Speaker 1: Welcome to Special Teams, a production of My Heart Radio
Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome inside. Special Teams with Jason Smith and
Speaker 1: Mike Harmon are weekly look back at a legendary team,
Speaker 1: legendary year in sports and what made that team or
Speaker 1: teams so notable. Something we're doing here over the course
Speaker 1: of the next few weeks is we are looking back
Speaker 1: as we get to play with the format at some
Speaker 1: incredibly famous games in NFL history and looking at the
Speaker 1: special teams that took place in them. Last week we
Speaker 1: did the Music City Miracle and this week, well, I
Speaker 1: just have three words for you. Fourth and twenty six.
Speaker 1: Every Eagles fan is smiling. Every Packers fan is going uh.
Speaker 1: January eleven, thousand and four NFL playoff game between the
Speaker 1: Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles, in which the Eagles converted
Speaker 1: one of the most famous players in NFL history a
Speaker 1: fourth and twenty six pass from Donnan McNabb to Freddie Mitchell,
Speaker 1: where all the Packers had to do was defend on
Speaker 1: one play. They were winning this game. Brett Farve was
Speaker 1: moving on in the playoffs, but instead the Eagles used
Speaker 1: that as a springboard to tie the game late in
Speaker 1: the fourth and win it in overtime. We're to look
Speaker 1: back at this game and the drama from both sides
Speaker 1: and what it meant for the Packers and what it
Speaker 1: meant for the Eagles. But this two thousand three, two
Speaker 1: thousand and four playoffs was really a sweet spot of
Speaker 1: NFL crazy because we had some of the more entertaining
Speaker 1: playoff games in recent memory. In this playoffs you had
Speaker 1: that big Panthers Rams game where Steve Smith scores a
Speaker 1: big touchdown, and overtime you had Tommy Maddox out dueling
Speaker 1: Kelly Holcomb. You know, I mean, seriously, Tommy Maddox outdueling
Speaker 1: Kelly Holcomb in a big game that the Steelers won.
Speaker 1: Thirty six thirty three, the last Brown's playoff game, And
Speaker 1: I mean this was crazy, and fourth and six was
Speaker 1: the one that stands on top of all of them.
Speaker 1: When when you you just mentioned the quarterbacks, uh and
Speaker 1: play there that it really uh just takes you back
Speaker 1: to a different time and you start going into your
Speaker 1: NFL lore and just remember this is the time where
Speaker 1: you have the explosiveness of some of the passing attacks. Right,
Speaker 1: We've seen it in blips. Just remember, you know, two
Speaker 1: thousand three, two thousand four. Suddenly the leader boards looked
Speaker 1: a lot different with with the the augmented passing numbers,
Speaker 1: and when you're watching, you know Brett Farves still winging
Speaker 1: around haphazardly. Just how different the game was still as well? Right,
Speaker 1: just we talked about these luminaries, but you go back
Speaker 1: and you watch each hit looks more violent. And the quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: you know, just we're winging the ball and not worrying
Speaker 1: about their qbr uh this game? How did the teams
Speaker 1: get there? Well, the Philadelphia Eagles, led by Andy Reid,
Speaker 1: they were in the middle of their big run with
Speaker 1: Donna mcnabbic quarterback. They were the number one seed in
Speaker 1: the NFC. They won the NFC East. They were twelve
Speaker 1: and four. You know, they started out oh and two,
Speaker 1: but then they won nine straight games. Brian Westbrook had
Speaker 1: that very famous punt return for a touchdown in the
Speaker 1: final minutes against the Giants, and the Eagles, to a
Speaker 1: man all say that play really spurred us on this season.
Speaker 1: The Deuce Staley was the big running back back then,
Speaker 1: but he held out, so by the time he came in,
Speaker 1: it was Deuce Staley, Westbrook and Correll buck Halter. They
Speaker 1: had three headed monster. I remember having buck Halter on
Speaker 1: a fantasy team, you know, and and actually starting him
Speaker 1: for a few weeks because he was good at the
Speaker 1: goal line. Right, this is where you had a three
Speaker 1: headed monster in the backfield, and that by committee term
Speaker 1: came into our fantasy lexicon, one of those things where
Speaker 1: you draft Doo Stale and you go, oh, man, he
Speaker 1: held out. Now he's not getting the carries. Why is
Speaker 1: Staley sitting this series in Westbrook? Who's Carrel buck Halter?
Speaker 1: Why is he in the game? Well, and look at
Speaker 1: the side some buck Halter compared to the rest of
Speaker 1: these he looked like a giant when he was standing
Speaker 1: in the backfield. Uh, Donna McNabb. This was not one
Speaker 1: of his greatest starts to the season. It was kind
Speaker 1: of rocky, and there was a big push for a J.
Speaker 1: Feely to play. Remember McNabb's relationship with the Eagles and
Speaker 1: their fans was always kind of an arms length. They
Speaker 1: loved them, and then when he threw an incomplete pass,
Speaker 1: they hated him and wanted him out of the game.
Speaker 1: But a J. Feely, who was a pretty good backup,
Speaker 1: then you know, the teams wanted the fans wanted to
Speaker 1: see him playing. Their offense was really struggling. No wide
Speaker 1: receivers caught a touchdown the first half of the season.
Speaker 1: And this is not just a Donna McNabb thing, but
Speaker 1: the Eagles wide receivers were pretty bad. I mean Freddie Mitchell,
Speaker 1: who we're going to talk about a lot in this
Speaker 1: podcast because he caught the fourth and twenty six play.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is Freddie Mitchell and Todd Pinkson and
Speaker 1: James Thrash. I mean, what what do you expect Donna
Speaker 1: McNabb to do. None of these guys were any good.
