Nat Moore Discusses 1985 Dolphins-Bears MNF Classic

Chicago Bears. I'll be joined by a member of that team and a member of the Miami Dolphins Ring of Honor on this Thursday, April the second edition of the Drivetime Podcast Dolphins. And we're gonna get to my interview real quick here in just one second. But a couple of news items off the top of this show today.

First off, I really hope that everyone out there is staying safe and staying protected from this virus that has in the nation by storm, this pandemic that has really put a damper on our lives, our sports world, and

everything in between. Hopefully this podcast and other podcasts and other sports outlets out there have brought you some joy and some entertainment during these difficult times, as I certainly know for myself that the Tiger King on Netflix, better call Saul, the new season of Ozark, and brock Meyer

as well have really brought me some entertainment. I hope this Drive Time podcast and all the things we do at Miami Dolphins dot com, on the socials, the Audible, the Fish Tank podcasts, all the content we provide, hopefully

it's giving you some relief during these difficult times. But I want to get some positive news on here, or at least a report from Ian Rapp report of the NFL Network, as he tweeted out on Tuesday that the NFL says the schedule release will likely be around May the nine, no later than that, so plan your calendars accordingly, and hopefully that's a positive sign that we get football back sooner rather than later, because I know we all love this game, We love this team, and especially this

year heading into a new season where I think there's a lot of hope around Brian Flores, Chris career and this Miami Dolphins operation. On the topic of hope and a good football team, let's go ahead and go back now to night. It's Throwback Thursday, we're gonna do these podcasts and articles up on Miami Dolphins dot com and relive some of the best games and best moments in

Miami Dolphins history. And tonight we're going back to and I think most Dolphins fans do recall that game pretty well, especially those that were around to watch that game back in eighty five. But if you haven't seen it, go to YouTube. The game is up there, and you're gonna watch Dan Marino in his prime, in the first couple of years of his career, where I think there's a bit of a misconception about what kind of player Dan

Marino was early on in his career. And on that topic, I'm really speaking specifically about the mobility, because in this game, you see a twenty four year old Dan Reno running a right out there, extending plays, getting out of pressure, and converting huge first downs on third and a mile, and that's just not what the NFL was us at

that time. And Marino was so revolutionary in the way he was playing the game and converting third and eighteen, third and sixteen, throwing the football all over the field. I don't have to tell most of you Dolphins fans what that was like. But if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend going back because you want to talk about revolutionary play. I really think you'd be hard pressed to find anybody in the history of the league that

really transformed the game the way Dan Marino did. And now the game we see every single Sunday across the entire NFL landscape has kind of taken on the mentality of what a Dan Marino led football team at the quarterback position looks like. With all the past happy rules in the NFL, the gaudy stats posted up. Marino was just so so ahead of his time, and he also had a receiving corps that was well ahead of its time. And that's where we're gonna go ahead and pivot into

my guest today. He scored two touchdowns in that game. He is in the Dolphins Ring of Honor, certainly a Miami Dolphins legend. He played thirteen years in the NFL, And let's go ahead and roll my interview with Nat More and I'm thrilled to be joined here on the Drive Time podcast by former Pro Bowl receiver Ring of Honor member with the Miami Dolphins. He caught five hundred and ten passes in his career over seventy undred yards and seventy four touchdowns. You know at my age, so

sometimes you just need to sit back and watch the game. Well, that's that's what we love having you on here for, is to talk about this Dolphins team because you bring a good perspective from a former player, a guy that was in the league for a long time, with this Dolphins team for a long time, and that we talked

off air. We're gonna go into this Monday night thriller against the Chicago Bears, an absolute beat down from your hometown Miami Dolphins, and I wanted to talk to you first and at about the perception of the Dolphins going into that game against an undefeated Bears team. We know about protecting this perfect season, all that stuff, but we're talking about the previous year's a f C champions a

loaded offense. I have to imagine that the experts predictions for that game in your house at the Orange Bowl. I have to imagine that kind of rerabbed you guys up a little bit. Yeah, we were a little disappointed. A matter of fact, the right words piste off that for some some reason, everybody forgot that we were the team that we're in the Super Bowl the year before. Yes, we lost to the forty niners, but we had been to UH two Super Bowls in the past three years.

