Speaker 1: Welcome to Special Teams, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: Greetings and Welcome inside Special Teams with Jason Smith and
Speaker 1: Mike Harmon, is we take another look at a very
Speaker 1: big game in NFL history and the special teams who
Speaker 1: played it. Part of our run here where Mike Harmon
Speaker 1: and I I'm Jason Smith looking back at some big
Speaker 1: games in NFL and other sports history and those special
Speaker 1: teams there playing it. And today we look back at
Speaker 1: the game that really closed the Greatest Show on Turf,
Speaker 1: one of the big playoff games of the past twenty years,
Speaker 1: January two thousand and four, when the Carolina Panthers beat
Speaker 1: the St. Louis Rams in double overtime, the big Steve
Speaker 1: Smith touchdown catch in ot doing it or in double
Speaker 1: overtime doing it, and that really was the official end
Speaker 1: of the Greatest Show on Turf, even though Kurt Warner
Speaker 1: was not the quarterback and Dick from me it was
Speaker 1: not the head coach. So much craziness at that time,
Speaker 1: right the era flopping over Mike Martz, a guy with
Speaker 1: the genius tag until he really kind of became the
Speaker 1: head coach. Uh, and then that kind of waned pretty fast.
Speaker 1: A lot of fights. Uh, and then years upon years
Speaker 1: of futility. Uh for this Rams franchise. It's almost the
Speaker 1: went down to the crossroads, made the deal with the devil,
Speaker 1: and now the devil, you know, like paid up in
Speaker 1: that double overtime loss. So what happens when you get
Speaker 1: front loaded deals? Man, it just don't work, you know
Speaker 1: those front loaded Hey, it's great, but I want to
Speaker 1: get out of this front loaded deal. No, no, no no,
Speaker 1: he's still gonna pay Johnny Damon even when he's not
Speaker 1: playing for you anymore. That So, how did each team
Speaker 1: get to this legendary playoff game? Carolina was extremely solid
Speaker 1: in two thousand and three. It was a career year
Speaker 1: for Jake Delone at quarterback, Stephen Davis and Deshaun Foster,
Speaker 1: where that sledge hammering running game Moose and Mohammed was effective.
Speaker 1: He had Chris Jenkins and Mike Rucker and Julius Peppers
Speaker 1: on a dominant defensive line. Like they went from seven
Speaker 1: and nine and two thousand two to eleven and five
Speaker 1: and two thousand and three. Nobody thought they'd be this good.
Speaker 1: Nobody thought Jake Delone was this good. But this is
Speaker 1: one of those years where that offense everything came together
Speaker 1: at once. And remember just how effective Davis and Deshaun
Speaker 1: Foster were, And I thought, these guys are gonna run
Speaker 1: rush out over the NFL for years. Well, and that's
Speaker 1: just it. Stephen Davis was a guy had a very brief,
Speaker 1: tremendous run in the National Football League. I mean four
Speaker 1: hundred plus yards rushing in in this particular season, and
Speaker 1: he was a horse man. But it was the question
Speaker 1: of how long couldn't that roll? Much like we asked
Speaker 1: that question of any running back who touches the ball
Speaker 1: three hundred times in a years Like, yeah, it was on.
Speaker 1: They won't last with Jake delm I mean, he goes
Speaker 1: back to the year he had nineteen touchdowns, sixteen interceptions,
Speaker 1: and he completed fifty percent of his best yet yet
Speaker 1: through yards and they go ten and five with him.
Speaker 1: Our buddy Rod DP works over at AM five seventy
Speaker 1: l a sports uh Is was the quarterback for one
Speaker 1: other start. So there you go. And this team went
Speaker 1: on a roll, all right. And and look, Stephen Davis.
Speaker 1: You probably remember him as uh the running back who
Speaker 1: got in a fist fight with Michael Westbrook on the
Speaker 1: Redskins sideline Davis went down. It was really really crazy.
Speaker 1: I mean, you look at so many different polls of hey,
Speaker 1: best training camp fights in the NFL history, that always
Speaker 1: comes out his number one. But you go and and
Speaker 1: just look at what he was though, Like he was
Speaker 1: a beast. So yeah, I wouldn't want to mess with him.
Speaker 1: He had four seasons, four out of five years, he
Speaker 1: rushed for over thirteen hundred yards. Yeah, but it was
Speaker 1: still Westbrook was on top of him pummeling him. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I know he was losing the fight and why he
Speaker 1: had better range? Yeah, true, he was. This was a
Speaker 1: little more he yet Yeah, so so Westbrook we had
Speaker 1: a little bit out reach. So he was able to
Speaker 1: get that shot and that was it. Last training camp fights.
Speaker 1: We don't get that much anymore. No, we should do
Speaker 1: that special teams training camp fights. I think there's plenty
Speaker 1: of them. I've got plenty of media member friends. As
Speaker 1: you do that. If we asked the right questions, we'll
Speaker 1: find about forty of them. We can do that series
Speaker 1: for a whole year. Carolina goes eleven and five and
Speaker 1: in the NFC Wild Card Game they thumped the Cowboys
Speaker 1: to ten. This is when Dallas had turned around under
Speaker 1: Bill Parcels, and it ended really fast for them here
Speaker 1: in the wild card game. Quincy Carter, yes, he played
Speaker 1: quarterback in a playoff game for the Dallas Cowboys. He did.
Speaker 1: He was terribly through for a hundred and fifty four yards,
Speaker 1: got picked off sack three times. Dallas wasn't great, but
Speaker 1: Parcels was great and Carolina won this game, proving how
Speaker 1: good they are, setting them up for the showdown with
Speaker 1: the St. Louis Rams. But just showing you know, the
Speaker 1: blips on the Dallas Cowboys radar, you know, you and
Speaker 1: I as we do on our show at Fox Sports Radio,
Speaker 1: having some fun of what might have been, uh in
Speaker 1: later years had Lebron James become a member of the Cowboys. Well,
Speaker 1: a lot of folks won't remember that. Joey Galloway was uh,
Speaker 1: just like you said, with Quincy Carter quarterbacking a playoff game, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you would not expect. I mean, Michael Bates, I mean,
Speaker 1: there's not exactly a who's who along here, and Terry
Speaker 1: Glenn was part of this squad, most notably a member
Speaker 1: of your New England Patriots. So yeah, some guys in
Speaker 1: different runs, but went quietly into the good night here.
Speaker 1: So in front of seventy three thousand, a big effort
Speaker 1: by the Panthers in a route for the Rams. Well,
Speaker 1: this is where the story starts getting really good. This
Speaker 1: was the first year that Mark Bulger was their starting quarterback.
