Fins Flashback: Remembering Bill Arnsparger with AJ Duhe

And on today's show, we are joined by legendary Dolphins linebacker on the Fins Flashback to discuss legendary Dolphins defensive coordinator Bill Arnsberger, who's up for a very very prestigious award, will discuss the accomplishments of coach and here from one of his most accomplished players here in Miami, not one, not two, but three interceptions on the two a f C Championship game over those no good New York Jets here on this Friday j in the nineteenth edition of

the Drive Time Podcast. And so that very prestigious award that Bill Arnstbarger, Dolphins defensive coordinator for a long time, for a significant chunk of the Don Shula era and pretty well regarded as the best assistant coach in Miami Dolphins history, and Arnsbarger is among eight nominees for the Paul doctor Z Zimmerman Award for Lifetime Achievement as an assistant coach in the National Football League and honor bestowed by the Pro Football Writers Association here in the National

Football League, and just real quick on doctor Z the name of the award. I will say for the rest of my lifetime that he was the biggest influence in my life because even though I was a youngster when he was really in his prime and really on the the the focal point, the forefront of all football riding and all football commentary. I always love the way he was able to piece together the analyst side and also

the good writing, the good storytelling side. That's who I always wanted to model my writing, my storytelling, my podcasting, my radio voice, whatever it was going to be that I was going to do in my life, I always modeled it after Doctor Z. So rest in peace. Doctor Z asked for Bill Arnstbarger among these eight nominees for the lifetime award from the Pro Football Riots Association. What a big honor it is to have him even among those names to be among those eight people that are

in fact up for this award. And we're gonna talk to a J. Dewey, former Dolphins linebacker here in just a moment to get some clarity, some some perspective on who Bill Arnstbarger was as a man and as a coach. But just some quick facts here on coach Arnsberger. He was born all the way back in nineteen twenty six.

He passed away back in one of the most successful defensive coaches in the nfl is one hundred year history, serving as an assistant coach in the NFL for twenty one years, which he was with Shula there in Baltimore and the Colts came with Sula to Miami in nineteen seventy. He was there from seventy to seventy three and then again from seventy six to nineteen eighty three, and would later go back to the NFL after a stint in college with the Chargers in San Diego, the defensive coordinator

from ninety two to ninety four. And if you listen to the Lockdown Dolphins podcast when I hosted after Dolphins wins, we'd play the song win when When When? When all we do is win, and that's all Bill Arn't Barger did. His defense finished among the top five and fewest points allowed fifteen times out of twenty one seasons. Five of those years, Aren't Barker's defense led the NFL in fewest

points allowed. His teams earned trip to the NFL Championship Game or Super Bowl in seven out of twenty one seasons, so into the final four in one third of his NFL seasons as an assistant coach, and each of the three teams he coached with earned at least one trip

to the NFL Championship or super Bowl. During his tenure, the Colts to the NFL Championship Game, we know about Miami's two Super Bowl victories, including five trips to the Super Bowl, and then after the eight year absence in the NFL, he would come back to the Chargers and be a part of that team that went to a Super Bowl as well, and his units won world championships following the nineteen seventy two and nineteen seventy three seasons,

including the NFL's only perfect season, the nineteen seventy two Miami Dolphins. As we all know, the Dolphins had a combined record of thirty two and two in those two seasons, and that has also yet have been surpassed. Overall, his teams posted a regular season mark of to fourteen eighty five and six. That's a seven twelve win percentage, averaging more than ten regular season wins per year, and in an era when you only play fourteen regular season games.

For the most part of that era, his seventy two and seventy three Dolphins teams averaged just twelve point two points allowed per game and ten points seven points allowed per game. That's fewer than any of the other members on this nominee list who were also defensive coordinators. They are Buddy Ryan, Floyd Peters, Romeo Crannell, and Rod Marinelli. Bill Arnsberger had the lowest points per game than any of those guys in those two seasons with the Miami Dolphins.

