The NFL career of perennial backup quarterback Matt Flynn has been a long and strange one. Originally drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 2008, Flynn spent the next few season backing up the one and only Aaron Rodgers. He had one incredible game in 2012 (throwing for 480 yards and 6 touchdowns), but eventually signed to the Seattle Seahawks later that year. From there, Flynn did time with the Oakland Raiders and the Buffalo Bills before ending up back in Green Bay in 2013. This Sunday, when the Packers travel to Seattle for the NFC title game, Flynn should feel as at home as he did at last year’s Pearl Jam concert.
Still, there’s something sad and melancholy about Flynn—a well-paid professional athlete, sure, but one who seems destined to play second-fiddle to someone else for the rest of his career. It’s a bittersweet feeling that Milwaukee’s Sat. Nite Duets tap into brilliantly on their new song, “Matt Flynn,” released today as part of a split single with Charlottesville, Virginia’s International Friendly. In “Flynn,” Sat. Nite Duets sympathize with the titular pigskin pro (“Now I know I’m a backup to the backup / defective some way / But I’ll tell all y’all right now / coach, I came to play”), and even find some similarities between playing in a unheralded rock and roll band and not playing in an NFL game. Dig these two matching lines:
“All our glory, and all of our dreams that got out of hand / Now we stand before ye, the greatest living slacker-rock band.”
“All my glory, and all of that fame that was not meant for me / Now I stand before ye, the greatest living backup QB.”
“The inspiration [for the song] came when I saw the rage in Nick Saban’s eyes during the post-game press conference in 2013 when Alabama lost to Auburn on that missed field goal,” band member Andrew Jambura explains. “Then I reflected on being in a rock band. Matt Flynn tied everything together…the perfect lens to view these things through. I really do think he’s a great player.”
Listen to “Matt Flynn” below, and stick around for International Friendly’s terrific “Onside Kick” (Jambura: “It’s lead singer Drew’s favorite play in all of sports.”)