Speaker 1: To us fires touch style by waddle stuck into the
Speaker 1: end zone of Miami Boy, tight froll, tight window. They
Speaker 1: had to get that touchdown on that play again. It
Speaker 1: what It's up Dolphins And welcome to the Drivetime Podcast
Speaker 1: part of Miami Dolphins podcast network, covering your team, your
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins. How's it going everybody? I am your host
Speaker 1: Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, we haven't done this
Speaker 1: in a little while, a new free agent signing podcast hunter,
Speaker 1: Thomas Morstead is the latest Miami Dolphin. We'll talk about
Speaker 1: his game and we'll also have Thomas on the podcast.
Speaker 1: Here a great, great sit down chat with the new
Speaker 1: punter of the Miami Dolphins coming your way on this
Speaker 1: edition of the Drivetime Podcasts. So you go over Thomas
Speaker 1: moore Stead's career and you're gonna find a bunch of
Speaker 1: really good net average is and a bunch of balls
Speaker 1: down inside the twenty and ten yard lines. Basically prolific
Speaker 1: production throughout the course of a thirteen year National Football
Speaker 1: League career, and twelve of those years started with the
Speaker 1: New Orleans Saints, where he was drafted back in two
Speaker 1: thousand nine. Actually the second punter drafted that year, but
Speaker 1: as you'll hear from Thomas here in just one second,
Speaker 1: the Saints traded up into the fifth round to go
Speaker 1: get more Stead and all he did for them was
Speaker 1: give him a forty six point six average over twelve years.
Speaker 1: And he also up to the Anti last year his
Speaker 1: first season after leaving New Orleans with the Jets and Falcons,
Speaker 1: averaging forty seven point seven yards per punt and that
Speaker 1: was ninth best in the National Football League. He also
Speaker 1: has a Pro Bowl and a second team All Pro
Speaker 1: honors to his name. Talked about him being a fifth
Speaker 1: round draft pick that same year, he went from a
Speaker 1: camp battle which he won obviously, to the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: and one of the biggest moments a punter could possibly
Speaker 1: have in the Super Bowl when he dribbled an onside
Speaker 1: kick for the Saints to recover, and of course that
Speaker 1: was kind of the turning point in that game ten
Speaker 1: to six at the halftime break. They get the onside kick,
Speaker 1: score a touchdown, lose a lead, but get the lead
Speaker 1: back later on. And that more Stead on side kick,
Speaker 1: which you'll hear from him here and just a minute
Speaker 1: talk about, was a big, big part of that victory.
Speaker 1: And actually that was more Stead's last game at hard
Speaker 1: Rock Stadium. It was a second game that season, you
Speaker 1: might recall, and he came into the podcast studio and
Speaker 1: told me about this. But yeah, that's the second time
Speaker 1: I played at hard Rock Stadium and the last time.
Speaker 1: The first time was a game back in oh nine
Speaker 1: against the Dolphins down by twenty points. I'm like, Thomas,
Speaker 1: I know exactly what you're talking about. We lost that game.