And and of course the Barons were a great team, and UH defensively they were as good as it gets. They had Walter Payton. But to think that you're going to play us on a Monday night at home, UH, and we don't have a chance, And I think that's the thing that infuriated us. We didn't look down on the on the Bears. We thought the Bears were a great team. We thought they were as good as everybody made them out to be. But we also felt like

we were pretty good football team. We've been an offense at Juggernaut for the past three years since the damn Marino UH entered our system and then in eighty three, but in eighty four we saw to found our our gate and UH really really started to put up some points. So, yeah, we were little disappointed and upset that no one gave us a chance on on a Monday night football game.

And you mentioned Dan Marino and kind of the impact he had on the offense, and I spoke a little bit before I had you on about how he really revolutionized the game and the passing game in the NFL into kind of what it is now. And it started in that game very early, the very first series. You guys go down the field for a touchdown, and there's a third and eight team play on that first series

where Dan breaks the pocket, gets away from pressure. He then directs traffic and kind of pulls up before the line of scrimmage for a big time gain. Is that something that really inspired confidence and the rest of the offense, Like we know that no matter what the down and distance, no matter what the situation, this guy can really help

bail us out. Well, you know, we we felt we were a pretty good football team after and then when we saw the abilities of Dan when he came in, his ability to throw the football and his ability to read coverage, the fact that he got it out so quickly, we knew that he was special. And as he grew

year after year, he got even better. So the confidence level that we had in him was just mind bottling, I mean, and and the confidence he had in us, you know, um, that was the beauty of that football team is that we had so many weapons and then could pick and choose how to use them all. And he had confidence in everybody. And because of that, I think that year we led the league in storing. That was definitely a common occurrence for that Dolphins teams, those

Dolphins teams of the eighties, I should say. And you got the scoring started that night with a thirty three yard touchdown pass from Dan Reno. And one of the things about these games on the broadcast net is you don't really get a chance to see, you know, the all twenty two angle, the six or seven replays they

show nowadays on these broadcast versions. And I was curious if you could kind of walk us through that touchdown past because it looks like you pretty much just come off the line, you take a little bit of a chip from a defensive end on that play, and then you get out into the route and then that's when the magic starts to happen for you. Now you start breaking guy's ankles and make him plays. What when did

you know you were going to score on that play? Well, you know, you know a lot of times I think Coach Shuler don't get the credit that he deserves. You know, he's the winning's coach in football and and and and it's for a reason, you know, his strategy. His ability to look at uh the opponent and see what the weaknesses are of their defense or or their offense is critical. And one of the things that he looked at was the reason the Bears were having so much success was

against this defense. Everybody kept trying to throw the fade and hit him for the touchdown versus UH, just get a safe play and line it up and play the next play. And Uh, he decided to move me to the tight end position, where now I'm going up against Dave Dorson or if he blitz, then Wilber Marshall the linebackers gotta cover me um or you know in the well in the defense, will Wilbur covers me and the

regular defense they person has government. But if they're blitz then all I gotta do is five yard route break to the outside and force Gary Fitzick to have to tackle me one on one in the open field. Well, when you've got seven eight people going at the quarterback and they're all going uh south and the balls being thrown north, Well, once you catch the football, you've got

Gary Fensick screaming trying to get there. To make a play, and I have to jump in here real quick to let the audience know that we dropped the call right there. But I called Nat back and picked it right back up at that spot of the conversation. So here is not more on the strategy of going against that Bears defense with coach Sula, Dan Reno and the Dolphins offense. The coach Shula felt that if they blitzed, what we would do is just run a little five yard out. UH.

Forced the free safety, which was Gary Fensick. They have to come up and tackle me in the open field from thirteen years Steve, and all I have to do is make a move on him, and then there's no one there to make a tackle. And true enough at worked to perfection. Um, we're we score. The first series, we go up seven nothing and uh, and we were often running and that first score definitely set the tone

of the game. Now, the next series the Bears had they had that that I'm not really sure what the rule is on it, since I'm a little bit younger of a Dolphins fan, but they kept coming to the line of scrimmage and they couldn't get the snap off because they were complaining about the crowd noise. What was that like for you guys on the sideline to sit there and watch them basically get these restarts where they reached at the play clock and stop the game so

the crowd can quiet down. Well, it's called home and field advantage. I mean that night, the stadium was electric. I mean, uh, you know, someone said something to me about did you see the perfect season team? Uh? The seventy two team on the sideline. I'm like they were here. I didn't even know. But that was the level of focus that the team had it and the excitement from the fans and et cetera. You know, we're we're so

