Drive Time - Fins Flashback with Anthony Fasano

you your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show, it is in fact Friday, just ahead of the weekend of the Dolphins home game on Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks at one o'clock Eastern Time out here at hard Rock Stadium. On today's podcast, will get final injury News, will get John Kigemmi's three takeaways on the other side of the Dolphins Seahawks preview from the podcast yesterday, and we'll also get to Anthony Fasano on flashback Friday

Dolphins Seahawks match up the Sprinkler Game. Will cover that and so much more here on this Friday day, October. The second edition of the Drive Time Podcast and support for phrase podcast is brought to you by Auto Nation. There are so many reasons to drive pink, but for Auto Nation, there's only one to finish the fight against cancer. In fact, Auto Nation has helped raise over twenty five

millions to drive out Cancer. To join the fight, visit the Auto Nation store near you or drive pink dot com. And we've got a few good guests coming up for you here on this Flashback Friday edition of the Dolphins Podcast De Fins Flashback. I should say on this Friday, but first before we get to Seth levitt, O, J McDuffie, and our preacher guest today, Anthony Fasano, let's first talk about John Knjemmy's three Keys to Seattle, and it's kind of a crossover between what I had talked about on

the preview pod yesterday. Number one, he talks about limiting Russell Wilson's reps. How do you do that you're on the football. You try to keep them in third down and long situations. But John goes more in depth on that, talking about how the dolph Us have to find a way to contain Russell Wilson from making those off script plays, those scramble plays where he extends, gets out and just destroys you down the football field, whether it's running the

football or throwing vertically. We talked about it in the preview, the way that the Cowboys rushed Russell Wilson with kind of that rush contained approach Alden Smith working through the tackle rather than trying to get up field around the tackle and disengage that way, you have to play with your eyes and the quarterback. Definitely a key to this game is trying to find a way to contain Russell Wilson, because no one's on it so far through three games.

Number two, Defend the explosive plays. Anyone who has watched the Seahawks on offense knows what their past offense is capable of producing. John writes the explosive over the type, over the top type of plays with DK Metcalf Tyler Lockett. He talks about the big, physical, strong, large catch radius of DK Metcalf and how difficult he can be to defend.

And he also put in here the good news on the other side for the Dolphins receiving corps on our on our own side is that the Seahawks secondary has allowed twenty seven more catches and four hundred more yard It's than opposing to opposing offenses than any other defense so far in the NFL this season. So and I had mentioned this to John's the Buffalo game. Hey John,

how about an explosive play right here? And he goes, I would love that, Travis, And so maybe he put a little bit of that sprinkle, that seasoning in there for the number two key to Seattle and number three is to spread the wealth. Talking about the Seahawks defense once again, it might be wise, John writes for the

Dolphins that have a past first mentality. He writes, getting everybody involved early in the game and spreading the football around, much like last Thursday night in Jacksonville, might be a good strategy this week as well. And he goes on to talk about how this might provide more rushing lanes and more opportunities for guys like Miles Gaskin and Matt

Brita as the game moves along. And just to kind of echo that last point, they're talking about how you can use the Miami and I know it's October now, but the early season, September October heat and humidity down here to maybe try to wear our team out. We've seen that in the past. We saw it with the Pittsburgh Steelers a few years back. I recall the two thousand five game against the Broncos, for instance, where the Dolphins just had them gassed towards the end of the game.

So if you can possess us the ball, run the football, you might be able to see a you know, Matt Breeder with that long speed break off a big run against a tired defense once you've worn them down. So spreading the wealth is John's third key to the game. You guys can find that article up on Miami Dolphins dot com, as well as the written element to the

fence flashback the game preview. We have tons of content on Miami Dolphins dot com for you, as well as a new addition of the Fish Tank podcast with Seth Juice and Todd Wade. We're gonna talk to them at the end of this interview here coming up with Anthony Fasano. But first before we get to that, the injury report here for this Friday for your Miami Dolphins. We have four players listed with game status is on this injury report.

Both Solomon Kinley and to a Tongue of Valoa listed as questionable, with safety Cavon Fraser and cornerback Byron Jones listed as doubtful for the game on Sunday for visiting Seattle. Three players listed as out on their Friday injury report here. Safety Jamal Adams and cornerback Quentin Dunbar both will miss the game, as will Seahawks first round draft pick linebacker Jordan Brooks out of excess tech. And then there's a

few players on the questionable distinction. Running Back Chris Carson, quarterbacks Shaquille Griffin, running back Carlos Hide, guard Damian Lewis, cornerback Niko Thorpe, and safety Lano Hill are all questionable for the game Sunday in Miami. And with that, let's go ahead and get forward here into the Fins flashback from twelve Dolphins and Seahawks with Anthony fasano enjoining the

Drivetime podcast now. Is a two time former Dolphin. He was here for five years in his first stint from twent from two thousand eight to two thousand twelve, and he came back again in twenty seventeen for the last season of his NFL career. He caught one hundred and eighty nine passes for more than two hundred yards and twenty four touchdowns as a member of the Dolphins. He is Anthony Fossano, Anthony, how you doing man? Great, Travis, thanks for having me. Yeah, we're happy to have you on.