Speaker 1: That was a brutal, brutal defeat for the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: but I'm sure a nice win for you guys for
Speaker 1: the Saints, and those the only two times he's ever
Speaker 1: played at hard Rock Stadium. They talk about veteran leadership
Speaker 1: and we'll talk to Thomas about this as well. And
Speaker 1: it's a funny thing for you know, someone that he
Speaker 1: he says to himself that you don't go down and
Speaker 1: make hits, but to be a leader, not sacrificing your
Speaker 1: body like the other guys do. And just kind of
Speaker 1: the understanding and resp back that he had for what
Speaker 1: his job, what his role, and the wisdom that he
Speaker 1: can impart on younger players. And there's a great article
Speaker 1: up on New Orleans dot com New Oran Saints dot
Speaker 1: Com I should say after he left the Saints after
Speaker 1: those twelve years. And there's all kinds of quotes in
Speaker 1: there from Thomas talking about the things that people value
Speaker 1: and leadership. You know, he's not gonna a guy that's
Speaker 1: gonna go lead the pregame huddle or anything like that,
Speaker 1: but talking about how it's unique to be a unique
Speaker 1: thing to be a leader when you don't hit people
Speaker 1: into sport that's full of hitting. And he was a
Speaker 1: captain for the Saints from and he said, so, I
Speaker 1: try to be a teacher. I've tried to be a
Speaker 1: coach on the field for young players, tried to get
Speaker 1: them up to speed as quickly as possible. I've tried
Speaker 1: to mentor players off the field with finances and just
Speaker 1: making sure they have things that are important to make
Speaker 1: sure they're handling the awesome responsibility that they're given with
Speaker 1: making a good living. So we'll also talk about these
Speaker 1: last two things here with Thomas moore Stead. There's a
Speaker 1: five things article up on Miami Dolphins dot com. We'll
Speaker 1: also have Thomas here in the podcast just one second,
Speaker 1: but a couple of things from the article. Go check
Speaker 1: out his charity that the foundation that him and his
Speaker 1: wife Lauren run what you give will grow. There's a
Speaker 1: great story about how that really took off back after
Speaker 1: the Minneapolis Miracle game that he was actually on the
Speaker 1: wrong side of with the Saints there. And then also
Speaker 1: a book that was written about his life called The
Speaker 1: Middle School Rules of Thomas Morstead. Go read about that
Speaker 1: on Miami Dolphins dot Com. Let's go ahead and not
Speaker 1: waste any more time here and get to my guest today,
Speaker 1: new Dolphins punter Thomas Morse. Did what's up? Dolphins? Travis
Speaker 1: Wingfield here, the host of the Drivetime podcast on the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins podcast network, and I'm joined today by new
Speaker 1: Dolphins punter Thomas Morse. Did Thomas, what's up mine? How
Speaker 1: you doing? I'm great, glad to be here, glad to
Speaker 1: have you in so here in Miami. How's it all? Field?
Speaker 1: To be signed with Dolphins and be a Miami Dolphin. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm super excited to be here. Um, you know, there's
Speaker 1: not too many places, you know, when I was looking
Speaker 1: at where I could potentially end up, this was kind
Speaker 1: of uh choice one A, one B with one other team.
Speaker 1: So I'm fired up. My my kids were excited. This
Speaker 1: was their one A choice. So I'm excited that my
Speaker 1: family is excited about being here. What what was the
Speaker 1: big draw for them? Uh, well, my my oldest sons specifically,
Speaker 1: he loves fishing and so that was exciting to get
Speaker 1: out here for that. And you know, last year was
Speaker 1: you know, I had a rough twenty had to get
Speaker 1: overcome some things, and um, getting back on the saddle
Speaker 1: last year required me being gone. I signed mid season
Speaker 1: with Jets and then halfway through the year I also
Speaker 1: was with Falcons for the rest of the year, and um,
Speaker 1: it was just what was required for me to get
Speaker 1: back in, get my foot in the door, and show
Speaker 1: teams that I'm back to kind of being myself and
Speaker 1: being an elite player in this league. And so that's
Speaker 1: that's just what was required. And I was away from
Speaker 1: the kids, so we were certainly not interested in doing
Speaker 1: that again this year, and so a huge part of
Speaker 1: where I was gonna end up was, um, you know,
Speaker 1: what were the kids gonna be excited about? And can
Speaker 1: we make this a fun adventure for them? You know,
Speaker 1: they're old enough to kind of know what's going on now,
Speaker 1: so we want them to be excited about what's happening.
Speaker 1: And because it'll be a lot of change for them,
Speaker 1: and so this was their number one choice. So it's good.
Speaker 1: My daughter loves the beach, so plenty of plenty of
Speaker 1: things I do done here. It's fun. So you talk
Speaker 1: about your career a little bit there, your fifth round
Speaker 1: draft pick, and you know, anytime a specialist is drafted,
Speaker 1: it usually speaks pretty highly of of their abilities and
Speaker 1: skill sets. Now you're heading into your fourteen is that
Speaker 1: kind of when you hear that, do you think like, Wow,
Speaker 1: it's the journey I've been on. It's kind of unbelievable.
