WEBVTT - Channing Crowder 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:06.760 Practice, Rolfics, Patrick Throwing, Hi Parker Tuxtown. What a win 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:12.879 for this Miami Dolphin team? Wow? What is up? Dolphins? 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:16.159 And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:21.200 Miami Dolphins official podcast network covering your Miami Dolphins. I 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:24.160 am your host, Travis Wingfield, and as always, I am 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:28.000 here to bring you your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football. 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:30.760 And on today's show, I'm joined by a very special 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:33.880 guest to discuss a variety of topics from his time 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:37.120 as a Dolphin and also his opinions on the current team. 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:39.959 All of that and much much more with Channing Crowder. 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.040 All of that and much much more. On This Monday 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:46.440 marks the sixteenth edition of the Drive Time Podcast. Going 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:48.879 After and Cat, I'm got the football, but you get 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:53.000 Channing Crowder with an interception at the thirty yard line 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:57.000 and this football game is over the Miami Dolphins. You're 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:59.400 gonna win this game. And I am so excited to 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.360 welcome in the Dolphins third round draft pick in two 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.679 thousand five. He spent his entire six year career in Miami, 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:08.480 racking up four hundred and seventy tackles. He's the co 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:11.360 host of The Hawkman and Crowder Show on five sixty 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:14.959 w q A. M Channing, Crowder Channing. What's going on? Man? 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:19.119 What's up big? It's good to see you two. Got 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:21.000 this gype going on the other end of the other 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:23.000 end of the country over there, And I think that's 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:25.319 a good place to start here on the podcast because 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.120 it's a crazy time right now. Channing and sports have 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:30.000 largely been put on hold. You mentioned you've got the 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:32.920 day off today from the radio station. That never happens. 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:37.160 Can you give us a player's perspective on events that 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:39.960 get like canceled like this, or something that has transpired 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.360 in the same vein as the coronavirus, the Corona pandemic, 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:46.840 and how you have to respond to that as a player. Yeah, 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:48.760 I haven't. I wasn't part of this obviously. I don't 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:50.680 think you know in my time time. I'm thirty six 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:52.680 years old and never been a part of a pandemic. 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:57.040 But athletes are so scheduled, bro Like, they tell you 0:01:57.240 --> 0:01:59.520 every day of your entire life, what you need to do, 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:01.040 way you need to be, what time you have to be, 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:02.600 or what time you have to be there. And for 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:05.120 something like this to get thrown in NFL, right now 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:07.160 not so much. I know that they might push back 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:09.880 free agency because they can't visit, they might push stuff back. 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:12.600 But for like the NBA guys, they had seventeen to 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:14.519 twenty games left and all their seasons and now they're 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:17.440 just stopping. So like, this is for an athlete and 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:20.160 for you know, continuity with the team, you know, getting 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:22.079 to know your teammates and understanding that you're suppsed to 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:24.360 be playing your best heading into the playoffs. The NBA 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:26.040 rights now is about to just start and jump in 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:28.639 the playoffs. So yes, this is something none of us 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:30.840 you covering sports your whole life, meet playing in our 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:34.000 covering sports man. This is nothing that I've ever seen, 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:36.160 I've never been a part of. But I would say 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:40.120 from an athlete's perspective, being scheduled, having everything scheduled for 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:41.519 you kind of like the reason why a lot of 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:44.360 guys struggled to retire is where they don't have that schedule. 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:47.160 So to have this just stopped. And I've talked to 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:49.560 some guys where NBA guys are saying, I was like, 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:51.800 are they practicing, are they going back to camp? Like 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:54.400 what are they doing? And nobody knows because no one's 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:56.920 dealt with this. Pat Ridy and Erik Spolster down with 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:59.400 the Miami there are two of the greatest of all time. 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:01.560 But how do you deal with a pandemic? I think 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:04.280 all sports league, you see MLS, you see n C 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.600 double A canceled their tournament. Just no one really knows 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:09.520 how to deal with this, because, to be honest, no 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:12.160 one has ever dealt with this. So hopefully after the 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:14.680 thirty day hiatus that the NBA has taken, I think 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:17.240 Adam Silver doing a great job. He's kind of setting 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:20.359 the president athletical league for what leagues and and and 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:23.120 and associations are supposed to do. So after this third 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.440 day hiatus will have a lot more information. And be honest, 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:28.320 guy's a lot smarter than me. And you need to 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:30.519 figure out what to do with these leagues because yeah, 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:32.960 and if they called asked me, I like my phone 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:35.040 was about to die, I wouldn't know what to do. 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:37.640 That's exactly right. And I keep seeing all these hot 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:39.480 takes on Twitter and whatnot. It's like, why don't we 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:41.840 just have the people that are in charge make these decisions. 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:43.640 I'm right there with you all the way. And you 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:46.120 mentioned the regimented idea of an athlete, and that was 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.280 kind of my next question was how big of a 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:50.880 challenge is it to get off of that everyday routine, 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:53.800 because even for me in this position, it's I mean 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:56.400 eight to five, I have every fifteen minutes or so 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:58.440 blocked out. I have to imagine when it comes to 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:01.360 an athlete and getting your body right and taking you know, naps, 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:03.960 are getting the proper nutrition into your body. It's just 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:05.600 got to be such a change to all of a 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:09.320 sudden stop operations completely and get to this point to where, 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:11.280 like you said, we don't know what we're gonna do, 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:14.160 and I mentioned, what's something that you've been through that 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:16.160 was a bit of a curve ball, and I came 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:18.400 up with a game from I think it was two 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:21.080 thousand five, might have been your rookie year when the 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:23.520 Saints were going through Hurricane Katrina. Yeah, that's when. That's 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:25.600 when Katrina was So it was two thousand and five 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:27.720 and you guys had to play at baton rouge. Was 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.000 that was that any different for you as a player 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:31.600 or just the same Because it was a road game, 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:34.120 it was a lot easier for us because it was 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:35.680 a road game. You hit it on the head where 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.359 instead of going to the you know what as a superdome, 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:40.480 we just went up to bat room. So we got 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:42.080 off the plane just like we do when we played 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:44.120 the Giants, the Jets, the Charge. It was the same 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:45.960 for us, you know, the Patriots, but we just went 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.520 to another stadium. But I remember just being and I've 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:51.200 actually played l s U in college, so I remember 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:53.960 walking in and the little Eddie bittie college locker room, 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:56.839 and you know, just the different atmosphere used to these 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:00.760 elite stadiums. Well, the old San Diego was a college stadium, 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:03.000 but most of them are real nice. So even that, 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:04.880 I'm sure for the same too, it was a lot harder. 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:07.039 I'm sure you know, with with all the you know, 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:09.640 natural disasses that going, it is tough. But I'll give 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:14.279 example like that. Thomas, no exaggeration. He had every second 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:17.200 of his day plans. He had his he had his 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:21.239 his four four hundred grams of protein, his sixteen hundred 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:23.760 grams of cards, He had his vitamins in like a 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:27.400 little lunch box. He took a four four or fourteen 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.479 in the morning, eight sixteen. He had everything regimented. A 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:32.760 beside guy, he had a stretching guy come to his 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:34.440 house at night. I used to go over his house 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.240 after practice and he would watch film until he fell 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.760 asleep in his in his theater. Like he was so 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:43.119 regiment on what he did. And I know that going 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.400 to and the win to New Orleans, I know that 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:47.440 affected him because I would talk to him and Bro, 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.040 this ain't right. Bro is how it's supposed to be. 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:51.760 It's a how it's supposed to be. And it was 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:54.520 a longer drive from New Orleans down the Baton Rougen. Also, 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:57.880 like I know those elite athletes, those guys that really 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:01.960 treat their body like a high woman's race car. You 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:05.560 change that, You change them, you change their approach it. 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:07.480 It might be a lot of psychological, it might be 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.680 a lot more psychological and actually, you know, affecting the 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:13.120 guy's play. But once you're used to something like that. 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:14.839 When I got in the league, exactly in the league 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:17.640 for oh five, he was a ten year vat, he 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:19.960 was a multi was six time profile. By the time 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.080 I got there, he losed what he knew what it 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.080 takes to be great. So now you're changing his greatness. 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:27.760 A lot of mental stuff, A lot of guys second 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:31.360 guessing theirselves, second guessing the decisions people make. We had 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:33.680 I played of the Chiefs down here, I want to 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:36.480 say six or seven sometime, and there was a storm coming. 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:39.279 They moved the game to Friday night, and that messed 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.120 up everybody because now you couldn't get your Friday massage. 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:43.840 You had to move your Friday inside the Wednesday. You 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:47.320 had to move everything back, and that Ferrari that that 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:49.800 race car couldn't get ready like it was used to 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.680 getting ready. So for an athlete, it's gonna be tough. 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:55.600 I think the I think the the the style of 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.680 play and the quality of play in the NBA. If 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:00.800 they do I heard I was reading day they said 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:02.840 n C Double A might do like a six team 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:06.560 team mini tournament over a weekend. The quality of play 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:09.120 is gonna go down. The style of play has to 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:10.960 be a just it's not gonna look like playoff and 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:14.400 tournament basketball because of the fact that that regiment changed, 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:17.640 that that that greatness push that everybody has at all 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:20.760 levels has changed now. So I'm hoping that they figured 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.000 out and give us high quality sports. But right now, man, 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:26.520 I'm waiting to watch a UFC fight in Brazil this weekend. 