Fins Flashback with Chad Pennington and the 2008 Wildcat Game

And on today's show, the kid and me is excited right now when you're flashing it back to two thousand eight and the implementation of the wildcat offense, that famed game, the two thousand eight victory over the New England Patriots that sparked in eleven and three finish to that season and an a FC East Crown where you're gonna talk to two thousand eight m v P runner up Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington on his thoughts on that game on

this Friday, April, the seventeenth edition of the Drivetime podcasts. Off the lead of the show, you heard me talk about being an excited kid back in the day of that two thousand eight game, watching the Dolphins just run rough shot over the New England Patriots for a big

blowout victory. In week three of that two thousand eight season, and really going into that game, the Dolphins were owing to the initial game of that season against the New York Jets, a home game was a close one and one the Dolphins had a chance to pull out late. It didn't happen that way. And then week two you

go to Arizona and that game wasn't even close. So you head into the Week three game thinking maybe this could be a game even without Tom Brady, that the Dolphins don't have much of a chance to get a w in. I don't think many fans were expecting a positive outcome that day, but my goodness, was that the wrong mentality. One of the most memorable games since the

turn of the century for this organization. And I know I said that I was a kid during that game, but I was twenty years old, so maybe not too young, but this game tends to bring out the kid and all of us, and none better than that Wildcat game just watching Miami score touchdown after touchdown. And one of

my favorite anecdotes from that game. My brother at the time was going to Washington State University at the Pullman campus in our hometown was about two hours away, so he would drive down every Sunday to watch the Dolphins with me, and we were both in the same fantasy football league. And on balance, this trade we made wound up being pretty even that year. But I'll never forget the trade because of what happened on that Sunday. I gave him Kurt Warner and Ladiny and Tomlinson, and he

gave me Ronnie Brown and Aaron Rodgers. I was buying that Roger Stock early on in his career, just his second year starting at that point, I believe. And again, on balance, the trade wound up being pretty even by the end of the fantasy football season. But not on that Sunday, Man, I had Ronnie Brown five touchdowns and cruised to victory, one of my favorite games in Dolphins memory.

And who better to come on the podcast here on the Drivetime podcast and tell us about that warm fall day in Foxboro that turned into an absolute route and sparked in eleven and three finish en route to an a f C East title. Then quarterback Chad Pennington, and joining the podcast now is the Dolphins quarterback and m v P runner up for the two thousand eight season, Chad Pennington. Chad, thanks for jumping on here with me, man, absolutely, thanks for having me. First off, I gotta ask you

because it's kind of a crazy time right now. Everything's kind of up in the air of sports and otherwise. How are you doing? How's the family you guys staying safe during the sheltering place. We are extremely blessed to be on a small farm here in Lessening, Entucky, and so we do have our space and social distancing intact. I think our biggest challenge for Robin and me would be at the homeschooling aspect of school. We have three boys, and so trying to get all three boys through a

home school day is quite the challenge. What's your what's your go to subject? When you're kind of struggling, you have like a certain thing you fall back on. Ye, Well, right now fifth grade is really challenging me. And science. We're doing a roller coaster lab. We're writing fantasy stories and language arts. We are studying World War two and social studies, and so yeah, I'm being challenged. I feel

like I'm going to fifth grade all over again. So it's like, is Chad Pennington smarter than a fifth grader? Exactly exactly? Sometimes I feel that I am sometimes I feel that I'm not well. That's all great either way, Chat,

that's that's too good. Before we get into this football game itself, I wanted to ask you a hard pivot here personally about that season for you, because you started all seventeen games, sixty seven point four percent completion, nineteen touchdowns, just seven picks, seven point seven yards per attempt, three thousand,

six hundred fifty three yards and a pass. The rating of ninety seven point four at a time we're getting near the one hundred mark was really in the elite class, and of course that was recognized by finishing second in the MVP voting that year for you. So Chad, with that said, I've always said this sports write better scripts than any fiction possibly can, and your story is case in point. With the two thousand eight Miami Dolphins released

by the Jets. Signed with Miami, and the schedule is sets up perfectly with Booke end games against your new rival and X team, the New York Jets. Let's go

ahead and start there at the beginning. What was that like for you to kind of kind of get blindsided in the month of August, just one month from the season, and then wind up back in the a f C East, Well, things had been ramping up, so to speak, with either trade talk or release talk, throughout the training camp process in the in the first part of training camp with the Jets, and so although you still deal with the shock factor, um, some of that had been removed because