And I always ask our flashback guests here on the podcast, what's life like for Anthony Fossano today? You know, I couldn't be happier. Um, you know, I was just starting a family as as I was leaving football, and that has grown. I have three children now. I still live in Fort Lauderdale, so I love South Florida and still follow the Dolphins and really consider myself a Dolphin and uh, you know I do. I do some real estate stuff.

But I also um found my way into helping current and recently retired athletes in the behavior health needs, transitioning out of football and any kind of problems or experience with a with a facility I'm involved with in in Colorado called All Points North Lodge. That's really cool. You can he tell us any more about that because that sounds really noble. Yeah. Well, I had a family member, like many of us, go through the addiction process and the rehab process, and it was really my first taste

of it. You know, of a friend, a close friend or loved the one going through it. Um, just picked his brain, got to know him, I got to know the situation, and he made it his purpose in life to to work in the field afterwards. So I got behind him. He built a team. We started a facility down here in South Florida about six years ago, and just over a year ago we merged with a bigger facility that was up and coming in Colorado and took

our clinical staff out there. So UM, I was finally able to serve the athletic community with a proper facility and the needs today have UM in Colorado, and uh, that's what I've kind of tradition transition to do well. I love to hear that. I love hearing guys talk about, you know, their their post playing career. You talked about the Dolphins alumni a little bit there. It's such a

great program. We had Jed Weaver, another former Dolphins tight end on the podcast a while back, and he too lives here locally and does real estate also, so plenty

of good company there. You're in Anthony, and speaking of good company before we get into this game, into this flashback, you're a Jersey guy as well, and we have Dolphins linebackers coach Anthony Campanelli on the Tuesday media availability and somebody asked him about the best cold cut sandwich he ever had, and Anthony went off, Man, you saw his face light up. The jersey came right out of him, and it was such a great answer. He kind of worked himself up and said, I'm mad now because i

want one of those cold cuts and I'm hungry. So you have to tell us, Anthony, fellow Jersey guy, what's the best cold cut or what are the best ingredients to an essential cold cut sandwich? Yeah, it's it's it's tough to come by in the rest of the country. But honestly, besides the northeast South Florida is probably the best I've had. It's kind of a lot of Northeasterners, you know, transplant down here and small businesses follow him, so we do get some good sandwiches. It's nothing like

the Northeast. Um, and I like, well, I go off any diet. I can't eating sandwiches and pizza when I'm up north, but um, down here, I mean quality of ingredients. So if you if you're not going to have a really um cured meat sandwich, I'm I'm a boar's head. Guy um, so I got a boar's head and uh, you know, Lispatas is always a great local favorite, super

hardy stub. But for more of a curated so, I would say there's a place in Fort Laudarel off Oakland Park called Buffarella, and it doesn't have a ton of variety, but the quality of the meats and cheeses and bread is is unbelievable. Yeah, I haven't heard of that one, but I was almost certain you were going to mention the spots across the street here from the facility in

Davy every I'm pretty new to the area, Anthony. Everybody tells me go get yourself a sub from the spot of so I've done it a few times and it definitely was up to the hype there. So as much as we could talk about sandwiches all day here, and I'll have you know I was a former Subway sandwich artist, but I'm sure that's blasphemy to you to go to Subway for an artist that's what they call very nice.

I can't stop laughing about that. We'll get out of the food takes here and jump into this Dolphins and Seahawks clash. I wanted to go a little more recent because there are some players in that game. They're going to be in this game as well as we play the the Seahawks rather on Sunday at hard Rock Stadium. And you were actually too and know against the Seahawks in your career as a member of the Dolphins game and the two thousand eight game, the year the Dolphins

won the FC East and the Wildcat season. But the most unique aspect of this game, Anthony, was the fact that the sprinklers came on towards the end of the third quarter. How well do you remember that and kind of thinking about what was going on in the field that day. Yeah, I mean we spoke about this um this video interview and I kind of had to go back and jog my memory on some of it. But that was a memory that that lasted. Um. Just kind of funny, just typical, Um, you know, what the hell

is going on? Now? We always dealt with some some adversity or some distraction and and I just you know, piled on, but not not a huge deal for the players wise. I got a little bit of a break, but you know, I wasn't sure if it was transitioning from the Marlins leaving and maybe it was on their schedule or what it may be, but definitely kind of funny. I think the announcers were saying that it was a plot to slow Russell Wilson down and the momentum they

were having in the second half. So um, just just a funny memory, but not a huge impact. Yes, certainly the Buffalo Wild Wings commercial from way back in the day. Everyone wanted to hang out and get extra you know, free football as they call it, and so they pull the guy in to pull the sprinkles up out of the ground and trip the player to cause the overtime. I think they referenced that as well on the broadcast a couple of times. So some good stuff there. Do

you remember any like players. Maybe Vegas had a play and over and under in Jeopardy there in Vegas, puilled the sprint Collers you wind up on Scott Van Pelt's bad Beat section or her segment there on ESPN. Do you remember any guys that were maybe like enjoying it more than others, because I'm sure you know, even though

it was late November, I think it was. I mean, you got to enjoy a little bit of a shower when you get it in that South Florida heat right for sure, And definitely the fatties were enjoying the break um whether I don't know if it was in the middle of a long drive, but the big guys definitely were probably first to the sidelines and probably didn't avoid the water that much. They probably welcomed it. So but the skill, the skill guys trying to keep their hands dry,