Speaker 1: It was all right, let's just try to move on.
Speaker 1: But it's all McNab's fault. No, Eventually, you need a
Speaker 1: wide receiver to have more than, you know, half an
Speaker 1: inch of separation from the defensive back. Yeah. That as
Speaker 1: we watched in the twenty nineteen season with Tom Brady
Speaker 1: uh in his final year with the New England Patriots,
Speaker 1: Like you need you need a little bit of help.
Speaker 1: You can point to the quarterback and get after him
Speaker 1: all you want. There there is something to be said
Speaker 1: for creating a little bit of separation. The anticipatory nature
Speaker 1: of things is where you know, McNabb was always good
Speaker 1: about utilizing the tight end position well as well. But yeah,
Speaker 1: he he was always a guy that seemed under fire,
Speaker 1: and part of that is Philadelphia lore and unrealistic expectations.
Speaker 1: Brian Westbrook tears his biceps Week seventeen against Washington, so
Speaker 1: they lose him for the playoffs. However, the Philadelphi Eagles
Speaker 1: do get a buy the first round of the playoffs,
Speaker 1: so they are waiting to see who they're going to
Speaker 1: play now. The Green Bay Packers road to this game
Speaker 1: was a little bit different. Mike Sherman was the head coach.
Speaker 1: They finished ten and six. They won the NFC North
Speaker 1: this season, mainly known for Brett farve yard four touchdown
Speaker 1: performance the day after his dad, Herv died of a
Speaker 1: heart attack. Very famous Monday night football game where Farv
Speaker 1: decided to play and he goes, balls out, throws over
Speaker 1: three yards in the first half and they just crushed
Speaker 1: the Raiders. That's part of a four game win streak
Speaker 1: the Packers had to end the season. They were six
Speaker 1: and six, they ended ten and six, and they're back
Speaker 1: in the playoffs and the Packers are hot. I'm on
Speaker 1: green This was his best season with Green Bay ran
Speaker 1: for eighteen hundred yards over five yards per carry. He
Speaker 1: was fantastic. You had three good wide receivers and Donald
Speaker 1: Driver Javon Walker. Remember Robert Ferguson was even catching big
Speaker 1: passes Packers back then. And Antonio Freeman was there, but
Speaker 1: at this point Freeman was kind of passed his prime,
Speaker 1: but still he was someone there that Farv could rely on.
Speaker 1: So they had a lot of depth at wide receiver.
Speaker 1: They had a great running back. It was almost one
Speaker 1: of those times where you could see this team and go, Okay,
Speaker 1: they're peaking at the right time and they're gonna go
Speaker 1: hot night through better through the playoff, doesn't matter who
Speaker 1: they play, because look how red hot they are. Look
Speaker 1: at everything they can do on offense, and that's good.
Speaker 1: I thought that was gonna happen. I never thought the
Speaker 1: Eagles are gonna win this with ball game. I said,
Speaker 1: all Packers got this far is hot coming off the emotion.
Speaker 1: The Packers are still riding that high. Yeah, they're gonna
Speaker 1: go through there, going to the super Bowl. Well, when
Speaker 1: you look at I think this is always a great
Speaker 1: example when we do these special teams. Look back, you
Speaker 1: know in the time where people are going in and
Speaker 1: doing the retro binge watching great games, the last dance,
Speaker 1: and you recognize how good, uh, certain players were or
Speaker 1: what a team brought to the table, and you recognize
Speaker 1: how good I'm on Green was. I mean, look at
Speaker 1: a guy that's you know, two thousand total yards you know,
Speaker 1: back at this time, and the the the different players
Speaker 1: in the receiving corps. Maybe not the superstar, but depth
Speaker 1: that you get to work through, uh. And it's tough
Speaker 1: to replicate those things these days. Man salary caps for
Speaker 1: a lot of that two or three guys commit to
Speaker 1: you know, most of your money on one side of
Speaker 1: the ball. And then let's say, all right, what can
Speaker 1: we get the end of the draft or a guy
Speaker 1: that's you know, worn out is welcome somewhere else. So
Speaker 1: the Packers end of the playoffs as kind of the
Speaker 1: team of destiny, they had really short up their run defense.
Speaker 1: They got Grady Jackson off the waivers middle of the season,
Speaker 1: and they started allowing like thirty yards less rushing per games.
Speaker 1: Suddenly they figured it all out, big old Grady Jackson.
Speaker 1: Their playoff win was the now famous overtime win over
Speaker 1: the Seattle Seahawks, in which Matt Hasselbeck, who had been
Speaker 1: far as backup, was now the starting quarterback for the Seahawks.
Speaker 1: They had the opening coin flip for the play for
Speaker 1: the overtime and the Seahawks win, and the referee says, okay,
Speaker 1: the Seahawks win. What do you want? What do you want?
Speaker 1: And Matt Hasselbeck yells into the referees Mike the now
Speaker 1: famous we want the ball and we're gonna score. And
Speaker 1: seventeen years ago man on the first possession of overtime,
Speaker 1: Matt Hasselbeck throws touchdown pass to Al Harris of the Packers,
Speaker 1: who returns at fifty two yards for a touchdown. The
Speaker 1: pick six sends the Packers onto Philadelphia and end the
Speaker 1: season for the Seahawks. And I remember seeing going, how
Speaker 1: is Matt Hasselbeck gonna put his head out of his house? Uh?
Speaker 1: And for the next ten years. We want the ball,
Speaker 1: We're gonna score, And I throw a pick six and
Speaker 1: Al Harris runs it back for a touchdown. To me?
Speaker 1: But how great was that? Though? Didn't you love hassleback
Speaker 1: even though it went the other way? I just that
Speaker 1: I was always a hassleback fan was from that day.
