WEBVTT - Fins Flashback with Chad Pennington and the 2008 Wildcat Game 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:09.800 Factors, Patrick drawing, what a win for this Miami Dolphin team. Wow, 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:15.280 What is up? Dolphins? And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:19.720 part of the Miami Dolphins official podcast network, covering your 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:23.759 Miami Dolphins each and every day. How's it going everybody? 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:26.239 I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and I am here 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:29.840 to bring you your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football. 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:32.760 And on today's show, the kid and me is excited 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:35.400 right now when you're flashing it back to two thousand 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:39.560 eight and the implementation of the wildcat offense, that famed game, 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:42.840 the two thousand eight victory over the New England Patriots 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:45.680 that sparked in eleven and three finish to that season 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:48.720 and an a FC East Crown where you're gonna talk 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.800 to two thousand eight m v P runner up Dolphins 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:55.480 quarterback Chad Pennington on his thoughts on that game on 0:00:55.520 --> 0:01:02.120 this Friday, April, the seventeenth edition of the Drivetime podcasts. 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:05.720 Off the lead of the show, you heard me talk 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.800 about being an excited kid back in the day of 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:11.959 that two thousand eight game, watching the Dolphins just run 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:14.480 rough shot over the New England Patriots for a big 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:18.120 blowout victory. In week three of that two thousand eight season, 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:21.040 and really going into that game, the Dolphins were owing 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:23.760 to the initial game of that season against the New 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:26.400 York Jets, a home game was a close one and 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:28.720 one the Dolphins had a chance to pull out late. 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:31.200 It didn't happen that way. And then week two you 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:34.120 go to Arizona and that game wasn't even close. So 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:36.840 you head into the Week three game thinking maybe this 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:39.440 could be a game even without Tom Brady, that the 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:41.280 Dolphins don't have much of a chance to get a 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:43.920 w in. I don't think many fans were expecting a 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:47.000 positive outcome that day, but my goodness, was that the 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:50.280 wrong mentality. One of the most memorable games since the 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:53.360 turn of the century for this organization. And I know 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:55.360 I said that I was a kid during that game, 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:58.559 but I was twenty years old, so maybe not too young, 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:00.840 but this game tends to bring out the kid and 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:03.560 all of us, and none better than that Wildcat game 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:07.000 just watching Miami score touchdown after touchdown. And one of 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:10.080 my favorite anecdotes from that game. My brother at the 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.400 time was going to Washington State University at the Pullman 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:16.480 campus in our hometown was about two hours away, so 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:19.480 he would drive down every Sunday to watch the Dolphins 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.079 with me, and we were both in the same fantasy 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:25.480 football league. And on balance, this trade we made wound 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.040 up being pretty even that year. But I'll never forget 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:30.919 the trade because of what happened on that Sunday. I 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:34.920 gave him Kurt Warner and Ladiny and Tomlinson, and he 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:37.920 gave me Ronnie Brown and Aaron Rodgers. I was buying 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:40.840 that Roger Stock early on in his career, just his 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.840 second year starting at that point, I believe. And again, 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.160 on balance, the trade wound up being pretty even by 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.919 the end of the fantasy football season. But not on 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:52.040 that Sunday, Man, I had Ronnie Brown five touchdowns and 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:55.800 cruised to victory, one of my favorite games in Dolphins memory. 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:58.320 And who better to come on the podcast here on 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.440 the Drivetime podcast and tell us about that warm fall 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:04.520 day in Foxboro that turned into an absolute route and 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:07.280 sparked in eleven and three finish en route to an 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:11.240 a f C East title. Then quarterback Chad Pennington, and 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:14.480 joining the podcast now is the Dolphins quarterback and m 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:16.760 v P runner up for the two thousand eight season, 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:21.440 Chad Pennington. Chad, thanks for jumping on here with me, man, absolutely, 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:23.760 thanks for having me. First off, I gotta ask you 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:26.040 because it's kind of a crazy time right now. Everything's 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:28.280 kind of up in the air of sports and otherwise. 