Speaker 1: Factors, Patrick drawing, what a win for this Miami Dolphin team. Wow,
Speaker 1: What is up? Dolphins? And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast,
Speaker 1: part of the Miami Dolphins official podcast network, covering your
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins each and every day. How's it going everybody?
Speaker 1: I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and I am here
Speaker 1: to bring you your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football.
Speaker 1: And on today's show, the kid and me is excited
Speaker 1: right now when you're flashing it back to two thousand
Speaker 1: eight and the implementation of the wildcat offense, that famed game,
Speaker 1: the two thousand eight victory over the New England Patriots
Speaker 1: that sparked in eleven and three finish to that season
Speaker 1: and an a FC East Crown where you're gonna talk
Speaker 1: to two thousand eight m v P runner up Dolphins
Speaker 1: quarterback Chad Pennington on his thoughts on that game on
Speaker 1: this Friday, April, the seventeenth edition of the Drivetime podcasts.
Speaker 1: Off the lead of the show, you heard me talk
Speaker 1: about being an excited kid back in the day of
Speaker 1: that two thousand eight game, watching the Dolphins just run
Speaker 1: rough shot over the New England Patriots for a big
Speaker 1: blowout victory. In week three of that two thousand eight season,
Speaker 1: and really going into that game, the Dolphins were owing
Speaker 1: to the initial game of that season against the New
Speaker 1: York Jets, a home game was a close one and
Speaker 1: one the Dolphins had a chance to pull out late.
Speaker 1: It didn't happen that way. And then week two you
Speaker 1: go to Arizona and that game wasn't even close. So
Speaker 1: you head into the Week three game thinking maybe this
Speaker 1: could be a game even without Tom Brady, that the
Speaker 1: Dolphins don't have much of a chance to get a
Speaker 1: w in. I don't think many fans were expecting a
Speaker 1: positive outcome that day, but my goodness, was that the
Speaker 1: wrong mentality. One of the most memorable games since the
Speaker 1: turn of the century for this organization. And I know
Speaker 1: I said that I was a kid during that game,
Speaker 1: but I was twenty years old, so maybe not too young,
Speaker 1: but this game tends to bring out the kid and
Speaker 1: all of us, and none better than that Wildcat game
Speaker 1: just watching Miami score touchdown after touchdown. And one of
Speaker 1: my favorite anecdotes from that game. My brother at the
Speaker 1: time was going to Washington State University at the Pullman
Speaker 1: campus in our hometown was about two hours away, so
Speaker 1: he would drive down every Sunday to watch the Dolphins
Speaker 1: with me, and we were both in the same fantasy
Speaker 1: football league. And on balance, this trade we made wound
Speaker 1: up being pretty even that year. But I'll never forget
Speaker 1: the trade because of what happened on that Sunday. I
Speaker 1: gave him Kurt Warner and Ladiny and Tomlinson, and he
Speaker 1: gave me Ronnie Brown and Aaron Rodgers. I was buying
Speaker 1: that Roger Stock early on in his career, just his
Speaker 1: second year starting at that point, I believe. And again,
Speaker 1: on balance, the trade wound up being pretty even by
Speaker 1: the end of the fantasy football season. But not on
Speaker 1: that Sunday, Man, I had Ronnie Brown five touchdowns and
Speaker 1: cruised to victory, one of my favorite games in Dolphins memory.
Speaker 1: And who better to come on the podcast here on
Speaker 1: the Drivetime podcast and tell us about that warm fall
Speaker 1: day in Foxboro that turned into an absolute route and
Speaker 1: sparked in eleven and three finish en route to an
Speaker 1: a f C East title. Then quarterback Chad Pennington, and
Speaker 1: joining the podcast now is the Dolphins quarterback and m
Speaker 1: v P runner up for the two thousand eight season,
Speaker 1: Chad Pennington. Chad, thanks for jumping on here with me, man, absolutely,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. First off, I gotta ask you
Speaker 1: because it's kind of a crazy time right now. Everything's
Speaker 1: kind of up in the air of sports and otherwise.
Speaker 1: How are you doing? How's the family you guys staying
Speaker 1: safe during the sheltering place. We are extremely blessed to
Speaker 1: be on a small farm here in Lessening, Entucky, and
Speaker 1: so we do have our space and social distancing intact.
