Speaker 1: Welcome to Special Teams, a production of My Heart Radio
Speaker 1: Greetings and Welcome inside Special Teams with Jason Smith and
Speaker 1: Mike Harmon, our podcast that takes a look every week
Speaker 1: back at a specific team, a specific year in sports history,
Speaker 1: and the imprint they leave on the world of sports.
Speaker 1: We go through football, baseball, basketball. We had a big
Speaker 1: Christmas one not too long ago that we went through
Speaker 1: Hollia sorry holiday holiday, holiday holiday one. And today we
Speaker 1: stick in the National Football League by looking back at
Speaker 1: the year that was the two thousand Baltimore Ravens, a
Speaker 1: season that started with a cloud of uncertainty and controversy
Speaker 1: and ended with a debate. Maybe this might be the
Speaker 1: best defense that we have ever seen in the NFL.
Speaker 1: I know that's very difficult for you. I know, I know,
Speaker 1: I know, any buddy, buddy, I know, I know. I
Speaker 1: have a list of people that will agree with me. Okay,
Speaker 1: your members and your brothers and people who lived in
Speaker 1: Chicago don't count. I have a petition. I think that
Speaker 1: I made sure before we talked about the Ravens that
Speaker 1: I got a petition. I loaded up. I got Isabel
Speaker 1: from down the street. She's very unhappy about this. I
Speaker 1: got a lot of people who live right outside Wrigley
Speaker 1: Field upset about this. Now they're Cup fans, I don't
Speaker 1: have them, oh well, but but I actually know there's
Speaker 1: a great bar community there, so I can really get
Speaker 1: a lot of signatures as there. We're hitting the final
Speaker 1: call at two in the morning, all right, So I
Speaker 1: just want to make sure that you all rally around
Speaker 1: the Bears. I mean, you know, it's the South side
Speaker 1: for the White Sox. Oh no, everybody rallies around the Bears. Alright,
Speaker 1: very good. Okay, So with that in mind, we'll get
Speaker 1: to the debate coming up later on by podcast. But
Speaker 1: the year for the two thousand Baltimore Ravens began under
Speaker 1: a cloud of incredible controversy as Ray Lewis, star linebacker,
Speaker 1: was involved in a murder charge January thirty one of
Speaker 1: two thousand, following of the Super Bowl thirty four party
Speaker 1: in Atlanta. This is when the Rams beat the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 1: A fight broke out between Louis and his companions another
Speaker 1: group of people that resulted in the stabbing deaths of
Speaker 1: two people just since Baker and Richard Lawler. Lewis and
Speaker 1: his two companions Reginald Oakley Joseph Sweeting were questioned by
Speaker 1: Atlanta police, and eleven days later they were indicted on
Speaker 1: murder and aggravated assault charges. This fight occurred in the
Speaker 1: Buckhead Village neighborhood, which is the big downtown area in
Speaker 1: Atlanta that has seen a lot of activity. The white
Speaker 1: suit that ray Lewis was wearing the night of the
Speaker 1: killings has never been found. The d A said the
Speaker 1: blood stained suit was probably dumped in a garbage bin
Speaker 1: outside of fast food restaurant. There was a knife found
Speaker 1: at the scene, no fingerprints or DNA on it. Lewis
Speaker 1: subsequently testified that Oakley and Sweeting had bought knives earlier
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl week when Lewis was signing autographs,
Speaker 1: and the blood of one of the victims was found
Speaker 1: inside of ray Lewis's limousine. Two weeks into the trial,
Speaker 1: ray Lewis reached a plea agreement in which the murder
Speaker 1: charge was dismissed in exchange for his testimony against Oakley
Speaker 1: and Sweeting. He wound up getting a year's probation, also
Speaker 1: fine two fifty thousand dollars by the NFL, which was
Speaker 1: then probably the highest fine levied against someone for something
Speaker 1: that wasn't involving drugs or or something else like that.
Speaker 1: So now ray Lewis is okay to play football. Oakley
Speaker 1: and Sweeting were acquitted of the charges in June. No
Speaker 1: other suspects were ever arrested for the incident. This is
Speaker 1: something that is very high profile that everybody knows about
Speaker 1: this ray Lewis story. What I can't believe is that
Speaker 1: this happened and ray Lewis was allowed to play in
Speaker 1: the NFL this season. He was involved in a murder charge,
Speaker 1: he negotiated a plea agreement. All of this evidence was
Speaker 1: out there, and this is back when Paul Tagley was
Speaker 1: running the NFL and it was hey, whatever you whatever
Speaker 1: you do, but you can still play on Sundays. I
Speaker 1: can't believe that he was allowed to play in the
Speaker 1: NFL to go right back to play, because if that
Speaker 1: happened now, he'd be out of the league for at
Speaker 1: least a couple I'd like to think the NFL would say, hey,
Speaker 1: you're out of the league for a couple of years
Speaker 1: because there's protect the Shield, and there's hey, guys who
Speaker 1: were killed, their blood is in your limousine. What was
Speaker 1: your involvement in this, which we never know. We have
Speaker 1: never known. Even the relatives of the two victims say
Speaker 1: it's hard to watch ray Lewis, hard to watch him
Speaker 1: play football because he knows more about these deaths, and
Speaker 1: no one's ever said anything. I can't believe they would
Speaker 1: have allowed him to play different NFL under Roger Goodell,
Speaker 1: it's a much different time and if nothing else, you
Speaker 1: go on the exempt list and there you sit. I
Speaker 1: mean part of this is also, look how swiftly it
Speaker 1: got resolved in terms of getting to a plea agreement. Right.
Speaker 1: It happened in an off season, so he was able
Speaker 1: to get back in. I not often do you have
Speaker 1: a case move so swiftly either, So I mean that
Speaker 1: that's kind of an outlier in that regard. But from
Speaker 1: the NFL perspective undertag lebou and that's just the way
Speaker 1: they operated, you know, it was as long as you're
Speaker 1: literally on the field, suited up and ready to go,
Speaker 1: it didn't matter. And that was one of the things
Speaker 1: as Goodell took over, trying to clean it up. Hasn't
Speaker 1: been imperfect, absolutely hasn't been an unmitigated disaster in certain circumstances,
Speaker 1: no question about it. But there was at least an
Speaker 1: attempt too, and I hate the term, but protect the
Speaker 1: shield to where there is some standard, some code of conduct, uh,
Speaker 1: to where you're you're held to at least a bit
Speaker 1: of a higher standard with this, I mean. And it's
Speaker 1: always bad, right. It remains something that if you watch
Speaker 1: any NFL show that Ray Lewis is part of, you're
Speaker 1: gonna see commentary on social media about it. Just like
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of Captain c for a Pro Bowl,
Speaker 1: you have Michael Vick, you know, for for the season.
