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Dolph fans and welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the Mimi Dolphins Podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going?
Everybody?
I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's episode, no practice but Zach Thomas goes into the Hall of Fame. On We're gonna go ahead and play my interview with Andy Cohen, who covered Zach during his entire career, plus some more audio sound bites from his media availability on Sunday here at the Baptist Health Training Complex. From that place, From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is the Draft Time Podcast, Maggie Geffish Fish.
Let's go ahead and get to my interview with Andy Cohen, and then we're gonna go ahead and play those sound bites last time we hear of me on the podcast. Right now, Here's Andy Cohen and joining the Draft Time Podcast now. Is the legendary man behind Dolphins Digest, more than forty years of covering the Miami Dolphins and the author of the column on Miami Dolphins dot com covering the career of Hall of Fame linebackers Zach Thomas. He's Andy Cohen. Andy, it's been a long time, my friend.
How are you doing.
It's been too long, Travis. I'm doing wonderful. How are you doing.
I'm doing really well. A lost change to you and I last spoke.
I think I think I had a second kid along the timeline there, and so life comes at you fast, and you know, we were exchanging emails putting this podcast together, and you said something Andy that was very flattering about doing a podcast with me, and I just wanted to put it on the air here and just tell you that, you know, The first time we met was the first game that I ever covered for part of that you know, fan site covering games and coming down being part of
the whole process that Jason Jenkins put together, the Great Light Jason Jenkins, and you sat in front of me, and you were so gracious with your time and answered every question I had, And I was so nervous that day.
I just wanted to tell you.
For you to say that in the email about coming onto my podcast, I just wanted to put it back to you and tell you how much that day meant to me and how you treated me that day, sir.
Actually what I said was it was on my bucket list to be on your podcast. And you know, it's so easy for me to treat people that way because I was you at one point in my career.
I started covering the.
Dolphins in nineteen eighty and Edwin Pope was calm mist of the Miami Herald then, and he was a legend, and he treated me like I meant something. And I learned a lot from that, because if somebody like Edwin Pope in his position in the sports world can treat a young aspiring writer the way he treated me, well,
that's a pretty good lesson to learn. And once I can tell that somebody cares, and once I can tell that somebody is talented, it's no problem at all being nice to them and answering their questions.
And you certainly fit in that category, Travis.
Well, I really appreciate that, and I hope that someday down the line, someone says, I'll say thing about me, because that's the highest praise that they can give somebody.
And, like I said, really appreciate it.
Andy.
So I'm happy to have you on here. I'm excited to read the story. First of all, do you have a title for the piece yet?
I don't. I send it to the Dolphins.
I suggested Tackling greatness, because that because that has two meanings. And he was the best tackler, the best peer tackler I've ever seen. And the way he tackled greatness was working harder than anyone else, studying harder than anyone else, preparing harder than anyone else. When when he came to a game on a Sunday, Travis, he was so prepared for that game it boggled my mind some weeks. Some of the tendencies, formations he picked up by staying late at night at home and just studying.
It's I think I've mentioned this in the podcast a few times. It's my favorite type of football player, and it's why I gravitate towards certain guys and like, for instance, I think our quarterback to a tongue about low is the same way right now. So that's why I'm such a big fan of his game. And it's been that
way for a long long time. And you know, Andy, before he came on the air here, I asked you how you've been and you mentioned been writing a lot, not necessarily about football, but just writing in general, and writers are going to write, right, and.
I was curious.
I wanted to hear your process about how you put this piece together, because I'm sure you know, when you take on a piece of this magnitude and someone that you just know so much about and there's so many anecdotes you can drop in, I have to imagine there was just thoughts and ideas and stories of times with Zach flowing through you as you prepped for this piece.
You know, there was I covered every he played home and away playoffs, and it was atriad just like it was to cover every game Dan Marino played and Jason Taylor ever played. But the thing about Zach that really amazed me is that I went through his plays and a lot of his great plays, and the thing about Zach is that greatness was his norm. It wasn't like you can single out five plays and say this was by far the most remarkable plays of his career. He
did that every Sunday, Travis. It was crazy. You know, I would look at game books and you know, sure you can point out two thousand and one September he intercepted Neil O'Donnell Tennessee, returned to thirty four yards and somersaulted into the end zone, which was the first time I'd ever seen him summrsault. And as I wrote in my story, he got a perfect ten on the summersault, as you would imagine. But there aren't a lot of plays.
I mean, there are a lot of plays where he did remarkable things, but it was an every week occurrence. It's so hard to say this was the best of Zach because really, every Sunday we got the best of Zach. And because of that, it's not like you can signal out a great Marino to duper or Marino to Clayton pass or just a remarkable game turning moment.
