This Sunday’s game between the Seahawks and Bears presents the unique opportunity of seeing one brother line up against another. Seattle defensive end Michael Bennett is 16 months older than his brother, Chicago tight end Martellus Bennett, and both are the type who aren’t afraid to say what they think. Said Martellus:
“I just think we’re two of the most normal people in the NFL, I think everybody else are the weird ones.”
The brothers are close. The played on the same teams growing up and both played in college at Texas A&M. Michael said they FaceTime before every game, and that he records Martellus’ games and watches them later. Michael even said he came close to joining his brother by signing as a free agent with the Bears in 2013 before eventually signing with the Seahawks.
Because of their bond, it’s not easy when they play against one another.
“It’s always the same any time you play against one of your family members,” Michael said. “It’s one of those things where you don’t want him to make plays, but you kind of want him to have a little good plays every once in a while, and you really don’t want to hit him hard. I’m like, ‘Damn Kam [Chancellor], you came back this week?’ It’s crazy, because you want to see him have some success, but not against you.
“It’s kind of uncomfortable [playing against your brother],” Michael added. “You’re so aggressive up front, and my niece is watching the game and I’m like, ‘How’s she going to listen to her father if I drive him back for a sack?’”
Just like Michael, Martellus is known for his personality, having given himself the nickname The Black Unicorn — “I was in New York and I was running down the sidelines, I had black tights on and I felt like a stallion. But then I was like, ‘I’m a magic stallion, and a magic stallion is a unicorn.’ So it’s like you take Black Beauty from the front of the book and you put a horn on it, you get the black unicorn. What’s more awesome than that?” He’s also involved in creating animated children’s shorts.
So where did all that family personality come from?
“We just have a good self-sense of self-awareness, like we know who we are as people and we’re OK with who we are, and I think that’s the biggest thing,” Martellus said. “I think most guys, they’re not really OK with who they are. They don’t really know themselves. We know ourselves, we know who we are, and we have no problem stepping out on a limb and being ourselves because that’s just who we are. We’re the same people all the time.”
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