Speaker 1: I think I could probably still find a healthy stack
Speaker 1: of hassleback cards amongst my football memorabilia in the house,
Speaker 1: just based on that. See, I liked his swag. I
Speaker 1: wasn't so much because I remember having him in fantasy
Speaker 1: a couple of times, and he never really came through.
Speaker 1: Has had him at the wrong time. It's hey, if
Speaker 1: if you take a player and he scars you in fantasy,
Speaker 1: you'll never forgive him. No, that's true. There's always that
Speaker 1: undraftable list. Well, we'll be working on that for fantasy.
Speaker 1: You know, certainly for me that the extra thing was
Speaker 1: the Packers or the opponent in that game. And you know,
Speaker 1: being a Chicago boy, Uh, certainly there was a little
Speaker 1: bit of animus, you know, because I also had a
Speaker 1: Jaworski jersey and an Eagles bike as a kid. Did
Speaker 1: you really Yeah, so when you got to the Eagles later,
Speaker 1: that was that was you know, your your cheer in there.
Speaker 1: But certainly Hasselbeck, you know, was the first beneficiary. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I don't know why. And you know, all these years
Speaker 1: later I tried to ask my mom. It's like, didn't
Speaker 1: make any sense. It was like what you could buy
Speaker 1: at the Sporting Good story I think that might have
Speaker 1: been in all the Bear stuff. It was either you know,
Speaker 1: full price or sold out. I love you, but not
Speaker 1: enough to buy you a full price you really if
Speaker 1: you were able to get a different team for half off. Look,
Speaker 1: there's pictures of my younger brother and Raiders gear. That's like,
Speaker 1: you know, you know what your family must look like
Speaker 1: like when when a star sign somewhere for the last
Speaker 1: year of their career and they look really weird in
Speaker 1: the uniform. That must be what it looks like. Look
Speaker 1: at my brothers in a Raiders uniform. I got an
Speaker 1: Eagles bike. No, it's weird. You go back and you
Speaker 1: look at some of the pictures as kids, it's like
Speaker 1: there were still Bear stuff around. But it's like there's
Speaker 1: me with an Eagles jersey on why the hell is
Speaker 1: he wearing? And for a while, my little brother would
Speaker 1: wear a Packers you know, he had a Lynn Dickey jersey.
Speaker 1: That wow, But that's got to be Harris. You can't
Speaker 1: wear a Packers jersey if you're a Bears fan. If
Speaker 1: you're really young, alright, okay, you're if you you're really young,
Speaker 1: the parents gonna wear it before you could get beat
Speaker 1: up at school. It's got to be he can't be
Speaker 1: at the age to fight. So with all of this
Speaker 1: going on, the Packers go into Philadelphia for the next
Speaker 1: playoff game. Coming up next, we'll relive fourth and twenty six,
Speaker 1: what happened to the Green Bay Packers, how they could
Speaker 1: have stopped the play from even happening, and maybe even better,
Speaker 1: what happened to Freddie Mitchell following fourth and twenty six.
Speaker 1: Keep it right here. You are listening to Special Teams
Speaker 1: with Jason Smith and Mike Armon. So how did we
Speaker 1: get to fourth and twenty six? The play that will
Speaker 1: live forever in Philadelphia Eagles Lord just as much as
Speaker 1: well Nick falls catching a touchdown pass. Well, the Packers
Speaker 1: come in as the team of Destiny Red five story
Speaker 1: front page, playing for the memory of his dad. It
Speaker 1: was a very big time for them. The Eagles were
Speaker 1: a team that were in Green Bay's way, and it
Speaker 1: looked like it was gonna gonna go green Bay's way.
Speaker 1: Early on, far throws two touchdown passes to Robert Ferguson
Speaker 1: and the Packers take a big fourteen nothing lead. But
Speaker 1: with the game at fourteen seven, a huge play happens
Speaker 1: at the end of the first half as armand green
Speaker 1: gets stopped on fourth down inside the five yard line.
Speaker 1: So instead of going to halftime with Green Bay with
Speaker 1: a seventeen seven lead or one seven lead, it's a
Speaker 1: one score game. Despite the fact that Green Bay dominated
Speaker 1: the way they did, why is this such a big play? Well,
Speaker 1: in the second half, Philadelphia claude their way back in it.
Speaker 1: They threw the football all game long, and they're down
Speaker 1: seventeen fourteen. With just over two minutes left to go,
Speaker 1: Green Bay is facing a fourth and one from the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia forty one yard line. They go for it and
Speaker 1: get the first down. Well, guess what, they're running out
Speaker 1: the clock. The game is over. But instead they decide
Speaker 1: to punt and give the ball back to the Eagles.
Speaker 1: And you wonder how much they remembered. Well, fourth and
Speaker 1: one in the first half, the Eagles d rose up
Speaker 1: and stopped on on green inside the five yard line.
Speaker 1: Let's punt it, make him get all the way down
Speaker 1: the field. I have confidence in our defense to do it.
Speaker 1: Certainly something that Packers fans looking back going, Man, if
Speaker 1: we had gone for it on fourth and one, we'd
Speaker 1: gotten one yard somehow far would have gotten us one
Speaker 1: yard we win this game and there's no fourth. But
Speaker 1: it's funny we we do that all the time, right
Speaker 1: with the inability of some teams to run a quarterback
Speaker 1: sneak looking at you, the Chargers with Philip Rivers all
Speaker 1: these years because he wouldn't run it, or in different
Speaker 1: play calling and sometimes you just overthink it. Right, that
Speaker 1: should be an automatic call unless you're at your own
Speaker 1: eighteen yard line. You know, you just you get your yard,
Speaker 1: succeed and proceed. And even then the numbers would suggest
Speaker 1: you go for it. Although you know the conservatism of coaches,
Speaker 1: they're not going to figuring, you know the old whatever
Speaker 1: can happen and go wrong will But yeah, having been
Speaker 1: stuffed before, you don't take your chances and just say
Speaker 1: we're a playoff team. Our defense is played well to
Speaker 1: this point, they should be able to finish the job.