it was a little bit to be expected. And so I served eight years there with the Jets and felt like I had given it my all, and part of me was saying I probably did need a change of scenery. And so when the release happened the night before the first preseason game in Cleveland, Ohio, I was upset. I had been having a really good training camp. I thought that our team with the Jets was going to be a playoff contender, and I wanted to be a part

of that. But at the same time, I felt like the whole weight of the world was lifted off of my shoulders because it could no longer be Chad Pennington's fault in New York. So the next three days I've always said I was probably the happiest unemployed man in the NFL, just looking for a place to go, and fortunately for me, Miami gave me the opportunity to be

a starter once again. I still had to prove myself, but at least I knew I was going into a situation that it was completely wide open, and I really relished in that fact and knew that I had a chance to be a starter once again. How big of a challenge was it for you to come into, like you mentioned a court about competition where you did have to prove yourself and basically learning a whole new system, a whole new game, and like you said, four weeks time, well,

it certainly was a challenge. I was fortunate enough in being drafted by Bill Parcels with the Jets in two thousand, having Dan Henning as my coordinator as a rookie. As a matter of fact, I took my rookie playbook with me on the plane as I was flying down to Miami on Saturday to be with the team for their opening preseason game against Tampa Bay, and so I had some familiarity at least with how coach Sprano would run

the program, knowing that Dan and Bill were both involved. However, there's still a lot of changes, and Tony wanted to do certain things offensively, so quarterback coach David Lee and I really started the process early Sunday morning after the first preseason game, and after about two to three hours we started at six o'clock in the morning. After about two to three hours, I looked at David. I said, uh, Coach, you want me to run with the ones tomorrow? Correct?

He said yes, And I said, well, I need to be ready for tomorrow's practice. Correct. Yes, you need to be ready for tomorrow's practice. I said, well, I think instead of worrying about the logistics of the basics of the offense, let's go straight to the scripts. And so from then on I actually learned the Dolphins system through practice scripts, knowing that I had to be ready for practice and let's just phocus on the immediate goal of being ready for practice. And that's how I began to

learn the system. Right, Because if you're not up to speed, and the rest of the entire program kind of has to catch up to you, right, Well, what happens is what you learned quickly is that if the quarterback is not ready to practice every day mentally and physically, the offensive part of practice is horrible. It does not go well at all. Everything is dictated by the quarterback. The checks that he makes, the snap counts that he uses, the plays that he um executes, is all centered around

the quarterback. And so for an offensive team to have success in practice and feel good about us production and improvement, the quarterback has to be ready to go. And so that was the way the season began. Obviously a bit of a rush to get things going, but by the end of the year it really ended as perfectly as

I could have. Towards the regular season finale, Dolphins and Jets playing for a spot in the postseason, and you go out there and you did what you did all year, Chad se completion of that game two yards, pair of touchdowns, no picks, but also the win, obviously the biggest one. That's the sweetest part. And twelve years after the fact, how sweet was that vindication for you? Well, it was really sweet. And like you said earlier, it's just the way that sports would write the script. Um. The first

game against the Jets was pure emotion. I probably had no business playing quarterback because I was emotionally attached to the whole situation. No one likes to get fired and so it never feels good. But by the end of the season, there are sixteen games in between in it

was strictly about making NFL history. The emotion have decided, and I was really excited about helping lead this young team to an a f C East Division title and making NFL history, going from one in fifteen to eleven and five that that was just a fun time to be in Miami Dolphin, and for me as a veteran, it was really fun to help lead a bunch of really young players. We had six players over the age

of thirty. Only I was one of those six. The rest of them were really really young, and so to be able to provide some leadership um and some experience to what we were trying to do was very gratifying. And it did take a couple of weeks for that dream season to really get off the runway. They're tough loss in the opener, a really bad loss in Arizona week number two, and we know the story, the basics of the story about the Wildcat kind of getting introduced

David Lee on the team plane. But I'm curious to get your perspective because the quarterback obviously going to a package. I'm sure the offensive line was like, yeah, hell yeah, let's go ahead and do this run the football from the quarterbacks perspective, What was it like when you were kind of pitched the idea of this wildcat wildcat package. Well,