I probably avoided it. Are you willing to attach any names to the fatties designation there, Richie Cogna, Sure, I would say Jake too. He's not He's not really a fatty, He's just enormous. But uh yeah, Richie probably welcomed it. You mentioned the broadcast talking about, you know, slowing down Russell Wilson, and maybe that was you know, South Florida's way of saying, we haven't had a lightning delay yet, because we've had a couple of those last last few

seasons here in Miami. But does does that change the playing surface at all? Even on the grass? Did that make it wet and slippery? Not too bad and usually Florida, I mean there's some moisture in the air, there's some you know do um, so not too bad. There's really good drainage, and you know it's usually warm drives up pretty good. But yeah, definitely the first couple of plays or you know, for the next couple of drives, you know, putting your hand on the ground or you know, getting

a fall but not a huge impact. And you mentioned the slowing Russell will us down and that was kind of when the game started to shift a little bit. I believe it was fourteen seven Seattle at that time. The defense gets to stop, offense goes back down and score and Charles Clay scored the game winning touchdown of this game. And you guys really formed a good versa little pair of tight ends. We talked about this off

air a little bit. Something we now have in the current iteration of the Miami Dolphins with Durham Smith just wiping out dudes in the running game, Mike get sicky

catching everything under the sun. How do you measure the balance among tight ends with different scale sets, Like, I want to know, does doesn't that physical, inline, classic y tight end deserve some more credit, some more celebrity in your opinion, you know, probably in the in the public size, but really I think you know, it was a role I was in and embraced my pretty much my whole career, and um, you know, to me, I kind of liked it because you flew under the radar, uh, and you

had the respect of your coaches and teammates for kind of doing all the dirty work and really making plays go um that that you know, not really called out by the announcers. So I embraced it and love it. I'm sure Smith is doing it good, Notre Dame guy, And you know, it's fun to watch it, you know every time, you know, every offense you know, utilize his tight ends and the combination of them a little differently. And I'm glad to see the current Dolphins are are

doing that. And it's super important. You still have to be somewhat versatile, so you don't, you know, giving away a package or runner or pass play and you got to do some both. But yeah, Charles is a great person, great player, uh. And we had a really fun year that year. I was almost certain you're going to bring up the Notre Dame connection there with Durham because you know, you guys both just wipe guys out in the running

game down there as well. Always, I always appreciate watching the you know, teams that can still run the ball effectively in this modern day of of passing offense. But speaking of celebrity and rushing the football, Reggie Bush had a seven yards and touchdown on that game, and I recall him kind of getting juiced up towards the end, had some big runs and kind of got the offense

sparked there a little bit. There's got to be some kind of story you can tell us about Reggie Bush's celebrity, because you know, maybe it's giving him a hard time in the locker room. What was it like playing with a guy who, even though he had so much notoriety Heisman Trophy, you know, is number two overall draft pick on the football field, he had even more away from the football field needed on it. Is there a good Reggie Bus store you can tell us, Well, Reggie is

a great guy. We actually played against each other and we're the same class. He played at USC you know, is that Notre Dame. So we had a we had a couple of great battles for our senior year out there in South Bend, um so we got drafted in the same class. Finally got um you know, met up with the Dolphins, when he came over, and uh, he was just unbelievable teammate, unbelievable player. And in that game specifically, you know, I don't know if he had his stats

were super gaudy, but he was very opportunistic. You know, he was getting third down, he had a nice touchdown run. Um. So we did a lot more for that game and helped our chances more than maybe the stat line shows. But as far as far as his uh, his celebrity status, I mean I think it was attributed probably to his dating resume for a little while. Um, you know, just being a good looking guy out in l A. And and you know with the dating scene, that's what kicked

him off. And then uh, Reggie and I and you know, a bunch of guys, um you know, at the right right times went out and uh, you know, he just he knew how to carry and uh, you know, he deserves it all. Yeah. I was gonna ask you if you guys ever had any keeping up with the Kardashian watch parties or anything like that. Uh, I no, I think we avoided those shows that that ship had sailed, But I'm sure you had a bunch of quick um replacements. Pretty soon after it's too good. So you know you

mentioned something there about the USC Notre Dame rivalry. I'll give you an open forum here. The Bush push thoughts. It's total bullshit, and uh it's pretty much the first thing I said to him when he came in a lot room. Uh. So we'd go back and forth, and he said, there's legit, and uh, you know I told him that, Uh, you know, he needs to give me his uh his national championship ring is because of because of us. So there you go play some small part in that. I suppose. That was a hell of a game.

