Speaker 1: Factors are as Patrick drawing twer. What a win for
Speaker 1: this Miami Dolphin team. Wow? What is up? Dolphins? And
Speaker 1: welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins official podcast network, covering your Miami Dolphins each and
Speaker 1: every day. How is it going? Everybody? Happy Friday? Happy
Speaker 1: June tenth. I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and I'm
Speaker 1: here to bring you your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football.
Speaker 1: And on today's show, we are joined by legendary Dolphins
Speaker 1: linebacker on the Fins Flashback to discuss legendary Dolphins defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator Bill Arnsberger, who's up for a very very prestigious award,
Speaker 1: will discuss the accomplishments of coach and here from one
Speaker 1: of his most accomplished players here in Miami, not one,
Speaker 1: not two, but three interceptions on the two a f
Speaker 1: C Championship game over those no good New York Jets
Speaker 1: here on this Friday j in the nineteenth edition of
Speaker 1: the Drive Time Podcast. And so that very prestigious award
Speaker 1: that Bill Arnstbarger, Dolphins defensive coordinator for a long time,
Speaker 1: for a significant chunk of the Don Shula era and
Speaker 1: pretty well regarded as the best assistant coach in Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins history, and Arnsbarger is among eight nominees for the
Speaker 1: Paul doctor Z Zimmerman Award for Lifetime Achievement as an
Speaker 1: assistant coach in the National Football League and honor bestowed
Speaker 1: by the Pro Football Writers Association here in the National
Speaker 1: Football League, and just real quick on doctor Z the
Speaker 1: name of the award. I will say for the rest
Speaker 1: of my lifetime that he was the biggest influence in
Speaker 1: my life because even though I was a youngster when
Speaker 1: he was really in his prime and really on the
Speaker 1: the the focal point, the forefront of all football riding
Speaker 1: and all football commentary. I always love the way he
Speaker 1: was able to piece together the analyst side and also
Speaker 1: the good writing, the good storytelling side. That's who I
Speaker 1: always wanted to model my writing, my storytelling, my podcasting,
Speaker 1: my radio voice, whatever it was going to be that
Speaker 1: I was going to do in my life, I always
Speaker 1: modeled it after Doctor Z. So rest in peace. Doctor
Speaker 1: Z asked for Bill Arnstbarger among these eight nominees for
Speaker 1: the lifetime award from the Pro Football Riots Association. What
Speaker 1: a big honor it is to have him even among
Speaker 1: those names to be among those eight people that are
Speaker 1: in fact up for this award. And we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: to a J. Dewey, former Dolphins linebacker here in just
Speaker 1: a moment to get some clarity, some some perspective on
Speaker 1: who Bill Arnstbarger was as a man and as a coach.
Speaker 1: But just some quick facts here on coach Arnsberger. He
Speaker 1: was born all the way back in nineteen twenty six.
Speaker 1: He passed away back in one of the most successful
Speaker 1: defensive coaches in the nfl is one hundred year history,
Speaker 1: serving as an assistant coach in the NFL for twenty
Speaker 1: one years, which he was with Shula there in Baltimore
Speaker 1: and the Colts came with Sula to Miami in nineteen seventy.
Speaker 1: He was there from seventy to seventy three and then
Speaker 1: again from seventy six to nineteen eighty three, and would
Speaker 1: later go back to the NFL after a stint in
Speaker 1: college with the Chargers in San Diego, the defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: from ninety two to ninety four. And if you listen
Speaker 1: to the Lockdown Dolphins podcast when I hosted after Dolphins wins,
Speaker 1: we'd play the song win when When When? When all
Speaker 1: we do is win, and that's all Bill Arn't Barger did.
Speaker 1: His defense finished among the top five and fewest points
Speaker 1: allowed fifteen times out of twenty one seasons. Five of
Speaker 1: those years, Aren't Barker's defense led the NFL in fewest
Speaker 1: points allowed. His teams earned trip to the NFL Championship
Speaker 1: Game or Super Bowl in seven out of twenty one seasons,
Speaker 1: so into the final four in one third of his
Speaker 1: NFL seasons as an assistant coach, and each of the
Speaker 1: three teams he coached with earned at least one trip
Speaker 1: to the NFL Championship or super Bowl. During his tenure,
Speaker 1: the Colts to the NFL Championship Game, we know about
Speaker 1: Miami's two Super Bowl victories, including five trips to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, and then after the eight year absence in
Speaker 1: the NFL, he would come back to the Chargers and
Speaker 1: be a part of that team that went to a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl as well, and his units won world championships
Speaker 1: following the nineteen seventy two and nineteen seventy three seasons,
Speaker 1: including the NFL's only perfect season, the nineteen seventy two
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins. As we all know, the Dolphins had a
Speaker 1: combined record of thirty two and two in those two seasons,
Speaker 1: and that has also yet have been surpassed. Overall, his
Speaker 1: teams posted a regular season mark of to fourteen eighty
Speaker 1: five and six. That's a seven twelve win percentage, averaging
Speaker 1: more than ten regular season wins per year, and in
Speaker 1: an era when you only play fourteen regular season games.
Speaker 1: For the most part of that era, his seventy two
Speaker 1: and seventy three Dolphins teams averaged just twelve point two
Speaker 1: points allowed per game and ten points seven points allowed
Speaker 1: per game. That's fewer than any of the other members
Speaker 1: on this nominee list who were also defensive coordinators. They
Speaker 1: are Buddy Ryan, Floyd Peters, Romeo Crannell, and Rod Marinelli.
