Speaker 1: Down, Miami Run. What is up, Dolphans, And welcome to
Speaker 1: the Drive Time Podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins Official
Speaker 1: podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it
Speaker 1: going everybody? It is Tuesday. I am your host, Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 1: and I'm here to bring you your daily dose of
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show, it's a crossover
Speaker 1: edition here of the Drivetime Podcast. Seth and o J.
Speaker 1: From the Fish Tank are going to join me. We're
Speaker 1: gonna talk all things Zach Thomas and his Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame candidacy. We're gonna go over his resume, how he
Speaker 1: stacks up against his peers, and get you some great
Speaker 1: stories about Zach both on and off the field, like
Speaker 1: only the guys from the Fish Tank can do. All
Speaker 1: of that and more on this Tuesday, February the second
Speaker 1: edition of the Drive Time Podcast. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: just jump right in now to my two guests from
Speaker 1: the Fish Tank Podcast. You can find them here on
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins podcast Network. Seth Levitt and o J McDuffie.
Speaker 1: It is that time once again, an off season crossover
Speaker 1: edition here with Drive Time and the Fish Tank Podcast.
Speaker 1: I've got Seth Levitt. I've got O. J McDuffie juice
Speaker 1: in the house. What's up boys, Good to be here, man,
Speaker 1: excited to talk about one of my favorite topics, no
Speaker 1: doubt about it. Man. We miss you, chat with you,
Speaker 1: ben Bro. I've been good. I'm it's it's snowing out here,
Speaker 1: so I don't love that. But you know, you know,
Speaker 1: we're back home. I do get to be around the
Speaker 1: family right now, which is great, but we do not
Speaker 1: miss the snow at all. Man. Like I had to
Speaker 1: go out and use the ice craper on the windshild
Speaker 1: other day, and I was just saying, this is bullshit
Speaker 1: the entire time, like under my breath, this is bullshit.
Speaker 1: I hate this. I'm not doing work. I learned that
Speaker 1: just when I worked for the Calves and in your hometown.
Speaker 1: And I got there and my uncle handed me a defroster,
Speaker 1: this little like it looked like a can oft w
Speaker 1: D forty but it's not, you know, and and and
Speaker 1: an ice craper. I said, what do I need this for?
Speaker 1: You said, you'll learn, right, you'll learn. I had to
Speaker 1: go start the car for my mom every morning, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And we have the card run
Speaker 1: for like the first half hour, so you know, before
Speaker 1: we got in half hour, so at least at least
Speaker 1: and we didn't have you know, we had an old
Speaker 1: clunker too, so it ran a lot of gas in
Speaker 1: the direct game the driveway, you know, oil spots and
Speaker 1: stuff and snow. It was great. And now when it
Speaker 1: drops below sixty here, I'm warming the car up from well,
Speaker 1: every time every time we do a podcast here with
Speaker 1: an alumni, they always tell us why I stayed in
Speaker 1: South Florida because of the weather, and so, I mean,
Speaker 1: it definitely keeps you there a little bitter. At least,
Speaker 1: it's one of the reasons why they stayed down there.
Speaker 1: And uh, we are talking about an alumni on this podcast.
Speaker 1: The reason we have you guys on is because for
Speaker 1: the second straight years, Zach Thomas is a final for
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame, when a fifteen finalists will find
Speaker 1: out on Saturday whether or not he does get in.
Speaker 1: And I guess I wanted to start off by asking
Speaker 1: this question because O J, you've probably obviously played with
Speaker 1: you know, a few of them, and Seth you've been
Speaker 1: around a few of them as well. We'll start with you,
Speaker 1: o J. What is a Hall of Famer to you,
Speaker 1: And how does Zach Thomas fit that criteria Hall of Famers? Um,
Speaker 1: you know, we'll start off with the first thing about Zach.
Speaker 1: Zack's a great teammate. And there's nothing like the guy
Speaker 1: that leads your team on you know, both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball in that locker room, that people fall in
Speaker 1: line with and on pent behind them. Another thing that
Speaker 1: you've got to think about a Hall of famer's longevity.
Speaker 1: Jack Zach played in the league over ten years, Um,
Speaker 1: not a long with longevity productivity, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: How how much did he produced? I mean it's NonStop.
Speaker 1: I mean I think he averaged over a hundred fifty
Speaker 1: tackles a year, um, you know with the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: And you know, and that's that's that's huge. I mean,
Speaker 1: and and Zach was that guy that did it consistently.
Speaker 1: Another criteria you want to have as a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 1: And then I mean you look at Zac also look
Speaker 1: at his numbers. I mean, bottom line, with the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fames, a lot of time that comes down to numbers.