His fifty three defense was named for the situational use of number fifty three linebacker Bob Mathison as a fourth linebacker in the early nineteen seventies, and that served as something of a precursor to the modern three four defense that teams began using later that decade. Of course, we had the Buddy Ryan forty six defense there with the Bears. These guys on this list are innovators, and Bill Arnsbarger

was the innovator of innovators. He was nicknamed one more Real by his players for studying countless hours of film revealing his future opponents offensive tactics. And I think this quote here from Dick Anderson really says it all. It's remarkable that he never called a defense that we didn't have total faith in. The man was brilliant. He put us in the right place at the right time for our abilities. He never asked someone to do something they

couldn't mentally or physically do. End quote. And Arnsbarger, of course, was there for the No Name defense, which recorded the first and now one of only two defensive Super Bowl shutouts with the fourteen seven win over Washington and Super Bowl seven. Of course, the only Washington touchdown on that day came on a special teams pumble from Gary A prim Me in his defense didn't allow a Minnesota score

in super Bowl seven. Rather, super Bowl eight checked that until Miami was zero on their way to seven win overall. In the nineteen seventy three playoffs and Super Bowl, they allowed a total of thirty three points against Cincinnati, Oakland and Minnesota aren't. Barker's defense has posted two shutouts in conference championship games, the most by any coordinator since nineteen

seventy the nineteen seventy merger. Rather, the Dolphins won the nineteen seventy one a f C Championship game with win over the Colts. At safety Dick Anderson scored and a sixty two yard touchdown return on an interception. In nineteen eighty two, his Killer Bees defense led the way to a fourteen zero win in the a f C Championship game against the rival Jets, as linebacker A. J. Dewey recorded not one, not two, but three interceptions, including a thirty five yard pick six back to the house for

a touchdown. And that's a great way to segue into my interview here with former Dolphins linebacker, former Dolphins great Age A. Dowey and writing Shotgun now on the Drive Time podcast. Is the nineteen seventy seven defensive Rookie of the Year Pro Bowl linebacker who spent the entirety of his eight year career with the Miami Dolphins, Number seventy seven A J. Dewey A J. Welcome in, Sir, well, it's it's good to be uh part of a flashback podcasts.

I'll give you as much information as I can drum up here, and uh, ilet's have fun at it, right, Yeah, that's that's the whole point we're doing here. It's a little bit slow for content these days because we don't have the guys in the building, so it's nice to go back and and check in on some of the old past wins of of these team's, you know, story franchise, story organization, and you're definitely a big part of that, and so was coach Arnsparker. And we're gonna get into

that here just real quickly. But first, how are you doing, man? What's life like for you these days? Well, I mean, you know, I'm practicing COVID nineteen. I mean I got my I got my COVID nineteen haircut. I I what's your Uh My wife posted on Facebook, uh when she was cutting my hair out in the backyard, and uh, I was calling it my COVID nineteen uh uh and she was calling it hill Billy chronicles. So we kind

of had two different names for it. But uh, it's uh, it's been a little different, you know, the impact that this viruses, you know, put on our country, in our in our in our world. It's it's it's tough. It's uh, but I'm kind of getting used to it now. It's it's just part of life. We have to just you know, deal with and grow through and hopefully, you know, the

brighter side of it comes sooner than we're anticipating. Well, she did a good job, because I've seen a lot of people doing their own haircuts, cutting their own hair and doesn't go very well for them. So you definitely

have a good in house barber. They're taking care of you and and and you know, to kind of make a difficult transition here, I want to first start with, you know, I'm sure you do a lot of these interviews, and when you do them, I'm sure the first game that comes up is that AFC Championship game, And why wouldn't it, Because first I just I want to hear your perspective about that game, like going into it, throughout the course of it, after the first pick, after the

second pick, like when did you know that you were gonna be so heavyly involved in the game plan and had such a big impact on that game and really be the difference in the game. Well, you know, I kinda uh. I did an interview just a week and a half ago with Yahoo Sports and kind of that same you know storyline we were trying to go through, and the guy was shocked that I said that in

the moment, you just don't even think about it. But you know that getting back from the start of that week, Uh, it kind of was a crazy uh weather situation that whole week. I mean, it was one of those times in our country where you know, there's a lot of snow going on up north and on the East coast, and by the time it makes his way down the coastline, once it gets to about South Carolina, it turns into you know, maybe some sleep and then gets the Georgian Uh.

