The Blind: Phil Robertson hears his call en route to his Duck Dynasty

For two years, Terry Bradshaw sat on the bench at Louisiana Tech because the Bulldogs had a starting quarterback who was getting attention from NFL scouts: Phil Robertson.

“I had the arm. The ability was there. Bradshaw probably had me a little more on distance. I was about a 65-yard man,” Robertson told ESPN in 2013. “I remember, at some point, Bradshaw and I would get out there and he would throw like 70-plus. [But] my delivery was quicker than his.”

Bradshaw, who would go on to win four NFL Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers,, got his shot as the Bulldogs’ starter when Robertson quit football and skipped his final year of eligibility.

“I loved the game, and throwing touchdown passes was fun, [but] what gave me more of an adrenaline rush [was] big bunches of mallard ducks raining down through the trees. It just did it for me, and that is pretty much why the ducks took precedence over football,” explained Robertson. “It’s just that simple.”

That’s the same Phil Robertson who would find fame later in life with his Duck Commander line of duck calls and the reality show Duck Dynasty, which aired on A&E (2012-17) and featured the backwoods life and Christian faith of Robertson’s family. 

The Robertson-Bradshaw connection is just a footnote to The Blind, set to hit theaters nationwide September 28. The film portrays Robertson’s troubled childhood, his courtship and marriage to Kay, and their struggles as Phil battled alcoholism and a wandering eye before embracing Kay’s Christian faith. 

The title evokes the sportsman’s concealment device to avoid detection by the animals he hunts, but it also connotes the wonder of conversion celebrated in the hymn Amazing Grace: “was blind, but now I see.” As a movie, The Blind depicts a lot of sadness and misery stemming from poverty and bad choices — but it all leads to the joy of one who finally sees the light and responds to his call.