Their goal in life is to open up a hole so that someone else can score or hold off someone who weighs around three hundred pounds so that the quarterback can launch another pass in the air to keep a drive alive. Many go unnoticed in the public eye because their job is not the most glamorous, but without them, the team would get nowhere. This is the life of an offensive lineman in the NFL. The play each down with the same intensity and can never take a play off because if they do, their teammates will suffer the consequences.

With this Sunday’s epic showdown between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts set to take place, it is only fitting for us to spotlight the life of one of the most important people in this game. If you listen close enough on Sunday, you will hear his name called multiple times. He will touch the ball as much as Peyton Manning touches it because he is the man who snaps the ball to Peyton. He is the center of the Indianapolis Colts, Jeff Saturday.

I spoke with Jeff recently about his faith and about football. He gave me an in depth look at his spiritual life as well as the life of a lineman in the trenches on Sunday. This is his story.

His Life

Jeff grew up in Georgia and would go on to attend the University of North Carolina. He played four years of football for the Tar Heels and after graduated, hoped that he would make the leap to the NFL. It wouldn’t go as he had planned, but it would happen in the way that God had laid it out before Jeff even uttered his first word.

Q – Jeff, can you tell me when you gave your life to Christ?

“My salvation came as a process; it wasn’t something that happened immediately for me. I started really searching for something in about 1998. My mother raised me in a Christian family so I went to church as a small child but I never really stuck to anything. I was just kind of a wayward in that way. I would say in 1999 when I came to Indianapolis, I got plugged in with a group of guys and we’d have dinner together, my wife was still in North Carolina, so I was in Indy by myself. We’d have dinners and talk and hang out and they were some good Christian men. I started going to a small Bible study, a couple of Bible studies with the team, and early in the year of 1999, that’s when I gave my life to Christ.”

Q – At what point did you feel like it was possible that you might make it to the NFL?

“In college, by my senior year, people started saying that I had a shot at going but I was always an undersized guy. I’m only 6’2”, 290, so I’m not a large offensive lineman. So when I came out of college, I went to the combine and when the draft came, I kind of waited around the draft and didn’t get picked up the first day. I was waiting around the second day and still didn’t get picked up so I was shocked by that. That actually played a large role in me really starting to look for Christ because I felt like I had done everything the right way in every way except spiritually. I remember my mom having a conversation with me, saying, “God honors you by the way He’s allowed you to play and you didn’t give Him the glory and so He’s going to take it away from you.” When I really began to search for God, I thought my career was over, then the Colts called me in December of 1998 and offered me a training camp role and as I made the team, that was a large role in how I came to Christ.”

Even though Jeff had envisioned things working out a little differently, God knew what He had planned for Jeff and it was what he had dreamed of; playing in the NFL. God was drawing Jeff closer in those months of waiting until He could place Jeff in the perfect situation, which would be in Indianapolis.

Life in the NFL trenches

In watching a football game, I normally focus on the quarterback, wide receivers, and the running back. Growing up, I always wanted to play one of those positions. Whenever the commentators talked about the linemen, I normally tuned it out. In preparing to talk to Jeff, I began watching what the linemen do each play and recognized how important their role is in the success of the more glamorous positions. I asked Jeff a few questions about the life in the trenches and life as an Indianapolis Colt.

Q – What’s it like in the trenches during a game?

“For us, when you’re at the line, you have three or four plays you could possibly run. As you get up there, you’re thinking through different assignments, trying to identify the defense we’re playing against, where the middle linebacker is, and get our counts off and figure out who we’re responsible for. We set a blocking scheme and then as Peyton enters his cadence, you try to hear it and then the real stuff happens. You have to get a good lick on a guy and get some good movement on those down linemen and try to knock them backwards. When we’re pass blocking, you try to stone them on the line of scrimmage.”

Jeff spoke about technique and how the footwork of the offensive linemen is key to success as they block the defensive linemen and blitzing linebackers. As I thought about all of the collisions that he endured each week, one question came to mind.