Zach Thomas was there every week.
They lost to Baltimore in the playoffs at the end of that two thousand and one season twenty to three. I believe he had twenty two tackles in that game. That was an all time They lost twenty to three, and he had twenty two tackles in that game. And I remember interviewing after the game and he said, doesn't matter what I do. I mean, he was so distraught. But this was the internal makeup of Zach. It's so hard to pick out the great plays because there were great plays every Sunday.
In the longevity too, right, Because like I've had this, I've asked this question to you know, Set and Oj for the Fish Tank, or various people that have been around Zach for a long time, and I always go back to two thousand and five, and this goes back to what you said about the way he prepped and how he got ready his first year in a new defense under Nick Saban and really a change from a four to three to a three to four.
And it's the opening day.
Of two thousand and five and he is basically three of four stops on a goal line stand against Denver Broncos. You know, ten years into his career at that point. So he just did it from the day he showed up until the day he left.
My other thing, one of the things, Travis, that really set him apart was his first step. So many great athletes don't take the right first step and have to overcome that with their quickness, with their thinking. Jack Thomas was remarkable how many first steps he took that were the right first step, and that put him in a you know, I counted, I went through some of his highlights. He must have deflected twenty passes, twenty five passes in
his career. Several of them were intercepted. Well, that's not a fluke him deflecting passes. That's a guy that pairs, that knows where the ball is going, and that takes that first step and makes it the right one. And to me, that first step is what made Zach Thomas such a great player.
Yeah, no false steps for the linebacker, right. He definitely personified that to a t That's why he's going to Canton And another part of getting that, you know, resume for the Gold jacket is what a player does away from the football field. You have to be a certain, you know, a certain level of man to earn that honor. I'm curious what you think it is about Zach's character that makes him a gold Jacket honoree.
He was just he cared so much. You know, he lived his life as an underdog. He was the eighteenth linebacker taken in the in the and in the fifth round of the nineteen ninety six draft. It's crazy when you think about how many teams pass on Zach Thomas. But he used that as a motivating force, and he was a humble man. He would have a great game and make some remarkable plays and I would approach him by his locker after the game and he would look at me and say, Andy, but you didn't see the
ones I missed. And there were three or four plays I left there out there on the field, and I've really got.
And I'm telling you, he was remarkable.
And they won the game, and he was everywhere, and he still was that hard on himself. And I think that critical nature is what drove him to be a great player. And year after year and game after game, you know, I said, he didn't earn the Hall of.
Fame on one play for one game.
He earned the Hall of Fame for every play, for every Sunday, for every game.
And that's that's to me was what made him such a deserving person in the Hall of Fame.
You know, as I was telling you before this interview, when the game's over, there are certain go to players you always want to go to in.
The locker room.
Zach Thomas was one of those players because he had a way of framing a game that was that was remarkably unique and on and I would never cover a game without going to Zach Thomas's locker after the game.
You know, you ask him.
About a play and he would start talking complexities like way over your head, and then he would say who am I talking to?
What am I saying? And then he would simplify it.
And when he was and when he simplified it, even a person like me said, wow, I totally understand what he did and why he did it on that play. So there were so many different tentacles to what Mack made Zach Thomas special. The person he was off the field, the person he was on the field, the person in the locker room, the person he was at home and the person behind the scenes who would be up until two o'clock in the morning studying Peyton Manning's tendencies the
line of swimmers, like anyone could figure that out. And Peyton Manning later in his career spoke about Zach and I have this in my column about how he would line up in the line of scrimmage and Zach Thomas is calling out the play based on the formation, and Peyton Manning, who's no dummy himself, would look at it and say, how does this guy do that? And the way he does it is that he works harder than anybody else when everybody else is asleep.
He was up studying film.
And attracts too, because if you go back and look at Peyton Manning's numbers versus everybody else and the Miami Dolphins, it was a big, big valley of his performance when he would play against Zach and this Dolphins defense. So attracts that Zach was all in that playbook and knew what he was doing. And when you say that, like about how he prepared and how it was, so you know, critical of his own performance in the three or four
plays that didn't go his way. I just think about all the greats and they all kind of shared that trait, right, Like I think about Kobe Bryant going to the gym at four am to go get you know, three hours of shooting him before the rest of the team rolls in for practice. It kind of reminds me of that, and you know, it's what an honor it must have been to be around a guy like that every single day. And I want to conclude with this question for you here, Andy, Okay, who do you think.
Zach Thomas was to the Miami Dolphins.
I know it's a kind of a broad question, but if you could, maybe in your best writer speak, tell us in general, who was Zach Thomas or the Miami Dolphin.