You know, in Florida it becomes rain. So we had we had rain was every day for a good five or six seven days. And it wasn't it wasn't just a storm. It was of those that we just had rain throughout the throughout the day. We had to juggle

our schedule around a little bit. We practiced some in the morning things because coach Chilo, I guess they would get some weather forecasts and know that the heavier range would be in the afternoon, and we we you know, we we were there for the full day like normal, but you know, practices were cut short and we were just working on I guess h different things that would be successful for us on offensive and details. You really can't, you know, prepare because you don't know they're gonna do

uh offensively. You just gotta prepare for their game plan. So you know, we worked on that and uh when we got we got down to the field at the Orange Bowl, I mean I was on the impression that the stadium was gonna be fine. I'm sure everybody was, because we had what they called prescription athletic turf. I'm not sure you know the the average fan knows what that means, but it's something that was put in place back in the days when they were converting all the

AstroTurf fields to natural brass. And uh when they when they had the AstroTurf fields, they had already taken the turtleback out of the uh out of the field. So you're not old enough to know about turtleback fields, you know, you back back in the day, that's what it was. Because of the fall off of the range so they built these pa Tea fields with a major underground pumping system, and it was in the early stages of that development, in that type of field planning that they obviously didn't

build the pumps with enough capacity. So the pumps, this is all told to me after the fact that the city of Miami owned the Orange Bowl. The pumps went down. They were having trouble getting you know water, uh, you know, sucked off the field to drain out, and it just turned into a complete flat bed of about two or three inches of mucky, mucky water like you're walking in the marsh almost right. So, uh, it played to our advantage. Obviously, the Jets were a team that was loaded with team speed.

They had a lot of go to receivers who would start to feel on us. But you know, both teams had to play in those conditions. And uh, you know, I'm tired of hearing Jet fans winning about it. I'm

telling this is like forty some five years ago. Come on, get over, you know, I mean, you know how many things have going on in your life that could have made it better, right, So, but you know, but in the nutshell, that's kind of the way it played out from that week accssent participating and and on game day. But but getting back to I guess the question is how it played out, you know, interception one, two three. You know, it was just it was just making plays

on the field. I mean, Uh, to this day, I really don't look back and and and sit there and say, you know, I knew exactly what they were gonna run or you know, I'm not gonna sit here and take credit for any of that kind of stuff. You know,

we just we played good coverages. Uh. Obviously the field being in the condition it was, it it allowed you know, both players to kind of play guarded, you know, because the receivers, uh, they're not about to try and make some fancy move on you because they're played that their footing might give out on them. And for us to the defensive players, we just tried to trail and track

and just stay in place as best we could. One thing that we did do as a team is that we were able to after warm up, so even before one with some of the guys made a decision to go and change their cleets. So we we played with some long cleets. Uh. You know, we were playing with the uh you know, the screwing type of cleets where you know, also gonna come with a three eighth inch I think the standard model, and it is a half

inch in their seven eighth. So we all went to the longest think we could possibly get and helping to pay it off for us. But you know, getting back okay. The first interception happened to be on a uh I think a route that was throwing to the tight end on the steam route, and we were playing a coverage that we've worked on against uh the Jets that that weekend was the courage we hadn't shown that much of.

