Fins Flashback 2005 Dolphins Broncos with Channing Crowder

bring you your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show, we're gonna welcome in Channing Crowder, one of the all time great Drive Time and fish Tank podcast guests, one of the all time great post playing career media personalities there is in existence. Channing Crowder jumps in to talk about the two thousand and five season opening win over the Denver Broncos. Will also get Seth and o g on the podcast a little bit later

to talk about what's next. On the Fish Tank, We'll get you the latest injury port for Dolphins and Broncos, and cover John Knjemmi's three key East to the Game. All of that and more on this Friday, November the twenty edition of the Drive Time Podcast. Drive Time is brought to you by Auto Nation. Listen to up Dolphins fans. The new year starts now at auto nation dot com let's skip the rest of and get to big New Year's savings on your favorite Auto Nation Chevy's, Fords, Toyotas, Hondas,

and more. Shop safely at the Auto Nation store near you or Auto Nation dot com and save. Now, let's go ahead and jump into John Congemi's three keys to victory on this Sunday against Dever Broncos. Go through this thing real quick. First, he talks about continuing creating scoring opportunities. We talked about it on the podcast earlier. Context for short fields, getting hidden yardage, putting points on the board early,

scoring fast, and putting the pressure on. Speaking of pressure, point number two, pressure the pocket that's been a key to this team and this defense every single week, getting sacks, putting pressure on the quarterback, creating takeaways. Guys like Emmanuel Ogbas, Shack Laws and Andrew Vanky GOLs, Zack Seeler and the entire crew. Number three, win third down, John right to the Dolphins are third in third down defense this season, but Denver's right behind them with the sixth best third

down defense. Whichever team can win third down typically has a better chance to win the game. So the turnover is pressure on the quarterback, winning third down some of your keys to victory. Lets go ahead and get the Dolphins and Broncos injury report here for this week eleven matchup in Denver and first with the Miami Dolphins. Just two players questionable on the injury report, Kyle van Neu the linebacker and offensive guard Solomon Kinley are going to

be questionable for the game on Sunday. Everybody else with no injury status for the Denver Broncos a whole heap of players on the questionable designation for this game that includes quarterback Drew Lock. James Palmer of NFL Network said that he's going to be questionable with that rib injury that he wants to play Saturday morning will play a factor if he can go. They want to see if

he throws and feels it after throwing. Other players questionable for the Broncos, Graham Glasgow and Deshaun Willie were not on the injury report previously but have been added as questionable status for Sunday, and the same is true for cornerback Bryce Callahan. So some pretty big names on that list for the Broncos to check out the rest of the injury report. Go ahead and check out top news

on Miami Dolphins dot com. We'll have that available for you guys on the website and writing Shotgun Now on the Drive Time podcast is former Dolphins linebacker currently the host of the Hawkman and Crowder Show. You can hear him on Dolphins pregame show on w q A. M Channing Crowder Channing, Welcome in, Man. We appreciate you every Travis Man, Bro. Not only it's it's been a minute, man. We lasted the podcast back in March, and that was I think it was like right before COVID became a

part of our lives. And I haven't always spoke to you since, man, So like, catch me up. What's going on with you? Same stuff? Doing everything from home? Man, you know virtual school, so from home, everything from home. But you know it brings you closer to your family and your family and I know you're a family man, So get more time with the fam. And they're just getting through it, Bro. It's the new norm now, as they're called. That's exactly right. Like you said, there are

always finding the silver linings, right. Spending more time with the family is definitely one upshot of of all this, I suppose, but another up shot right now is the Dolphins playing some damn good football, and you're very well innudated with the current sports landscape, especially down here in Miami, were business is kind of booming. Man Marlin's wipe out a playoff trout the Heat come within two games of an NBA championship. The Hurricanes are a top ten team.

Not to mention your Florida Gators, Channing, and the Dolphins are writing a five game winning streak. If you can find it within yourself to pass up the talking point there about the Gators. What are you seeing from this Dolphins team right now? Channing, And it's it's amazing. They're They're a real team. You just seeing, you know, these last couple of games, Specimen two has gone in, Like the special teams make plays. The defense goes out and makes plays, and they're not putting it all on two

in the offense. It's a it's a complete team. They're out there. You know, they're one of the top scoring defense in the league, and now with two of you know, they're rolling, putting thirty on the board. You a multiple times. So man, I'm I'm I'm excited. I've done some some shows and some interviews now nationally where people are interested in the Dolphins in l A, you know, in in d C, just around in New York, you know, around

the nation. So it's where they should be. And man, it looks like Brian Flores was the guy he's bringing in. Those those those young guys, those young offens Lhomit are playing well. Young defenders are playing well, those lockdown corners are doing their thing on the outside. Becauxavier Howard playing out of his mind right now, travels this I think we saw around. Man, I think we're hitting the rec correction.