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:30.600 How are you doing? How's the family you guys staying 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:35.280 safe during the sheltering place. We are extremely blessed to 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:37.760 be on a small farm here in Lessening, Entucky, and 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:41.920 so we do have our space and social distancing intact. 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:44.960 I think our biggest challenge for Robin and me would 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:47.920 be at the homeschooling aspect of school. We have three boys, 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:50.960 and so trying to get all three boys through a 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:54.000 home school day is quite the challenge. What's your what's 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:55.960 your go to subject? When you're kind of struggling, you 0:03:56.040 --> 0:04:00.440 have like a certain thing you fall back on. Ye, Well, 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.240 right now fifth grade is really challenging me. And science. 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.760 We're doing a roller coaster lab. We're writing fantasy stories 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.960 and language arts. We are studying World War two and 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.760 social studies, and so yeah, I'm being challenged. I feel 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:15.920 like I'm going to fifth grade all over again. So 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.480 it's like, is Chad Pennington smarter than a fifth grader? 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:23.839 Exactly exactly? Sometimes I feel that I am sometimes I 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:28.040 feel that I'm not well. That's all great either way, Chat, 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:31.000 that's that's too good. Before we get into this football 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:33.440 game itself, I wanted to ask you a hard pivot 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.480 here personally about that season for you, because you started 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:40.919 all seventeen games, sixty seven point four percent completion, nineteen touchdowns, 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:44.279 just seven picks, seven point seven yards per attempt, three thousand, 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:46.920 six hundred fifty three yards and a pass. The rating 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:50.000 of ninety seven point four at a time we're getting 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:52.480 near the one hundred mark was really in the elite class, 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:54.880 and of course that was recognized by finishing second in 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:57.560 the MVP voting that year for you. So Chad, with 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.200 that said, I've always said this sports write better scripts 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:03.839 than any fiction possibly can, and your story is case 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.600 in point. With the two thousand eight Miami Dolphins released 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:09.400 by the Jets. Signed with Miami, and the schedule is 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:12.240 sets up perfectly with Booke end games against your new 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:14.479 rival and X team, the New York Jets. Let's go 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:16.560 ahead and start there at the beginning. What was that 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.080 like for you to kind of kind of get blindsided 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.600 in the month of August, just one month from the season, 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:25.960 and then wind up back in the a f C East, Well, 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:29.960 things had been ramping up, so to speak, with either 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:34.960 trade talk or release talk, throughout the training camp process 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.200 in the in the first part of training camp with 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:41.359 the Jets, and so although you still deal with the 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:45.560 shock factor, um, some of that had been removed because 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.320 it was a little bit to be expected. And so 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:52.239 I served eight years there with the Jets and felt 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.680 like I had given it my all, and part of 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:58.120 me was saying I probably did need a change of scenery. 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:00.880 And so when the release happened the night before the 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:05.360 first preseason game in Cleveland, Ohio, I was upset. I 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:09.159 had been having a really good training camp. I thought 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:10.919 that our team with the Jets was going to be 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:13.080 a playoff contender, and I wanted to be a part 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.840 of that. But at the same time, I felt like 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:17.719 the whole weight of the world was lifted off of 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:21.159 my shoulders because it could no longer be Chad Pennington's 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:26.159 fault in New York. So the next three days I've 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:30.200 always said I was probably the happiest unemployed man in 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:33.480 the NFL, just looking for a place to go, and 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:37.680 fortunately for me, Miami gave me the opportunity to be 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.360 a starter once again. I still had to prove myself, 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:42.919 but at least I knew I was going into a 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:46.200 situation that it was completely wide open, and I really 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.279 relished in that fact and knew that I had a 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.400 chance to be a starter once again. How big of 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:54.360 a challenge was it for you to come into, like 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:56.640 you mentioned a court about competition where you did have 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:59.479 to prove yourself and basically learning a whole new system, 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:04.120 a whole new