June 17, 2020 • 45 mins
Dan Marino and the Fake Spike Game. It sounds like a Harry Potter title, but it’s one of the most iconic moments in NFL history. This week we look at the Special Teams involved in the 1994 mid-season NFL classic. The Jets get more criticism than they deserve for this play, and the promising head coaching career of Pete Carroll took a huge detour due to the fallout from it. An even bigger debate: does Dan Marino’s career still have the same reputation without this highlight? Plus we spotlight two other players featured in the game and the winding paths the rest of their careers took.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Special Teams, a production of I Heart Radio
(00:20):
Greetings and Welcome Inside Special Teams with Jason Smith and
Mike Harmon, a podcast that looks back at some of
the special teams in sports history what they were able
to accomplish an individual year in sports. Part of our
run we're on right now is we're looking back at
some of the special teams that took place in some
of the biggest sporting events of all time. In the
middle of a big NFL run right now, we're gonna
(00:42):
look back at a play that just celebrated. It's anniversary
not too long ago. We make you feel we kind
of have to do it. Well, you know what, it's
been twenty five years. I've had time to get over it.
But we're gonna look back at the Fake Spike game,
also known as the clock play, but a fake spike game,
in which Dan Marino turned the fake spike into a
(01:04):
cult play in NFL history by driving the Dolphins down
at the end of the fourth quarter in a game
in which it looked like he was gonna spike the
football to stop the clock, but instead he's there's a
touchdown pass to mark Ingram. The Dolphins beat the Jets
and the fake spike game and it's legend is born
and your blood pressure as you said that, which just raising.
(01:27):
I can see the vein popping out of your head.
It's okay, buddy. You know, it's not often you get
a midseason game that you know, we're gonna say, boy,
what a game. But look, this play was huge for
both teams and it actually affects the Seattle Seahawks and
and the current uh in college football pro football. This
game had a lot of influence on NFL's future. Uh So,
(01:50):
as we describe as I do it gritting my teeth,
the Dolphins Jets. Dolphins win the game on the fake
spike by Dan Reno and subsequent touchdown pass. But we're
getting ahead of ourselves. How did both teams get to
this point week twelve of the season. Well, the Jets
(02:11):
had gone eight and eight under Bruce coslate in they
had to win the final game of the season against
the Oilers to make the playoffs. The Oilers had given
up right there, weren't starting Warren Moon, We're gonna start
Cody Carlson because this game, if nothing at stake, the
Oilers are going to the playoffs and the Jets lose
twenty four nothing, twenty four to nothing. They don't show up.
(02:31):
I knew when I saw Rob Moore in street clothes
right before kickoff. I said, Ah, this, this is this
is not gonna happen. This. Yeah, back before you had
all the insiders giving you injury and illness updates, long
but long before this was all right, now we're taking
you live. You're like, wait a minute, wait what. It
was such a disappointing end with that horrible effort that
(02:54):
they had, you know, with with the playoffs on the line.
I was so disappointed. So were the Jets because they
fire Bruce Coslet and replace him with Pete Carroll. Hey,
Pete Carroll getting his first NFL A coaching job with
the Jets, and look, Pete Carroll was bringing young enthusiasm
to the position. Remember the big controversy he had had
(03:16):
while coaching for the Jets was he had made the
big choke gesture when Pete Stoyanovitch missed a field goal
for the Dolphins in the game and cameras caught him
doing it, and he kind of had to apologize for
it because I Stevins choked. But hey, as a head coach.
I liked it. You know, Pete Carroll was you could
tell he had something about him. When he gets the
(03:37):
head coaching job, he was a little bit different. He
wasn't the Hey, we're gonna hire Bruce Coslet and Joe
Walton all these other guys. No, he brought that youthful
energy and enthusiasm with the team, and we started out
pretty good. You know, we're six and five and we're
going into this game against the the Dolphins playing for
first place in the a f C because the Dolphins
were seven and four and the Jets are playing at home,
(03:58):
and I'm thinking, hey, we're a pretty good spot right now.
We're playing for first place and Pete Carroll has been
done a pretty good job so far. That's all you
can hope to be is in the mix right in
the first year of the regime, the especially with a
coach who didn't have the long track record of success.
This wasn't a hey, former Super Bowl winning guy. Everything
more thin. So now here's his new challenge. No, Pete
(04:21):
Carroll is still a rising name, but not a guy
that was an automatic. Certainly not the Pete Carroll we
talked about here in so being in the mix to
have a playoff potential is absolutely huge. So the Jets
are going into this game led by boomeris Scias and
at quarterback who they had gotten from the Bengals. Johnny
(04:43):
Johndrian Morrel were the big running backs for them. They
had robbed Moore, Art Monk, people forget Art Monk, all
these guys that I think of in other uniforms. Oh
oh yeah, yeah, every last one of those guys. Because
you say Morrel Cardinals, Cardinals say Boomer Bengal uh and
we had Ronnie Yes, yeah, I mean this is the
(05:04):
Jets team, right, Look Boomer. Boomer was someone who in
the Jets got him. I was thinking, Okay, this is
gonna solve our quarterback issues. And he played pretty well
for the Jets. I mean, we're gonna talk about this
game and he's a big part of it. But I
remember being excited and then I remember thinking, Okay, we
gotta get rid of Boomer, Like it went like from
hey Boomers, how we gotta get rid of Boomer. For
(05:25):
the Dolphins, they come into this game feeling pretty good
because Dan Marino had missed the entire ninety three season
with a torn achilles. It was are most of the
season with a torn achilles You know, uh he comes
back in the Dolphins play well. He throws three touchdowns
to beat the Jets in Week three. I mean they
(05:46):
were rolling. Bernie Parmeli and Terry Kirby were okay enough
at running back. Their wide receivers were Irving Friar, mark
ingram O j McDuffie. They were really solid coming into
this game though they had lost two in a row.