Speaker 1: It's the same thing or for the Pro Bowl when
Speaker 1: it's actually played, but just that same idea that these
Speaker 1: things still stand and people wanting to get to an
Speaker 1: answer but also trying to figure out where that fandom stops.
Speaker 1: He's allowed to play, he goes back and he has
Speaker 1: one of the great all time seasons in NFL history,
Speaker 1: which also I think bears a lot of the brunt
Speaker 1: of boy nothing ever really happened to this guy, because
Speaker 1: not only was he able to go back and play,
Speaker 1: but he goes back and plays is he leads his
Speaker 1: team to the super Bowl. It's one of the great
Speaker 1: defenses of all time. And here's ray Lewis a year
Speaker 1: after Hey, dude, you were involved in a in a
Speaker 1: murder to hey, I'm going to Disney World. You know
Speaker 1: that that's a very difficult optic to be able to
Speaker 1: go from one year to the next. And hey, he
Speaker 1: was all we talked about for a while and then
Speaker 1: it was oh no, now he's playing and now he's
Speaker 1: a hero. Didn't Trent Jifer actually got to do they
Speaker 1: I'm going to Disney World tech But yeah, they didn't
Speaker 1: go to ray Lewis part. But the whole thing wasted.
Speaker 1: Celebrated DP to Bonham and and especially because this has
Speaker 1: become such an historic team. So all this is going on,
Speaker 1: the Ravens are getting set for their season and they
Speaker 1: make two big moves, one in draft and one in
Speaker 1: free agency. They signed Shannon Sharp to play tight end
Speaker 1: and they draft running back Jamal Lewis out of Tennessee.
Speaker 1: Brian Billick, the offensive genius that he was, was hired
Speaker 1: away from the Minnesota Vikings in his second year now
Speaker 1: with the Baltimore Ravens, and it's kind of odd that
Speaker 1: he winds up being a guy that wins the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: He was an offensive genius and he wins on the
Speaker 1: back of one of the greatest defenses ever and an
Speaker 1: offense that barely scored enough points over the course of
Speaker 1: the sea. And that's that's such an odd thing for
Speaker 1: a coach to come in and go, yep, it's me.
Speaker 1: My offense is coming in. This is what we're gonna do,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna light the world on fire. And it no, no, no,
Speaker 1: it's it's really the defense and defensive coordinator Rex Ryan,
Speaker 1: who is gonna wind up being the guy getting most
Speaker 1: of the credit. Well, that's it. I mean, you had
Speaker 1: five games where you didn't score an offensive touchdown, as
Speaker 1: we'll go through the regular season and their run to
Speaker 1: the playoffs, but five games without a an offensive touchdown.
Speaker 1: You got Trent Dilfer under center. Wide receivers most couldn't
Speaker 1: name any member of that receiving corps except for Shannon
Speaker 1: Sharpe that's Hall of Fame tight end. And then you've
Speaker 1: got Jamal Lewis and a young guy named Priest Holmes
Speaker 1: getting after it. So you know, offensively, you had a
Speaker 1: couple of guys who made their mark and certainly want
Speaker 1: a number of fantasy titles for people both in in
Speaker 1: Ravens uniforms and out. But yeah, Brian Billick knew what
Speaker 1: he had. You know, run the ball, played good defense,
Speaker 1: and do what you can to protect the football. So
Speaker 1: all those are your quote offensive weapons. Also included Jermaine Lewis,
Speaker 1: who we're gonna get to in a bit, Brandon Stokely.
Speaker 1: That star studded defense. It wasn't just Ray Lewis. It
Speaker 1: was Sam Adams and Rob Burnett and Michael McCrary, Tony Sira, Goose,
Speaker 1: Dahlias Thomas, Peter Bullware, Dwayne Starks, Chris McAllister, Rod Woodson
Speaker 1: the secondary. And when you look and see these were
Speaker 1: the guys they had, it really kind of makes sense
Speaker 1: they had that kind of season because you would expect
Speaker 1: to succeed when you have eight guys of that caliber
Speaker 1: playing and you're starting a Hall of famers, pro perennial
Speaker 1: Pro Bowlers, guys who went on to great careers in
Speaker 1: media because of their celebrity and their success with the
Speaker 1: this team and rolling through their NFL careers. I mean,
Speaker 1: you just go back and watch, just do yourself a
Speaker 1: favor of a quip a couple of quick YouTube highlight
Speaker 1: videos and watch how these guys hit It's a different
Speaker 1: NFL in because this was still a bit of the
Speaker 1: throwback and a couple of those names you mentioned when
Speaker 1: you have Obviously we talked about Ray Lewis, but when
Speaker 1: you get into the way, you know Woodson played or
Speaker 1: or Sharper at the other linebacker position. I mean, you've
Speaker 1: got guys that were heavy hitters and really set the
Speaker 1: tone for a game on that first possession. So while
Speaker 1: the Ravens are getting set for what they hope is
Speaker 1: going to be a great year, let's take a look
Speaker 1: at some other things that happened in the year two thousands.
Speaker 1: Back when Conan O'Brien was on TV a lot and
Speaker 1: everybody watched him kind of a big deal, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean now, the whole TBS thing, But back
Speaker 1: when you know he was Conan O'Brien was whoa Conan O'Brien.
Speaker 1: He was that guy that was writing for the Simpsons,
Speaker 1: and everybody was excited about leaves and a the Y
Speaker 1: two K bug was all the rage. Remember, everybody thought
Speaker 1: every all machinery in the United States was gonna go down.
Speaker 1: When we turned the calendar from two thousand, I lost
Speaker 1: three days of my life being locked in the Yahoo
Speaker 1: facility in case something really bad really did happen. I
Speaker 1: got a lot of free meals out of here, you did,
Speaker 1: But what a miserable Hey, you gotta be there, why this?
Speaker 1: Because if it goes to hell, we've got to be
Speaker 1: there to fix it. The Florida election recount, which then
Speaker 1: spawned an HBO movie as we didn't know who was
Speaker 1: going to win the election between Al Gore and President
Speaker 1: George Bush. Gladiator. One best picture that when Russell Crowe
Speaker 1: was like the Star, the beautiful mind and Gladiator, that
Speaker 1: was like his two or three year run of being
Speaker 1: He's the biggest star in the world. And now Joaquin
Speaker 1: Phoenix laughs at him and you stab me, And now
Speaker 1: I have a We sequalize that in uh, you know,
Speaker 1: the Afterlife sequelized Gladiator. Gladiator too. In The Afterlife done
Speaker 1: the most popular song of the year, Breathe. Faith Hill
Speaker 1: had to run of being the hottest woman on the
Speaker 1: planet for a little while, and she was waiting all
Speaker 1: day for Sunday night. That's that's you better get ready
Speaker 1: and I her whole tight yeah, And I celebrate all
Speaker 1: of Tim McGraw's catalog and and obviously they've been aread forever.