I remember watching it, you know, all those years ago. Was one of the best collegeotball games I've ever seen. But going back to the Dolphins and Seahawks game, they running back on the other side of the field. Leon washington Man, he was a Dolphin killer for a long time Jets and Seahawks. In this game, he took a kickoff return back for a touchdown moments after the Dolphins had tied the game on a Daniel Thomas touchdown plunge

the middle of the fourth quarter. What does that type of a play do for your psyche, like you get the play that kind of you know, gets the momentum back on your side and the snap of a finger, it's right back on the other side. Is that just a total killer? Yeah. And even going back a couple of plays before, Tannehill through an interception and it got called back, uh for a rough in the passer I believe, and we're able to get in close and punch it in. So it was really a big swing from a turnover

to a touchdown. And then they answer right away with a long kickoff return. So that second half was really back and forth with a lot of momentum swings, and you know, it's tough to overcome that, but it's also nice being in your home stadium when when a game goes like that. And also it's just really tough for a West Coast team to travel all the way on the East Coast and play play a day game. Uh, you know, the time factor, either a day or two

before coming intown, it still makes a difference. So a lot of things lined up in our favorite I'm glad you mentioned the interception that got overturned because I think it was Bobby Wagner that caught the interception and Earl Thomas got hit for the flag. On a blow to Tannehill's head, which the announcers were ambivalent about at best, but in that game, so they took it off the board. But I just went and looked at the box score. Bobby Wagner still had a pick, nine tackles, two pass

breakups in that game. And he'll be out there this Sunday, eight years after the fact. I'm asking I'm curious to ask you, Anthony, when you watched him play immediately think that was either his rookie year or his second year. Did you see it like instantly with Bobby Wagner. Sure, I mean it's it's rare that you circle a guy um, you know in your meetings and practices leading up to the game, who's so young. But he definitely got that respect back then, and he's only continued that and it's

gotten better. Just a player that I think unanimously everyone else respects um and the way he carries himself, the way he plays a game. I mean, I believe he did his own contaur his his most recent contract. He didn't have an agent, so just you can tell he's a super smart guy on and off the field and carries himself like a true pro and I personally consider

Bobby Wagner a future Hall of Famer. We'll see what, you know, the voters do years down the line, but I think one guy that will get in pretty much sure fire at this point hasn't missed a game in his nine year professional career is Russell Wilson. And you saw him there on that field again as a rookie, and that was about the time where he started get really heated up. I think after losing that game, the Seahawks went on to win the rest of their games,

got into the playoffs. Same question, did you see it right away with Russell Wilson even though you're on the offensive side of the football. Yeah, being on the offensive side, you don't pay attention, but you know, you know the Marquete names, and uh, not really knowing what to expect with Russell. And I think it was his rookie year. Um, you know, not not sure if he's a pro style quarterback or running college types quarterback, but he really he

mixed those skills really well. Uh. And in that game, you know, he got out of some sacks and and made some really nice plays. He made some plays with his feet. But conversely, our defense really played well and stepped up when they need. You see that game they did and you guys get the late touchdown there from Charles Clay and eventually the game winning field goal as Tanny Hill kind of gets to heat it up there when the team lines up for that game when he

filled goal at the end. What goes through a player's mind as you you know, it's either your one kick away after sixty minutes of physical, battling football to come down to a kick like that, What walk us through how that feels for a player. And on that day with Dan Carpenter hitting the game winner, Yeah, I mean we had all the confidence in the world in Dan and uh you know, as an offense, you know you need to get to that thirty five yard line or

close to it, and you did your job. And uh you know, as an offense, you're just out there trying to move the change, you know, having no negative plays. We actually had a penalty on a grounding you know when we were grounding the ball. So um, like those type of things really kill you on those type of drives. So for us to overcome that and continue to move the chains to bon Best had an unbelievable game. Um, some really great catches and runs Ryan found him. Ryan

ran for a lot of first downs that game as well. So, um, a lot of things came together and we overcame a lot of obstacles. But really, as an offensive you know, you're just trying to get down there and let the kicker get in the best position possible. You mentioned Ryan Tannehill. That was his rookie season here in Miami, and then you came back for a second stint with the Dolphins

in seventeen and Tannehill was here again. But of course that was the year he missed due to the a c L and read that he suffered in training camp. I'm curious, Anthony, what went into the decision to come

back to Miami and finish your career as a Dolphin. Well, I always I always lived in South Florida in the off season, kept the home here, and always new in the back of my head i'd probably wind up here living wise, and um, you know, always kept in contact with a bunch of guys on a team, and you know, had some mutual contacts with without him Gaze and uh

in the front office. So when the opportunity came, you know, I jumped all over it knowing you know, I was on the tail end of my career and it would be really nice to be able to finish back home and also where I spent most of my career. One

more question for you here, Anthony. We talked a little bit about the you know, two thousand and twelve against the Seahawks, two thousand and eight against the Seahawks, and that of course was the Wildcats season and you know, going back to your college days, your professional days, doing so much work in the running game. What was it like for you at the tight end position to kind of see this new package evolve into the NFL and be kind of spearheaded by the Miami Dolphins and and