They lost the Bears, they lost the Steelers, so they're
seven and four and they need something to go right
because this is the first place showdown against the Jets.
(06:06):
But still this is a pretty talented Miami Dolphins team. Yeah.
When you go top to bottom and this is where
you still had, you know, the receiving corps getting after
it for Marino. The offense, it's like we talked about
with college football, al Right, You're you're facing an offense
that does things that you're not gonna see a ton
on the schedule. It's still most teams are run predicated. Men.
(06:29):
Look at your Jets numbers with Boomer for the year
played in fourteen games. He had seventeen touchdowns and that
wasn't out of the norm. Right, we talked about the
annual you know, exploits of Hall of famers like like
Troy Aikman and such. They weren't throwing thirty five touchdown passes.
You weren't winging in around and so here's your big
(06:49):
spot and you've got Marino back and everything's recovered. It
was a statue anyway, offenses clicking just needed the defense
to rise up once in a while, you know. And
this is one of the biggest rivalries in the NFL.
The Dolphins and Jets hate each other. Look, when Marino
retired or not. In Marino's final year, they needed the
Jets to win the final game of the regular season,
(07:11):
and they won, and they asked Dan, hey, would you
thank the Jets for a win? He like shook his
head like like you just asked him, hey, can you
loan me five million dollars? Like he didn't you want
to give the Jets any credit. These two teams hated
each other, right, I told you about the Stoyanovitch. It
was actually an extra point the Stoyanovitch. Dnked uh and
Carol makes the choke sign. They can't stand each other,
(07:32):
and for me, I can't stand the Dolphins as a
Jets fan. But I wouldn't have been that upset if
Bernie Parmaly had a big game. So it was my
first year of doing fantasy and I had Bernie on
my team. I mean, he came out of it was
my first year. I'm like, boy, I really want to
win this game. But I wouldn't be upset if Bernie
Parmerly played well. And I'm like, oh boy, you know
(07:52):
something that every fantasy player goes through at some point
when they first started playing. And it's my favorite team
and I have a player playing against him. But I
was so excit used to get an argument with football
players all the time over that stuff. I feel like,
you can't be a real fan and play fantasy. And
I would always use this argument. All Right, I'm from Chicago,
I'm a Bearrass fan. Stipulate to that, Yes, yes, what
(08:15):
do I hope if I'm a fantasy owner? I know
Brett Farve is thrown for three yards and three touchdown passes? Right, Yeah,
so I draft Brett Farve and you know what I
hope happens. They lose the shootout every Sunday, So as
soon as they have a good defense, that's when I
back off my Brett Farve and maybe I've got a
(08:36):
guy that's just on par with him in my rankings
and I go the other way. But it usually diffused things.
Sometimes it would get me an expletive laden response and
they'd storm off. So good times. Uh dude. I I
was so excited cause Bernie Parmley was like the third
running back I needed. And I'm like, oh my god,
he's he ran for almost a thousand yards, came out
of nowhere, he almost had a thousand yards season. I
(08:58):
was like, gay, Bernie part really Bertie Parvately, So I
would have been excited at Bernie Parvaly had a big game.
Instead I get the fake spike. So that's what that's
celebrating Bernie. There we go. So coming up next the
drama that surrounded the fake spike, And there are some
absolute insane things to think about when you look at
the place surrounding the fake spike. What happened before, what
(09:22):
happened after? We got that coming up next right here
on Special Teams. I feel like I wanna fast forward
(09:45):
Mike and and get just get past the fake spike.
And I'm building up to it. We're gonna build up
to it. There's a lot of stalk about it, like, Okay,
we just get to the fake spike already, because I
just cant just get to it, my goodness, because you
know it's there, right, It's it's you love all the
different part a book or a movie, but you know
where the plot turns because you know you gotta get
there and you gotta work through it. And this is
(10:07):
one where I mean, you really gotta work through it, Bunny,
and I know it. It cuts you to the quick.
All these twenty five years later, the Jets actually start
out big in this game, and they race out to
a seventeen nothing lead. Right Brad Baxter runs for a touchdown. Boy,
he was a touchdown vulture for the Jets. Boomera assize
and throws a touchdown past to Johnny Mitchell. This is
back when Johnny Mitchell was gonna be the next great
(10:28):
tight end of the National Football League. They trade touchdowns.
Mark Ingram catches a touchdown from Dan Marino uh and
the score is seventeen to six. Then Mitchell catches another
touchdown from a Siasin. So the Jets are leading six
and the third quarter, Metal Lands is rocking. I'm thinking, oh,
we're gonna be in first place. And then of course
it all falls apart, which is how it works for
(10:50):
the New York Jets. Marino throws another touchdown to mark Ingram.
They get a two point conversion, and this is when
boomeras size And starts giving the bleeping game away. All right,
everything is still fine. See you see my blood boiling
on this I can feel it rising. You're gonna, man,
what the hell is that supposed to mean? Uh? As
(11:12):
Siasin gets picked off, throws his first pick of the
game that leads to the third Marino to mark Ingram touchdown,
which cuts lead one. Alright, Jets still have the lead.
They're driving. Then the size And gets picked off again
for the second time, but the Jets force a fun Okay,
everything is okay, we have the ball lesson three minutes ago.