Speaker 1: It is, Uh, it definitely is. Um, you know, I
Speaker 1: was a tryout player in college for a few years
Speaker 1: and um, you know, the dream was to play on
Speaker 1: a Saturday one day. And then I discovered the weight room,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, I saw a significant change in
Speaker 1: my body and how far the ball was going, how
Speaker 1: high it was going, and all of a sudden, you know,
Speaker 1: towards the back end of my college career, I was like,
Speaker 1: I think I could have a chance to play in
Speaker 1: the NFL, And um, it was fortunate that the Saints
Speaker 1: took a chance on me that traded up into the
Speaker 1: fifth round to come get me. And UM had an
Speaker 1: awesome career there. Um we still live there. Um it's home.
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm grateful to everybody in that organization. UM,
Speaker 1: they were very good to me, and so UM you know,
Speaker 1: I'm just excited to be here. And I just you know,
Speaker 1: I never I never thought I'd go anywhere else, but
Speaker 1: you know, things happen, and UM, you know, you decide
Speaker 1: if you want to keep going or how important things
Speaker 1: are to you. And UM, you know, I love playing
Speaker 1: the game. I love all the aspects that come with it,
Speaker 1: the training, I love the team camaraderie and um, just
Speaker 1: being part of the team and being depended on in
Speaker 1: critical moments is um something that not a lot of
Speaker 1: people get to experience. And and any type of job
Speaker 1: and so UM, you know, to be a part of
Speaker 1: that is exciting. And to feel how strongly this team
Speaker 1: wanted me to be here was also exciting. UM. And
Speaker 1: so I'm looking forward to hopefully proving them right on
Speaker 1: taking a chance on me. It's pretty tough to replicate
Speaker 1: the competitive juice you get from playing sports. You can't.
Speaker 1: You can't beat that anywhere else. You talk about you
Speaker 1: with the Saints, you know, joining a couple of former
Speaker 1: teammates here in Miami now with Toron Armstead and Teddy Bridgewater.
Speaker 1: What can you tell us about those guys? Well, Tehran
Speaker 1: is uh, you know, he's been the consummate professional every
Speaker 1: box you could look to check as a team. As
Speaker 1: far as what you're looking for in a person and
Speaker 1: a player, he is he checks the box. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, we have a little thing going. Uh. We
Speaker 1: always refer to each other as the real Tea Stead
Speaker 1: because we once got confused in a medical thing. So um. Anyways,
Speaker 1: I'll be excited to have a little bit of familiarity
Speaker 1: with a few guys. Um, you know, only spend a
Speaker 1: little bit of time with Teddy, but he was he
Speaker 1: he became beloved in New Orleans and his time there,
Speaker 1: and um, you know he was a great teammate. And um,
Speaker 1: I know he's a new dad here recently, and I'm
Speaker 1: excited to be around both those guys. They're great, mean beings.
Speaker 1: Toront had the tistad chain when I did the podcast
Speaker 1: with him. I don't see it was that yours he
Speaker 1: was borrowing or was that? Now? You know, I haven't
Speaker 1: had one of those made yet, so I may have
Speaker 1: to borrow that see if I can get a I'd
Speaker 1: like to kind of do a you know, like a
Speaker 1: throwback picture of just his his press conference whatever it
Speaker 1: was a week ago, and maybe borrow the chain and
Speaker 1: get that same thirteen jersey on and uh see if
Speaker 1: I can replicate it. That's incredible, But I hope you
Speaker 1: can't be fun to see. So you talk about, you know,
Speaker 1: wanting to be here the Dolphins one, you hear you
Speaker 1: met coach McDaniel already. What's your first impression of him? Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's uh, he's obviously an incredibly intelligent guy. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: I did a little research on him before showing up
Speaker 1: to the meeting, you know, just so I was a
Speaker 1: little bit prepared, and um, from the videos I had
Speaker 1: seen of him before, UM, you can tell he's a
Speaker 1: very very smart guy. And UM, you know, the thing
Speaker 1: that I like about any coach or player is if
Speaker 1: you're authentic, then you're yourself, um, and you can help
Speaker 1: the team win, You'll be accept did and so UM,
Speaker 1: you know, he doesn't seem like he's putting on a
Speaker 1: show for anybody. He's just being himself. And I think
Speaker 1: as long as he does that, um, you know, his
Speaker 1: ability as a coach and as a as somebody who's
Speaker 1: going to develop plays and do all the things that
Speaker 1: he has to do. I'm sure it'll shine through as
Speaker 1: he's here. UM, I really enjoyed meeting with him. And
Speaker 1: then your position coaches are specialist coach coach Danny Crossman
Speaker 1: by him. Yeah, I would say that's the biggest reason
Speaker 1: for me being comfortable being here. Um. We sat down
Speaker 1: for a number of hours the other day and I
Speaker 1: got to know each other, got to know the language
Speaker 1: that we're gonna use, how he coaches things and expectations
Speaker 1: and we're on the same page. So UM, that's all
Speaker 1: you can ask for. UM. I've I've had some really
Speaker 1: outstanding especially to coach relationships, and I've had some not
Speaker 1: so outstanding ones. And the difference in performance can be significant. Um.