your role in that Wildcat package. Did you embrace it right away? What was it like for you? Well, we you know, we sprinkled it in during camp and you know, some meetings and you know, players never really knew if it would come to light, but we were owing too and going up to New England, so I would I would welcome anything, uh, you know at that point, um, you know, to change kind of the tide in a

direction of where we were going. Um. Dan Henning did a great job installing it and utilizing the players and their skills in that package. And you know, as good as it was for us, I think it was overblown. You know, I think people saw us as a wildcat offense when really we only sprinkled it in, you know, a couple of times a game. So it was a

nice mix up. Um. You know, NFL catches on quick, so I don't know how long it lived, but it definitely helps spark us um not only yards and points, but kind of an attitude and rejuvenation for that team for the rest of the year ago on and when the division. Yeah, it's cool to hear you say that, because we Chad Pennington on over the summer talking about the you know, the first the unveiling of the Wildcat up in New England. And I'm going to ask you

one more question here. I lied it. I apologize about that, but he he kind of talked about the same thing you did. You know, it was more of a way to kind of to throw in a wrinkle and kind of jump start the offense. But your guys, passing offense was still so good that year with Chad Pennington throwing so many touchdown passes and so few turnovers. And interceptions,

and Anthony, I'll never forget. I must have been twenty one years old the time you caught the touchdown against the Jets right there in the corner of the end zone to put the Dolphins into the into the driver's seat for that game and the driver's seat for the a f C East Championship. What was it like for you to go into New York that day and and you know Jersey, I should say, and captured the a f c's crowned against the you know, hometown team there. Yeah,

it was. It was awesome. And I grew up right there, just a couple of miles away, so I had a bunch of you know friends and family in town. And uh, you know, I always disliked the Jets. I actually grew up a Giant fan, So any chance I got to stick it to the Jets, I loved it. And for that to happen, um, because I believe we locked tom week one that year and then came back and beat

him last game of the season. So it's you know, it's always tough to play teams multiple times in the year, and then having a huge gap in between also makes it tough. So going up there with everything on the line. Um, you know it was. It was super important winning. Happy to be uh be a part of it. It was. It was a very fun year. Yeah. I always look back fondly on that season and then you were a big part of the Anthony. So as a Dolphins fan,

we really appreciate that. Anthony Fossano. Six years as a Dolphin, twelve years as a pro, two nine catches, thirty six of those for touchdowns, and a member of the two thousand eight a f C East championship team. Anthony, thank you so much for your time today. Man, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. But there he goes Dolphins former tight end Anthony Fossano. Good memories. They're talking about this

Dolphins and Seahawks twelve game. And to continue this conversation about the Dolphins and Seahawks rivalry and this game, let's go ahead and welcome in the Ghosts of the fish Tank podcast. Both Seth Levitt and O. J McDuffie and joining me now are the host of the fish Tank Podcast. Are Seth Levitt, O J McDuffie and Seth. You'll be happy to know, man, before I brought you guys on I put your name first on the introduction. Man. I don't know if that was a smart move, Travis, I know,

but I definitely appreciate it. It's great to be back in drivetime. Man, did you say you know what they do with Travis Mays? The quarterback? Quarterbacks always recognized first man's going back to receiver. There you go. It's it's it's Rino to McDuffie and Levitt to McDuffie these days. So we'll we'll keep that. We'll keep that like that going. But that's a good company. I'll take you again. I'm not sure if it was earned, but I will take you. Well.

That's that's where we're gonna start this podcast today because we're gonna talk about Sprinkler game here. In just one second, we had Anthony Fasano, Dolphins tight end on the podcast. But you know, I was talking to Seth a little bit off air about how these games against NFC teams, there's not like with with such few games, it's good to kind of encapsulate the entire history of the rivalry,

I guess if you want to call it. And for a while there, the Seahawks and Dolphins kind of were rivals because there were some good playoff matchups, the revenge in the eighties with Marino and then coming back in nine D nine to close down the Kingdom. And I want to start with shut that place down, because I want to start here with you, Juice. Uh, you you shut down my childhood stomping grounds man. That was That's

where I spent a lot of my youth. I was there for the end of the run for the Marriagers and they lost to the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS. I was my Indians. By the way, Travis, he's getting there from all angles. Yes, he's off, Juice, I'm just kidding. I was. I was there for Junior's fiftieth home run in NINETI seven. I was there for Mariano Rivera throwing me a ball up in the stand during batting practice, Like, I love that place, and you shut that thing down.