Speaker 1: This is a guy who was a sixth round pick
Speaker 1: from Westford in two thousand. Right, uh, Kurt Warner is
Speaker 1: still in the midst of his run, first run, greatest
Speaker 1: show on turf. Everything is awesome. He's still setting passing
Speaker 1: records and he's still the biggest success story of the
Speaker 1: NFL had seen in years. Well, in the middle of
Speaker 1: the two thousand and two Warner breaks his finger. St.
Speaker 1: Louis is off to a really bad start and we're thinking, ah,
Speaker 1: is Kurt Warner is still really this good. Jamie Martin
Speaker 1: comes in in relief of Kurt Warner, but he gets hurt.
Speaker 1: So then they turned to Bulger and they go, okay,
Speaker 1: Bulge save us. Yeah, great, like that's gonna happen. He
Speaker 1: comes in and wins six out of seven starts and St.
Speaker 1: Louis had started oh and five and suddenly WHOA. Mark
Speaker 1: Bulger is pretty good. Going into two thousand and three,
Speaker 1: Kurt Warner wins the quote quarterback Derby and he starts
Speaker 1: the season off, but in the opening game against the Giants,
Speaker 1: he fumbles six times. He still couldn't grip the football,
Speaker 1: was still having trouble with his finger, and this opened
Speaker 1: the door for the team to say, Okay, you know what,
Speaker 1: we're going to Mark Bulger. And even though it happened
Speaker 1: and I get it, and I get that he still
Speaker 1: had trouble, this was the end of Kurt Warner as
Speaker 1: a starting quarterback with the Rams. And it was insane
Speaker 1: to think about a guy that went to the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame, that went to another Super Bowl years later
Speaker 1: in his career, went all kinds of crazy ways. After
Speaker 1: the Rams, you thought it was done. He goes to
Speaker 1: the Cardinals and suddenly that works out for him, But
Speaker 1: to see him lose his job after what he accomplished,
Speaker 1: I was still stunned at it. I said, I can't
Speaker 1: believe they're gonna go with Mark Bulger. And then Bulger
Speaker 1: goes in St. Louis, goes twelve and four in two
Speaker 1: thousand and three, and it's well, maybe it's not Warner.
Speaker 1: Maybe it is Mike Martz's system that is doing things.
Speaker 1: Because Mike Marts at this point was the head coach
Speaker 1: of the St. Louis Rams. Came in as Dick for
Speaker 1: Meals offensive coordinator and look for Meal wins the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: He retires, Mike Martz takes over, and he's Professor Mike Martz.
Speaker 1: He's the most intelligent guy who ever stepped on a
Speaker 1: football sideline, just ask him. And now he's the head coach.
Speaker 1: And maybe it was his system, because here's a guy
Speaker 1: that was a sixth round pick out of West Virginia
Speaker 1: and now he's got the team twelve and four, just
Speaker 1: like where Kurt Warner had it, and they were streaky.
Speaker 1: Team ran twelve and four overall, just a couple of
Speaker 1: blips earlier, one and two out of the gate, and
Speaker 1: then out of the bye week, they're just out on fire.
Speaker 1: Where they win was that ten of eleven games before
Speaker 1: dropping the season finale. Just a tremendous run and a
Speaker 1: guy stepping into his own But you know, always remember
Speaker 1: that he got a lot of help along the way,
Speaker 1: beyond the super brain of Mike Martz. Well, and that's
Speaker 1: what people forget about the Rams. As you know, Kurt
Speaker 1: Warner's story got the headlines. Obviously, a guy that played
Speaker 1: in and we laugh the world of American football and
Speaker 1: was bagging groceries. And here he comes and wins the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl after Trent Green gets hurt. But you look
Speaker 1: at the weapons that the Rams had. This was still
Speaker 1: Marshall Fall, Call of Famer, Isaac Bruce, Hall of Famer,
Speaker 1: Tory Holt. Eventually he will be a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 1: Didn't make it in his first year um of eligibility.
Speaker 1: I mean, would you when your weapons are that good,
Speaker 1: if you could throw the football, you're gonna do pretty well,
Speaker 1: you know. So you know Marx, you know, it's Mark's system,
Speaker 1: It's Kurt Warner boy, Mark Bulger. But you had guys
Speaker 1: that can really go get it and and and not
Speaker 1: that anybody would be good, but clearly you have a
Speaker 1: guy who was at the bottom of the barrel of
Speaker 1: the depth chart and Kurt Warner, and this guy becomes
Speaker 1: an All Pro and then he goes on to to
Speaker 1: validate and have a great career. And then you have
Speaker 1: Mark Boulger, who was just a guy hoping to stay
Speaker 1: in the league and suddenly here he is, and he
Speaker 1: winds up getting a big contract because he's throwing tons
Speaker 1: of touchdowns. I mean, when you when you have those
Speaker 1: great players around you, but they really don't get the
Speaker 1: credit they deserve. Yes, Marshall Falk gets some of it.
Speaker 1: But you know, Isaac Bruce and Tory Hilton, they were fantastic.
Speaker 1: That's what made this team so great in that run
Speaker 1: they had. Yeah, Isaac Bruce is number five all time
Speaker 1: in receiving yards hold sitting at sixteen this particular year.
Speaker 1: Almost seventeen hundred receiving yards for Tory Holt and twelve touchdowns.
Speaker 1: You know, when you talk about Marshall Falk, he's also
Speaker 1: a guy that was over eleven hundred totally yards with
Speaker 1: eleven total touchdowns in this season. So even though that
Speaker 1: was kind of getting towards its end run at least
Speaker 1: as constituted there, I mean, they were still putting up
Speaker 1: major points. Marshall folks. Seventh most touchdowns all time combine
Speaker 1: rushing and receiving, So a lot of heavyweights. And not
Speaker 1: to mention, you have that big old nasty Orlando pace
Speaker 1: helping to anchor your old line. I mean, that's that's
Speaker 1: that's a nice way to go and set yourself up
Speaker 1: for some success. So the rams and the bulge welcoming
Speaker 1: in Jake alone for a game. I like that. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get him the side of mini helmet. He's the bulge. Uh.
Speaker 1: And coming up next, the game itself and the way
Speaker 1: it ends. I can't believe Mike Martz wasn't fired directly
Speaker 1: after this game ended. We'll tell you why. Coming up next,
Speaker 1: it's Special Teams with Jason Smith and Mike Harmon. It
Speaker 1: is Special Teams and the greatest show on turf closing
Speaker 1: thanks to the result of this game that we're gonna
Speaker 1: break down right now, a double overtime win by the
Speaker 1: Panthers in St. Louis three in January of two thousand
Speaker 1: and four. And at the end, you're gonna go yeah.
