 From Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, it's theCUBE covering VTUG Winter Warmer 2019, brought to you by SiliconANGLE Media. I'm Stu Miniman, this is theCUBE's coverage of the VTUG Winter Warmer 2019 here at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots, and it is my distinct pleasure to welcome to the program two-time Super Bowl champion, number 50, Patriots alumni, Rob Nankovich. Rob, thanks for joining us. Hey, how are you? I'm doing great, thanks for having me. Awesome, the team's a little bit of flutter. We brought one of the people here that helped support the Patriots, the last two rings that the Patriots had, and you were on those teams, so. Yeah, I was privileged and blessed to be on a couple Super Bowl winning teams, so. Did I hear right was the last one actually on your birthday too? No, that was the first one. That was a really, really, really nice birthday gift. I got your first Super Bowl ring on your birthday. On my birthday. So yeah, your birthday's coming up here in a little bit. February 1st, yeah, so. I'll be the big 35. Yeah, well. Half to, oh man, I can't believe it. I'm almost 70, half to 70. Congratulations, looking good and yeah. Thank you, feel good, probably. Work out, you know, running, climbing mountains. I'm gonna climb Mount Kilimanjaro with Chris Long here pretty soon in a month. Awesome. So I'll be in Africa raising money for water boys. So we'll be drilling for clean water, so it'll be cool. That's great, yeah, I mean, let's hit on that. You know, you were drafted by the Saints. I believe you met your wife. Yep, down there in New Orleans. Southern, Southern girl. And both of you are, you know, giving back to the community. Do a lot of charitable work. Would love to hear a little bit about that. Yeah, I mean, I think that the platform that athletes have is tremendous. So if you can give back to your community, you know, that's one of the best things that I think an athlete can give back. And that's, you know, people that are in need and people that aren't as fortunate. So, you know, for me, I work with Matt Light and the Light Foundation. So I'm on his board of directors. And that basically brings kids in from troubled areas and backgrounds and they go into a camp and it's a four-year program. So they start and then they graduate, so to speak, when they get through high school and they're going into their college years. But it's a great program for trying to develop youth skills and, you know, a lot of kids that don't have, you know, maybe a great family background that, you know, is a healthy background to where it's trying to bring kids together and show them some different things that could help them moving forward and, you know, life skills that everyone needs. Yeah, this conference actually, we talk a lot about skills and career because in the technology field, things are changing a lot. Now, I've watched football most of my career. We're actually my season tickets, I can see across the field here. And, you know, in your career, your 11-year career, the NFL changed a lot. I think you came into the NFL as an outside linebacker and when you're here in the Patriots, you switch to defensive end. Maybe, you know, what kind of things do you learn and, you know, how do you kind of have the mindset to say, like, okay, well, this is the job and the skills and the things I'm looking to do and now, like, oh, wait, I need to, you know, have a hand down and be facing off against some really big guys. Yeah, so, I mean, I think to be the chameleon, so to speak, and be able to change and adapt to your environment, I mean, that's what makes not just an athlete, but, you know, every business person that can change with time and with the trends of technology and how things are adapting over time, that's what's gonna continue your success. So, if you stay, if you're just one thing and you never wanna change and you never adapt, you're gonna be overtaken by somebody else. So, you have to have that mindset and when I arrived here with the Patriots, I knew that you had to be multiple, you had to continue to do different things with your career and position, or else, you know, really, you don't stick around as long. So, you know, for me, I was a defensive lineman, linebacker, special teams, you do it all and it helps not only your team, but it helps your career and, you know, have a long career at that. Yeah, not only do your job, but when you're called to do multiple jobs, you're gonna step in and do that. It kind of seems to be the Patriot way. You have to, you have to. If you can't do the multiple job thing, this might not be the place. Yeah, so, you know, we just had, you know, one of the most amazing games in Patriot history that I think I've seen. I'm curious, you as now an observer rather than a player, you know, what's your thought looking at a game like that? You know, I know heart rates were a little bit high for those of us in New England, but, you know, it really amazing a win like that. Yeah, I mean, it goes to show you that the mental toughness and that just never quit mentality is one of the main characteristics of this team this year and their story. You can't look at previous years or just, you can't look at history when it comes to football. It comes down to who's gonna play the best football in that particular day. And, you know, you look at what the defense has done so far, it's been tremendous. Going against the Chargers who are a great team and, you know, everyone was making the excuse of, you know, they traveled a lot and the time change was tough. But then them going on the road, which hadn't been a strong point for them this year and getting a win and shutting out a team in the first half, the Chiefs that were really powerful and really explosive and one of the best in the NFL. It just goes to show you that, you know, in the playoffs, it's a completely different season. It's a new season. You've got to just forget about what happened in the regular season and, you know, moving on to this next game. I think that they just need to continue that high momentum in playing the way that they are playing, which is running the football, being tough and playing physical, four quarters being physical. That's what's gonna win them this next one. Yeah, 60 minutes and if it goes in over time a little bit longer. You got it, whatever it takes. Rob Ninkovic, really appreciate you spending some time with that. Best of luck on Kilimanjaro this year. Thank you, thank you. Super exciting. I know you do some social media there so I'm sure people can follow along there. Yeah, I'll be on there. I got Instagram, nink50. So, and then I'm nink50 for Twitter. So I'm out there. All right, thank you so much. And we, of course, are out there all the time. Go to thecube.net to catch all the videos. Find me on Twitter, I'm just Stu, STU, and super pleasure to be able to have Rob Ninkovic and thanks so much to the VTUG for bringing us here to this event.