Speaker 1: And you compare his numbers and all the other guys
Speaker 1: that are in already that he played in the same
Speaker 1: time with I mean, it makes I mean, it makes
Speaker 1: plenty of sense to his actually should be in the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, Pro Bowls, All Pro, you know, being
Speaker 1: the best of the best. I mean, I think he
Speaker 1: was All Pro seven times five as the first team
Speaker 1: All from mean, there's a lot of different numbers that
Speaker 1: you can throw out there, but productivity, consistent, longevity. That's
Speaker 1: the reason Zach Thomas is that guy that should be
Speaker 1: in the Hall of Fame. It's long overdue. And soe
Speaker 1: I know, Seth, you did a lot of the you know,
Speaker 1: stack keeping and stuff with tracking stuff on the flights
Speaker 1: back from road games and just basically we we called
Speaker 1: you pro Football reference from the nineties, right, you were
Speaker 1: the one keeping track of all those status and racking
Speaker 1: up all those tackles. I'm sure Zach was prominent on
Speaker 1: your list. I'd love to hear about how that went, Like,
Speaker 1: did did he ever? Did players ever come and check
Speaker 1: on you and say, hey, how many tackles did I get?
Speaker 1: Or how many sacks did I get? But I'm also
Speaker 1: wondering kind of you know, we talked about the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame. It's a it's a you know, a very
Speaker 1: unique brotherhood a very unique, you know, fraternity of of
Speaker 1: football players. There's something about the character by which a
Speaker 1: player or the character of a player and the way
Speaker 1: he conducts himself off the field that goes into that
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. Candasy right, Well, you'd like to think
Speaker 1: that it should. I think there's some unique examples where
Speaker 1: some guys were just so darned dominant that, um, even
Speaker 1: though they may have had some off the field issues,
Speaker 1: it just can't keep them out of the hall. Uh.
Speaker 1: The Hall does have some standards that they define a
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer by and and and character is a
Speaker 1: part of that. And if character is on the list,
Speaker 1: you know, Zack certainly is is a first ballot quality
Speaker 1: guy as far as character is concerned. And I think
Speaker 1: Juice nailed it. I mean, when you look at at
Speaker 1: all of the different categories, UM, I do believe that
Speaker 1: his uh, you know, performance first and were most performance
Speaker 1: is critical? Um. I think that you know, they look
Speaker 1: at at the the era that you played in and
Speaker 1: did you dominate your era? You know, were you just
Speaker 1: a guy you can't do regardless of your numbers, if
Speaker 1: you did not stick out in the era that you
Speaker 1: played in, then then how could you be considered one
Speaker 1: of the all time greats? And Zack certainly did um
Speaker 1: and did do that? Uh, they they look at did
Speaker 1: you change individual games? Did you make plays that change
Speaker 1: individual games, that have an impact on individual games in
Speaker 1: the greatest team sport alive? Um? And at the same time,
Speaker 1: did you change the game? Did you change the sport
Speaker 1: in any way? And so you know, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of different factors. It's not an exact science. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: an incredible voting process. Um. And I think it's something that, uh,
Speaker 1: everybody's got a little different different definition as to what
Speaker 1: a Hall of Famer should look like, should smell like,
Speaker 1: and and and what his stats should read. But I
Speaker 1: think O J is right and I think you know,
Speaker 1: Dolphin Nation is right that the Zach Thomas checks the boxes.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a guy that should be in his
Speaker 1: contemporaries that went in and the first ballot were guys
Speaker 1: that he was measured against. You know, when you look
Speaker 1: at Ray Lewis, who is arguably one of the greatest
Speaker 1: middle linebackers of all time, you look at Brian Urlacker
Speaker 1: who went into the first ballot, those are the guys
Speaker 1: that Zach was measured against, and Zach had all of
Speaker 1: the All pros just as many, if not more than.
Speaker 1: You know, I think he had more than Brian and
Speaker 1: and and measured up there with ray Um. And that's
Speaker 1: not a Pro Bowl list. That's not just what's going
Speaker 1: on in the end of the East or your conference.
Speaker 1: That's what's going on with the league. And so if
Speaker 1: he was, if he was considered one of the pre
Speaker 1: eminent guys of that generation, and those two guys are
Speaker 1: first ballot guys, I think Zach is do. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: glad you mentioned the Peers because I've seen that graphic
Speaker 1: I don't know how many times now hundreds with his
Speaker 1: stats right next to Brian Urlacker stats, and they're comparable
Speaker 1: across the board and really in the same vein of
Speaker 1: ray Lewis too, like you mentioned there, And I think
Speaker 1: that's something that maybe people get bogged down. And when
Speaker 1: it comes to Hall of Fame voting, how did he
Speaker 1: measure up against the people that he played against in
Speaker 1: that decade long period or whatever it might have been, Like,
Speaker 1: was he a top five player in his position every
Speaker 1: single year? Than? If so, Yeah, he probably deserves some
Speaker 1: recognition for knon now We've heard so many stories from
Speaker 1: the fish tank from you know, whatever it might be
Speaker 1: with Zach. And one of my favorite things is talking
Speaker 1: to Channing Crowder, who played you know, with Zach for
Speaker 1: a couple of years there in his rookie portion of
Speaker 1: his career and Zach was in the back end of
Speaker 1: his Dolphins career, and he always just raved about Zack's preparation,
Speaker 1: telling him where to go, when to shoot a gap
Speaker 1: O J. When you were playing against him in practice
Speaker 1: when it was one on ones. How often was he
Speaker 1: doing that stuff in practice? Zach was the best man
Speaker 1: because you like Channing talked about, nobody prepared more, you know.