Speaker 1: I can't believe the head coach of the Rams wasn't fired. Um.
Speaker 1: This was a back and forth game, all right. This
Speaker 1: became a very famous game because of the way it ended, obviously,
Speaker 1: which we'll get to. But this game all along had
Speaker 1: huge swings of momentum. I mean, muse and Muhammad recovered
Speaker 1: a fumble for a touchdown in the second quarter. Jeff
Speaker 1: Wilkins kicked five field goals in this game for the Rams,
Speaker 1: but overall Carolina played better throughout you could tell I
Speaker 1: remember watching this game, boy, Caroline is just better in St.
Speaker 1: Louis is kind of lucky to hold on. They were
Speaker 1: lucky to be in it late, however, a few places
Speaker 1: were as loud as the Edward Jones Dome, and it's
Speaker 1: hey day and the Rams find their groove late. They're
Speaker 1: down twenty twelve and the fourth quarter and you're thinking, Okay,
Speaker 1: this might be it. Carolina looks like it's their time.
Speaker 1: But the Rams score eleven points in the final two
Speaker 1: and a half minutes. They score a touchdown, two point conversion,
Speaker 1: Jeff Wilkins recovers his own on side kick. The Rams
Speaker 1: are driving. They have the ball with one fifty five
Speaker 1: left to go in a first down at the Carolina
Speaker 1: twenty five yard line. So, after this game in which
Speaker 1: the Panthers have outplayed them, suddenly St. Louis gets the momentum,
Speaker 1: They get the touchdown, they get the two point conversion,
Speaker 1: the on side kick. Everything is going well for them.
Speaker 1: The Panthers are on their heels. They're saying, what is
Speaker 1: happening to us? We were just dominating this game, and
Speaker 1: now you've got two minutes to go and the Rams
Speaker 1: have the ball on Carolina's twenty five yard line. Just
Speaker 1: remember this is where we're at right now. They're down
Speaker 1: by three. A touchdown would win this game. Two minutes
Speaker 1: ago they got the ball on Carolina's twenty five yard line.
Speaker 1: This should wind up being a touchdown, or at least
Speaker 1: you'd think the Rams would go for a touchdown in
Speaker 1: this point, which is gonna bring us to Mike Marks, Well,
Speaker 1: you would think, but that's where it's the old let's
Speaker 1: outthink the room, let's go again against logic, And really
Speaker 1: that became the hallmark of Marts after his run as
Speaker 1: a head coach, that he carried that back with him
Speaker 1: to coordinator when he should have just been worried about
Speaker 1: calling place. Uh. Like I said, he's the smartest football
Speaker 1: coach ever. Just ask him. It's true. He's got a
Speaker 1: podcast now where you can you can probably ask him.
Speaker 1: Uh in in the liner notes as you go through
Speaker 1: as well, but you go through the tail of the
Speaker 1: tape and just the amount of yardage and just overall
Speaker 1: dominance here made over two hundred rushing yards for Carolina.
Speaker 1: I mean, how many times do you you just lean
Speaker 1: on the ball. That's hte for two sixteen in the game.
Speaker 1: Two ninety passing yards almost five hundred yards of total offense.
Speaker 1: They should have been buried. But big play. It's big
Speaker 1: play opportunities, uh, and a solid, strong and true leg
Speaker 1: over the course of the game keep you in it
Speaker 1: and give you the opportunity here to well try to
Speaker 1: make something happen. Although as we know, uh it's Mike Marts. Uh.
Speaker 1: This is where things get crazy, all right. So they
Speaker 1: have the ball one fifty five left there at Carolina's
Speaker 1: twenty five yard line. Field goal sends them to overtime.
Speaker 1: But you're thinking, okay, they're gonna win this game. Now.
Speaker 1: They let the clock Ticke and I get that because
Speaker 1: you don't want to leave too much time on the
Speaker 1: clock for Carolina to go back down field. After Marshall
Speaker 1: Falk runs for a first down to Carolina's fifteen yard line,
Speaker 1: there's thirty seconds left, right, plenty of time right here.
Speaker 1: You're at the fifteen yard line. You have thirty seconds
Speaker 1: left and you have a time out. Right. Carolina is
Speaker 1: on their heels, as I said, they don't know what's
Speaker 1: happening right now, and e J. Dome is going absolutely bananas.
Speaker 1: So thirty seconds left in the time out, you think
Speaker 1: we got plenty of time to get in the end zone. Here,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be in the end zone in one play. Instead,
Speaker 1: Mike Marts lets the clock tick all the way down
Speaker 1: to three seconds so they can kick a field goal
Speaker 1: to force overtime. The crowd turns from insanity to what
Speaker 1: the hell is going on in a second? Why is
Speaker 1: Mike Martz deciding we're gonna go for a field goal
Speaker 1: at this point when you can score a touchdown and
Speaker 1: win the game. I I don't understand. I don't understand
Speaker 1: how after this game was over, Mike Martz wasn't fired
Speaker 1: before we got to the press conference. After Mike, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: but that was just stupid on so many levels. What
Speaker 1: the hell are you doing? How do you stop trying
Speaker 1: to win a game? I mean, he says after the game,
Speaker 1: I thought we were gonna go to overtime in our
Speaker 1: home crowd was gonna take us through and we were
Speaker 1: gonna win. Um, you had a chance to win. You
Speaker 1: had the ball in the fifteen yard line, you were
Speaker 1: moving the ball. Well, it's not like you were throwing
Speaker 1: a bunch of picks and you had a tough time
Speaker 1: and you didn't want to make a mistake. No, you
Speaker 1: were playing downhill at this point. You were getting to
Speaker 1: a point where it was inevitable, you were getting too
Speaker 1: the end zone. And you do the Panthers a complete
Speaker 1: favor by letting the take down to three seconds left
Speaker 1: to kick a field goal. Now Wilkins comes in and
Speaker 1: makes the field goal to force over time. But why
Speaker 1: you're doing it? I don't get it. Plus, you let
Speaker 1: the clock tick down to three seconds left, so if
Speaker 1: you have a bad snap, you can't fall on it
Speaker 1: and call time out and then kick it again. Right,
Speaker 1: So exactly, so you blow that twice and I really
Speaker 1: Mike Marts, you know you said it about out thinking
Speaker 1: each other, but this is this is just a brain cramp.