Speaker 1: Bill Arnsberger had the lowest points per game than any
Speaker 1: of those guys in those two seasons with the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: His fifty three defense was named for the situational use
Speaker 1: of number fifty three linebacker Bob Mathison as a fourth
Speaker 1: linebacker in the early nineteen seventies, and that served as
Speaker 1: something of a precursor to the modern three four defense
Speaker 1: that teams began using later that decade. Of course, we
Speaker 1: had the Buddy Ryan forty six defense there with the Bears.
Speaker 1: These guys on this list are innovators, and Bill Arnsbarger
Speaker 1: was the innovator of innovators. He was nicknamed one more
Speaker 1: Real by his players for studying countless hours of film
Speaker 1: revealing his future opponents offensive tactics. And I think this
Speaker 1: quote here from Dick Anderson really says it all. It's
Speaker 1: remarkable that he never called a defense that we didn't
Speaker 1: have total faith in. The man was brilliant. He put
Speaker 1: us in the right place at the right time for
Speaker 1: our abilities. He never asked someone to do something they
Speaker 1: couldn't mentally or physically do. End quote. And Arnsbarger, of course,
Speaker 1: was there for the No Name defense, which recorded the
Speaker 1: first and now one of only two defensive Super Bowl
Speaker 1: shutouts with the fourteen seven win over Washington and Super
Speaker 1: Bowl seven. Of course, the only Washington touchdown on that
Speaker 1: day came on a special teams pumble from Gary A
Speaker 1: prim Me in his defense didn't allow a Minnesota score
Speaker 1: in super Bowl seven. Rather, super Bowl eight checked that
Speaker 1: until Miami was zero on their way to seven win overall.
Speaker 1: In the nineteen seventy three playoffs and Super Bowl, they
Speaker 1: allowed a total of thirty three points against Cincinnati, Oakland
Speaker 1: and Minnesota aren't. Barker's defense has posted two shutouts in
Speaker 1: conference championship games, the most by any coordinator since nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy the nineteen seventy merger. Rather, the Dolphins won the
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one a f C Championship game with win
Speaker 1: over the Colts. At safety Dick Anderson scored and a
Speaker 1: sixty two yard touchdown return on an interception. In nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty two, his Killer Bees defense led the way to
Speaker 1: a fourteen zero win in the a f C Championship
Speaker 1: game against the rival Jets, as linebacker A. J. Dewey
Speaker 1: recorded not one, not two, but three interceptions, including a
Speaker 1: thirty five yard pick six back to the house for
Speaker 1: a touchdown. And that's a great way to segue into
Speaker 1: my interview here with former Dolphins linebacker, former Dolphins great
Speaker 1: Age A. Dowey and writing Shotgun now on the Drive
Speaker 1: Time podcast. Is the nineteen seventy seven defensive Rookie of
Speaker 1: the Year Pro Bowl linebacker who spent the entirety of
Speaker 1: his eight year career with the Miami Dolphins, Number seventy
Speaker 1: seven A J. Dewey A J. Welcome in, Sir, well,
Speaker 1: it's it's good to be uh part of a flashback podcasts.
Speaker 1: I'll give you as much information as I can drum
Speaker 1: up here, and uh, ilet's have fun at it, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's the whole point we're doing here. It's a
Speaker 1: little bit slow for content these days because we don't
Speaker 1: have the guys in the building, so it's nice to
Speaker 1: go back and and check in on some of the
Speaker 1: old past wins of of these team's, you know, story franchise,
Speaker 1: story organization, and you're definitely a big part of that,
Speaker 1: and so was coach Arnsparker. And we're gonna get into
Speaker 1: that here just real quickly. But first, how are you doing, man?
Speaker 1: What's life like for you these days? Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm practicing COVID nineteen. I mean I got
Speaker 1: my I got my COVID nineteen haircut. I I what's
Speaker 1: your Uh My wife posted on Facebook, uh when she
Speaker 1: was cutting my hair out in the backyard, and uh,
Speaker 1: I was calling it my COVID nineteen uh uh and
Speaker 1: she was calling it hill Billy chronicles. So we kind
Speaker 1: of had two different names for it. But uh, it's uh,
Speaker 1: it's been a little different, you know, the impact that
Speaker 1: this viruses, you know, put on our country, in our
Speaker 1: in our in our world. It's it's it's tough. It's uh,
Speaker 1: but I'm kind of getting used to it now. It's
Speaker 1: it's just part of life. We have to just you know,
Speaker 1: deal with and grow through and hopefully, you know, the
Speaker 1: brighter side of it comes sooner than we're anticipating. Well,
Speaker 1: she did a good job, because I've seen a lot
Speaker 1: of people doing their own haircuts, cutting their own hair
Speaker 1: and doesn't go very well for them. So you definitely
Speaker 1: have a good in house barber. They're taking care of
Speaker 1: you and and and you know, to kind of make
Speaker 1: a difficult transition here, I want to first start with,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure you do a lot of these interviews,
Speaker 1: and when you do them, I'm sure the first game
Speaker 1: that comes up is that AFC Championship game, And why
Speaker 1: wouldn't it, Because first I just I want to hear
Speaker 1: your perspective about that game, like going into it, throughout
Speaker 1: the course of it, after the first pick, after the
Speaker 1: second pick, like when did you know that you were
Speaker 1: gonna be so heavyly involved in the game plan and
Speaker 1: had such a big impact on that game and really
Speaker 1: be the difference in the game. Well, you know, I
Speaker 1: kinda uh. I did an interview just a week and
Speaker 1: a half ago with Yahoo Sports and kind of that
Speaker 1: same you know storyline we were trying to go through,
Speaker 1: and the guy was shocked that I said that in
Speaker 1: the moment, you just don't even think about it. But
Speaker 1: you know that getting back from the start of that week, Uh,
Speaker 1: it kind of was a crazy uh weather situation that
Speaker 1: whole week. I mean, it was one of those times
Speaker 1: in our country where you know, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: snow going on up north and on the East coast,
Speaker 1: and by the time it makes his way down the coastline,
Speaker 1: once it gets to about South Carolina, it turns into
Speaker 1: you know, maybe some sleep and then gets the Georgian Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, in Florida it becomes rain. So we had
Speaker 1: we had rain was every day for a good five
Speaker 1: or six seven days. And it wasn't it wasn't just
Speaker 1: a storm. It was of those that we just had
Speaker 1: rain throughout the throughout the day. We had to juggle
Speaker 1: our schedule around a little bit. We practiced some in
Speaker 1: the morning things because coach Chilo, I guess they would
Speaker 1: get some weather forecasts and know that the heavier range
Speaker 1: would be in the afternoon, and we we you know,
Speaker 1: we we were there for the full day like normal,
Speaker 1: but you know, practices were cut short and we were
Speaker 1: just working on I guess h different things that would
Speaker 1: be successful for us on offensive and details. You really can't,
Speaker 1: you know, prepare because you don't know they're gonna do
Speaker 1: uh offensively. You just gotta prepare for their game plan.