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:30.120 Bro I I can't do that every weekend XFL. I 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:32.360 thought I had the xfilm. Man, they're not even giving 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:35.280 me that. Man. But it's it's it's gonna be tough 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:37.640 on the athletes and be honest now and outside hell, 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:40.200 it's tough on the spectator. It's tough on the analysts. 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:42.200 We were talking, we were talking about you know, the 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:47.280 best salty snack today and Mount Rushmore Viney's in the 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:49.680 history of sports were you know, we're reaching out to 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:52.920 do stuff. But it you take sports out of this world, 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:55.160 you take a lot of be honest, a lot of passion, 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:57.080 a lot of love, and a lot of money and 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:59.440 a lot of jobs. I think the NBA salary cap 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:01.560 goes down next year for the you know, for the 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.119 first time, I want to say, and seven eight years 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:06.840 goes down because of the fact that the coronavirus is 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:09.119 messing up the TV money at all, and the stuff 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.320 that happened with China and the owner of the Rockets 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:13.840 earlier this year. I think that can bind. That's gonna 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:16.520 take the money down. So a financial aspect of this 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:18.520 as well, I think you're gonna be left with just 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:20.440 darts and bowling by the time this is all over 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:22.720 with in terms of what's on your television. Maybe NASCAR, 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:24.640 but I don't know how far you venture into that 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.520 type of stuff. But you mentioned that that Dolphins Chiefs 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:29.920 game back from the mid two thousands, and I remember 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:31.760 that as a fan because you talked about the impact 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:35.000 it has on players, on analysts, on fans, you know, 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:38.000 as I was back in that time and it wasn't 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:39.640 on direct TV, and so I didn't get a chance 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:41.840 to watch that game. I had to fall along along 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:44.320 with the old like game the NFL game center, like 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:47.040 a little dots and the Dolphins helmet, like here's a 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:52.680 tackle for lost channion cry, I'm like, yeah, celebrating my computer. Yeah, 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:54.760 like you see I go. You see it move a 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:56.640 couple of inches? Like no, no, I get a stop. 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:59.080 It's it's, you know, a tough way to watch a game. 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:01.560 But those with the old times were in modern times 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:03.840 and things have certainly changed. But I want to transition 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:05.760 now chanting back into what it looks like for a 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:08.199 normal year because one of the things that always fascinates 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.800 me as a lifelong football fan and now journalist is 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.560 the expectation of rookies coming into the NFL I asked 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:17.720 Christian Wilkins about this on the podcast last week. And 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:20.000 the off season for a rookie coming into the league, 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:23.479 you go right from your season ends to Combine preparation, 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.200 to the Combine to Pro Days, then the draft, then 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:28.800 you got rookie mini camps for your experience from the 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:31.200 last day of Florida up until the day the Dolphins 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:34.280 drafted you. How are juist or just how I guess 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:36.680 would you describe that experience in that three or four 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:41.080 month period. Most stressful time in my life. Being in 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:43.720 the league is not as stressful being in college, even 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:46.559 getting recruited because they love you, Like when when you're 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:48.200 coming from high school of college that they love you. 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:50.559 They tell you you're the greatest of all time. You're 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:52.360 gonna be the next Ray Lewis, You're gonna be. You know, 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:54.120 they love you because they want to come there school. 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:58.960 In the NFL, you're you're they're hiring you. So it's different. 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.200 And then these guys come and I remember sitting down 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:04.079 with Mike type, sitting down with Belichech, sitting down with 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:07.959 it was um uh green Bay Jim Jim Bates. He 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:09.880 was very interested. He was a Green Bay at the time. 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:12.319 It was right after he left as the interim head 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:14.520 coach with the Dolphins. I just remember sitting down with 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:18.400 all these prestigious guys, all Ron Rivera's and those guys, 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:21.920 and they're not loving on you. They're trying to weed 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:25.040 out the trash. And that's what that that draft process, 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:28.160 and that's the thing I tell everybody. The combine drills, 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:30.199 they're stressful. The goal. I didn't do anything at the 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:32.480 combine because I was Mail Kuiper lied to me I 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:34.880 was real first round guaranteed. So I can't stay on 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:37.240 mal Kaiper to this day, but I was I was 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:39.200 gonna be one of the top three linebackers taken, so 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:41.240 I on even do nothing. I'll work out of my 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:44.080 pro day at all. But even that the stress of 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:46.120 looking at They give you a note card when you 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:50.120 get to Indianapolis and it says ten fifteen AM Colts, 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:55.120 ten thirty AM Jaguars, eleven fifteen Falcons, and you just 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:57.720 have this list of all these teams and you're walking 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:01.640 in with owners, head coaches, deep deep coordinators, linebacker coaches, 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:03.480 and now you have to put on your best like 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.160 it's like almost like speed dating. I have to sell 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:08.920 you the best of me in fifteen minutes, real fast. 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:11.640 And then after you go through that entire process of 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:14.320 the of the combine and all. Now you get a 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:16.360 couple of men, a couple of weeks off, and now 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.240 every coach in NFL is coming to your college. So 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:21.640 now I gotta perform. Now I gotta go out here. Well, now, 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:24.439 at the time Florida they let people. You know, there's 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:26.800 a lot of spectators that pro day. So now your 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:28.840 buddies are out there. Now all your teammates are out there, 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:30.840 the same coaches that are putting pressure on you. Bill 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.959 Belichick actually worked me out personally when it was linebacker 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:36.400 real time. He went and grabbed the ball and started 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:38.360 doing it, pointing each way and getting to see one 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:40.880 of my hips moving all. So now that's stress. So 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:42.800 now okay, I'm done with the physical side of doing 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:46.360 the interviews. Where am I gonna get drafted? Am I going? 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:48.559 Am I going? You know? Top twenty? Like Mel Kraiper 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:52.079 told me, is my multiple multiple, multiple multiple arrest is 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.400 gonna affect me. My knee surgeons gonna affect me. So 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:56.960 just the stress of that. So now actually then you 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.320 go through the draft, my drafting I thought I was 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.200 going first round and go to third round. It was 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:03.120 still on the first day. Back in O five it 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:04.920 was the first and third round and oh five, so 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:08.400 dredraft started at twelve. I went fishing with my buddies. 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:09.880 Had a big cooler for the bill when he got 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:12.240 a bunch of wings. You know, hey, I'm going first round. 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:14.040 We'll be out here on the lake fishing. You know, 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:16.400 the Green Bay packers will call me, and you know, 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:18.959 and and give me this big contract couple eight ten 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:21.440 million dollars guaranteed I'm good to go at Tory and pick. 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:24.480 And then they don't call me. And then the Patriots 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.880 actually promised me if I'm available at thirty two, they 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:29.360 were gonna take me. They might have done some more 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:33.480 research on my off the field activities will call them 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:35.600 and they end up passing on me. I didn't get 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.560 drafted Hill eight fifteen that night. So the first rounds 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:41.240 around about ended about two to thirty. For the next 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:43.720 five and a half six hours, I didn't know where 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:45.240 I was going, how far am I gonna slip, What's 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.000 gonna happen. That's just a lot of stress. I was 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.640 twenty years old. I came out of the sophomore. That's 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:51.160 a lot of stress on, you know, with a lot 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:53.240 of people. My mom's there, my sisters, my mom's hope, 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.400 everybody's in games Bill because I'm about to go and 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:57.520 change the family's outcome. I'm about to go and get 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:00.400 this generational wealth of all this money. And the money 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:02.720 doesn't come. I still get drafted in the first day. 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:06.000 But that's stressed there. That's not even the hardest part. Bro. 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:08.880 Now you get to a team and I walk into 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:11.680 a linebacker room. These are the starters when I walked 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.080 in that room, So I'm they drafted me third round 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:16.200 to come in and you know, play the run. I 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:18.000 was a run stopping guy. I was two fifty. I 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:22.200 was a big old boy. The starting linebackers were junior Sayale, 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:27.600 Jason Taylor, Zach Thomas, and me. I was the weakest link. 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:30.439 I went from All American in high school to All 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.480 American in college two time. All that sec to the 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:36.160 weakest link. Like and it's not even it's not it's 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:37.720 not it's not an art. It's not art. You can't 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:40.719 argue it. I was the weakest link. Sam Madison was 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:43.400 still there past thirteen, just got traded when I got there, 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:47.240 Keith Trailer, Vanni Holiday, Kevin Carter. I'm looking around like 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:49.320 these are the guys I played with on video games, 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:52.120 and now I have to go out here and perform 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:54.880 for them. The hell with Nick Saban. I want to 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:56.439 form Nick Saban when I walked and so I'll have 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:57.959 j T and Zach to look at you if you 0:13:58.000 --> 0:13:59.920 mess up. I had to perform for them. I don't. 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.200 And let's that down. I said all the time that 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:04.719 the three people I get credit for from for me 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:07.800 making an NFL, not getting there, but making it. God 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:10.760 number one, my mom number two, Zach Thomas three four. 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:14.040 He taught me how to be a pro. He taught 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:15.480 me how to train, he taught me how to work, 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:17.920 he taught me how to watch film. And now you're 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:19.560 going out there with the best of the best in 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:22.200 the world, as you respect so much, and you have 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:25.280 to perform on that level with guys that have four 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:28.600 or five mortgages, have three or four baby mamas, have 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:31.800 child's import to pay. They're not coming out like college like, hey, bro, 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:33.600 let's go out and have a fun time. At that point, 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:35.600 I hear the grind and get paid and get these 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:38.520 contracts and it just keeps building up and building up. 