Speaker 1: I can't I can't disagree on the whole. The punt
Speaker 1: works though for the Packers, and they pin the Eagles
Speaker 1: deep in their own territory. Do Stanley a play that
Speaker 1: is really under underrated when it comes to the fourth
Speaker 1: and twenty six play A starts out the drive and
Speaker 1: gets them out of trouble, runs for twenty two yards.
Speaker 1: Now that's a huge play because now suddenly you're out
Speaker 1: over the twenty yard line and you're thinking, Okay, we
Speaker 1: gotta get down, we gotta get a field goal because
Speaker 1: we gotta go to overtime. But mcdan throws an incomplete pass,
Speaker 1: there's a penalty, a couple more incomplete passes, and now
Speaker 1: from their twenty six yard line, the Eagles are faced
Speaker 1: with fourth and twenty six with a minute twelve left
Speaker 1: and no time outs. So this is when they decide
Speaker 1: to call seventy four double go, which turns into Freddie
Speaker 1: Mitchell catching that pass that winds up being good for
Speaker 1: twenty eight yards. You've seen the play many times. We're
Speaker 1: gonna break it down for you right now because there's
Speaker 1: not only just a question marks as to what the
Speaker 1: packers were doing, but what the officials were doing as well.
Speaker 1: So how does this play happen? Right? Freddie Mitchell runs
Speaker 1: unencumbered right down the middle of the field and he
Speaker 1: catches a pass in front of both Darren Sharper and
Speaker 1: Marcus Anderson, the two safeties. I mean, he runs, he
Speaker 1: doesn't get knocked off his route by anybody. He just
Speaker 1: runs unencumbered down the field. It's one of those plays
Speaker 1: where when you look at the way the Packers played
Speaker 1: their defense, it looks like one of those Well, there's
Speaker 1: ten seconds left in the game, and if they throw
Speaker 1: to the middle of the field, the game is over.
Speaker 1: So we're just gonna guard the outside and not let
Speaker 1: them get out of bounds. I mean, that's really what
Speaker 1: that looked like. The defense they were playing. Like you
Speaker 1: can catch a twenty yard pass, but you're gonna get
Speaker 1: to midfield. But that time you get up here, camp
Speaker 1: spike the ball, the game is over. That looked like
Speaker 1: the defense that the Packers were in, plus sits spread
Speaker 1: it out and make a play and you got I
Speaker 1: mean thinking that you're gonna be able to pin them,
Speaker 1: keep them in bounds and and get clock running, and
Speaker 1: instead you have an absolute disaster. And the broadcast crew
Speaker 1: was very quick to point this out. Chris collins Worth
Speaker 1: most chiefly ready to bring out the acid tongue. You know.
Speaker 1: The couple of things with this play is that that
Speaker 1: later on Mike Sherman would talk about it, ed Donna
Speaker 1: Tell the defensive coordinator will talking about it and say, well,
Speaker 1: here's a couple of things and the one thing they
Speaker 1: look at is, say Nick Barnett, who want up having
Speaker 1: a great career for the Packers. When the ball was snapped,
Speaker 1: he ran up instead of dropping back, and that led
Speaker 1: Freddie Mitchell run into the middle of fieland Donna McNabb
Speaker 1: had an eyeline and a sight line to throw to
Speaker 1: him where he would have had to throw the ball
Speaker 1: in the pickle barrel if Nick Barnett drops back into
Speaker 1: the middle of the field where he should be, so
Speaker 1: that makes it a much easier throw for McNabb. So
Speaker 1: for some reason Barnett goes forward instead of dropping back.
Speaker 1: But I watched the safeties on this, and I watched
Speaker 1: Darren Sharp and Marcus Anderson and this, this this quint
Speaker 1: essentially looks to me like it was two guys who
Speaker 1: were saying, I'm gonna play center field, get interception to
Speaker 1: be a hero. I'm waiting for the ball to be thrown.
Speaker 1: They're not. They're gonna throw it here. I'm gonna jump
Speaker 1: up and I'm gonna catch the ball and I'm going
Speaker 1: to be a hero, or I'm gonna make a big
Speaker 1: play at the marker. I'm gonna make a big hit,
Speaker 1: and no one's gonna catch the football. But that's what
Speaker 1: it looked like. They were sitting back waiting for the
Speaker 1: ball to come to them so they could be the heroes.
Speaker 1: And instead Mitchell catches the ball in front of both
Speaker 1: of them. Neither of them come up and make a play.
Speaker 1: Now he gets hit right away, but neither of them
Speaker 1: come up and make a play on the ball. Make
Speaker 1: a play. When the ball is thrown, he's able to
Speaker 1: catch it. I was stunned how open he was. There
Speaker 1: was no one even near the first down marker. Because
Speaker 1: when this ball is thrown in the air, both Sharper
Speaker 1: and Anderson are are three yards passed it, And it's like,
Speaker 1: what do you do? Did they not know where the
Speaker 1: first down marker Wasn't they think they were two yards
Speaker 1: where they were supposed to be, but instead they were
Speaker 1: two yards back from it. Because that that was something
Speaker 1: that should have never happened. You gotta put all your
Speaker 1: guys at the marker. I mean, if it's fourth and
Speaker 1: you gotta have your guys in the middle of the
Speaker 1: field at the first down marker, and these guys were
Speaker 1: two yards behind it. Yeah, he's seen the play of before.