Speaker 1: So you know, we worked on that and uh when
Speaker 1: we got we got down to the field at the
Speaker 1: Orange Bowl, I mean I was on the impression that
Speaker 1: the stadium was gonna be fine. I'm sure everybody was,
Speaker 1: because we had what they called prescription athletic turf. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure you know the the average fan knows what
Speaker 1: that means, but it's something that was put in place
Speaker 1: back in the days when they were converting all the
Speaker 1: AstroTurf fields to natural brass. And uh when they when
Speaker 1: they had the AstroTurf fields, they had already taken the
Speaker 1: turtleback out of the uh out of the field. So
Speaker 1: you're not old enough to know about turtleback fields, you know,
Speaker 1: you back back in the day, that's what it was.
Speaker 1: Because of the fall off of the range so they
Speaker 1: built these pa Tea fields with a major underground pumping system,
Speaker 1: and it was in the early stages of that development,
Speaker 1: in that type of field planning that they obviously didn't
Speaker 1: build the pumps with enough capacity. So the pumps, this
Speaker 1: is all told to me after the fact that the
Speaker 1: city of Miami owned the Orange Bowl. The pumps went down.
Speaker 1: They were having trouble getting you know water, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: sucked off the field to drain out, and it just
Speaker 1: turned into a complete flat bed of about two or
Speaker 1: three inches of mucky, mucky water like you're walking in
Speaker 1: the marsh almost right. So, uh, it played to our advantage. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the Jets were a team that was loaded with team speed.
Speaker 1: They had a lot of go to receivers who would
Speaker 1: start to feel on us. But you know, both teams
Speaker 1: had to play in those conditions. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm tired of hearing Jet fans winning about it. I'm
Speaker 1: telling this is like forty some five years ago. Come on,
Speaker 1: get over, you know, I mean, you know how many
Speaker 1: things have going on in your life that could have
Speaker 1: made it better, right, So, but you know, but in
Speaker 1: the nutshell, that's kind of the way it played out
Speaker 1: from that week accssent participating and and on game day.
Speaker 1: But but getting back to I guess the question is
Speaker 1: how it played out, you know, interception one, two three.
Speaker 1: You know, it was just it was just making plays
Speaker 1: on the field. I mean, Uh, to this day, I
Speaker 1: really don't look back and and and sit there and say,
Speaker 1: you know, I knew exactly what they were gonna run
Speaker 1: or you know, I'm not gonna sit here and take
Speaker 1: credit for any of that kind of stuff. You know,
Speaker 1: we just we played good coverages. Uh. Obviously the field
Speaker 1: being in the condition it was, it it allowed you know,
Speaker 1: both players to kind of play guarded, you know, because
Speaker 1: the receivers, uh, they're not about to try and make
Speaker 1: some fancy move on you because they're played that their
Speaker 1: footing might give out on them. And for us to
Speaker 1: the defensive players, we just tried to trail and track
Speaker 1: and just stay in place as best we could. One
Speaker 1: thing that we did do as a team is that
Speaker 1: we were able to after warm up, so even before
Speaker 1: one with some of the guys made a decision to
Speaker 1: go and change their cleets. So we we played with
Speaker 1: some long cleets. Uh. You know, we were playing with
Speaker 1: the uh you know, the screwing type of cleets where
Speaker 1: you know, also gonna come with a three eighth inch
Speaker 1: I think the standard model, and it is a half
Speaker 1: inch in their seven eighth. So we all went to
Speaker 1: the longest think we could possibly get and helping to
Speaker 1: pay it off for us. But you know, getting back okay.
Speaker 1: The first interception happened to be on a uh I
Speaker 1: think a route that was throwing to the tight end
Speaker 1: on the steam route, and we were playing a coverage
Speaker 1: that we've worked on against uh the Jets that that
Speaker 1: weekend was the courage we hadn't shown that much of.
Speaker 1: And I think Richard Todd probably thought the tight end
Speaker 1: had me beat uh and and in the because the
Speaker 1: safety was playing kind of back, we're in a double
Speaker 1: coverage situation, and he kind of under threw the tight
Speaker 1: end and I made uh. I went up and jump
Speaker 1: for it and made a good catch on that one.
Speaker 1: The second one, they were trying to throw a little
Speaker 1: uh uh. They were trying to run a route where
Speaker 1: the halfback option route they called up where he would
Speaker 1: try and just you know, fake me out and and
Speaker 1: make a move, and he did. Unfortunately, Richard threw the
Speaker 1: past behind the running back. He had he had me beat.