Speaker 1: I don't understand where this is out thinking a field
Speaker 1: goal here? What are you crazy? Yeah, the logic fails.
Speaker 1: You've got two of the best receivers of all time
Speaker 1: and a running back who's also a good receiver out
Speaker 1: of the backfield. Right, you actually threw to him as
Speaker 1: part of this possession to get yourself in position as
Speaker 1: you are, So how do you not take a shot
Speaker 1: to try to make a play to try to get
Speaker 1: to the end zone? You know, not that you need
Speaker 1: any more room for the field goal. It's a thirty
Speaker 1: three yard or it's a chip shot, but plenty of
Speaker 1: time and you had you had one time out remaining,
Speaker 1: al right, throw a sideline route, or even if you
Speaker 1: throw it down the middle, if he's tackled short of
Speaker 1: the goal line, you've still got time to either run
Speaker 1: up and spike it if you get another first store,
Speaker 1: or to call the time out. So it makes no sense. Yes,
Speaker 1: we thought our crowd would be behind us. That doesn't
Speaker 1: like overtime. They're gonna run on the field and they
Speaker 1: get to play. Oh yes, sorry, we can crowd on
Speaker 1: the field. Okay, you don't get a twelve demand and
Speaker 1: you know, the rules of the game being what they are.
Speaker 1: All it takes is losing the coin toss and a
Speaker 1: big long toss, and all of a sudden, you're talking
Speaker 1: about an l off one missed playing. Uh with your
Speaker 1: genius of Hey, the crowd was going to have us
Speaker 1: it really really, We've you know, the Jets, we've had
Speaker 1: some bad head coaches, but my goodness, no one's ever
Speaker 1: said anything like, Hey, no man, I'm I'm a Chicago guy.
Speaker 1: I've seen I think probably all every permutation of bad
Speaker 1: clock management and down in distance that you can possibly measure. Uh,
Speaker 1: this one would rate right right alongside them. And you know,
Speaker 1: the funny thing about it is that getting the two
Speaker 1: point conversion turned out to be the worst thing for
Speaker 1: the Ramps because they get the two point conversion to
Speaker 1: cut the lead to three, So they need a field goal.
Speaker 1: If they don't get the two point conversion, they need
Speaker 1: a touchdown. What likely happens, they get in the end
Speaker 1: zone and they win the football game. I mean, it's crazy,
Speaker 1: but if you would failed and not gotten the two
Speaker 1: point conversion, you could have overcome the fact that your
Speaker 1: coach just had a complete brain cramp. But you got
Speaker 1: the two point conversion, that was the worst thing for you.
Speaker 1: So this game goes to overtime, and this is where
Speaker 1: if you thought that was crazy, this is where things
Speaker 1: get amped up another level. Both teams miss field goals
Speaker 1: in overtime. John Casey Panther's kicker mrs from forty five
Speaker 1: yards out and Jeff Wilkins who you know, Hey, he
Speaker 1: made five in this game. I had him in fantasy
Speaker 1: this year. I remember he was so good for me.
Speaker 1: I won a championship. I was like Jeff, I think
Speaker 1: he kicked three old goals in the final week for me,
Speaker 1: and I was like Jim Wilkin, um he missed. He
Speaker 1: misses from fifty three yards all right. Now, late in
Speaker 1: the first overtime, the Rams are driving, and here comes
Speaker 1: a huge play. They had a first down to Carolina's
Speaker 1: thirty eight yard line. So already with Wilkins missing one
Speaker 1: from fifty three, you get a little bit closer. He's
Speaker 1: not gonna miss again. The guy was that good this year.
Speaker 1: They had first down to Carolina's thirty eight yard line
Speaker 1: and Mark Bulger makes a play that I've seen it
Speaker 1: now again, going back at it a few times, going
Speaker 1: I don't understand what he was doing, and it clearly
Speaker 1: showed that he and Tory Holt were not on the
Speaker 1: same page. When it came to freelancing. Bulger drops back
Speaker 1: in the pocket, he hesitates, and he buys some time.
Speaker 1: He's gonna throw out to Tory Holt, who is wide open.
Speaker 1: Tory hold is wide open. It up a little bit
Speaker 1: inside the thirty yard line, He's gonna catch a pass
Speaker 1: and and it's gonna be now a forty seven yard
Speaker 1: field goal if they don't gain another yard right. This
Speaker 1: is gonna be very easy because Holt is wide open.
Speaker 1: There's nobody on him. Instead of throwing it to him,
Speaker 1: because Tory Holt is expecting throw me the football. I'm
Speaker 1: wide open. He points Holt to go outside, and I
Speaker 1: didn't you. I watched Tory Hult going I don't know
Speaker 1: what he means. He wants me to run outside. And
Speaker 1: what I get what Bulger was trying to go for
Speaker 1: is that he's thinking, if you run outside, I can
Speaker 1: hit you with this pass. And it's not just gonna
Speaker 1: be the thirty yard line. You're ready get another eight
Speaker 1: to twelve yards and suddenly now we're an easy field
Speaker 1: goal range because that part of the field was open.
Speaker 1: But it was clear that Tory Hult didn't know what
Speaker 1: he wanted to do, so Bulger hesitates. And what this
Speaker 1: does is this gives Ricky Manning Jr. The chance to
Speaker 1: come in and make a play. So when Tory Holt
Speaker 1: doesn't run outside, Bulger kind of throws it a little
Speaker 1: bit outside of where Tory Holt is standing right there,
Speaker 1: and instead Manning comes in and closes the gap because
Speaker 1: of the hesitation, and he reaches up, snatches it and
Speaker 1: pulls it in for an interception that was a tremendously
Speaker 1: awful decision by Mark Boulger. You know that's where you know,
Speaker 1: hate the eight to nine yards, right, you've just got
Speaker 1: in the first down, Take the eight to nine yards. Instead,
Speaker 1: you got greedy, and clearly you and Tory Holt weren't
Speaker 1: at that point where I get what my quarterback wants
Speaker 1: me to do. I'm gonna go outside and this is
Speaker 1: gonna be a twenty five yard play instead of an
Speaker 1: eight to twelve yard play, said guy feeling himself. Now
Speaker 1: we're winding down towards the end of overtime, right, you
Speaker 1: had a couple of long drives that went for not
Speaker 1: in those miss field goals that you mentioned earlier, So
Speaker 1: maybe feeling himself right, the Manumala Yuna completion for nineteen
Speaker 1: yards and then fall catches one out of the backfield
Speaker 1: for twenty five yards. So chunk plays. We got them
Speaker 1: on their heels. They're not gonna be able to recover
Speaker 1: and instead again out thinking it on the field this time,
Speaker 1: uh and coming up with a disastrous play that you know,
Speaker 1: snuff south that chance that said the one twelve mark,
Speaker 1: So this is your last possession, I mean that's it
Speaker 1: of this overtime period, and and failed in a big
Speaker 1: way because look, even if you were tackled right at
Speaker 1: that spot, I mean, it's a makeable field goal because
Speaker 1: we've seen him hit from that distance earlier. So Bulger
Speaker 1: had a pretty good game. He threw for three thirty yards,
Speaker 1: but he did throw three picks, and this one clearly
Speaker 1: was the most damaging. I mean, and I mean this one.