And I think Richard Todd probably thought the tight end had me beat uh and and in the because the safety was playing kind of back, we're in a double coverage situation, and he kind of under threw the tight end and I made uh. I went up and jump for it and made a good catch on that one. The second one, they were trying to throw a little uh uh. They were trying to run a route where the halfback option route they called up where he would try and just you know, fake me out and and

make a move, and he did. Unfortunately, Richard threw the past behind the running back. He had he had me beat. You look at he had me beat about three or four steps. I mean, if he throws a good pass, that could have been a big play for them, but he who were behind him and when he reached with his back arm, it kind of tipped it to me and I was able to make the interception on the third one, which was the game breaker, and the game changer was a little screen passed they tried to throw

out in the flats. Uh. It was just some technique we worked on all the time, you know, protecting our legs when you're rushing the pass and they like to cut you and get your get you, uh to the ground. I was able to do that. And uh, when Richard couldn't throw the ball high enough because he anticipated me being cut by the offensive linement, he kind of threw it to where I kind of made a fingertip kind of another bat and the ball around played with it

in the air. It seemed like it took forever. And you know in the end zone in area's game over, you know the Super Bowl bound right, we all remember that far, at least the ones that were around for before a little before my time. But I did. I can see you yeah, you're a young guy. Even my kids. You're probably the age of my kids. In the days before I came to the team and when I played with the team and a little after, Man, the Dolphins were the they were they were. They had the in factor,

you know. I mean, like everybody in the country loved us. You know, we had fans all of the country. You know, there's still a lot of good Dolphins fans on the country, but back in those days, man, you felt it when you went on the road to play. Well. I think that that has a large impact for why someone like myself was became a big Dolphins fan because a j I'm from Washington State. I didn't grow up anywhere near South Florida. So I think that that tradition, that history

really attracted me at a young age. The colors didn't didn't hurt either. The winning success Dan Marino, all those factors went into why I became a Dolphins fan now and worked for the team. So, I mean, I think you guys laid a foundation that really developed a huge, huge contingency of Dolphins fans. And and you mentioned the

sloppy play on the field that day. And I'm always curious because you know, we talked about the snow and how it's like snow games where oh, this might be a problem for the opposing team because they're not used to playing in the snow, but it's always more of an issue for the defensive players, right because the offense knows where they're going, but you're the one that has

to react in those sloppy conditions. And with a muddy, wet field, same ideas snow, right, Well, I mean it's a little different because usually in snow, you're still gonna have some kind of footing because, uh, the surface under the snow is still consistent. But when you play in a muddy, sloppy field, uh, you know, you get more breakage you can. I mean, you you may have a little bit more given the some given the snow, but you've got a lot more give in a muddy, uh

kind of natural soil situation. Um. But but you know, I think it played both ways. I mean, because the running backs that were that were gifted and talented for the Jets or even though guys, you know, they had to make a decision do I plant my foot in the ground, and you know, every if everything is just straightforward, straightforward, I mean, it's pretty much easy to uh, to make plays.

It's it's it's when guys want to cut and and you know, like they say, put that foot in the ground and go the other way, that's when it gets a little challenging. So at some point you know that the other guy isn't gonna be you know, being uh, you know, like a little b back there trying to buzz around and and and make cuts and make moves, so you can't you know, line a guy up and and and go for him and probably make an easier

at tackle than he would think. Right, Yeah, And it's it's uh, it's definitely something that I think contributed to the performance that day for you guys there as well and get you back to the super Bowl. And one of the reasons this Dolphins team was so good for so long was because two coaches and coach Shula and coach Arnst Barker that both just really we're with the team for so long you had that continuity. And I'm always curious to know how those two type of coaches

can balance each other. Because as we do this podcast here with A J. Dewey, former Dolphins linebacker, we are honoring coach Arnsparker today one of eight nominees for that Doctor Z Lifetime Achievement Award. And I'm always fascinated by possible coaching juxtaposition in terms of personalities and the way they meshed together. Because you've got coach Shula who is known as this ultimate tactician, this ultimate or as ultimate

disciplinarian guy that can really fire team up. Was coach Arnstbarger that same way in terms of the intimidation factor? Was he more pure tactician? How do they balance each other? I mean, Arns, they had a uh, he had an intimidating kind of demeanor, but it was it was kind of hidden. It wasn't like it didn't play out like it did with Coachla coach almost every day. You know, you were sort of intimidated by you know what he was all about. You know what he's brought to the

game and his accomplishments. You know you are You're like, you're honored to be part of that, but you are kind of like you're in all You're going, Man, you know this guy, he's the real deal. You know, he's the guy that you know as a kid, you know, growing up. I mean here, I am you know, uh in high school and and through college, you know, being a crazy football fan because that was my love. I played a lot of sports. My love was football, and I couldn't you know, I couldn't wait to watch games.