game, and like you said, four weeks time, well, 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.159 it certainly was a challenge. I was fortunate enough in 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:11.200 being drafted by Bill Parcels with the Jets in two thousand, 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:15.400 having Dan Henning as my coordinator as a rookie. As 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:17.800 a matter of fact, I took my rookie playbook with 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:19.600 me on the plane as I was flying down to 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:23.440 Miami on Saturday to be with the team for their 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:28.320 opening preseason game against Tampa Bay, and so I had 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.400 some familiarity at least with how coach Sprano would run 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:35.800 the program, knowing that Dan and Bill were both involved. However, 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:37.920 there's still a lot of changes, and Tony wanted to 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:42.760 do certain things offensively, so quarterback coach David Lee and 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:46.960 I really started the process early Sunday morning after the 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.120 first preseason game, and after about two to three hours 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.080 we started at six o'clock in the morning. After about 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:56.920 two to three hours, I looked at David. I said, uh, Coach, 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.760 you want me to run with the ones tomorrow? Correct? 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:04.040 He said yes, And I said, well, I need to 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:06.720 be ready for tomorrow's practice. Correct. Yes, you need to 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.640 be ready for tomorrow's practice. I said, well, I think 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.680 instead of worrying about the logistics of the basics of 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:16.240 the offense, let's go straight to the scripts. And so 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:20.480 from then on I actually learned the Dolphins system through 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:22.880 practice scripts, knowing that I had to be ready for 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:26.760 practice and let's just phocus on the immediate goal of 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:28.680 being ready for practice. And that's how I began to 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:31.200 learn the system. Right, Because if you're not up to speed, 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:33.240 and the rest of the entire program kind of has 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:37.000 to catch up to you, right, Well, what happens is 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:39.839 what you learned quickly is that if the quarterback is 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:43.720 not ready to practice every day mentally and physically, the 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.120 offensive part of practice is horrible. It does not go 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:51.679 well at all. Everything is dictated by the quarterback. The 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.320 checks that he makes, the snap counts that he uses, 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:59.000 the plays that he um executes, is all centered around 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.480 the quarterback. And so for an offensive team to have 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:05.800 success in practice and feel good about us production and improvement, 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:08.600 the quarterback has to be ready to go. And so 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:10.720 that was the way the season began. Obviously a bit 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:12.400 of a rush to get things going, but by the 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:15.200 end of the year it really ended as perfectly as 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:17.920 I could have. Towards the regular season finale, Dolphins and 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:20.320 Jets playing for a spot in the postseason, and you 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:22.240 go out there and you did what you did all year, 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:26.199 Chad se completion of that game two yards, pair of touchdowns, 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:29.040 no picks, but also the win, obviously the biggest one. 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:32.000 That's the sweetest part. And twelve years after the fact, 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:36.280 how sweet was that vindication for you? Well, it was 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:39.280 really sweet. And like you said earlier, it's just the 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.480 way that sports would write the script. Um. The first 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:46.439 game against the Jets was pure emotion. I probably had 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:50.520 no business playing quarterback because I was emotionally attached to 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:54.040 the whole situation. No one likes to get fired and 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.360 so it never feels good. But by the end of 0:09:56.360 --> 0:10:01.160 the season, there are sixteen games in between in it 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:05.439 was strictly about making NFL history. The emotion have decided, 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:08.960 and I was really excited about helping lead this young 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:12.720 team to an a f C East Division title and 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:15.720 making NFL history, going from one in fifteen to eleven 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:19.360 and five that that was just a fun time to 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.360 be in Miami Dolphin, and for me as a veteran, 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:25.800 it was really fun to help lead a bunch of 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:29.720 really young players. We had six players over the age 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:32.680 of thirty. Only I was one of those six. The 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:35.480 rest of them were really really young, and so to 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:40.160 be able to provide some leadership um and some experience 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.000 to what we were trying to do was very gratifying. 