Speaker 1: This was took the air out of the sales in
Speaker 1: the Edward Jones Dome. And now suddenly it's the Panthers football,
Speaker 1: and now you can you can tell, all right, maybe
Speaker 1: this is where the Panthers can finally put the Rams away,
Speaker 1: because the Rams have now had a couple of chances
Speaker 1: and they blew it. They settled for the field goal
Speaker 1: at the end of regulation. All through a very tough overtime,
Speaker 1: both teams misfield goals for getting to the end of
Speaker 1: of of the first overtime. Hey, the Panthers get a pick.
Speaker 1: They have pretty good field position, so maybe now this
Speaker 1: is it. The last play of overtime. Jake diloone gets
Speaker 1: sacked and you can tell he is visibly frustrated. It's
Speaker 1: third and four teen, so Okay, well, Carolina had their chance,
Speaker 1: but they are gonna let St. Louis slip off. Look again,
Speaker 1: they're gonna punt the football back to them. So it's
Speaker 1: now third and fourteen with the first play of double overtime.
Speaker 1: Now before we get to this play, uh, just for
Speaker 1: a second. Double overtime games don't happen that often in
Speaker 1: the NFL. Right, there have been six in NFL history.
Speaker 1: Don't ask me about the Jets and the Browns and six,
Speaker 1: the last one being when Joe Flacco and the Ravens
Speaker 1: beat Peyton Manning and the Broncos. The big Joe Flacco
Speaker 1: through that that big touchdown pass It was like four
Speaker 1: thousand feet in the air at the end of regulation.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, what a big play. But double overtime
Speaker 1: games just don't happen. And this was clearly a rarity.
Speaker 1: Like every team's retired. They're trying to figure out punch
Speaker 1: counter punch to make the right play. So now this
Speaker 1: game goes to double overtime. And just when you're sitting
Speaker 1: here looking at third and fourteen, alright, the Panthers are
Speaker 1: gonna wind up not getting a first down. They're gonna
Speaker 1: put it back to the Rams. The Rams are gonna
Speaker 1: have tough field position. I'm gonna go make a sandwich
Speaker 1: because that that's kind of where you're are. Okay, double
Speaker 1: overtimes coming, Yeah, there's gonna be a putty. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: make a sandwich. Alright. Well, if you made that sandwich,
Speaker 1: you missed the biggest play of the game called X clown.
Speaker 1: Carolina is sitting in the third and fourteen, and I
Speaker 1: don't know if the Rams just relaxed, if they thought
Speaker 1: we're gonna get up. You know, we're gonna be able
Speaker 1: to make this play no matter where the ball is.
Speaker 1: You get that sometimes in the NFL where teams think, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be too tough for them to try
Speaker 1: to convert this play. Jake Dilom find Steve Smith wide
Speaker 1: open four first down. Right now, what surprises me the
Speaker 1: most on this play is how open Steve Smith is
Speaker 1: between three defenders twenty yards down field. I mean this
Speaker 1: is not at the stick. This is not eight yards
Speaker 1: before the stick where we're gonna give him some room
Speaker 1: and tackle him. This is he is well past the
Speaker 1: first down marker. He is between three defenders, and Jake
Speaker 1: Diloma is able to slip the ball into him, which
Speaker 1: blows me away because you could see how soft the
Speaker 1: Rams were playing, and you know, even though there's three
Speaker 1: defenders around him, there was clearly enough room for the
Speaker 1: Loan to get the ball in. This is where the
Speaker 1: play turns from really bad for the Rams into tragic
Speaker 1: because Jason Sehorn, who had had a great career with
Speaker 1: the New York Giants, but clearly it was near his
Speaker 1: end here with the Rams, comes up to try to
Speaker 1: make the play and he slips and falls and Smith
Speaker 1: catches the past races by everybody into the end zone,
Speaker 1: sixty nine yard game winning touchdown on the first play
Speaker 1: of double ot And it was shocking. It was sudden,
Speaker 1: and it was one of those plays where you sit
Speaker 1: back and go did that really just happen? Is there
Speaker 1: a penalty flaying that really just happened? The game just
Speaker 1: ended that way? Yeah, nobody around him. I mean, as
Speaker 1: you say that, it's like a boxing one, um, but
Speaker 1: nobody there to make a play, right And Smith, one
Speaker 1: of my favorite guys, Uh also a guy that likes
Speaker 1: sees a pugilist, Like we were talking about before with Uh.
Speaker 1: The out of the backfield and you got guys Steven Davison,
Speaker 1: he uh, they know how to it after it and
Speaker 1: practices and training camp. But he finds the seam and
Speaker 1: he's gone to the races like there's no way the
Speaker 1: safety coming over the top can make a play. And
Speaker 1: you just see Smith's streak. After making one little cut
Speaker 1: back towards the center of the field, He's gone. There's
Speaker 1: no chasing him down sixty nine yards to pay dirt.
Speaker 1: I mean that that was the fact that he caught
Speaker 1: a look. Steve Smith made a career of being able
Speaker 1: to even though he's a smaller guy, being able to
Speaker 1: body players off the ball, be able to make plays
Speaker 1: in the middle of the field. This play was just
Speaker 1: I caught it in a bunch of people and made
Speaker 1: a guy miss. I mean, that was it. This wasn't
Speaker 1: even one of those Oh what this was? I got
Speaker 1: this is what I do as a wide receiver, and
Speaker 1: and I make one play in Jason Shorn Suddenly it
Speaker 1: looked like in one play, the rams just went from
Speaker 1: you know what we're done? Yeah. You know. It's like
Speaker 1: when you're playing pick up basketball and you play like
Speaker 1: three games in a row and you're like yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you start that fourth game and you run
Speaker 1: up and down the floor once and you go, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I'm done that. I can't do it. That's kind of
Speaker 1: what the Rams defense looked like on this play. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just absolutely insane. One little stutter step to the outside
Speaker 1: and then a cut back towards the center of the
Speaker 1: field catches it on a rope and he's gone. And
Speaker 1: so John Fox gets the huge win. Uh, stunned crowd
Speaker 1: and and a lot of standing around, I mean, and
Speaker 1: then you see Aeneas Williams as one of the first
Speaker 1: guys over to hug after it like that. You don't
Speaker 1: belong in that uniform. What are you doing that? You know?