Everything is fine. As Siasin is picked off again with
(11:35):
two and a half minutes ago in the fourth quarter,
and this begins the Dan Marino drive. He gets the
Jets all the way down to the eight yard line
with thirty eight seconds left in one time out. You've
seen the play a hundred times, he tells the team
clock clock clock. But he throws the touchdown to mark Ingram,
the fourth Marino to Ingram touchdown of the game, lead
(11:58):
in the win. All right, now, there's look at that drive, Smith,
to look at the drive seven of eight eighty four yards.
They go down like like a hot knife through butter.
Uh and just complete, complete, not taking huge chunks here more.
We're talking eighteen four fourteen three eight. Keith Jackson, Uh,
(12:26):
you know was in the mix there as as well
a little bit earlier in the possessions. But Irving Fryar,
I mean that your big chunk yardage was a past
to Mike Williams. No, not Mike Williams, if you're lost
william Not that Mike Williams, nor the former wide receiver
tight end from USC but the big plate twenty two yards. Otherwise,
(12:48):
it was an awful lot of mark Ingram that you're
looking for over and over again. And the ageless Irving
Fryar got that whole thing started seven of eight man
choke choke, yeah, yeah, no, no, I get it, No, no,
I get free. Mcduffe caught a past two yeah no yeah, uh,
(13:09):
little eff it is he would he would then, you know,
step into a bigger role in later years. Um, now
here's here's where this play gets a little bit. I
don't want to say it gets. The Jets get a
worse rap for it than they do. But first of all,
how about this thirty eight seconds left to go in
the game. The Dolphins were on the Jets eight yard line,
(13:31):
and they have a time out, and the Dolphins are
thinking clock. I mean, just think about how it says.
Can you see a team with thirty eight seconds left
to go in a game and they have the ball
on the opposing team's eight yard line, they need they need, uh,
you need to score and they have a time out
and they would think about clocking the ball and giving
away it down. But this is the way the NFL was.
(13:52):
But it wasn't you know, to the precision of hey,
teams can get up to the line of scrimmage and
spike the football in five seconds like they do now,
which is something that Look, that's what Tom Brady and
the Patriots never got as much credit for they were
able to do. Is of all the big things Brady's
done in his career, the way how fast he would
be able to get the Patriots up to line scrimmage
and spiked the football only a couple of seconds coming
(14:14):
off the clock. But this is that everywhere. Okay, let's
all right, thirty eight seconds. Well, let's let's let's let's
let's get some time to figure out the next play.
Let's let's think about clocking the football, because this is
a normal play. Teams would get up, you know, forty
seconds like, let's do all right, hang on, we don't
know what's gonna happen now, so let's make sure we
clocked the ball and give up a down. I mean,
it's in it's crazy to think that's the way it
was back then. Yeah, I mean, whenever you're in those
(14:36):
types of situations and look, we see some crazy stuff
on play calls all the time, you and I Monday
and Thursday nights there, how many times do we just
have this awkward moment of silence, going what is he doing?
And don't understand? And certainly clocking uh is never in
the thought process when you've got that much time left
(14:59):
and you never want leave the extra play right, either
get to the field goal unit, or you've got time
and opportunity with timeouts and others to stop the clock,
that you do it. Uh, And set up your best
play here. Uh it just took everybody by surprise, obviously,
which is what it's intended to do. Thank you, Bernie Kozar.
(15:19):
But for the general football flow, I mean, it's it's
something that I want the master's class on the down
distance and hey, you know what, every once in a while,
you gotta play that wild poker hand and that's what
we saw here. Uh So the Jets kind of get
a bad rap on this play because the way this
(15:40):
play is presented has lived over the years. It's all
look at Marino completely fools the Jets defense. No, watch
the play. Marino fools some of the players, but Marvin
Washington gets his hands up, almost gets his hands in
the way of the past. He's playing the snap right away.
He's not fooled. Paul Frase, defensive lineman, is a half
second and a step away from nailing Marino before he
(16:02):
throws the pass. So it's not like everybody gave up.
The Jets still had half the team to Okay, something's
gonna happen on this play. And Aaron Glenn is in
coverage on mark Ingram. It's not like Ingram just ran
by him, and Aaron Glenn is standing there. Aaron Glenn
just happened to run to cover mark Ingram and he
was wasn't facing back towards the quarterback. And Marino throws
the bullet into the touchdown for Ingram. So it's not
(16:25):
like the Jets all got fooled by this. I mean
another half second, or if Aaron Glenn is a little
bit tighter on coverage, Marino can't throw this pass. He
gets hit, maybe gets sacked against Theri fumbles. Doesn't mean
they wouldn't have want to winning the game anyway. They
probably would have. But still, it's not like the Jets
all got fooled because you watch us and and they
had to execute this pretty fast because the Jets still
had a few players who were jumping on this play.
(16:47):
Well they were actually off sides too, right, A funny
thing in the play as you you've break down every
man and you know we do our account and how
many are on the field and all these other things.
You know, they they defended. Uh, they just get the
good strategy, good execution by Dan Marino. Will give him
credit for this one, right since he's always the at
(17:10):
the head of the list of best and never have one.
Uh sorry, second year ap here yea, thanks, thanks, he
still had a good run. I feel bad on my
heart bleeds. Well, this is now one of his crowning
moments against you. I mean, if you were in a
roll tape on his finest moment, I mean, this could
be it, you know, and Marino you're right, you know,
(17:31):
you're right. This is Marino's I mean, look, forty eight
touchdowns his second year, you know, rookie year in the
leagu's or second year in the league, and then you know,
you had this. It was I mean he threw for
you know, three sixty in this game and four touchdowns
and it was you know, not saying Dan Marino is
in a Hall of Fame quarterback, but I always say, look,
Marino's the top five quarterback, and we say how we
(17:52):
see how great he is and how well he played.