He was everything to the Miami Dolphins. He was a leader, he was the heart, he was the brains. He showed so many young players the right way to prepare. He was just every way you looked at him, Travis, he was just a class act, a good person, and somebody who at five foot ten and you know they list his weight is two thirty five. You know, I'm not sure he was ever two more more than in his two twenties, but in any event, he was five to ten.
For him to accomplish the things he did says so much about the fabric of the person and the desire of him. It really is remarkable and a lot of people will be happy when Zach Thomas is inducted into the Hall of Fame, but know this, he is so deserving and that's where he belongs.
Well, I can't wait to watch his speech.
I cannot wait to read your article up on Miami Dolphins dot com title TBD.
Will see what turns out to be.
But Andy Cohen, Andy, thank you so much for your time today and your daily generosity. Again, cannot wait to read the story and glad to see you doing well.
My friend Travis, I can check this off my bucket list.
Have a wonderful day.
You're too kind, Thanks Andy.
Okay, for sure, it's been an awesome process that you know. It's humbling, you know, especially even come back in this building right now.
Just to.
Be there to represent everybody here in the whole building, all you guys, because you know, I know every one of you guys, you know, and it's I know every one of you who are supporting us, even when you're asking tough questions seriously, and even now, I know you're supporting this team, you want this team to win, and for me, I finally got that win. You know what I'm saying when it comes to being a Hall of Famer, because.
That's all I played for was for the wins.
It wasn't it wasn't for the accolades any of that stuff. It was always just about the wins. And and and this is this is definitely a win, you know. And I'm very proud, you know. And it's good to see everybody in here, man, just to be part of it.
It's pretty cool.
Zach.
Did it get to a point where like maybe dang finally happened about that day time?
Oh?
Man, I don't think I ever got to that point, you know, because, uh, looking back at it, I just always looked back when I was done playing. I was just always grateful that I played a game for so long, twenty eight years of football, man, and and it was so good to me. And and uh and I always just look back anytime I ever thought that, man, a game knows me nothing. I remember when I was eight years old with big dreams from a small town. It was a small town country boy.
Man.
And for me to ever be like, oh, man, be.
Negative about something that's not me man, and and and I know that in this game, Uh, you got to rely on so many different things and got a little lucky along the way with health, with players around me, great coaches, a.
Great high school coach.
Crazy, how he taught me to read on a napkin, and it got me labeled instinctive and smart. Crazy man. I mean you guys you laugh at that because you know me. I'm not not the smartest guy in the room right now.
But uh, it's wild how I played out.
And the timing was perfect when it come to that, I never really thought of it because there's when the guy's going in, you respect so many the Hall of famers, even going in before you. I think Jason Taylor being so dominant, you know what I'm saying. I wasn't going to go in right after Jason. You know what I'm saying.
He was so good at.
His game that yeah, he probably you know, they pushed me back a little bit, right so, but I'm proud to represent our teammates.
Yeah.
It definitely just makes me proud, you know, because everything we fought for.
Was the championship.
I'm not gonna lie, man, And I feel like, if you get that championship, it makes your road a lot easier.
So you had to do.
Something right if you didn't get the championship. And I feel like I played the game right and didn't never get the championship, and you know, look back at it, I wouldn't want to change a thing, but I wanted to win for you guys. I wanted to win for the fans. They deserve it.
Here's Zach touching on one of the most important moments he can recall back in his career.
That opening national anthem.
Was there a moment.
I think, and I go back to it, and I've said it before, like that national anthem and we're making me choke up, Dave, But that national anthem, that first game.
Special, I think that was.
All right.
Let me see her. I've been trying to read tips. I'm not crying when it comes to the induction, and so if I look at your feet and I look at your eyes, forgive me. But I know when I'm talking about my family, I'm gonna be looking at feet. You know what I'm saying, even Jimmy. But I think that moment is the National Anthem was the time I knew I had to start and chance and I wasn't gonna let it go. So I feel like that was the moment that I knew, all right, let me drink water.
You know, it's You're right, that's what I don't want. I'm going first, and I don't want to take away from any of the inductees behind me, because you want to respect them in their time. And I got twenty eight years of football to think. Everybody in twelve minutes, it's not happening, man. But the thing is is I want to make it under twelve and even if I have to fumble through it or stumble through it, cry through it, I'm gonna make it happen because you know,
you got to respect these guys time. And I'll get my points in. I'm not I'm going to miss a lot of people to think, which is it's tough because you know, like I said, twenty years of football, so many people impacted me. It's it's tough to take thank everybody, and so I might have to do some riding, call people up. I'll thank Harvey right now because I don't have any my speech.
Zach was asked which part of the process of getting fit for the Hall of Fame, getting the bus done, getting the jacket fitted.