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:42.360 I would say that starts that pressure and that that 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:44.880 that demand of yourself that you put in your body, 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:49.160 your whole life. That doesn't subside until probably the regular 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:51.720 season starts and you're locked into your position. You're locked 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:53.760 into your job, you're locked into the defense. You know 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:56.480 what to do. But man, from my last game, which 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:59.480 was the Peach Bowl against Miami, we got whooped, until 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:01.520 my first game in the league, which was the Denver 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:04.520 Broncos at home the year they went we end up 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:07.520 beating him. Were one of the four teams that beat him. 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:09.720 It was a hundred and twenty degrees on the field. 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:12.960 They called it the twelfth man. Champ Bailey will steal 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:14.400 their ball like they had a team, and they end 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:16.680 up they want to playoffs one, two o four. But 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:20.760 from Miami in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta to that 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:24.960 first game in Miami against the Broncos, that stress was 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:29.960 the most stressful, mentally demanding and physically demanding time in 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.400 my life. That's a tough stress for all these young 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:33.880 guys that are going through it right now. It kind 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:35.680 of reminds me of the old saying, Like they say 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:37.360 that the hard part is supposed to be practice, and 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:39.000 you gotta go out on game days and have the 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:41.640 fund all the poking and prodding, that's just the stuff 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.280 that an athlete like yourself definitely not gonna enjoy. You 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:45.640 made a couple of comments and that I want to 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:47.160 get back to you real quick. I do want to 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:48.960 talk more about Zach Thomas, because I knew he had 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.760 a great influence on your career and you personally. But 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:53.920 you mentioned going to the draft and possibly to go 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:55.880 into Green Bay. Now I want to circle back to 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:58.320 a story Utah on the Fish Tank about your recruiting 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:01.160 trip to Penn State when you got out and you said, 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:03.160 you know, you went into a dorm room and it 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:04.880 was fine, and then you look outside and there's six 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:06.880 inches of snow on the ground. So maybe going to 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:09.280 Miami over Green Bay not the worst thing in the world. Right, 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:12.680 Oh yeah, man, I look at it. I'm a I'm 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:14.440 I'm not I'm not going to church every Sunday, but 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:16.200 I ain't a lot to it. But I am a 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:18.920 spiritual guy. If I got drafted a Green Bay or 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:20.600 New England or the teams that were interested in me, 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:22.880 I wouldn't have came down here, I wouldn't have, you know, 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:25.400 met my wife. I wouldn't have got around these great coaches. 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:27.120 I wouldn't have got an opportunity to be in the 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:29.440 media like I am. I might have, but I don't 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:31.880 know for sure. I wouldn't have met Zach Thomas. I 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:33.520 don't know if there was a guy in Green Bay 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:36.040 or New England or who else was it um Atlanta 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:38.080 that would have took me under their wing that would 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:40.280 know how to not just play ball, but how to teach. 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:42.960 And Zach knew how to teach ball and play ball. 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:46.040 So everything happens for a reason. Did my four A 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:49.080 c L reconstructions, then my multiple arrest? Did all that 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.320 stuff come back to bite me financially? Early on? It did, 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:54.880 but wasn't a blessing in the skuise. As I look 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:57.160 back as a thirty six year old, now I was. 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.080 I was pissed on Draft night. Now I'm not gonna 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:02.120 I was pissed us now going from ten million dollars 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:05.520 guaranteed to third round. Man, I'm not making a million dollars. 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:07.240 If I'm making a hundred tackles this ship, you know, 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:10.840 it was a big difference financially, But it was a 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:13.679 blessing in the skies. End up getting to my second contract, 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:16.040 end up having just the most amazing coach, George Edwards, 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:18.080 who was now the d C of the Vikings. Just 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:20.399 all the people I met, all the people I were around. 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:22.000 I think that was a blessing in the skies. But 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:24.040 I'm with you in that cold. I can't deal with cold. Now, 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:26.760 my kids love the ski. I don't leave the lodge, 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:29.280 the shellette, whatever they call it. I sit there and 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:31.360 I drank beer and whiskey with all the old, rich, 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:34.680 fat guys the entire ski week. My kids going, I'm 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:36.959 not going out in the snow. We got off the 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:40.840 plane from Pittsburgh, and now the paternal name is is ruined. 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:43.280 Ja Pa turned Joe Pa turn On. That's ruined. But 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:45.359 jay Pa Turno flew to Pittsburgh to pick me and 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:47.280 my mom up and brought us back on the little plane. 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:49.600 It was. It was when we when we were flying 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:53.120 and I'm looking down and seeing the snow. I said, Coach, 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:55.280 I can't play here. He said, what are you talking about? 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:59.000 I was looking at that. And then Courtney Brown end 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:00.879 up being my host, the guy that got drafted. The 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:03.000 Browns end up being my host. Were in their apartment 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:06.600 and he's like, hey, we're going out, going leaving this 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:11.000 place for what it wasn't six and it was about 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:12.679 the foot of snow. I said, I said, how do 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:15.440 you party in this? They go to the party. Everybody's 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:17.480 wrapped up in jackets. I'm like, man, I'm used to 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:20.440 Atlanta in Miami and I was in Gamesville. Everybody with 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:25.880 girls were basis, Yeah, I was a shirt off guy. 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:28.200 I had a six pack, but I was a shirt off. 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.760 I would get naked in the club. But yeah, man, 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:34.240 I I saw that snow and that's the new Pine. 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:36.720 State was the only Northern team that that I showed 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:39.280 any interesting because my dad was a multiple time All American. Damn. 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:42.240 My dad played for the Dolphins as well. But they 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:44.680 brought me to two summer camps, which made me love 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:47.000 it because State College is a great, beautiful, beautiful place. 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:50.560 They brought me on my visit January eleven, and that 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:53.040 was that was the reason why I did not be 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:55.520 a coming ninny lion. I didn't follow my dad's footsteps 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:57.560 and liniens and all that stuff because I am not 0:18:57.600 --> 0:18:59.920 going to live in two ft of snow. I've never 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:02.679 to do it. And if somebody put off me a 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:05.679 lot of damn money to move north of the Bible 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.240 Belt somewhere because I don't like this, you know, well, 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:10.040 that's a good part to the kind of segue into 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:12.360 the part after your rookie year. In the first four 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:14.720 years of your contract you mentioned kind of that financial 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:16.919 hit you took. But then eventually you did get the 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:19.840 extension with the Miami Dolphins, and that happened. I want 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:22.120 to say, was it a week or two before free agency? 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.520 Was it really close to when the market opened up? Yes? 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.600 They It's funny because when they when the Dolphins called 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:30.440 me and Joel Siegel, he he was my age of 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:32.800 big time agent. Now he's still he's still you know, 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:36.760 represents a bunch of guys. And when they asked me, 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:38.879 what contract do you want after my fourth year? What 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:42.080 contract do you want? Brian Urlacher just signed his big deal. 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:45.480 So we got Brian url his contract. We we literally 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:47.359 just put white out over his name and put my 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:49.479 name on top and sent it to him. Because if 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:51.200 you asked me to do it. Now a car dealership 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:52.600 they say, hey, Mr crowd, and how much you want 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:55.520 to spend. I say five bucks, like you want to 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:57.200 buy a car from five dollars. I said, you're asking 0:19:57.240 --> 0:19:58.679 me what I want. I want to buy a car 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:00.840 for five dollars. Well, and we're going to it. So 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:03.040 I approach free agency the same way. How much are 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:04.879 you asking me do I want? I want Brian law 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:07.160 Lacker his money. I want the forty million dollars guaranteed. 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:09.280 Whatever you had at the time. And we went back 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:12.800 and forth with my injury history. They didn't want to 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:14.800 sign me to a long term deal five six years 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:17.679 because I had, you know, a bunch of these surgeries, microfractutions. 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:20.840 I'm I'm at seventeen knee surgeries now, you know throughout 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:22.840 my life starting in the grade. Now, so I you know, 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:25.120 I knew I was damaged good. So then we got 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:27.040 to three years. So we sent him a three year deal. 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:30.600 I want to say the first second week of the season, 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.000 early in the season. They went back and forth all 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.719 the way through the season, all the way through the 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:37.800 off season, all the way up to life this time, 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:40.919 right before free agency started. I think I would have 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:43.080 been I wouldn't have been I would have been out 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:44.879 of contract. I wouldn't have had I'd had a little 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:47.680 a little NFL symbol next to my face on TV 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:51.879 at like eight midnight that night or the next morning whatever, 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:56.160 And they called Joe Siegel at about four or thirty 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:58.679 and told them the first deal of the first three 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:00.760 year did you you you know, three for fifteen whenever 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:02.879 we gave him, we'll sign the first deal. So they 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:05.160 were back and forth to agree on the first deal 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:07.040 we ever sent them for three years, but that was 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:09.840 the game and that's how that's how negotiations happened. So 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:13.120 I locked in them between four and twelve hours before 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:15.400 I would be a total free agent. I guess it's 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:17.320 nice to know that you never really had that lag, 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:19.520 that gap, like you mentioned, to get the NFL logo 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:21.760 next to your name on Sports Center or whatever it 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:23.920 might be. We're here with Channing Crowd on the Drivetime 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:27.680 podcast with Travis Wingfield on the official Miami Dolphins podcast network, 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:29.879 and you mentioned at Channing, we do have the legal 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:33.000 tampering period coming up on Monday at noon today actually 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:35.800 on this podcast, and I'm curious to get your take 0:21:35.840 --> 0:21:37.920 because we just put out a film on the Miami 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:41.080 Dolphins socials in the Miami Dolphins website everywhere about Brian 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:44.160 flores background and growing up in Brownsville, a tough neighborhood 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:46.520 up in Brooklyn, New York, and just a really fantastic 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:48.359 job by our video team, And I wanted to get 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:50.800 your feeling about You mentioned the impact that Zach can 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:52.720 have on a guy, because that we we talked so 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:55.520 much about the environment a guy goes into is everything 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:57.879 in terms of what his career means. Sure, there's talented 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:00.480 players that are more talented than others, but the surrounding 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:02.840 cast and the support that player has to make the 0:22:02.840 --> 0:22:04.840 best of his development and his career can have such 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:06.960 a big impact. But I'm curious to get your take 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:09.440 on what it's like to have a well respected coach 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:11.439 like Brian flora Is. Like you see that video, you 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:14.240 see his his previous players talking about him so glowingly. 