Speaker 1: So you know again you and I have talked a
Speaker 1: lot about guys and uniforms that it just doesn't look right. Uh.
Speaker 1: And that one you're you're always a cardinal. But it's
Speaker 1: just a game where you're thinking, all right, we're settling
Speaker 1: it for double ot. You probably still enjoyed your sandwich.
Speaker 1: I would bet when it was all said and done,
Speaker 1: time to make that sandwich of games over what racketback
Speaker 1: racket back. Well here they're gonna show five or six
Speaker 1: replays to show the heart break and the end of
Speaker 1: the St. Louis Rams. So the Panthers win, they move
Speaker 1: on the Rams. This really was the end of the
Speaker 1: greatest Show on turf. Will tell you why coming up
Speaker 1: next and what happened as a result for both of
Speaker 1: these teams going in completely different directions and special teams
Speaker 1: with Jason Smith and Mike Army. What happened to both
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers and the St. Louis Rams following the
Speaker 1: Panthers double overtime wine, Well, Panthers went in one direction
Speaker 1: and the Rams went in the other. Carolina went on
Speaker 1: to win the NFC Title Game over Philadelphia. This when
Speaker 1: they went into Philadelphia and it was coming off a
Speaker 1: fourth and twenty six a previous podcast here on special teams,
Speaker 1: whether you thought the Eagles were gonna win they were
Speaker 1: Destiny's team. Instead, Carolina bludgeon them with their running game,
Speaker 1: They made enough plays defensively, and they went on to
Speaker 1: lose that Super Bowl thriller to the New England Patriots.
Speaker 1: And still to this day, it's the Carolina Panthers finest
Speaker 1: moment in their franchise history. This year getting to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. They come back to Earth and two thousand
Speaker 1: and four, Steve Smith gets hurt. They start one and seven,
Speaker 1: but this wasn't really the end. And you know, that's
Speaker 1: the last time we really remember thinking and talking about
Speaker 1: Jake diloone. But he actually had three really great seasons
Speaker 1: in a row. From two thousand three to two thousand
Speaker 1: and five, they went twelve and four and won the
Speaker 1: NFC South and two thousand and eight, still with Jake Dilone.
Speaker 1: He had a much better career than he's remembered for.
Speaker 1: You know, but then right after that he got paid
Speaker 1: five years forty two million. Okay, Jake Dilome is still great,
Speaker 1: and then he fell off the face of the earth.
Speaker 1: But overall, you look back at Jake Delme's career and
Speaker 1: you just think of this one year and how good
Speaker 1: he was. But he was really good for a while.
Speaker 1: This guy doesn't get the credit he was at the
Speaker 1: kind of quarterback he played in National Football League nine
Speaker 1: percent completion rate for his career, almost twenty one thousand
Speaker 1: passing yards, hundred twenty six touchdowns against a hundred one interceptions,
Speaker 1: but combined with some some great work on the defensive
Speaker 1: end and that running game fifty six and forty for
Speaker 1: his career as a starter. Uh fifty three thirty seven
Speaker 1: uh seven years in Carolina and then a little bit
Speaker 1: with New Orleans, Cleveland and then the planet Houston. Uh
Speaker 1: is where things ended up in twenty eleven. But yeah,
Speaker 1: he he had a couple of great seasons attend in
Speaker 1: five year and eleven and five year at twelve and
Speaker 1: four year uh seven and six in thirteen starts in
Speaker 1: two thousand and six. Uh. Not a brilliant touchdown to
Speaker 1: interception rate, but winning football and a guy that was
Speaker 1: always there to make a play. I know he showed
Speaker 1: up on fantasy rosters for a couple of years there,
Speaker 1: uh touchdowns seven and nine touch he threw twenty four
Speaker 1: the year after that. I mean he was he was
Speaker 1: still pretty good and with a couple of the receivers
Speaker 1: that that gave you some run. I mean you mentioned
Speaker 1: Smith and the injury. Uh he you know I actually
Speaker 1: put him on the cover, so there's a harmon cover jinks. Well,
Speaker 1: they gave me the budget to go out and get
Speaker 1: one picture like that for the cover, and then a
Speaker 1: couple of guys that I was able to threat within
Speaker 1: the text. But I made Steve Smith the cover guy
Speaker 1: and the Garett Uh. Well that happens like sports illustrated harms.
Speaker 1: You know, DeLoone was one of those guys, not quite
Speaker 1: a game manager, but clearly he's someone if he came
Speaker 1: around now, you would say, he's somebody that could really
Speaker 1: do damage as long as he has weapons around him.
Speaker 1: Almost like he was kind of like a poor man's
Speaker 1: Tony Romo. You know, it's kind of how I look
Speaker 1: back at at Dilone. Look what Romo was able to do.
Speaker 1: He had weapons around him. For a long time in Dallas,
Speaker 1: Dilome had good players around him. Look he had Steve Smith,
Speaker 1: he had a good running game. Mussi Mohammed was good
Speaker 1: for a few years. He's that kind of guy where
Speaker 1: you would say, now, no, if you have good, good
Speaker 1: weapons around him, he could win you a lot of
Speaker 1: football games. That's who you'd be right now. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: would had a nice long career. I mean, and he
Speaker 1: did here obviously, you know, getting getting a full one
Speaker 1: eleven years in the league before he's out, uh and
Speaker 1: making himself some some pretty good coin along the way.
Speaker 1: But like anything, the evolution of the position as to
Speaker 1: where the guys would would push forward. This is this
Speaker 1: is one where if you had that defensive minded coach
Speaker 1: like he did here with John Fox, he'd be able
Speaker 1: to do quite well. It's like, just just don't throw
Speaker 1: it away. Just don't just don't give it away. We
Speaker 1: will be in a position to win games for the Rams.