You know. Back in those days, you're lucky to see two games on a Sunday. Now you can see you know, all whatever there is, all fourteen of them, because you got to say, yeah, so it's kind of a little different, you know scenario. You know, your younger generations get to enjoy a look differitely. But but he orn Z never he never like was you know, a guy who had a high range in his in his tone. You know,

he he would always talk, you know, mild manner. You know when he was mad, you could almost see it in his face and you can almost kind of, you know, get get a glimpse of coming off the field that he wasn't happy with that last series and how we played. And you knew what he you know, you knew it was coming your way. You know he was gonna get you know, get down on the chark board and just you know, show us. You know, this is something we've seen all week long. How you guys not picking it

up how you know, recognize it. It was amazing the guy. The guy had, uh you know, he had one mind, but he had eleven sets of ice working because he you know, he had almost all eleven guys figured out on the field. You know, you know where they need to be. It's almost like having the eye in the sky. And here he is sitting on the sideline with a

headphone on and looking at the ground level. So I was pretty impressed out he could, you know, just diagnose what we were doing right and wrong in our defensive schemes. It just pres more than one way to skin a cat. Right. You've got the kind of brash and and and aggressive coach, and you got the guy that's kind of the strong Sigland type that can get his message across that way as well. I think one of the reasons that he really did get that message across and had so many

historic defenses. We talked about the fifty three defense, and I want to hear your perspective on what the fifty three defense was and how you guys executed it, because you go back to Bob Matheson, the player that really kind of helped him create this hybrid defense and I went and looked at your Pro Football Reference page AJ, and it changes your position from the first three years I think in your career from defensive end and then

to a linebacker position later on in your career. Were you kind of that hybrid player, kind of the guy that made that defense worked And what was it about that defense that worked so well? Well? I mean, you know the fifty three defense, Uh, you know, came around under Bob math is his number. He was number fifty three, and it basically it was it was a three or

four defense. I mean, it's really a three or four defense, but they just called it theft three because you know, it was It was implemented using a lot of his skill sets. You know, the pass rusher is a downlignement as a guy who can blitz, as a guy who can play coverage. And Bob was probably a guy who came out of college maybe as a defensive linement because he was he was uh, he was a nice sized guy. I mean back in the day, you know, linebackers weren't

that big. I mean, and for me, I was playing defensive end my first I played defensive end in college. In my first three years with the Dolphins, uh. And what happened was Larry Garden, God rest, his soul was

in a contract year holdout year. And supposedly, I mean the story is that some sportswriter you know, was an interviewing coach, uh, you know, Coach Schull one day and talking to him during training camp and you know, going over the fact that Larry Garden hadn't been in camp yet, you know, and Coach Schule always deferred to you know, the ownership and the general manager. You know that they will get that done. You know, I gotta keep, you know,

working with what we have on the field. And some guy, a reporter from the thing the Palm Beach Post, says because because let me tell you what happened, Doug Betters. You know Doug Betters obviously right. So Doug came in the year after me and I got hurt in my second year and Doug started playing and and and doing a great job, and he started I think it might have been the first games of my second year because I had had NAT surgery. I had an operation in the Hall of Fame game and Doug a great job

and won the position. And when when I got back to playing, you know, Doug Doug Betters had uh had taken over as you know, at my position, and uh, the coaches you know, started putting me in like in a rotation kind of. Back in those days, there was no such thing as rotation. When you got rotated, you're thinking, oh man, something wrong here, you know. I mean nowadays, rotation is that's that's, that's standard operating procedure, right you know.