It's hard to argue with the results right now. Plenty of plenty of games left to go, for sure, seven more to close this thing out. And yeah, I mean your excitement, I mean I can only reciprocate that so much, Channing. It's it's fun to turn on national TV shows and you know, I never put too much into, you know, what the talking heads say, but it is fun to see that Dolphins logo up on that screen for ten fifteen minutes of time as they do multiple segments on

this Dolphins team. And that's that's kind of one of the talks of the league right now. But I want to go back to your first career your game. We're gonna talk about the two thousand five game at home against Denver Broncos on this Friday Flashback podcast. Dolphins linebacker Chain Crowded here first game of your career. The Dolphins

are in Denver this Sunday at four oh five. But going back to that game in two thousand five, let's go ahead and start first by when you were drafted by the Dolphins, because that kind of gets us into this, you know, the season opener for your first career game. What was it like for you to know that I'm staying down in Florida after being with the Gators for for your entire college career, staying down in Miami being drafted by Nick Saban. What are your thoughts when you

first got picked by the Dolphins. Well, on draft Day, I was kind of upset, not because I'm going to Miami, just because I went third round and I was the first round grade and all that stuff, you know, And uh so I was ready to get drafted about twelve thirty one and I didn't go to eight thirty at night. That's back when it was the first three rounds in the first day. So seven hours too late, a lot of beers in Whiskey in so when Nick Saban called me, I wasn't all of sound mind and body, if you

know what I'm saying. But then coming down, man and my draft class travels with Ronnie Brown and Matt Roth, and it's crazy John Denny, who just hung it up. You know, he was there with me. We had an awesome draft class. And coming in with Saving, you know, Saving was just you know, everybody knows the straight ends, you know kind of you know, ain't no type thing he he approached, you know, the way he approached the game. So I was excited to play in Miami outside to

get drafted. And then when I got here, man to how Junior say out and Za Thomas took me under their wings and just really just talk to me about really how to play the game, the mental side from Zach aside from Junior, where Junior would always tell me, don't get over coach. Now you're here because of your ability,

go go show off while you're here. So to have that Yang Yang in my in my room, to Hall of Famers in my linebacking room, man, I really, I really think it was the perfect situation to two rounds too late, but it was a perfect situation. Great guys, that's why I stayed in Miami. Great people down here. Still keep in touch with pretty much every name I just said. So it was a blessing. It was a blessing that I got arrested a bunch of time. So, you know, silver lining, like you said about COVID, I

find a silver lining and going third round. That's exactly right. I think the last time I saw you in person was the Jets game last year, and we I asked you about the story when you got ejected from the game in two thousand and eight against the Patriots, and you kind of went into that and told me the

silver linings behind that story as well. We won't go on the air with that story cheering, but but I am curious about you talk about that veteran leadership in that room, because I think it kind of is a good a good prelude back to the Dolphins current team right now with this good mix of Yeah, it's a very young team, but you do have guys like you know, Ryan Fitzpatrick and their for instance, the quarterback for the first six games or seven games or so, you've got

Kyle Van noul. The defense kind of brings guys together, fulfills that role and has that that veteran leadership role you land in Robert serves as kind of a conduit for Brian Floores message to the players on the field. That two thousand five team you mentioned, Jason Taylor Jr. Say out yourself a rookie on that team, you still got Sam Madison out there. What was that blend? Like?

How important is that blend for having those vet and guys that can kind of show the young guys the rope, but also still having that kind of young hungry blood coming in. It's it's perfect nothing. That's the that's design, especially defensively speaking from my perspective, is that you have those old guys and if you think about it, babies.

Babies are emotional. You have a young one, anything happens, they start crying, and that doesn't change until you know what I'm saying, Like one to thirty five, you're still You're still emotional at twenty more than a guy like Zach Thomas and Jr. Say so, just knowing that the games is a long game. You give up a touchdown next play, bro, Let's move on. Let's move forward, and I made my you know, my favorite share of mistakes. Where as soon as I if I missed a tackle

or something like that. You know, as a young guy, your first opportunity in front of you know, NFL crowd, NFL eyes, and you mess up where you know, kind of get down and you start, you know, get upset. Where Zach would always come up to me, good, bad or otherwise and be like, next place, you see, next play, next quarter, you know, let's get out. You know, it's

just let's go. Let's do our job. So the young excitement, the jumping around and yelling at hooting the holler and shooting in you know, trying to kill full acts and I'm trying to knock people's helmets off. That's where the young guys break. The old guys bring the savvy and the intelligence and the X and O side of it. I talked to a lot of a lot about it exact where for about two years, Zach would tell me

where the ball was going. He would flat out of the player would be going my way, my way, my way, coming in se see coming at you, where I wouldn't see what Zach saw. I can make the play, I can shoot any gap. I can hit any guard, but I didn't see it. It didn't slow down for me like it's slowed down for Zach. So that young energy combined with that veteran savvy, the ex and O side of the veterans, but also the calming effect of hey, home game, next play, next quarter, next series, Let's go

out here and get a three and out. That's all we need to do is get three ounces together. And that's where I think the combination of an old veteran calm and the young energy really comes together. And to bring it back to this year is exactly what they had, you know, like the Wilkins and the and the davis Is and jump God Child. They're jumping around, dancing and you know, beating each other up where you have a

NOI kind of hey, guys, take it. Even Jarome Baker Jarome Baka as an old soul drone kind of settles people down too. So you can you can see that dynamic on this current defense that is bowling right now. So I think that combination of you know, you can't you can't have an a r P team out there, but you also don't want to have a uh, you know, a middle school you gotta have that combination. And I

think that's where good defense, that's how good defense. Yeah, it seemed like that was a point of emphasis and free agency to go after guys that still had plenty of good ball ahead of them, right like Kyle van Noy and Emmanuel Ogba and Shack Laws and these guys in their mid to late twenties who still have plenty of good football in front of them, but they've also seen a lot of football previously. And you mentioned Zach

