NFL brothers walk away from football for faith

>>> tonight's "rock center with brian williams "s two american brother whose walked away from million dollar paychecks in the nfl to pursue their faith. part of the report from mary carillo .

>> reporter: the brothers rechanneled their perpetual energy and in july observed ramadan with a multistate cross-country teaching tour, reaching 30 mosques in 30 days . including the one that is perhaps america's most controversial, in lower manhattan , located just north of ground zero .

>> it's about two blocks away and it's tucked into a little corn somewhere there's just a small, peaceful place to pray. people in the towers who were muslim.

>> reporter: among the nearly 3,000 who died at ground zero 60 were muslims. their names rendered in bronze. american flight 11 passenger was seven months pregnant at the time of her death. the teaching tour during ramadan included stops at food kitchens, meetings with youth groups and emphasis on treating women with equality.

>> my wife when we were in denver just became muslim. but the brothers have this 15 course meal and the sisters have one piece of pizza to share. so you know, today they were talking about taking care and taking hold of ramadan and not letting the month pass you by. how can we get to that part if we can't satisfy the basic structures of islam ? there are sisters running away from islam because of us. this is upon us . kyrylo joins me now. you're a hero of mine. great to have you on the program.

>> my pleasure.

>> tell me about your connection to these remarkable young men and what they've learned.

>> andrea, i really think you're going to like these fellows. 27 and 29. they grew up like so many kids wanting to be nfl stars. play big-time football. yet both in the beginning of this season felt this aching need to do more. they were raised in the muslim faith from the time they were little boys in southern california . they decided they were going to skip this season, an entire nfl season. andrea, the life of a normal nfl career is only about 3 1/2 years. they were willing to skip this whole season to make their pill pilgrimage to mecca. they are -- i've met a lot of athletes from a lot of different sports. i've never met guys willing to do what they did this season.

>> i was fascinated by what they had to say about the role of women in islam . this is really -- we'll all be watching "rock center" continue. mary carillo , thank you so much. don't miss "leap of faith" tonight on "rock center" with brian williams at 10:00 /9:00 central on your nbc station.