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:44.960 And it did take a couple of weeks for that 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:47.800 dream season to really get off the runway. They're tough 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:50.640 loss in the opener, a really bad loss in Arizona 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.520 week number two, and we know the story, the basics 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:56.080 of the story about the Wildcat kind of getting introduced 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:58.800 David Lee on the team plane. But I'm curious to 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:02.080 get your perspective because the quarterback obviously going to a package. 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:04.280 I'm sure the offensive line was like, yeah, hell yeah, 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:06.280 let's go ahead and do this run the football from 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.000 the quarterbacks perspective, What was it like when you were 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:13.960 kind of pitched the idea of this wildcat wildcat package. Well, 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:17.560 Wildcat was developed out of necessity. We could not run 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:20.280 the ball very well at all in the first two games, 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:25.600 had no success at the line of scrimmage, established in 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:27.640 the line of scrimmage and the run game or gaining 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:29.720 any yards. And so when it was presented to me, 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:32.840 we talked about, Hey, this was gonna be a way 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.920 we're going to try to create some space in the 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:39.880 running game. And so, uh, I was not coming out 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:42.079 of the game. I was just lining up differently, and 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:45.319 for me, my perspective was what's the difference in handing 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:47.800 the ball off or is lining up at receiver and 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:50.640 watching the play, I felt like it really didn't matter. 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.240 If it gave us an advantage and we're going to 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:55.600 be able to create some space in the run game, 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:58.600 then that's going to help the pass game. The whole 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:01.240 point of it, though, was that we had to be 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:04.480 very efficient in the past game for this to work, 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.439 because when once you line up in a wildcat formation, 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:12.560 your past options are limited. Obviously, because the quarterback is 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:15.360 not in the backfield. Anymore. So we knew that we 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.160 had to be very efficient in the first and second 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.439 down passing game for this to work. And uh, that 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:25.840 week was really intense. We're owing to we were just 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:30.080 blown out by the Arizona Cardinals in Arizona. Now we're 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:33.440 going to play the New England Patriots, coming off of 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.280 their undefeated regular season and losing the Super Bowl to 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:40.120 the Giants. Now I do remember as having a meeting 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:44.840 on the field and just talking about listen, the Patriots 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:49.160 have just lost Tom Brady. Uh, they're going to their backup. 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:51.800 We've got something that they will not be prepared for. 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:55.000 This is our X factor. This is a great opportunity 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:57.680 for us to shock the world, and we were able 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.240 to do that. And so getting into that game, the 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.640 scoring starts, like you mentioned kind of that first play 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:04.760 where you actually dial up the Wildcat with two and 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:06.800 a half minutes left in the first quarter and a 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:09.480 two yard touchdown run by Ronnie Brown. And this was 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:11.920 after you had dialed up Anthony Fossano on a couple 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:14.520 of third down conversion. So, like you mentioned, the passing 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:16.719 game really got that whole thing going because you get 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:19.080 into the red zone through the pass and through the air. 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:21.200 Can you walk us through that first play though, the 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.040 first the first touchdown scored by Ronnie, Like, what was 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:26.640 the mood in the huddle when you gave the play call? 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:29.000 And then after Ronnie scored? What was the reaction of 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:33.000 the Patriots defense? Well, I think the best part about 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:36.800 the whole situation was the reaction from the Patriots defense. Typically, 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:40.480 when you pay a play at Patriots defense, especially when 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.320 we were playing the Patriots defense, you had Rodney Harrison, 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:49.240 Teddy Bruceski, Mike Brabel. You had great professional football players 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:53.040 that normally had an answer and a call and an 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:56.760 adjustment for everything. And I played against the Patriots up 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.720 until that point my whole career, and so I was 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:03.360 you to how we would play them as well as 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:05.880 how they react to everything. And I was used to 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:08.720 their communication and how good they were at it. And 