Speaker 1: But see, I had to give Zack the business as
Speaker 1: a as a as a as a rook at times,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, I had to teach him a
Speaker 1: couple of lessons out there and some of those one
Speaker 1: on ones when he you know, linebackers trying to get
Speaker 1: me on those crossing routes, so sometimes you gotta fake
Speaker 1: that crosser and go back out, you know. I try
Speaker 1: to get Zach to to know that, you know, at
Speaker 1: this level, Zack, you're not gonna you're not gonna tee
Speaker 1: off for one to star players on your own team
Speaker 1: for one, and for two, you know they're gonna give
Speaker 1: you some different It looks like that. But he was
Speaker 1: always prepared. I mean I remember, you know, Jack ordered breakfast, lunch,
Speaker 1: and dinner into the facility before they provided for us.
Speaker 1: Now I think the guys get it. Think it a
Speaker 1: cater Now there was. Zach was always in there watching
Speaker 1: film and you couldn't really take film home back then,
Speaker 1: so he was always in the building. So there's nobody.
Speaker 1: There's nobody that knew more about the opposing team than
Speaker 1: Zach Thomas did. And you know, you you see it
Speaker 1: in film. I watched some games even as a fan
Speaker 1: afterwards it seems like a whole defense is going one way,
Speaker 1: but Zack is going the other way. And sure enough,
Speaker 1: Zach read to play correctly. And he's the only guy
Speaker 1: that could have made a play. In nine out of
Speaker 1: ten times he made the play. So talk about preparation, Uh,
Speaker 1: there's nobody bigger. Nobody watched more film, nobody took more
Speaker 1: notes and Zach Thomas and that's what made him. That
Speaker 1: made him great as well, not only his ability to
Speaker 1: go out and make plays, but his preparation was the
Speaker 1: best of anybody. How much that do you think comes
Speaker 1: from the fact that he was a fifth round draft
Speaker 1: pick and undersized guy that you know wasn't supposed to
Speaker 1: make it, because here's this you know, and I'm paraphrasing, slow,
Speaker 1: late round draft pick that just does not big enough
Speaker 1: to play in the league. Do you think that he
Speaker 1: always had that inherently because of his let's call him
Speaker 1: shortcomings physically, or do you think that was something that
Speaker 1: he developed as he became in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, man, I knew Zach. I met
Speaker 1: Zack when he played against Penn State when he was
Speaker 1: at Texas Tech, and the dude had about twenty some
Speaker 1: tackles against us. So at that point I knew he
Speaker 1: was one hell of a player. I knew his working
Speaker 1: ethic was unbelievable. I knew that this this preparation was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: And then so I saw him play against Penn State.
Speaker 1: But then I met him at Walter Camp All American
Speaker 1: banquet where he became. You know, it's one of the
Speaker 1: oldest and greatest college All American teams ever, and Zach
Speaker 1: was one of those guys. And the humility, how humble
Speaker 1: he was, Uh, you know, and he came up and
Speaker 1: introduced himself to me Aca johna card and he's like, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm Zack Thomas, me and c that we know who
Speaker 1: you are. You had like twenty some tackles against my team. Man,
Speaker 1: you don't need to introduce yourself to us. Man. But
Speaker 1: he's always carried himself the exact same way, humble, hard working,
Speaker 1: and I think that preparation started in high school planning
Speaker 1: Texas you know, obviously College of Texas Tech, and then
Speaker 1: in the pros. He just never took anything for granted
Speaker 1: and never took any shortcuts and always always prepared and
Speaker 1: worked his butt off. Man and o J. You mentioned
Speaker 1: that he would have food brought into the facility every
Speaker 1: single day so we could watch film there, and that
Speaker 1: reminds me of a story seth that you guys, I
Speaker 1: think it was Jason Cole might have been on the
Speaker 1: floor stink where he talked about the you know, the
Speaker 1: Cheetos and the light switches and that all the all
Speaker 1: the light outlets in his house had cheeto dust all
Speaker 1: over because he was so ingrained and just watching the
Speaker 1: tape and nothing else that he wouldn't even think to
Speaker 1: like wipe his hands off in between going to the
Speaker 1: bathroom or going back to the kitchen. Like, that's just
Speaker 1: like that's crazy to me, man, Like, what can you
Speaker 1: tell us about that story? Yeah? I mean, well it
Speaker 1: was a great story. I hadn't heard that one, um.
Speaker 1: And you know, my first year working for the team
Speaker 1: was Zack's rookie years, so it was definitely a part
Speaker 1: of his entire journey here in Miami in in some way,
Speaker 1: shape or form. Had not heard that story. Wasn't surprised
Speaker 1: for two reasons. One, if you had ever been to
Speaker 1: Zach and Io's rookie year upon ment over there at
Speaker 1: Saint JOPEI Implantation Juice, that place was filthy. It was
Speaker 1: a pigstye, So you know, cheeto dust on the walls
Speaker 1: didn't surprise me. But no, he's he's the ultimate grinder, man.
Speaker 1: I mean he put as much, if not more time
Speaker 1: in than some of the coaches. And that's not hyperbole.