Thomas in that veteran leadership. There's a great clip a couple of weeks ago after the Rams game, I believe it was where Ted Harris goes over to two on the sideline and to us, maybe not thrilled about his individual performance, but he's like, hey, rook, come on, man, it's a dub. But all the marriage of the dub right now and to it kind of got picked up. It lifted the spirit, you could, you could tell in

that moment. And so you talked about Zach Thomas doing the same for you, and I want to spend this thing and jump a couple of questions ahead. Here are you in this game, in this Broncos game. It really got started at the end of the first half. The Dolphins kind of went took off after a four play goal line stand against the Broncos, and Zack had back to back plays where he shot in there and made

plays in the backfield. Like was that when you guys saw him do that and kind of call those plays out and shoot those gaps and get those big plays. That has to energize the entire team, right, Oh my goodness, gracious, And he would you knew he was gonna do it. He knew those plays, like before they broke travels when they were in the huddle, Zach knew what gap was going in, which which which guard tackled, that they liked to run behind on short yardage where they're gonna motion

the wing from Zack knew it already. So like I was saying, slowing everything down, how he slowed it down. But then when that ball snaps, like you said, it was not if he wasn't playing slow. He was thinking slow but playing fast. It was amazing. And to have have a better like that, and you know he was he was older than his career Zach what I think his last Pro bowls those six, So it was the ride around. You know, he was in his prime, but

it was sneaking towards the end. And bro to have that old old guy to sit there and flat out call the play coming. Mom would come on my way, and then you see him disappear and he you know he ain't he a little fimble now, he ain't up by five tens or he would literally disappear into the line. You wouldn't see him, and he shoot out the other side and make a tackle. It was so amazing to watch, and especially on goal line because that's when the you know, big you you make a TfL on the fifty first

and ten TfL second and eleven okay, good play. You make back to back stops on the gold line to take points off the board. That's why Zach was going to Pro Bowls. And I didn't go to many Pro bowl I didn't go to any Pro Bowl. Let's be honest. It's a lot of anybody, but it was. It did energize you to to see all of his studying and all of his hard work payoff year after year. And I said it before, I've told you before we talked.

You know, a couple months ago, I would not have had this career I had, I would not have played as long as I had, made as many players, started as many games if it wasn't for Zach Thomas. Really really baby feet me football and I was All American in high school, all American college, and I got to the NFL, and Zach Thomas had the baby feeding me what football really is from the from the playmaking standpoints.

So to have a vet making plays, taking points off the board, you saw it happened the rest of the game. We just it just like you said that that series really just you know, um, you know, shot us up. And then the offense, so the both sides of the ball where tour comes in now and you see the defense playing better energy from both sides of the ball,

you can feed off of that. So then the offense goes and I think they scored twenty one points in the fourth quarter, like they just took off in the fourth and I think the defense they kind of fed off, fed us, fed off us, holding down who was it date Plumber and uh they were twelve and four team now I know Denver now isn't what they were. If you think about oh five, they were, they were a

good team. The defense holding those guys down and just we kept pounding them, stopping them on fourth down, the offense started getting some momentum. And that's complimentary football. And I know it's a cliche, but it's true. Cliches are cliches because the usually true, right, So I mean, it definitely adds up. And you make a good point there about Denver being a twelve and four team that year.

You guys would later go on to beat the Panthers two weeks later, who also played in their conference championship game. So to start the season, you're two and one with victories against the too, two of the final four teams that year. And I'm here, I've always been wondering how this works because like, you come into the league, you play at a college, and usually guys that get drafted highly typically play at blue blood programs where you are

used to winning football games. And you come into the Dolphins and you mentioned fall into the third round, and you know, if your first round pick in the top ten, usually it means you're going to a pretty bad football team for the most part. And this Dolphin team was four and twelve of the year prior Ricky Williams had retired.

They you know they bring in Nick Saban. I'm curious what your expectations were coming into your first season with a new team that was off of four and twelve season and didn't really change after that first game, I mean, thirty four ten over a team that had high expectations. Did that change things for you? Guys? Um, it really did, and we'll saving saving brainwashing. And he was such so nastily good at his job, just nasty, talked to your nasty and all. Everybody's heard the stories, but he was

good at his job. So he would prepare you, you know, to get ready for a game. But talking about like the narrative amongst the team were a narrative that that I picked up was if you remember back then after Marino, it was always good defense, bad offense, good defense. The Ricky the run Ricky run thing was the thing because of the fact that it's the only offense we've really

seen effective for years now. So it come in and like I said, man Vanni Holiday, Keith Trader, Kevin Carter, Sam Madison, Pat Surtan just got traded to the Chiefs. I believe Junior Zack Jason, like to Bucky Jones, he was a monster at safety at the time, like you walked in and the narrative, you know, spoken and unspoken, was bro we got a good defense. If the offense can I often can put points on the board, we're

gonna win some games. And we we took pride in that that and so so it's kind of you don't want to say it was to two different teams. You know, it was a defense first, the offense kind of thing. But it was where defensively we would We knew that we were very good, we could play. The scheme was good. Nick Saban knew what he was doing. So let's give this offense as many chances as we can give them to score points because we are the stronger side of

the ball. We would whoop their asks during every period of practice, traffics. We would they would start selling people out because they couldn't get a playoff. With the pro bowlers all up front, junior and Zach coming junior and Jason coming off there, just the offense couldn't do anything. So they would start putting the twos in so that they can get a little confidence in their offense. So we knew we were the better side of the ball

and didn't didn't you know. It was no animosity, It was pride in it, where if they're gonna score, if they can't score for seventeen guys, we gotta hold the other team the six team. And that was kind of the approach of our defense, which was a very good