Speaker 1: I think our biggest challenge for Robin and me would
Speaker 1: be at the homeschooling aspect of school. We have three boys,
Speaker 1: and so trying to get all three boys through a
Speaker 1: home school day is quite the challenge. What's your what's
Speaker 1: your go to subject? When you're kind of struggling, you
Speaker 1: have like a certain thing you fall back on. Ye, Well,
Speaker 1: right now fifth grade is really challenging me. And science.
Speaker 1: We're doing a roller coaster lab. We're writing fantasy stories
Speaker 1: and language arts. We are studying World War two and
Speaker 1: social studies, and so yeah, I'm being challenged. I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm going to fifth grade all over again. So
Speaker 1: it's like, is Chad Pennington smarter than a fifth grader?
Speaker 1: Exactly exactly? Sometimes I feel that I am sometimes I
Speaker 1: feel that I'm not well. That's all great either way, Chat,
Speaker 1: that's that's too good. Before we get into this football
Speaker 1: game itself, I wanted to ask you a hard pivot
Speaker 1: here personally about that season for you, because you started
Speaker 1: all seventeen games, sixty seven point four percent completion, nineteen touchdowns,
Speaker 1: just seven picks, seven point seven yards per attempt, three thousand,
Speaker 1: six hundred fifty three yards and a pass. The rating
Speaker 1: of ninety seven point four at a time we're getting
Speaker 1: near the one hundred mark was really in the elite class,
Speaker 1: and of course that was recognized by finishing second in
Speaker 1: the MVP voting that year for you. So Chad, with
Speaker 1: that said, I've always said this sports write better scripts
Speaker 1: than any fiction possibly can, and your story is case
Speaker 1: in point. With the two thousand eight Miami Dolphins released
Speaker 1: by the Jets. Signed with Miami, and the schedule is
Speaker 1: sets up perfectly with Booke end games against your new
Speaker 1: rival and X team, the New York Jets. Let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and start there at the beginning. What was that
Speaker 1: like for you to kind of kind of get blindsided
Speaker 1: in the month of August, just one month from the season,
Speaker 1: and then wind up back in the a f C East, Well,
Speaker 1: things had been ramping up, so to speak, with either
Speaker 1: trade talk or release talk, throughout the training camp process
Speaker 1: in the in the first part of training camp with
Speaker 1: the Jets, and so although you still deal with the
Speaker 1: shock factor, um, some of that had been removed because
Speaker 1: it was a little bit to be expected. And so
Speaker 1: I served eight years there with the Jets and felt
Speaker 1: like I had given it my all, and part of
Speaker 1: me was saying I probably did need a change of scenery.
Speaker 1: And so when the release happened the night before the
Speaker 1: first preseason game in Cleveland, Ohio, I was upset. I
Speaker 1: had been having a really good training camp. I thought
Speaker 1: that our team with the Jets was going to be
Speaker 1: a playoff contender, and I wanted to be a part
Speaker 1: of that. But at the same time, I felt like
Speaker 1: the whole weight of the world was lifted off of
Speaker 1: my shoulders because it could no longer be Chad Pennington's
Speaker 1: fault in New York. So the next three days I've
Speaker 1: always said I was probably the happiest unemployed man in
Speaker 1: the NFL, just looking for a place to go, and
Speaker 1: fortunately for me, Miami gave me the opportunity to be
Speaker 1: a starter once again. I still had to prove myself,
Speaker 1: but at least I knew I was going into a
Speaker 1: situation that it was completely wide open, and I really
Speaker 1: relished in that fact and knew that I had a
Speaker 1: chance to be a starter once again. How big of
Speaker 1: a challenge was it for you to come into, like
Speaker 1: you mentioned a court about competition where you did have
Speaker 1: to prove yourself and basically learning a whole new system,
Speaker 1: a whole new game, and like you said, four weeks time, well,
Speaker 1: it certainly was a challenge. I was fortunate enough in
Speaker 1: being drafted by Bill Parcels with the Jets in two thousand,
Speaker 1: having Dan Henning as my coordinator as a rookie. As
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, I took my rookie playbook with
Speaker 1: me on the plane as I was flying down to
Speaker 1: Miami on Saturday to be with the team for their
Speaker 1: opening preseason game against Tampa Bay, and so I had
Speaker 1: some familiarity at least with how coach Sprano would run
Speaker 1: the program, knowing that Dan and Bill were both involved. However,
Speaker 1: there's still a lot of changes, and Tony wanted to
Speaker 1: do certain things offensively, so quarterback coach David Lee and
Speaker 1: I really started the process early Sunday morning after the
Speaker 1: first preseason game, and after about two to three hours
Speaker 1: we started at six o'clock in the morning. After about
Speaker 1: two to three hours, I looked at David. I said, uh, Coach,
Speaker 1: you want me to run with the ones tomorrow? Correct?