Speaker 1: I mean he Zach was that kind of a guy. Um,
Speaker 1: and it was it was maniacal in terms of his
Speaker 1: dedication to film. And it didn't matter if it was
Speaker 1: a preseason game where he he one time we found
Speaker 1: a he kept these notebooks. And we found a notebook
Speaker 1: for Detroit in a preseason game that he was maybe
Speaker 1: gonna play one series in and he had done, you know,
Speaker 1: had filled up half of this notebook and studied his
Speaker 1: preseason How much tape can you pull, Juice on on
Speaker 1: a tape, you know, so he had, but he had
Speaker 1: pulled wherever this coach had been and what Detroit had
Speaker 1: done in these tendencies. And he never wanted to put
Speaker 1: bad uh plays out on on film in practice in games. Uh.
Speaker 1: He always wanted to be prepared and then let the performance,
Speaker 1: uh you know show for itself there And so you know,
Speaker 1: to hear that story, you just have to laugh. Knowing Zacht,
Speaker 1: but he was. It was unbelievable the amount of time
Speaker 1: that he spent. You've heard so many of his contemporaries
Speaker 1: talk about how he was constantly in their playbook. Peyton Manning,
Speaker 1: you know, of all people would be frustrated that Zack
Speaker 1: was was in his head and in his playbook and
Speaker 1: knew what they were gonna run. And Zach always talked
Speaker 1: about you know, pre snap. Juice said that that he
Speaker 1: would look at alignment and that he would make his
Speaker 1: read pre snap before that first step was taken and
Speaker 1: that was really what he thought was his advantage. And
Speaker 1: all that came from film study. It all came from
Speaker 1: film study. Um and and he did have food brought in.
Speaker 1: Thursday nights was long or night there for the coaches,
Speaker 1: and I'd have to go in and sneak some food
Speaker 1: down to him. You know, the coaches didn't want to
Speaker 1: share that food, and I'd make him play and sneak
Speaker 1: it down for him. But he just lived at the
Speaker 1: facility and it was it was pretty special. Now, obviously,
Speaker 1: receiver and linebacker are different positions with different responsibilities. But
Speaker 1: maybe O J. You can help the fans understand what
Speaker 1: exactly goes into that notebook, because you know, we we
Speaker 1: hear about film study as fans, and we just think
Speaker 1: a guy maybe goes in and watches his opponent who
Speaker 1: he can go up one on one against, maybe some
Speaker 1: offensive tendencies, Like what all goes into that notebook? Is
Speaker 1: it like splits of the offensive line receiver alignment? The
Speaker 1: way they stack things like what goes into that study
Speaker 1: that makes him so good and just really makes the
Speaker 1: fans appreciate even more how much he put into it
Speaker 1: to get that production that he ultimately had. Yeah, Actually,
Speaker 1: all that goes into it. A linebacker is probably the
Speaker 1: the toughest position on defense in terms of alignment, especially
Speaker 1: when you're the captain on that defense. A lot of times,
Speaker 1: Zach's gotta make the calls. Zack's gotta make the checks,
Speaker 1: you know, And when you look at different alignments and
Speaker 1: seeing you know, offensive linement sitting heavy or sitting light,
Speaker 1: sitting heavy usually or run situations sitting light using a
Speaker 1: past situation alignement itself that he's seen. One little thing
Speaker 1: that he might pick up on film is in that
Speaker 1: notebook saying all right, you know, if Kevin Mawire is
Speaker 1: doing this, this is what they're going to be doing
Speaker 1: a time. And I mean, if you get a chance,
Speaker 1: I'm being right about something. I mean that's obvious in
Speaker 1: the advantage. He's that quarterback literally on the other side
Speaker 1: where you know, as a wide receiver, I worried about coverage.
Speaker 1: You know, we've got a couple of guys like Blitz,
Speaker 1: I got may break it hot. Who I'm blocking quarterbacks?
Speaker 1: Gotta see all that alignment for three you know four
Speaker 1: three or three four? Um, you know a bear defense.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't even see any of that. So
Speaker 1: you know, Zack said, God has seen everything and put
Speaker 1: her body in position, you know, be successful. Get the
Speaker 1: secondary set, get the line set. How many times you
Speaker 1: see a linebacker go up and tap a defensive line
Speaker 1: on the butt to move him over maybe six inches
Speaker 1: twelve inches, you know, And that was that job as well.
Speaker 1: So there was so much that goes into a line
Speaker 1: but a middle linebacker's book. And what I like most
Speaker 1: about Zach and and and Seal contested this tested this.
Speaker 1: He shared his knowledge with people. You know what I mean,
Speaker 1: he wasn't He wasn't stands you with it if he
Speaker 1: knew that. You know, he talked about the Detroit preseason game.
Speaker 1: Whoever's gonna play the majority of that game. I guaranteed
Speaker 1: that shared that knowledge with him and share that book
Speaker 1: with him too. And that's the type of teammate he
Speaker 1: was as well. But it's preparational second and none no books.
Speaker 1: We talked about unbelievable in the time and the facility
Speaker 1: hours up going in, but it had him ready for
Speaker 1: a Sunday or Monday all the time. Yeah, you know
Speaker 1: you mentioned the pre snap checklist he has to go through.