defense that seam well. Yeah, and you guys probably prepared them well for that opening day game because, like you mentioned, thirt or four points against the Denver defense that had Al Wilson, had Champ Bailey back there as well, and had guys that could make plays on the football, and you mentioned the offense kind of going off in the second half. We were gonna have Marty Booker on this podcast back when the game was in Week six or

whatever it was. We had to reschedule because of again COVID changes things, and I had a question for him. He had a sixty yard touchdown reception where he got on top of a cornerback. And now, Jenny, you can correct me my wrong here, but book wasn't the fastest guy on the planet, but on that play he looked like it was that just that Miami September heat gas

in that Denver defense. Man. Yes, I remember very vividly the the the Miami heir would cover and it said the twelveth man, and on their sideline it was a hundred and twenty degrees. And I remember in that second half champ Bailey between snaps, champ Bailey, as soon as the rif blew the whistle, he would take his hammer off and taking knee. He didn't even get in the huddle. He was just trying to get as much of this six South Florida airing as lungs as he could. I

was a good friend with Gerard Warren. He went to Florida. We're you know, he'd come back at Florida and he was there deeper than tackle. I remember Gerard Warren looking at me, you know, walking out, walking out a halftime and just shaking his head with the red eyes because then I used to that much sweat pouring in their eyes coming from beautiful Denver, you know, Mayo High and join their camp and then you come down here to a hundred and twenty degrees. So yes, I think I

think that the twelve man. Why you schedule games at one o'clock when you're a Miami Dolphin, you know, administrator, coach, you want you want some early season one o'clock games, because I was in Gamesville. Games was one three hours north. It's it gets hot as helling Gamesville. It doesn't get hot and human like it does down to you. It's just something else. And then there's no winds there that that heat. The stink if you breathe out in your

breast thinks it just stays in your face mask. There's no wind blowing, Travis. There's nothing moving, and it just you saw him slowly breaking down, breaking down. So Marty's let's be honest it right. Book Book ain't fast. Book wasn't fast. He's not fast. Now his kids probably aren't fast. Book ran about a four six or seven. Those dvs ran four fours in the fourth quarter Books four seven, it looked like a four four. That's that Son made those dbs four four look like four seven. You could see.

And it wasn't just that game, Travis. I've seen it. I saw the number of times where you just saw guy's body slowly breaking down in that in that trumple digit hundred plus degree weather playing early in South Florid. Yeah, you mentioned the twelfth Man that the Miami held cover. We we had Bart Scott on the Fish Tank podcast recently, which, by the way, they're talking about getting you back on is that gonna happen? They called me man like you man y'all, y'all asked me all the time. Y'all got

my numble baby. We need part three because that still is the best episode of all time. Brandon Marshall was really good. Bart Scott was really good. Chance Crowder still number one in your in your programming in your heart store on the on the Fish Tank podcast, but they had Bart Scott on who talked about a different twealth man. Let's go ahead and just call it South Florida lifestyle if you if you catch my draft, he said that

was a big part of it. But another unique part about playing in Miami back in September in those days was the infield dirt. You had to have hated that, right, Oh my goodness. It was terrible. You see guys tripping, You see guys you just the falling down on it, you scrape yourself up. But I was you know, those pretty dude, those cute guys, you know, like a Chambers and Ronnie Brown, they're worried about little scrapes. I didn't give it them about scrapes. It was more the transition

from running on grass to dirt. So you turn to go cover receiver and you're digging in the ground and you're you're, you know, you're digging, and then you get to that clay, you can't dig anymore. So it's almost like you have to change your gait when you transition

from the grass to dirt. And this midplay, this is you know, between plays, And that's what I hated most about it because I remember a number of times where you would see guys not fall down but just trip up or slow down or have to gather themselves on that dirt. And in the NFL, and those inches to gather yourself could be a touchdown and not a touchdown. So that was my biggest thing. I know a lot of guys hate to get tackled on it because you

get them them big straw baries. I remember, you know, me and Ronnie are real close and we hang out pretty much every day. I remember Ronnie just having I'm talking about nine ten ins long, just scrapes down his forearms, down his biceps from getting tackled on that dirt. And I know, I know offensive players hated it because of that, but everybody out there. They would talk about the footings.

They ended up getting the Marblings their own little stadium and we we had real grass, but it was it was, It wasn't fun playing that. The Raiders had it too, So I just remember to two teams we were. We

had it and the Raiders had it. And I just remember hating to go on what would that be the west side of Dolphin Stadium over there and playing on that side of the field because you know, sooner or later you would have to transition and you were gonna stumble, and that could be And on TV, Travis and and and you you're watching the game, you're not saying, oh, no, give crowd a break because he stumbled on the dirt. You're saying it wasn't an excuse, it was just a problem. Yeah, exactly,

no excuses for the fans. I don't want to hear that stuff. But you know, I as kids, we all went out and play in the street and played football on the street, and you know you might fall and get a scrape. But I can't imagine playing an NFL football game with grown ass man on basically what amounts to the pavement in front of your house so it's just that's another whole Southern subset of Dolphins football on

those days. Man, it was one last play in that game I want to bring up to you was the strip sack and fumbled by j T where he scooped it and scored it. Did the jump man the whole thing? Like, I remember that play for two reasons. One the jump man, which you know obviously has Michael Jordan's infatuation and that kind of bled over into the celebrations and he had the shoes and everything. But also, like, did he regret that afterwards because the game was over? It was he

picks up a fumble? Was he Like? Man, the touchdown is nice, But I couldn't saved my breath on that one. No, because I believe he has the most touchdowns for a defensive lineman in NFL history, So that might have been the one to put him over the head. I know we had one of the vikings. I know, you know throughout his career, but playing with Jake, I'm playing with JT was crazy because you knew sooner or later he