Speaker 1: You look at he had me beat about three or
Speaker 1: four steps. I mean, if he throws a good pass,
Speaker 1: that could have been a big play for them, but
Speaker 1: he who were behind him and when he reached with
Speaker 1: his back arm, it kind of tipped it to me
Speaker 1: and I was able to make the interception on the
Speaker 1: third one, which was the game breaker, and the game
Speaker 1: changer was a little screen passed they tried to throw
Speaker 1: out in the flats. Uh. It was just some technique
Speaker 1: we worked on all the time, you know, protecting our
Speaker 1: legs when you're rushing the pass and they like to
Speaker 1: cut you and get your get you, uh to the ground.
Speaker 1: I was able to do that. And uh, when Richard
Speaker 1: couldn't throw the ball high enough because he anticipated me
Speaker 1: being cut by the offensive linement, he kind of threw
Speaker 1: it to where I kind of made a fingertip kind
Speaker 1: of another bat and the ball around played with it
Speaker 1: in the air. It seemed like it took forever. And
Speaker 1: you know in the end zone in area's game over,
Speaker 1: you know the Super Bowl bound right, we all remember
Speaker 1: that far, at least the ones that were around for
Speaker 1: before a little before my time. But I did. I
Speaker 1: can see you yeah, you're a young guy. Even my kids.
Speaker 1: You're probably the age of my kids. In the days
Speaker 1: before I came to the team and when I played
Speaker 1: with the team and a little after, Man, the Dolphins
Speaker 1: were the they were they were. They had the in factor,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, like everybody in the country loved us.
Speaker 1: You know, we had fans all of the country. You know,
Speaker 1: there's still a lot of good Dolphins fans on the country,
Speaker 1: but back in those days, man, you felt it when
Speaker 1: you went on the road to play. Well. I think
Speaker 1: that that has a large impact for why someone like
Speaker 1: myself was became a big Dolphins fan because a j
Speaker 1: I'm from Washington State. I didn't grow up anywhere near
Speaker 1: South Florida. So I think that that tradition, that history
Speaker 1: really attracted me at a young age. The colors didn't
Speaker 1: didn't hurt either. The winning success Dan Marino, all those
Speaker 1: factors went into why I became a Dolphins fan now
Speaker 1: and worked for the team. So, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: you guys laid a foundation that really developed a huge,
Speaker 1: huge contingency of Dolphins fans. And and you mentioned the
Speaker 1: sloppy play on the field that day. And I'm always
Speaker 1: curious because you know, we talked about the snow and
Speaker 1: how it's like snow games where oh, this might be
Speaker 1: a problem for the opposing team because they're not used
Speaker 1: to playing in the snow, but it's always more of
Speaker 1: an issue for the defensive players, right because the offense
Speaker 1: knows where they're going, but you're the one that has
Speaker 1: to react in those sloppy conditions. And with a muddy,
Speaker 1: wet field, same ideas snow, right, Well, I mean it's
Speaker 1: a little different because usually in snow, you're still gonna
Speaker 1: have some kind of footing because, uh, the surface under
Speaker 1: the snow is still consistent. But when you play in
Speaker 1: a muddy, sloppy field, uh, you know, you get more
Speaker 1: breakage you can. I mean, you you may have a
Speaker 1: little bit more given the some given the snow, but
Speaker 1: you've got a lot more give in a muddy, uh
Speaker 1: kind of natural soil situation. Um. But but you know,
Speaker 1: I think it played both ways. I mean, because the
Speaker 1: running backs that were that were gifted and talented for
Speaker 1: the Jets or even though guys, you know, they had
Speaker 1: to make a decision do I plant my foot in
Speaker 1: the ground, and you know, every if everything is just straightforward, straightforward,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's pretty much easy to uh, to make plays.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's when guys want to cut and and
Speaker 1: you know, like they say, put that foot in the
Speaker 1: ground and go the other way, that's when it gets
Speaker 1: a little challenging. So at some point you know that
Speaker 1: the other guy isn't gonna be you know, being uh,
Speaker 1: you know, like a little b back there trying to
Speaker 1: buzz around and and and make cuts and make moves,
Speaker 1: so you can't you know, line a guy up and
Speaker 1: and and go for him and probably make an easier
Speaker 1: at tackle than he would think. Right, Yeah, And it's
Speaker 1: it's uh, it's definitely something that I think contributed to
Speaker 1: the performance that day for you guys there as well
Speaker 1: and get you back to the super Bowl. And one
Speaker 1: of the reasons this Dolphins team was so good for
Speaker 1: so long was because two coaches and coach Shula and
Speaker 1: coach Arnst Barker that both just really we're with the
Speaker 1: team for so long you had that continuity. And I'm
Speaker 1: always curious to know how those two type of coaches
Speaker 1: can balance each other. Because as we do this podcast
Speaker 1: here with A J. Dewey, former Dolphins linebacker, we are
Speaker 1: honoring coach Arnsparker today one of eight nominees for that
Speaker 1: Doctor Z Lifetime Achievement Award. And I'm always fascinated by
Speaker 1: possible coaching juxtaposition in terms of personalities and the way
Speaker 1: they meshed together. Because you've got coach Shula who is
Speaker 1: known as this ultimate tactician, this ultimate or as ultimate
Speaker 1: disciplinarian guy that can really fire team up. Was coach
Speaker 1: Arnstbarger that same way in terms of the intimidation factor?
Speaker 1: Was he more pure tactician? How do they balance each other?