Speaker 1: He had a big shot down the center of the field,
Speaker 1: the old jump up and down claiming that your tight
Speaker 1: ends interfered with uh to no avail uh. And then
Speaker 1: you set up pretty much in the exact same defense.
Speaker 1: Mc NAB's got plenty of time to throw. Mitchell doesn't
Speaker 1: get touched at all. Still still question of the spot, Well,
Speaker 1: that's where the ball gets there. If that's that's the
Speaker 1: controversy that comes out, is that if you believe the
Speaker 1: red line, because back then it was a red lock.
Speaker 1: Freddie Mitchell got the first down, but as always, you know,
Speaker 1: the red line is unofficial, but got an extra two
Speaker 1: yards on that. Like he went down, he caught it
Speaker 1: went down basically at the line. But if you're going
Speaker 1: by the red line, he got the first down. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you said the red line is pretty accurate. But they
Speaker 1: put the ball two yards further down the field. And
Speaker 1: Joe buck was the guy said it right away, said, whoa,
Speaker 1: that's a that's a generous spot for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 1: And look, the Eagles are all going crazy. Freddie Mitchell,
Speaker 1: you know, catches this pass and it was, oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: and and now they got all kinds of momentum. But really,
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot to say that maybe he
Speaker 1: didn't get past the first down marker, Like I said,
Speaker 1: if you believe the red line, and I believe the
Speaker 1: red line, but was the red line really accurate? Should
Speaker 1: have been a first nown, I mean, too extra. You
Speaker 1: can't give a guy to extra yards well, you know
Speaker 1: for foreign progress or something like that or whatever you
Speaker 1: thought you saw on the sidelines. And it is. It
Speaker 1: is really curious because he gets he gets Malachi crunched,
Speaker 1: going to the old Happy Days reference, you know, right
Speaker 1: after he makes the leaping grab, and there's just this
Speaker 1: moment of all right, did I get it? Did I
Speaker 1: get not? Credits? Donovan Canab immediately got him up to
Speaker 1: the line, got the spike. So that's it. Another play
Speaker 1: was run. There's nothing else coming out of this. So
Speaker 1: the Eagles go down using that momentum. David Acres, who
Speaker 1: was as accurate kickers you would see in the NFL
Speaker 1: for a long time, also wore his wedding ring while
Speaker 1: he kicked, which is always interesting. Uh, he kicks a
Speaker 1: field goal that ties the game thirty seven yards and
Speaker 1: that sent it to overtime. And this play is still
Speaker 1: being talked about at this point. It's fourth and twenty
Speaker 1: six how did they get it? And it's one of
Speaker 1: those where even though you're still playing the game, if
Speaker 1: you're the Packers, if you're the Eagles, you're still thinking,
Speaker 1: how did that play happen? You know, you're still trying
Speaker 1: to get that playback while you're trying to play forward.
Speaker 1: And that never works because certain times things how you
Speaker 1: let a play occur that should have never happened, and
Speaker 1: going on from it is really really difficult, and and
Speaker 1: clearly the Packers couldn't go on for it because in overtime,
Speaker 1: Far throws a horrible heave way past Javon Walker. He
Speaker 1: was wide open at midfield, but this was quintessential Far
Speaker 1: off balance, off my back foot, and he throws it
Speaker 1: up and Javon Walker is open. He's got ten yards
Speaker 1: with the defensive back his ten yards behind him, but
Speaker 1: Far just throws it as far as he can nowhere
Speaker 1: near Javon Walker, and it's twenty yards past and Brian
Speaker 1: Dawkins comes down with it, gets a good return, Acres
Speaker 1: takes the game winning field goal, and the Eagles go
Speaker 1: on in the playoffs and the Packers go home. I mean,
Speaker 1: really watch that play and you see Far throwing. You go,
Speaker 1: where the hell is he throwing this ball? But this
Speaker 1: is life with Brett Farve. You know, as great as
Speaker 1: he can be, he'll give you a knucklehead throw like
Speaker 1: this and you go, that throw costs us the game.
Speaker 1: And that picked by Brian Dawkins because it was bad
Speaker 1: coverage because, like I said, Javon Walker's wide open. This
Speaker 1: is back when Javon Walker was a really good receiver,
Speaker 1: because he had a very short window of being one
Speaker 1: of the better receivers in the NFL. And all Farv's
Speaker 1: got to do is throw it on a line and
Speaker 1: it's like he just decided, I'm gonna throw the ball
Speaker 1: as far as I can and it's where the hell
Speaker 1: is this ball going? Well, the like you watch basketball,
Speaker 1: it's lived by the three, died by the three. Brett
Speaker 1: Farve and that big arm thinking he's going to be
Speaker 1: able to make a play each and every time. And
Speaker 1: in this case, a little bit of miscommunication and you know,
Speaker 1: an easy catch for for Dawkins sets up the return
Speaker 1: and you know, one of the many I N T
Speaker 1: s that we throw up for Brett Farve and ramifications
Speaker 1: off of this, I mean, it becomes a pretty big
Speaker 1: deal for the Packers and their organization. Now let's get
Speaker 1: to Fred Mitchell for a couple of minutes, because after
Speaker 1: this game, he finds himself an overnight celebrity. And it
Speaker 1: was a great play, it was a great catch. But
Speaker 1: he never became the guy that the Eagles wanted him
Speaker 1: to be. He was rapped in the first round as
Speaker 1: a wide receiver out of U C. L A. And
Speaker 1: he was supposed to be the wide receiver, the number
Speaker 1: one guy that would pair with McNabb for the majority
Speaker 1: of McNabb's career and they solved all their offensive problems.