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:11.240 this was the first time in my career that I 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:18.440 remember the field being completely silent, no communication whatsoever, um 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:23.520 eyeballs being really really big, jaws dropped because they had 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:27.600 no answer with first of all, how to line up 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:30.640 to the formation and then secondly what called to make 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:33.640 to defend it. And then on the second touchdown that 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:36.160 was not a wildcat play, if I recall correctly, was 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:38.400 just a basic pen and pull that Ronnie took it 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:40.560 to the house again. But then you come back at 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:42.560 the end of the first half and Ronnie fixed the 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:44.960 jet sweep to Ricky on this one. And do you 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:46.680 think that was kind of the moment to go up 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:51.440 six or maybe you broke their will a little bit. Well, 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:53.480 we certainly knew that we had them on the ropes. 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:58.040 Our defense was playing extremely well. We're putting pressure on 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:02.360 the quarterback, making plays in the backfield. And offensively we 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:05.920 were able to get ahead, which is something that's hard 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:07.440 to do, number one, but if you can do that 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:11.280 in Foxboro, it certainly helps you. And so we were 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:15.120 able to do that. Interestingly enough, we didn't run the wildcat. 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:18.080 People think we ran the wildcat quite a bit in 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:20.280 that game, I believe, and you don't have to Craig me. 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:22.640 I think we ran it six times, but we scored 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:26.480 five um and so it was something that was certainly 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:29.440 an X factor of something that really caused them to 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:33.800 think and to make adjustments on the sideline. And now 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:37.360 since all of their focus was on the wildcat formation, 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:41.640 our regular offense started to thrive because they couldn't put 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:45.040 a focus on that. And if that moment wasn't the backbreaker, 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:49.080 it's certainly had to have been Ronnie's touchdown past five 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:50.600 and a half left to go on the third quarter, 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:53.080 once again fake the jet sweep and he finds Anthony 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:55.520 Fasano for a touchdown. That was the moment the game 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:59.360 was over, right, Well, what was unique about, first of 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.320 all the wild that formation? First of all, it really 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:07.040 fit Ricky's running style with the jet suite, and it 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:10.640 fit Ronnie's running style with him being the wildcat quarterback. 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:14.320 Because as a wildcat quarterback, you have to be patient. 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.320 You can't just hit the hole once you catch the ball. 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.080 You have to be patient and let the play develop 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:23.720 because you forget that there's some time that elapses from 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:26.480 a quarterback receiving the snap and handing it to the 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:30.040 running back conventionally, so in a wildcat formason the Wildcat 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:33.280 quarterback has to buy that time before he hits the hole. 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:37.360 It fits Ronnie's running style perfectly. Then you add on 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:40.200 onto that that Ronnie is left handed and so to 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:42.400 be able to run a bootleg to the left, which 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:46.560 defenses don't see a whole lot with the Wildcat quarterback. 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:48.880 That was like the ic scene on the cake to say, 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:51.160 we've got something that no one else in the league has. 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:55.680 It fits our personnel, Kudos to our offensive staff to 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:59.000 have the courage to install this, and then kudos to 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.120 Dan Henning for and to run it and running it successfully, 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:05.280 and it just became something that we built energy and 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.800 momentum off of. But no doubt, once we hit the 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.439 touchdown pass, we knew that the game was was in 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:14.239 our hands and all we had to do was make 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:16.600 sure we did not screw it up. At that point, 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:19.720 you mentioned the left handed running back throwing the football. 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:21.640 We had Jarvis Landry here a couple of years ago, 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:23.960 same story. I remember when he first threw the through 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:25.600 the football, we were like, oh, we didn't We didn't 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:27.480 know he was left handed. When did you know that 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:30.000 Ronnie was left handed? Like? Did it happen the first 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:32.119 time he ran it and practiced? Like, Okay, now I 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:33.720 realized he can throw the ball with his left hand. 