Speaker 1: I mean, Arns, they had a uh, he had an
Speaker 1: intimidating kind of demeanor, but it was it was kind
Speaker 1: of hidden. It wasn't like it didn't play out like
Speaker 1: it did with Coachla coach almost every day. You know,
Speaker 1: you were sort of intimidated by you know what he
Speaker 1: was all about. You know what he's brought to the
Speaker 1: game and his accomplishments. You know you are You're like,
Speaker 1: you're honored to be part of that, but you are
Speaker 1: kind of like you're in all You're going, Man, you
Speaker 1: know this guy, he's the real deal. You know, he's
Speaker 1: the guy that you know as a kid, you know,
Speaker 1: growing up. I mean here, I am you know, uh
Speaker 1: in high school and and through college, you know, being
Speaker 1: a crazy football fan because that was my love. I
Speaker 1: played a lot of sports. My love was football, and
Speaker 1: I couldn't you know, I couldn't wait to watch games.
Speaker 1: You know. Back in those days, you're lucky to see
Speaker 1: two games on a Sunday. Now you can see you know,
Speaker 1: all whatever there is, all fourteen of them, because you
Speaker 1: got to say, yeah, so it's kind of a little different,
Speaker 1: you know scenario. You know, your younger generations get to
Speaker 1: enjoy a look differitely. But but he orn Z never
Speaker 1: he never like was you know, a guy who had
Speaker 1: a high range in his in his tone. You know,
Speaker 1: he he would always talk, you know, mild manner. You
Speaker 1: know when he was mad, you could almost see it
Speaker 1: in his face and you can almost kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: get get a glimpse of coming off the field that
Speaker 1: he wasn't happy with that last series and how we played.
Speaker 1: And you knew what he you know, you knew it
Speaker 1: was coming your way. You know he was gonna get
Speaker 1: you know, get down on the chark board and just
Speaker 1: you know, show us. You know, this is something we've
Speaker 1: seen all week long. How you guys not picking it
Speaker 1: up how you know, recognize it. It was amazing the guy.
Speaker 1: The guy had, uh you know, he had one mind,
Speaker 1: but he had eleven sets of ice working because he
Speaker 1: you know, he had almost all eleven guys figured out
Speaker 1: on the field. You know, you know where they need
Speaker 1: to be. It's almost like having the eye in the sky.
Speaker 1: And here he is sitting on the sideline with a
Speaker 1: headphone on and looking at the ground level. So I
Speaker 1: was pretty impressed out he could, you know, just diagnose
Speaker 1: what we were doing right and wrong in our defensive schemes.
Speaker 1: It just pres more than one way to skin a cat. Right.
Speaker 1: You've got the kind of brash and and and aggressive coach,
Speaker 1: and you got the guy that's kind of the strong
Speaker 1: Sigland type that can get his message across that way
Speaker 1: as well. I think one of the reasons that he
Speaker 1: really did get that message across and had so many
Speaker 1: historic defenses. We talked about the fifty three defense, and
Speaker 1: I want to hear your perspective on what the fifty
Speaker 1: three defense was and how you guys executed it, because
Speaker 1: you go back to Bob Matheson, the player that really
Speaker 1: kind of helped him create this hybrid defense and I
Speaker 1: went and looked at your Pro Football Reference page AJ,
Speaker 1: and it changes your position from the first three years
Speaker 1: I think in your career from defensive end and then
Speaker 1: to a linebacker position later on in your career. Were
Speaker 1: you kind of that hybrid player, kind of the guy
Speaker 1: that made that defense worked And what was it about
Speaker 1: that defense that worked so well? Well? I mean, you
Speaker 1: know the fifty three defense, Uh, you know, came around
Speaker 1: under Bob math is his number. He was number fifty three,
Speaker 1: and it basically it was it was a three or
Speaker 1: four defense. I mean, it's really a three or four defense,
Speaker 1: but they just called it theft three because you know,
Speaker 1: it was It was implemented using a lot of his
Speaker 1: skill sets. You know, the pass rusher is a downlignement
Speaker 1: as a guy who can blitz, as a guy who
Speaker 1: can play coverage. And Bob was probably a guy who
Speaker 1: came out of college maybe as a defensive linement because
Speaker 1: he was he was uh, he was a nice sized guy.
Speaker 1: I mean back in the day, you know, linebackers weren't
Speaker 1: that big. I mean, and for me, I was playing
Speaker 1: defensive end my first I played defensive end in college.
Speaker 1: In my first three years with the Dolphins, uh. And
Speaker 1: what happened was Larry Garden, God rest, his soul was
Speaker 1: in a contract year holdout year. And supposedly, I mean
Speaker 1: the story is that some sportswriter you know, was an
Speaker 1: interviewing coach, uh, you know, Coach Schull one day and
Speaker 1: talking to him during training camp and you know, going
Speaker 1: over the fact that Larry Garden hadn't been in camp yet,
Speaker 1: you know, and Coach Schule always deferred to you know,
Speaker 1: the ownership and the general manager. You know that they
Speaker 1: will get that done. You know, I gotta keep, you know,
Speaker 1: working with what we have on the field. And some guy,
Speaker 1: a reporter from the thing the Palm Beach Post, says
Speaker 1: because because let me tell you what happened, Doug Betters.
Speaker 1: You know Doug Betters obviously right. So Doug came in
Speaker 1: the year after me and I got hurt in my
Speaker 1: second year and Doug started playing and and and doing
Speaker 1: a great job, and he started I think it might
Speaker 1: have been the first games of my second year because
Speaker 1: I had had NAT surgery. I had an operation in
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame game and Doug a great job
Speaker 1: and won the position. And when when I got back
Speaker 1: to playing, you know, Doug Doug Betters had uh had
Speaker 1: taken over as you know, at my position, and uh,
Speaker 1: the coaches you know, started putting me in like in
Speaker 1: a rotation kind of. Back in those days, there was
Speaker 1: no such thing as rotation. When you got rotated, you're thinking,
Speaker 1: oh man, something wrong here, you know. I mean nowadays,
Speaker 1: rotation is that's that's, that's standard operating procedure, right you know.