Speaker 1: But he never panned out. But he was fun. You know,
Speaker 1: he nicknamed himself Fred X. He did all kinds of
Speaker 1: interviews where he would say things like, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: America and society doesn't care about things I do in
Speaker 1: the Eagles offense. It's not about catching passes, and it's
Speaker 1: really about catching passes when you're a first round draft
Speaker 1: way you're coming into the National Football League. I mean,
Speaker 1: he never became that player. And he was always yapping
Speaker 1: about not getting the ball enough, no matter what it was.
Speaker 1: And I think the Eagles would have thrown him the
Speaker 1: football more if he was open and could catch it.
Speaker 1: But it was never was never any it was never
Speaker 1: his fault. It was always somebody else's fault. But Freddie
Speaker 1: Mitchell was pretty fun, well fun run he those interviews,
Speaker 1: as you said, how much deliberately just trying to egg
Speaker 1: people on right, getting into it with Robby Harrison a
Speaker 1: little bit, Uh didn't help him. How they changed up
Speaker 1: the receiving core of the following year, which we'll get
Speaker 1: into in a minute. But you know, he was a
Speaker 1: slot guy, had one big moment, dressed the part of
Speaker 1: a first round pick, talked a big game, showed up
Speaker 1: on a bunch of TV shows and dating a millionaire
Speaker 1: matchmaker when that was the thing those years ago. Showed
Speaker 1: up there. I mean, he took his fifteen minutes of
Speaker 1: fame and ran with it as best he could, but
Speaker 1: was never anywhere close to what you would expect out
Speaker 1: of a mid first round pick, which is what he was.
Speaker 1: And he's got some other issues. And when we get
Speaker 1: to where are they now, Yeah, yeah, Freddy's got some
Speaker 1: other stuff. I mean, Freddy mentioned he could have been
Speaker 1: going to card shows for the rest of his life
Speaker 1: for at fifty bucks, signing pictures every time. Everything I'll
Speaker 1: make all kinds of money. I'll go for a weekend
Speaker 1: and just signed fourth and twenty six Freddie Mitchell, and
Speaker 1: I'll make all kinds of money. You know me, You've
Speaker 1: you've picked up after all these years. Go find your
Speaker 1: inscription and run with it. Man, run Now, since we're
Speaker 1: still talking about Freddie Mitche, I'm gonna kind of, uh,
Speaker 1: kind of put the card before the horse here is that.
Speaker 1: In the following year, the Eagles got to the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl and one of the most famous things that happened
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl week before the Eagles played the
Speaker 1: New England Patriots was they interviewed Freddie Mitchell and he
Speaker 1: couldn't name any Patriots defensive acts. There's a very big thing.
Speaker 1: I say, you know, who do you have to worry about? Uh?
Speaker 1: He knew some numbers, but he didn't know anybody any
Speaker 1: of the names of the Patriots D B s. And
Speaker 1: all he does, all he'd like to do was talk.
Speaker 1: He was a big star that week is you know
Speaker 1: some of those great stories. But what's best about this
Speaker 1: is Bill Belichick, who never says anything about anybody. Right
Speaker 1: if a player stinks, he doesn't say anything about players.
Speaker 1: Good talking about praise well, but yeah, But when he
Speaker 1: was asked about Freddie Mitchell following the Super Bowl, he said, oh,
Speaker 1: all he does is talk. He's terrible, and you can
Speaker 1: print that I was happy when he was in the game.
Speaker 1: This was Belichick saying, this is about Preddy Mitchell. You
Speaker 1: can print that I was happy when he was in
Speaker 1: the game. And when's the last time Belichick's criticized a player.
Speaker 1: He doesn't say anything, but no, I'll say this about
Speaker 1: Freddie Mitchell because he just couldn't stand Freddy Mitchell. Bunny.
Speaker 1: He's like Jon Gruden was for most of his run
Speaker 1: on Monday Night Football. Oh this guy is great. He's
Speaker 1: got a fort completion rate, doesn't matter looking at the mechanics,
Speaker 1: He's fantastic. So yeah, I mean, Bill Belichick says nothing.
Speaker 1: I mean, how many times has he gone on and
Speaker 1: wax poetically for three or four minutes at a time
Speaker 1: over a team's kicker, their return man, their punter. I mean,
Speaker 1: he'll go into soliloquies that are Shakespearean and nature about
Speaker 1: guys that are the afterthought for the average fan. I
Speaker 1: really can't believe, you know, thinking about the Belichick has
Speaker 1: only had a couple of times in his career where
Speaker 1: he said things about a Pacific player. I remember who
Speaker 1: was it, Anthony Smith? Right, who was the guy that
Speaker 1: guaranteed the win for the Steelers over the Patriots and
Speaker 1: the playoffs. And it was a very big deal in
Speaker 1: in like two thousand seven. It was the uh I
Speaker 1: think it was the year that Patriots were going undefeated. Uh.
Speaker 1: They went up losing the Giants and um, Anthony Smith
Speaker 1: guaranteed to win. And after the game Belichick said something like, well,
Speaker 1: we played a lot better safeties than him, I'll tell
Speaker 1: you that much, or something like that. I mean, he
Speaker 1: he picks his spots. But there was one of the
Speaker 1: few times we just to say I was glad when
Speaker 1: he was in the game. Oh good, Freddy's in the game.
Speaker 1: We have to worry about things now. We're all good.
