John Fox: No, Herman was definitely the better of the two. He was the more gifted of these two people sitting here.

Herman Edwards: I'll tell you what. Obviously, when you have a good safety, you can do some things. I can remember at times, breaking the huddle, I would tell John I got a feeling this guy's going to run this route and if doesn't and he goes deep, will you back me up? And most of the time he was back there. And we had a pretty good secondary; we had a pretty good football team, too.

Eisen: And the quarterback of the team, Tom Craft, is now the coach at San Diego State University.

Edwards: He's the head coach, and he had a good recruiting year. And my son is playing for him, wide receiver at San Diego State for him.

Eisen: So your son is going to go ahead and play for Tom Craft? A little history, isn't that amazing? The quarterback of your team is now the coach of your son. It's truly unbelievable. And did you have a problem with keeping your face unblooded back in the day?

Fox: I got banged up pretty good. I had no problem sticking my face in there, that's probably why I got to play.

Eisen: What was his nickname back in the day?

Edwards: He was Crash. He was going to have an accident, and it was going to happen early in the game. You'd figure if you could play-action past us, and it was a pass, John was on the line of scrimmage. So, we made sure the first couple series if you were a corner you were playing deep cause John was going to go there and blow it up.

Fox: These guys used to get upset with me in pregame. You always got to do a little forearm tackling; I gave one guy a concussion in pregame.

Eisen: You just knocked him out cold?

Edwards: Yeah, you made sure when you got into that line, "Oh, Foxy's coming up," and you get to the back of the line.

Eisen: Very excitable, Crash. It's a great name for a safety. You don't want to mess with Crash at the safety position. And then you stayed in San Diego to begin your coaching career, correct?

Fox: I stayed a fifth year to get my teaching credential. I was actually going to be a high school coach and teacher. But then the state of California passed Proposition 13, so it put a freeze on hiring and I wasn't able to get a teaching job. And just by accident, Sid Gilman called over to the San Diego State football office and said, "Do you know any young guys that want to be coaches?" And there I was.

Eisen: So, Sid Gilman called over and that's how your coaching career began?

Fox: Yeah, he was the athletic director of a small little school there in San Diego called United States International University.

Eisen: I've heard of that; it was a one-hit wonder, correct? It was one year and out, that football program.

Fox: We had no team picture. I ran into Bob Galion years later, and he said it was the Twilight Zone team. There's no record of it.

Edwards: I know one thing -- they're still playing football. Hardball is now the coach; he's the head coach.

Eisen: Jim Hardball is the head coach following in Sid Gilman's footsteps? No kidding. And what were you going to teach, coach?

Fox: Physical education. That was my major.

Eisen: You teach gym. Ok.

Fox: Yes, gym. There's a lot to that, actually.

Eisen: I completely understand that. In effect, you guys are still teaching gym, at a much higher level.

Fox: Coaching and teaching are very similar.

Eisen: No doubt about it. So, how much have you guys stayed in contact throughout the years?

Herman Edwards is entering his third year as coach of the Jets.

Eisen: What does that mean when you say different breed of player?

Fox: They have to know you care about them. You have to be involved with them. Really, what I found being a head coach in this league is it's very seldom you get to work on X's and O's. You're dealing with so many different variables in their lives, off the field, on the field. There's a lot of teaching going aside from football. It's way more complex than it appears every Sunday, I know that.

Edwards: Players are more inquisitive now. Back when John and I played college football and pro football, if a coach said jump, you'd jump. Now, if you tell a player to jump, he's going to ask you why. And you have to have those answers. I think the players are better athletes; they're more prepared, they're smarter, they're faster, they're bigger, they're stronger. Obviously, there's more distractions now than what it was 20 years ago because of all the notoriety a guy receives. So, I think there's a lot of counseling you have to give to young players coming into the league. My pet peeve to players is that it's not a right to be part of the National Football League; it's a privilege -- to coach and play it. And a lot of players don't know the history of our league. You have to educate them on the history. I was fortunate. When I came to the league, I was around a guy named Roman Gabriel and I can remember walking to practice everyday, really walking with him and he taught me the history of the league, and what it meant to play in the league. I always remembered that. He was kind of, when you think about football, how to play football, it was more about the league and the game of football. And I think it's a sacred game. What we have to do as coaches and players is to make sure when you leave the game, you left the game better. You did something for the game. Because the game will take care of you, but we have to make sure we are taking care of the game.