Speaker 1: And it really matters who you're dealing with and who
Speaker 1: uh you know, how they operate and are we working
Speaker 1: together or are we on Are we are we equals?
Speaker 1: Are we on the same team? Here? We point our
Speaker 1: guns at the same direction, and so um, he would
Speaker 1: I would say he was the biggest reason for me
Speaker 1: being here. It was just that comfort level with him,
Speaker 1: getting to know him, and um, and I'm excited to
Speaker 1: get to work with him. Yeah, he's the best, is
Speaker 1: the very best. So one part of the game that
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think is the least studied
Speaker 1: and this is just my opinion, but is holding on
Speaker 1: field goals and p A T s. And you know,
Speaker 1: one thing we do on the podcast here is like
Speaker 1: to educate, and I think who better to get to
Speaker 1: educas on holding Thomas Moristead. So just kind of take
Speaker 1: us through the fire points of holding in the kicking game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so the snapper Blake will throw a ball to me
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna catch it, I'm gonna put it on
Speaker 1: the ground. Um, and then our kicker Jason is gonna
Speaker 1: make it right. So yeah, there's there's a lot of
Speaker 1: detail to it. Um, I would say a big thing.
Speaker 1: It's a very process oriented thing for me as a
Speaker 1: holder because I'm kind of the quarterback for the play.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of typically anyways, you know, the quarterback of
Speaker 1: the play running everything and um, and it's so much
Speaker 1: of it. I found it's about rhythm and timing and
Speaker 1: making everything feel exactly the same to your snapper and
Speaker 1: to your kicker on every single rep. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's really kind of a thankless job, which is fine,
Speaker 1: but you know it's, uh, you only ever highlighted if
Speaker 1: you either run a fake or or you botch something,
Speaker 1: and so try not to do that, you know. But
Speaker 1: I think it's like anything, you just stay in your process. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, you you really have to figure out what
Speaker 1: your kicker wants and what's important to them. Right, some
Speaker 1: guys are more particular about certain things than others, and
Speaker 1: so it's just about getting to know your guy. And
Speaker 1: my job is to um, is to create an environment
Speaker 1: for both of those guys that they feel confident and
Speaker 1: comfortable at all times. And if I can do that,
Speaker 1: then I'm doing my job and I'm gonna get out
Speaker 1: of the way. And and you know, hopefully if if
Speaker 1: Blake's doing his thing and Jason is doing his thing,
Speaker 1: well I'm just I'm kind of an intermediary, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm I'm moderating, if you will, and uh,
Speaker 1: and so it's just to kind of, I guess, not
Speaker 1: be seen. If that makes sense, It makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1: I think we had a key on crossing here. He's
Speaker 1: a special team's ace here with us, and I talked
Speaker 1: to him about Dion Sanders should always say on the
Speaker 1: NFL Network highlight show, like we're only showing the punt
Speaker 1: highlights if there's a big play or a mistake. So
Speaker 1: it's kind of how it goes that way. So twelve
Speaker 1: years at the saying slash you you end with the
Speaker 1: Jets after I stent with the Falcons as well, Jet
Speaker 1: Jets first, then second apologies. Um. So I was curious
Speaker 1: because you know, you'll you'll possibly have some games here
Speaker 1: with the Dolphins up in the Northeast in December Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: holiday like round when the weather gets kind of crummy.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a good chance last year for you to
Speaker 1: get an experience kicking in some some bad weather. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I played up in Buffalo, uh right towards
Speaker 1: the end of the season, and that was kind of
Speaker 1: an extraordinary game. It was snowing and wendy and cold,
Speaker 1: and I had I had never played in a game
Speaker 1: quite like that. Um. But it's it's more than anything.