Speaker 1: It was a little bit different in the offseason. Kurt
Speaker 1: Warner is released, right he signed with the Giants. He
Speaker 1: starts briefly for them before he loses the job to
Speaker 1: Eli Manning. Again. He had trouble holding onto the football
Speaker 1: and he fumbled a lot. I thought this was the
Speaker 1: end of Kurt Warner all right. Now he had that
Speaker 1: late career resurgence with Arizona that saved his Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame career. You know, I can't say the Rams and
Speaker 1: the wrong thing by releasing him, because it looked to
Speaker 1: me that the like the NFL adjusted to him, and
Speaker 1: he got beat up and he couldn't readjust or was
Speaker 1: slow to readjust. He had the one speed he played at,
Speaker 1: and once the NFL adjusted, it took him a while
Speaker 1: to find Okay, what do I need to do to readjust?
Speaker 1: Because that's what all star players do. If they come
Speaker 1: out and they play great right away, eventually the league
Speaker 1: will adjust to you and then how do you adjust
Speaker 1: and stay that great player. It just took him a
Speaker 1: long time. But Kurt Warner leaving the Rams, it was
Speaker 1: even though you could see it coming, it was, well,
Speaker 1: this is the end. This Rams team had been so
Speaker 1: entertaining that came out of nowhere, winning the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: beating the Titans, being that offense that that really turned
Speaker 1: the NFL on. It's here. I mean, you know, we
Speaker 1: had a good four or five year run of how
Speaker 1: exciting they were. But even though they made the playoffs
Speaker 1: one more year, this was really the end because now
Speaker 1: Warner is gone, and you know, we're moving on and
Speaker 1: how good is Mark Bolger we don't know. And you
Speaker 1: could tell they're starting to get ready to move on
Speaker 1: from Marshall Falk as well. So this game, this was
Speaker 1: their chance. This was they win. They go to the
Speaker 1: NFC Championship Game and they're playing in Philadelphia. You saw
Speaker 1: bad Philadelphia played in the NFC Title Game. The Carolina
Speaker 1: was able to win. I mean, the Rams could have
Speaker 1: had it in the Super Bowl. I mean, this was
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl year for them. This was where they
Speaker 1: should have been a team today. We still have all
Speaker 1: the talent, we're rolling Bulger's playing well. Our weapons are
Speaker 1: still good, our defense is still good enough. This is
Speaker 1: a super Bowl year for us, and instead it turned
Speaker 1: out to be a couple of steps short, and that
Speaker 1: really was the finish of this for them. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: mean the big thing with the Rams is, you know
Speaker 1: they achieved despite the fact two thousand three and two
Speaker 1: thousand four they turned the ball over a ton. That
Speaker 1: was one thing, you know, with the offense March was running.
Speaker 1: It was the let's take our shots down field, and
Speaker 1: you have a guy in Vulgia said, Okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: put the shots up down field, which is what's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: You're gonna turn the ball over a bunch. Not quite
Speaker 1: Jamis Winston esque, um, but to that level where you're
Speaker 1: gonna have some bad things happen in between some of
Speaker 1: the big pushes. So you have back to back years
Speaker 1: of playoffs and they don't go again. Uti. I mean,
Speaker 1: you've got a long run of futility and changing faces
Speaker 1: and eventually locations. But you got a three year period
Speaker 1: where you went three three wins, two wins, one win.
Speaker 1: Then you bring in Sam Bradford, he got wins, the
Speaker 1: rookie of the year you go seven and nine under
Speaker 1: Spagnolo because you want to say seven and nine, Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: Jeff Fisher was seven and nine. Well no, because then
Speaker 1: he goes seven and nine with Bradford eleven, they go
Speaker 1: to and fourteen, which then brings us to Jeff Fisher
Speaker 1: his first year. He goes seven eight and one, then
Speaker 1: seven and nine, then six and ten with Aaron Donald
Speaker 1: as a Rookie of the Year, then seven and nine
Speaker 1: with Todd Gurley has a Rookie of the Year, you know,
Speaker 1: like what I'm doing with that? And then he come
Speaker 1: to the come to Los Angeles. Look, it was. It
Speaker 1: was a definitely a period of what is happening in
Speaker 1: the Rams are turning into one of the downtrodden franchises?
Speaker 1: Are they ever gonna win again? That's how big a
Speaker 1: year this was. Losing this game, Kurt Warner is gone right.
Speaker 1: They give Mark Bulger a contract extension for four more years.
Speaker 1: They give nineteen million dollars, which back then was a
Speaker 1: pretty big deal for a quarterback. He actually starts six
Speaker 1: more years with the Rams and he was just okay,
Speaker 1: mainly because his weapons aged and couldn't really be replaced.
Speaker 1: Because the next invention of the Rams wasn't as good.
Speaker 1: And this is why we make the point earlier about how, hey,
Speaker 1: Warner and Bulger look how good they were. Well, when
Speaker 1: they had great weapons, they were really really good. When
Speaker 1: they had Hall of Fame type weapons, they were good.
Speaker 1: When they didn't have Hall of Fame weapons, they struggled.
Speaker 1: So here's Bulger, who has now got to do it. Hey,
Speaker 1: I gotta figure out how to make it work without
Speaker 1: Marshall Falk being the guy because he wasn't the guy anymore.
Speaker 1: He had gotten a year older. And after this playoff loss,
Speaker 1: the Rams decided we needed somebody else because he was
Speaker 1: getting older. They draft Steven Jackson. You know, Jackson comes in,
Speaker 1: he runs for six hundred yards his rookie year, but
Speaker 1: you could tell, hey, the Rams want to make him
Speaker 1: their feature back. Somehow, they finished eight and Night and
Speaker 1: they squeak into the playoffs. They win the wild card
Speaker 1: game at Seattle, and maybe this is all right the Rams,
Speaker 1: but no, then they get pummeled seventeen by Atlanta and
Speaker 1: that becomes the last year. They finished in five as
Speaker 1: you said, until seen, so that was kind of like
Speaker 1: the death cry of the Greatest Show on turf. It
Speaker 1: was really done, but nobody knew it. Uh, you know.
Speaker 1: And then but this was the real year when you
Speaker 1: could say, okay, where they achieved and they were really
Speaker 1: good because there was a big drop off from this
Speaker 1: year and next year where they were lucky to squeeze
Speaker 1: in at five hundred and hey you win one playoff
Speaker 1: game and all right, that's that one little death rattle.
Speaker 1: Hey we're still here. And then you lose by thirty
Speaker 1: of the week after to the Falcons, and then it's
Speaker 1: really over. So you get that eight and eight season.
Speaker 1: You'd lose by thirty points, and it's the organizational review
Speaker 1: of all right, where are we at the next year?