Speaker 1: So that's great. Breathe again and breathe again. Now that's
Speaker 1: that's a song, isn't it. I can hear you breathe.
Speaker 1: I can hear you breathe logic and I don't remember
Speaker 1: all the lyrics, but it's not yours breathe, a different
Speaker 1: breathe again. You're channeling somebody else. I can hear you breathe.
Speaker 1: I can feel you need Yeah, Okay, that's the breathe.
Speaker 1: There's a there's a couple of breathe songs, and there's
Speaker 1: just just Breathe by Pearl, just that breathe. Okay, there's
Speaker 1: that too. Okay. So that's where we are in the
Speaker 1: year two thousand. Coming up next, the big touchdown drought
Speaker 1: a big quarterback change, and the drama continues for the
Speaker 1: Baltimore Raven Special Teams with Jason Smith in my card.
Speaker 1: All Right, you've looked it up on the computer, No,
Speaker 1: I I remember, I didn't, you know, Butcher? The song
Speaker 1: can feel no breathe because I can feel you breathe.
Speaker 1: It's washing over me and suddenly I'm mounting into you.
Speaker 1: Breathe again. There's nothing left to prove, baby to be
Speaker 1: he Well, you know what if if Faith Will ever
Speaker 1: stops doing concerts, I think you can step in fourth.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not singing full throaty. Let you know
Speaker 1: you let me go in front of a crowd. We
Speaker 1: take this show on the road. Let's get this guy
Speaker 1: in front of a crowd. Let's get it. So. The
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens start the year two thousand with three shutouts
Speaker 1: in their first five games. They blank Pittsburgh sixteen nothing,
Speaker 1: Sincinnati thirty seven nothing, Cleveland twelve nothing. In the middle
Speaker 1: of that, a big win over the Jaguars thirty six,
Speaker 1: and everything looks great. But then that's when the problems start.
Speaker 1: As you referenced earlier, the Ravens go five games without
Speaker 1: a touchdown, five games, and quarterback Tony Banks loses his
Speaker 1: job to Trent Dilfer after the loss to Tennessee. People
Speaker 1: forget Tony Banks started the season as the Ravens quarterback
Speaker 1: and he lost his job midway through to Trent Dilfor.
Speaker 1: I remember being high on Tony Banks fantasy wise going
Speaker 1: into this year, thinking, Oh, I like, Tony Banks had
Speaker 1: the big game against Jacksonville and I'm like, oh, Tony Banks,
Speaker 1: Tony Banks. I remember really liking him in fantasy, and
Speaker 1: then he lost the job, and it was what Tony
Speaker 1: Banks has done well, some of the metrics we didn't
Speaker 1: we didn't look at necessarily the same way back then.
Speaker 1: Fifty four point seven percent completion rate. That wasn't awful, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a different and that was kind of
Speaker 1: all right, that's the middle of the pack, or maybe
Speaker 1: a little below, but certainly not the train wreck it
Speaker 1: would be perceived as now as you know, when so
Speaker 1: many guys completing two thirds of their passes, as you
Speaker 1: get more of the tight end running backs involved and
Speaker 1: and less shots down field. But eight touchdowns, eight and
Speaker 1: receptions had the five and three record, but they weren't
Speaker 1: generating much at all as we got to this stretch, uh,
Speaker 1: not moving the ball effectively. The run game obviously then
Speaker 1: bogs down, and now you've got a self fulfilling just
Speaker 1: a cycle and that happens, and you make the change.
Speaker 1: But I remember Tony Banks and trying to figure out
Speaker 1: whether he was going to be able to just come
Speaker 1: back and steal the job back. But the door never opened.
Speaker 1: He winds up playing against the Jaguars and beating them
Speaker 1: fifteen ten game without a touchdown. Then they lose to
Speaker 1: the Redskins ten three. They lose to the Titans fourteen six,
Speaker 1: and he came out of the game, and that was
Speaker 1: when they decided, Okay, Trent Dilford is gonna be our guy. Well,
Speaker 1: Trent Dilfor didn't like the world on fire his first start.
Speaker 1: They lost to the Steelers nine to six. So now
Speaker 1: suddenly a season that began. Look at this all world
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens defense there at the midweight point of the
Speaker 1: season five and four, and it's like, are they ever
Speaker 1: gonna score a touchdown? But that's the funny thing about it,
Speaker 1: right in that three game losing Street, they gave up
Speaker 1: thirty three points. Unfortunately they only scored fifteen. He's thinking
Speaker 1: about what what would happen now? I mean, look at
Speaker 1: what team doesn't score twenty four points in a week's
Speaker 1: offense is bugging man? You know, you know the miskick
Speaker 1: or you know this red zone opportunity, and everybody's losing
Speaker 1: their minds this type of offense in the middle of
Speaker 1: what was a promising start to a season, you're calling
Speaker 1: for heads roll. It's amazing that they were able to
Speaker 1: stick together but then after Dilfer got through that first
Speaker 1: start against Pittsburgh, the Ravens started rolling and they won games.
Speaker 1: They scored over twenty points in the next five weeks
Speaker 1: to win five in a row. They beat Arizona thirteen seven.
Speaker 1: They're eleven and four. They get to the final game
Speaker 1: of the season. They play the New York Jets. They're
Speaker 1: playing at home, and the Jets needed this game to
Speaker 1: potentially get into the playoffs. And it started off great
Speaker 1: because I remember this game. I remember the Jets scored
Speaker 1: two touchdowns in the first quarter. Testaverdi was playing really,
Speaker 1: really well, and I thought, hey, we're gonna get the
Speaker 1: Ravens here. The Ravens were unbeatable after they solved their
Speaker 1: mid season problems because they beat everybody. And now Trent
Speaker 1: Dilfer's putting points on the board. We're gonna get them.
Speaker 1: We're up fourteen nothing. Well, but look at the points again. Happened, Yeah,
Speaker 1: points against Once they started getting things together, seven a
Speaker 1: narrow victory over Tennessee Dallas zero points allowed, seven points
Speaker 1: allowed to the Browns, sending the bye week, and then
Speaker 1: they come back San Diego beat them three, give up
Speaker 1: seven to the Cardinals and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you've got Diedrich Warren and Richie Anderson running free, and
Speaker 1: he's like, wait a minute, what's going on here? You
Speaker 1: had turnovers by the Jets. You had Jermaine Lewis returning
Speaker 1: a kick for a touchdown, which was one of the
Speaker 1: other storylines of the season that people don't really remember
Speaker 1: when it comes to this Ravens because when you look
Speaker 1: at the nuts and bolts, it's okay, it's the Ray
Speaker 1: Lewis murder trial, it's the great defense. Oh yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: They had trouble scoring. Trent Dilford was the quarterback. But
Speaker 1: as good as their defense was, their special teams were phenomenal,
Speaker 1: and Jermaine Lewis and one of the all time great
Speaker 1: seasons returning kicks for them. They relied on him and
Speaker 1: Jamal Lewis to do everything for that offense. It's Jamal
Speaker 1: Lewis on the ground and he had a great season,
Speaker 1: he said, And Priest Holmes, who you know, hey, who
Speaker 1: knew he was gonna turn to the running back he did.
