snapped and I teed off on the defensive end, putting him flat on his back. Dominic Rhodes ran right through the hole on my side, squeezing in between the tackle and me. Somehow Dominic went under me and squirted right into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown. We never trailed after that. After he scored, Dominic popped up and I ran over to him. I put both my hands on the sides of his helmet and he looked up at me with an electric grin. A Sports Illustrated photographer captured the moment. I never felt the cold or the rain after that.

  I only had one catch in the game, but it, too, came at a big moment in our first drive of the second half. We were up 16–14, which isn’t much of a lead in a game like this. After starting out at our own thirty we mo
ved the ball pretty well, but we now faced a third down and eight yards to go on the Bears’ forty-six. If we didn’t make it, we were too far to try a field goal and would have to punt. I lined up in the backfield alongside Peyton as the H-back. The Bears crowded the line like they were going to blitz, but they often faked the blitz in this formation and the linebackers dropped back into pass coverage. Peyton thought that’s what they were going to do now. As he called out signals, right before the snap of the ball, he said to me, “Tech, this ball is coming to you. They’re dropping into zone.”

  The ball snapped. The two linebackers did not blitz but dropped back into zone coverage, which opened up a spot underneath for me. I took off down the field, ran out about five yards, planted my foot, and turned. The ball was already on its way toward me. Water sprayed off it as the ball spun in a tight spiral.

  I cradled the ball in my arms, then turned upfield. I had to gain another five yards to get the first down. However, standing between me and the first down was the Bears’ All-Pro middle linebacker, six-five, 265-pound Brian Urlacher. He was known as one of the most fierce competitors and hardest hitters in the game. This was a come-to-Jesus moment where I knew the hit I was about to take was going to hurt, but I had to have the first down. I ran toward him as hard as I could. As he drew close I lowered my shoulder and tried to get lower than him so that I could have leverage and barrel my way through to the first-down marker. I got low and he hit me hard. He caught me underneath my left shoulder pads on my back. Sharp pain shot through my rib cage, but I kept my legs churning and I got the first down.