Wildcat was developed out of necessity. We could not run the ball very well at all in the first two games, had no success at the line of scrimmage, established in the line of scrimmage and the run game or gaining any yards. And so when it was presented to me, we talked about, Hey, this was gonna be a way we're going to try to create some space in the running game. And so, uh, I was not coming out

of the game. I was just lining up differently, and for me, my perspective was what's the difference in handing the ball off or is lining up at receiver and watching the play, I felt like it really didn't matter. If it gave us an advantage and we're going to be able to create some space in the run game,

then that's going to help the pass game. The whole point of it, though, was that we had to be very efficient in the past game for this to work, because when once you line up in a wildcat formation, your past options are limited. Obviously, because the quarterback is not in the backfield. Anymore. So we knew that we had to be very efficient in the first and second down passing game for this to work. And uh, that week was really intense. We're owing to we were just

blown out by the Arizona Cardinals in Arizona. Now we're going to play the New England Patriots, coming off of their undefeated regular season and losing the Super Bowl to the Giants. Now I do remember as having a meeting on the field and just talking about listen, the Patriots have just lost Tom Brady. Uh, they're going to their backup. We've got something that they will not be prepared for. This is our X factor. This is a great opportunity for us to shock the world, and we were able

to do that. And so getting into that game, the scoring starts, like you mentioned kind of that first play where you actually dial up the Wildcat with two and a half minutes left in the first quarter and a two yard touchdown run by Ronnie Brown. And this was after you had dialed up Anthony Fossano on a couple of third down conversion. So, like you mentioned, the passing game really got that whole thing going because you get into the red zone through the pass and through the air.

Can you walk us through that first play though, the first the first touchdown scored by Ronnie, Like, what was the mood in the huddle when you gave the play call? And then after Ronnie scored? What was the reaction of the Patriots defense? Well, I think the best part about the whole situation was the reaction from the Patriots defense. Typically, when you pay a play at Patriots defense, especially when we were playing the Patriots defense, you had Rodney Harrison,

Teddy Bruceski, Mike Brabel. You had great professional football players that normally had an answer and a call and an adjustment for everything. And I played against the Patriots up until that point my whole career, and so I was you to how we would play them as well as how they react to everything. And I was used to

their communication and how good they were at it. And this was the first time in my career that I remember the field being completely silent, no communication whatsoever, um eyeballs being really really big, jaws dropped because they had no answer with first of all, how to line up to the formation and then secondly what called to make to defend it. And then on the second touchdown that was not a wildcat play, if I recall correctly, was just a basic pen and pull that Ronnie took it

to the house again. But then you come back at the end of the first half and Ronnie fixed the jet sweep to Ricky on this one. And do you think that was kind of the moment to go up six or maybe you broke their will a little bit. Well, we certainly knew that we had them on the ropes. Our defense was playing extremely well. We're putting pressure on

the quarterback, making plays in the backfield. And offensively we were able to get ahead, which is something that's hard to do, number one, but if you can do that in Foxboro, it certainly helps you. And so we were able to do that. Interestingly enough, we didn't run the wildcat. People think we ran the wildcat quite a bit in that game, I believe, and you don't have to Craig me.

I think we ran it six times, but we scored five um and so it was something that was certainly an X factor of something that really caused them to think and to make adjustments on the sideline. And now since all of their focus was on the wildcat formation, our regular offense started to thrive because they couldn't put

a focus on that. And if that moment wasn't the backbreaker, it's certainly had to have been Ronnie's touchdown past five and a half left to go on the third quarter, once again fake the jet sweep and he finds Anthony Fasano for a touchdown. That was the moment the game was over, right, Well, what was unique about, first of all the wild that formation? First of all, it really fit Ricky's running style with the jet suite, and it fit Ronnie's running style with him being the wildcat quarterback.

Because as a wildcat quarterback, you have to be patient. You can't just hit the hole once you catch the ball. You have to be patient and let the play develop because you forget that there's some time that elapses from a quarterback receiving the snap and handing it to the running back conventionally, so in a wildcat formason the Wildcat quarterback has to buy that time before he hits the hole.

It fits Ronnie's running style perfectly. Then you add on onto that that Ronnie is left handed and so to be able to run a bootleg to the left, which defenses don't see a whole lot with the Wildcat quarterback. That was like the ic scene on the cake to say, we've got something that no one else in the league has.

It fits our personnel, Kudos to our offensive staff to have the courage to install this, and then kudos to Dan Henning for and to run it and running it successfully, and it just became something that we built energy and momentum off of. But no doubt, once we hit the touchdown pass, we knew that the game was was in our hands and all we had to do was make sure we did not screw it up. At that point, you mentioned the left handed running back throwing the football.

We had Jarvis Landry here a couple of years ago, same story. I remember when he first threw the through the football, we were like, oh, we didn't We didn't know he was left handed. When did you know that Ronnie was left handed? Like? Did it happen the first time he ran it and practiced? Like, Okay, now I realized he can throw the ball with his left hand. I knew he was left handed, I didn't know how well he could throw the ball. And he could throw it, I mean he could, he could zip it and uh

had accuracy with it. Knew where he wanted to go with the ball. It wasn't just a prayer or Hell Mary type of pass. It was on point and I was running a corner there on the bootleg. That's a hard pass to make on the run, and you had a running back make it rolling out to his left, uh and just throws it dime for down. I joked about this before you came on, Chad, that I had traded for Ronnie Brown in my fantasy league right before that game, So I was thrilled throwing or running either way.