was not gonna make a play. He was gonna make a gigantic play, and even at the end of that game where it's okay, we're winning, ya, let's you know they're trying to come back. Is gonna jat like, that's what he does. He was a big play. That's why the first ballot Hall of Famer, that's why he's he is what he is. So I know he doesn't regret it because the I could book show it and and his numbers are amazing. But that's just the thing where

you're winning, keep playing ball. And that's going back to kind of what the vestis to tell you, bro, I don't give a damn what happened the first hundred plays. This is a hundred and first play play this play like it's the last one and the next one and the next one. And that's what J two was doing. They were should have blocked him if they didn't want him to stack Forrest Famer from recovery touchdown. And that's

the whole that's the whole Father football. Next play up, that tackle was probably a little tired from that hundred twenty degrees and there's no chance he couldn't block J T if he was healthy, if he was rested. Now he's tired, fourth quarter, stinking that that heats on him. There's no way in the hell he's gonna block JT now. And JT players like JT jors that they were. They could smell blood in the water. They were like sharks.

When you started getting tired, when you when you couldn't, when when you were getting exhausted, that's when I'm gonna play my best because now I know I can beat you. And that's what JT did a number of times that year. In the following year, that was the differen playing the year year old six. But j T made plays like that. We getting week out practices, ruining practices because the offense couldn't get the ball off. That was what you are when you're Hall of Famer. That that's that's the time

plays you make. You play sixteen minutes every game, right, That's what the great ones do. They finished the game, start to finish. And and speaking of finishing, you guys finished out that season, you know, with six consecutive wins, and I mentioned off the top, the Dolphins have a chance to get their sixth straight win on Sunday in Denver. The last three six game winning streaks are twenty six team two thousand eight, the Wildcat year and two thousand five,

your rookie season. For the following season, I think Sports Illustrated had Miami as their Super Bowl pick that season. Leaving that season, the exit meetings, the you know, the after the sixteenth game. I remember coming in for the exit team meeting, and that was the talk. They felt, we're rolling now, like we're a team they don't want

to we were. We were saying like they wouldn't want nobody would want to play us in the playoffs if we if we even't want an extra game here and there with ten and six, like nobody we want to play us right now, we're we're bawling out. I remember the covered via um Sports Illustrated, the Dolphins Super Bowl contenders and all that stuff. So the energy was the

energy was crazy all offseason. Offseason workouts were you know, I think and Saban was big into it and a lot of the centers for workouts, but a lot of guys would say nine percent. Guys had a hundred percent of attendance at those officers work us like this is the year we're gonna do something. And Dante cold Pepper looked good but didn't play good. He wasn't good and

we know that the rest is history. But you talk about preseason that year, through camp, we we have a chance to get a ring, and that's how we prepared. And then we had to go play other people travelers, and then it didn't work out the way it was

supposed to. But the energy wasn't there. The excitement was there throughout the entire preseason of that OH six season, which you would well, you know as a fan, it's almost it's almost just as good to have the off season like hype and build up because that sticks with

you for eight months and you have that excitement. I remember that was my senior year of high school two thousand and five and I graduated in OH six, so that that whole year, I was just telling everybody that I could watch for these dolphins, man, watch out for these dolphins. And it didn't work out. It didn't work out for a lot of years. Means had that every single year, but hopefully things are kind of turning around. Now.

Before I let you out of here, Channing, I want to ask you about your your recent project and you do it with Brandon Marshall and Chad Johnson Slash Sinko as well. I am athlete, man, what a hell of a show that is. Can you tell us about that a little bit? It's cool. Man Brandon had this idea and he just knows so many people know. Brandon has the House of Athletes. He trains you know, kids to you know, families, to NFL guys, you know, pre draft stuff.

But it's called House of Athlete and they're opening another two locations. There's one out in Weston now, and um, he said, yeah, I want to do a show. He's like, there's all these podcasts out there, you know, the all the Smoke stuff with with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, and like we we enjoyed watching that and Brandon. Man, Brandon is kind of like he's crazy smart. Like you remember he was crazy kicking balls and fighting people and slapping folks. But there's like a switch he turns on

where he could come. He's like super intelligent. And he was like, hey man, we have all I know, all these personalities, you know, let's come together. Let's you know, get something. I'll get the film crew and we'll see what happens. And now we're on a second season. Think for what episode twelve we're gonna shoot next week and it and it's gaining legs. We have a hundreds of

hundred thousand subscribers on YouTube. And it was really Brandon saying, Hey, we sit around in the gym and talk trash all the time. We're sitting in the gym and talk trash, and after it closes, you know, we break wine, bringing some whiskey, hang out. He was like, Hey, let's just let's just shoot this. Let's just catch this on camera and see what happens. And now the production is getting better, the topics are getting good. We're getting some guests too.