Speaker 1: Uh so so, so I would go back in for
Speaker 1: a series, you know, Doug would play, I go you know,
Speaker 1: so I wasn't getting playing time as I was. You know,
Speaker 1: here I am, I was made rookie the year, and
Speaker 1: here I am second year in the league and I've
Speaker 1: already been beating out of my position start, right, So
Speaker 1: so that was kind of a hard pill to swallow.
Speaker 1: But you know, I lived with it, and Doug and
Speaker 1: I have best friends. You know, we're still good friends
Speaker 1: to this day. So uh so so so going through
Speaker 1: that that that change was difficult. So we come back
Speaker 1: in year three and then uh, you know, Doug and
Speaker 1: I are are playing, uh you know, for that same position,
Speaker 1: and we're competing for the right defensive end for the team. Uh.
Speaker 1: But Doug had the ability to play the left side
Speaker 1: as well. You know, I wasn't that good from the
Speaker 1: left side, that wasn't the right side. So Doug had
Speaker 1: the ability to play both sides, and he did both
Speaker 1: of them, you know, pretty good. So what was happening.
Speaker 1: We we kind of go into like a rotation now
Speaker 1: with with Doug, myself and then vern den Herder, who
Speaker 1: was the other defensive and so you know, we it
Speaker 1: was it was more of a three man rotation and
Speaker 1: then you know, I would always play, you know, the
Speaker 1: right end, Doug would play right and left and you know,
Speaker 1: take a seat. Burn would take a seat. So it
Speaker 1: kind of it became more of a rotation, and that
Speaker 1: became a little more you know, accustomed to what we
Speaker 1: were gonna go out and do that year. Uh so,
Speaker 1: coming coming back in year four, which after that's when
Speaker 1: coach you look at here with the question from a
Speaker 1: reporter saying, you know, once you give you know, once
Speaker 1: you try a j at the position, because because I
Speaker 1: was a good there, I mean, you know, the sports
Speaker 1: writers knew what they're probably you know, like kind of going,
Speaker 1: damn man, you know this is this is gonna be
Speaker 1: tough of the coaches. You know, you got a j
Speaker 1: and Doug. You know, two great players compete playing, you
Speaker 1: know why I can't both of them be on the
Speaker 1: field at the same time. And Coach Chila must have
Speaker 1: gave it some thoughts. I don't know. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it was the next day or two days later.
Speaker 1: He you know, he says, uh, you know, and and
Speaker 1: and this is kind of like a year four, which
Speaker 1: is like my option year of my contract. So I
Speaker 1: don't know if you know much about that, but your
Speaker 1: option year is kind of like that's your make or
Speaker 1: break here. So I'm kind of going it's either they're
Speaker 1: they're trying to tell me that they don't have no
Speaker 1: need for me, no more or whatever. So you know,
Speaker 1: you kind of a lot of things run through your mind.
Speaker 1: But so I get I forget it's the challenge, and
Speaker 1: I worked hard at it. Uh Coach coach Arnsberger was
Speaker 1: very very uh patient with me and uh and and
Speaker 1: detailed and timely with me. So I gotta give a
Speaker 1: lot of credit to him for creating the monster. I
Speaker 1: guess you can say, because you know, I went from
Speaker 1: playing defensive end, being a down line in my whole
Speaker 1: life as a kid, high school, college to now play
Speaker 1: in a two point stance. And so I went that
Speaker 1: whole training camp, uh, you know, working at the outside
Speaker 1: linebacker position that uh that Larry Garden uh was supposed
Speaker 1: to uh you know be playing. Uh And then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, Larry Gordon signed his contract like like
Speaker 1: every typical good veteran does about the week before the
Speaker 1: season starts. So now you've been working the whole training
Speaker 1: camp uh at at outside linebacker and uh and then
Speaker 1: then and then the next thing is so now they
Speaker 1: started saying, okay, well we'll we'll move into because the
Speaker 1: cover of the inside linebackers they've gotten hurt during uh
Speaker 1: during training camp. So he said, well, let's go try
Speaker 1: some of this inside linebacker stuff out for a while.
Speaker 1: So I ended up, you know, performing well uh, you
Speaker 1: know at the inside linebacker position, and I just kind
Speaker 1: of started to learn how for the outside line or
Speaker 1: linebacker position, which is a lot different because when you're
Speaker 1: playing outside, you're on the line of scrimmage and you're
Speaker 1: lined up, you're more the hits hit happened a little quicker,
Speaker 1: you know, Uh, you have to react quicker when you
Speaker 1: play in the in the middle, when you're off the
Speaker 1: ball four or five yards it's more recognition, more evaluating
Speaker 1: what's happening in front of you. And that was a
Speaker 1: little more of a challenge for me. But you know,
Speaker 1: I pulled it off in uh and you know after
Speaker 1: my eighth year, you know, we had did a lot
Speaker 1: of things with it. Like you're saying, we I think
Speaker 1: Orange Barbery invented the zone Blitz. I tell people to
Speaker 1: this day he had to invent the zone Blitz because
Speaker 1: I don't remember seeing any teams doing any of the
Speaker 1: stuff that we were doing so and not. Now when
Speaker 1: I look at the zone Blitz, I'm kind of going, wow, man,
Speaker 1: this is this is like the Rose Royce of the zone.
Speaker 1: But when we were the Toyota Corolla, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: we're just starting because because it's crazy. The zwn Blitz
Speaker 1: today is like you know, and maybe you know and
Speaker 1: and and maybe you know, if I would have stuck
Speaker 1: around another four or five years, I might have seen
Speaker 1: how it developed, you know, into what it is now.