It made made for a very good fantasy Sunday for me. But I wanted to ask you, maybe this is kind of redundant because you touched on this earlier about not caring whether or not you're in the backfield handing it off or lining up out wide as a receiver in formation when they run the football. But there's a great shot on the broadcast version of the game of you

throwing a really emphatic fist pump after that touchdown. Is that kind of when when when that play call came in, Like, obviously you're not upset because you're destroying the Patriots right now, but when the call goes in for a running back to throw the ball. Are you kind of like, hey, man, that's that's my job. I'm not. That's just not my nature. I Football is a team game, and if you're not excited when the team does well, you need to change sports.

You need to play tennis or golf or something like that. To me, it's all about how we do as a team. Those guys sack of fights for me every down, blocking, catching balls, doing all the little dirty things. I can sacrifice the testdown pass for the success of our team and to win a football game. And that's that was my mindset. And I just I feel like that because I had that mindset, the team bought into what we

were doing from a Wildcat perspective. If I was going to be negative about the Wildcat I don't think it would have worked as effectively because you've got your quarterback, your leader down plane or being negative about part of your system that you're trying to make work and you're trying to win a game. So the whole perception is really really important to the reality of trying to execute

the Wildcat system. We've got Chad Pennington here on the Drive Time Podcast with Travis Wingfield on the Miami Dolphins Official podcast network on Your Fence Flashback two thousand eight Wildcat game, And I always say, first of all, Chat, I think that that kind of leadership that you exude really played a big part of the team winning eleven of the fine fourteen games that you're going to the a f C East or winning the a f C East, I should say, but I always say that one of

the things that was forgotten about in that game was how sharp you were. And we talked about the opening drive getting things going through the air, but you finished the game seventeen six yards just on time, on target, and rhythm all game long. Going into that week, as far as the passing game was concerned, did you have an idea based upon what you saw in film that

you'd have a chance to kind of feast on that defense. Well, always, when you play the Patriots, you've got to be very careful of trying to take too much and be too greedy, and so early in the game, I wanted to make sure that we were able to establish some rhythm with some completions, with moving the chains, really get my guys into the flow of the game and then be able to pierce them vertically, and we were able to do that later on in the game, hitting some scenes down

the middle. I think we had a couple of routes on the outside as well, And so it's all about rhythm and consistency as an offense and really getting everyone involved. So I knew that they would try to throw different things at us. They probably felt like they had the right matchups their defense versus our offense, uh, considering what

we had put on film to that point. So we just really needed to build one play at a time, build some momentum, build some energy, and and once we kind of got going, then we we hit them with the Wildcat. Now we've really upset the apple cart, so to speak, and so we had them on their heels from there on. And that was definitely a special game in a special season. The next week was a bye week, and then you come right back home for a game with the Chargers and you put in more Wildcat and

you beat another very good football team. I'm just kind of curious with the way that season played out because you going to two and two and two, two and four, and then the crazy run happens where you lose one of the remaining what would that be nine or ten games or so. When did you really know that, Okay, this team of something special here, we can make a

run at the division. Well, I think when we came back from the Denver game, which I believe, if I'm not mistaken, put us, I think around six and five, maybe I felt like, Okay, we're right there, We've got a chance. I also felt like when we were two and four. Act like you said, we were two and two. We lost a heartbreaker to Houston on the last day of the game by one point, and then we lost a very tough Baltimore team as well, But we were

extremely competitive. Although we were two and four, we had made considerable strides, and so that Buffalo game, that next game against Buffalo was really really important for us to get the three and four and not be two and five, so that we could have an example of our hard work, so we can see that our hard work is paying off, that we are improving as a team. And the only way you show yourself that is to win a football game.