Speaker 1: We're all good here. But tell me that wouldn't be
Speaker 1: the best game to play with Belichick is just put
Speaker 1: up pictures, names up on you know, just off your
Speaker 1: projector and see what the responses are. So there is
Speaker 1: fourth and twenty six and the fifteen minute hero who
Speaker 1: lives forever in NFL Lord because he makes the play
Speaker 1: Freddie Mitchell. What happened to the Packers and the Eagles
Speaker 1: as a result of this game, well for the Packers
Speaker 1: it wasn't the greatest of times, but it actually turned
Speaker 1: out to be pretty good. And the Eagles, well, they
Speaker 1: knew after this they had to go out and make
Speaker 1: a big change and they did. We got that coming
Speaker 1: up next right here on special teams. So what was
Speaker 1: next for the Green Bay Packers in the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 1: After the Eagles beat the Packers in the fourth and
Speaker 1: twenty six game at David Acres, field goal and overtime
Speaker 1: went to seventeen. Well for the Packers, this was the
Speaker 1: last of the great heights for Brett Farve in Green Bay.
Speaker 1: The following season, far through four picks versus Minnesota at
Speaker 1: home to get knocked out of the playoffs, which was shocking.
Speaker 1: But this, like I said, is life with Brett Farve.
Speaker 1: Brett Farve is someone who will give you some incredible
Speaker 1: and gave you incredible performances over the course of his career,
Speaker 1: but it will also give the football the other team
Speaker 1: way too much and many times at the absolute worst time.
Speaker 1: So four picks in that playoff game against Minnesota was it.
Speaker 1: And it was in that following draft that they took
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers in the first round, so replacing Farv was
Speaker 1: on the Packers agenda following this playoff game, and then
Speaker 1: the following year, Okay, we'll get far Of another chance.
Speaker 1: Four picks against Minnesota. Now we gotta draft his air apparent. Well,
Speaker 1: eventually you gotta turn the page and thinking about what
Speaker 1: could be. I mean, you've got short windows, and you
Speaker 1: were already probably into overtime, or at least you thought
Speaker 1: with with Brett Farvet at this point. But when when
Speaker 1: you look at just the fortunes of a franchise, at
Speaker 1: some point you've got to start thinking about the future
Speaker 1: and reloading. Packers doing that with their draft all these
Speaker 1: years later with Aaron Rodgers, Right, you might think he
Speaker 1: has a year or two les in terms of his production,
Speaker 1: maybe three whatever, But thirty seven years old. Truculent one
Speaker 1: of our favorite words in sports media, and you know,
Speaker 1: some battles with the new regime with Brett Farve. We
Speaker 1: always had rumblings of that, right, how happy he was
Speaker 1: and kind of played and marched to his own drummer.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it was it was time to start at
Speaker 1: least planning for the future. In two thousand five, the
Speaker 1: Packers plummeted to four and twelve. Big injuries of skilled players.
Speaker 1: Givon Walker got hurt in Week one, missed the season,
Speaker 1: Ferguson got hurt, i'm On Green got hurt. Mike Sherman
Speaker 1: gets fired, and Mike McCarthy comes in, which really was
Speaker 1: the telling moment that, Okay, now we're gonna get used
Speaker 1: to a new quarterback because we have a new coach
Speaker 1: coming in who's going to continue to groom Aaron Rodgers. Now,
Speaker 1: it still took three years from Aaron Rodgers being draft
Speaker 1: until he took over the job, but that was when
Speaker 1: you knew, okay, they're really looking to make a turn.
Speaker 1: And you can trace it back to this game, to
Speaker 1: the fourth and twenty six game games. Had the Packers
Speaker 1: stopped the Eagles, they maybe they continue to go on
Speaker 1: a run. They were red hot and go to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl and five plays well and suddenly they're not
Speaker 1: drafting Aaron Rodgers. But they lost the game. Okay, this
Speaker 1: wasn't really Farve's fault, although we did throw that really
Speaker 1: bad picking overtime. Because the fourth and twenty six is
Speaker 1: what stays in everybody's mind. But the following season you
Speaker 1: have a four interception playoff game, and it's we gotta
Speaker 1: get off this merry go round. We gotta get off
Speaker 1: this ride. Farve has done it great for us for
Speaker 1: a long time, but now we really can't have this.
Speaker 1: We can't. We can't have a great team and have
Speaker 1: four picks because because our guy just thinks he wants
Speaker 1: to try to throw a football through somebody, which is
Speaker 1: really what Brett Farve did many times throughout his career.
Speaker 1: So this pushed that Packers segue from Brett Farve away
Speaker 1: to what was next as a result of this game,
Speaker 1: Now for the Eagles, they lose the NFC Championship Game
Speaker 1: at home to Carolina fourteen to three. This is their
Speaker 1: third straight loss in the NFC Title Game. It's this
Speaker 1: was the They were almost like a poor man's Buffalo
Speaker 1: Bills were. Instead of losing the Super Bowl, the Eagles
Speaker 1: lost in the NFC Title Game. Every single year McNabb
Speaker 1: played with torn cartilage in his ribs. He had trouble
Speaker 1: throwing the football. He threw three interceptions. The Eagles couldn't
Speaker 1: get the football up and down the field at all.
Speaker 1: Coy Dettmer came in this game at one point through
Speaker 1: a pick in the end zone. This was Carolina winning
Speaker 1: and getting to the Super Bowl, and Jake Diloma is
Speaker 1: a hero and they nearly pulled the big upset off
Speaker 1: against the Patriots. But what this proved this season. Now
Speaker 1: you had Freddie Mitchell making that big play, but then
Speaker 1: you had no offense in a four teen three loss
Speaker 1: to Carolina. Philadelphia realized we need to make a change,
Speaker 1: so coming off of this playoff, they added Tarall Owens
Speaker 1: and they bolted the defense by signing Javon Curse. This
Speaker 1: was the best of the Philadelphia teams. They go on
Speaker 1: to lose the Super Bowl to New England the year after,
Speaker 1: but this game this season, realizing we don't have the
Speaker 1: wide receivers, they go get Tara Owens and suddenly Andy
Speaker 1: Reid is in the Pro Bowl, and you know it's
Speaker 1: not just t O who comes in. But as a
Speaker 1: result of this, we we spent a lot of time
Speaker 1: for it. But they go get you a Von Curse
Speaker 1: because one of the things the Eagles had a problem
Speaker 1: with in this season was they couldn't stop the run.