But if he doesn't have this game and doesn't have
this fake spike moment, is he is widely looked at
as Hey, Dan Marino is one of the top five
quarterbacks in the NFL. This game had so much for
his legacy because it was it's the like you said,
it's the moment you look back at you can see
all the passing titles, all the yardage, everything else, but boy,
(18:14):
the fake spike game. In the year he came back
from injury, he won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
Dan Marino was still Dan Marino, still had a few
more really good years left in him. I don't know
without this game, people say, hey, Dann he's one of
the top five quarterbacks of all time. He's a guy
that puts up a lot of yards. But this is
always the highlight you see the first time you see Marino,
(18:35):
it's him doing the fake spike and zipping that touchdown
in I don't know that that's the case without this,
No you mentioned it. It's a lot of yardage. We
talked about empty stats. Pick your sport, right, NBA players
who are just scores, you shrug. NFL quarterbacks now that
passed for five thousand yards, you can or four and
(18:56):
then look at Jameis Winston in the thirty thirty year,
or go through how many other quarterbacks who've gone over
four thousand yards piled up a bunch of stats, but
their team six and ten. NFL record books and the
box scores are full of them. Fantasy football titles for
a few of them, I'm sure guys getting drunk uh
and having big meals because of the success of their
(19:18):
quarterbacks there. But it's a lot of empty stats. And
for Dan Marino, you don't want to go to that
end with it because it's still you still appreciate the
arm and his capacity to move the ball and make plays,
but they didn't get over So you need a play
like this and the veterans savvy or whatever term you
(19:39):
want to throw on it to help build that legacy
and legend now, and just to give you an idea
of Marino's career here for the rest of the way,
his first four years in the league were incredible. Right,
he throws twenty touchdowns when he comes in as a rookie,
and then the next year it's forty eight, thirty and
forty four. Right, Marino looks like he's gonna be unsta poppable. Well,
(20:01):
he threw thirty touchdowns in this year. It was the
only time he had done that since nineteen eighty six.
He had never again hit thirty touchdowns in the year
nineteen eighty six all the way to thirty touchdowns, never
threw for thirty touchdowns again after four never threw for
four thousand yards in a year again, something he had
(20:21):
done five times earlier in his NFL career. So while
he still had pretty good years, they weren't. Boy, look
at Dan Marino is No, he never really approached these
heights again. And look, he played in big playoff games,
he was on TV all the time. Look, as I said,
I think he's a top five quarterback of all time.
He was so high profile. But without this to the
(20:41):
rest of his numbers really jump out. He only made
the Pro Bowl one more time, you know, and ninety
four he made it in You're talking about a guy
that made the Pro Bowl in his career and then
eight three to eighty seven. So clearly the last half
of his career didn't really measure up with the first half. Yeah,
(21:01):
in the end, you don't want to diminish and and
reduce a career to a couple of moments. But we
always ask for those signature plays and signature pieces to
a player's career, particularly when we're putting them on these
goat and Mount Rushmore discussions like we have all the time.
For Dan Marino, you didn't have that right because even
(21:22):
forty eight touchdowns, it's the aggregation of it There's no
singular touchdown pass that really stands out from that year,
at least not to my mind. And that was when
you know, my love of football as a kid and
I was playing and running around and running them uk.
I mean, that was about it as as high as
I ever was as a involved and had to really
(21:45):
I do it for the job now, but as a kid,
that's where the passion was really probably you know, hitting
its peak point where I also knew I wasn't growing
any tall or so my career wasn't going anywhere further
than that slow of foot short not exactly the combination
of success, but like you were eating all that stuff up.
But for Dan Marino, I was like, why I had
(22:07):
another big game and be like, all right, there's a
long throw insert receiver here and away you go. But
here you had this indelible image X to your brain.
That is part of NFL folklore. This was a play
that Bernie Kozar brought to the team. Kozar was the
backup for Marino this year. And then, like you've heard
that story plenty of times, but it was great to
(22:28):
hear Dan Marino talk about it. Following the passing of
Don Shula, earlier this year, and that it was basically
he said, listen, this game, we were down at halftime,
and Shula allowed me to do my thing. So I
don't know if that meant he called all the plays,
but that's why he liked playing for Don Shula, because Shula,
when it came down to it, would let his best
players play. You know, they practiced it all season, they
(22:49):
did everything else. But when it came to put up
a shut up time for this play, yes, Marino did it,
but he didn't do it without Don Shula giving him
the okay to do it. It was Don Shula saying, okay,
this is the time to break got this fake spike
play and it was the perfect opportunity. And you see
the relationship that the two of them had, where no
matter what, you have a guy that throws the football
a ton, and here's Don Shula, who never who came up.
(23:11):
You know, throwing the football is not something he did
all the time, but he knew enough this player is
really really talented, unlike many guys I've seen, I'm gonna
let him do his thing. But in the end, it
was still Marino going, I'm not gonna go crazy and
go completely off topic and ignore the coach. You tell
me this is the time for this play. Okay, we're
gonna do this play. Yeah, because also remember the start
(23:32):
of this game. I mean, you go through the play
by play. He was awful early. They didn't move the
ball for anything. Uh. The Jets dominated, Sorry, buddy, which
is why I'm gonna call them out in a minute. Um.
But yeah, giving him like you're you're the quarterback. You
go and and let's figure this out. And this one
you're holding back right at the annexation of Puerto Rico.
(23:53):
Uh from a little giants. Uh, you wait for that
perfect moment and then you pounce and it's the Jets. Yeah,
it is all right. So you know, I feel better.