Is that the best game you ever played against the Seahawks, Juice? Yeah, I mean, honestly, what you talked about it's so little history, man, But whenever you get into a playoff game, you get an opportunity to play against those guys out there. Um. Yeah, it's definitely the best game I had against those guys. I was coming off the foot injury at that point too, so not really coming off I'm dealing with that foot injury and so playing on that surface, as you know,

it was not a pleasant situation. Man. But when it comes down to play off time and it's everybody, you know, stop it up and look you're ready to go no matter what the situation is. And I think that was the case out there. What a long trip though, man, I mean, that's about as far as it goes. Right where we were to I'll be out to Seattle. That was a long trip. Yeah, I fly it all the time. It's it's not fun. Nowadays you get a little bit of space though, because the way flying is with with

COVID restrictions and stuff. So that's I guess a little better. But I mean, um, you know you mentioned the turf there, the surface at the Kingdom. I remember watching Omar of a Scale he was a Marin before he played for Cleveland, you know, catching those high choppers at short stop with his bare hand and throwing it across the diamond just

changed baseball, and I'm sure it changed football too. Now, Seth, you had mentioned before about how you learned quickly on the flights back home to to kind of keep to yourself, right, not to talk to anybody. But I have to imagine this one was a little bit better, right that flight back from Seattle to Miami. A winning charter flight is a whole different experience than a losing one. I mean again, you lose from the moment you get in that locker room. Your mouth is shut, you do your job. I try

and choose the bus. I was a bus four guy, Juice, when we were coming back from a game. I wanted to be as far away from the head coach as I possibly could, because he's always on bus one, and you know certain players are on certain buses. I sat with the guys that they didn't want on any other bus and just to stay out of trouble. But still

you keep your mouth shut. And then his pr guys, you're just you're pounding away on that press release, and particularly on a long flight, you're gonna utilize all that time to get your work done so you don't have to go right into the office when you land, even though inevitably it may happen. But yes, when you win, you know, when the team wins, everybody's feeling great from the starting quarterback to the number three pr guy like myself. You know, you feel like you're a part of something.

You can't wait for the next game. Uh, those guys who actually did get playoff bonuses. I was not lucky enough to get any piece of that action. But those guys who did, you know, they were already spending that money on the way back. I'm sure and uh, and it's just you know it. It is what's magical about work in sports. For those victories and being able to spend that time with the guys who made it. Half were you punching up that press release on your typewriter?

I didn't have a typewriter. I didn't have a little word process my typewriter. Harvey Green would have brought a typewriter if we let him. For sure, we were a little archaic, even as we tried to advance into some more more modern times. But I did have juice. Remember we all had the little um the portable DVD players. Like that was the thing if you had your portable d you know, there was no downloading and streaming Netflix

or anything if you had your portable DVD player. Uh. The thing that always got me about it, though, Juice, I always had good movies and j T would always want to borrow a movie and he never turned never got bad. I was making millions of dollars a year and I have all these empty DVD cases because I think that was the years of the bootleg DVDs. Two. You know, you got the one with the guy walking across the screen on you because you wanted to get

the current movie at that point. You didn't want something that came out a year ago. Team charter every now and then until you walk across everybody with Google those portable DVD players. You know, again, we always find a way to kind of to aid you guys here on this podcast. Those those I was on travel baseball teams back in the day, and those were game changers for those days. But we've we've gone far off the rails here.

I want to get back to the game, the Seahawks at the Dolphins, and Juice, you mentioned before we came on the podcast here that you never missed Dolphins home games since you got drafted by the team, and that goes into your post playing career. Now, this game was unique because the Sprinklers came on at the very end

of the third quarter, Dolphins were tilling by seven. The announcers joke, maybe they're trying to slow down Russell Wilson, who we're going to see, you know, in a couple of days here back at hard Rock Stadium for the first time since that game. Do you recall that. Do you remember anything about the sprinklers situation there during that game?

I do. I do slightly remember that. I mean I don't obviously I didn't hear the announcers make any any comments like that, but they're right, we did need to try to slow them down. Man. I mean, that young gun right there already, you know, going head to head with Ryan, you know, both the first years. Man, he was he was special and we didn't really know especially was you know, we knew where he was drafted. I know he was on the he was up and coming, but he really started to shine in our game, and

obviously he's Flurri's ever since. But I don't remember Spraaker system and no way we did that on purpose. Now, we did that on purpose at Penn State versus U M, but we would never do that on purpose in Miami. I remember that game had a really distinct connection between you know again, being a guy from Seattle that you know as a Dolphins fan, I would listen to seven ten ESPN Radio Open Seattle and they that whole offseason

it was. It was a show called Brock and Sock, and they would it was Brock Heward and Mike Salt and and they would talk about how they were so distraught because Sock thought that the Seahawks weren't gonna come out with any of the great quarterbacks that year, Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin. They put Matt Flynn in that group. And you guys might recall that Joe Philbin, the Matt Flynn connection,

everybody linked to the Dolphins to signing Matt Flynn. And I actually called into the radio that that's that's what I was in that day. I was a radio call that I wish we could say because I called in and I said, here's what's gonna happen. Mike Sherman has a connection to Ryan Tannehill. The Dolphins are gonna draft him. They're gonna pass on Matt Flynn. And sure enough, all