Uh so so, so I would go back in for a series, you know, Doug would play, I go you know, so I wasn't getting playing time as I was. You know, here I am, I was made rookie the year, and here I am second year in the league and I've already been beating out of my position start, right, So so that was kind of a hard pill to swallow. But you know, I lived with it, and Doug and I have best friends. You know, we're still good friends to this day. So uh so so so going through

that that that change was difficult. So we come back in year three and then uh, you know, Doug and I are are playing, uh you know, for that same position, and we're competing for the right defensive end for the team. Uh. But Doug had the ability to play the left side as well. You know, I wasn't that good from the left side, that wasn't the right side. So Doug had the ability to play both sides, and he did both of them, you know, pretty good. So what was happening.

We we kind of go into like a rotation now with with Doug, myself and then vern den Herder, who was the other defensive and so you know, we it was it was more of a three man rotation and then you know, I would always play, you know, the right end, Doug would play right and left and you know, take a seat. Burn would take a seat. So it kind of it became more of a rotation, and that became a little more you know, accustomed to what we

were gonna go out and do that year. Uh so, coming coming back in year four, which after that's when coach you look at here with the question from a reporter saying, you know, once you give you know, once you try a j at the position, because because I was a good there, I mean, you know, the sports writers knew what they're probably you know, like kind of going, damn man, you know this is this is gonna be tough of the coaches. You know, you got a j

and Doug. You know, two great players compete playing, you know why I can't both of them be on the field at the same time. And Coach Chila must have gave it some thoughts. I don't know. I don't know if it was the next day or two days later. He you know, he says, uh, you know, and and and this is kind of like a year four, which is like my option year of my contract. So I don't know if you know much about that, but your option year is kind of like that's your make or

break here. So I'm kind of going it's either they're they're trying to tell me that they don't have no need for me, no more or whatever. So you know, you kind of a lot of things run through your mind. But so I get I forget it's the challenge, and I worked hard at it. Uh Coach coach Arnsberger was very very uh patient with me and uh and and detailed and timely with me. So I gotta give a

lot of credit to him for creating the monster. I guess you can say, because you know, I went from playing defensive end, being a down line in my whole life as a kid, high school, college to now play in a two point stance. And so I went that whole training camp, uh, you know, working at the outside linebacker position that uh that Larry Garden uh was supposed

to uh you know be playing. Uh And then all of a sudden, Larry Gordon signed his contract like like every typical good veteran does about the week before the season starts. So now you've been working the whole training camp uh at at outside linebacker and uh and then then and then the next thing is so now they started saying, okay, well we'll we'll move into because the cover of the inside linebackers they've gotten hurt during uh

during training camp. So he said, well, let's go try some of this inside linebacker stuff out for a while.

So I ended up, you know, performing well uh, you know at the inside linebacker position, and I just kind of started to learn how for the outside line or linebacker position, which is a lot different because when you're playing outside, you're on the line of scrimmage and you're lined up, you're more the hits hit happened a little quicker, you know, Uh, you have to react quicker when you play in the in the middle, when you're off the ball four or five yards it's more recognition, more evaluating

what's happening in front of you. And that was a little more of a challenge for me. But you know, I pulled it off in uh and you know after my eighth year, you know, we had did a lot of things with it. Like you're saying, we I think Orange Barbery invented the zone Blitz. I tell people to this day he had to invent the zone Blitz because I don't remember seeing any teams doing any of the

stuff that we were doing so and not. Now when I look at the zone Blitz, I'm kind of going, wow, man, this is this is like the Rose Royce of the zone. But when we were the Toyota Corolla, I mean, you know, we're just starting because because it's crazy. The zwn Blitz today is like you know, and maybe you know and and and maybe you know, if I would have stuck around another four or five years, I might have seen how it developed, you know, into what it is now.