Speaker 1: It's about um. You know, I've played in every kind
Speaker 1: of scenario other than snow up until that point. Um,
Speaker 1: And so you know it's you know, when I was
Speaker 1: a young player, I used to check the weather every
Speaker 1: day and kind of get you know, anxious about it
Speaker 1: and and you know I've seen and done it all
Speaker 1: and you know their guy has to play it too,
Speaker 1: So you can't get caught up in in in keeping
Speaker 1: a certain stat line up throughout the year. You just
Speaker 1: need to provide value and take what's there and make
Speaker 1: the plays that are there to be made when you
Speaker 1: have the chance to make them. And you can't do
Speaker 1: anything more than that. And I think it's it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's all about providing value to your team on game day.
Speaker 1: And sometimes sometimes a forty yard average is is a
Speaker 1: great game, you know. Sometimes it's say you're playing a
Speaker 1: great returner and the coaches asking, hey, we need this
Speaker 1: ball a bounds every time, and that's the standard. Sometimes,
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes of a fifty yard average wasn't a
Speaker 1: good game. You know, it just depends on what the
Speaker 1: coaches are asking to do. And not having an ego,
Speaker 1: think if you if you can. You know, I had
Speaker 1: kids years ago now, so I've lost my ego a
Speaker 1: long time ago. So I think once you lose your ego, um,
Speaker 1: it's just about doing what's best for the team and
Speaker 1: and that's all it is. Context is always very very
Speaker 1: keen and yeah, you talk about that. I get the
Speaker 1: veteran kind of experience from you there in that standpoint.
Speaker 1: This is a pretty young team that you're coming here
Speaker 1: with the Miami Dolphins, but you have the elite distinction
Speaker 1: of being now I'm not hoping to stop on your
Speaker 1: toes here, but the most veteran player on the roster,
Speaker 1: the oldest guy. Yeah, you're the old guy. Now, So
Speaker 1: how will you approach that leadership role you have here?
Speaker 1: Not just with a specialist, but across the roster is
Speaker 1: someone that has so much experience and wisdom in this league. Yeah, look, Um,
Speaker 1: I think the best way to talk about that is
Speaker 1: to say, hey, you know, I don't go at least
Speaker 1: this very infrequent am I going down and hitting people? Right?
Speaker 1: So I'm not sacrificing my body in a similar way
Speaker 1: that a lot of other guys are expected and do. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I think the world of of anybody that
Speaker 1: plays in this league. It's a demanding, demanding league. And um,
Speaker 1: and so I've never been a raw, raw guy. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I work my ass off. Um, when I
Speaker 1: train with the team, I think guys will see that, Um,
Speaker 1: they're going to see a strong older guy. They're going
Speaker 1: to see a strong older guy and a guy that
Speaker 1: runs well and a guy that's going to train hard.
Speaker 1: And so that's one of the ways I try to
Speaker 1: earn my stripes. And then UM, and then obviously performing
Speaker 1: well on game day is a huge thing. You know, UM,
Speaker 1: you've got to get it done and guys need to
Speaker 1: know they can depend on you, and those two things
Speaker 1: were critical. UM as far as the other stuff goes.