Eisen: Did you have a guy in your coaching career growing up as a coach that is similar to what Roman Gabriel meant to Coach Edwards?

John Fox guided Carolina to the Super Bowl in just his second year as coach.

Eisen: Not to even intimate that a coach would have a rooting interest in a game he has nothing to do with, but when you watched the Super Bowl, were you thinking of Crash Fox any part of the game?

Edwards: John has done a great job, and he did a great job his first year there. Your first year is your hardest year as a head coach; I believe that, because you're establishing your philosophy and you struggle with a lot of things. There's five things that always happen during the day that you didn't prepare for and John handled them like a true professional. Obviously, this year the thing I liked about his football team this year is that they won the close games. Because in our league, games are close.

Eisen: Boy, did they ever win close games.

Edwards: But that's good, because they were mentally tough. They went on the road and won some tough games. You appreciate that from afar when you are a coach and watch a football team that plays like that. And they played together as a team. And it's great to see a guy you've kind of watched grow up, and we were obviously together in '76, and to watch a guy like John achieve what he achieved last year was outstanding.

Eisen: Now, in the few months we've been on air, by far and away, asking any coach what the best play in football is, he says it's the guy taking a knee at the end of the game. With that said, was it exciting to win all those games in that fashion this year? Or would you rather have (Jake) Delhomme taking a knee?

Fox: They're all exciting, and they're all tough. You know, so many of the media people and the fans look at a team's record and they think, "Oh, our team should win this week". That's about when you get your butt beat. Everybody's got players and everybody's got excellent coaching, and it's very, very hard to win a game in the National Football League. And you have to treat each week like that.

Eisen: In the small time remaining, let's talk about your quarterbacks. In a way, their similar in the fact that they were unheralded coming into their career. I know Chad Pennington had a great career at Marshall, but that said, Delhomme, Pennington, when they came into the league, who would've known they'd be in the position they're in now? Can you tell me if there are any similarities you might see in that?

Edwards: I think the thing that's glaring from both players is that they have the ability to win games. Their team believes in them. And at the quarterback position, you can't give that to that player, he has to have that. Both those players have that; they have that little gleam in their eye when they walk into the huddle. No matter what you call, the players trust, "Hey, we're going to do this, we're going to get this done." And that's unique; that's leadership. Delhomme has that, Chad obviously has that. Chad might be a little more emotional than Delhomme, Delhomme's a more a laidback kind of guy. Chad kind of wears it on his sleeve, it's not phony, it's just the way he plays. But they're both winners. And it's always good to have a good quarterback, and if they're young, that's even better.

Eisen: What about Jake Delhomme? Were you in any way at all standing on the sidelines just a little bit surprised at how well he was playing this year?

Fox: The evaluation process I always look for in that particular position is leadership. It's the same thing a head coach has to do, the same thing a defensive, offensive coordinator, when you're in a position to motivate people. And to me, that's what a quarterback does. When he walks into that huddle, it's usually a pressure situation. Every play in the National Football League is. And we tell our guys there are two types of pressures -- those you feel and those you apply. And that guy that commands the huddle, he has to have that presence to get that message across to everybody in that huddle. And I think all good football teams have that ability. Sometimes it's not the quarterback position; I think it's difficult if it's not. I think Jake has as good a presence in the huddle, in the meeting rooms, and off the field to be a tremendous leader and I thought that was evident this year.

Eisen: Well, Coach Fox, Coach Edwards, we appreciate you coming on. It's great to see you guys back together sitting back, talking about the old days.