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:16.080 What is having a guy like that in the building 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:19.199 do for not just recruiting outside players, but also the 0:22:19.240 --> 0:22:21.120 program as a whole and the guys that are already there. 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:24.480 Communication is one of the biggest things in the NFL 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:29.159 that UM I love. UM quick Mike Nolan story. Mike Nolan, 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:31.920 you know well in respected guy San Francisco head coach. 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:33.600 You know he went to Atlanta. He actually wanted to 0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:35.719 bring me to Atlanta before I retired when the Dolphins 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:38.080 released me. But Mike Nolan came to me and I 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:40.760 used to cuss all that. I used to just cus cuss, 0:22:40.800 --> 0:22:44.400 cussin practice if somebody missing assignment, m f is that 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:46.760 that that? And I would just go crazy because I 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:48.440 was middle linebacker. I thought, that's what you need to do, 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:51.600 get to be a look look different, big dudes in 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:54.000 a damn face. So Mike Nolan came to me when 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:58.280 he finally got to Miami and Nolan Carroll he I 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:00.600 think he just retired. Nolan Carroll just out the league, 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:02.480 and Nolan Carre was a rookie. We tried to ind 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:04.680 and out the tighten in and slot receiver and Nolan 0:23:04.760 --> 0:23:07.400 messed it up and I cussed. I dog custom Mike 0:23:07.440 --> 0:23:09.320 Knowling for me to the side and said, Channing, I'm 0:23:09.320 --> 0:23:12.960 a teacher. This field is my is my classroom. I 0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:15.840 can't teach while you're yelling and cussing. I need to 0:23:15.880 --> 0:23:17.680 teach these guys what to do. I don't need to 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:20.160 scare him into what I need to do. And it's 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:23.359 just it put a light ball before me, I stopped 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:27.760 cussing and I stopped. I just stopped cussing. I stopped screaming, 0:23:27.760 --> 0:23:31.320 and yeah, I stopped going crazy. And teach periods, you know, 0:23:31.440 --> 0:23:34.080 eleven or eleven playing ball, I was still custing out everybody, 0:23:34.119 --> 0:23:36.760 but on like a teach period, it made sense to 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:38.560 me whether this is a teach period. They call it 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:42.920 a teach period because these coaches slash teachers are trying 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:45.000 to explain what we need to do. And that's the 0:23:45.040 --> 0:23:47.280 main thing with a coach and communication. Now, going back 0:23:47.280 --> 0:23:50.000 to Flora's where he comes, where he came from, and 0:23:50.080 --> 0:23:56.800 what's it called humble and hungry? Where he comes from? Um, 0:23:56.840 --> 0:23:58.840 you know, living the project, didn't have a lot of money. 0:23:59.080 --> 0:24:01.280 Football got him out of their Football got him to 0:24:01.320 --> 0:24:04.400 that private school. Football got him to Boston College. Football 0:24:04.440 --> 0:24:07.239 got him what he has today. Just like I would say, 0:24:07.280 --> 0:24:09.680 I don't know exact numbers, but bro I would say, 0:24:09.880 --> 0:24:13.080 seventy to ninety percent of the guys are were Brian 0:24:13.119 --> 0:24:15.520 Floryes at some time in their life. He can relate 0:24:15.560 --> 0:24:17.960 to him, he can I remember, like telling coach Saban, 0:24:17.960 --> 0:24:20.440 now I get I would fight a practicing what's wrong 0:24:20.440 --> 0:24:22.240 with you? I'm be like broke coach, the dude tried me? 0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:25.320 What What does that mean? What does tried me? Flores 0:24:25.440 --> 0:24:26.960 knows what to dude trick like you know What'm saying. 0:24:26.960 --> 0:24:29.359 He knows the link the language of what I'm talking about. 0:24:29.520 --> 0:24:31.879 He knows what I'm saying. He knows how to approach 0:24:31.880 --> 0:24:35.240 a guy. He he he. He thought Cube Steak was 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:37.160 good at me like I did when I was a kid. 0:24:37.320 --> 0:24:40.920 I thought can corn and green beans were great vegetables 0:24:41.040 --> 0:24:43.240 until I got a little money and decided they work. 0:24:43.520 --> 0:24:45.639 I'm not even no more, damn can cor him. The 0:24:45.760 --> 0:24:50.680 relatability of a coach is so big, and the understanding 0:24:50.680 --> 0:24:53.520 of where these guys come from, the understanding of okay, 0:24:53.600 --> 0:24:55.920 he has money. Now people saying when you get money, oh, 0:24:55.960 --> 0:24:58.240 now you're a different person. You're actually more of the 0:24:58.280 --> 0:25:00.439 person you were before you had money. You just have 0:25:00.520 --> 0:25:03.040 resources to become more of what you want to be 0:25:03.119 --> 0:25:06.560 or what you have been. His relatability and guys knowing, 0:25:06.720 --> 0:25:08.600 and it's kind of genius to put it out because 0:25:08.720 --> 0:25:11.200 on social media now number of free agents are gonna 0:25:11.240 --> 0:25:14.720 see that film and gonna say this isn't this is 0:25:14.880 --> 0:25:17.639 to be honest, this isn't like Belichick. This isn't you 0:25:17.680 --> 0:25:20.439 know and never a coach. I love Andy Reid. This 0:25:20.480 --> 0:25:22.159 isn't Andy Reid. This is a guy that grew up 0:25:22.160 --> 0:25:23.640 like I grew up. This is a guy that knows 0:25:24.000 --> 0:25:27.399 the grind I went through and passed all that. This 0:25:27.440 --> 0:25:30.160 guy can communicate to me. This guy can sit down 0:25:30.160 --> 0:25:33.240 with me and not talk down to me, but talk 0:25:33.400 --> 0:25:36.560 to me like a man, because he understands if you're 0:25:36.560 --> 0:25:38.359 talking down to me. A lot of guys going to 0:25:38.400 --> 0:25:40.920 the tank that grew up in those situations. You're yelling 0:25:40.960 --> 0:25:44.119 at me. You're a you're you're uh, you know, a figure, 0:25:44.160 --> 0:25:46.320 You're a higher figure. You have some power. Now I'm 0:25:46.359 --> 0:25:48.600 looking at the ground. I'm kind of scared. You remind 0:25:48.600 --> 0:25:51.000 me of a police officers. Remind me of a principle. 0:25:51.040 --> 0:25:53.439 You remind me of that. Florence says, me and him 0:25:53.440 --> 0:25:55.560 were in college together. He played Frank Gore on his 0:25:55.640 --> 0:25:57.840 highlight reel. I played Frank Gore on my last Like 0:25:58.119 --> 0:26:00.800 me and Floren's at the same age. So he can 0:26:00.880 --> 0:26:03.159 sit and talk to guys and communicate with guys. And 0:26:03.200 --> 0:26:04.880 like I said, going to the story I was telling 0:26:04.920 --> 0:26:08.880 about Mike Nolan to teach guys at a communication level 0:26:08.920 --> 0:26:11.200 and at a relatability level that I think he can 0:26:11.200 --> 0:26:15.080 be very successful. And that's all all on top of 0:26:15.160 --> 0:26:18.720 his lineage from New England singing how Greatness was done. 0:26:18.960 --> 0:26:21.800 I don't like Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck. I respect 0:26:22.160 --> 0:26:24.800 Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck. And it's a big difference. 0:26:25.160 --> 0:26:27.720 You can like somebody like somebody. I like going to 0:26:27.760 --> 0:26:30.000 strip club. I don't respect the strip club. I like 0:26:30.119 --> 0:26:33.400 going there. It's a big difference. Respect is what people want, 0:26:33.720 --> 0:26:37.160 and that's that's why I think Flores learned that New 0:26:37.200 --> 0:26:39.359 England learned how to learn how to game play and 0:26:39.440 --> 0:26:41.320 learn how to do all the football side stuff. But 0:26:41.520 --> 0:26:45.000 his past and what he became and where he went 0:26:45.200 --> 0:26:47.040 and all that part on top of each other. I 0:26:47.080 --> 0:26:50.600 am excited about Brian Flores. I knew they I knew 0:26:50.640 --> 0:26:53.440 maybe they wanted to Cam Cameron wasn't that guy. I 0:26:53.520 --> 0:26:55.960 knew Tony Sperano was in over his head and about 0:26:56.000 --> 0:26:57.840 a couple even during the good year, the O eight 0:26:57.920 --> 0:27:00.560 year Tony Sprowno just wasn't that lead eater of men, 0:27:00.960 --> 0:27:03.520 you know, God rest his soul, great human. I still 0:27:03.560 --> 0:27:05.600 talk to Jeanette his wife. We still text on how 0:27:05.640 --> 0:27:08.439 today a great person. But there's great people and then 0:27:08.440 --> 0:27:11.480 there's great coaches. And you could know when I met Flores, 0:27:11.520 --> 0:27:13.240 when I talked to Flores and I saw his approach, 0:27:13.359 --> 0:27:16.440 When I saw him getting guys like Nick need Hum 0:27:16.480 --> 0:27:19.119 and getting heart edge and these guys out on the 0:27:19.119 --> 0:27:21.240 field and playing at a high level. You just saw 0:27:21.280 --> 0:27:24.399 a coach that knows how to teach, knows how to 0:27:24.440 --> 0:27:26.400 get the best out of his guys. And I think 0:27:26.440 --> 0:27:29.240 we'll have I think we actually have a real coach 0:27:29.320 --> 0:27:32.159 now for the first time since if you want to 0:27:32.200 --> 0:27:34.920 say one Stead, if Wanni a little love maybe since 0:27:35.040 --> 0:27:38.359 je Stead the first real NFL head coach. You mentioned 0:27:38.440 --> 0:27:40.320 Nick Needham. He played a U tep in college. And 0:27:40.320 --> 0:27:42.679 so that jump in competition for the first year to 0:27:42.720 --> 0:27:44.880 get out there and produce like that, that's just it's 0:27:44.920 --> 0:27:46.399 so rare for I got to make that jump in 0:27:46.560 --> 0:27:49.320 terms of the of the competition and have production like that. 0:27:49.400 --> 0:27:51.879 Montreal Hardest change his position. So I'm with you, a 0:27:51.960 --> 0:27:54.240 Hunters that changing and let's go ahead and stay in 0:27:54.240 --> 0:27:56.639 that lane. Because you talk about Brian Flores not just 0:27:56.680 --> 0:27:59.000 the football savant, the leader and the and the great 0:27:59.080 --> 0:28:01.119 character and the great man that he is clearly, but 0:28:01.200 --> 0:28:03.560 you mentioned the lineage he has from New England, he 0:28:03.640 --> 0:28:05.480 was the play caller and a Super Bowl where they 0:28:05.480 --> 0:28:08.240 hold the NFL's highest scoring offense to three points of 0:28:08.280 --> 0:28:09.800 field ball. They don't let him get the ends on 0:28:09.880 --> 0:28:12.560 that entire game. And so, from your experience as a 0:28:12.560 --> 0:28:15.800 classic stack linebacker a scheme standpoint, what are some of 0:28:15.840 --> 0:28:18.040 the things that you like about Flores defense and what 0:28:18.080 --> 0:28:20.280 you saw on tape this year in your number one 0:28:21.280 --> 0:28:24.800 winning winning before the snap and the scheme of what 0:28:25.000 --> 0:28:27.800 of what them knowing to take away the best the 0:28:27.800 --> 0:28:30.320 best option the other team has, and that's all Belitte 0:28:30.320 --> 0:28:32.159 talks about. And that's all he did. They can go 0:28:32.240 --> 0:28:33.800 to a three four and go to a four three. 0:28:34.000 --> 0:28:36.800 They were in a it's kind of like a five one. 0:28:36.920 --> 0:28:39.080 They would walk um walk a linebacker down on the 0:28:39.120 --> 0:28:41.360 center and go with through two three techniques and two 0:28:41.480 --> 0:28:43.360 ends and now you have a man the man across 0:28:43.400 --> 0:28:45.760 the board. He would he didn't have much talent, but 0:28:45.880 --> 0:28:47.680 he was doing everything with those guys to try to 0:28:47.680 --> 0:28:51.160 make him play. He he put Jerome Baker in the 0:28:51.160 --> 0:28:53.760 middle of everything and try to keep him unblocked to 0:28:53.840 --> 0:28:56.200 let the rome run because the roan fast, he slide 0:28:56.240 --> 0:28:58.280 him to the tight end. All guys down in the box. 0:28:58.800 --> 0:29:01.240 He knows the X and so well that when he 0:29:01.280 --> 0:29:04.400 starts getting pieces on the board, not playing with pawns, 0:29:04.440 --> 0:29:06.680 when he starts getting some damn some some look I 0:29:06.680 --> 0:29:08.640 don't even know the name, what it looked, the the castles, 0:29:08.680 --> 0:29:12.840 and the damn stage and and those good pieces, the 0:29:12.840 --> 0:29:14.400 ones in the back. When he starts getting some of 0:29:14.400 --> 0:29:16.719 those good back pieces of chest, he's gonna do it. 0:29:16.760 --> 0:29:19.640 But his multiple defense. And I talked to Patrick Graham 0:29:19.800 --> 0:29:22.520 last year and a couple events and things. I ask him, Hey, man, 0:29:22.560 --> 0:29:25.320 what defense do y'all run? Because Belichick is a legit 0:29:25.360 --> 0:29:28.280 three four guy. He's the winds will four big three 0:29:28.880 --> 0:29:31.440 pound three and fifty sixty pound. No, he's a three 0:29:31.520 --> 0:29:33.760 or four guy because of the even set and the 0:29:33.920 --> 0:29:35.680 nose and the mic have to move back and forth 0:29:35.720 --> 0:29:37.480 to get that six man lean with eleven guys on 0:29:37.520 --> 0:29:39.640 the field. I know that's where he comes from. I 0:29:39.640 --> 0:29:41.840 know that's what he loves. But to watch him not 0:29:41.960 --> 0:29:45.840 have the personnel to watch him, have Divon Gottschow and 0:29:45.840 --> 0:29:49.880 and and and Christian Wilkins, who are all single gap, 0:29:49.920 --> 0:29:52.160 guys shoot up the field. You know that old school 0:29:52.160 --> 0:29:54.040 colts played the run on the way to the past 0:29:54.080 --> 0:29:56.600 type guys. To see him adjust with what he had, 0:29:56.760 --> 0:29:59.920 but to watch, to watch how Flores schemed it up. 0:30:00.520 --> 0:30:02.440 I saw what happened in those first four or five 0:30:02.520 --> 0:30:05.800 games when they're getting their mouth bashed in adjusted out start, 0:30:05.920 --> 0:30:08.840 you know, running his shells and running different things, making 0:30:08.840 --> 0:30:12.200 guys trust each other, teaching guys the system, his multiples, 0:30:12.200 --> 0:30:17.400 the defense. Everybody thinks, uh players one after the ball snapped, 0:30:18.040 --> 0:30:20.440 bro I was more than half the players on one 0:30:20.480 --> 0:30:23.000 before the ball snapped. We know where you're going, we 0:30:23.040 --> 0:30:25.360 know what you're doing. In New England this year, if 0:30:25.400 --> 0:30:28.480 you double teams Edelman, they play was over. That's why 0:30:28.520 --> 0:30:31.160 they couldn't score. And people figure out double team Edelman 0:30:31.320 --> 0:30:34.080 plays over those defensive want snapped before the ball was 0:30:34.120 --> 0:30:36.240 even in Brady's hands. And Brady's a goat grags of 0:30:36.280 --> 0:30:39.600 ball time. I really feel that way. He's winning plays 0:30:39.960 --> 0:30:42.080 before the ball snapped. And as I look at when 0:30:42.120 --> 0:30:43.840 I sit back and really look at football, that's what 0:30:43.960 --> 0:30:46.560 I look at. I don't need commentators. I'll listen to Romo. 0:30:46.760 --> 0:30:49.640 Romo pretty good. I don't need a book McFarlan, little 0:30:49.640 --> 0:30:52.880 crooked fingers telling me what's going on. I know, football man, 0:30:53.480 --> 0:30:55.960 But when I watched the game and before the snap, 0:30:56.240 --> 0:30:59.400 I'll say, oh, they got him, And my buddies knowing, 0:30:59.400 --> 0:31:01.080 they laughed when I said, what, you're watching football and 0:31:01.120 --> 0:31:03.280 it's just be randomly in the second quarter and I'll 0:31:03.280 --> 0:31:05.000 see it and I'll be like, oh, they got him, 0:31:05.240 --> 0:31:06.760 they got him out, just see the safety role, just 0:31:06.840 --> 0:31:09.680 certain things they got him. I said that a number 0:31:09.720 --> 0:31:12.400 of times about what what Flores and Graham were doing 0:31:12.480 --> 0:31:14.680 last year. And now the Graham's gone. I think Florida's 0:31:14.720 --> 0:31:16.600 gonna take more if he's gonna really step up more 0:31:16.920 --> 0:31:19.880 now he's comfortable in the head coach role like Belichick did. 0:31:19.880 --> 0:31:24.040 If it's it's very similar now, I'm sir. Belichick helped 0:31:24.040 --> 0:31:26.680 out Floors with his play calling. When Flores was calling 0:31:26.680 --> 0:31:29.440 those shutouts in the foot ball against the Rams, the 0:31:29.480 --> 0:31:32.360 Belicheck would help him and also go and manage his team. 0:31:32.720 --> 0:31:35.040 Flores is the first time head coach. I don't know 0:31:35.040 --> 0:31:37.560 if it was comfortable doing that being you know, people 0:31:37.600 --> 0:31:39.680 give Adam Gates hard time because all he talked about 0:31:39.720 --> 0:31:42.000 his offense only thinks about his office. When his defense 0:31:42.000 --> 0:31:45.480 on the field, he plays Damn Sadoku or Candy crushed 0:31:45.480 --> 0:31:48.720 on his iPad. And now Brian Flores in his second 0:31:48.760 --> 0:31:51.560 year to now see the see the lamb scape be 0:31:51.640 --> 0:31:53.520 on the field. I understand what his players are doing, 0:31:53.680 --> 0:31:56.920 understand the sideline demeanor and uh and the moving around 0:31:56.920 --> 0:31:58.520 and when he needs to be places when he has 0:31:58.560 --> 0:32:00.920 to make decisions and bring to his guys to help. 0:32:01.320 --> 0:32:03.640 Last year that was the first time in the head coach. 