Speaker 1: You know, I feel like one of my roles for
Speaker 1: a number of years now has been to UM try
Speaker 1: to get young guys to speed their learning curve up
Speaker 1: quicker than it otherwise would happen. And UM it's unique
Speaker 1: because I once I learned how coach Crossman coaches and
Speaker 1: the technical terms that he uses and how he does
Speaker 1: philosophy with all those guys, I can UM then kind
Speaker 1: of be another voice UM and help guys hopefully get
Speaker 1: them moving along a little quicker. UM. And I have
Speaker 1: a huge vested interest not only from team standpoint want
Speaker 1: everybody doing well, but selfishly, you know, I want guys
Speaker 1: that are out there that know what they're doing, because
Speaker 1: you know, there's a punt is not just catch it
Speaker 1: and smack it down the field and pray that somebody
Speaker 1: makes a tackle. Right, there's a there's a it's a
Speaker 1: it's a jazz session, right, It's it's it's choreographed, but
Speaker 1: there's chaos, right. And so um, if everybody's again on
Speaker 1: the same page and everybody understands that everybody's role is,
Speaker 1: you have a greater chance for success. And so I'll
Speaker 1: hope to be a resource for all those guys. And
Speaker 1: then um and then last way, I think just you know,
Speaker 1: being somebody that has you know, been fortunately playing this
Speaker 1: league a long time and save money and um, you know,
Speaker 1: I love getting with younger players and making sure that
Speaker 1: they're not being foolish with you know, the financial opportunity
Speaker 1: that they have, and just helping them along with that
Speaker 1: and how to think about things and make sure you
Speaker 1: have an accountant, make sure you have somebody that's helping
Speaker 1: you with these things. And um, I love to be
Speaker 1: a resource for guys in that way as well. So
Speaker 1: now you are the veteran, but back when you were
Speaker 1: a rookie, one of the biggest moments of your entire
Speaker 1: group we talked about this little bit the onside kicking
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl so I read a story about it.
Speaker 1: I was just doing some research on it, and it
Speaker 1: said that you maybe a little bit nervous at the time.
Speaker 1: Talk talk to us about that situation, because that was
Speaker 1: such a big moment, a big game, and you're a rookie.
Speaker 1: You make this this big play in the game. Did
Speaker 1: you guys have a feeling that was gonna work? Did
Speaker 1: you feel pretty good about it going in, Like what
Speaker 1: was your your thought process when you had that that
Speaker 1: big time on site? Yeah, well, number one, I would
Speaker 1: hope that everybody thought it was gonna work or else.
Speaker 1: I don't know why I would call that. Number two. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it was. It was a tremendous opportunity. We
Speaker 1: really hadn't played super well in the first half and
Speaker 1: we were only downtown six, So we kind of came
Speaker 1: into locker room feeling like, Okay, we're kind of fortunate
Speaker 1: to be where we're at. We haven't we haven't done
Speaker 1: what we hope we would do. Um and then yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, we'd practice it only for a few weeks.
Speaker 1: It was the one way we thought we could still
Speaker 1: possession from Peyton Manning. I know, originally they had looked
Speaker 1: for a fake pond but they kind of that year
Speaker 1: were very conservative on their punt return team and so
Speaker 1: there wasn't really an opportunity to do that. And so
Speaker 1: this was the idea we came up with and it
Speaker 1: just worked well. Um. Um, with the way I kicked
Speaker 1: off that whole season was always from the right hash
Speaker 1: to the deep right corner, so teams would cheat over
Speaker 1: and so doing the swing back to the left was
Speaker 1: the right call. And um, you know, it certainly didn't
Speaker 1: go exactly how we thought it would go. Um, we
Speaker 1: we kind of missed blocking um hank basket who had
Speaker 1: a chance to recover it. But you know, football is
Speaker 1: an imperfect game. And at the time, I want to
Speaker 1: say that the chances of recovering that for the with
Speaker 1: the way the kickoff rules were at the time, it
Speaker 1: was about a two thirds chance of recovery. So it
Speaker 1: was actually not a foolish bet statistically, and and um,
Speaker 1: and so we knew that. So my last thing I
Speaker 1: told myself before I hit the ball was this, better
Speaker 1: go ten yards, like just give us. You gotta give
Speaker 1: yourself a chance. It may not go perfect, but you
Speaker 1: gotta give yourself a chance. And I did. And um, guys, guys,
Speaker 1: all were rallying and it was the longest pile up
Speaker 1: ever and you know, guys are scratching and clawing to
Speaker 1: you know, it's their Super Bowl aspirations of everybody under
Speaker 1: that pile, and so we were fortunate to come up
Speaker 1: with a ball and and we went down and scored
Speaker 1: and took the lead. And even though it's still back
Speaker 1: and forth from there, I think when we made that play,
Speaker 1: made that call, made the aggressive decision that we were
Speaker 1: not gonna be dictated to in this game, it kind
Speaker 1: of just felt like we were gonna win no matter what.