Speaker 1: I find myself watching games trying to do the same thing,
Speaker 1: and it overwhelms me. Man, Like you have thirty seconds
Speaker 1: to get the personnel grouping, who's moving with motion and
Speaker 1: all just all these things are going on in the
Speaker 1: football field. It's absolutely chaos in the thirty second period
Speaker 1: to get to that, you know, five or six seconds
Speaker 1: snap between whistles and seth. You had mentioned Peyton Manning earlier,
Speaker 1: and that's that's kind of where I want to go
Speaker 1: next with the peers and the way they talked about him,
Speaker 1: the guys that played against him on the other side
Speaker 1: of the football, not you know, fellow linebackers like Burlocker
Speaker 1: and Ray Lewis, but you know, Peyton Manning said that
Speaker 1: Zack Thomas gave me more problems than any defensive defensive
Speaker 1: player I ever played against. Kevin Mwai told a story
Speaker 1: about how Bill Parcel said, if you don't get Zach
Speaker 1: Thomas blocked, if you don't take care of hifty four,
Speaker 1: we're not gonna win this football game. So he was
Speaker 1: a very you know, well thought of peer across the
Speaker 1: way people attack him, in the way people planned for
Speaker 1: him in the NFL, like that was unanimous, right, because
Speaker 1: you mentioned Peyton Ma and Kevin Y to Hall of Famers,
Speaker 1: but there was probably more guys that felt the same way. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, he just had tremendous respect and and and look,
Speaker 1: especially in that era, when you're making all those Pro Bowls,
Speaker 1: that's that's players around the league. They're voting for you.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's especially it still is, but it was
Speaker 1: especially that way. You know, back in the times that
Speaker 1: Zach was playing UM and he was highly respected by
Speaker 1: coaches and by players, uh and by and certainly by
Speaker 1: his teammates. You know, you mentioned Kevin Y, and I
Speaker 1: was was kind of blown away when why you only
Speaker 1: have so much time to get up there on that
Speaker 1: that podium, you know, you spend your whole life hoping
Speaker 1: to make it to that moment, and especially and Kevin Way,
Speaker 1: you know, he wasn't a first ballot guy, so he
Speaker 1: had to go through the process multiple times, be told no,
Speaker 1: no multiple times. Finally gets there and he's writing that speech,
Speaker 1: and he takes the time to not mention he mentioned
Speaker 1: teammates and guys he played with, but he takes the
Speaker 1: time to mention that Zack m Is deserves to be
Speaker 1: in the Hall of Fame. And and that was I
Speaker 1: was really blown away by that. You know, again, you
Speaker 1: only get so many times, so much time the halls
Speaker 1: reviewing your speech before you even go up there. You
Speaker 1: gotta keep TV in mind. You want to get to
Speaker 1: the party afterwards with your friends and family and and
Speaker 1: you know, let's face it, Kevin why played pretty well again, Zach.
Speaker 1: You know, he gave Zac fits, but he felt that
Speaker 1: this was a guy that he had to bring into
Speaker 1: his speech and to his moment to say, this guy
Speaker 1: deserves to be in this hall as well. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you can get any higher praise
Speaker 1: than that. And I think Kevin mcwi is a guy
Speaker 1: too said that. You know, the Jets win and got
Speaker 1: a guy that could get up on Zack athletic enough
Speaker 1: of this center position because they knew that that was
Speaker 1: Zack was giving people fits. Having a big boys in
Speaker 1: front of him was one thing. But you know, you
Speaker 1: never saw a team scheme more about getting a center
Speaker 1: up on the middle linebacker and what the Jets did
Speaker 1: with Kevin Mway being as an athletic as he was.
Speaker 1: So you know, you've seen guys that go out and
Speaker 1: get cover corners to cover a wide receiver. How about
Speaker 1: go and get a cover center that can and they
Speaker 1: have seen a team go draft to left tackle to
Speaker 1: get up on bro Smith wait for that guy to
Speaker 1: be recognized. That that goes right into your point, right
Speaker 1: Stethew made earlier about how how does the guy change
Speaker 1: the game? How does he change the way people play
Speaker 1: against you are prepared for you. But that's that's proof
Speaker 1: from the pudding right there. Absolutely, So it's it's more
Speaker 1: than just Zach the production on Zack on the football field,
Speaker 1: because you know, you guys had him in the fish tank,
Speaker 1: you had Larry Izo in the fish tank, and you've
Speaker 1: heard so many good stories about this dude and just
Speaker 1: the fun that he had in South Florida during the
Speaker 1: peak of his playing career. Is there a favorite story
Speaker 1: you've got, Seth Whether it's the Rolling Hills, you know,
Speaker 1: the great animation you guys did, or maybe it was
Speaker 1: the swimming out to the buoy and almost losing his
Speaker 1: his wits out there, or or trying to get on
Speaker 1: a fight on the side of the highway with Larry Iso, Like,
Speaker 1: was there a story that really defines Zach Thomas for
Speaker 1: you away from the football field. There there's so many.