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:37.040 I knew he was left handed, I didn't know how 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:39.560 well he could throw the ball. And he could throw it, 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:41.800 I mean he could, he could zip it and uh 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:44.159 had accuracy with it. Knew where he wanted to go 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.000 with the ball. It wasn't just a prayer or Hell 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:50.159 Mary type of pass. It was on point and I 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:52.879 was running a corner there on the bootleg. That's a 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.160 hard pass to make on the run, and you had 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.720 a running back make it rolling out to his left, 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:01.120 uh and just throws it dime for down. I joked 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:03.160 about this before you came on, Chad, that I had 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.560 traded for Ronnie Brown in my fantasy league right before 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:08.600 that game, So I was thrilled throwing or running either way. 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:10.879 It made made for a very good fantasy Sunday for me. 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:12.760 But I wanted to ask you, maybe this is kind 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.239 of redundant because you touched on this earlier about not 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:17.320 caring whether or not you're in the backfield handing it 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:19.879 off or lining up out wide as a receiver in 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:22.440 formation when they run the football. But there's a great 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:24.879 shot on the broadcast version of the game of you 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:28.480 throwing a really emphatic fist pump after that touchdown. Is 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:32.560 that kind of when when when that play call came in, Like, 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.560 obviously you're not upset because you're destroying the Patriots right now, 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:37.640 but when the call goes in for a running back 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:39.560 to throw the ball. Are you kind of like, hey, man, 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:44.479 that's that's my job. I'm not. That's just not my nature. 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:47.800 I Football is a team game, and if you're not 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:52.000 excited when the team does well, you need to change sports. 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:54.840 You need to play tennis or golf or something like that. 0:18:55.720 --> 0:18:58.840 To me, it's all about how we do as a team. 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:02.480 Those guys sack of fights for me every down, blocking, 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:06.440 catching balls, doing all the little dirty things. I can 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:09.359 sacrifice the testdown pass for the success of our team 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:11.800 and to win a football game. And that's that was 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:15.919 my mindset. And I just I feel like that because 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:20.080 I had that mindset, the team bought into what we 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:23.840 were doing from a Wildcat perspective. If I was going 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:26.320 to be negative about the Wildcat I don't think it 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:29.880 would have worked as effectively because you've got your quarterback, 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:34.159 your leader down plane or being negative about part of 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:35.919 your system that you're trying to make work and you're 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:39.119 trying to win a game. So the whole perception is 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:42.520 really really important to the reality of trying to execute 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:45.040 the Wildcat system. We've got Chad Pennington here on the 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:47.960 Drive Time Podcast with Travis Wingfield on the Miami Dolphins 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:51.560 Official podcast network on Your Fence Flashback two thousand eight 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:55.200 Wildcat game, And I always say, first of all, Chat, 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:57.520 I think that that kind of leadership that you exude 0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:59.560 really played a big part of the team winning eleven 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:01.960 of the fine fourteen games that you're going to the 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:03.600 a f C East or winning the a f C East, 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:05.280 I should say, but I always say that one of 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:07.639 the things that was forgotten about in that game was 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:10.159 how sharp you were. And we talked about the opening 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:12.520 drive getting things going through the air, but you finished 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:16.920 the game seventeen six yards just on time, on target, 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.439 and rhythm all game long. Going into that week, as 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:22.359 far as the passing game was concerned, did you have 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:25.159 an idea based upon what you saw in film that 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:30.560 you'd have a chance to kind of feast on that defense. Well, always, 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.160 when you play the Patriots, you've got to be very 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:38.040 careful of trying to take too much and be too greedy, 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:40.440 and so early in the game, I wanted to make 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.600 sure that we were able to establish some rhythm with 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:48.080 some completions, with moving the chains, really get my guys 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:51.920 into the flow of the game and then be able 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:54.600 to pierce them vertically, and we were able to do 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:57.560 that later on in the game, hitting some scenes down 0:20:57.600 --> 0:20:59.760