Speaker 1: And so it's been an awesome thing for me from
Speaker 1: my career. You know, specialists that the game is so
Speaker 1: mental for specialists and you don't always feel your best.
Speaker 1: You don't always have the confidence that you'd like to.
Speaker 1: You know, you don't share that with it with too
Speaker 1: many people, but you just kind of go through these
Speaker 1: apps and flows and being able to lean back on
Speaker 1: times where you've got it done in big moments and
Speaker 1: been all the calm yourself. It's it's it's always something
Speaker 1: you can remind yourself of that you um that you
Speaker 1: do have the ability to, you know, get yourself into
Speaker 1: the right mindset. I love you gave us the two
Speaker 1: thirds percentage chance and that is a big stat driven
Speaker 1: podcast here, So you're really very cool. I'm a numbers guys.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna get along. Great.
Speaker 1: That's perfect. You're fitting right and right away here. So
Speaker 1: a couple of things I wanted to ask you about
Speaker 1: your first You and your wife started the What What
Speaker 1: You Give Will Grow Foundation foundation chair back back. Can
Speaker 1: you tell us about the goal of that and what
Speaker 1: you guys have done so far with it. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: kind of in a transition right now with that obviously
Speaker 1: not being in New Orleans, I say not being there,
Speaker 1: not playing there and um and also covid has kind
Speaker 1: of shut down a lot of things there. But we
Speaker 1: basically it's given us the ability to be very reactive
Speaker 1: with some real needs in the community. When I have
Speaker 1: come up. Our donor UH donor base has been great
Speaker 1: and are uh people that are giving of their time,
Speaker 1: are volunteers, are like ferociously involved, and so it was
Speaker 1: an awesome thing. It's like anything when you give of
Speaker 1: your time or your money or your resources and you're
Speaker 1: really in it for the right reasons. It ends up
Speaker 1: being such a blessing too, just outside of all the
Speaker 1: things you're doing. It, um exposes things that you didn't know.
Speaker 1: We're an issue in your community. Um. It gets you
Speaker 1: to meet people that are going through like difficult things.
Speaker 1: And it's been a real blessing for me my wife
Speaker 1: to be able to do something. I know there's needs everywhere,
Speaker 1: but in New Orleans specifically, there were lots of things.
Speaker 1: And just to be a part of it and be
Speaker 1: a part of a group of people that all, you know,
Speaker 1: we're wanting to give of some resource, time, energy, money, whatever. Um,
Speaker 1: we just had a really nice family of people that
Speaker 1: you know, we all got together and did some good
Speaker 1: stuff off and anyways, love being a part of that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's awesome playing of playing opportunities down here as well
Speaker 1: to get called in the community. So also an author
Speaker 1: as well, What can you tell us about the Middle
Speaker 1: School Rules of Thomas Morstead? So yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: am officially an author. The writer Sean Jensen who did
Speaker 1: that book, Um, he is the real author and um,
Speaker 1: yeah you know I So whenever we the Saints played
Speaker 1: the Vikings and the Playoffs in two thousand spring of eighteen,
Speaker 1: it was the seventeen season, and I kind of had
Speaker 1: a unique thing happened to me in that game. I
Speaker 1: made a tackle in the first part of the game,
Speaker 1: and I tore some cartilage and my ribs, and you know,
Speaker 1: it got reported that I had broken my ribs in
Speaker 1: the game. And then uh, we came back and we
Speaker 1: thought we'd want and then they hit them Minnesota miracle
Speaker 1: and went on and we had to come out for
Speaker 1: the extra point, and I was the first guy out
Speaker 1: on the field because two thirds of the guys were
Speaker 1: in showers probably are you know, they're already in towels
Speaker 1: in the locker room. They weren't coming back out. So
Speaker 1: I came back out, and of Vikings fans you know,
Speaker 1: started donating to our foundation, and we end up raising
Speaker 1: like three some thousand dollars. And so whenever all this
Speaker 1: money started pouring in, I just said, while we're really
Speaker 1: blown away by this, you know, nice gesture about all
Speaker 1: these people in Minnesota, I said, you know, if we
Speaker 1: get to a hundred grand, I'll come back up super
Speaker 1: Bowl week and I'll give the checkout to the hospital
Speaker 1: up there. On that one crazy and so um I
Speaker 1: interviewed with all these people media row and Sean was
Speaker 1: the last person I interviewed with, and he as a
Speaker 1: reporter up there, and he had showed me a few
Speaker 1: of his books on his middle school rules of so
Speaker 1: and so and uh. He sent me a few copies
Speaker 1: of different people that he done books with and was
Speaker 1: asked if just asked if I'd be interested in doing one,
Speaker 1: and I said, yeah, sure. You know, I don't know
Speaker 1: if you're trying to sell a bunch of books or not.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not like some big name in some
Speaker 1: big market. And he just said, well, you have an
Speaker 1: interesting story and I think it would be a great
Speaker 1: book to write. And I said, yeah, sure, let's do it.