Speaker 1: But Jermaine Lewis, it seemed like every week would have
Speaker 1: a big return for a touchdown, would spark things with
Speaker 1: a big play on special teams. And when you had
Speaker 1: those three facets working defense, working number one, special teams
Speaker 1: working right behind it, that greases things up for the
Speaker 1: offense a little bit. In the offense doesn't have to
Speaker 1: do way too much. They just had to do enough.
Speaker 1: And that's what they did. Yeah, I mean winning the
Speaker 1: battle of field position. We'll talk about Kyle Richardson all right,
Speaker 1: his efforts, Matt Stover taking care of business. Uh that
Speaker 1: you're kicker, But Corey Harris your kickoff for earned specialists
Speaker 1: averaging twenty three a return. That's that's unheard of in
Speaker 1: today's NFL. Likewise, Louis was averaging over sixteen yards a
Speaker 1: punt return. They finished twelve and four, but they finished
Speaker 1: behind Tennessee, who had had a phenomenal season, so they
Speaker 1: have to play three games who advance the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: But before we get to that, this is where the
Speaker 1: Ravens defense sat following the regular season. Fewest points per
Speaker 1: game allowed in NFL history, three, fewest rush yards ever allowed,
Speaker 1: nine d and seventy didn't allow a thousand yards rushing
Speaker 1: on the season. Forty nine forced turnovers, not twenty nine
Speaker 1: forty nine forced turnovers. You don't get to that number
Speaker 1: very often. You'll get you'll get up to you to
Speaker 1: fifty turnovers. You're talking about three turnovers a game. I mean,
Speaker 1: who averages that three turnover game? We saw it in
Speaker 1: with the Bears. Yes, they had to go there one
Speaker 1: of the outlines because every week Khalil Matt had a
Speaker 1: strip sack in a fumble. So that that's why it works.
Speaker 1: But you see how much different. Uh, you know, one
Speaker 1: or two injuries, changes, I'm scheming to try to take
Speaker 1: a guy away, But I mean this this team from
Speaker 1: the defensive front, from Sara Goose and all those guys
Speaker 1: to the to the back seven. I mean, they were
Speaker 1: just opportunistic and then once they got up on you
Speaker 1: forget about it. So that's where the Ravens are and
Speaker 1: they're already getting the Hey, is this the best defense
Speaker 1: we've ever seen? Conversation? As we get into the playoffs again,
Speaker 1: three games they had to play to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Their first wild card game was against the Denver Broncos,
Speaker 1: and this game is known for one play, the Shannon
Speaker 1: Sharp tip touchdown pass off of Jamal Lewis that goes
Speaker 1: for fifty eight yards that really won the game. For Baltimore.
Speaker 1: It's a pass in the flat that Trent Dilfer throws
Speaker 1: and it goes off the hands of Jamal Lewis. Now
Speaker 1: for him, reason, well, it's the Ravens. It's their offense
Speaker 1: wasn't that great. But for some reason, Shannon Sharpe was
Speaker 1: right there. He grabs the ball a little bit outside
Speaker 1: of the flat where Jamal Lewis was, and because he
Speaker 1: catches the defense flat footed, he takes it all the
Speaker 1: way down the sideline and into the end zone for
Speaker 1: a touchdown. And that really just won the game because
Speaker 1: you could tell that the will of the Broncos was like,
Speaker 1: come on, really, you know that that's the play they get.
Speaker 1: They get a big tip play like that, it goes
Speaker 1: their way. They win that game twenty one to three.
Speaker 1: The Broncos never really threatened and it was a very
Speaker 1: typical Ravens game in which the offense did enough. The
Speaker 1: defense was able to keep the Broncos, who had a
Speaker 1: pretty good offense back then, I was able to keep
Speaker 1: them off the board except for a field goal in
Speaker 1: the second quarter, and this game was never really in doubt.
Speaker 1: Gus fro Yard gust Farrott hundred, twenty four yards in
Speaker 1: an interception in this forget gust Farrott played for the Broncos,
Speaker 1: didn't he just play for the Redskins. It was him
Speaker 1: and Heath Shulert. No, no, no, started that playoff game
Speaker 1: for the Broncos. Four sacks and then Jerry's Jackson actually
Speaker 1: got some time as well, five and ten fifty four
Speaker 1: yards Notre Dame. Right, Yeah, he absorbed a sack as well.
Speaker 1: I man, just really nothing going. This was the Mike
Speaker 1: Anderson year when he was the thousand yard rusher and
Speaker 1: Shanahan's system. Every guy they put it, whether it was
Speaker 1: him or orlandis Gary, how we're gonna run for fifteen
Speaker 1: hundred yards and be a superstar. Whoever they put in
Speaker 1: there was great and that carried the offense. Thinking about
Speaker 1: those guys now, they'd be getting ten million dollar contracts
Speaker 1: off those years. Different times, different doesn't matter. You're not
Speaker 1: gonna resign him, no or let him go, because be
Speaker 1: another guy coming in who's gonna play even better. Shark
Speaker 1: Steve Man, take a fight, it falls out. Next one
Speaker 1: goes in line awaiting the Baltimore Ravens. Following this game
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Titans. This was some kind of battle. We'll
Speaker 1: get to that, the a f C Championship game in
Speaker 1: which Tony Siragusa sits on rich Gannon and the Ravens
Speaker 1: go to the Super Bowl, and then the dominant performance
Speaker 1: against the New York Giants. All that and more coming
Speaker 1: up next right here on Special Teams. The Baltimore Ravens
Speaker 1: were now two games away from the Super Bowl, awaiting
Speaker 1: them a date with the Tennessee Titans, who were absolutely
Speaker 1: loaded this year. Jason Smith Mike Harmon taking you through
Speaker 1: this magical year of the Ravens for Special Teams. This
Speaker 1: game was ten ten going into the fourth quarter. It
Speaker 1: could have been a bigger, larger lead for Tennessee, but
Speaker 1: in the first half, Al del Greco, one of the
Speaker 1: most reliable field goal kickers in NFL history, missed a
Speaker 1: field goal, but there was a penalty, got another chance,
Speaker 1: got it blocked, had another miss in the second quarter
Speaker 1: as well. Then in the fourth quarter it looked like
Speaker 1: the Titans We're finally going to get a field goal
Speaker 1: to give them a thirteen ten lead, and maybe that
Speaker 1: was gonna be enough. But the field goal gets blocked.