Speaker 1: He said yes, And I said, well, I need to
Speaker 1: be ready for tomorrow's practice. Correct. Yes, you need to
Speaker 1: be ready for tomorrow's practice. I said, well, I think
Speaker 1: instead of worrying about the logistics of the basics of
Speaker 1: the offense, let's go straight to the scripts. And so
Speaker 1: from then on I actually learned the Dolphins system through
Speaker 1: practice scripts, knowing that I had to be ready for
Speaker 1: practice and let's just phocus on the immediate goal of
Speaker 1: being ready for practice. And that's how I began to
Speaker 1: learn the system. Right, Because if you're not up to speed,
Speaker 1: and the rest of the entire program kind of has
Speaker 1: to catch up to you, right, Well, what happens is
Speaker 1: what you learned quickly is that if the quarterback is
Speaker 1: not ready to practice every day mentally and physically, the
Speaker 1: offensive part of practice is horrible. It does not go
Speaker 1: well at all. Everything is dictated by the quarterback. The
Speaker 1: checks that he makes, the snap counts that he uses,
Speaker 1: the plays that he um executes, is all centered around
Speaker 1: the quarterback. And so for an offensive team to have
Speaker 1: success in practice and feel good about us production and improvement,
Speaker 1: the quarterback has to be ready to go. And so
Speaker 1: that was the way the season began. Obviously a bit
Speaker 1: of a rush to get things going, but by the
Speaker 1: end of the year it really ended as perfectly as
Speaker 1: I could have. Towards the regular season finale, Dolphins and
Speaker 1: Jets playing for a spot in the postseason, and you
Speaker 1: go out there and you did what you did all year,
Speaker 1: Chad se completion of that game two yards, pair of touchdowns,
Speaker 1: no picks, but also the win, obviously the biggest one.
Speaker 1: That's the sweetest part. And twelve years after the fact,
Speaker 1: how sweet was that vindication for you? Well, it was
Speaker 1: really sweet. And like you said earlier, it's just the
Speaker 1: way that sports would write the script. Um. The first
Speaker 1: game against the Jets was pure emotion. I probably had
Speaker 1: no business playing quarterback because I was emotionally attached to
Speaker 1: the whole situation. No one likes to get fired and
Speaker 1: so it never feels good. But by the end of
Speaker 1: the season, there are sixteen games in between in it
Speaker 1: was strictly about making NFL history. The emotion have decided,
Speaker 1: and I was really excited about helping lead this young
Speaker 1: team to an a f C East Division title and
Speaker 1: making NFL history, going from one in fifteen to eleven
Speaker 1: and five that that was just a fun time to
Speaker 1: be in Miami Dolphin, and for me as a veteran,
Speaker 1: it was really fun to help lead a bunch of
Speaker 1: really young players. We had six players over the age
Speaker 1: of thirty. Only I was one of those six. The
Speaker 1: rest of them were really really young, and so to
Speaker 1: be able to provide some leadership um and some experience
Speaker 1: to what we were trying to do was very gratifying.
Speaker 1: And it did take a couple of weeks for that
Speaker 1: dream season to really get off the runway. They're tough
Speaker 1: loss in the opener, a really bad loss in Arizona
Speaker 1: week number two, and we know the story, the basics
Speaker 1: of the story about the Wildcat kind of getting introduced
Speaker 1: David Lee on the team plane. But I'm curious to
Speaker 1: get your perspective because the quarterback obviously going to a package.