Q – What’s it like for you on Monday mornings? How sore are you?

“It’s a sore day for me after Sunday afternoon or Sunday night. You come in and your body’s banged up and your back your legs are sore from coming out of your stance so much. Obviously, your neck and your shoulders get really sore so I try to get a massage every Monday in the morning after the game to try to flush all of that stuff out. I try to get a good, hard workout in and again, try to flush out the lactic acid. It takes s a lot of Gatorade and water to flush your body because you’re as beat up as you can imagine. I heard one guy compare it to being in a car wreck every Sunday. You can be hurting pretty much from head to toe.”

He was a part of the Super Bowl winning team this past season and as Indianapolis has started hot again, they are driving to make it a repeat. Jeff plays for one of the most popular coaches in the game today and protects a man who will go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game. I had to ask him questions in regards to both Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning.

Q – What has it done for your faith playing for a man of faith like Tony Dungy?

“It’s been unbelievable just to watch when he came in, just the style of man that he is. He brings such a quiet confidence and meekness to our team. He’s just got that power under control and that’s the best way to describe him. He really is the guy that you see every time he does an interview. He’s not going to yell; he’s not to scream. He’s going to be very patient with you but he believes in what he knows and says, “Hey, this is the way it’s going to be with my team.” He’s certainly living out his faith and I’ve seen it in some of the hardest times and in some of the best times. He doesn’t waver.”

Q – What is Peyton like in the huddle?

“We don’t huddle that often but when we do huddle, he’s calm. He talks about what to expect and what he wants to happen. If we expect a different defense, he and I will say, “Look out for this and if it is a blitz, let’s readjust it and get it picked up.” He’ll look at the receivers and ask them what route they have and what he wants them to run for this particular defense. It’s a calm huddle. Guys know what they’re doing. We have a very intelligent football team.”

Q – What do you think about Commissioner Goodell’s tougher policy on player conduct?

“I like what Goodell’s doing. I think that players in our game respect that. When you have very few guys who really ever get into trouble, for them to get the spotlight over what guys are doing on the field and in the community, it’s really just a shame and says a lot about our society when that’s all that ever gets written about is the bad stuff. I think Roger’s done a good job promoting what players are doing right and trying to highlight those things and when guys do step out of line, I don’t think he’s going overboard. He puts a punishment and he wants guys to work themselves back into our game.”

A Little Bit More

Q – When was a time that you felt God the closest?

“It was probably when I began to have children. I have three kids now and I would say that’s the closest I’ve ever felt. I really began to feel God as the Father. I think it’s hard for people who haven’t experienced what the love of a parent really is, so I began to think of my relationship with God and how I look at my kids and how I want the very best for them. Your heart breaks every time they make bad decisions because you know what’s going to follow. I think that’s when I felt the closest to God because I began to understand that He was really about what’s best for me.”

Q – How do you know that God is real?

“Just because of the marked difference in my life. I’ve seen who I was as a man in college and after I left college, and then see who I am today. It’s not something that I can internally do. It was a marked difference. Once I gave my life to Christ and surrendered to Him, He kind of took that yoke on. That peace that surpasses all understanding, it really is there. The things that you seemed overwhelmed with, when you lay them on Christ, they really begin to fade. So, I would say that my own life is my greatest testimony to how I know that He is real.”

Q – What is your favorite Bible passage?

“1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. It talks about being joyful, never stop praying, and being thankful in all circumstances. I talk to my kids about that all of the time. We talk about it as a family. We talk about not being complainers but being doers of the Word. Those verses are really what I’m trying to build my family around.”

Jeff lives out his faith in the trenches in the NFL every Sunday. He also lives out his faith in the trenches at home, as he tries to lead his children to a greater understanding of Christ and of the Bible. He told me that football gave him a platform to tell others about Christ and we all have been given a platform as well. It is time that we all take our faith into the trenches of our lives and live it out to the fullest.

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