Speaker 1: And so we did that to other it was really cool. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: we released it right when COVID happened, so we did
Speaker 1: nothing as far as you know, what you would normally
Speaker 1: do when you release a book. But it was a
Speaker 1: great experience. And it's a cool thing to have, um
Speaker 1: from my kids, and we'll donate to schools and stuff
Speaker 1: down in New Orleans here and there. So it's a
Speaker 1: cool thing. Yeah, that's very cool, I mean, and it's
Speaker 1: a great opportunity. And like you know, a rough couple
Speaker 1: of years like you mentioned, for the pandemic, everyone kind
Speaker 1: of getting back from that, so hopefully things are looking
Speaker 1: back up now. So speaking of that, now you're here
Speaker 1: with the Miami Dolphins. Last question for you, Thomas, what's
Speaker 1: the one thing you're looking forward to most about this opportunity. Um, well,
Speaker 1: I don't want to say this with any sort of arrogance,
Speaker 1: because I certainly don't view myself that way, but UM,
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to you know, you get a little
Speaker 1: older in this league and you start to get a
Speaker 1: little ages and kick in and and I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to validating h to myself. Um. You know, this would
Speaker 1: be hopefully first full season with a team now in
Speaker 1: a few years because of what happened last year. So
Speaker 1: I'm just excited to provide value. I'm excited to Um.
Speaker 1: You know, you may have you know, a lot of
Speaker 1: times fans don't understand the value of punning or certain
Speaker 1: plays in the game where hidden yard it's really matters.
Speaker 1: And UM, when I met with coach the head coach here,
Speaker 1: coach Michael, he just said that, Um, this was going
Speaker 1: to be a huge part of our plan was field position,
Speaker 1: and we have, uh, you know, have had a good
Speaker 1: defense and hoping to continue that and um and that
Speaker 1: just that's very excited to be a part of that.
Speaker 1: And I'm excited to kind of prove I'm excited to
Speaker 1: prove this team right. For give me a shot. Great stuff,
Speaker 1: Thomas Morris. That do Dolphins punter appreciate it? Thank you?
Speaker 1: And there he goes. What a great sit down that
Speaker 1: was with new Dolphins punter Thomas Morstead. Let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and take our last break here on this edition of
Speaker 1: the Drive Time Podcast. Will come back? Can put a
Speaker 1: bow on it? All right? We are back here on
Speaker 1: this edition of the Drivetime Podcast, the Thomas Morstead edition
Speaker 1: of Drive Time. I'm gonna go ahead and wrap things
Speaker 1: up here. Keep it locked right here, though, because we
Speaker 1: have so many draft preview content podcasts coming your way
Speaker 1: and some exciting content with some scouts sitting down chatting
Speaker 1: with them plenty to come here on the Drivetime Podcast.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, that is gonna be my time. You all,
Speaker 1: please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast,
Speaker 1: leave us a rating and leave us a review. You
Speaker 1: can follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. You can
Speaker 1: follow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins across all social channels.
Speaker 1: Check out the Fish Tank podcast and our weekly Twitter
Speaker 1: Spaces show every Wednesday at eight o'clock with Me, Seth
Speaker 1: and o J. Check out the YouTube channel for the
Speaker 1: availabilities for Dolphins Today and the Drivetime sit down with
Speaker 1: Thomas Morstead, and of course, last but not least, Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, fends up Caroline. Daddy,
Speaker 1: He's coming home.