Speaker 1: Anthony Mitchell runs it back for a touchdown and that
Speaker 1: gives them a seventeen to ten lead. Like we talked
Speaker 1: about all season long with this team. Hey, the defense
Speaker 1: was great, but boy, look at the special teams making
Speaker 1: the play of the year to that point early fourth
Speaker 1: quarter looks like a chip shot field goal thirty seven
Speaker 1: yards right Al del Greco. We talk about the different
Speaker 1: announcers and the way they'd say his name. Here he comes,
Speaker 1: it's Al dal Greco, like he was the guy from
Speaker 1: the neighbor to us. All so, here he comes out
Speaker 1: and you get a block, and here we go again.
Speaker 1: But you could see it on the side if you
Speaker 1: don't know what's going through his head because he's already
Speaker 1: missed a bunch of three times today. And it's what
Speaker 1: do I needed? Did he do something different? Did he
Speaker 1: tries something that they wind up getting the block and
Speaker 1: it goes in for a touchdown? That is typical Ravens
Speaker 1: this season. And you see the Tennessee sideline after that
Speaker 1: play off. All right, they got us, like they finally
Speaker 1: got us. Say it was inching to there and and
Speaker 1: even a narrow lead wasn't gonna be safe. But nobody
Speaker 1: had really been able to punch Baltimore in the mouth.
Speaker 1: I mean, you had a couple of loss in the
Speaker 1: middle of the season when they had their sputtering, but
Speaker 1: even the defense and special teams were able to carry
Speaker 1: them here and you were just waiting for it to
Speaker 1: happen again. Their last gasp effort goes into the end
Speaker 1: zone for the Ravens again. Ray Lewis picks off a
Speaker 1: pass that goes through running back Eddie George's hands. He
Speaker 1: goes in for a touchdown. Final scorers twenty four to ten,
Speaker 1: and once again you say, well, the offense did barely enough,
Speaker 1: but look at the special teams in the defense. It's
Speaker 1: a broken record. But I mean, we want to talk
Speaker 1: about this to spotlight just the dominant ear that the
Speaker 1: Ravens had. They win this game, and now they go
Speaker 1: to the a f C Championship game, and this was
Speaker 1: the battle of the Titans, not the game with the Titans.
Speaker 1: It's the game after because the Raiders. This was in
Speaker 1: the middle of their run of boy, look how good
Speaker 1: the Raiders are. Rich Gannon had completely taken over this team.
Speaker 1: They had his personality, John Gruden's personality. This was a
Speaker 1: three year run the Raiders had where they were one
Speaker 1: of the top teams in the a f C. But
Speaker 1: snake bit year after year after year, you had the
Speaker 1: tuck rule. That hurt that I know, and it hurts
Speaker 1: you to say it. That's why there was a dramatic
Speaker 1: clause as your Jets love himself and I don't want
Speaker 1: to talk about it. You just bleeped yourself without saying
Speaker 1: a word. You had this great Raiders team fall victim
Speaker 1: to the tuck rule, to Tony Siragosa sitting on rich Gannon,
Speaker 1: which we'll get to, and then losing to Jon Gruden
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl because John grud knew all the plays,
Speaker 1: everything the Raiders were gonna run. When he jumped from
Speaker 1: the Raiders to Tampa Bay as their head, did he
Speaker 1: tape things? I don't know that he did. But the
Speaker 1: fact that Bill Callahan didn't change a lot of the
Speaker 1: hand signals that rich Gannon using all those things that
Speaker 1: kind of helped Tampa Bay respect him. The whole dopiness
Speaker 1: of the hand signals. I know you've got the transmission
Speaker 1: through the head, head set and and helmet and everything
Speaker 1: these days, but not changing your signals. And you coach
Speaker 1: kids soccer and softball, you're changing them. You can't change it.
Speaker 1: But you change them up enough in professional football that
Speaker 1: they don't come on, man, I mean they just think
Speaker 1: about this three year run for the Raiders for a second,
Speaker 1: where it was Saragosa and it was Brady in the snow,
Speaker 1: and then it was Gruden leaving the only coach you
Speaker 1: probably would have beat them in the Super Bowl. And
Speaker 1: that's what that could. This team could have went on
Speaker 1: and maybe one three super Bowls, but those three things
Speaker 1: kept them out. And now they're just known for leaving
Speaker 1: a dump after all these years for the second time. Wow,
Speaker 1: look at you, Well, aren't we gonna do a special
Speaker 1: teams the post boredem on the Oakland Elamy County Coliseum.
Speaker 1: I do, I do miss the baseball field. I miss.
Speaker 1: That's one thing I do miss. As a guy who
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time in that stadium when I
Speaker 1: lived in the Bay Area, I'm not gonna miss it.
Speaker 1: It was terrible. This was a battle of irresistible force.
Speaker 1: It's a movable object. It was the Ravens defense against
Speaker 1: the Raiders offense that was averaging twenty nine points a game.
Speaker 1: This game had the Ravens fire the first salvo Shannon
Speaker 1: Sharp's nineties six yard touchdown on third and eighteen. It
Speaker 1: looked like it was a play where maybe the Raiders
Speaker 1: were gonna stop them, they were gonna have to punt,
Speaker 1: Raiders are gonna get on the board. But early on
Speaker 1: it's that slant pass over the middle of the Shannon
Speaker 1: Sharp And you've seen this play many times and what
Speaker 1: gets overlooked. Brandon Stokely we talked about a little bit ago,
Speaker 1: a terrific block that launches Shannon Sharp into the end zone,
Speaker 1: and it was, Oh, my goodness, you're gonna look back
Speaker 1: and say when at the end and go, what are
Speaker 1: the what are the Ravens offense do in the playoffs? Well,
Speaker 1: they had the ninety six yard passed to Shannon Sharp.
Speaker 1: They had the tip pass to Shannon Sharp against Denver,
Speaker 1: and those are really the two only plays the offense
Speaker 1: made in the player stands out, its defense, special teams,
Speaker 1: and a lot of Matt Stover matts. He had a
Speaker 1: big here in fantasy that huge. He was huge. Then
Speaker 1: Tony Siragusa sacks Rich Gannon later in the first or
Speaker 1: hits him, knocks him down and sits on him. Basically,
Speaker 1: Gannon comes out of the game. Bobby Hoyan comes in,
Speaker 1: legend Bobby Hoyen. You know he did he win a
Speaker 1: playoff game for the Eagles. He played in the playoff
Speaker 1: games on Yeah, I think he did when the Eagles.
Speaker 1: That was back when the Eagles are going. But we
Speaker 1: got Ti Debtmer, We got Coy debtmer We and anybody
Speaker 1: else named Debtmer. We got Bobby Hoyan coming in and playing.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, they struck it rich finally with
Speaker 1: Donovan McNabb, but boy, they really had some quarterbacks to
Speaker 1: go through in the nineties. You really just wanted to
Speaker 1: get the Syracuse in there, and a little bit, just
Speaker 1: a tiny bit, just wanted to make sure actually he
Speaker 1: had no you know, actual record as a playoff passer,
Speaker 1: Bobby Hoyne, no record. We got no record for him.