0:32:03.680 --> 0:32:05.720 It seemed like he posted a lot of New England guys. 0:32:06.040 --> 0:32:07.720 And now he's in it. Now he can really bring 0:32:07.760 --> 0:32:10.320 in guys he agrees with. He brought him chan Gaily 0:32:10.400 --> 0:32:12.880 to replace Chaddosha. He's making a lot of moves which 0:32:12.880 --> 0:32:15.080 I loved. He came in as a first time head 0:32:15.080 --> 0:32:17.680 coach and nobody knew of Brian Flora, to be honest, 0:32:18.040 --> 0:32:20.920 and he gave my respect very fast. But with Flora's 0:32:21.000 --> 0:32:24.320 now being at head coach, being understanding what he was 0:32:24.360 --> 0:32:26.440 doing last year and now like I was talking about, 0:32:26.520 --> 0:32:28.600 you know, how I led into this was him now 0:32:28.680 --> 0:32:31.360 being comfortable being a bigger part of defense and for 0:32:31.440 --> 0:32:35.520 me to be impressed with their priest snap pre snap, 0:32:35.520 --> 0:32:38.120 a look, pre snap adjustment, understanding what the other team 0:32:38.160 --> 0:32:40.520 is trying to do and take away the other team 0:32:40.640 --> 0:32:43.720 best best guy you play Tennessee Titans. Stop Derrick Henry, 0:32:43.760 --> 0:32:46.560 make Tannehill beat you. It's easier said to done. And 0:32:46.640 --> 0:32:50.440 now seeing that Flores can do it, seeing what he did, 0:32:50.680 --> 0:32:52.680 you know, five and eleven, they should have never won 0:32:52.760 --> 0:32:54.840 those five games. There was no chance they should have 0:32:54.840 --> 0:32:57.240 won five games. But seeing that, I have a lot 0:32:57.240 --> 0:33:01.280 of respect for Florenes, his communication at tactics, his style 0:33:01.600 --> 0:33:04.640 talking with them, saying how he he'll joke a little 0:33:04.680 --> 0:33:06.880 bit with you, but he's not a he's not a 0:33:06.920 --> 0:33:09.160 player's coach. Now. He's not gonna sit and you know 0:33:09.240 --> 0:33:11.200 bs all in the locker room and sit around and 0:33:11.240 --> 0:33:14.040 talk about girls. He's gonna keep his his pedestal as 0:33:14.040 --> 0:33:16.640 a head coach. But he can also be relatable and 0:33:16.760 --> 0:33:18.720 everybody on that team. And I've talked to the number 0:33:18.720 --> 0:33:22.840 of guys from Rashad Jones who they just released, Christian Wilkins. 0:33:22.840 --> 0:33:24.720 We did a bunch of mes together during the Super 0:33:24.720 --> 0:33:27.160 Bowl down here. I talked to enough guys about Flores 0:33:27.240 --> 0:33:31.680 and about his approach. He fully they fully gained respect 0:33:31.680 --> 0:33:34.280 from him. He gave everyone's respecting that first year. Now 0:33:34.360 --> 0:33:37.080 the second year, now they take off what they get, 0:33:37.080 --> 0:33:39.960 what they having to pick the now six teams. Something 0:33:40.000 --> 0:33:45.320 with those compensatories, like getting weapons to now implemented to 0:33:45.400 --> 0:33:47.880 that defense and implementing what he's trying to do. I 0:33:47.920 --> 0:33:50.120 think moving forward, I think we might have found that. Dude. 0:33:50.400 --> 0:33:52.480 I think, yeah, absolutely, I'm on the same page, and 0:33:52.520 --> 0:33:53.960 I think that one of the big things you look 0:33:54.000 --> 0:33:56.320 at there is you talk about establishing the culture of 0:33:56.360 --> 0:33:58.000 the you know, the locker room, and that might be 0:33:58.040 --> 0:33:59.880 a cliche thing to say, but like you mentioned it 0:34:00.040 --> 0:34:02.400 as an impact, and also the fact that these guys 0:34:02.440 --> 0:34:05.840 are everyone they developed this year just gives them further 0:34:05.960 --> 0:34:07.720 depth on top of those draft picks, on top of 0:34:07.720 --> 0:34:09.960 the free agent capital they have to spend this offseason. 0:34:10.200 --> 0:34:12.279 So you really do establish this kind of next man 0:34:12.360 --> 0:34:15.400 up mentality because you can get to forty five fifty 0:34:15.440 --> 0:34:17.920 three players deep on the roster to where everybody can 0:34:17.960 --> 0:34:19.640 come off the bench and contribute. I think it's a 0:34:19.640 --> 0:34:22.080 big part of what they accomplished this year. You also 0:34:22.120 --> 0:34:24.360 talked about taking away the best option or just having 0:34:24.520 --> 0:34:26.800 the right pre snap look. The biggest difference to me 0:34:26.960 --> 0:34:29.719 Channing was you look at third down defense like third long. 0:34:29.960 --> 0:34:32.279 I recall Dolphins teams in the past. You'd keep the 0:34:32.320 --> 0:34:34.560 base defense on the field, or maybe your nickel defense, 0:34:34.760 --> 0:34:36.759 and you've got four receivers out there, and you've got 0:34:36.760 --> 0:34:39.840 linebackers running on receivers and it's a third and thirteen conversion, 0:34:39.880 --> 0:34:42.480 whereas last year team's gotten the third long and they 0:34:42.520 --> 0:34:45.759 struggled against this Dolphins defense. So knowing the situation, knowing 0:34:45.760 --> 0:34:47.279 that down a distance, that was a lot of fun 0:34:47.320 --> 0:34:49.600 to see. And one thing that we I want to 0:34:49.600 --> 0:34:51.640 talk about law on this particular podcast now and in 0:34:51.719 --> 0:34:53.759 the future. Channing is just the exs and nose of 0:34:53.760 --> 0:34:55.560 the game, and you kind of mentioned it was Zach 0:34:55.600 --> 0:34:57.400 Thomas there. I want to get back and kind of 0:34:57.440 --> 0:35:00.279 dovetail back into that conversation. And I know a lot 0:35:00.280 --> 0:35:02.560 of folks love you're off the field stories, and they're great, 0:35:02.600 --> 0:35:05.520 they're they're absolutely hilarious. But I really enjoy picking your 0:35:05.520 --> 0:35:08.319 football brain man. And on top of the linebackers, the 0:35:08.320 --> 0:35:11.160 topic of linebackers, can you kind of walk our audience 0:35:11.200 --> 0:35:14.200 through some of your basic keys as a linebacker, you know, 0:35:14.200 --> 0:35:17.440 whether it's reading the pulling guard or recognizing formational or 0:35:17.480 --> 0:35:20.880 personnel tendencies. Just how much goes into the cerebral aspect 0:35:21.080 --> 0:35:24.600 of playing the linebacker position. Well, first, the simple part 0:35:24.600 --> 0:35:27.320 of it is alignment. Assignment. Nowhere you're supposed to be 0:35:27.320 --> 0:35:29.520 and know what you have. On run plays and past plays, 0:35:29.760 --> 0:35:33.359 you're gonna have a gap and everybody a gap, b gap, 0:35:33.400 --> 0:35:37.040 whatever you name it. Center guard, gap, guard tackle gap 0:35:37.080 --> 0:35:39.120 tackle tied in, you're gonna have one of those gaps 0:35:39.239 --> 0:35:41.120 or in the three four you have to go and 0:35:41.200 --> 0:35:43.600 take the guard off. It's people say two gaping. A 0:35:43.600 --> 0:35:45.840 lot of people. People say two gaping. People don't know 0:35:45.880 --> 0:35:48.600 what two gaping means. It means that everybody has a 0:35:48.600 --> 0:35:50.840 man that hit in their face. If the guy runs 0:35:50.840 --> 0:35:53.000 to your left, you make the tackle on your left side, 0:35:53.000 --> 0:35:54.319 and guy run to the right, you have to make 0:35:54.320 --> 0:35:56.600 that tackle, but there's a guy next to you also 0:35:56.680 --> 0:35:58.759 having a half of body at the gap. People. It 0:35:58.920 --> 0:36:00.759 kills me when people talk about two gaping, I don't 0:36:00.760 --> 0:36:02.560 know what the hell is going on. When I got 0:36:02.600 --> 0:36:06.560 in the league, I went to nixty three four. That's 0:36:06.640 --> 0:36:08.400 all he likes to do. He'll get the nickel and 0:36:08.480 --> 0:36:12.080 dime on those third downs, but he's he's three four guy. Yeah, 0:36:12.120 --> 0:36:14.080 so saving being a three four guy and you know 0:36:14.160 --> 0:36:16.839 Zach Thomas driving in that. And so you line up 0:36:16.840 --> 0:36:19.040 a linebacker, you gotta know what your gap is or 0:36:19.080 --> 0:36:21.239 what's your run responsibility if it's two gall people over 0:36:21.320 --> 0:36:23.800 a single gap, and where your responsibility is as a 0:36:23.880 --> 0:36:26.200 as a pass guy. If you have a tight end 0:36:26.320 --> 0:36:28.719 underneath for the safety high, if you have to tighten man, 0:36:29.120 --> 0:36:30.960 if you have the running back anywhere on the field, 0:36:31.000 --> 0:36:33.000 if you're in the other linebacker anying out in the 0:36:33.080 --> 0:36:35.680 running back and tidy if they crossed low there there, 0:36:35.800 --> 0:36:38.759 there's the assignment side of it. And that's what you 0:36:38.760 --> 0:36:41.600 could teach. That's why I can teach my high school players. 0:36:41.880 --> 0:36:43.640 I can line them up and get through camp and 0:36:43.719 --> 0:36:45.600 let them know if we're running this, you have the 0:36:45.640 --> 0:36:48.000 a gap and you have the running back man. And 0:36:48.040 --> 0:36:49.640 that's what a lot of guys in college go off 0:36:49.680 --> 0:36:51.880 of them. I got with Charlie Strong. He was he 0:36:52.000 --> 0:36:54.760 was my decordinator of college and that's who really taught 0:36:54.760 --> 0:36:57.279 me football. In high school. I just ran around. I 0:36:57.440 --> 0:37:00.919 was six six to ten pound of running the four six. 0:37:00.920 --> 0:37:02.680 I would just fly around and hit and hit people. 0:37:02.800 --> 0:37:04.799 I was bigger and faster than everybody. Then when I 0:37:04.800 --> 0:37:07.239 got to the SEC, I had to learn football, and 0:37:07.280 --> 0:37:09.400 that's what he taught me, was just the alignment and 0:37:09.480 --> 0:37:11.239 assignment of what I had to do. And I was 0:37:11.280 --> 0:37:13.560 a better athlete stell the most guys when I got 0:37:13.560 --> 0:37:15.480 to the league. And this is where it gets interesting. 0:37:16.239 --> 0:37:19.120 You have to read the guards pre snap alignment. How 0:37:19.160 --> 0:37:21.439 far he is away from the tackle. If he's tied 0:37:21.520 --> 0:37:23.640 to the center, that might mean he's trying to reach 0:37:23.680 --> 0:37:25.279 a guy on the other side of the ball or 0:37:25.320 --> 0:37:28.000 pull around. So now you can kind of lean inside. 0:37:28.040 --> 0:37:31.080 If he's leaning inside. If if him and the tackler down, 0:37:31.480 --> 0:37:33.520 you know they're running his own because why would they 0:37:33.560 --> 0:37:36.560 condense the line? Why would they get one foot splits 0:37:36.600 --> 0:37:38.759 between them where you're trying to run. You're not trying 0:37:38.760 --> 0:37:41.239 to create space right there on the right side of 0:37:41.280 --> 0:37:43.279 line if y'all would foot to foot. So what you're 0:37:43.280 --> 0:37:44.640 trying to do now is you're trying to let us 0:37:44.640 --> 0:37:46.680 spread out, you get tight and run away from us. 0:37:46.920 --> 0:37:50.080 It's so many little nuances to the pre snap stuff 0:37:50.080 --> 0:37:52.919 we were just talking about with Florenz. Before the ball 0:37:53.000 --> 0:37:55.800 even snap, before you have to get off of blocks, 0:37:55.800 --> 0:37:58.279 before you have to know your leverage on blockers, before 0:37:58.320 --> 0:38:00.400 you have to know your leverage on receiver, before you 0:38:00.440 --> 0:38:04.040 have to know all these small nuances to your assignment. 0:38:05.040 --> 0:38:07.360 You you can look at so much stuff pre snap, 0:38:07.440 --> 0:38:09.839 and that's where Zach Thomas or Ray Lewis or Brian 0:38:09.960 --> 0:38:12.960 or Lacker Mike sing that's where they win. And that's 0:38:13.000 --> 0:38:15.160 what I try to play people football. They're like, hey, 0:38:15.200 --> 0:38:18.120 I play Madden's like a maddened You can't see if 0:38:18.120 --> 0:38:20.239 the guard is leaning, or if his shoulders are turned, 0:38:20.600 --> 0:38:25.000 or to the simplest one bro a fullback has to 0:38:25.040 --> 0:38:27.560 look at who he's gonna block. Like if you line 0:38:27.640 --> 0:38:30.200 up in the fullbacks in the game, he can't look 0:38:30.239 --> 0:38:32.600 at the sideline, snap the ball and running block a 0:38:32.680 --> 0:38:35.680 defensement or a linebacker. At some moment that lines, that 0:38:35.719 --> 0:38:38.200 fullback is gonna peak at who he needs to block 0:38:38.239 --> 0:38:40.680 because he has to see where you're at. So after 0:38:40.719 --> 0:38:42.480 you see your guards, after you get your line, but 0:38:42.520 --> 0:38:44.520 after you know you're in your thirty technique, you're off 0:38:44.520 --> 0:38:47.160 the guard, you're stacking your de tackle, whatever it is, 0:38:48.480 --> 0:38:50.960 look at the fullback. A lot of the bad fullback 0:38:51.000 --> 0:38:54.000 Lorenzo Nia wouldn't do it. Mike all stop. Wouldn't do it. 0:38:54.120 --> 0:38:57.760 They were, they were Hall of famers. But a slashy, 0:38:57.800 --> 0:39:01.399 big doogle fullback, he's gonna stare, stare exactly at where 0:39:01.400 --> 0:39:04.960 he's going. That's the simplest one. Just those small keys 0:39:05.040 --> 0:39:08.840 you can get where Zach would still tapping from me 0:39:08.880 --> 0:39:11.359 all the time because he would have those keys. So 0:39:11.440 --> 0:39:13.200 I'm in the B gap, I'm in my gap. They're 0:39:13.239 --> 0:39:15.640 running at me. Zach would see the keys to know 0:39:15.719 --> 0:39:18.399 they're running at me. So when the ball snap, Zach 0:39:18.400 --> 0:39:21.200 would move before I moved. So I'm running up, I 0:39:21.239 --> 0:39:23.200 break down and make the tackle. Next thing I know, 0:39:23.280 --> 0:39:26.520 I hear from and then Zach's laying there shaking. The 0:39:26.600 --> 0:39:28.799 running back laying there shaking. He does not to do. Now, 0:39:29.600 --> 0:39:32.880 that's that's where you become great. You can be good 0:39:33.320 --> 0:39:36.920 by just reading post snap. You get great by getting 0:39:36.960 --> 0:39:40.600 so much information pre snap. It's it's almost like a computer. 0:39:40.680 --> 0:39:42.799 It's almost I don't know if people watch West World 0:39:42.920 --> 0:39:45.560 or something, it's almost just it's like a computer where 0:39:45.719 --> 0:39:48.520 you can get so much information pre snap that wants 0:39:48.560 --> 0:39:51.439 the ball snapped. It's like it's like playing a video game. 0:39:51.760 --> 0:39:54.359 Oh you're running, you're running his own left you can 0:39:54.400 --> 0:39:56.000 only run here. I know the d NZ here, I 0:39:56.000 --> 0:39:58.399 know the safety is coming down strong. You're gonna cut 0:39:58.440 --> 0:40:00.919 back to my gap. I'm gonna shoot my gap. Zach 0:40:01.040 --> 0:40:03.120 used to yell at me shooting my gap. He would 0:40:03.120 --> 0:40:05.080 see something at the tighten and stepped off the ball. 0:40:05.360 --> 0:40:07.600 CC shoot, CC shoot. Never when he called me CC, 0:40:07.680 --> 0:40:09.920 he would say c C shoot, and he was telling 0:40:09.920 --> 0:40:12.359 me he figured it out. Just run through your gap. 0:40:13.200 --> 0:40:14.879 I would say most of my tapnics for loss. Who 0:40:14.960 --> 0:40:18.160 comes back telling me CC shoot because he saw so much. 0:40:18.160 --> 0:40:22.239 He processed so much receivers where their feet are lined up. 0:40:22.280 --> 0:40:26.480 I saw a video of Oto Sinko and Dion Sanders recently. 0:40:26.680 --> 0:40:28.839 It was on Twitter where Oto Sinko line the bar 0:40:28.840 --> 0:40:30.880 receiver and Dion got in front of him and Alto 0:40:30.960 --> 0:40:33.879 Sinko turned his foot inside and Dion looked and said, 0:40:34.280 --> 0:40:36.360 I know you're running inside route, look at your foot, 0:40:36.719 --> 0:40:39.720 and then Otoo kind of laughed and walked away. He 0:40:39.880 --> 0:40:42.560 saw too much pre snap, Oto Sinko, before the ball 0:40:42.560 --> 0:40:44.799 was snap. He knew what Ratty is running, how his hand, 0:40:44.840 --> 0:40:47.400 where he's lined up, how deep he is off the line. 0:40:47.840 --> 0:40:51.080 That small stuff pre snappers big and then post now 0:40:51.360 --> 0:40:54.440 there's a triangle, especially for inside off the ball backers, 0:40:54.480 --> 0:40:56.680 both guards and the and the near back. So if 0:40:56.800 --> 0:40:59.759 the full backer, line or running back, if you can see, 0:40:59.760 --> 0:41:02.600 if you could open your vision up enough during or 0:41:02.600 --> 0:41:05.600 when the ball snap to see front side guard and 0:41:05.600 --> 0:41:07.440 he's right in front of you. The front side guards 0:41:07.480 --> 0:41:09.640 right there. You If you can't see him, hell, you're 0:41:09.640 --> 0:41:12.200 Stevie Wonder. You should be played football anyway. If you 0:41:12.200 --> 0:41:14.120 can see that guard right in front of you, but 0:41:14.320 --> 0:41:17.320 open up to see the backside guard if he pulls, 0:41:17.560 --> 0:41:20.279 and also see the tailback or fullback whoever the cloes 0:41:20.320 --> 0:41:22.919 back to the line. Every run play goes through them. 0:41:23.440 --> 0:41:26.000 The two guards in the fullback take you to every 0:41:26.000 --> 0:41:28.920 single run play on the field. If that guards stepped 0:41:28.920 --> 0:41:31.239 down in this one pulls, go hit the guard, they're 0:41:31.280 --> 0:41:33.279 run the ball behind him. If both of them step 0:41:33.400 --> 0:41:35.520 left and the fullback comes right, it's either it's either 0:41:35.680 --> 0:41:38.040 zone cut or it's some kind of league back side. 0:41:38.040 --> 0:41:39.759 If they would have a tight end the wider league. 