In the latest issue of Jets Confidential Magazine, we have a interview with all-time Jets great, defensive lineman Marty Lyons, who has a new book out – “If These Walls Could Talk – New York Jets.” During the interview, we covered a ton of things, including how his body feels these days after all those years of playing football. We also asked how players dealt with injuries in the 1980’s. Here is what he had to say:
JC: How does you body feel this many years after playing?
Lyons: My back hurts, my neck hurts, my legs hurt, but I would do it all over again. I chose to go down that path. I chose to be a football player in high school, and very fortunate to experience a national championship in college with Coach (Bear) Bryant, be a #1 pick with the Jets, stay with the Jets my whole career, so if I had to do it all over again, I would.
I have no regrets at all. There are always going to be a risk no matter what you do in life. I took the risk playing football and now I’m paying the price. I look back at it and cherish all the memories and the friendships I was able to build, and unfortunately we didn’t win a Super Bowl and we didn’t get to a Super Bowl, but some of the friendships I made through the game have lasted a lifetime.
JC: It was kind of like the Wild, Wild West in the NFL back in the 1980’s with how they would deal with injuries . . .
Lyons: It was pretty simple, if you wanted to play, they gave you an option. They put a needle down with some kind of painkiller and say, “Hey, you know what, we are not going to force you to take this, it’s your option, your choice. you want to play or you don’t want to play, you can’t play without it.” I always wanted to play. When I had both shoulders shot up before a game, and then shot up at halftime, shot up after a game, that was my choice. If I have any repercussion now, it’s not on the New York Jets for doing it, that is on me.
Like I said, if I had to do anything all over again, I would still do it, the same way I did it, and hopefully I could play a little bit better than I did and give it a little better effort in some of the games, maybe we would have won a few more games.
To order Marty’s book, go Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com.