pumped up. And of course, you know, every time that they came up through a line of scrimmage and they wanted to snap the football, the fans got louder and louder and louder. You know, that's the one thing about great fans. They're very educated and note and they know that they can be a factor doing a game to help their team win, and they take the personal pride to do so. And they certainly made that impact in the Orange Bowl and now in that hard Rock Stadium

renovation with the roof on top of the canopy. It gets rocking in that stadium as well. Let's go back to you. You mentioned a game planning schematic standpoint in terms of shoelag getting you guys into great situations. And one of the things that I noticed watching that game back was how Marino was under quite a bit of constant pressure. How much was that kind of on the forefront of the game plan that week, saying Hey, Dan, you're gonna have to move around back there because these

guys are coming. Well, I think Dan knew that. You know, he was gonna hand a lot of pressure on. We talked about it all week long. And the thing that made everything work is Dan can hold the ball of splits and longer and get rid of it and get it out of here because of the quick release, so you know, he didn't have to anticipate the throw as much, uh, and he has that ability to side step and throw

around people. And and that's what we did. And and you know, by the end of the first half, you know, they can say what they want, the game was over. You know, at that point they were so frustrated because they couldn't get to the quarterback. You know, we had a pretty damn good offensive line that did the job. And and you knew that when they blitzed, they were gonna be one guy free and Dan was gonna throw

around him. And Dan is a tough guy. Dan, you know, Dan wouldn't and one of them you know quarterbacks that can't take a shot, He'll stand in there and deliver the football. And that's what made him so great. You know, he took personal pride and being the best. And so when you see people talk about like, let's say the Patrick Mahomes and the Russell Wilson's of today's game, how do you compare what they do in today's you know, two thousand NFL compared to what Dan was doing back

in those mid eighties. With you mentioned getting off that spot, having that quick release to be able to beat that free rusher, because he did have that great release. Well, I think the difference is, you know where Dan basically had bad knees and and couldn't move around as much as they did. But Dan was like a dancer in the pocket. You know, he didn't scramble for his goal was always to get the ball out and get it down field. So he might slide two steps left, two

steps right, and and then two steps up. I mean he worked the pocket, uh you know, lack of pro and was able to get the ball off. And what we see today is uh, quarterbacks that have more scapability, but they all are an assemblance of what Dan wants were throwing the football. The fact that you have enough confidences you can get it in there to your receivers.

Um you know, uh, you know. The one thing that has always been interesting about football is that quote backs are taught to not throw the ball in the coverage, do not make the big mistake, and then there's a fine line between the guys that have the ability to fit it in to tight quarters and Dan was one of the first that did it and made a living doing it. But that was because he had so much confidence that if he did throw it in there, his

receivers gonna come down with the football. His receivers were going to get open. And that's what you see with some of the young quarterbacks today. You know, they give their teammates a chance to make a play. And that's what you have to love about some of these guys.

We've got not more here. Dolphins Ring of Arm member, former pro bowler and member of that team that did knock off the Bears on Monday Night Football, and you mentioned that that the game kind of felt like it was over after the first half, after that block punt that turned into a touchdown which you scored. We'll get to that in just one second, but early in that game,

the Bears were jumping off sides a lot. You mentioned the home field advantage, the crowd noise, and then there was the interception number forty three, but Brown comes down with it and then he gets into a bit of a scuffle with the Bears offensive lineman because you kind of sense that frustration mounting throughout the game from the

Bears perspective. Yeah, I think any time when you're not having the great success that you're expecting, uh, you know, there's some frustration sets in and as you start to look at your game plan and and and wonder if you need to get out of something that you're getting hurt in. But you believe in your system. The question is when do you abandon that and and and try something new in the ball game. And to the Bears credit, they believed in the forty six. They stayed in the

forty six the whole ball game. Well, that's where we were prepared to go up against so we you know, we we didn't have any issues with it. I think that if we had not lost the a f C Championship game to the Patriots, when we would have played them in the Super Bowl, that would have been the rematch, and I think we would have saw that changes that they would have made to make sure that we didn't

take advantage of their forty six defense. I think I speak for Dolphins fans everywhere that would say that if we had a time machine can go back and replay one game, it would be the a f C Championship game, because I would love to see that Super Bowl rematch with y'all in the Chicago Bears. So you've talked about Marino's kind of ability to extend plays and make big

plays down the field. There was one instance where he had a third and eight team back shoulder throw to yourself right up the seam and there was tight coverage on the play. You uncovered, kind of turned around Pirouette