0:41:40.160 --> 0:41:42.560 The guards and the near back show you everything in 0:41:42.600 --> 0:41:45.200 the run game and pass past plays two. If you 0:41:45.200 --> 0:41:48.240 can see those guards, the rules are they can't step 0:41:48.239 --> 0:41:51.280 out if it's a pass play. They can't come at you, 0:41:51.320 --> 0:41:54.880 so the ball snapped, they back up, go to your responsibility, 0:41:55.040 --> 0:41:57.040 and then you have to play ball. That's the funny thing. 0:41:57.120 --> 0:42:00.760 This is all before you have to tackle Sean Lynch. 0:42:01.239 --> 0:42:04.120 You have to cover West Welker. You have to cover 0:42:05.160 --> 0:42:08.360 Reggie Bush who was held Jared. Reggie was a monster 0:42:08.440 --> 0:42:11.000 in the open field. This this is what we talked 0:42:11.000 --> 0:42:13.720 about here last two or three minutes. This is before 0:42:14.040 --> 0:42:17.080 you played football. This is before you have to go 0:42:17.120 --> 0:42:20.200 against guys running four two four three, stay inside out. 0:42:20.360 --> 0:42:22.160 You know where your leverage is. You know if I 0:42:22.200 --> 0:42:24.520 spill this guard to a linebacker, or I boxed this 0:42:24.640 --> 0:42:27.240 guard out to another you know, to a safety, all 0:42:27.239 --> 0:42:30.000 that other stuff you need to know before you physically 0:42:30.040 --> 0:42:32.359 have to do it. And that's where you see these 0:42:32.360 --> 0:42:37.320 guys that are just built like gods in college, fast, strong, big, 0:42:38.040 --> 0:42:41.200 big arms, you know, just just monsters running four threes. 0:42:41.440 --> 0:42:43.960 And it goes to the NFL the flame out. They 0:42:44.040 --> 0:42:46.799 couldn't do it here. This this wasn't where they up 0:42:46.840 --> 0:42:49.120 and up in there. They could not process this much 0:42:49.160 --> 0:42:53.759 information as fast as does a accidum do it. If 0:42:53.840 --> 0:42:57.719 Zach is an A plus processor, I was a B minus, 0:42:57.840 --> 0:43:01.920 maybe C plus on if I drank too much, But 0:43:02.640 --> 0:43:04.759 I could still get in there and make a player too. 0:43:04.760 --> 0:43:07.399 You know what I'm saying. Just the processing of what's 0:43:07.440 --> 0:43:09.399 going on and me. When people see me and Zach 0:43:09.480 --> 0:43:11.839 standing next to each other, you would never say Zach 0:43:11.920 --> 0:43:14.160 was the All Pro and honestly should be a Hall 0:43:14.200 --> 0:43:17.000 of Famer. I'm six three, I was too fifty, I 0:43:17.080 --> 0:43:20.960 was you know. My next started under my ears, like 0:43:21.000 --> 0:43:24.040 I said to fifteen, didn't wasn't really much. Feler has 0:43:24.080 --> 0:43:26.800 so many shoulder surgeries. The shoulder was cut up the 0:43:26.880 --> 0:43:31.000 like Swiss cheese. Once. Once you walked down and put 0:43:31.040 --> 0:43:33.719 a jersey on and put a helmet on, you would 0:43:33.719 --> 0:43:37.960 automatically say, oh, fifty four, that's the dude because of 0:43:38.000 --> 0:43:40.560 his mental side of the game, and all those guys, 0:43:40.600 --> 0:43:42.840 even the bigger guess why ray is ray Lewis is 0:43:42.880 --> 0:43:44.799 what it was, and all those got Pastrick Withers was 0:43:44.800 --> 0:43:47.280 the same when he processed past, like, I really respect 0:43:47.320 --> 0:43:52.160 linebacker play. And that's that's a quick little gist of 0:43:52.360 --> 0:43:56.000 just what you need to know before you have to 0:43:56.040 --> 0:43:58.160 go out there and physically do it. With the greatest 0:43:58.160 --> 0:44:00.640 athletes in the world. The mental side of it where 0:44:00.640 --> 0:44:02.640 a lot of guys fall short and that, Yeah, that's 0:44:02.640 --> 0:44:04.520 the part that makes the game so fascinating to me 0:44:04.560 --> 0:44:06.520 as a fan and a person that just loves to 0:44:06.560 --> 0:44:09.160 try to digest as much as I can, especially you know, 0:44:09.200 --> 0:44:11.040 I've been I've been watching film for only you know, 0:44:11.080 --> 0:44:13.200 a short amount of time compared to someone like yourself. 0:44:13.480 --> 0:44:15.759 But when I go through a play I'll watch it, 0:44:15.800 --> 0:44:17.680 I'll bring it back, I'll slow it down, I'll watch 0:44:17.680 --> 0:44:19.400 it again, and it takes me two or three times 0:44:19.400 --> 0:44:21.800 to you know, really get the gist of what's happening. 0:44:21.840 --> 0:44:24.240 So when you consider these guys out there making plays 0:44:24.239 --> 0:44:26.920 at the snap of a finger like that, it's so remarkable. 0:44:26.960 --> 0:44:29.839 And I want to ask you as a two parts here, 0:44:29.880 --> 0:44:32.560 as a pro, is there anything that you can do 0:44:32.760 --> 0:44:34.960 besides just getting in the playbook to really make that 0:44:35.080 --> 0:44:37.920 instinct kind of improve and get better because it seems 0:44:37.920 --> 0:44:40.000 like me inherent and you wouldn't be able to work 0:44:40.040 --> 0:44:42.520 on it. And number two, when you go to the 0:44:42.520 --> 0:44:44.520 combine and you meet all these players, and you meet 0:44:44.560 --> 0:44:47.000 potential free agents that you've never you've never been around 0:44:47.080 --> 0:44:49.560 how they work before, how do you in a half 0:44:49.600 --> 0:44:51.799 hour meeting or an hour long meeting. How do you 0:44:51.840 --> 0:44:54.040 figure out which these guys has that and who you 0:44:54.080 --> 0:44:57.480 know might be short in that area. I'll go the first, 0:44:57.640 --> 0:45:01.399 the first, the second, plans of first. I don't think 0:45:01.440 --> 0:45:04.160 in that fifteen thirty our meeting. You know what a 0:45:04.200 --> 0:45:06.040 guy can do and how much of God can retain. 0:45:06.640 --> 0:45:09.520 You can watch what he did in college, but college 0:45:09.520 --> 0:45:13.040 playbooks are minuscule compared to the NFL playbook and what 0:45:13.120 --> 0:45:15.839 you have to know and to know that there's an 0:45:15.840 --> 0:45:20.520 Amy Reid or there's a there's a uh mcfaith or 0:45:20.520 --> 0:45:23.680 there's a guy like that and he's watching you. Andy 0:45:23.760 --> 0:45:26.600 Reid used to stare at me on film and find 0:45:26.640 --> 0:45:29.319 every one of my weaknesses and you can't. You can't 0:45:29.360 --> 0:45:33.120 figure it out a guy and that we used to 0:45:33.160 --> 0:45:36.360 call it the bitch. You find out that the team 0:45:36.400 --> 0:45:38.839 has has they have put a target on your back. 0:45:39.160 --> 0:45:42.600 Either you can't cover or you can't tackle or something. 0:45:42.920 --> 0:45:45.120 But you're the target. They would say there's some brailroads 0:45:45.160 --> 0:45:47.400 on you. Wild cut too much. They say there's some 0:45:47.440 --> 0:45:50.600 brailroads on you where it sounds like it's prestigious. Oh, 0:45:50.680 --> 0:45:54.000 you have the some breirerows on you. Hey, no, that 0:45:54.040 --> 0:45:56.160 means you're the weakest link and they're coming after you 0:45:56.360 --> 0:45:58.920 because they've assessed you as the weakest link. And so 0:45:58.960 --> 0:46:01.040 I think, guys, you can't know what power guy is 0:46:01.080 --> 0:46:04.400 gonna respond when he becomes the weakest lake. When he 0:46:04.520 --> 0:46:07.680 is that guy they're attacking. It might not bro it 0:46:07.760 --> 0:46:09.920 might not be every place. They wouldn't run at me. 0:46:10.600 --> 0:46:12.279 But when it was in the past, cover they're going 0:46:12.320 --> 0:46:13.920 to empty, they would look at me. And I got 0:46:13.920 --> 0:46:16.919 said in the Saints game when they had um who 0:46:17.040 --> 0:46:19.719 was it, uh, the big white tight end? What was 0:46:19.760 --> 0:46:23.280 his name? He was hell out of Miami, Um, Jeremy 0:46:23.280 --> 0:46:25.920 Shocky Shocky. They had Shocky and they put him in 0:46:26.040 --> 0:46:28.200 tight end and they would have Reggie Bush and put 0:46:28.280 --> 0:46:30.640 him at number two weeks So the quarters on one, 0:46:30.719 --> 0:46:33.000 corners on one, niggles on two, Me and Yarra Mia 0:46:33.080 --> 0:46:36.000 Bell had to decide and might have covered Reggie or Shocky. 0:46:36.080 --> 0:46:38.120 And they would sit and they said it was I 0:46:38.120 --> 0:46:39.840 want to say, and my probably was I think it 0:46:39.880 --> 0:46:42.319 was a Monday night game down in Miami, and they 0:46:42.360 --> 0:46:44.600 would sit and wait for us to decide if I'm 0:46:44.600 --> 0:46:47.680 covering Shocking or if I'm covering Reggie and whoever I covered, 0:46:47.760 --> 0:46:50.640 they would throwing the ball. This guy's a safety, he's 0:46:50.640 --> 0:46:52.600 a better coverage guy than you. So if you go 0:46:52.640 --> 0:46:54.320 on Shock, we're gonna throw Shot the ball. If you 0:46:54.360 --> 0:46:55.960 go on Reggie, we're gonna throw Reggie the ball. And 0:46:56.000 --> 0:46:58.359 they would decide that. So it wasn't like they were 0:46:58.400 --> 0:47:00.000 picking on me. It was that that was the most 0:47:00.040 --> 0:47:03.359 intelligent approach to the game. When they've got an empty 0:47:03.520 --> 0:47:05.759 and that's what you know, how guy's gonna respond in 0:47:05.800 --> 0:47:08.120 that situation. I would say I was the guy who 0:47:08.160 --> 0:47:09.960 wanted to step up. I would cheat, like hell, I 0:47:10.040 --> 0:47:12.160 grab him, I go choke him. I would try to 0:47:12.320 --> 0:47:14.440 hit him and hit him in the private parts, and 0:47:14.719 --> 0:47:16.560 all the little tricks you could you can play in 0:47:16.600 --> 0:47:19.440 the game, but you don't know if a goot, how 0:47:19.440 --> 0:47:22.080 a guy's gonna respond with a fifteen in a meeting 0:47:22.080 --> 0:47:25.160 at the combine? Now, can you can you progress? Can 0:47:25.200 --> 0:47:27.680 you learn? Can you get better at that? It's all 0:47:27.800 --> 0:47:32.640 grinding film, study and implementing it on the field at practice, 0:47:33.000 --> 0:47:35.600 like the whole practice makes perfect thing. It's an old 0:47:35.600 --> 0:47:37.480 cliche and people say it all the time, and coaches 0:47:37.480 --> 0:47:38.919 say it all the time. They pound in your head 0:47:39.600 --> 0:47:42.000 if you can't do it in practice, You're not gonna 0:47:42.040 --> 0:47:45.160 wake up Sunday and be an amazing coverage guy if 0:47:45.200 --> 0:47:46.879 you're out there, like if I'm out there getting beat 0:47:46.880 --> 0:47:49.920 by Anthony Fasano and and Randy Nick Michael and the 0:47:49.960 --> 0:47:52.840 Titans I played with, there's no way I'm gonna cover Shock. 0:47:53.120 --> 0:47:56.400 I'm gonna cover Tony Gonzalez who killed me in Atlanta 0:47:56.440 --> 0:48:00.319 one time. He really made me the bit he royed 0:48:00.400 --> 0:48:02.080 me and then land on the back side of slot 0:48:02.080 --> 0:48:04.239 one time. But if you can't, if you can't do 0:48:04.280 --> 0:48:06.520 if I couldn't do it against Eddie Pisano, there's no 0:48:06.640 --> 0:48:08.960 chance I'm doing it against Gonzalez or an Tonio Gate 0:48:09.040 --> 0:48:11.040 who ate me up and say there goo like those. 0:48:11.120 --> 0:48:13.520 It stays in my mind when I prepared for a 0:48:13.560 --> 0:48:16.560 guy well enough in my mind, but then I walked 0:48:16.560 --> 0:48:20.279 out in that second play, I would say to myself, Yeah, bro, 0:48:20.520 --> 0:48:24.240 this is this is Genette, this is the d n A. God. 0:48:24.440 --> 0:48:28.320 God did not make me the cover Tony. People to 0:48:28.360 --> 0:48:31.520 cover Tony come Salles and and like that's the part 0:48:31.560 --> 0:48:33.480 that you just have to grind and work and work 0:48:33.520 --> 0:48:35.400 and work, and you're gonna get beat. That's short. You 0:48:35.400 --> 0:48:37.760 have to have a short memory. That's big time too. 0:48:38.120 --> 0:48:40.160 And Sam Madison had the best same Madazine could get 0:48:40.200 --> 0:48:42.759 destroyed on the play. He's still come back talking trash 0:48:42.760 --> 0:48:45.160 because he's the best in the world. Short. Let it go, 0:48:45.280 --> 0:48:47.200 Let it go, Short, let it go, Let everything go. 0:48:47.719 --> 0:48:50.760 But get to progress and get better. It's just overall 0:48:50.840 --> 0:48:53.799 working and working, watching film, grinding and the last thing 0:48:54.239 --> 0:48:58.760 about you know, making those plays and psychologically or mentally 0:48:58.760 --> 0:49:02.800 getting to another level. You can't prepare for every playoff 0:49:02.840 --> 0:49:05.719 team has. You can't prepare in high school. I I 0:49:05.760 --> 0:49:07.680 coach high school. Bro. They have six runs. Every team 0:49:07.680 --> 0:49:09.680 has six runs. That's all I do is just run 0:49:09.760 --> 0:49:11.279 six runs at my team the whole time, and then 0:49:11.360 --> 0:49:13.799 my kids would be like head coaches the same run bro. Yeah, 0:49:13.800 --> 0:49:16.200 that's what they do. They have six runs. In the NFL, 0:49:16.280 --> 0:49:19.000 they do so much window dressing, moving, slop turning. Quipped 0:49:19.000 --> 0:49:22.279 the Titans going. Titans being fullbacks receivers now go to 0:49:22.400 --> 0:49:24.800 running back and they put the tight You can't really 0:49:24.960 --> 0:49:27.560 just lock it in NFL on what to do, but 0:49:27.680 --> 0:49:31.080 you can get between five and ten plays of runs 0:49:31.080 --> 0:49:34.160 and passes that you know they're gonna do. It's the 0:49:34.320 --> 0:49:38.200 bread and butter and whoop their ass on those plays, 0:49:38.200 --> 0:49:42.360 like Andy um, Andy Reid did it, Bill Belichick does it. 0:49:42.400 --> 0:49:44.480 There's a number of coaches I played throughout my career 0:49:44.840 --> 0:49:47.200 where when they come out in the third or fourth 0:49:47.200 --> 0:49:49.920 series of offense, they would throw a formation at you 0:49:50.320 --> 0:49:52.560 and a would like zactly sometimes looking at me a smile, 0:49:52.600 --> 0:49:54.480 or he's like, this is gonna happen when you play 0:49:54.520 --> 0:49:57.200 the good coaches, just understand it's gonna be something they 0:49:57.200 --> 0:49:59.000 throw out here. If you have not seen I don't 0:49:59.000 --> 0:50:02.760 care if you watch film for sixteen years of him coaching, 0:50:02.960 --> 0:50:05.640 He's always gonna have something new. They called everybody calls 0:50:05.640 --> 0:50:07.680 to the wrinkle, a new wrinkle. They always have that 0:50:07.719 --> 0:50:09.960 new wrinkle. You're not gonna make a big play on 0:50:10.000 --> 0:50:12.919 the new wrinkle. But if a team gets in near 0:50:13.000 --> 0:50:15.719 I and run the power, and you know they run 0:50:15.719 --> 0:50:18.480 the power. Um Ladai and Tomlinson when he had there 0:50:18.560 --> 0:50:21.000 was a twenty six touchdowns and oh six or seven 0:50:21.640 --> 0:50:25.000 they ran power fifteen times a game. They had Nick 0:50:25.120 --> 0:50:28.359 hart Heartwick. Hardwick was the center. He could get up 0:50:28.360 --> 0:50:30.839 to the backside wheel. They had guards that can move, 0:50:31.120 --> 0:50:32.960 they had they had a hell of a tackle and 0:50:33.000 --> 0:50:35.520 they would run the power to the defensive left side 0:50:35.600 --> 0:50:38.279 over and over and over again, and you had to 0:50:38.320 --> 0:50:40.279 stop there. And we went up there and beat him 0:50:40.280 --> 0:50:42.319 because we stopped the power. And I made a bunch 0:50:42.320 --> 0:50:44.920 of plays stopping the power at the mic linebacker. But 0:50:45.120 --> 0:50:47.960 that was I said, and myself and Zach and all 0:50:47.960 --> 0:50:50.120 we locked it in and we stopped this power. Let 0:50:50.160 --> 0:50:52.359 him run the league. They get six on the league, 0:50:52.360 --> 0:50:54.440 they get six on the league. Let's choke him out 0:50:54.480 --> 0:50:57.200 running this power the same. They have to come down 0:50:57.239 --> 0:50:59.080 and just destroy everything, and Mike has to roll over 0:50:59.080 --> 0:51:00.960 top the wheel, gotta get off the center, and we 0:51:01.080 --> 0:51:03.160 just we pound that in our head and that's how 0:51:03.400 --> 0:51:05.920 that's how we beat them. But that's what you have 0:51:05.960 --> 0:51:08.480 to do. You have to get those five to tim 0:51:08.600 --> 0:51:10.840 run plays and those five to tim pass plays that 0:51:10.920 --> 0:51:13.680 you know they're gonna do. They do every game. They 0:51:13.760 --> 0:51:15.480 might do it in the first series, they might win 0:51:15.560 --> 0:51:17.279 to the second half. To do it well. Once you 0:51:17.400 --> 0:51:20.360 recognize it, that's when you make your big place. And 0:51:20.400 --> 0:51:23.520 it's a lot easier said than I can definitely understand 0:51:23.560 --> 0:51:25.239 that going against the best in the world, the best 0:51:25.239 --> 0:51:27.960 in the profession. And you mentioned, you know, you talk 0:51:28.000 --> 0:51:30.760 about having those wrinkles that can get you. You guys 0:51:30.800 --> 0:51:33.279 got an entire team throughout the course of entire game. 0:51:33.280 --> 0:51:36.239 Back in two thousand and eight, you mentioned the Division championship. 