Speaker 1: But to the zone Blitz today, I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: its own it's it's its own animal. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's unbelievable. But the reason it's so good today
Speaker 1: is because that you get so many good, aggressive athletic
Speaker 1: people on defense. I mean, when you see a defensive
Speaker 1: tackle drop back into play coverage, when you see uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the corner and the safety coming off the
Speaker 1: same side and asking your outside linebacker and go outside
Speaker 1: and cover a ride receiver. I mean, you know, it's
Speaker 1: just it's just insane some of the things that they're
Speaker 1: doing with the zone blitz. But it's all because you know,
Speaker 1: the talent of the players in today's game. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: watch coach Flores defense, as you're gonna have guys coming
Speaker 1: from anywhere on the football field for pass rushes, and
Speaker 1: so it's definitely evolved from there. I'm curious to hear
Speaker 1: about how Arms Coach Arms really implemented those systems and
Speaker 1: you know, the zone blitz and getting you to play
Speaker 1: different positions and saying, you know, dude, let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and play you inside, let's play you outside. Was he
Speaker 1: the type of guy that would get on the football
Speaker 1: field and kind of and walk you through it and
Speaker 1: show you the technique and show you the the arns.
Speaker 1: He he was not a he was not a instructional
Speaker 1: cover Okay, he you know, I mean, my deep be
Speaker 1: the line coach when I first started coming, that guy
Speaker 1: would get the three point stands and just blow me up,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, you know, Arms was not that
Speaker 1: kind of guy. You know, he would, he'd draw everything
Speaker 1: up on the chalkboard. He'd show film of you know,
Speaker 1: you know he would, he would. That's why he was
Speaker 1: like that one more real guy. I guess, you know,
Speaker 1: I can teach more. I can teach better with the
Speaker 1: Rios than I can by lining up and showing guys,
Speaker 1: you know how and what has done, so you know,
Speaker 1: it was it was definitely a thing that he he
Speaker 1: had a good skill at teaching us by you know,
Speaker 1: drawing and talking about it, explaining it to us, you know,
Speaker 1: getting us to understand when you do it this way,
Speaker 1: this is what the offense is gonna see, and this
Speaker 1: is how they're gonna react, and this is this is
Speaker 1: the way we can make make the execution of our
Speaker 1: defensive scheme work better for us. So it's uh, definitely
Speaker 1: a unique coaching style and system that he had. I
Speaker 1: heard a podcast earlier today that was about you know,
Speaker 1: modern day football, and they're talking about how the best
Speaker 1: coaches of all time are the ones that can adapt
Speaker 1: with the times. And really kind of reinvent themselves. And
Speaker 1: I think we see that all the time in modern
Speaker 1: day football and back in you know, the past days
Speaker 1: of football. And we know Schula was that way as well.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned, you know, your multiple positions. Was coach
Speaker 1: Urns that way with everybody? Like did he look at
Speaker 1: a safety and say maybe you can play corner, maybe this,
Speaker 1: maybe this defensive tackle can get outside and pass rush?
Speaker 1: Was everybody kind of on the table to do multiple
Speaker 1: things in that defense. It wasn't no the skill set,
Speaker 1: the skill set. Uh. I mean, I'm not taking anything
Speaker 1: away from the guys that I played with, but I
Speaker 1: mean the skill set wasn't there to use eleven guys
Speaker 1: and and and say that, you know, a j can
Speaker 1: do this. You know, kim Bo Camper was another guy
Speaker 1: who was very versatile. Uh. We had Mike Kozlowski who
Speaker 1: was kind of a versatile guy who played safety, who
Speaker 1: played slot, who played linebacker, force. We had fearful guys
Speaker 1: with the defensive side of the ball that you know
Speaker 1: we've built our schemes around. You know. Uh, could we
Speaker 1: have done that? I don't know, I mean I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know if we had the ability to do.
Speaker 1: Like I said, bring a safety in a corner from
Speaker 1: from the same side of the field, and expect for
Speaker 1: your for your outside linebacker and your middle linebacker to
Speaker 1: to play coverages against receivers who run four or three.
Speaker 1: I mean, so, you know, we did the best way
Speaker 1: we could have what we had. That's kind of I
Speaker 1: guess we could say it, right. I think you did
Speaker 1: plenty of good. The Killer Beast defense, you know, a
Speaker 1: famed legendary defense after the No Name defense. So to
Speaker 1: have two different defensive units with nicknames, that just doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: And you were a big part of that Killer Beast defense,
Speaker 1: even though didn't have the be in your name. What
Speaker 1: does it mean for you to be a part of
Speaker 1: a defense that is now known, you know, in football
Speaker 1: lore as a defensive unit that was so good that
Speaker 1: you've got a nickname after you guys? Well, I mean
Speaker 1: you know it, Uh, I don't know. I think I
Speaker 1: was another sportswriter that uh that came up with, uh,
Speaker 1: that nickname for us. I don't think. You know, it's
Speaker 1: something that we we threw around in the locker room.
Speaker 1: That that's one thing you know when you're playing ball,
Speaker 1: you know, sitting around thinking of you know, fads are
Speaker 1: thinking of like you know, catchy maybe today you know,
Speaker 1: so many guys instagramming and twittering everything, and everybody's got
Speaker 1: to have a little nickname or a certain a certain
Speaker 1: something about you know, their moves or their performance or
Speaker 1: their dance or whatever they do. So I get, you know,
Speaker 1: I know the younger generation was hip and cool, but uh,
Speaker 1: you know I thought we were hipping cool back in
Speaker 1: our day, you know, so, uh but but yeah, I
Speaker 1: just uh, I just have a lot of admiration for
Speaker 1: you know, all those guys I played with. You know,
Speaker 1: we're uh, we go down in history with like you're saying,
Speaker 1: coming up with a nickname that people can talk about
Speaker 1: and remember for a long time. Even even people today,
Speaker 1: you still talk about that. I mean, it's kind of
Speaker 1: funny how especially our dolphin fans are loyal dolphin fans.