Speaker 1: I'm sure the offensive line was like, yeah, hell yeah,
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and do this run the football from
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks perspective, What was it like when you were
Speaker 1: kind of pitched the idea of this wildcat wildcat package. Well,
Speaker 1: Wildcat was developed out of necessity. We could not run
Speaker 1: the ball very well at all in the first two games,
Speaker 1: had no success at the line of scrimmage, established in
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage and the run game or gaining
Speaker 1: any yards. And so when it was presented to me,
Speaker 1: we talked about, Hey, this was gonna be a way
Speaker 1: we're going to try to create some space in the
Speaker 1: running game. And so, uh, I was not coming out
Speaker 1: of the game. I was just lining up differently, and
Speaker 1: for me, my perspective was what's the difference in handing
Speaker 1: the ball off or is lining up at receiver and
Speaker 1: watching the play, I felt like it really didn't matter.
Speaker 1: If it gave us an advantage and we're going to
Speaker 1: be able to create some space in the run game,
Speaker 1: then that's going to help the pass game. The whole
Speaker 1: point of it, though, was that we had to be
Speaker 1: very efficient in the past game for this to work,
Speaker 1: because when once you line up in a wildcat formation,
Speaker 1: your past options are limited. Obviously, because the quarterback is
Speaker 1: not in the backfield. Anymore. So we knew that we
Speaker 1: had to be very efficient in the first and second
Speaker 1: down passing game for this to work. And uh, that
Speaker 1: week was really intense. We're owing to we were just
Speaker 1: blown out by the Arizona Cardinals in Arizona. Now we're
Speaker 1: going to play the New England Patriots, coming off of
Speaker 1: their undefeated regular season and losing the Super Bowl to
Speaker 1: the Giants. Now I do remember as having a meeting
Speaker 1: on the field and just talking about listen, the Patriots
Speaker 1: have just lost Tom Brady. Uh, they're going to their backup.
Speaker 1: We've got something that they will not be prepared for.
Speaker 1: This is our X factor. This is a great opportunity
Speaker 1: for us to shock the world, and we were able
Speaker 1: to do that. And so getting into that game, the
Speaker 1: scoring starts, like you mentioned kind of that first play
Speaker 1: where you actually dial up the Wildcat with two and
Speaker 1: a half minutes left in the first quarter and a
Speaker 1: two yard touchdown run by Ronnie Brown. And this was
Speaker 1: after you had dialed up Anthony Fossano on a couple
Speaker 1: of third down conversion. So, like you mentioned, the passing
Speaker 1: game really got that whole thing going because you get
Speaker 1: into the red zone through the pass and through the air.
Speaker 1: Can you walk us through that first play though, the
Speaker 1: first the first touchdown scored by Ronnie, Like, what was
Speaker 1: the mood in the huddle when you gave the play call?
Speaker 1: And then after Ronnie scored? What was the reaction of
Speaker 1: the Patriots defense? Well, I think the best part about
Speaker 1: the whole situation was the reaction from the Patriots defense. Typically,
Speaker 1: when you pay a play at Patriots defense, especially when
Speaker 1: we were playing the Patriots defense, you had Rodney Harrison,
Speaker 1: Teddy Bruceski, Mike Brabel. You had great professional football players
Speaker 1: that normally had an answer and a call and an
Speaker 1: adjustment for everything. And I played against the Patriots up
Speaker 1: until that point my whole career, and so I was
Speaker 1: you to how we would play them as well as
Speaker 1: how they react to everything. And I was used to
Speaker 1: their communication and how good they were at it. And
Speaker 1: this was the first time in my career that I
Speaker 1: remember the field being completely silent, no communication whatsoever, um
Speaker 1: eyeballs being really really big, jaws dropped because they had
Speaker 1: no answer with first of all, how to line up
Speaker 1: to the formation and then secondly what called to make
Speaker 1: to defend it. And then on the second touchdown that
Speaker 1: was not a wildcat play, if I recall correctly, was
Speaker 1: just a basic pen and pull that Ronnie took it
Speaker 1: to the house again. But then you come back at
Speaker 1: the end of the first half and Ronnie fixed the
Speaker 1: jet sweep to Ricky on this one. And do you
Speaker 1: think that was kind of the moment to go up
Speaker 1: six or maybe you broke their will a little bit. Well,
Speaker 1: we certainly knew that we had them on the ropes.
