Big players make big plays in big games.
That’s the mantra echoed by scores of football coaches across the nation on game day. Especially in the NFL, teams are often so evenly matched that just a few big plays can decide the outcome of a game. Typically, game-changing plays come from premier positions such as quarterback, running back, wide receiver or pass rusher. Rarely does someone find themselves saying, “Man, that 330-pound defensive tackle broke the game open on that one.” Those are the guys who go to war in the trenches, and they rarely make plays worthy of a SportsCenter highlight. Rarely.
So flash back to Super Bowl XLV between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers. The fourth quarter is starting, and Green Bay leads 21-17, but the Steelers have the ball on the Packers’ 33-yard line and are threatening to score. The first play of the quarter is a Steelers run, but as soon as the ball is snapped, Packers defensive tackle Ryan Pickett crashes through the offensive line, blowing up running back Rashard Mendenhall and forcing a fumble. The Packers recover and go on to score on their following drive, eventually winning the Super Bowl 31-25. It was a big night for Ryan Pickett.
Yet that night may not mean quite as much to Pickett as the night he met his wife, Jennifer. During Ryan’s rookie year with the St. Louis Rams, he was in Atlanta for an away game against the Falcons. The night before the game, Pickett was hungry, so he hopped in the car and went to a mall in Atlanta. “I wanted chocolate,” he says. At the same time, a young college student was returning to the mall where she worked to pick up a pair of jeans she had left behind. The two pulled into parking spaces beside one another, and as they got out of their cars, they noticed each other and began to talk. That night, they talked for 3 1/2 hours, and a relationship was forged.
For Jennifer, meeting Ryan was an answer to prayer. “Before I met Ryan, I was fasting and praying that God would send me my husband.” Meeting Jennifer was an act of God’s grace for Ryan. Before meeting her, Ryan had been leading a life of partying that was far from Christian. As their relationship grew, Jennifer faithfully prayed that Ryan would submit his life to Christ, and it wasn’t long before those prayers were answered. “One day I woke up, and I was tired of what I had been doing, and I gave my life to Christ,” Ryan says. “I found who I was in Christ and started doing everything for Him.”
Ryan gives everything he does as a form of worship to God, from working hard on the field to loving Jennifer and being a daddy to six children. In a day when many people may think having a large family can be a burden, the Picketts see things differently. “Having six kids is awesome,” Jennifer says. “We know that God has blessed us with the kids we have.” Even after a hard day on the field, Ryan comes home and joyfully jumps into action with his kids. Jennifer tells me, “He comes home from work every day, and he helps with homework. We put the kids to bed, and we read the Bible to them. As the spiritual leader, he takes time to explain the Bible to them. I know he’s tired, but he still does it.”
Ryan realizes that 10 years from now, the difference-making plays he made in big games will be distant memories. For him, making a difference as a daddy is something that will matter more than game-day memories. He’s setting a tone for his family as he leads them toward Christ.
For more of what Ryan is doing on and off the field, be sure to follow him on Twitter. He is also active away from the field through the Ryan Pickett Foundation, which seeks to serve foster children, and he runs a recruiting service for high school athletes called the Recruiting Factory.