and made an excellent catch in coverage. What was that play like from your perspective and running that seam route where you get the back shoulder throw from Damn well, I mean, but that's the that's the difference, you know, having a quarterback that will make the decision and he's gonna throw it where you can catch it. Um. You know, uh,

we had that counter report. You know, we worked on a lot of this stuff in practice, and you know the key is being under control so that you can make the adjustment and him knowing that you will make that adjustment. You know, that was the beauty of us having so many skill position receivers that we all played

a lack. Even though we had different skill sets, we all played similar whether it was the three or four tight ends that played, whether it was the three or four of wide receivers or the backs, and and you know, we we all ran our routes with discipline, with the idea that the ball is coming and you just gotta be ready to make a play. And Dan made a fine throw and it was just easier for me to catch. And the entire night was one of making plays for

the Dolphins offensively, defensively, and on special teams. We hinted about the blocked punt that went for a touchdown to you just a couple of plays later, the energy in that stadium, now I have to imagine was unlike anything most football players whatever experienced, was that the moment you knew this game was was kind of on ice. No. I mean I can say this is that you know,

that night, the energy within that stadium. In thirteen years of planning profer snow football, I've never felt it before then, and I never felt it after that. And I've been in some big ball games. I've been in two Super Bowls, I've been around a loud and rambust his crowds. But that particular night, Ah, it was so electric that you know, the game just sort of slowed down and you can just see things happening. You can see the development of everything in front of you. So the game was was

It was unbelievable game. And we covered your first touchdown, the big reception on the third and eight team play, and then you finally scored that six yard touchdown to make it thirty one to ten after that punt, And I want to get your your your feelings about this play because Dan, like we talked about, kind of falls back, buys a little bit of time, anticipates the rush and we can't see you now on the broadcast version of the game as far as what your route was, it

looked like it might have been a little pivot route as far as where you wound up. But I'm curious to get your perspective on that play. What did that play look like from the receiver's perspective. Well, and I was actually running that particular play against wolver Marshall, who you know this time they don't blitz. He's in coverage.

There's they're in their forty six defense. And I and it was called lex so where I started across UH with him trying to run with me, and I pivoted and I come back out um and of course once I once I slowed down and then spit up. All of a sudden, he knows he can't run with me, so he's got to go as fast as you can. Now I spend I come back out and I catching him wide open, and once again, I go into the end zone untouched. You go up by twenty one points

on that play. And I think the ultimate iSER, the ultimate capper on that game was the forty two yard touchdown from Marino to Clayton. That was a backbreaking play. Was that at the moment you felt like it was just okay, we got this in hand. Well, let me

say this to you. You know, the Bears and the guys that played for the Bears, Richard Den, Jim McMahon, Otis Wilson, all those guys, Jim Thornton there our friends and and we hang out together all the time, you know nowadays and uh, to this day, they say, you know, we knew it was. It wasn't our night when the ball hits one of our guys at the head and it ends up in Mark Clayton's hands for a touch down. So yeah, it was one of those nights. And believe it or not, when when Jim came in the game,

because you remember McMahon did not start. When he came in the game, um, because um, Walter was so close to getting his yards, uh to go over a thousand. He came in, and you know, I was handing the ball off to Walter, you know, because he knew the game was out of reach. You know, we're not gonna win, so we might as well make sure Walter goes over a thousand tonight. And he and I converse about that quite a bit. It kind of seemed like they knew

they were up against a tough challenge. As far as the Dolphin's offense that night, because early in that game, they were putting the ball up in the air and they were handing the ball off to players that were not Walter Payton. So it almost seemed like they had to keep pace with your offensive juggernaut because you guys were scoring so quickly and so often. Yeah, that's one of the things about football is that, you know, a lot of times when teams go up, uh, it forces

the other team to be one dimensional. So once we took that big lead, um, you know, knowing that if they don't get some stops, then there's no way they could ever catch up because they've got to score every time and they can't ground it out to try and catch up. So they were forced to throw the ball a lot more than they really want to. And in the process, um, you know, the more they threw the football and they went three and out and et cetera. Well,

guess what that means. The defense is on the field way too long and then all of a sudden they start to tire out a little bit. We've got not more here talking about Monday night beat down of the Chicago Bears at the Orange Bowl in Electric crowd, an electric night there in Miami, and that I want to kind of change gears here and just talk about general topics as far as two Dolphins legends along with yourself. You had a good, a good chunk of time playing