Speaker 1: Our defense was playing extremely well. We're putting pressure on
Speaker 1: the quarterback, making plays in the backfield. And offensively we
Speaker 1: were able to get ahead, which is something that's hard
Speaker 1: to do, number one, but if you can do that
Speaker 1: in Foxboro, it certainly helps you. And so we were
Speaker 1: able to do that. Interestingly enough, we didn't run the wildcat.
Speaker 1: People think we ran the wildcat quite a bit in
Speaker 1: that game, I believe, and you don't have to Craig me.
Speaker 1: I think we ran it six times, but we scored
Speaker 1: five um and so it was something that was certainly
Speaker 1: an X factor of something that really caused them to
Speaker 1: think and to make adjustments on the sideline. And now
Speaker 1: since all of their focus was on the wildcat formation,
Speaker 1: our regular offense started to thrive because they couldn't put
Speaker 1: a focus on that. And if that moment wasn't the backbreaker,
Speaker 1: it's certainly had to have been Ronnie's touchdown past five
Speaker 1: and a half left to go on the third quarter,
Speaker 1: once again fake the jet sweep and he finds Anthony
Speaker 1: Fasano for a touchdown. That was the moment the game
Speaker 1: was over, right, Well, what was unique about, first of
Speaker 1: all the wild that formation? First of all, it really
Speaker 1: fit Ricky's running style with the jet suite, and it
Speaker 1: fit Ronnie's running style with him being the wildcat quarterback.
Speaker 1: Because as a wildcat quarterback, you have to be patient.
Speaker 1: You can't just hit the hole once you catch the ball.
Speaker 1: You have to be patient and let the play develop
Speaker 1: because you forget that there's some time that elapses from
Speaker 1: a quarterback receiving the snap and handing it to the
Speaker 1: running back conventionally, so in a wildcat formason the Wildcat
Speaker 1: quarterback has to buy that time before he hits the hole.
Speaker 1: It fits Ronnie's running style perfectly. Then you add on
Speaker 1: onto that that Ronnie is left handed and so to
Speaker 1: be able to run a bootleg to the left, which
Speaker 1: defenses don't see a whole lot with the Wildcat quarterback.
Speaker 1: That was like the ic scene on the cake to say,
Speaker 1: we've got something that no one else in the league has.
Speaker 1: It fits our personnel, Kudos to our offensive staff to
Speaker 1: have the courage to install this, and then kudos to
Speaker 1: Dan Henning for and to run it and running it successfully,
Speaker 1: and it just became something that we built energy and
Speaker 1: momentum off of. But no doubt, once we hit the
Speaker 1: touchdown pass, we knew that the game was was in
Speaker 1: our hands and all we had to do was make
Speaker 1: sure we did not screw it up. At that point,
Speaker 1: you mentioned the left handed running back throwing the football.
Speaker 1: We had Jarvis Landry here a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: same story. I remember when he first threw the through
Speaker 1: the football, we were like, oh, we didn't We didn't
Speaker 1: know he was left handed. When did you know that
Speaker 1: Ronnie was left handed? Like? Did it happen the first
Speaker 1: time he ran it and practiced? Like, Okay, now I
Speaker 1: realized he can throw the ball with his left hand.
Speaker 1: I knew he was left handed, I didn't know how
Speaker 1: well he could throw the ball. And he could throw it,
Speaker 1: I mean he could, he could zip it and uh
Speaker 1: had accuracy with it. Knew where he wanted to go
Speaker 1: with the ball. It wasn't just a prayer or Hell
Speaker 1: Mary type of pass. It was on point and I
Speaker 1: was running a corner there on the bootleg. That's a
Speaker 1: hard pass to make on the run, and you had
Speaker 1: a running back make it rolling out to his left,
Speaker 1: uh and just throws it dime for down. I joked
Speaker 1: about this before you came on, Chad, that I had
Speaker 1: traded for Ronnie Brown in my fantasy league right before
Speaker 1: that game, So I was thrilled throwing or running either way.