0:51:36.280 --> 0:51:38.799 You're the Wildcat game, the first game y'all broke it 0:51:38.840 --> 0:51:41.480 out and went rough shot on the Patriots. Now, that 0:51:41.520 --> 0:51:43.680 was a successful season, and one of the reasons you 0:51:43.680 --> 0:51:46.879 guys went into twenties two thousand six with high expectations 0:51:46.960 --> 0:51:49.480 was because of the close to that two thousand five season, 0:51:49.480 --> 0:51:51.719 And one of those games was that Chargers game. I 0:51:51.760 --> 0:51:53.960 believe Chambers had a couple of big touchdowns. You guys 0:51:54.000 --> 0:51:56.560 played really good on defense, and so that six game 0:51:56.560 --> 0:51:59.800 winning streak at the end of OH five brought about really, 0:52:00.000 --> 0:52:03.279 really strong expectations. The Dolphins were Sports illustrators pick to 0:52:03.320 --> 0:52:05.439 represent the a f C in the Super Bowl that year. 0:52:05.719 --> 0:52:08.200 How much different is it in a locker room when 0:52:08.200 --> 0:52:11.560 there's expectations that are that high compared to maybe a 0:52:11.560 --> 0:52:14.160 more runner the mill season where maybe you have playoff 0:52:14.239 --> 0:52:18.279 aspirations or Division championship aspirations. Like does having Super Bowl 0:52:18.320 --> 0:52:20.560 expectations like that really changed the game for you guys? 0:52:21.920 --> 0:52:24.560 It does, and especially what happened that year you're speaking 0:52:24.560 --> 0:52:27.719 of when we added Dante cold Pepper and you saw 0:52:27.800 --> 0:52:30.439 what he deal with christ Christi Carter and Randy Moss 0:52:30.560 --> 0:52:33.279 in Minnesota. You just knew he wasn't that you know, 0:52:33.920 --> 0:52:35.560 he wasn't anybody to play. He was one of the 0:52:35.560 --> 0:52:38.160 top guys. We know history, everybody knows. He ended up, 0:52:38.200 --> 0:52:40.120 you know, his knee wasn't healthy, end up retiring a 0:52:40.120 --> 0:52:41.759 couple of years later, playing for the Raiders, I think 0:52:41.800 --> 0:52:44.479 for a year or two. But when when we knew 0:52:44.520 --> 0:52:46.600 that we brought in Cold Pepper, we knew how defense 0:52:46.600 --> 0:52:48.760 could play. We knew we could play I think, oh 0:52:49.040 --> 0:52:52.840 oh five, we were top I think top five and 0:52:52.920 --> 0:52:55.800 a bunch of categories and top ten and most categories. Indeed, 0:52:55.920 --> 0:52:58.680 we knew our defense was say, let's get a quarterback 0:52:58.960 --> 0:53:00.839 to get his ball to run, and Ricky and all 0:53:00.840 --> 0:53:03.319 these damn players we had, and let's just show out. 0:53:03.640 --> 0:53:05.759 Let's go out here. We knew West West an Centian team, 0:53:05.760 --> 0:53:08.239 West Welfare. We knew we had Randomy Michael was a 0:53:08.320 --> 0:53:09.799 hell of a titan. Like. We were like, hey, we 0:53:09.880 --> 0:53:12.040 if we lock it at quarterback, this is the run. 0:53:12.160 --> 0:53:15.080 And that's what Sports Illustrated talk. Hell the defensive top 0:53:15.080 --> 0:53:18.040 ten's we we bringing cold Pepper. If he plays like 0:53:18.080 --> 0:53:19.839 he did in Minnesota, this team can make a run. 0:53:21.239 --> 0:53:25.560 The approach to the to the season saving what lets 0:53:25.560 --> 0:53:28.239 you really bs. But it was just something different when 0:53:28.280 --> 0:53:30.960 you really thought you had something, Guys would compete, Guys 0:53:31.000 --> 0:53:33.120 would go out there and talk about it and and 0:53:33.120 --> 0:53:34.560 and if you want to you know, it's it's no 0:53:34.760 --> 0:53:36.439 secrets in the NFL. If you want to be great, 0:53:36.680 --> 0:53:40.520 top grade, work great at great. You know, just greatness 0:53:40.520 --> 0:53:42.800 should be all over you. And we really felt that way. 0:53:43.000 --> 0:53:45.280 I'm not gonna lie. After the first couple of games 0:53:45.280 --> 0:53:49.200 with Pelp, we were like, I don't see Minnesota Pelp. 0:53:49.400 --> 0:53:51.320 I see it do it with a bad need Pep. 0:53:51.840 --> 0:53:54.359 But the camp and leading up to it and all 0:53:54.400 --> 0:53:56.680 that stuff, it was a different field. And it was 0:53:56.719 --> 0:53:59.960 only my second year, so it was a different different 0:54:00.200 --> 0:54:03.560 field going in. And that's one of the reasons I 0:54:03.560 --> 0:54:05.960 think Nick Saban left, which he couldn't find that quarterback 0:54:06.000 --> 0:54:08.359 and in college you can get safe. Does it now? 0:54:08.680 --> 0:54:11.239 He could get any quarterback and run this big these 0:54:11.239 --> 0:54:13.680 big as dudes on defense and get a good running 0:54:13.719 --> 0:54:16.920 game and go to NAS championship NFL. I hate his 0:54:17.040 --> 0:54:20.080 going this way. I love the I'm a Bucaneers fan. 0:54:20.239 --> 0:54:23.800 The Trent dilferd. I mean Brad Johnson left Buckaneers with 0:54:23.960 --> 0:54:27.560 Sap and Lynch and Derrick Brooks and those guys uh 0:54:27.800 --> 0:54:31.080 Barbrown outside like I love defense. The Ravens two thousand Ray, 0:54:31.120 --> 0:54:33.480 that's the trip Dealver Ravens. When Brian Pillicking, if I 0:54:33.560 --> 0:54:36.600 love bro you give me a seven team game thirty 0:54:36.640 --> 0:54:38.600 to thirty to thirty to thirty to thirty thirty, I 0:54:38.600 --> 0:54:41.600 can't argue with that. That's football to me. Nowadays football 0:54:41.640 --> 0:54:45.440 is changing. You gotta throw up at least twenty four, 0:54:46.160 --> 0:54:48.680 twenty eight points. You have to be able to get 0:54:48.680 --> 0:54:51.000 into mid twenties to really make a run in this 0:54:51.040 --> 0:54:53.560 day and agent NFL, because you just can't choke people 0:54:53.560 --> 0:54:55.719 out anymore. It's tough to choke people out if you 0:54:55.719 --> 0:54:59.800 look at those top defense forty niners wrote every level. 0:55:00.160 --> 0:55:03.920 Four first rounders up front this year, great linebackers, pretty 0:55:03.920 --> 0:55:06.759 good secondary. Kansas City. It was a matter of time 0:55:06.840 --> 0:55:09.399 until Kansas City figured out how to get them. That's 0:55:09.440 --> 0:55:11.640 all it is. It's a matter of time. Give me 0:55:11.680 --> 0:55:14.839 ten plays, Oh, we're gonna do it. Thirty plays. Okay, 0:55:15.080 --> 0:55:17.840 they got told about forty plays, Patrick Mahomes and Andy 0:55:17.880 --> 0:55:21.120 Reid said, we got you. They started running Travis Kelsey 0:55:21.239 --> 0:55:23.120 on the deep overs. They just they figured out what 0:55:23.160 --> 0:55:25.840 they were doing so that that this damage. In the NFL, 0:55:25.920 --> 0:55:28.319 you have to score and that's where the game's going in. 0:55:28.400 --> 0:55:29.840 Like I said, I'm not a huge fan of but 0:55:29.880 --> 0:55:32.160 I'm adjusting to it. I'm getting used to it. But 0:55:33.080 --> 0:55:36.239 the team that we went into the O six year with, 0:55:36.480 --> 0:55:38.560 we thought we were gonna do something until we saw 0:55:39.000 --> 0:55:41.120 that Pepper wasn't that guy. And that's what that's what 0:55:41.360 --> 0:55:43.680 that's what it became. I think that's why Savan left 0:55:43.680 --> 0:55:48.000 because he couldn't find a quarterback. But Dante Colepepper was 0:55:48.080 --> 0:55:52.759 the epicenter of that of the excitement and once we 0:55:52.800 --> 0:55:55.200 saw that wasn't there. I don't give a damn how 0:55:55.239 --> 0:55:57.319 many points We're here on the other team too, they 0:55:57.360 --> 0:55:59.680 were gonna score enough to beat us, and it was 0:55:59.719 --> 0:56:02.239 what was as a fan, I was so excited for 0:56:02.280 --> 0:56:05.200 that season. The season opening game on Thursday night against Pittsburgh. 0:56:05.360 --> 0:56:06.920 You know, that was that was new to the Dolphins 0:56:06.960 --> 0:56:09.200 at the time, so there was a lot of expectations, 0:56:09.200 --> 0:56:12.000 like you mentioned, so we it happened pretty quickly, because 0:56:12.000 --> 0:56:13.799 I think he got injured after three or four games 0:56:13.800 --> 0:56:15.840 and didn't play the rest of the year. You mentioned 0:56:15.920 --> 0:56:18.720 the high flying offenses like Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes. 0:56:19.080 --> 0:56:21.320 It's like a shooter in basketball. It takes one quarter 0:56:21.600 --> 0:56:24.000 to wipe you out, like a thirty five point quarter 0:56:24.080 --> 0:56:26.360 for in basketball, or maybe like a four touchdown quarter 0:56:26.560 --> 0:56:28.800 like Mahomes has had so many times. It's it's crazy. 0:56:29.040 --> 0:56:31.360 And you talked about your era with the Dolphins, and 0:56:31.360 --> 0:56:32.799 and I grew up in that era as a as 0:56:32.840 --> 0:56:35.200 a fan of my childhood. Was the third teen to 0:56:35.320 --> 0:56:37.479 ten win, you know. And you guys had so many 0:56:37.480 --> 0:56:40.640 of those thirteen to ten games or sixteen to thirteen, 0:56:40.719 --> 0:56:42.799 just tight affairs that were back and forth, maybe a 0:56:42.800 --> 0:56:44.680 couple of field goals here and there. And one of 0:56:44.680 --> 0:56:46.760 those games, I think it was more of the twenties, 0:56:46.760 --> 0:56:49.040 but it was a two thousand nine game against the Patriots. 0:56:49.160 --> 0:56:50.560 And I played the sound at the top of the 0:56:50.600 --> 0:56:53.480 show of your interception when Cam Waite got in there, 0:56:53.560 --> 0:56:55.880 blast and Brady you pick it off game over. That 0:56:55.960 --> 0:56:58.200 was the clip to open the show. Is that your 0:56:58.239 --> 0:57:02.120 favorite moment as a Miami Dolphin? Yes, it was it's 0:57:02.120 --> 0:57:05.040 the moment everybody talks about. It's stuff. I'm sitting at 0:57:05.040 --> 0:57:07.719 the bar drinking beer with the buddies and uh, the 0:57:07.800 --> 0:57:10.000 seven year old guy walks in with his wife and 0:57:10.040 --> 0:57:12.960 he walks up and bumps my back and he Brady 0:57:12.960 --> 0:57:16.240 interception and gives up that. That's that's what people still 0:57:16.240 --> 0:57:18.920 talk about. Football was now the media stuff I do 0:57:19.000 --> 0:57:22.440 dolphin post game, you know, on on the fifth quarter CBS, 0:57:22.520 --> 0:57:24.640 so you know, people see me more now, But when 0:57:24.640 --> 0:57:29.040 it's football and bro, I'm my last year was eleven ten. 0:57:29.200 --> 0:57:31.240 I retired. They cut me eleven and the retirement so 0:57:31.480 --> 0:57:33.200 I've been out for you know, going on going on 0:57:33.240 --> 0:57:35.240 ten years, and they still come up out the Brady 0:57:35.400 --> 0:57:37.960 even that talking about like the mental side of football, 0:57:38.360 --> 0:57:41.440 and this is this is a Tom Brady type. This 0:57:41.480 --> 0:57:45.640 is where the this is the next level of football 0:57:46.040 --> 0:57:48.200 where there's a guy called the rat. People that don't 0:57:48.200 --> 0:57:50.000 know where the rat is. He's a free player. He 0:57:50.040 --> 0:57:53.480 just reached the quarterback size. So everybody's covering somebody you 0:57:53.520 --> 0:57:55.920 can run as call people call it lurking. If a 0:57:56.000 --> 0:57:58.040 safety is the rat and he's just a free player, 0:57:58.240 --> 0:58:00.800 he lurks. If a linebacker the player he's a rat. 0:58:01.040 --> 0:58:03.280 So we end up ratting, and we had we had 0:58:03.280 --> 0:58:06.080 a beat on their place. West Worker was there and 0:58:06.120 --> 0:58:09.080 they would always run him on these crossers. Brady could 0:58:09.120 --> 0:58:11.800 read the wrecked he could. He would. He would identify 0:58:11.800 --> 0:58:14.160 who the rat was by where the linebacker to the 0:58:14.160 --> 0:58:16.760 the running back to his right. The linebacker that way 0:58:16.800 --> 0:58:18.840 is covering him, so the other linebackers the rat. It 0:58:18.960 --> 0:58:21.280 was simple. If the other linebacker was removed, the safeties 0:58:21.320 --> 0:58:24.480 coming to rat. He could read all that. So to 0:58:24.800 --> 0:58:28.200 trick him wherever you wanted to rap to, you would 0:58:28.240 --> 0:58:31.040 have to turn your back that way for a second 0:58:31.480 --> 0:58:34.520 to let him, to show him your eyes aims left 0:58:35.040 --> 0:58:37.240 to come back to rat where you wanted to rac. 0:58:37.640 --> 0:58:40.680 So we had the game plan. If it was between 0:58:40.680 --> 0:58:43.080 me and Zach, you know, wherever the wherever the or 0:58:43.120 --> 0:58:44.880 me was, Zach still there, Me and the other back 0:58:44.920 --> 0:58:47.280 I think Zach might have been gone, whoever the rat was. 0:58:47.400 --> 0:58:50.520 If west Workers on that side when the ball snapped, 0:58:50.840 --> 0:58:54.440 look away from west Walker and you're still peaking at Brady. 0:58:54.680 --> 0:58:56.960 When Brady looks at you, and then he looks away. 0:58:57.040 --> 0:58:59.320 Now you can turn back and rap. If you go 0:58:59.400 --> 0:59:02.440 back and watch a game, I missed an interception on 0:59:02.520 --> 0:59:06.240 the same exact play in like the second quarter, almost 0:59:06.280 --> 0:59:08.760 at the same point in the field. He was west, 0:59:08.840 --> 0:59:10.640 was to the boundary and they were running across it 0:59:10.720 --> 0:59:13.040 to the field and I turned, I turned back. When 0:59:13.040 --> 0:59:15.200 I turned back, I didn't get that back far enough 0:59:15.240 --> 0:59:17.280 and it just hit my finger fingertips hit in the 0:59:17.280 --> 0:59:19.920 ground because he threw it to west and west west 0:59:20.200 --> 0:59:22.560 four ft two, so he was a tidy looked baster. 0:59:23.400 --> 0:59:26.520 So earlier in the game, the same exact play, you 0:59:26.600 --> 0:59:29.439 had the trick Brady to rap away and then come back, 0:59:29.760 --> 0:59:32.280 and in that play I tripped. I looked away to 0:59:32.480 --> 0:59:35.040 when I came back, I saw Cam beat the tackle 0:59:35.320 --> 0:59:37.880 and then he affected the ball and I looked right 0:59:37.920 --> 0:59:39.960 back and turning my back. Now he was throwing it 0:59:40.000 --> 0:59:42.760 to the crosser and it literally it came right to me. 0:59:42.800 --> 0:59:44.120 I was standing there. I was about to go down, 0:59:44.160 --> 0:59:46.280 and actually I was a bank I will trying to 0:59:46.320 --> 0:59:49.360 knock west west to sleep and the ball came right 0:59:49.400 --> 0:59:52.280 at me because Cam affected the throw. But that's just 0:59:52.400 --> 0:59:55.440 the mental side of football I'm talking about. Even in 0:59:55.480 --> 0:59:57.160 that play, and it was my biggest player as a 0:59:57.200 --> 1:00:01.479 Dolphin was the psychological part. The mental part. Oh. Even 1:00:01.480 --> 1:00:04.360 in the fourth quarter, we were up by four. There 1:00:04.400 --> 1:00:08.000 was a minute twenty four left. Brady's known for doing that. 1:00:08.440 --> 1:00:11.520 You're up by four, a minute twenty left, Brady's gonna 1:00:11.520 --> 1:00:13.440 go get the mad yards for a touchdown. Like everybody 1:00:13.520 --> 1:00:15.160 knew that the whole You can fill it in the crowd, 1:00:15.240 --> 1:00:18.160 everybody playing, oh this is Brady. We gave you too 1:00:18.240 --> 1:00:21.880 much time and to seal that win with film study, 1:00:22.080 --> 1:00:25.160 with a great game plan. We planned to do that. 1:00:25.520 --> 1:00:27.800 We had the rack there for the crossers. I end 1:00:27.840 --> 1:00:29.640 up being a rat. I end up doing it, you know, 1:00:29.720 --> 1:00:32.480 doing it correctly. Cam got his pressure and can't wave 1:00:32.560 --> 1:00:33.919 the free agent. Now. I don't know if we want 1:00:33.920 --> 1:00:36.080 I wouldn't mind bringing them back, but it is what 1:00:36.120 --> 1:00:38.800 it is. He's little older, but Cam got his pressure 1:00:39.000 --> 1:00:41.080 and me being in the right position to make that play. 1:00:41.400 --> 1:00:43.720 That was kind of It was a big play when 1:00:43.840 --> 1:00:46.120 the game people know before. But the bigger part of 1:00:46.120 --> 1:00:49.840 football we're talking about earlier, the psychological, the adjustments, working 1:00:49.880 --> 1:00:53.520 through that on Monday, talking about that Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 1:00:53.600 --> 1:00:57.000 and then seeing it work game day, Like that's the 1:00:57.080 --> 1:00:59.840 part of football that I love is the X and 1:01:00.000 --> 1:01:03.479 of it the lining up eleven against eleven, and where 1:01:03.520 --> 1:01:06.479 everybody has somebody to to cover, everybody has something to do. 1:01:06.800 --> 1:01:09.360 Who's gonna win, Who's gonna be better on that play 1:01:09.480 --> 1:01:12.160 that snap? And I'd have to say, can't wait helped 1:01:12.160 --> 1:01:13.680 a little bit, and he helped me a little bit, 1:01:13.800 --> 1:01:16.360 But I would have to say I made that play. 1:01:16.400 --> 1:01:18.120 I was the best. I was a better guy on 1:01:18.200 --> 1:01:20.120 that snap to win the game against the Well, the 1:01:20.120 --> 1:01:21.880 way you break it down, it's hard to argue with you. 1:01:21.960 --> 1:01:24.280 So and and like you mentioned, you you put whatever 1:01:24.320 --> 1:01:26.400 a player puts in for a week, sixty hours of 1:01:26.400 --> 1:01:28.400 getting your body right, getting the mind right, getting the 1:01:28.400 --> 1:01:30.680 practice reps in, to have it all kind of come 1:01:30.720 --> 1:01:33.520 to uh to its conclusion on a three hour clip 1:01:33.560 --> 1:01:36.280 on Sunday. I can understand how that jubilation kind of 1:01:36.280 --> 1:01:38.360 comes out the entire week of work. I can't even 1:01:38.360 --> 1:01:40.920 imagine what that feels like as an athlete. Now, everybody 1:01:40.960 --> 1:01:43.400 knows you for that pick like you mentioned against the Patriots, 1:01:43.600 --> 1:01:45.560 and I want to ask you changing this is entirely 1:01:45.600 --> 1:01:47.520 for me only. I was at a game back in 1:01:47.520 --> 1:01:49.360 two thousand eight. It was the Matt Light game. I 1:01:49.400 --> 1:01:51.440 won't ask you to go into that that part of 1:01:51.440 --> 1:01:56.280 the detail I want to ask you that I know. Yeah, 1:01:56.640 --> 1:01:59.040 we don't gotta put that on air. The part we 1:01:59.080 --> 1:02:00.880 can put on air that I want to ask you about. 1:02:01.160 --> 1:02:04.160 So two thousand eight, I must have been twenty one 1:02:04.240 --> 1:02:06.880 years old. I was very very young. Still am young, obviously, 1:02:06.920 --> 1:02:09.520 but I went to the players parking lot after the 1:02:09.520 --> 1:02:11.760 game because I wanted to get some autographs or some photos, 1:02:11.800 --> 1:02:13.560 and I was told that was the best place to go. 1:02:14.040 --> 1:02:17.680 And you you exited the game early, but you left 1:02:17.760 --> 1:02:20.360 in your car at the same time as the other players, 1:02:20.640 --> 1:02:23.120 and you rolled out in this particular car that I'll 1:02:23.120 --> 1:02:25.200 never forget. I have a picture on my Facebook still. 1:02:25.400 --> 1:02:27.000 I snapped it because I was like, why is this 1:02:27.080 --> 1:02:29.920 dude driving that car? He's a professional football player. And 1:02:29.960 --> 1:02:32.360 for those that don't know, forgive my ignorance. I don't 1:02:32.360 --> 1:02:33.840 know what it was because I don't I don't know 1:02:33.880 --> 1:02:36.440 the automotive industry whatsoever. I don't know the maker model 1:02:36.480 --> 1:02:38.400 of the car, but I know it looked old and 1:02:38.440 --> 1:02:41.800 I know it was distinctly very brown. What was going 1:02:41.840 --> 1:02:43.880 on with that man? Like? What was that car? And 1:02:43.880 --> 1:02:49.760 why were you the one driving it? Um? I needed 1:02:49.760 --> 1:02:52.480 to hang out sketchy neighborhoods. I need to hang out 1:02:52.520 --> 1:02:54.160 sketching neighbood I'm not a flash to do. I have 1:02:54.240 --> 1:02:56.760 no too around where shots still people make fun of me. 1:02:57.000 --> 1:03:00.600 I have like shots. They calls. I changed a little 1:03:00.600 --> 1:03:02.680 faces every now and again. I don't spend money. Save 1:03:02.760 --> 1:03:06.000 all my money. Yeah, I'm not gonna be on broke. 