Real Owens came on with us last week. He's coming on actually with us again next week. So it was just a Brandon martial idea that kind of that kind of hit and and and started started getting some legs. Well, yeah, the key to any great show, in my opinion, is is it something different that no one else is doing. And you guys to me are doing that. So I really enjoyed Channing, really enjoy Yan Hawkman and Crowder. Of

course the Dolphins pregame show. He finished his career with four hundred seventy tackles, Channing, three forced fumbles, a pick a tackles for lost Channing Crowder. Always a pleasure, my friend, and thank you so much that y'all stop holding out on me. Man, y'all know I'm down here. All I do is put kids in virginal school and go fishing. So I got you any time. Trap. Hey, Hey, you know I'm gonna you know I'm gonna hit you up. It took me a few texts to get you on now,

so I I expect a little bit of both ways here. Man, I got you, brother, stay stay. I think you're four d seventy tackles. My rabbed me a little bit, but I'm rolled. There we go. I'll tell I'll tell O J about that. I'm just gonna jump on after you here and talk about this game a little bit too. He he has the same exact thing. He calls a football brain, so perfect perfect In the podcast, Channing Crowd thinks again, Man, thank you, So there he goes Dolphins

linebacker Channing Crowd are always a fun interview. And speaking of fun interviews, time for my favorite part of the week. Let's go ahead and welcome and Seth and O J from the Fish Tank Podcast, and as always on Friday, I'm thrilled to be joined by the guys from the Fish Tank podcast. I've got Seth Levitt o j McDuffie, what's going on, fellas to be here, man, You know Juice's crossover games a little better than mine, but still

I'm I'm excited to be here in D time. I've always had better handles, Seth, you know, always had hands, man, you know what I mean, better handles, better jump shot, a better defender, just better. Well, there's a recent sess out there on the on the floor for those those competitive games back in the nineties and then early two thousands, right, it's players is a players only at the rule back then? I really, man, I mean, it depends on who wanted

to get involved. And I try to make it a you know, staff friendly day times too, you know what I mean? But what just only players? You know? But sometimes staff didn't want to play, right step man, when the players are out there playing as hard as they were. Seth played with both sides, you know what I mean. But yeah, for the most part, man, one day might have been all players, another day might have been a couple of players and guys from the staff. But one

day at Wednesday was a rough play. Wednesdays were rough, but see. My secret, Travis is if you're the first guy there, get on. You may only get one in, but at least you're gonna get on because I wasn't getting picked up other one. Yeah. But then you get O J with like game point in the ball in his hand, and he's not gonna be denied. I'm just like, go ahead, man, I'm not I'm not getting in front

of you for that, so I guess. But if you're on his team, and as long as I have my all my teeth still in my face, I'm good with it. So we're talking about the two thousand five Broncos and Dolphins game today on Flashback Friday, and uh, you know, this was a game that I talked to you guys all the time about my golden era, my favorite era of Dolphins football, and I really love this game for

a multitude of reasons. It's just the Dolphins I think going into that year didn't have high expectations coming off the four and twelve season, even with Nick Saban arriving, But to go out there and put it on a team that would eventually wind up in the a f C Championship Game thirty four or ten with a blowout victory.

And you know, Seth, you were talking about it off air a little bit, the receiving corps and some of the talent that team had, and obviously what the defense became with Nick Saban and Ason Taylor and Zach Thomas and uh, Sam Madison was still there. And you told me a little bit as well that although j T and Saban had a great relationship, it didn't necessarily start

off that way. It didn't. I mean, actually, you could go back to the end of OU four when Jim Bates was the interim head coach, and I remember an interview when coach Saban had been selected. The Dolphins had agreed to terms of coach Saban, but the Dolphins were still finishing out their season, and they asked Jason Taylor, Hey, what do you think about Nick the hiring of Nick Saban? He said, I don't give a damn about Nick Saban.

Jim Bates is my head coach. You know, Jat is very loyal that way, at least he was up to that point. And uh and and so you know that happened, and then Saban had talked about, you know, changing the way that that Jason would fit into the defense and in that hybrid position, and said that, you know, if he had played linebacker his whole career, he could be in the Hall of Fame, which I think is kind of funny. And and and so Gary was starred Jason's agents.

So wait a minute, this guy was pretty good with his hand in the dirt for the first however, in the is his career? What's going on here? And so there was there was contentious in the off season, but then two guys met, and you know, the love was fair ensued, and so did a lot of a lot of plays, as j T continued to do for his

entire career. And j T just like many guys who played Juice right, So many of those guys came in the tank and and just talked about how how much they learned about football, even at that stage of the career, how much they learned about football playing under Nick Saban. So you know, I gotta I gotta give credit where credit is due. But this was the first game we were going to see how how's this marriage gonna work. The defensive guys chat, let's get that right here. Love

affair for Nick? You know what I mean? I don't think the same I don't think AMers been too Righty said, he in powered him as a leader. So you know, I have to I hate to do it. I hate to do it, but I have to give the effect credit.

There was a there was a great sketch. It was Frank Caliendo when he was doing his weekly Fox bit every you know on Sunday, the Sunday pregame show and after the Dolf has won that game he had won the following week where he made fun of Nick Saban and he did it through through Jim Rome and it was I have watched that a million times in my life. It's it's a really good one. But you talk about Jason Taylor. That was his first game with Nick Saban.

This was the first game in the career of Channing Crowder, who did the podcast right before you guys jumped on and as always he was great. I mean, you can't have a Channing Crowder episode not have it be great. But I'm curious, O, j is this guy? Is he number one in the all time Fish Tank power rakings because we had two episodes you couldn't shut him up obviously, two episodes of of just Pure Gold from Channing. Is he is he top of the list. There's he's ranking

really high. He really is. Man. We've got a couple of will coming up, and one that we already had is this climbing on him. But Channing by far. You know. For one, he's been in there multiple times in the tank and that's hard to do first. And two we're thinking about bringing in the third time. So that tells you how we feel about Channing and what he can do. You knowing the tanks, he's up there. When it comes to in the food chain, Channing is probably the top

right now. I told him, uh, he said at the end of the podcast. You know, you guys hit me up whenever. I can do whatever podcast you want. And I said, now, Channing, I've hit you out before and you haven't got back to me. And he was like, all right, that's fair, that's fair. You gotta say on me. He mentioned the football brand like you had mentioned OJ so good company all around in this game. Another really memorable point of this game. I'll go back to you

for this one. Seth. Jason Taylor ends this thing, puts puts it on ice and I asked a dumb ask question, man, I asked the Channing did Jason regret picking that fumble up and running it back? Because remember when he when he fell into the end zone after the jump man, he was completely gassed. He couldn't like it looked like he was just my body is spent for the day. I need to go sit in a cold toub for about fourteen hours. And I asked Channing, did he regret that?