Speaker 1: There are so many of them, you know, and I
Speaker 1: could point to any one of those, um that that
Speaker 1: would the stuff is some of my favorite. That those
Speaker 1: two guys have so much fun, and they really were.
Speaker 1: You know. We had the great animated piece for the
Speaker 1: that fish tank moment of them streaking across uh when
Speaker 1: when o J and some accomplices made them streak across
Speaker 1: rolling hills when o J allegedly UH did these things
Speaker 1: but uh, I mean no, those were just those two
Speaker 1: guys together was so much fun and um and I
Speaker 1: love those stories, but maybe one that I experienced personally,
Speaker 1: UM And I don't know that one ranks better than
Speaker 1: the other. I really don't. But Zach was invited to
Speaker 1: do one of these moments at the heat game where
Speaker 1: you have the little contests and the guy shoots the
Speaker 1: layup and the free throw and or whatever. It was
Speaker 1: a three point shot and you know, and then the
Speaker 1: crowd can win or what have you. And so he
Speaker 1: got invited to do it. He said yes, and then
Speaker 1: just just like everything else we said, and him wanting
Speaker 1: to be prepared and not wanting to put bad tape
Speaker 1: out there, he said, Hey, where can I go shoot
Speaker 1: free throws? You know, I'm not gonna go out there
Speaker 1: and embarrass myself. And he before he went down to
Speaker 1: what was then the Miami Arena juice, he went up.
Speaker 1: He we went up to the park, up to up
Speaker 1: to the park in sunrise and shot free throws for
Speaker 1: like an hour so that he could be warmed up
Speaker 1: and prepared. And I'm like, you're really doing this for
Speaker 1: this moment that half the people aren't even gonna watch
Speaker 1: and they just want to win a damn T shirt.
Speaker 1: He was not gonna embarrass himself, and I think that
Speaker 1: just defines who we're dealing with here. Yeah, Yeah, no
Speaker 1: doubt about it, man. He I mean, Zach was so
Speaker 1: freaking humble man, you know what I mean. He really
Speaker 1: checked his ego at the door. I don't even know
Speaker 1: if he had before he got into the door, and
Speaker 1: I think he had a chip on his shoulder. But
Speaker 1: like you said, Seth Man, I mean the story you
Speaker 1: you mentioned Travis was so so funny, and we learned
Speaker 1: a lot of those by listening and talking to other people.
Speaker 1: To Jason Cole went on one story that Seth knew
Speaker 1: about and talked about. You know what I mean, There's
Speaker 1: so many great things about Zach and and even that
Speaker 1: that game still pisses him off. And that's another thing
Speaker 1: about that. Zac is the ultimate competitor. He's been at
Speaker 1: our house, you know, my how playing basketball so many times.
Speaker 1: And dude, you don't want to play against it. You
Speaker 1: want him on your team, Chaps. I promise you that,
Speaker 1: because you know you don't want to put his hands
Speaker 1: on You don't want to put your hands on him
Speaker 1: because if you know what I mean, big Staff Dixon said. Though,
Speaker 1: don't get him the bottle now, he said, but if
Speaker 1: team was going to win, that's right, man, You're not
Speaker 1: gonna get anybody out there more physical, he thought. He's
Speaker 1: playing middle linebacker on the five and five, you know,
Speaker 1: pickup game in the backyard, man, And that's why you
Speaker 1: always want of them. He's always competing. You know. They
Speaker 1: get a lot of pressure on me too. Juicy said,
Speaker 1: I didn't moved my feet enough on defense. I gott
Speaker 1: movie your feet best against and Staff was out there
Speaker 1: preserving careers, So I get it. I understand I might
Speaker 1: press releases, I don't lock down people on the court. Man.
Speaker 1: You know, I wanted to finish with this because I
Speaker 1: think it's you know, Seth You had mentioned this earlier
Speaker 1: on the pod, that what what the criteria for a
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer is? And you know, I went over
Speaker 1: the checklist as you were going through that, and I thought,
Speaker 1: Zach checks all those boxes. And one of the ones
Speaker 1: you mentioned was some defining games that he had, defining
Speaker 1: moments on the field, and I think there are so
Speaker 1: many to choose from. You know, the front flip into
Speaker 1: the end zone, I think is probably the one that
Speaker 1: people think of most. But do you guys have one
Speaker 1: that really sticks out in your mind? Like when you
Speaker 1: first thought, Hey, Travis wants to do a podcast talking
Speaker 1: about Zach Thomas, what's the first play that came to
Speaker 1: your mind when you think about Zach Thomas? Will start
Speaker 1: with you, Seth. I was hoping you're gonna start with Jews.
Speaker 1: You know, it's so tough because there was so many
Speaker 1: of them. I mean, you know, look at all those
Speaker 1: tackles and and and the interceptions and everything that he did. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, there was a goal line stand against Atlanta that, uh,
Speaker 1: I think he had like a third and a fourth
Speaker 1: down play where I mean he just he's just there
Speaker 1: before the running back. Is he hits the hole before
Speaker 1: the back does and there's always big collisions, and um,
Speaker 1: you know that one stands out to me. But really,
Speaker 1: the first play that anybody ever remembers Zach Thomas making
Speaker 1: is to play that in so many ways to find
Speaker 1: his career, you know. And it was it was against
Speaker 1: New England and Seawan Jefferson, and um, you know, you
Speaker 1: don't like to see a guy getting knocked out on
Speaker 1: the old but it just it just told you that
Speaker 1: this guy had arrived in Miami and that he was
Speaker 1: going to be a force to reckon with throughout his
Speaker 1: entire career, which we were so fortunate was a very
Speaker 1: very long one and and quite a decorated one as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna piggyback on that one.