Speaker 1: They just they love talking about the Killer Beach, you know,
Speaker 1: and all the things that we did to make the
Speaker 1: Back in those days, we were we were the you know,
Speaker 1: the uh the horse that drove that drove the buggy,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So the the defenses, you know,
Speaker 1: got us to where we were back in those days.
Speaker 1: You know, the offense is kind of sputtered along, and
Speaker 1: we just kept if we can, you know, we always
Speaker 1: told off and you can score seventeen points, will probably
Speaker 1: win every game. You know, it says I think our
Speaker 1: our points for game were in the in the mid
Speaker 1: teens or low teams. Why every year most of those years. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's it was. It's crazy to look back
Speaker 1: and see how how it was consistently the top of
Speaker 1: the league. I mean, there's defenses now that do that,
Speaker 1: and we talked about them as the all time great defenses.
Speaker 1: So why are you guys? You know you're in that
Speaker 1: converse station as well, and you mentioned, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of a young guy, but I have an old soul.
Speaker 1: I always say that nicknames are not what they used
Speaker 1: to be. Now, it's like a rod, which first letter
Speaker 1: of your first name, first few lars of your last name,
Speaker 1: and that's not a nickname. It's just putting names together.
Speaker 1: They had like Billy White Shoes, Johnson and you know,
Speaker 1: the killer Bees and the no name defense. Nicknames are
Speaker 1: not what they used to be. So I'm with you
Speaker 1: on that. Well, I'm trying to think of that name
Speaker 1: of that, uh, because we used to hate them, but
Speaker 1: you know, they because they were able to. Uh. The
Speaker 1: Washington Redskins had that group of guys that would always
Speaker 1: start dancing to the end zone. I know they had
Speaker 1: to Hogan, but it was something it was a something
Speaker 1: pack I can't remember right. Yeah, it was Art Monk
Speaker 1: and uh you know, you know he threw some more
Speaker 1: names at me. I would, I would, but they always
Speaker 1: would go to celebrate in the end zone and they
Speaker 1: were got one of the first I think they're one
Speaker 1: of the first groups to do celebrations and they got
Speaker 1: they got a nickname from that. Well, we'll leave it
Speaker 1: to Twitter and let us know. They'll they'll get back
Speaker 1: to us in the podcast when they hear this'll they'll
Speaker 1: tell us. They'll they'll tweet me. So let us know
Speaker 1: what was the Washington nickname for the receiver's back in
Speaker 1: those in those heydays in the nineties. I got one
Speaker 1: more question for you here for for your AJ. I
Speaker 1: want to know what's what's your best coach Arnsbarger story,
Speaker 1: whether it's on the field, it's a sideline where he
Speaker 1: choosing a situation where he choose you out on the sideline,
Speaker 1: maybe it's in the locker room. Maybe it's something outside
Speaker 1: of football. What's your best coach story? I mean, we were,
Speaker 1: you know, we were playing. I don't remember the exact game,
Speaker 1: but I know we were. We were kind of you know,
Speaker 1: not doing too good defensively, and uh, you know, we
Speaker 1: were getting getting our ear full from coach Sula. You
Speaker 1: know when we came up the field and uh, you
Speaker 1: know he finally turned the coach arnsbarg and you know
Speaker 1: he's thinking he shoot everybody's but you know that's coming
Speaker 1: off the field. I guess the next I can choose
Speaker 1: the guy making the call. You know, he just kind
Speaker 1: of goes when you know, like when are we gonna
Speaker 1: get the damn defense to make some place for Coach
Speaker 1: Arnsbarger just took his headphones off of his head and said, here,
Speaker 1: you can make the call. Just walk, just walk to
Speaker 1: the bench. He went to the wind of the water cooler.
Speaker 1: You know, so you know he was you know, he
Speaker 1: might have been intimidated by Sula, but he had to
Speaker 1: show him right there, know kinda kinda that was a
Speaker 1: that was a good moment in time. You know, if
Speaker 1: you can do the job, do a buy it yourself,
Speaker 1: right yeah, I love it. A J. We appreciate your time,
Speaker 1: then we appreciate the stories. Eight year linebacker with the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins, nineteen seventy seven defensive Rookie of the Year,
Speaker 1: A J. Dewey, Thank you so much for your time today,
Speaker 1: so we really appreciate it. All right, y'all, y'all take
Speaker 1: care of that. God bless you guys. Okay, and the
Speaker 1: way he goes. Famous Dolphins linebacker eight years with the team,
Speaker 1: A J. Dewey. We all remember him from the two
Speaker 1: a f C Championship Game. The three picks, part of
Speaker 1: a lot of top defenses in the NFL throughout the
Speaker 1: seventies and eighties there in Miami. As for today's podcast,
Speaker 1: that is gonna be my time. Happy Juneteenth everybody. Hope
Speaker 1: you all enjoy your holiday, enjoy the day, enjoy the weekend.
Speaker 1: All of you. Please go check out the article on
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins dot com, The Fence Flashback, taking a look
Speaker 1: at coach Arn Sparker from the words of A. J. Dewey,
Speaker 1: as well as Aren Sparker's accomplishments. Subscribe, rate and review
Speaker 1: the podcast. As always, give me a follow on Twitter.
Speaker 1: It's at Wingfiel NFL Fall, the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: and of course check out the Fish Tank and the
Speaker 1: Audible podcast, as well as Miami dolphins dot Com until
Speaker 1: next time. Until Monday finds up