I got through that part of it. It It was okay,
it was okay. I think okay, you know, you know,
breaking down the fact that Jets really didn't relax on
the play. I mean, I think that makes me feel
a little bit better, a little bit better. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
(24:15):
tiny bit about it. Find your wins where you can't
even if the little ones. But coming up next, the
staggering things that happened to both of these teams and
some of their stars as the result of this play,
It's special Teams with Jason Smith and Mike Harmon A.
(24:46):
Sciasin gets picked off throws This first interception of the
game leads to another mark Ingram touchdown makes the game one.
They drive down deep again and again Boomera Sciasin gets
picked off. This puts the Dolphins in position for their
famed fake spike drive. So now what happened to both
of these teams and some of their big players following
(25:07):
the fake spike game. Well, for the New York Jets,
things did not get any better. Boomeris Sciasin was never
the same after this game. He lasted one more year
and he started twelve games going to and ten and
the Jets moved on, right. I think boomeros Sizens grew
is over at this point, but he winds up back
with Cincinnati three years later, and he starts five games
(25:30):
after Jeff Blake gets hurt. You remember Jeff Blake when
he came in suddenly, boy, Jeff Blake, he threw a
great deep ball that felt like it hung up in
the air forever. You know. Carl Pickens, Oh yeah, dude,
I had Carl Pickens in Fantasy to man, he was
a star. Uh so Blake, who was becoming a star
quarterback out of East Carolina. He gets hurt. Okay A
(25:51):
Sizin comes in and in five games he throws thirteen touchdowns.
Cincinnati's offense was great. They won four out of their
last five. The bank has wanted him back for two
more years. I mean, this is suddenly, here's Boomers, Sciasen's
renaissance and we got Boomer, we got Jeff Blake instead.
He retired. His last play a seventy nine yard touchdown
(26:12):
to darn A Scott to beat the Ravens sixteen to fourteen,
and Boomer retired because he was the first of the
can't miss analysts in the National Football League. Boomer had
done stuff for different networks and some stuff for ESPN
while he was playing, and it was he's the next
can't miss guy, right, He's the next Jason Witten, Tony Romo.
(26:32):
He's gonna be a guy that comes in and is
the next big broadcasting star. It took him a while,
you know, he got fired by ABC. He heard stories
he couldn't get along well with Al Michaels. And now
he's rebounded and now he's been hosting a morning show
in New York for a long time CBS studio analyst.
He's been around and still continues. Is in the midst
of a great broadcasting career, but it took him a
little bit. He wasn't the can't miss kid off the go.
(26:54):
It was Boomer's got a little bit of rough going here.
But he was that first guy, Mike that I remember
talking about that and and seeing that he he was
gonna be a star, gonna go right from the game
into the broadcast booth, and the look when the broadcast
booth wants you, and ABC wanted to I could go
back and play football, maybe start, maybe backup Jeff Blake.
Maybe instead, I'd go right into the booth. I'm gonna
(27:15):
go into the booth, always strong on the mic. Body
had taken a beating, so I mean, there's that right.
I mean, had a good long run, and this was
quarterbacks didn't have long careers like that. I mean, you've
got outliers and certainly guys that played through injuries. But
at some point Boomer said, I'm done physically. Mentally, he'd
(27:39):
been to the mountain, and with that renaissance, he knew
that was lightning in a bottle, and that got a
that U escape man, that Genie was out there. He
did his three wishes and that was it. So and
Boomer was smart enough to see that. I know. I mean,
you have that kind of run, thirteen touchdowns, two picks
and the offense is ring, you're rolling up, get a
(28:01):
couple of forty point games in there. It's like, well,
I'm gonna keep playing a little bit. I still got it.
I mean the Jets thing didn't, but I still got
I can still throw the football. I'm sure he's had
those moments where he always wonders what if right, but
physically mentally may how many times do you talk to guys?
And we see it all the time, the rumors always
thinking about retirement. Alright, then he's already he's already working
(28:22):
that way. And for Boomer, maybe maybe he had that
that epiphany of all right, see what I can do,
take this last run, and then you go in while
you're hot and a name right, because if he goes
back to the to the bangals and he's scuffles and
and now he's relegated to clipboard duty with Jeff Blake
taking over again, I mean, that's it, right. Maybe that
(28:46):
sizzle isn't there and that job doesn't come back. Man,
it's the Jay Cutler Christen Cavalery thing that that's playing
out in me in the press. Man. Uh So that
was it for Boomer. Like I said, he lasted a
little bit longer and then moved on and had that
great run at the end. For the Jets, well, I
had a couple of stories that are so totally Jets
for you. Pete Carroll calls the loss staggering. Right. The
(29:08):
Jets collapse in December for the second straight year. They
didn't win another game. They finished six and ten. They
were six and five, playing for first place. They lose
five games to end the season to goes six and ten.
Pete Carroll gets fired. Wait what are you doing up? Nope.
Pete Carroll gets fired because of that collapse and is
replaced by rich co Tight, who also turns out to
(29:29):
be one of the worst head coaches in the history
of the NFL. Gave you the gift of co Tight,
and here's here's why things are crazy Alright. Pete Carroll
is replaced by rich Coe Tight, who was the Eagles
head coach, but he was fired, but Leon Hess, Jets
owner hired Rich Coe Tight because he said, I really
start to desire more fun out of my football team,
(29:49):
Like that was the exact quote. So he hires Rich
Code type. Carol would have lost the most games to
end the season at five except for Rich co Tight,
who lost seven straight to end the season as head
coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and then got fired. So
they Pete Carroll lost five games row to end the season.
(30:11):
That was no good. We want the guy that lost
seven games in a row to end the season. Let's
get that guy that coming to be our head coach.