What was your favorite part so far.
Opening up the jacket, when it came to the house with the kids. Man, that was special.
Kids.
You know, they didn't they didn't see me play.
Which which was good because that's just.
Talking about timing. I wouldn't have any time to be a dad during football. Mean, I mean, Ritza being here, she knows that I was all in. She didn't see me much either, and so I'm happy it was perfect timing. But I think the process of opening up at the house, having the kids.
There, that's pretty cool.
That's pretty cool, even being here at the press conference, you know what I mean, that's you know, that's what makes me proud.
Process of making the bust.
And how did it turn out?
You placed?
Oh yeah, I'll tell you what. Yeah, they did a great job.
I mean, I mean they pretty much just had to make a square. I mean, you know, so I don't say it was too hard on them, you know what I'm saying.
So we heard all the peers that Laud and zach and thought he should have been in the Hall a long time ago. Who did Zach appreciate the most coming to talk about the quality of his game and how he belonged in Canton in the Hall of Fame with the rest of those all time great players.
Oh wow, I would start with Kevin Mawaan. You know, I had so many Hall of famers that knew before they even announced it that called me. But when it came to Kevin, he was such a great player. Him to put me in his induction speech was pretty powerful. That's respect right there, you know. And so he'll definitely be in my speech, even being a jet. But I think him calling me being so happy for me because we used to battle. I think he's in a speech
that we battled against each other sixteen times. And yeah, man, he was really good at what he did. Man, he only made me better.
Let's go ahead and finish up here with Zach talking about what he thinks about this year's team and their chances to make a deep run of the playoffs.
I love the question. We got.
We got a great talent on this roster. We got a great head coach and offensive coordinator, probably the best defensive coordinator on the on the team now. But none of that means nothing if you don't win this building, you don't win on that practice field, and uh and they know that. It's it's a choice that they'll make and we'll see how great they want to be. I'm I'm cheering for them, but I know this is you gotta have talent to win and we got it. So I think Chris Greor has done a great job with
this roster. It's exciting, man. I'm I'm I'm more excited this year than any year.
It's a choice that they make. What do you mean by that.
It it chooses.
I mean a choice that they make would be more How good they want to be is off their sacrifice, minimizing outside distractions, everything that affects your prep. You know what I'm saying. Being grateful, you're gonna have days, you're gonna be negative. Reboot, you gotta be more positive to not affect your prep. Everything is because everybody just always thinks it's hard work. It's smart work, to be honest
with you know. Once you figure that out and take care of yourself, take care of your body, having your family understand that. Hey man, my focus is on one thing and that's to go win, get the best out of myself.
Every day.
I feel like when you get to that point, that's the choice you choose if you want to go to bed earlier or not, just so you can be better and more sharpen the practice the next day, or in the media rooms, you choose that, you know, same thing we choose with distractions with nowadays phones crazy, right, these kids they know those distractions right always on these phones, man, you know. And so I feel like you choose if you want to get in the extra filmwork, you want
to get in the extra prehab. You choose those things, and that's what makes the difference in the end, you know. And I feel like that's the choice that you make. You choose if you want to be grateful, you know. I mean I used to drive to work and I would be a little negative or something, and I just would look around and like most of these people are going to jobs they hate, right, And I would reboot my mindset.
I see people pissed off at the light.
You know what I'm saying, Like that would help my mind set.
Let me, I'm playing a game.
What am I going to cry about after a loss or something?
I'm going in to make myself great.
Get a chance to see you play, or what's it gonna be like for them to see you go into the hall.
What do you think their reaction is going to be?
Yours?
The family?
Just how it's gonna be follow you guys.
Well, we'll have to find out. We're just.
You know, they don't look at them. Yeah, we'll have to find out.
You know.
I just feel like I'm just gonna be proud that they can, you know, experience something they might look at when they get older and be like, wow, you know what I'm saying, like, we're proud of.
You, dad. I think right now it's kids. Hey, you know, they're just ready to go take a picture with Tyreek or two.
They're not they're not even thinking about that.
All right, There you go, Zach Thomas, you heard him say it. They're himself first up to speak in Canton on Saturday, twelve minutes for a speech, probably gonna go longer than that, but check it out. NFL Nework will have that coverage for you guys, and we'll recap it all kind. I have Seth and Juice from the Fish Tank on the podcast to talk about that, and we're also going to talk about the scrimmage on Saturday at hard rock stadium plenty to come your way here on
the Drift Time Podcast. In the meantime, it's going to be in my time. Subscribe rate review, follow all that stuff, check out the fish tank. Check out Miami Dolphins dot com. We'll talk to you guys on Thursday.