Speaker 1: It made made for a very good fantasy Sunday for me.
Speaker 1: But I wanted to ask you, maybe this is kind
Speaker 1: of redundant because you touched on this earlier about not
Speaker 1: caring whether or not you're in the backfield handing it
Speaker 1: off or lining up out wide as a receiver in
Speaker 1: formation when they run the football. But there's a great
Speaker 1: shot on the broadcast version of the game of you
Speaker 1: throwing a really emphatic fist pump after that touchdown. Is
Speaker 1: that kind of when when when that play call came in, Like,
Speaker 1: obviously you're not upset because you're destroying the Patriots right now,
Speaker 1: but when the call goes in for a running back
Speaker 1: to throw the ball. Are you kind of like, hey, man,
Speaker 1: that's that's my job. I'm not. That's just not my nature.
Speaker 1: I Football is a team game, and if you're not
Speaker 1: excited when the team does well, you need to change sports.
Speaker 1: You need to play tennis or golf or something like that.
Speaker 1: To me, it's all about how we do as a team.
Speaker 1: Those guys sack of fights for me every down, blocking,
Speaker 1: catching balls, doing all the little dirty things. I can
Speaker 1: sacrifice the testdown pass for the success of our team
Speaker 1: and to win a football game. And that's that was
Speaker 1: my mindset. And I just I feel like that because
Speaker 1: I had that mindset, the team bought into what we
Speaker 1: were doing from a Wildcat perspective. If I was going
Speaker 1: to be negative about the Wildcat I don't think it
Speaker 1: would have worked as effectively because you've got your quarterback,
Speaker 1: your leader down plane or being negative about part of
Speaker 1: your system that you're trying to make work and you're
Speaker 1: trying to win a game. So the whole perception is
Speaker 1: really really important to the reality of trying to execute
Speaker 1: the Wildcat system. We've got Chad Pennington here on the
Speaker 1: Drive Time Podcast with Travis Wingfield on the Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: Official podcast network on Your Fence Flashback two thousand eight
Speaker 1: Wildcat game, And I always say, first of all, Chat,
Speaker 1: I think that that kind of leadership that you exude
Speaker 1: really played a big part of the team winning eleven
Speaker 1: of the fine fourteen games that you're going to the
Speaker 1: a f C East or winning the a f C East,
Speaker 1: I should say, but I always say that one of
Speaker 1: the things that was forgotten about in that game was
Speaker 1: how sharp you were. And we talked about the opening
Speaker 1: drive getting things going through the air, but you finished
Speaker 1: the game seventeen six yards just on time, on target,
Speaker 1: and rhythm all game long. Going into that week, as
Speaker 1: far as the passing game was concerned, did you have
Speaker 1: an idea based upon what you saw in film that
Speaker 1: you'd have a chance to kind of feast on that defense. Well, always,
Speaker 1: when you play the Patriots, you've got to be very
Speaker 1: careful of trying to take too much and be too greedy,
Speaker 1: and so early in the game, I wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure that we were able to establish some rhythm with
Speaker 1: some completions, with moving the chains, really get my guys
Speaker 1: into the flow of the game and then be able
Speaker 1: to pierce them vertically, and we were able to do
Speaker 1: that later on in the game, hitting some scenes down
Speaker 1: the middle. I think we had a couple of routes
Speaker 1: on the outside as well, And so it's all about
Speaker 1: rhythm and consistency as an offense and really getting everyone involved.