But obviously he said no, because you know he's got a record in that department. What do you recall about that scoop and score eighty five yards? Seth? Yeah, you know, look, it's something we saw j T do his entire career. UM. Just for context, you know, I worked here from to the OH three or um through OH three into the OH four off season, miss the old four season thankfully, and then in O five I was still working in the press box and at that point working for Jason

and uh, you know running the foundation. UM. So I was there at that game, seen so many times Jason do that. We saw it first right with the Chilly Smith the Cincinnati game, and you know he loves the trifecta, but that was you know, the game was pretty well in hand. But you talk to any defensive end and they love having a big lead in the fourth quarter.

That's when those guys like to eat. I reamber j T would stand on the sideline to get mad if our offensive line weren't still playing hard at the end of games that we were getting blown out in because other guys were getting set, you know, And so he was competited that way. So they're looking for that time to just just end their ears back, turned the town

the corner and go and uh. But it was it was a hot game, as they always are those opening games here, and Juice knows that better than I do because I sat at the press box from the air conditioning. But it was hot down on that field and those hasn't played almost seventy plays, and but you know, the eyes get big and and eighty five yards is a long way to run for those guys. But he did it.

And I just remember, you know, Sam was looked like he was trying to give him CPR there in the end zone, trying to bring him back, and the whole team piled on him. And she was again you would know this better than I. But as much as they're celebrating you, it doesn't become harder to grieve. When you've got another ten guys laying on top of you, that's the worst position. That's the worst ever, the bottom, the

last guys. The best position, the guy that poles him at the end, you know he's got the best position doesn't look as good. But at the bottom of any pope, you know, with a bunch of brown ass man, that's not good. Especially Yeah, absolutely, But you know the other thing, Travis, though, is the pr guy. And me knew that j T at that point had four fumble return career fumble returns for touchdowns and the NFL record at that time was, uh was it was this? No, he had five and

was this the six? But he, I believe he I just be toled with this one. And that's not just for defensive lineman, that was any player in any position. He went on to have another one and holds the NFL record now. But so those are the things that I would keep tracking, counting sacks, which quarterback did he get? What NFL records didn't time as he's starting to set um. So yeah, I mean, just all the way around. It was the exclamation point at the end of that game.

And it was a lot of fun, particularly being my games our best offense back here, So I was gonna say he wound up with one of the following year in two thousand and six against the Chicago Bears, another one of my all time favorite games. They were they were won and six going into that game and wound up just putting it on the Bears too much to everyone's surprise once again to knock the Bears off the undefeated perch. So that was you know, two times and

two decades they did that against the Chicago Bears. But Seth, you mentioned another another point about this game, and here's my kind of story for you guys again every week we do this. My senior year of high school was sure, bring bring it on. Let's just let's get it out of the way. Two five my senior year, and I was one of those kids that like to sleep until very very late on the weekends. I think most kids probably did. But I had one of those, like those

original alarm clocks that you had to set. It was before your iPhone, and I always had to put an alarm on for ten am games on the West Coast for the Dolphins because I would miss it if I if I slept past the alarm clock and my alarm didn't go off, and I woke up in a full fledged panic because and I'm still this way. If I miss a Dolphins snap, I I feel incomplete. I don't like it. It bothers me. And so back then I

woke up. It was like ten twenty five or something, and I was freaking out, and I turned the TV on and Chris Chambers is falling into the end zone on that reverse and I'm I'm like half asleep, like yeah, cheering, And then they panned the sideline that referee is saying, no, no, he stepped out of bounds and you said you gave him some crap for that, Well, no, he should be choose. How does he step out of bounds on that that should have been a touchdown? And nobody told the sidelines

better than right, does that happen? I'm asking knew that. She was like, how do you know? What are you feeling? Because there's a lot you gotta you know, obviously you don't want to get hit by guys as as a player who's running some back into and scored plenty of times. How how do you feel the boundaries over there? And what the hell happened with Chris Why didn't you know even stepping on the grounds. Yeah, I don't know, man. It's guys, and you're, like you said, it's not like Chris.

You know, Chris is the best when it comes to sideline work, end zone you know, back at the end zone work. You know, it's it's his footwork is flawless, man. So yeah, it was just a little full pop by him. You know, it doesn't usually happens to guys like that. We see some other guys get out because they're free to contact, but Chris is usually uh yeah, for sure,

for sure. The thing I always love about Chris from my personal perspective was he filled a void in my fandom heart when Ricky retired, because I told you guys just before, I was so heartbroken by Ricky Williams retiring and then Chris that next season in two thousand and five, I remember the sate line in the back of my head.

