NFL Films is rolling out a new round of its excellent series "A Football Life." Last season it was the Bruce Arians story. Kurt Warner got one before that. Now, it will be the Pat Tillman episode. It will debut Oct. 28 on the NFL Network at 6 p.m. Arizona time (9 p.m. ET). Yes, I'm sure it'll be on the web at some point. No, they didn't way when.
NFL Films is also doing a new series called "The Timeline," which chronicles moments that have helped shape the NFL in one way or another. The debut episode on Sept. 9 will be"9/11," about how the NFL dealt with the crisis of Sept. 11, 2001. I remember it well, since I was in my second season covering the Cardinals. With an odd number of teams at the time, there was a bye every week, and the Cardinals -- not a good team at the time -- actually had their bye date to open the 2001 season. So the league started play Sept. 9 while the Cards waited for their "opener," scheduled for Sept. 16 in Washington against the Redskins.
That Tuesday, tragedy happened. The games the following weekend were canceled, although it took a little time to make that call. And, to bring this post full circle, while I watched the aftermath of the Towers falling on TV while sitting in the media room at the Cardinals' complex, Pat Tillman sat next to me -- a story I have written about many times. It's a story I told during an NFL Films interview for the Tillman "A Football Life." We'll see if it's included.