of that happened. And this is a way of saying, the Seahawks wind up with Russell Wilson and Matt Flynn and everybody thought he was gonna start, and then Wilson comes in and beat him out, as Juice mentioned as a third round pick, and now here he is nine years later, hasn't missed a game on his way to a Hall of Fame career. So it's it's crazy the way, you know, it's that one the Benjamin Button thing, right, one thing can change so much in the landscape of football, right,

so absolutely can. Yeah, there's no doubt, And and you're right. I mean, look, we all know what this team has been trying to find since Dan Marino retired with respect of the quarterback position and drafting Ryan where they did, and Ryan having some question marks is the fact that he played receiver, which for some reason they still talk

about the fact that he played receiver in college. Um, you know, we wanted to see what this young guy could do, and and Russell Wilson was starting to show the signs of of what we see now, and so that was that was a big matchup between these two rookie quarterbacks and what I remember, you know, and and that was a lot different than when I worked with the team. So at that point I'm really just watching, like any other fan. But what I do remember is that was the first time we saw that Ryan could

bring a team back in the fourth quarter. And I think there were two or three scoring drives in that fourth quarter that that were required for the Dolphins to get the victory. And that was encouraging in that moment. You know, that's what you want to see, right, juice, you want to see a quarterback. Hey, anybody can make

the throws. Not anybody, and obviously takes a lot to get there, but you can make the throws in the first down, in the first quarter and when things are going good, but when when it becomes crunch time and the team needs you and you gotta put them on your back. And that was I think the first time

we saw that from Ryan. I know, people have their own opinions, and certainly he's doing a great job where he's at now, but that that was a moment where he said, all right, well, maybe we have something here, but we know those guys in Seattle have something over there. Yeah, absolutely, man, you know, And that was that was at that moment that we said, all right, finally we got a guy you know that can we know we can count on

the fourth quarter you said the best those set. You know, most guys are pretty good in the first, second quarter, first downs, things like that, but when it gets down that fourth quarter and it's time to go down there and make a play, you know, I played with the best to ever do it, you know. And any time you've got that held on that fourth quarter, you knew we're up or down, we need to touchdown field or whatever. We knew we had an opportunity and we're gonna go

down there and get it done. And sometimes we didn't get it done, obviously, but we knew we had that confidence and that swagger to go down and get it done. Danny didn't ever We never want a kicker to come onto the field, you know. That's we're not gonna let you know, one of the greatest kickers, peace, let we're not gonna we're not even gonna call him one too the field to come in here to tired or try

to win, and we're gonna win it ourselves. And you're right that the game Ryan had right there, you know, with the the in the fourth quarter, when you go down you put a few scoring drivers together. That's the coming of a coming of age moment. And we thought you know, as a rookie, that's that guy, and you

know it just wasn't consistent enough. But that game right there, definitely you put his big boy pants on, did a heck with Force, had the big touchdown pass to Charles Clay and then after that the Seahawks got the football back, and you kind of thought, well, here's Russ. You know, this is kind of what he's done at North Carolina State, at Wisconsin and obviously in hindsight now in the NFL, it's all he does is take his team down for for game winning scores at the end, but the Dolphins

held him. Get the ball back to Tannehill. He goes right back to his guy de Von Best for a bunch of big players in the passing game, and then the kicker does come on the field, Juice and Dan Carpenter hit it to put us into the winner circle. So that was a fun game. I mean, I was. You know, I had just moved back to my hometown

from Seattle. I'm from central eastern Washington and I just moved back and like I needed that game too for bragging rights for four years, and it meant so much to me to get like more than a Bills or Jets or Patriots game. At the time, I was so pumped for that. But I want to go talk now about some of the stuff you guys are working on

at the Fish Tank podcast. We just had Todd Wade on and once again to aide you guys, those were my golden years, guys, two thousand, two thousand three, Todd Wade's career, the Ricky Williams years, right after you know, the end of Dan and then coming into Jay and then obviously, uh with you there, Juice. Still it's I love that era of football with j T and Zach And can you guys just kind of tell us I'll go ahead and go to you Seth about the Todd Wade podcast and and uh, some good stuff you got

out of that episode. Yeah, Well, we had a great time with Todd, and I think even O J was surprised a little bit that you know Todd is he called him a gentle giant early on and and he is a nice guy and a relatively quiet guy. But there was a whole other side to Todd. That's that's

a lot of fun. But I remember when we selected him in two thousand, we didn't have a first round draft choice, so he really came in kind of like the first round draft choice, and uh, you know as as a second round pick and just a mountain of a man. I mean he's six eight and three plus pounds, but also not a not a big sloppy guy, right, Jason was put together and he liked to be physical.

I think he jokes in the podcast about some of the fights he'd get in with JT and some of the other guys in the D line and he'd look around and the other offensive line and he used to term grazing, which I thought was fantastic, so that other guys were crazy while he's in there mixing up, and it shows you he was a physical guy who who liked to mix it up and liked to try and pound on defensive linemen and get in their heads and um. But really just a popular guy in the locker room.