Speaker 1: So I knew that they would try to throw different
Speaker 1: things at us. They probably felt like they had the
Speaker 1: right matchups their defense versus our offense, uh, considering what
Speaker 1: we had put on film to that point. So we
Speaker 1: just really needed to build one play at a time,
Speaker 1: build some momentum, build some energy, and and once we
Speaker 1: kind of got going, then we we hit them with
Speaker 1: the Wildcat. Now we've really upset the apple cart, so
Speaker 1: to speak, and so we had them on their heels
Speaker 1: from there on. And that was definitely a special game
Speaker 1: in a special season. The next week was a bye week,
Speaker 1: and then you come right back home for a game
Speaker 1: with the Chargers and you put in more Wildcat and
Speaker 1: you beat another very good football team. I'm just kind
Speaker 1: of curious with the way that season played out because
Speaker 1: you going to two and two and two, two and four,
Speaker 1: and then the crazy run happens where you lose one
Speaker 1: of the remaining what would that be nine or ten
Speaker 1: games or so. When did you really know that, Okay,
Speaker 1: this team of something special here, we can make a
Speaker 1: run at the division. Well, I think when we came
Speaker 1: back from the Denver game, which I believe, if I'm
Speaker 1: not mistaken, put us, I think around six and five,
Speaker 1: maybe I felt like, Okay, we're right there, We've got
Speaker 1: a chance. I also felt like when we were two
Speaker 1: and four. Act like you said, we were two and two.
Speaker 1: We lost a heartbreaker to Houston on the last day
Speaker 1: of the game by one point, and then we lost
Speaker 1: a very tough Baltimore team as well, But we were
Speaker 1: extremely competitive. Although we were two and four, we had
Speaker 1: made considerable strides, and so that Buffalo game, that next
Speaker 1: game against Buffalo was really really important for us to
Speaker 1: get the three and four and not be two and five,
Speaker 1: so that we could have an example of our hard work,
Speaker 1: so we can see that our hard work is paying off,
Speaker 1: that we are improving as a team. And the only
Speaker 1: way you show yourself that is to win a football game.
Speaker 1: And so when we're able to win against Buffalo to
Speaker 1: go a three and four, we started to build a
Speaker 1: little bit of momentum, and then we came back from
Speaker 1: the Denver game, we felt really good about where we were. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: I think we lost uh now, we lost New England
Speaker 1: before then, so we were coming off of a loss,
Speaker 1: I believe. And then we we beat Denver and we're
Speaker 1: sitting there at six and five, and then we rolled
Speaker 1: five straight and none of these games were blowouts. Um,
Speaker 1: they were all really really close. But we just had
Speaker 1: the right formula. Our formula was and we knew everyone
Speaker 1: knew what our formula was. On the team. We're gonna
Speaker 1: play stout defense. Offensively, we were not going to turn
Speaker 1: the ball over to put our defense in a bad situation.
Speaker 1: And when it got to the fourth quarter, our team
Speaker 1: believed we were going to find a way to win,
Speaker 1: and we did. We were down in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: numerous times and found ways to win and at the
Speaker 1: end of the games be an offensive player defensive play
Speaker 1: and that was our that was our secret to success.
Speaker 1: Certainly some tense moments. I remember the Seattle game, the
Speaker 1: Oakland game, that Kansas City Classic and Week six team
Speaker 1: was definitely one of the more fun Dolphins games in
Speaker 1: recent memory. You did mention that Houston game that one
Speaker 1: broke my heart chat because Andrea Johnson made like a
Speaker 1: twenty yard reception on it was like fourth and eighteen
Speaker 1: and he went over two defenders and pulled it down.
Speaker 1: It was like, Okay, I guess he's he just gotta
Speaker 1: tip your hat sometimes. But you know, at least we
Speaker 1: got back to where we won the rest of the
Speaker 1: games and and made the playoffs and won the division.
Speaker 1: Very fun, very exciting year. Now we talk about Chad
Speaker 1: Pennington the player of the quarterback, but how about Chad
Speaker 1: Pennington in your life right now? You're the head coach
Speaker 1: at Sayer School football teams? That did I say that right? Correct?
Speaker 1: We were able to establish a single a varsity program
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eighteen and start this program from scratch. Um,
Speaker 1: it hadn't had footballs nineteen seventy six, the year I
Speaker 1: was born, and so we were able to go in
Speaker 1: and start this program. We're moving into a our third
Speaker 1: year this year, full ten game varsity schedule with the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Excited about that. Uh, And I just really loved the
Speaker 1: small school environment where our student athletes can play multiple sports.