Speaker 1: He appeared, but he did not have any record. Hoyan's
Speaker 1: first pass was picked off, matched over kicked the field
Speaker 1: goal tend nothing was the lead and and that was
Speaker 1: really it. From there. They go on to win this
Speaker 1: game six team to three and shut down a Raiders
Speaker 1: offense that was that good. But without Rich Gannon, what
Speaker 1: did you really expect him to be able to do? All? Right?
Speaker 1: Gannon goes out, he was eleven of twenty one eight yards.
Speaker 1: He'd been sacked four times, two picks Hoying with two interceptions. Uh,
Speaker 1: just a miserable run. Overall you look at offensively, they
Speaker 1: weren't able to generate anything on the ground. Tyrone Wheatley
Speaker 1: twelve carries seven yards and remember Tyron Wheatley, all he
Speaker 1: had to do is fall forward. That was about two
Speaker 1: and a half yards. He was a giant man. Uh,
Speaker 1: you gotta make it past the line of Scrimmagey when
Speaker 1: you fall forward from three yards back of the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage only gaining ahead, that's just it. You know,
Speaker 1: getting hit in the backfield with regularity not gonna work.
Speaker 1: But you know, I guess the Raiders should take some consolation.
Speaker 1: They didn't give up a special teams or defensive touchdown
Speaker 1: in this one atory victor that so we'll take one here.
Speaker 1: It's still a loss and all the would it could
Speaker 1: have showed us, But away we go. The Ravens move on.
Speaker 1: They had two Super Bowl thirty five awaiting them, the
Speaker 1: New York Giants, and at this point the Ravens defense
Speaker 1: was it was like when they walked around, there was
Speaker 1: an are about them, as if you just had to
Speaker 1: stay away. It was what are they gonna wind up
Speaker 1: doing to the New York Giants and the Super Bowl?
Speaker 1: Just how bad is it gonna get? And it got
Speaker 1: pretty bad for the New York Giants, tell you that much.
Speaker 1: But but this was one of those what's gonna happen
Speaker 1: when they actually kick it off? And for the time
Speaker 1: going between the games, a lot of the talk was
Speaker 1: here's Ray Lewis back at the Super Bowl a year
Speaker 1: after what happened. It became a big topic of conversation
Speaker 1: and that's really what dominated everything those two weeks going
Speaker 1: into Super Bowl thirty five. Well, one of the things
Speaker 1: though that did help out radio road was had not
Speaker 1: yet really become what Radio row is, right, and the
Speaker 1: build up to what the Super Bowl has become. Media
Speaker 1: exposure and and the global view that you have, and
Speaker 1: really the circus that the media night became. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's paired back a little bit now that it's in
Speaker 1: the evening prime time viewing and all. But you had
Speaker 1: a run where for a number of years, even when
Speaker 1: when Lewis got back there that there was some problems,
Speaker 1: shall we say, with certain questions being needing to be
Speaker 1: asked because that time, it was about deer antler spray
Speaker 1: performance and answers, etcetera. But for ray Lewis and this
Speaker 1: one just there's a lot of folks that weren't going
Speaker 1: to ask the questions that need to be asked either
Speaker 1: or about that history, because what answer were you going
Speaker 1: to get? Right you, It wasn't something the NFL really
Speaker 1: wanted to address, and ray Lewis became very good at
Speaker 1: deflecting away from any of the questions related to that event. Yeah,
Speaker 1: his his answer was always he had the one big
Speaker 1: answer of God is never gonna put anybody in this
Speaker 1: situation to do something bad, and and you know I
Speaker 1: I will put someone like me in that situation to
Speaker 1: do something that bad. And he would he would always
Speaker 1: kind of blow it off by by giving those oblique comments.
Speaker 1: Well because when the the repeat right when they were
Speaker 1: facing the forty niners became a the first question he
Speaker 1: was about the dear Antler spray, and I stood and
Speaker 1: listened for about seven minutes as he started to sermonize
Speaker 1: as like, Okay, I'm gonna go get one on ones
Speaker 1: with the rest of the team. You guys, you guys,
Speaker 1: update me. If he ever actually addresses the question that
Speaker 1: was being asked here, and look, it's it's you can't
Speaker 1: fall to good strategy, as you always say on the
Speaker 1: show that we Just wee DIT's on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1: It's like, you may not like it, you may think
Speaker 1: it's really disingenuous and crazy, but it got people to
Speaker 1: just say, Okay, once he's done with this, we actually
Speaker 1: have to talk football, because he's now taken up twenty
Speaker 1: five minutes of the allotted forty five or fifty minute
Speaker 1: interview session. When we got to the game, it was
Speaker 1: exactly as it was expected. First quarter, Trent Dilford throws
Speaker 1: a thirty eight yard touchdown to Brandon Stokely. Okay, seven nothing,
Speaker 1: and already you could feel this game is getting away
Speaker 1: from Kerry Collins and the New York Giants. Well, he
Speaker 1: got that reward for the big block in the last
Speaker 1: time I'll throw you on. Okay, Matt Stover kicks the
Speaker 1: field goal. It's tend nothing at halftime and already this
Speaker 1: is well, the Giants offense really has not been able
Speaker 1: to do anything, and this is the best the NFC
Speaker 1: has to offer. Baltimore puts the next points on the board.
Speaker 1: Dwayne Starks returns to pick forty nine yards for a touchdown.
Speaker 1: But this actually begins one of the more exciting sequences
Speaker 1: in Super Bowl history, touchdowns on three consecutive plays. Starks
Speaker 1: returns the interception for a touchdown. Make it seventeen nothing
Speaker 1: early in the third quarter. Everybody's packing up, time to go,
Speaker 1: This is over. And then Ron Dixon returns the ensuing
Speaker 1: kickoff ninety seven yards for a touchdown. Now it's seventeen
Speaker 1: to seven. Okay, maybe the Giants are getting back in
Speaker 1: on this. And then what do we get, Not a
Speaker 1: defensive play, not an offensive play, but Jermaine Lewis putting
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl away on that ensuing kickoff eighty four
Speaker 1: yards for a touchdown. And I remember Brian Billick screaming
Speaker 1: down the sideline seeing the NFL Films video after going
Speaker 1: j lu j lu j lu, because he knew that
Speaker 1: was winning the Super Bowl for them. He goes in
Speaker 1: for a score. It's seven. The Giants don't put up
Speaker 1: a fight after that. Jamal Lewis would had a touchdown
Speaker 1: run in the fourth quarter on his way to a
Speaker 1: hundred yard day for Kerry Collins, a miserable day for him,
Speaker 1: fifteen out of thirty nine for a hundred and twelve
Speaker 1: yards and four interceptions. That was what the Baltimore Ravens
Speaker 1: did to him on defense for the game. The Giants
Speaker 1: offense total just a hundred and fifty two yards, turned
Speaker 1: the ball over four times, and Carry Collins got sacked
Speaker 1: four times. Baltimore's defense allowed one touchdown in four playoff games.