He lasts like two years. He was the absolute worst. Okay,
he comes in. This is the year when they drafted
Kyle Brady over Warren Sap. What are you doing, Jets
fans are screaming for Warren Sap? No, no, no, we're
gonna draft Kyle Brady when they had Johnny Mitchell, who
(30:34):
was still a good tight end. Co Tight wins four
games in two years. He was the absolute worst. At
least there was light at the end of the tunnel
because that's when they hire Bill Parcels after Code Tight
goes one in fifteen, which, oh, by the way, we
featured that season in more detail in a previous episode
of Special Teams, Rich co Tight he was as bad
(30:57):
as things are, as bad as coaches are. O Tight
was the way he was. He was terrible. He was
the worst. He got run out of Philadelphia, and this
is who we're gonna hire to come in. It goes
back to the questions we ask in business, right in
our own personal businesses. Whatever you do out there listening,
and we appreciate you taking the time with us here
(31:18):
on Special Teams, UH and Jason and I on our
work at Fox Sports Radio. Whatever you do. You know
the office politics, you know the games that are played,
and sometimes guys just interview well or there's some conversation
from years before, and you're part of someone's framework of Hey,
if there's ever an opportunity, let's take the shot. And
(31:41):
well that's that's what they did. And the Kyle Brady
pick is the one that that stays there and always
will be, Uh coming out of Penn State. But yes,
he frequently shows up as a top ten pick in
any of the worst tires across the Big four sports.
They're all yelling SAP, SAP, SAP set and all the
(32:01):
Jets fans of screaming sap sap uh tight end Kyle Brady.
It's I mean, really, it goes back to the mel Kiper.
It's clear to me the New York Jets have no
idea what the NFL draft is all about. That sounds
about right now. What about the Miami Dolphins. Well, a
couple of big things coming off this. First of all,
what about Hero mark Ingram. It was his biggest moments
(32:21):
in Super Bowl, very famous play when he gets through
five Buffalo Bills defenders for a big first down in
the Giants touchdown drive to help him win the game.
He retires from the NFL in and now he's known
as mark Ingram's father. However, it wasn't the end of
drama for mark Ingram. In two thousand and eight, he
gets sentenced to seven years in prison for money laundering
(32:43):
and craud. He gets arrested when he doesn't turn up
and turn himself in in Kentucky. Instead, he goes to
the Sugar Bowl to watch his son Alabama play Utah,
the game that Alabama wound up losing. He wound up
getting two extra years and got relieve he's from prison.
A good dad, though, you gonna turn yourself in nope,
(33:03):
going to the game. Okay, move though, turn yourself in
and miss the game, or show support for your son
knowing that you won't see him except on visitors Day
for two more years. Oh that's a tough one, you know.
I gotta say, I don't know that. I'm gonna spend
a lot of time thinking about that. But I think,
no matter what, I would come down to less prison
(33:25):
time being worth whatever it is. On the other side,
I don't know there's anything I would choose more prison
time over. I don't think I would money laundering. Where's
my AMC show on his life? There is star of
Big Time Games, Super Bowls, and he was in the
(33:46):
Fake Spike Game and all these other things. But you know,
and Burman used to always say his name mark Ingram.
He would always do that when he would make when
you make that play, And you know, working at ESPN
as I did in the midnight cause I remember working
on a Spike day and I'm like, great, now, I
gotta live this every day. Everyone's gonna make fun of me,
is you know? He would do the mark ingraman that
(34:06):
was a very big day for it, because you know,
the guy had four touchdowns and you know. The funny
thing is that I never knew where that came from.
And I said, why does he say marking All the
other ones you get it like Tim McDonald has the ball. Yeah,
I get that. I get a lot of but I go,
why mark Ingram? And apparently there was a radio guy
in New York who was legendary for the and I
(34:26):
didn't listen to him. I think he was a talk
guy and his name was Dan Ingram, and he would
always sign on and say this is Dan Ingram. And
so that's where you know, Berman got that from mark Ingram.
All the time. It's like, Okay, I don't get why
he does that. But then I finally figured out why.
And that was the half the battle. For the Dolphins,
the fake spike games save their season. They won two
(34:48):
of their last three to win the a f C East.
Bernie Palmerly scores three touchdowns in Week seventeen, they beat Detroit.
Then they go to the wild card game against the
Kansas City Chiefs. They win the game, but game is
more famous because it was Joe Montana's final game in
the National Football League. Montana threw two touchdowns in the
first half than a chance to win the game late,
(35:10):
but Montana throws a goal line pick in the fourth
quarter when their downtown and Marcus Allen fumbles in Miami
territory later in the fourth quarter. Montana finishes three four
two touchdowns, two picks, doesn't matter. Miami wins the game.
They move on to the divisional playoff, where they lose
to San Diego. That ends their season. But this was Miami. Hey,
(35:31):
things are okay, Marino was good, but that final game,
you know, look Montana and Marino, this big showdown. Montana's
final game in the National Football League, Well they sent
him into retirement. Look at that, sending him away like that.
That that's really brutal and vicious from Montana. Well that's
pretty good though. I mean, he had a good run,
and he took up a lot of my Sunday afternoons
(35:53):
when I wished I was watching other NFL teams. Uh,
he and the Cowboys monopolized all post Bears game him
viewing for a young Mike Harmen. So there's some bitterness
that still lives there. But yeah, I mean, we we
talked about Joe Montana. Those final two years in KSE
far more successful than they'll be remembered because you just
(36:14):
think of the oddity of him not being a forty niner, right,
It's it's one of those reality checks of what happened
to those end term forty nine or stars, is they
all went and played somewhere else, many of them right
across the Bay also, you know, just extended their career
one or two years somewhere else, as opposed to what
(36:36):
was the norm of how you played with one team
if you were the star and then you waved and
went into a representative ambassador role. Nope, Montana off to Casey,
you know, and and he's still this the second year
he had with the Chiefs. He still had a pretty
good year. He threw from it three thousand yards and
this is back when you know you throw for three
(36:56):
thousand yards, that's a big deal. You know, you throwing
for three thousand yards back then is like four thousand
yards now. And you know he was still able to
do it. But he clearly was not the same quarterback either.