1:03:06.040 --> 1:03:08.400 If Billy Corbyan does another another one, I'm not. I'm 1:03:08.400 --> 1:03:10.600 not gonna be that guy. But I was in a 1:03:10.920 --> 1:03:12.920 I was in I was in the hood and there 1:03:12.960 --> 1:03:14.640 was a dude and he said he's setting a car 1:03:14.760 --> 1:03:17.760 for four hundred dollars. And it was an old Oldsmobile, 1:03:18.000 --> 1:03:21.760 like a nineteen seventies seven olds mobile, something big boxing car, 1:03:21.840 --> 1:03:24.200 everything torn up in it. I said, four hundred dollars. 1:03:24.240 --> 1:03:27.160 I had that car. I'm messing with me. He was 1:03:27.160 --> 1:03:29.400 a crackhead. Let's be honest. He was a crackhead. So 1:03:29.440 --> 1:03:31.960 I'm like four hundred bucks. He said four hundred bucks. 1:03:32.480 --> 1:03:35.840 I said, where's the title? I will get it. I said, okay. 1:03:35.840 --> 1:03:37.320 I would say I thought I was in the conversation. 1:03:37.360 --> 1:03:38.680 I was just messing around. I think I was waiting 1:03:38.680 --> 1:03:40.480 for my buddy and he was at some girl's house 1:03:40.600 --> 1:03:42.600 and I'm just sitting there and I was like, give 1:03:42.600 --> 1:03:45.320 me the title. He said, uh, okay. He comes back 1:03:45.360 --> 1:03:48.080 with the title with the sign with the title signs. 1:03:49.040 --> 1:03:50.680 I kind of look at it. I'm like, so, I 1:03:50.680 --> 1:03:52.600 give you four hundred dollars, you give me this title, 1:03:53.080 --> 1:03:56.080 and this is my car. He said, yeah, man, I said, okay, 1:03:56.240 --> 1:03:58.080 put four bucks out game before hundred. He gave me 1:03:58.120 --> 1:04:01.360 the kids. I went in and cranked it up. I 1:04:01.480 --> 1:04:03.480 drove around the block, came back. He was still there. 1:04:03.480 --> 1:04:05.560 I thought he was gonna run. He was still sitting there. 1:04:06.120 --> 1:04:09.080 I said, cool. I left. I wouldn't got to registers. 1:04:09.080 --> 1:04:12.240 I wouldn't got this shirt. It was like sixteen dollars 1:04:12.280 --> 1:04:16.040 a year to ensure that car. It was. It was nothing, 1:04:16.560 --> 1:04:18.200 and I was like, okay, I drove it to the game. 1:04:18.280 --> 1:04:20.320 So yeah, I drove it to the game. I think 1:04:20.360 --> 1:04:22.160 that I only got to drive the four games because 1:04:22.160 --> 1:04:24.880 it broke down the side of the turnpike. But even 1:04:24.880 --> 1:04:27.080 when it broke down and broke down the side of the 1:04:27.040 --> 1:04:29.640 the turnpike, my family was driving my um My, what 1:04:29.680 --> 1:04:31.280 I happened? I think I had in affinity. Then they 1:04:31.320 --> 1:04:33.600 were behind me. I pulled to the side of the turnpike. 1:04:34.160 --> 1:04:36.520 I took the license plate off, I took my stuff 1:04:36.520 --> 1:04:38.000 out and I left it there and they I don't 1:04:38.000 --> 1:04:40.560 know what happened to it where it got rid of it, 1:04:40.640 --> 1:04:43.200 But yeah, I paid four hundred dollars for a car. 1:04:43.320 --> 1:04:45.160 I drove it for about about a month a month 1:04:45.160 --> 1:04:47.320 and a half. It broke down and I let him happen. 1:04:47.680 --> 1:04:49.600 It's just a sound investment. You gotta take advantage of 1:04:49.600 --> 1:04:52.200 your opportunities when you get him. That's what about Think 1:04:52.200 --> 1:04:55.160 about that six weeks, four hundred dollars. That's if you 1:04:55.160 --> 1:04:58.200 can't run a car for that in a car for 1:04:58.240 --> 1:05:00.960 a month and a half, or four hundred dollars, the opportunity, dude, 1:05:03.640 --> 1:05:05.040 I love it, man, That's what makes you the best 1:05:05.120 --> 1:05:06.880 Channing And I want to get to this before we 1:05:06.920 --> 1:05:08.840 get out of here where we've run four times as 1:05:08.840 --> 1:05:10.640 long as my normal shows. But people are gonna love it, 1:05:10.680 --> 1:05:12.720 so I'm more than happy to do it. But you've 1:05:12.760 --> 1:05:15.840 transitioned so well, and this podcast is proof of it 1:05:15.960 --> 1:05:18.600 from a player into the radio personality role. Like, how 1:05:18.640 --> 1:05:20.880 are you enjoying the second career and how did you 1:05:21.640 --> 1:05:22.919 like How did you get to the point to where 1:05:22.920 --> 1:05:25.960 you're so comfortable and just so like admirable to listen 1:05:26.000 --> 1:05:29.200 to on the airwaves. Um it was. I was always 1:05:29.200 --> 1:05:30.960 a talker. I was always in a like more of 1:05:30.960 --> 1:05:33.920 an entertainment. But I was from like the country, Like 1:05:34.040 --> 1:05:37.520 I didn't. I wasn't in a big city. I was 1:05:37.560 --> 1:05:39.680 out on the outskirts of Atlanta, you know what I'm saying. 1:05:40.000 --> 1:05:42.040 My mom got she got a better job. And then 1:05:42.080 --> 1:05:43.920 I went to games the middle of the country. So 1:05:44.240 --> 1:05:45.760 I grew up kind of nowed skirts and I'm with 1:05:45.800 --> 1:05:48.400 the games when that's the day and that's cornfields out there. 1:05:48.720 --> 1:05:50.640 So like I was just I always enjoyed the country. 1:05:50.680 --> 1:05:53.320 And back then, bro, I didn't have Twitter and Facebook 1:05:53.320 --> 1:05:54.960 and my Space is the guy that got blah blah 1:05:55.000 --> 1:05:57.680 blah this crap. You had to talk to humans. You 1:05:57.760 --> 1:05:59.760 had to talk when you're sitting around drinking beer or 1:05:59.760 --> 1:06:01.880 you're it on the porch, like you're just sitting and 1:06:01.920 --> 1:06:03.960 make fun of people. You're sitting your dorm room and 1:06:03.960 --> 1:06:06.520 and tease guys and just joke and tell stories and 1:06:06.720 --> 1:06:08.560 tell a story about the girl back in high school 1:06:08.560 --> 1:06:10.080 then and my uncle this and that. You had to 1:06:10.120 --> 1:06:12.200 do it. And then as I got in the in 1:06:12.280 --> 1:06:15.800 the league. My opportunity actually was with one of the 1:06:15.800 --> 1:06:19.560 news stations and during the during the media sessions when 1:06:19.560 --> 1:06:21.560 the Dolphins locker room, and they put me way in 1:06:21.560 --> 1:06:23.800 the corner and they put me next to these damn 1:06:23.800 --> 1:06:26.360 Polynesians because they didn't speak with English. They put me 1:06:26.400 --> 1:06:31.360 next like Paul Soliai and Reagan Mauai and Samson's a Telly. 1:06:31.960 --> 1:06:33.840 They put me next to all these guys because they 1:06:33.840 --> 1:06:35.640 didn't speak in English, so they didn't think I could 1:06:35.720 --> 1:06:38.040 influence them badly, so they put me over in his 1:06:38.120 --> 1:06:41.600 corner and just leave me there to my own devices. 1:06:41.640 --> 1:06:44.000 And this crazy little A D D mind would be going. 1:06:44.280 --> 1:06:46.280 So in the media sessions, I would just start making 1:06:46.280 --> 1:06:50.120 fun of everybody, teammates, media members, Um, David j Neo, 1:06:50.320 --> 1:06:52.440 he's a he comes to dolfers, he wears the keys 1:06:52.440 --> 1:06:55.400 I used to kill him with coming to America jokes, 1:06:55.840 --> 1:06:59.000 all the Barry Jackson's and all the how Habib's and 1:06:59.200 --> 1:07:02.120 O Mark Kelly. I just kill these guys just choking around. 1:07:02.120 --> 1:07:04.360 They knew I was joking. So the TV station came 1:07:04.400 --> 1:07:05.360 up to me and they were like, hey, do you 1:07:05.440 --> 1:07:07.920 mind have a cameraman? Just put your camera on you 1:07:07.960 --> 1:07:09.760 and record you here, like what edited it? You know, 1:07:09.960 --> 1:07:11.680 take the cuss words. I won't make you look bad. 1:07:12.000 --> 1:07:14.320 But there's like fifteen seconds when the credit runs after 1:07:14.360 --> 1:07:16.560 the news. They were like, and we'd rather set up 1:07:16.560 --> 1:07:19.160 paying something doom dum dum dune some song. We'll just 1:07:19.160 --> 1:07:21.520 playing fifteen seconds that you're messing around and call the 1:07:21.520 --> 1:07:24.040 crowder's corner. And it was like on Friday nights. I 1:07:24.120 --> 1:07:26.560 was like cool when the Dolphins a proved it and 1:07:26.800 --> 1:07:30.120 that was mine end to five six at the time, 1:07:30.160 --> 1:07:32.600 and it was Beasley at the time. So when I 1:07:32.760 --> 1:07:34.680 in two times level when the Dolphins released me and 1:07:34.720 --> 1:07:36.440 I was still getting some I was still getting you know, 1:07:36.480 --> 1:07:39.480 percentage of my my salary because I was after the lockout, 1:07:39.600 --> 1:07:41.240 so I was gonna take the year off. And they 1:07:41.280 --> 1:07:44.080 came up to me and Steve Goldstein end up choosing 1:07:44.080 --> 1:07:46.040 TV over radio and it was a big ordeal. They 1:07:46.080 --> 1:07:48.000 had a slot open and they were like, hey, you 1:07:48.000 --> 1:07:49.640 know you like to talk, You're funny, you like to 1:07:49.640 --> 1:07:51.280 mess around when you want to fill in on radio. 1:07:51.600 --> 1:07:53.560 So I filled it on next show midday. I went 1:07:53.600 --> 1:07:56.840 on Joe Rose and said Rosenberg Show and just messed around, 1:07:56.960 --> 1:07:59.640 just wonderingful hour here out there just just just messed 1:07:59.640 --> 1:08:02.360 around kind of saw like you get paid. And I 1:08:02.400 --> 1:08:04.040 was watching them, and I'm like, you have paid. You 1:08:04.040 --> 1:08:07.040 get paid to have an opinion. It's the easiest thing 1:08:07.040 --> 1:08:09.320 in the world to get as an opinion you have 1:08:09.400 --> 1:08:11.400 to work for. Like think about what you have to 1:08:11.400 --> 1:08:13.720 work for to get you have to work for an 1:08:13.720 --> 1:08:17.759 opinion that yours. Like, it's easy to have ton opinion. 1:08:17.800 --> 1:08:19.960 You need to do no research, you need to look 1:08:19.960 --> 1:08:22.840 into nothing, You just have to just talk. When they 1:08:22.840 --> 1:08:25.720 stopped and I saw it, I'm like, bro, I don't 1:08:25.760 --> 1:08:30.200 need to go to communications class to give an opinion. 1:08:30.560 --> 1:08:32.320 And I worked on. I did doing some work. I 1:08:32.360 --> 1:08:35.040 went to some seminars and things, and I went to 1:08:35.040 --> 1:08:37.000 the in the NFL comed by some of these little 1:08:37.000 --> 1:08:39.120 combines that do the weekend thing. Just kind of understand 1:08:39.160 --> 1:08:41.559 the business. And now, like I said, I'm on on 1:08:41.640 --> 1:08:45.080 ten years of doing it. But I always knew there 1:08:45.120 --> 1:08:47.479 was more than football. I always knew like I was, 1:08:47.640 --> 1:08:49.840 I wasn't the you know, the caveman, the near and 1:08:49.880 --> 1:08:51.800 the thought people want to thank football players are the 1:08:52.080 --> 1:08:54.320 sea ball, hit ball or to run this way? This 1:08:54.360 --> 1:08:56.760 is my gap. Paul that I was never that guy. 1:08:56.920 --> 1:08:59.479 Like I could really think about stuff and I would 1:08:59.560 --> 1:09:01.320 joke around on the lot. I messed around a lot. 1:09:01.479 --> 1:09:03.479 So it was a natural transition to be able to 1:09:03.520 --> 1:09:07.280 talk give an opinion that people have trouble coming up 1:09:07.320 --> 1:09:10.080 with their sales, which is still amazing to me, but 1:09:10.200 --> 1:09:12.479 have an opinion, and to be able to articulate it correctly, 1:09:12.800 --> 1:09:14.679 you know, I could alway. I could always, I could 1:09:14.680 --> 1:09:18.599 always articulate myself. I could always talk, and like, it's 1:09:18.640 --> 1:09:20.320 it's funny that when people tell me, like when I'm 1:09:20.360 --> 1:09:23.040 sitting around my boys, they're like, you can talk, and 1:09:23.080 --> 1:09:25.600 then you can entertain, and like there's a there's a 1:09:25.680 --> 1:09:27.920 there's a level where you can you can tell a story, 1:09:28.040 --> 1:09:30.360 and then you can really tell a story and make 1:09:30.400 --> 1:09:32.599 it good, line it up and give people the visual 1:09:32.680 --> 1:09:35.040 of what's going on, and you know, explaining the small 1:09:35.080 --> 1:09:38.160 details so that people really feel what you're talking about. 1:09:38.320 --> 1:09:40.320 And once I figured out that was a guy giving gifts, 1:09:40.680 --> 1:09:42.760 I just kept doing it, kept grinding at it, you know, 1:09:42.800 --> 1:09:44.560 work my way and wasn't making when I started, I 1:09:44.720 --> 1:09:47.120 wasn't making. I was making peanuts. I wouldn't get paying 1:09:47.160 --> 1:09:49.240 for like a couple of years, but just to learn 1:09:49.280 --> 1:09:51.040 it and get used to it. And a lot of 1:09:51.040 --> 1:09:53.400 guys aren't. They're not ready for that to come me 1:09:53.479 --> 1:09:56.479 to the league minimums now what five hundred thousand something 1:09:56.520 --> 1:09:57.880 like that. So the guy going to make a half 1:09:57.920 --> 1:09:59.840 a million and plus every single year of his life 1:10:00.040 --> 1:10:01.599 to hey, you're gonna come in every day and make 1:10:02.840 --> 1:10:06.800 thousand dollars a month, well grand like So a lot 1:10:06.840 --> 1:10:08.720 of guys aren't used to that. And trying to get 1:10:08.760 --> 1:10:11.599 sponsors and going to meetings and also once I figured 1:10:11.640 --> 1:10:14.759 out how it's how it's done, and really media's money 1:10:14.800 --> 1:10:16.760 if you can sell, if you can get sponsorships and all, 1:10:16.960 --> 1:10:19.840 I figured out the process, and I was just I 1:10:19.840 --> 1:10:21.880 stayed with it long. I didn't do diligence enough to 1:10:21.920 --> 1:10:23.479 really make a career out of it. So I can 1:10:23.479 --> 1:10:25.680 say I'm ten years in, thirty six years old. I 1:10:25.720 --> 1:10:28.760 do it for another ten fifteen years and then hello, 1:10:28.800 --> 1:10:30.840 I don't know, I'm trying to coach or something, going college, 1:10:30.880 --> 1:10:32.960 go to the NFL, Go coach after my kids grow up. 1:10:33.000 --> 1:10:34.960 But it's a buch of fun job now, and it's 1:10:34.960 --> 1:10:40.360 something I'm noticing now guys have trouble transitioning and I didn't, 1:10:40.400 --> 1:10:42.679 So I didn't realize until a lot of my other 1:10:42.720 --> 1:10:45.960 friends started retiring and guys started retiring, and guys that 1:10:46.000 --> 1:10:48.160 made way more money than me that I respect, that 1:10:48.200 --> 1:10:50.600 were better than me, And then I see that a 1:10:50.640 --> 1:10:52.479 lot of people who have trouble with that second career. 1:10:52.760 --> 1:10:55.080 I do hope we get ten fifteen more years you because, 1:10:55.080 --> 1:10:57.599 like I said, you're just fantastic on the radio. Love 1:10:57.640 --> 1:10:59.760 having you on these podcasts and speaking of kind of 1:10:59.760 --> 1:11:02.120 pay your dues in the media aspects. I'm going to 1:11:02.200 --> 1:11:04.680 be moving down your way sometime this summer. We're not 1:11:04.760 --> 1:11:07.160 quite sure yet. The wife is pregnant. She's doing may 1:11:07.240 --> 1:11:10.000 so when she has our firstborn, our daughter, we're gonna 1:11:10.000 --> 1:11:12.360 be moving down there sometimes shortly there after. So we'll 1:11:12.400 --> 1:11:14.160 have to catch up at Twin Peaks or somewhere and 1:11:14.439 --> 1:11:16.960 get a beer together. Man, sound good, yea, sir, I 1:11:17.000 --> 1:11:21.479 got one dude, June Tip Man, you coming, June Tip 1:11:21.520 --> 1:11:23.479 I got a little boy companies my third. You said 1:11:23.520 --> 1:11:25.439 it's your first, So yeah, that'll be they'll be in 1:11:25.439 --> 1:11:28.320 school together coming up and oh yeah, hopefully. Yeah, they're 1:11:28.320 --> 1:11:30.160 gonna be friends coming up in jail. Then you come now, 1:11:30.200 --> 1:11:32.400 I can show you all in South Florida. Channing, thanks 1:11:32.400 --> 1:11:34.240 a bunch with you this man. We'll do it again 1:11:34.280 --> 1:11:37.280 real soon here. Okay, no problem, man, I really respect 1:11:37.280 --> 1:11:39.120 what you do. I'm glad you're coming down to the 1:11:39.120 --> 1:11:42.080 market because I I follow everybody that loved the Dolphin 1:11:42.120 --> 1:11:44.920 and follow Dolphins, and you you do the film breakdown, 1:11:45.240 --> 1:11:47.400 you do the Twitter like you really, you really do 1:11:47.520 --> 1:11:49.760 the X and old football side stuff. So we've talked 1:11:49.760 --> 1:11:51.320 in the past. I don't know people know, we've talked 1:11:51.320 --> 1:11:54.240 to games and thinks. I really enjoy following you. Man. 1:11:54.280 --> 1:11:56.160 I'm glad that you're coming down to really be a 1:11:56.200 --> 1:11:58.120 big part of Dolphins because you're gonna adk so much 1:11:58.120 --> 1:12:01.400 to this organization, to be honest, means that means everything. Channing. 1:12:01.520 --> 1:12:03.400 I can't wait for it personally. It's it's only a 1:12:03.400 --> 1:12:05.320 couple of months away and I'm already counting the days down. 1:12:05.360 --> 1:12:08.400 So there he is, ladies and gentlemen, your Dolphins linebacker 1:12:08.520 --> 1:12:13.040 number fifty two, Channing Crowder again. Man, fantastic stuff. I'm 1:12:13.080 --> 1:12:16.600 going Man, how good is he? Off? He goes, And 1:12:16.640 --> 1:12:18.559 let's just go ahead and cut the podcast off right 1:12:18.560 --> 1:12:20.479 there because we're not going to improve upon that. So 1:12:20.560 --> 1:12:22.720 all you, please be sure subscribe, rate, and review the 1:12:22.800 --> 1:12:25.559 Drive Time podcast on Apple podcast or wherever you get 1:12:25.560 --> 1:12:28.120 your podcast from. Go ahead and follow me on Twitter 1:12:28.200 --> 1:12:31.679 at linkol NFL, follow Channing at official Crowder, and of course, 1:12:31.680 --> 1:12:34.679 the dolphins at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank podcast. 1:12:34.760 --> 1:12:37.360 Channing did two episodes of that think about a year ago. 1:12:37.640 --> 1:12:40.519 Check those out. Check out the audible podcast Miami Dolphins 1:12:40.600 --> 1:12:42.640 dot com. Until next time, fins up.