And I think, uh, whether he was singing or whether he was doing his incredible hop pos, we got to see in the tank why he was so much fun. And I also felt that was interesting to see his his run from Mayor for his hometown. Man, you know, he made a merrill run for his hit in his hometown and the reason that a couple of reasons. It was hilarious, man. You know, he just wanted he just wanted beer sales on Sunday, man, and want to fight beer on Sunday. That's it. He wanted to change a

couple of rules. That's unbelievable. He Well, I was gonna say, juice, you used it out of those fights you talked about right with the offensive lineman. That was that was not your game, right man? You got to pick another dB and the backside, you know, it's your brother in law, and you gotta act like you're roughing it up on the back side, you know, just hugging each other, really shaking each other up a little bit, because you know, my hands are too important. Jabers, you can't be going

there swinging at these dude. These dudes don't care about their hands. They face, they take their helmets off. Some dummies, dude, you know, for dbs and wide receivers, and we're trying to stay pretty the whole time. We gotta keep our hands right. So there's no way I was gonna mix it, not with anybody, and its transason wearing equipment. So imagine if you're standing on the sidelines ten yards away from these super human monsters. Town guys just going at it,

and it is a scary sight. And when Todd got into it, it wasn't ever one on one and ended up being two, three, four, and guys were coming in and you know, you'd see stew would always drop the radio, Steu Wine Stee Scurity worker would always drop the radio and get in there. And John gimm Those are the only two guys. I think they had enough courage without a helmet on to try and pull those guys apart. But it would get ugly. And I don't blame Juice

because I know I went the other way, that's for sure. Well, you see, Jeff, you seem like lions in the Safari right when they go after one of those big animals. Man, you need at least three or four of them. Man, that's the same way you had to go out Todd. Wait, you can't just go at him one on one, as ja. You know he was on the bottom of a pile. You know, you gotta go three or four deep on him. Man, he was that big of a dude, said he's still

holding to this day. Tom took issue with that. Well, you guys, talk about you know, I always think about the guys that throw punches at the helmet and I never understand that. O J. I'm sure you don't either, because you talk about keeping your hands. You know, those

are the most important part of your entire livelihood. And then you see like Brian Balding, your Friendstance, one of the greatest analysts there is, and he's got the finger that's you know, taking a ninety degree turn of the knuckle. I just it always gets me how that works. And well they I mean, like Tory holt To, I mean, it's not from catching passes that that happens, where the fingers just get all jacked up like that. It's many ways.

You know, a lot of times you could be with the football itself, but sometimes a lot of times that helmet you hit somebody's helmet um trying to block. You know, I've just located all my fingers as well, somehow, some way. But it can be different ways. Man, A lot of times when you get that helmet, you know, the face mask usual gets you. Most of the time. You guys can hear him or banter and stories like this with Seth and Juice on The Fish Tank Podcast, Todd Wade

came out earlier this week. What's coming up next for you guys? Seth one of OJ's favorite teammates right where Keith Jackson? Oh, nearly right? So ke not that Keith Jackson, the Keith Jackson who caught a lot of touchdown passes. Uh, just a lot of passes general from Dan Marino. Um. And you know, certainly some fans and some other cities are cheered on Keith, but he was, he was a fan favorite here in Miami. Uh. Sounds like he and O J got along just fine when he was down here.

And really a great interview, just so just such a bright guy but also a great sense of humor and and you know the way you like to tell us how old we are, Travis. Keith Jackson played in the era that was you know, I I was that young guy that was cheering on Keith and drawing pictures of them and everything. So it was a real, uh, just a real treat for me to have him in the tank and to hear some of those great stories. Yeah,

I mean it's some really really good stories. Just a little tease about you know, we see how these guys making all this money now and free a me seek keuthe Jackson. They cute Jackson a lot of money and he says it in the podcast. There you go. It's Seth Levitt with one t O J Juice mcdiki here on the on the Draft On podcast. Anytime I felt I felt horrible about that, Seth. I know you said it wasn't a big deal, but I felt so bad about it. Well, I'm you know, it is a big

deal to meet travits. I tried not to let on Harvey Green. My boss would turn my name in the credential sheet for eight years with two teas on it, so my name was spelled wrong in every visiting stadium in the entire my entire tenure with the Dolphins with two teas. So I know I'm opening myself up because just like in the locker room, if you show them you're sensitive, they're just gonna go right, They're gonna pounder all the two te tweets now. But I appreciate you

pointing that out, Trams. Yeah, no, bro, man, my my credential right now is a selfie I took because of if COVID. I had to take it myself. So I'm like, I've got this like creepy grin on my face. It's not a good look for me. So I I appreciate the credentials. You got a picture on hires. All right, boys, we'll get out of here. Sethan's use fish Tank podcast. Thanks to come on Drivetime boys. I really appreciate it. Thanks for having us, oh man, I love those podcasts

every single time. Those guys are great. Check out the fish Tank podcast as well as the audible podcast here on the Miami Dolphins podcast Network. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to this podcast Drive Time. Leave us a rating and leave us a review, give me a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfield NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins, and of course, Miami Dolphins dot com will have the written element for the Fins flashback up there as well on the website until next

time until Sunday Night, Fins Up. We'll see you then.