Speaker 1: And I think we talked about a little bit earlier,
Speaker 1: Travis about you know, it seemed like the whole team
Speaker 1: sometimes might be going the wrong way, but Zach's preparation
Speaker 1: always seemed to have him in the right place to
Speaker 1: make a play. And if Zack doesn't make that play,
Speaker 1: for one, you know, Sean Jefferson still running. You know,
Speaker 1: he had a convoy out in front of him. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, our other team. You know, we got caught
Speaker 1: up on that reverse situation. But Zach read it like
Speaker 1: we talked about before, but the later wood the way
Speaker 1: he did, and stef if I'm with you on that.
Speaker 1: You know you hate to see and I'm a good
Speaker 1: I'm good friends with Selen Jefferson. You know, to this day,
Speaker 1: you hate to see a player get hurt like that.
Speaker 1: But a set of tone and how many games have
Speaker 1: we seen Zack set a tone like that, like, oh damn,
Speaker 1: they're hitting out here today. I don't think that when
Speaker 1: you hit somebody like that, the whole team doesn't feel it,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And so when you see
Speaker 1: your team, you may like that, you know, stretched out,
Speaker 1: Unfortunately the rest of the team feels it. So that's
Speaker 1: that's the thing that always Zack always brought. But that
Speaker 1: play right there with that tone cent and he did
Speaker 1: that a lot for the money. Dolph Seth mentioned that
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Falcons goal line standing, and we talked about,
Speaker 1: you know, if you're gonna if you're gonna get off
Speaker 1: the floor, off the court with a victory and the
Speaker 1: O J backyard basketball games, you're gonna better. You're probably
Speaker 1: have to do with an and one call because Zack's
Speaker 1: not gonna let you leave there, you know, on on
Speaker 1: two legs without a dream or something. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: that's what that reminded me of. In the two thousand
Speaker 1: and five opener against the Broncos, they had a first
Speaker 1: and goal from the one. They even got an extra
Speaker 1: play because JT jumped into the neutral zone and got
Speaker 1: flagged for that, and so they had come a place
Speaker 1: to get in Hey, I'm calling it like it is.
Speaker 1: JT had had eighty eight yard fun boy turn touchdown
Speaker 1: in that game too, so hey a little bit. But
Speaker 1: Zach had three stops at the one yard line, two
Speaker 1: tackles for lost, one stuff for no gain, and at
Speaker 1: four to the Broncos away, and it kind of turned
Speaker 1: the momentum of that game. And just man, he was
Speaker 1: not going to be scored on, and he he was
Speaker 1: going to use the notebooks to to get himself in
Speaker 1: right position with the preparation, and he was gonna use
Speaker 1: his skill set to get in there and make plays.
Speaker 1: And that was a great combination of both those two things.
Speaker 1: I thought, Hall of Famer all the way a gold jacket.
Speaker 1: I mean, what else can you say about the guy?
Speaker 1: We're gonna find out this weekend. That's it, guys. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's all I got for you, unless there's anything last
Speaker 1: words you want to add here, Seth or o J.
Speaker 1: I mean I I that's that's my case for for
Speaker 1: him making the Hall of Fame. Like you guys wanted
Speaker 1: to be making your push here. Well, look, I think
Speaker 1: we've made a push the entire interview here, and I
Speaker 1: definitely think that Zach belongs there um and And I
Speaker 1: don't think it's a matter of if. I think it's
Speaker 1: a matter of when you hope it's this year. We
Speaker 1: hoped it was last year. It's a it's a funny process,
Speaker 1: you know, and you start looking at who else is
Speaker 1: going in. I mean we talked about Peyton Manning earlier.
Speaker 1: He's taking up one of those spots. We know Peyton's
Speaker 1: going in, so you know, kind of like can pick
Speaker 1: up basketball since we're using basketball here. You know when
Speaker 1: when a team, when a team loses, there's only so
Speaker 1: many guys at the court choose, Hey, we got we
Speaker 1: need to fill two spots. We got five people shooting
Speaker 1: to get on these two spots. You know, there's fifteen
Speaker 1: guys trying to get in for five spots, and Peyton
Speaker 1: just took one of them, and you got Charles Woodson there,
Speaker 1: and so it's gonna be really competitive. You don't make
Speaker 1: it to be a finalist. You don't make it to
Speaker 1: the fifteen and into that room unless you're one of
Speaker 1: the greatest two has ever played the game. And uh
Speaker 1: and Zach is one of those guys. And so I
Speaker 1: really really hope that this is the year. But if
Speaker 1: it's not, I just believe that it's not a matter
Speaker 1: of if. It's a matter of what. And another thing
Speaker 1: about Zach too, is man he he'll never self promote,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. He's gonna let it, let
Speaker 1: it ride out, and let it happen. If it happens,
Speaker 1: it happens, you know what I mean. It's not gonna
Speaker 1: it's not gonna define him. You know, obviously we all
Speaker 1: feel that he should be in there, and a million
Speaker 1: people obviously that feel like he should be in there
Speaker 1: as well. But you know, Zack's not gonna be a
Speaker 1: guy there, you know, pounton or or upset about the
Speaker 1: fact that you know it didn't happen last year, you know,
Speaker 1: if it doesn't happen this year, But you know, obviously.