I always remember eighty two catches, one thousand, eighteen yards and eleven touchdowns and that was big time production, you know, for it was his biggest year of his career, big time production for Dolphins receivers at that point, because that we hadn't had a big year like that and in a wild price since you o, j and um, so he really feels traded. Chris right after that, so we got rid of Yeah exactly. I did not take that very well either. I won't. I won't tell you my

reaction to that. It's a little embarrassing. So let's go a little bit further back here. And this is a tough tone changer, guys. But um, last night, on on Thursday, we had we said goodbye to a Dolphins legend. Jake Scott passed away, um you know, on on Thursday night, and so I just wanted to kind of check out with you guys here and maybe get some perspective on on what Jake Scott meant to the Dolphins organization. Seth

as a guy that was a long time safety. We saw Eric Rowe rock the no name cleats on Sunday with Jake Scott and Dick Anderson thought that was really really cool. And then you know, now we have this news about Jake Scott. But just for the for the younger fans that were in diapers for the two thousand five game, tell us tell us about Jake Scott. Seth. Well, let me first, in foremost say that I was in diapers that when Jake Scott was dominating the Dolphins backfield

and not even born in some part of that. I was born in seventy three. So um, no, I mean, it truly is a loss of a legend. And and Jake's a guy that Look, he was a Super Super Bowl m v p Uh. You talk about the no name defense, but he you know, he and Dick Anderson back there were two of the best in in in that entire era. UM, and not just just great Dolphin players. Obviously, it's fun to watch old highlights and see Number thirteen do something other than throw eighty five yard touchdown passes.

It's kind of wild to watch it. Um. But the more you learn about Jake, the more you read about Jake. We've had some guests, including Dave Hyde, who told some amazing Jake Scott stories in the tank. Um, he just was, he was a character. He was he was a unique individual. Uh, tough son of a gun and so and and clearly you can even look statistically just a phenomenal football player. So it's a loss all the way around. And uh,

you know, our heart goes out to his family. But certainly I think the entire family, that an extended family that is the Dolphins station. And I hope that people do recognize that, you know, Jake was a special special player with with this franchise for a long time and part of the reason why, you know, we pride ourselves and being the only team to go undefeated, um and untied in the history of the NFL, and Jake Scot

some big reason why that happened. We've got plenty of content up on Miami Dolphins dot com taking a look at the life of Jake Scott, the career of Jake Scott. We have a photo gallery. Andy Cohen read a great piece. It's up on Miami Dolphins dot com right now, So go check that out if you guys have not done so already. Oh, j what's coming up next here in

the fish Tank? We got I know Seth has been telling me about an episode that I can't waite to hear personally, but I'm not going to spoil it because I'm not sure when it's coming out yet. But what's coming up this week for you guys? Yeah, we're not sure, all right, We've gotta We've got a couple of things ruined tank. As we we'd like to bring out, but

I know we've got it. We've gotta Doozy coming out with one of my of course, another white out, because every time we bring white outs, I say, let's break the news. Juice, go ahead and break it right here on Drive Time. All right, Yeah, we got we goton best this Tuesday, This Tuesday coming out. We got the vone best coming on. And boy was it. That's why I was talking about the beginning, about the whole Channing situation. Devin is gonna give me a run for his money.

He's gonna give a run for its money. Man. It's one of the best episodes that we've recorded. We went about an hour and fifteen minutes. It was that good. He was. He was real. He was real and wrong man, and we we know the trials and tribulations that he's going through, and he talked about everything, man. So it was it was absolutely amazing. So if you would want to add anything to that, no, I mean, Juice just

he said it all. Devon. Uh. Look, he was a fun guy to root for, right the underdog that shows up in the smaller guys who were tough and make all those catches. We know another one who might be

sitting on the podcast with us here but divine. Well, although you know, I guess underdog can't be the first round pick Underdog, but the vines entire story, and I think there's elements of it that people don't even know from the front end, and then there are things that we saw, but we're really confused and concerned as to what happened to him on the back end of his career. And Devon talks about it all, but he's he's just so inspirational. Um. He did not hide from anything. He

was so honest. He was so candid and vulnerable. I think a lot in this interview juice Um and we also talk about some fun moments during his career. You know that that season that he had as a rookie where he he was I think second all time in

receptions for an undrafted rookie wide receiver. Um, it was it felt like he came out of nowhere, you know, for those of us, particularly on the East Coast, came out of why he felt like it came out of nowhere and was really just a spectacular player, also really wonderful in the community. I had an opportunity to work with him some of his best route functions that that

he participated in. So we were really excited that Davon was that we were able to get in touch with Davon and that he was willing to come into the tank and and I think he had a lot of fun and telling stories that he felt he wanted Dolphin fans to hear. That's that's awesome to hear. I remember

when he you mentioned kind of coming from nowhere. I was a big part of Dolphins message board communities back in those days, and we would cover we would cover, you know, I use air quotes O T A s In summer camps, and it was always dismissive, like, oh, sure, Devon Best, this little undrafted rookie's gonna make an impact, and everyone would dismiss it as this guy that's having

good practices every single day. Low and behold, he winds up being a big time producer and made some big time catches on the division championship team in two thousand and eight. Seth Levitt, OJ mcdufee, the Fish Tank Podcast, Bob Bomb Howard and the Can last week and we got hopefully Devon Best this week coming up. We'll see what they come up on Tuesday. Guys, appreciate your time as always, cross over Friday another success, Thanks for having this and away they go. Fun as always with the

guys from the Fish Tank Podcast. As for this edition of the Drive Time podcast, that's gonna be My time. We'll be back with you guys on Sunday night to recap Dolphins and Broncos. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast. Leave us a rating, leave us a review, give me a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfield, NFL. Follow the

team at Miami Dolphins Miami Dolphins dot com. The Fish Tank and the Audible podcast all the content you guys could ever want until next time finds up