But to the zone Blitz today, I mean, it's it's its own it's it's its own animal. I mean, it's it's it's unbelievable. But the reason it's so good today is because that you get so many good, aggressive athletic people on defense. I mean, when you see a defensive tackle drop back into play coverage, when you see uh, you know, the corner and the safety coming off the same side and asking your outside linebacker and go outside

and cover a ride receiver. I mean, you know, it's just it's just insane some of the things that they're doing with the zone blitz. But it's all because you know, the talent of the players in today's game. Yeah, you watch coach Flores defense, as you're gonna have guys coming from anywhere on the football field for pass rushes, and

so it's definitely evolved from there. I'm curious to hear about how Arms Coach Arms really implemented those systems and you know, the zone blitz and getting you to play different positions and saying, you know, dude, let's go ahead and play you inside, let's play you outside. Was he the type of guy that would get on the football field and kind of and walk you through it and show you the technique and show you the the arns.

He he was not a he was not a instructional cover Okay, he you know, I mean, my deep be the line coach when I first started coming, that guy would get the three point stands and just blow me up, you know, I mean, you know, Arms was not that kind of guy. You know, he would, he'd draw everything up on the chalkboard. He'd show film of you know, you know he would, he would. That's why he was like that one more real guy. I guess, you know,

I can teach more. I can teach better with the Rios than I can by lining up and showing guys, you know how and what has done, so you know, it was it was definitely a thing that he he had a good skill at teaching us by you know, drawing and talking about it, explaining it to us, you know, getting us to understand when you do it this way, this is what the offense is gonna see, and this is how they're gonna react, and this is this is the way we can make make the execution of our

defensive scheme work better for us. So it's uh, definitely a unique coaching style and system that he had. I heard a podcast earlier today that was about you know, modern day football, and they're talking about how the best coaches of all time are the ones that can adapt with the times. And really kind of reinvent themselves. And I think we see that all the time in modern day football and back in you know, the past days of football. And we know Schula was that way as well.

And you mentioned, you know, your multiple positions. Was coach Urns that way with everybody? Like did he look at a safety and say maybe you can play corner, maybe this, maybe this defensive tackle can get outside and pass rush? Was everybody kind of on the table to do multiple things in that defense. It wasn't no the skill set,

the skill set. Uh. I mean, I'm not taking anything away from the guys that I played with, but I mean the skill set wasn't there to use eleven guys and and and say that, you know, a j can do this. You know, kim Bo Camper was another guy who was very versatile. Uh. We had Mike Kozlowski who was kind of a versatile guy who played safety, who played slot, who played linebacker, force. We had fearful guys with the defensive side of the ball that you know

we've built our schemes around. You know. Uh, could we have done that? I don't know, I mean I don't I don't know if we had the ability to do. Like I said, bring a safety in a corner from from the same side of the field, and expect for your for your outside linebacker and your middle linebacker to to play coverages against receivers who run four or three. I mean, so, you know, we did the best way we could have what we had. That's kind of I guess we could say it, right. I think you did

plenty of good. The Killer Beast defense, you know, a famed legendary defense after the No Name defense. So to have two different defensive units with nicknames, that just doesn't happen. And you were a big part of that Killer Beast defense, even though didn't have the be in your name. What does it mean for you to be a part of a defense that is now known, you know, in football lore as a defensive unit that was so good that you've got a nickname after you guys? Well, I mean

you know it, Uh, I don't know. I think I was another sportswriter that uh that came up with, uh, that nickname for us. I don't think. You know, it's something that we we threw around in the locker room.

That that's one thing you know when you're playing ball, you know, sitting around thinking of you know, fads are thinking of like you know, catchy maybe today you know, so many guys instagramming and twittering everything, and everybody's got to have a little nickname or a certain a certain something about you know, their moves or their performance or

their dance or whatever they do. So I get, you know, I know the younger generation was hip and cool, but uh, you know I thought we were hipping cool back in our day, you know, so, uh but but yeah, I just uh, I just have a lot of admiration for you know, all those guys I played with. You know, we're uh, we go down in history with like you're saying, coming up with a nickname that people can talk about and remember for a long time. Even even people today,

you still talk about that. I mean, it's kind of funny how especially our dolphin fans are loyal dolphin fans. They just they love talking about the Killer Beach, you know, and all the things that we did to make the Back in those days, we were we were the you know, the uh the horse that drove that drove the buggy, you know what I'm saying. So the the defenses, you know, got us to where we were back in those days.