Speaker 1: They're not forced to or be pigeonholed to specialize. And
Speaker 1: so a lot of our coaches we share athletes and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, my son is playing. My oldest son, Cole
Speaker 1: is playing. He's a current sophomore, and I have two
Speaker 1: more sons coming up. And so it's been very challenging,
Speaker 1: um because football is about fourth on the list while
Speaker 1: you're trying to raise money for bleachers and equipment and
Speaker 1: all these different things. But at the same time, it's
Speaker 1: been very rewarding because the school and it's student athletes
Speaker 1: who have never even played a sport number one or
Speaker 1: never played football, didn't realize what football could do for
Speaker 1: a community, and it's provided that community spirit. It's also
Speaker 1: provided a sense of brotherhood for a lot of our
Speaker 1: male student athletes that they would have not experienced otherwise.
Speaker 1: And so that's been that's been what's most rewarding. The
Speaker 1: kids pretty pretty well aware of your football history and
Speaker 1: your career, Like do they give you some back and
Speaker 1: forth sometimes or like you know, you're like, hey, I
Speaker 1: could have hit that throw. Uh, They'll they'll come up
Speaker 1: with something they found on Google, either to brag about
Speaker 1: me or most of the time joke with me about.
Speaker 1: For instance, the eminem video of me dancing at practice
Speaker 1: in two thousand and ten with the Dolphins. That's one
Speaker 1: that is one that surfaces a lot, but they love
Speaker 1: to rib me a little bit about that. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, I think that what's most important that
Speaker 1: they see is that I care about them, um that
Speaker 1: it's it's truly about them and their football experience and
Speaker 1: how we can use the game of football as a
Speaker 1: platform to develop them as young men. I had my
Speaker 1: time in the sun, that's over. Now want them to
Speaker 1: shine and that's what I focus on. That's that's really cool, Chad.
Speaker 1: I'd be remised by to ask you, though you mentioned
Speaker 1: you love the small town one a football program, there
Speaker 1: any aspirations to maybe make a career in coaching and
Speaker 1: kind of go up the ranks. I will never say never,
Speaker 1: but right now, no aspirations. I enjoy high school football.
Speaker 1: I grew up on a Friday night bus with my father,
Speaker 1: who coached for thirty years in high school, and so
Speaker 1: I enjoy that level. I think it's a level that
Speaker 1: you can really focus in on setting a foundation for
Speaker 1: young men and for a young man and and focus
Speaker 1: on them. And so that's that's what I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: right now. But we'll see. Uh. I do know the
Speaker 1: grind of college and pro coaching. It's something that I'm
Speaker 1: not really interested in. I put in that grind for
Speaker 1: eleven years, and my family deserves me too. They deserve
Speaker 1: to have me at home and be with them. So
Speaker 1: that's what I'm trying to do. That's a perfect answer,
Speaker 1: and I think we all can agree that the singer
Speaker 1: football gets back and life gets back to normal, We're
Speaker 1: all going to be much happier and much better off.
Speaker 1: He is Chad pen Ington, Dolphins quarterback from two thousand
Speaker 1: eight to two thousand ten. Chad, this was awesome, man.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. You gotta thank you. And so
Speaker 1: there he goes Chad Pennington, the Dolphins quarterback for that
Speaker 1: magical two thousand eight season, and of course the quarterback
Speaker 1: for that Wildcat game. Check out the website Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: dot com. We have a written piece on this. We're
Speaker 1: gonna have video content. The chat with me and Chad
Speaker 1: was recorded video, so we'll have some of that content
Speaker 1: for you guys. And don't forget to check out the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins Virtual Draft. Sign up on Facebook today to
Speaker 1: get yourself reserved for a spot at the Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: Official Virtual Draft. Get yourself over there today. But ask
Speaker 1: for today's podcast. That is going to be my time
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Speaker 1: Until next time finds up and Williams is ni sets
Speaker 1: up as a slot receiver. Eighth play of the drive.
Speaker 1: Now Williams will shift. Look at that Ronnie Brown undie
Speaker 1: touched from the touchdown. This is reminiscent of what you
Speaker 1: saw Darren mcfatten in the Arkansas Razorbacks over the last
Speaker 1: few years that spread formason when you snap it to
Speaker 1: their running back. They faked the reverse with Ricky Williams
Speaker 1: coming around in Ronnie Brown just buries his head for
Speaker 1: coach Tony Sperano.