Speaker 1: After five games marks you know, he he has to leave,
Speaker 1: so you have it. Then Lenahan, who has an eight
Speaker 1: and eight season, but then he goes three and thirteen
Speaker 1: and he gets bounced, is like the Cleveland Browns and
Speaker 1: many of these other teams where it's like, you don't
Speaker 1: you don't get a run, right, even if you had
Speaker 1: a good season, right because Lenahan goes eight, the eight
Speaker 1: that usually buys you a little or at least at
Speaker 1: the time, they would buy you a little more. Instead,
Speaker 1: he goes three and thirteen the next year, and then
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight their start ohing four. He's done.
Speaker 1: Then has it comes in, He goes to intend he
Speaker 1: didn't get to stick around. That means Steve Spagnola takes over.
Speaker 1: And then you go through this entire thing where you
Speaker 1: know there's no organizational stability, direction and the building a
Speaker 1: program idea that is so novel a concept to see
Speaker 1: it at least attempted now in Miami with Brian Flores.
Speaker 1: But for the most part this became or if you
Speaker 1: don't win immediately, you're done. Not to mention the whispers
Speaker 1: of them moving in this whole thing, right for those
Speaker 1: last few years of how long are they sticking around?
Speaker 1: So you get all of that and it becomes a
Speaker 1: very troublesome time for the franchise. And this is what
Speaker 1: happens when your head coach leaves. Who was the last
Speaker 1: real link to that offense and that era. Because Mike
Speaker 1: Martz leaves, it was his baby, was his plays. But
Speaker 1: he kind of had to go. This is a guy
Speaker 1: that's gonna go down as the greatest offensive coordinator ever.
Speaker 1: What he did with journeyman quarterbacks and taking talent that
Speaker 1: nobody thought he could put together and what they did
Speaker 1: for that run that was outstanding. But he was so
Speaker 1: ill suited to being a head coach right. He didn't
Speaker 1: have the charisma, didn't have the ability to deal with
Speaker 1: other things, and added responsibilities outside of play calling that
Speaker 1: you need to be when you're the head coach. You'd
Speaker 1: be able to take care of all kinds of things.
Speaker 1: You can't just be someone calling plays. He was aloof
Speaker 1: he was above it all. He was elitist, he was
Speaker 1: at odds of the front office. He was a hard
Speaker 1: guy to get along with. And when you do that,
Speaker 1: you cut your half life in half when you are
Speaker 1: a coach. If you're tough to get along with and
Speaker 1: and and make things difficult, eventually teams gonna go, we
Speaker 1: don't need you if you're not winning over the top.
Speaker 1: And you know, case in point, as you mentioned, he
Speaker 1: had to leave the team a couple of years later
Speaker 1: for a hard issue. Five games in. He said he
Speaker 1: felt well enough to return for the final game of
Speaker 1: the season in two thousand and six, and the team said, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: we don't want you back, and you're fired. And that's
Speaker 1: how it ended from Mike Marks. You know, he went
Speaker 1: on to be an offensive coordinator again with the Bears
Speaker 1: never reaching these heights. Neither did the St. Louis Rams.
Speaker 1: But this is what it was like from Mike Martz,
Speaker 1: who had he just been a little bit different, a
Speaker 1: little bit better suited for being a head coach instead
Speaker 1: of just blind power, I want to be the head coach,
Speaker 1: maybe it would have worked out different for him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean he goes and he's a coordinator for the
Speaker 1: Lions and coordinator for the Bears. But you know, the
Speaker 1: end with it with the Rams goes to just personality issues,
Speaker 1: to where he wanted to help call plays while he's
Speaker 1: sitting from his couch, He's got the it like, I'm
Speaker 1: feeling better. Put me. I want to put me on speaker.
Speaker 1: I wanted they gotta be able to hear me on
Speaker 1: the sideline, right, And then it's, hey, you know, I
Speaker 1: want to coach the finale, uh New Year's Day? And
Speaker 1: they told him to beat it and then they fired
Speaker 1: him right after. So just a weird end. And and
Speaker 1: really there's a lot of stories in the city as
Speaker 1: related to Mike Marts and his handling of personnel. But yeah,
Speaker 1: just curiosity. I think I can do a ten hour
Speaker 1: documentary on him. I think there's enough battles and people
Speaker 1: that that could fight with him. Let's do that. The
Speaker 1: last last last dance with Mike Mars. Yes, I like this.
Speaker 1: So that's what happened in the Rams and took him
Speaker 1: that long, as you said, to get back to respectability
Speaker 1: and where they were when they moved to Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: But for some of the guys in this game, where
Speaker 1: are they now? Mike Carmen, alright, we got Fred weary,
Speaker 1: defense and back. He is part of On the Grind
Speaker 1: L l C helping guys with sports marketing and branding opportunities.
Speaker 1: Saw you like that? Great Joey good speed? You know,
Speaker 1: Joey great speed, just good speed running back out of
Speaker 1: Notre Dame. Uh He is a financial advisor in Chicago
Speaker 1: helping with retirement investor advice at ray for Raymond James
Speaker 1: uh Lamar Gordon working for Delta Airlines in terms of
Speaker 1: support and logistics. I like that. Add that to your
Speaker 1: list of fund And then Dane Looker school board director.
Speaker 1: His wife's the high school basketball coach in pull Up, Washington.
Speaker 1: I think I said that right. It's d p U
Speaker 1: L L y U p Appy a double l u P. Yeah. Uh,
Speaker 1: based on a Native American tribe and it means the
Speaker 1: generous people. How about that. There's another guy that came
Speaker 1: from we left from the world of American football. Yes, certainly.
Speaker 1: I mean you got guys between you know, Warner and
Speaker 1: his Iowa barn Stormers and World League and me getting
Speaker 1: stung by a b so he couldn't work out for
Speaker 1: the Packers. Made all of these things of folklore, uh
Speaker 1: to make this unit what it was. But yeah, Dan,
Speaker 1: looker school board director. There you go, he's making making
Speaker 1: a difference in the classroom. I wonder how he's handling
Speaker 1: zoom calls and all the problems within his district. Maybe
Speaker 1: we'll have to look him up. So there it is.
Speaker 1: The Special Teams that took part in a legendary playoff
Speaker 1: game in two thousand and four, the end of the
Speaker 1: Greatest Show on Turf. I'm Jason Smith, He's Mike Harmon.
Speaker 1: Our show has heard on Fox Sports Radio Monday through Friday,
Speaker 1: ten b into two am on the East coast, seven
Speaker 1: to eleven on the West coast. You got an idea
Speaker 1: for a future episode of Special Teams? Hit us up
Speaker 1: Twitter at how about a Fresca Mike at Swollen Dome.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you next week with another big time
Speaker 1: Special Teams game. Before you go, rate and review the show.
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