Speaker 1: You know, he's a guy that should be there. Some
Speaker 1: of the guys that are in there, they were, you know,
Speaker 1: pounding their own chest. They were doing different things to
Speaker 1: get in there, you know, being uh relevant, being on
Speaker 1: t V, radio, whatever. And that's probably how they got
Speaker 1: in because you know, the rest of the world got
Speaker 1: a chance to notice him. You'll never see that from
Speaker 1: Zack's His humbleness and his humility is still there, and
Speaker 1: he'll let you know, let the voters do what they
Speaker 1: have to do and let his play and his films
Speaker 1: speak for itself. And that's where we come in. We're
Speaker 1: gonna try to campaign for Zack as much as we
Speaker 1: can this week and hopefully, hopefully we see him get
Speaker 1: that nod on Saturday, that visit for the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: Always a fun weekend for Hall of Fame before the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. O. J McDuffie, Seth Levitt of The Fish
Speaker 1: Tank podcast, what's coming up, guys, with anything coming up
Speaker 1: here on the fish Tank in the coming weeks or months.
Speaker 1: We've been enjoying the downtime. I can't lie. We've been
Speaker 1: enjoying a little vacation time. Um, but we don't don't
Speaker 1: listen to him Champ. He called me o the day
Speaker 1: talking about how much he missed me. Man, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, You know what I mean. I don't
Speaker 1: don't listen to him. I can miss you and still
Speaker 1: enjoy having my feet up on the couch a little bites.
Speaker 1: So now we've been enjoying that. But we have been
Speaker 1: scheming and plotting and getting some guys lined up, some
Speaker 1: exciting guests that we're lining up now. And we all
Speaker 1: also have I'm very excited to say that there is
Speaker 1: another fish tank animated short on its way, So so
Speaker 1: that'll be the next thing anybody sees or hears from us. Uh,
Speaker 1: and then we'll have some more fun later. How did
Speaker 1: the fans find those seth? I think we're working through
Speaker 1: that as well. Um. But uh, you know, the Dolphins
Speaker 1: do such a great job, as you know, Travis, you
Speaker 1: all do such a great job of promoting, whether it's
Speaker 1: through social media, through the YouTube channels, the Facebook, which
Speaker 1: the Facebook page is one of the largest in the
Speaker 1: entire NFL as far as a fan site. Juice knows
Speaker 1: because he's right in there with the fans, He's right
Speaker 1: in there in the mix. So um, I imagine it
Speaker 1: will be on all channels. Yeah, very good, because I
Speaker 1: was I was thinking about the Zach Thomas and Larry
Speaker 1: is a one I think that was on YouTube, wasn't it. Yes,
Speaker 1: it can be found on YouTube. It's exactly right. So yeah,
Speaker 1: go to YouTube. Check out out check out all the
Speaker 1: fish Tank episodes. They have a phenomenal catalog. Guys, you
Speaker 1: won't want to miss it. Go check out Zach Thomas's
Speaker 1: episode here before the before we find out on Saturday
Speaker 1: if he's going to Canton or not this year. And
Speaker 1: like Seth said, hopefully matter of if or a matter
Speaker 1: of when not if for Zach Thomas. Let's go. Let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and close up this podcast. Seth Levitt, o J.
Speaker 1: McDuffie from the fish Tank, thanks as always, fellas appreciate,
Speaker 1: Thanks Travis, and away they go. Always a fun podcast
Speaker 1: when we have the crossovers here with the two guys
Speaker 1: from the fish Tank, Seth and o J. Again, they
Speaker 1: have such a great catalog of dolphins podcast with interviews
Speaker 1: with all the great alumni journalists from the area, national
Speaker 1: media folks. Plenty of good content there at the fish Tank.
Speaker 1: As for this Zach Thomas special edition here of the
Speaker 1: Drivetime podcast that's gonna be my time. We'll find out
Speaker 1: on Saturday if Zak is going to Canton, and we'll
Speaker 1: get you guys all the content afterwards when we find
Speaker 1: out here on Miami Dolphins dot com on Drive Time,
Speaker 1: the Fish Tank, the whole lot, all a cart when
Speaker 1: it comes to Zach Thomas, You guys all, please be
Speaker 1: sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcast Spotify,
Speaker 1: Leave us a rating, leave us a review, give me
Speaker 1: a follow. On Twitter, it's at Wingfold NFL. You can
Speaker 1: follow the team at Miami Dolphins and of course, like
Speaker 1: Seth men and there Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next
Speaker 1: time finds up