You know, the offense is kind of sputtered along, and we just kept if we can, you know, we always told off and you can score seventeen points, will probably win every game. You know, it says I think our our points for game were in the in the mid teens or low teams. Why every year most of those years. Yeah, I mean it's it was. It's crazy to look back and see how how it was consistently the top of

the league. I mean, there's defenses now that do that, and we talked about them as the all time great defenses. So why are you guys? You know you're in that converse station as well, and you mentioned, you know, kind of a young guy, but I have an old soul. I always say that nicknames are not what they used to be. Now, it's like a rod, which first letter of your first name, first few lars of your last name, and that's not a nickname. It's just putting names together.

They had like Billy White Shoes, Johnson and you know, the killer Bees and the no name defense. Nicknames are not what they used to be. So I'm with you on that. Well, I'm trying to think of that name of that, uh, because we used to hate them, but you know, they because they were able to. Uh. The Washington Redskins had that group of guys that would always start dancing to the end zone. I know they had to Hogan, but it was something it was a something

pack I can't remember right. Yeah, it was Art Monk and uh you know, you know he threw some more names at me. I would, I would, but they always would go to celebrate in the end zone and they were got one of the first I think they're one of the first groups to do celebrations and they got they got a nickname from that. Well, we'll leave it to Twitter and let us know. They'll they'll get back to us in the podcast when they hear this'll they'll

tell us. They'll they'll tweet me. So let us know what was the Washington nickname for the receiver's back in those in those heydays in the nineties. I got one more question for you here for for your AJ. I want to know what's what's your best coach Arnsbarger story, whether it's on the field, it's a sideline where he choosing a situation where he choose you out on the sideline, maybe it's in the locker room. Maybe it's something outside of football. What's your best coach story? I mean, we were,

you know, we were playing. I don't remember the exact game, but I know we were. We were kind of you know, not doing too good defensively, and uh, you know, we were getting getting our ear full from coach Sula. You know when we came up the field and uh, you know he finally turned the coach arnsbarg and you know he's thinking he shoot everybody's but you know that's coming off the field. I guess the next I can choose

the guy making the call. You know, he just kind of goes when you know, like when are we gonna get the damn defense to make some place for Coach Arnsbarger just took his headphones off of his head and said, here, you can make the call. Just walk, just walk to the bench. He went to the wind of the water cooler. You know, so you know he was you know, he might have been intimidated by Sula, but he had to show him right there, know kinda kinda that was a

that was a good moment in time. You know, if you can do the job, do a buy it yourself, right yeah, I love it. A J. We appreciate your time, then we appreciate the stories. Eight year linebacker with the Miami Dolphins, nineteen seventy seven defensive Rookie of the Year, A J. Dewey, Thank you so much for your time today, so we really appreciate it. All right, y'all, y'all take care of that. God bless you guys. Okay, and the way he goes. Famous Dolphins linebacker eight years with the team,

A J. Dewey. We all remember him from the two a f C Championship Game. The three picks, part of a lot of top defenses in the NFL throughout the seventies and eighties there in Miami. As for today's podcast, that is gonna be my time. Happy Juneteenth everybody. Hope you all enjoy your holiday, enjoy the day, enjoy the weekend. All of you. Please go check out the article on Miami Dolphins dot com, The Fence Flashback, taking a look at coach Arn Sparker from the words of A. J. Dewey,

as well as Aren Sparker's accomplishments. Subscribe, rate and review the podcast. As always, give me a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfiel NFL Fall, the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins, and of course check out the Fish Tank and the Audible podcast, as well as Miami dolphins dot Com until next time. Until Monday finds up