with both Dan Marino and Don Shula. What can you tell Dolphins fans out there something they might not know about Dan the quarterback that he was on the field and the kind of the leader he was in the locker room. Well, I think the one thing that you need to know about Dan is he was he was a players guy. You know, he hung out with the guys. Uh. We we we we did so many things together and still do uh. And that's one reason everybody loves him,

you know. I mean I think you know, when you think about Don Shila to winners coach in football history, and you talk about those two icons, you know, I would be remissed if I don't talk about the Bob Greasey's and the Larry Zankas and the Larry Littles, the Jim Langer's, the Dwight Stevenson's. I mean, you know, the the what made us successful was that we had very talented guys that we're all willing to give a little bit of themselves for the overall of the team, including Dan.

I mean, Dan could throw it every down if he wanted to, Okay, but you know he didn't. You know, he understood that the running game had to be a part of it, you know, not necessarily the main part of it, but a part of it. And and that's how you win um continuously is making sure that everybody's including everybody's involved. And you know that was one of the great things about planning for Don Shuley. He had that ability to look at his team, assess what the

skill set was, and adapt to that talent. You know, when I when I played with Bob Greacey and larry's Anka and Larry Little and those guys, well, we ran the football. And and think about this, Bob Greacy was the quarterback and he called all his own plays. There were no offensive coordinators sending into place. So with all those victories, Bob Greasy was our was our offensive coordinator, and he chose to run the ball when we had

such a devastating offensive lines. And he had the best receiver from my money, to ever play the game at that time, Paul Warfield, who was also a tremendous blocker. Paul Warfield was the only receiver in the Hall of Fame, the only one that averaged over twenty yards to catch, and every fifth time he touched the football it was a touchdown. And he played on a team that went the three straight Super Bowls and he only did what they needed him to do. It's it's the one about him.

It's the ultimate team that atmosphere and team aspect, and I just I have to imagine for you not that playing for a guy like Shula, and not like you guys needed any any more evidence that he was an all time great coach, but I have to imagine as a player to see the way he transitioned from the run heavy offense that you all ran in the seventies into the early eighties, and then once Dan gets in there and it kind of goes into more of a past,

morphs into a passing type of offense. That has to just give you so much more respect for a coach like that. Well, I think, you know, not for just the head coach, Don Shila, because like I said before, there's a reason he's the winning's coach in history. Uh, He's willing to make the tough decisions and and and make the adjustments that will help teams be better than

what they think they are. Um, you know, but along the way, they were a tremendous group of coaches and a tremendous group of players that were all willing to listen and learn. You know. I mean, you know, I think sometimes today a lot of a lot of guys don't reach their full potential because as soon as they have success, they become said in their ways and it's all about them. Uh. The team is that I played on for thirteen years. Uh, that was not even thought of.

It was what do they helped this team? Women this week? And am I going to help make this team better? And they were gonna be games where you two guys, there's gonna be games where you were the dec But it's the it's the work of bees that keep teams winning, Guys that will sacrifice. He is not More Ring of Honor in Miami Dolphins Legend. Nat, thank you so much for doing this with me today. Man, I had a

lot of fun becaus my pleasure. Thanks for having me on and there he goes not More Boy, How good was that interview with Nat More talking about the ins and outs of the game, talking about Dan Marino, Don Shula, the importance of teamwork and work ethic and how that translates from to today's game. A lot of parallels between that team and what the Dolphins are trying to build here this year. I hope you all enjoyed that as

much as I did. On tomorrow's podcast, we're gonna talk to Neil Reynolds of Sky Sports, who spent a day with Ryan Fitzpatrick, so we'll get to know the Dolphins quarterback a little bit better. And then next week we're gonna turn things over to the draft and talk about the offensive line of quarterbacks, every position this class. We're gonna have you covered here on the Drivetime podcast, so

do not miss that. Plenty of content heading your way as we are just three weeks away from the opening night of the draft, Round number one, where the Dolphins have three picks in that first round, two more in the second round, and fourteen picks and total exciting times here on Drivetime. Exciting times here for the Miami Dolphins, but asked for today show. That is going to be my time you all. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, podcast, Google, play, Spotify, wherever you

get your podcast from. Leave us a rating, leave us a review, Give me a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfield, NFL. Follow the Dolphins for all of our content at Miami Dolphins of course, check out the Fish Tank and the Audible podcast and Miami Dolphins dot com. We have a written piece on the game and plenty of draft content coming your way on the website, on the podcast, everywhere you get your Dolphins football. But until next time, fins up.