Speaker 1: So all that stuff I just said, think about that
Speaker 1: one touchdown in four playoff games. Your defense allowing one
Speaker 1: touchdown in four games, ineptitude of your opponents, or do
Speaker 1: you just say you're swarming, uh and taking care of business?
Speaker 1: And because obviously you can look at the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: it's one that you kind of fast forward through a
Speaker 1: lot of it. And for the Carry Collins side, just
Speaker 1: a miserable experience under Darrest all day long. You go
Speaker 1: through all the stats and just all right, tackle for
Speaker 1: loss here, tackle for loss there, this guy with a
Speaker 1: you know, past defense, Uh, he's got three, he's got another.
Speaker 1: I mean there was just no room to breathe. I
Speaker 1: like that call back three for the Giant nor wrong
Speaker 1: song celebrate Faith Hills catalog A tiki Barber ran for
Speaker 1: forty nine yards. That was it. I mean this this
Speaker 1: Giant's team was pretty well rounded. Was it the greatest offense? No?
Speaker 1: But were they interous enough yes? Was the defense good enough? Yes?
Speaker 1: But they weren't even a match. And Pete Mitchell sit
Speaker 1: there for a minute. You know, I'm waiting for top
Speaker 1: gun two just like everybody else's. I'm just waiting for it.
Speaker 1: Soon enough, my friends, soon enough. So that was your
Speaker 1: victory for the Baltimore Ravens. They win the game, thirty
Speaker 1: four seven, and they put a punctuation on what could
Speaker 1: be the greatest season ever for a defense. Now, let
Speaker 1: me throw this out here before you give me eighty
Speaker 1: five Bears, because I remember how great the Bears were
Speaker 1: and what they were able to do, and how they
Speaker 1: really changed the game defensively with the forty six defense
Speaker 1: and different pressures on the quarterback. I get all that
Speaker 1: this is more of a modern era of the NFL,
Speaker 1: where you had to stop quarterbacks and running backs equally.
Speaker 1: Eighty five was still team's gonna run the football, and
Speaker 1: that's what we gotta stop and stop that. How many
Speaker 1: quarterbacks are really gonna go crazy unless you're playing somebody
Speaker 1: like Dan Marino or Joe Montana, It's going to be
Speaker 1: an easier thing to do to shut teams down. It's
Speaker 1: a little bit harder in two thousand. You also have
Speaker 1: more free agency, playing havoc with with rosters. I look
Speaker 1: at this and I go, it's hard for me to
Speaker 1: argue against them being the greatest defense of all time.
Speaker 1: Certainly it's up for debate, as you're always. As you mentioned,
Speaker 1: the change of the game just in those fifteen years
Speaker 1: is immant. I've seen a numerous articles and breakdowns looking
Speaker 1: at the quarterbacks played during this stretch. Let's have a
Speaker 1: little fun, shall we. Uh, Well, you got McNair, okay, cool,
Speaker 1: Mark Brunel, Jamie Martin, good times. Go back to Mark Burnell,
Speaker 1: Scott Mitchell, Achille Smith. Wait a minute, Achille Smith. Drew
Speaker 1: Rosenhouse talked the Bengals into picking him third over. There's
Speaker 1: a good job by him. Tim Couch, Doug Peterson and
Speaker 1: Spurgeon win Hey. Doug Peterson is a Super Bowl winner.
Speaker 1: That he is has a head coach. He's a super
Speaker 1: Bowl winner. Ken Graham and Cordell Stewart. Cordell Stewart was
Speaker 1: really good for about a year exactly. Jay Fiedler, Ryan Leaf.
Speaker 1: These are Vinny Testaverday. These are all high draft picks.
Speaker 1: You are talking about Brad Johnson the final year of
Speaker 1: Troy Yankman. Brett Johnson won a Super Bowl. This is
Speaker 1: a couple of years later. Yeah, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: it's not like he did a lot, but he won.
Speaker 1: And Jake Plower, he had some high draft picks. You
Speaker 1: beat Theater Brock to go to the Super Bowl and
Speaker 1: we did. He beat Tony Easton to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: But you know how how I always describe it, Jason,
Speaker 1: it's you can only beat He's not the schedule. I
Speaker 1: just felt like some of the names and watching a
Speaker 1: video I don't know going through, I thought that was fantastic.
Speaker 1: Outside of spurge in win, I think all those guys
Speaker 1: would like number one, number two, top ten picks all around. Yeah,
Speaker 1: look how many teams missed on quarterbacks. Here here's some
Speaker 1: guys I mean, but I mean that's certainly the mark here, right,
Speaker 1: Achille Smith, Ryan Leaf, and um Tim Couch. That's just
Speaker 1: three of them. Number one, number number from there. Let's
Speaker 1: do it. So it's just an interesting run. I love
Speaker 1: the debates across time because you could just argue too
Speaker 1: your blue in the face and never come to any
Speaker 1: sort of resolution. It's like all the inane goat conversations
Speaker 1: we have in the NBA, and certainly that we have
Speaker 1: in the NFL with Drew Brees, Tom Brady and you
Speaker 1: know Peyton Manning in often doing Peyton Manning things and commercials,
Speaker 1: but always in the record books that we have these
Speaker 1: debates all the time. It's uh, it's nice and it's
Speaker 1: a safe little world. What really baffles me? Do you
Speaker 1: talk about something that happened now in the NFL that
Speaker 1: had the way it happened back then. Rex Ryan was
Speaker 1: in his second year as defensive coordinator for the Ravens,
Speaker 1: and he puts together a defense that is arguably the
Speaker 1: best all time. Right, you want to say, argue between
Speaker 1: them in the eighties. It's him and his old man,
Speaker 1: and those are the defenses that we're talking about. So
Speaker 1: he puts this defense together, he doesn't get a phone
Speaker 1: call for a head coach, coach until the Jets call
Speaker 1: him in two thousand nine. How how long do you
Speaker 1: think it would take in the NFL normally for a
Speaker 1: guy in his second year as defensive coordinator. You put
Speaker 1: this kind of defense out there that teams aren't. We
Speaker 1: gotta have him. We gotta look at the defluquid he
Speaker 1: just put together. We gotta go get this guy. And
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes after the final game, and yeah it took No.
Speaker 1: I think it's actually during the fourth quarter. Okay, listen,
Speaker 1: we're gonna give you a hat to put seven. Come on,
Speaker 1: you're killing him. Let's let's just put this on. I mean, really,
Speaker 1: it's that it's that fast that he becomes a head
Speaker 1: coach and it took him till two thousand and nine
Speaker 1: to get that phone call. I've always wondered, and this
Speaker 1: is just me spitballing as we talked about those two defenses.