Speaker 1: And this NFC Championship game, this was Steven Davis and
Speaker 1: Deshaun Foster were just completely running over them. They combined
Speaker 1: to run for a hundred and fifty yards and Deshaun
Speaker 1: Foster had the big clinching touchdown in the third quarter
Speaker 1: and Jake Dilome only through for a hundred yards in
Speaker 1: this game. It was we're just gonna run the football
Speaker 1: on you and bludging you and do it. And so
Speaker 1: they were able to do it, and it was the
Speaker 1: Eagles realizing we need more on offense, we need more
Speaker 1: on defense. They go out and do it. As a
Speaker 1: results of these playoffs, they grind and keep the clock moving.
Speaker 1: Remember Steven Davis at his best man that was like
Speaker 1: a five yard a pop runner uh in between the
Speaker 1: tackles and then Foster catching the ball out of the
Speaker 1: backfield shifty to the edges man. That was a good
Speaker 1: one to combination for them as well. But once again,
Speaker 1: as we're going through these special teams, you see the
Speaker 1: ramifications and how much NFL history in the short and
Speaker 1: long term is affected by one or two big plays
Speaker 1: and fourth and changing the fortunes of a couple of franchises.
Speaker 1: All right, so where are they now, Mike Carmen. Let's
Speaker 1: say a look at where some of these guys are
Speaker 1: now these years later, where are they now? Well, let's
Speaker 1: lock a couple of MPs. We've got a couple of
Speaker 1: the guys that took the traditional let's stay in football routes.
Speaker 1: So we got Hank Fraley of the Eagles. He is
Speaker 1: now the offensive line coach for your Detroit Lions and
Speaker 1: Al Harris superstar. Uh he's reunited with Mike McCarthy. He's
Speaker 1: working with defensive backs in Dallas coming season. And then
Speaker 1: I've got two guys that got the entrepreneurial spirit. You
Speaker 1: got Carlos Emmons, who decided, you know what, I want
Speaker 1: to be a billionaire and gonna start by taking over
Speaker 1: hospitality and restaurants. So he's a restaurant tour of a
Speaker 1: B fifty one restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia. So you got that.
Speaker 1: And then you've got Nate Wayne. You're gonna love this.
Speaker 1: Also in Atlanta, Georgia. He owns the cold Stone Creamery.
Speaker 1: Oh I love cold Stone, Oh I love cold Stone Creamery.
Speaker 1: Oh man, they may they put out that big slab
Speaker 1: and they mix all the ice cream up, and I'm
Speaker 1: just I always add all kinds of topics. What would
Speaker 1: you like? I'd like kit cats okay, great. Oh and
Speaker 1: peanut butter okay great. Oh and brownies okay great? Oh
Speaker 1: and eminem sir, come on, we gotta make this now. Okay,
Speaker 1: stop adding stuff, I mix it up for you. Well,
Speaker 1: I always asked for one, Like when I really just
Speaker 1: decide I'm gonna have my you know, nine thousand calorie
Speaker 1: day is, I'll say, give me any MEANYU give me
Speaker 1: number seven off of your premixes. And that's when you
Speaker 1: go to work, because there's always like eighteen things in there.
Speaker 1: All right, now the big one you say, the best
Speaker 1: one for right to say, the big one for last?
Speaker 1: Well that was the cold Stone Creamery man. Well well, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, I was I was gonna try to forget
Speaker 1: about Freddie. Yeah, Freddie. Um yeah, he had a barbecue
Speaker 1: joint called Brothers Barbecue, but as good uh. And then
Speaker 1: a package of seven pounds showed up in February of
Speaker 1: two thousand nine to his business. It was not brisket,
Speaker 1: it was not some bacon that maybe they were short
Speaker 1: and no, h it was marijuana. He was detained, not charged,
Speaker 1: but they closed for violations, violation, and then um they reopened,
Speaker 1: and then eventually he would lose the restaurant after a
Speaker 1: court ruling, and then he's pulled over for speeding and
Speaker 1: then well an outstanding weren't for failure to pace child support.
Speaker 1: He was a fugitive from justice and it went next level.
Speaker 1: Now that that's one step for Freddie uh and then
Speaker 1: in he was in it on federal tax fraud charges,
Speaker 1: went to prison for over three years. Freddie Mitchell thirty
Speaker 1: seven months in prison. That was Freddy the fred X
Speaker 1: All for fred X. There's our look back at fourth
Speaker 1: and what surrounded it, the drama before it, the drama
Speaker 1: after it, and what it meant for both teams. This
Speaker 1: is why we do Special Teams certain big games. It's
Speaker 1: not just a big game, because it's about what happens
Speaker 1: in that game and then what happens as a result
Speaker 1: to both of these teams. Do you have an idea
Speaker 1: for a future episode of Special Team Today? Hit us
Speaker 1: up on Twitter at how about a Fresca? Mike is
Speaker 1: at Swollen Dome. Our show is on Fox Sports Radio
Speaker 1: Monday through Friday, ten p m t. Two am on
Speaker 1: the East coast, seven to eleven on the West Coast.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you next week with a brand new
Speaker 1: episode of Special Teams Before you go, rate and review
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