A lot of injury difficulties and he retires from the
National Football League after this. You know, people forget, you know,
when you think about the end of Montana, boy, it
(37:18):
was Montana Marino was the final game in the NFL. Yeah,
I feel like I need to now just talk about
where he is now uh in that he does a
lot of things about copper uh, and he's trying to
sew you weed or at least make you understand about
the benefits of marijuana. Hey, everybody's got to find a
way to make money. You know, Montana had big pay days,
(37:38):
but not like some of the guys getting out. No, no, no,
you gotta find and keep that money living. Man. Money's
gotta be working as hard as you are. So that
was the season, and that was the outcome of what
happened because of the fake Spike game for both teams
in the National Football League have a little bit Awhere
are they now? Where are they now? All Right? You
(38:07):
you talked about the firing at Pete Carroll. Man, we'd
be remiss if we didn't talk about the domino effects
of Pete Carroll. Right. You have the USC legend than
the Seattle Seahawks run that continues as you and I
talk here heading into the season, all based on the
disaster that was the fake Spike. I'm gonna and you
(38:31):
and and your boomer assize and torture with two more
data plause from up we're talking about Boomer. I thought
we had to turn the page, No no, no. I Well,
because it's it's the hammer to bring it back. He
got James Saxon. Uh. He's working within the league as
the running back coach for the Cardinals. Bernie Parmerley as
well working for the Atlanta Falcons in the same capacity.
(38:51):
A Rob Moore over with the Titans as a wide
receiver coach. Gotta do that a lot of coaches, uh,
it seems in this mix here Mohammed Oliver. His kid
Isa is playing in Atlanta, So you got him. Aaron Craver.
He doesn't do football, but he does track and field
in Irvine, California. He holds the distinction of being the
(39:13):
only player in NFL history to catch touchdown passes from
Dan Marino and John Elway. Again owing to that guys
that just played one team. Now Elway powdered and was
a petulant child. Uh. Guy said it, uh and got
his way to where he where he wanted in the NFL. Uh.
He gets a pass. He and Eli have gotten pretty
(39:36):
pretty nice passes along the way for strong army. Uh.
And then I wanted to highlight Nick Lowry. He had
been cut eleven times by eight teams before going to
Kansas City UH. In his career UH and extending here,
he was at Dartmouth Grad. UH. He was on Senate
committees for Commerce, Science, and Transportation. That was his parallel
(39:59):
life with ball, was doing governmental work. And he still
loves doing that type of research. So you have fun
with that, alright. Ready for my last boomer assize and
kick to yes, kick to the you pick, just do it, alright.
To fourth down plays that are very important here. First quarter,
fourth and one from the one Brian Hansen delay of game.
(40:23):
Lowry twenty four yard field goal. Second quarter, second play,
boomer assize and passed to James Thornton, former Bears tight end.
He can't get that yard Smith turnover on down to
no game, the tackle made by Tim Bowens. I mean
there's there's fourteen points. I mean he got the field goal, alright,
(40:43):
so that's eleven points left upon the board. Buddy, No
fake spikes should have ever occurred, I rest my case. Yeah,
but it's the Jets. I think it was inevitable. I
think no matter what, it would have happened. The Universe
inspired what does the Groundhog day? Just keep doing it,
you get little lear learnings, but something still goes wrong. Uh,
you know, And the thing is, look just for a
(41:04):
couple minutes to talk about Pete Carroll because obviously you
see the Hall of Fame career he has crafted, first
building the dynasty at USC and now what he's done
with the Seattle Seahawks. You know, the Jets fire him,
he becomes a defensive coordinator, and you know, he does
pretty well for the next few years, and then the
Patriots hire him as their head coach to succeed Bill Parcels.
He got the Patriots into the playoffs his first year,
(41:26):
but then they had a bad slide and he got
fired at the end of Bob Kraft has gone on
record saying firing Pete Carroll was one of the toughest
decisions he ever had to make since buying the team.
So you know, listen, Pete Carroll still had proven that
I learned my lesson with the with the Jets about
certain things to do not to do, and how to
run a team, picked it up a little bit better
(41:48):
the second time around with the New England Patriots, and
then turns into a dynasty that he winds up building
with USC and suddenly you think he's gonna be there forever.
So again, like Belichick and like some other guys, sometimes
you fail that first job and you really have to
hope you get lucky and get another one, because if
you don't, there could be Hall of Fame careers that
(42:09):
we don't know about because guys started about poorly first
and they never got another chance. Because look, would you
have hired Pete Carroll after one year with the Jets
in a big slide, after being six and five and
losing the fake spike. No, you weren't able to rally
your team. Happen right, You lost your locker room or
at least outside in That's what we would be led
to believe is that after a crushing lost you guys
(42:32):
weren't able to rally and it was your fault. Yeah,
that was all their fault. Was all his fault, buddy.