And so when we're able to win against Buffalo to go a three and four, we started to build a little bit of momentum, and then we came back from the Denver game, we felt really good about where we were. Unfortunately, I think we lost uh now, we lost New England before then, so we were coming off of a loss, I believe. And then we we beat Denver and we're sitting there at six and five, and then we rolled five straight and none of these games were blowouts. Um,

they were all really really close. But we just had the right formula. Our formula was and we knew everyone knew what our formula was. On the team. We're gonna play stout defense. Offensively, we were not going to turn the ball over to put our defense in a bad situation. And when it got to the fourth quarter, our team believed we were going to find a way to win,

and we did. We were down in the fourth quarter numerous times and found ways to win and at the end of the games be an offensive player defensive play and that was our that was our secret to success. Certainly some tense moments. I remember the Seattle game, the Oakland game, that Kansas City Classic and Week six team was definitely one of the more fun Dolphins games in

recent memory. You did mention that Houston game that one broke my heart chat because Andrea Johnson made like a twenty yard reception on it was like fourth and eighteen and he went over two defenders and pulled it down. It was like, Okay, I guess he's he just gotta tip your hat sometimes. But you know, at least we got back to where we won the rest of the games and and made the playoffs and won the division.

Very fun, very exciting year. Now we talk about Chad Pennington the player of the quarterback, but how about Chad Pennington in your life right now? You're the head coach at Sayer School football teams? That did I say that right? Correct? We were able to establish a single a varsity program in two thousand and eighteen and start this program from scratch. Um, it hadn't had footballs nineteen seventy six, the year I was born, and so we were able to go in

and start this program. We're moving into a our third year this year, full ten game varsity schedule with the playoffs. Excited about that. Uh, And I just really loved the small school environment where our student athletes can play multiple sports. They're not forced to or be pigeonholed to specialize. And so a lot of our coaches we share athletes and uh, you know, my son is playing. My oldest son, Cole is playing. He's a current sophomore, and I have two

more sons coming up. And so it's been very challenging, um because football is about fourth on the list while you're trying to raise money for bleachers and equipment and all these different things. But at the same time, it's been very rewarding because the school and it's student athletes who have never even played a sport number one or never played football, didn't realize what football could do for

a community, and it's provided that community spirit. It's also provided a sense of brotherhood for a lot of our male student athletes that they would have not experienced otherwise. And so that's been that's been what's most rewarding. The kids pretty pretty well aware of your football history and your career, Like do they give you some back and forth sometimes or like you know, you're like, hey, I

could have hit that throw. Uh, They'll they'll come up with something they found on Google, either to brag about me or most of the time joke with me about. For instance, the eminem video of me dancing at practice in two thousand and ten with the Dolphins. That's one that is one that surfaces a lot, but they love

to rib me a little bit about that. But at the same time, I think that what's most important that they see is that I care about them, um that it's it's truly about them and their football experience and how we can use the game of football as a platform to develop them as young men. I had my time in the sun, that's over. Now want them to shine and that's what I focus on. That's that's really cool, Chad.

I'd be remised by to ask you, though you mentioned you love the small town one a football program, there any aspirations to maybe make a career in coaching and kind of go up the ranks. I will never say never, but right now, no aspirations. I enjoy high school football. I grew up on a Friday night bus with my father, who coached for thirty years in high school, and so

I enjoy that level. I think it's a level that you can really focus in on setting a foundation for young men and for a young man and and focus on them. And so that's that's what I'm gonna do right now. But we'll see. Uh. I do know the grind of college and pro coaching. It's something that I'm not really interested in. I put in that grind for eleven years, and my family deserves me too. They deserve to have me at home and be with them. So

that's what I'm trying to do. That's a perfect answer, and I think we all can agree that the singer football gets back and life gets back to normal, We're all going to be much happier and much better off. He is Chad pen Ington, Dolphins quarterback from two thousand eight to two thousand ten. Chad, this was awesome, man. Thank you so much. You gotta thank you. And so there he goes Chad Pennington, the Dolphins quarterback for that magical two thousand eight season, and of course the quarterback

for that Wildcat game. Check out the website Miami Dolphins dot com. We have a written piece on this. We're gonna have video content. The chat with me and Chad was recorded video, so we'll have some of that content for you guys. And don't forget to check out the Miami Dolphins Virtual Draft. Sign up on Facebook today to get yourself reserved for a spot at the Miami Dolphins Official Virtual Draft. Get yourself over there today. But ask

for today's podcast. That is going to be my time you all, please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Go ahead and leave us a rating, leave us a review. Follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. Follow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins on all your social media platforms. Check out the fish Tank and Audible podcast on the official Miami Dolphins podcast network, and of course, Miami Dolphins dot com.

Until next time finds up and Williams is ni sets up as a slot receiver. Eighth play of the drive. Now Williams will shift. Look at that Ronnie Brown undie touched from the touchdown. This is reminiscent of what you saw Darren mcfatten in the Arkansas Razorbacks over the last few years that spread formason when you snap it to their running back. They faked the reverse with Ricky Williams coming around in Ronnie Brown just buries his head for coach Tony Sperano.