Speaker 1: How much people gave Buddy credit for what Rob was
Speaker 1: doing and Rex were doing. All he's doing is seeing
Speaker 1: the play as old man hasn't, which no, no, no,
Speaker 1: But but if they were picking his brain and he
Speaker 1: wasn't a de facto right, so like the Ryan brothers,
Speaker 1: like and Rob, who was with us for at Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio for a little bit, but for for Rex
Speaker 1: and the job they were doing here, I was wondering
Speaker 1: if maybe that was held against him, that maybe it
Speaker 1: wasn't all just him at least for a little ways. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know, that's enough to say you're not gonna
Speaker 1: be a head cover for nine years. No, I mean
Speaker 1: that that's a lot because you know, look, you know,
Speaker 1: Brian Billy didn't do anything defensively, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: he was the head coach in charge of the offense.
Speaker 1: Of the defense is the defense, and that's how things
Speaker 1: are gonna go. But how he does it takes him
Speaker 1: that long. It's baffling because they had other great years
Speaker 1: another great yeah, absolutely, and then and he still took
Speaker 1: him this long. Well, because you just think about the
Speaker 1: way a hot coach comes up nowadays, right, all you
Speaker 1: need to have is one quick run in college or
Speaker 1: a good year as a coordinator, and the phone's ringing
Speaker 1: because we're looking at what six to eight coaches on
Speaker 1: average year. I mean, the carousel does not stop spinning.
Speaker 1: So his number would have been called a lot faster
Speaker 1: and today. But again we also look at a lot
Speaker 1: of teams go to the offensive route thinking that that's
Speaker 1: what they need to fix. In his nine years with
Speaker 1: the team, the defense never ranked lower than six in
Speaker 1: the NFL. And it took him that long. I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously showed that he had some potential, but he had shortcomings.
Speaker 1: As well. But I mean, really to not get that
Speaker 1: chance when you're always looking for the next great young
Speaker 1: O C or d C. How do they not get
Speaker 1: rated for for these guys coming off this performance. I
Speaker 1: don't know, personality. I mean, I'm thinking of a number
Speaker 1: of things, Like you know, I've had conversations with with
Speaker 1: Rex years ago. I mean, I don't I don't know
Speaker 1: in an interview process does something go awry? Is just
Speaker 1: not a field that they wanted him as a head coach,
Speaker 1: Like he's a coordinator and not a headman. He always
Speaker 1: wonder where the disconnect happens, especially on teams like this
Speaker 1: that are sustained. Right, they weren't a blip on the
Speaker 1: radar because if you said, okay, look at the personnel,
Speaker 1: he's gotten two thousand plus special teams. Everything worked, so
Speaker 1: all right, we'll give it a mulligan. We'll see if
Speaker 1: it happens another year. But if you have that kind
Speaker 1: of sustained run, eventually people are knocking down the door saying,
Speaker 1: all right, we'll cobble together whatever because they also won
Speaker 1: and and I don't do it with the same you know,
Speaker 1: bile like everybody else. Trent Ifer was the quarterback a
Speaker 1: guy who was a replacement for Tony Banks, right, so
Speaker 1: that his defense carried the day. So it's very much like, well,
Speaker 1: go back to theirs. All right, let's take a look
Speaker 1: back now at the two thousand ravens. Where are some
Speaker 1: of them? Now? My car? All right? We got Kim Herring,
Speaker 1: head of Field Operations. You like this sports at clear
Speaker 1: me dot com. What is clear me dot com? They
Speaker 1: are a security screening at airports, sporting events, etcetera. With that,
Speaker 1: does he do the wand I gets, hey, Kim Herring,
Speaker 1: you were on the two. I don't know he's the
Speaker 1: head of field opt Probably not. Maybe he does that
Speaker 1: once in a while. I don't have a one like
Speaker 1: an undercover boss kind of thing. None, he goes in
Speaker 1: and sees that to day. Listen, kid, I'm not a
Speaker 1: one guy. Okay, sorry, but all right now. Of course,
Speaker 1: we've always got coaches Jamie Sharper at Georgetown, after the
Speaker 1: Poindexter is at Purdue. You've got Chris Redmond, business dev
Speaker 1: business manager at Game on Mouth cards. So there you go,
Speaker 1: protecting the grill as you go. Kip Vicker's epic business
Speaker 1: solution so accounting I T web design a bunch of
Speaker 1: other things you've got. Kyle Richardson mentioned him a little
Speaker 1: bit earlier the Punter. He's a VP of sales and
Speaker 1: marketing for a place that helps with screening calls for
Speaker 1: people in need of medical care. Screening calls for people
Speaker 1: in need of medical care, like making sure that's real
Speaker 1: people falling well, that that things get processed properly, and
Speaker 1: and that you're sensitive to maybe different needs. Right, So
Speaker 1: training if if you're dealing with maybe a here in
Speaker 1: and certain things they may have faced in the field,
Speaker 1: so you know how to come at it from a
Speaker 1: psychological perspective as you start asking questions of what can
Speaker 1: I do for you? That? All right, just try to
Speaker 1: get a little more background information that he's part of
Speaker 1: that process. Well, if you work as like local cable
Speaker 1: companies and and uh dry cleaning, my dad would love that.
Speaker 1: He needs he needs someone to help with that could
Speaker 1: be a guy that helps cables out. Again, I need
Speaker 1: I need help on this, all right. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: know that they go that far, Okay, but I'm sure
Speaker 1: you can apply the same principle that would that would
Speaker 1: help my dad to get to that level. I was
Speaker 1: on the phone waiting for forty five minutes today. He's
Speaker 1: a guy who helped run support and build games and
Speaker 1: such at Yahoo. We we faced a lot of curious
Speaker 1: calls and emails through our time there. Uh Walt probably
Speaker 1: was among them. So there's our look Special Teams, the
Speaker 1: two thousand Ravens, Jason Smith, Mike Harmon. You can hit
Speaker 1: us up on Twitter at how about a Fresca? Mike
Speaker 1: at Wollen Dome and the ideas. Who would you like
Speaker 1: to see on a future edition of Special Teams. We
Speaker 1: had a couple of requests did the uh ninety three
Speaker 1: bills not too long ago, and so now yeah, you
Speaker 1: get a big request in we get enough want for
Speaker 1: it to day maybe we'll get it up there for you.
Speaker 1: Get on Twitter at how about a frest Cup? Mike
Speaker 1: at Swollen Dome. Our show has heard nightly on Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio Monday through Friday, ten to two am on
Speaker 1: the West Coast on the East coast, seven to eleven
Speaker 1: on the West Coast. We'll talk to you next week
Speaker 1: for another episode of Special Teams. Before you go, rate
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