And then as we know that the wolves were knocking
at the door at USC, and he veiled before that,
came down uh and then headed to Seattle and then
didn't give the ball to mar Shawn Lynch. Otherwise we're
talking about him as the top five coach of all
(42:53):
time about that Jets legend, it's Jets Hall of Famer
Carol Jets All of Famer Pete Carroll. And look, let's
be honest. Remember the reason that the Patriots fired him
is because they realized that Bill Belichick was going to
be available, and hey, we're gonna hire him. And you know,
look what he's done. So you can't say it didn't
(43:14):
turn out well for the Patriots. It was just boy,
Carol did a pretty decent job that second time too,
and then then it really clicked that third time around,
and you know, just for that fake spike, maybe the
Jets go eleven and five that year and Carol wins
the Super Bowl and suddenly he's in his you know,
twenty six year as head coach of the New York Jets. Well,
you know, Bill Parcel, I should say Bill Belichick is
(43:37):
also a Jets Hall of Famer. True, there's lots for
a minute. Oh you know, and anybody that's had spent
any time with the Jets, you earned that Hall of
Fame badge, I'll say, yeah, yeah, you spent your time
with the Jets. Yeah, okay, you're a Jets Hall of
Famer because I was a running joke, same as a jet. Yeah,
that was running joke for years with the Cubs. Right,
(43:58):
is that at some point all these guys passed through Chicago. Uh,
but their fame and fortune and brilliance was somewhere else.
You know, a lot of folks don't remember that Greg
Maddox actually won the cy Young before he left Chicago. Um,
but they'll always just remember him as a brave here.
Bill Belichick at least passed through the car wash that
(44:19):
was the New York Football Jets. So that's not look
back at one of the most famous games and one
of the most famous plays in NFL history, the Fake
Spike Game. I'm Jason Smith. He's Mike Harmon. Our show
has heard Monday through Friday on Fox Sports Radio over
FO affiliates coast to coast at ten pm to two
am on the East Coast, seven to eleven on the
West Coast. You have an idea for a future episode
(44:40):
of Special Teams. It better not involve the Jets unless
they win Twitter at how about a fresca? Mike is
a swollen dome. We'll talk to you next week before
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(45:01):
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will love you forever and ever and ever. Special Teams
(45:23):
is a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts
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Welcome to Special Teams, a production of I Heart Radio
(00:20):
Greetings and Welcome Inside Special Teams with Jason Smith and
Mike Harmon, a podcast that looks back at some of
the special teams in sports history what they were able
to accomplish an individual year in sports. Part of our
run we're on right now is we're looking back at
some of the special teams that took place in some
of the biggest sporting events of all time. In the
middle of a big NFL run right now, we're gonna
(00:42):
look back at a play that just celebrated. It's anniversary
not too long ago. We make you feel we kind
of have to do it. Well, you know what, it's
been twenty five years. I've had time to get over it.
But we're gonna look back at the Fake Spike game,
also known as the clock play, but a fake spike game,
in which Dan Marino turned the fake spike into a
(01:04):
cult play in NFL history by driving the Dolphins down
at the end of the fourth quarter in a game
in which it looked like he was gonna spike the
football to stop the clock, but instead he's there's a
touchdown pass to mark Ingram. The Dolphins beat the Jets
and the fake spike game and it's legend is born
and your blood pressure as you said that, which just raising.
(01:27):
I can see the vein popping out of your head.
It's okay, buddy. You know, it's not often you get
a midseason game that you know, we're gonna say, boy,
what a game. But look, this play was huge for
both teams and it actually affects the Seattle Seahawks and
and the current uh in college football pro football. This
game had a lot of influence on NFL's future. Uh So,
(01:50):
as we describe as I do it gritting my teeth,
the Dolphins Jets. Dolphins win the game on the fake
spike by Dan Reno and subsequent touchdown pass. But we're
getting ahead of ourselves. How did both teams get to
this point week twelve of the season. Well, the Jets
(02:11):
had gone eight and eight under Bruce coslate in they
had to win the final game of the season against
the Oilers to make the playoffs. The Oilers had given
up right there, weren't starting Warren Moon, We're gonna start
Cody Carlson because this game, if nothing at stake, the
Oilers are going to the playoffs and the Jets lose
twenty four nothing, twenty four to nothing. They don't show up.
(02:31):
I knew when I saw Rob Moore in street clothes
right before kickoff. I said, Ah, this, this is this
is not gonna happen. This. Yeah, back before you had
all the insiders giving you injury and illness updates, long
but long before this was all right, now we're taking
you live. You're like, wait a minute, wait what. It
was such a disappointing end with that horrible effort that
(02:54):
they had, you know, with with the playoffs on the line.
I was so disappointed. So were the Jets because they
fire Bruce Coslet and replace him with Pete Carroll. Hey,
Pete Carroll getting his first NFL A coaching job with
the Jets, and look, Pete Carroll was bringing young enthusiasm
to the position. Remember the big controversy he had had
(03:16):
while coaching for the Jets was he had made the
big choke gesture when Pete Stoyanovitch missed a field goal
for the Dolphins in the game and cameras caught him
doing it, and he kind of had to apologize for
it because I Stevins choked. But hey, as a head coach.
I liked it. You know, Pete Carroll was you could
tell he had something about him. When he gets the
(03:37):
head coaching job, he was a little bit different. He
wasn't the Hey, we're gonna hire Bruce Coslet and Joe
Walton all these other guys. No, he brought that youthful
energy and enthusiasm with the team, and we started out
pretty good. You know, we're six and five and we're
going into this game against the the Dolphins playing for
first place in the a f C because the Dolphins
were seven and four and the Jets are playing at home,
(03:58):
and I'm thinking, hey, we're a pretty good spot right now.
We're playing for first place and Pete Carroll has been
done a pretty good job so far. That's all you
can hope to be is in the mix right in
the first year of the regime, the especially with a
coach who didn't have the long track record of success.
This wasn't a hey, former Super Bowl winning guy. Everything
more thin. So now here's his new challenge. No, Pete
(04:21):
Carroll is still a rising name, but not a guy
that was an automatic. Certainly not the Pete Carroll we
talked about here in so being in the mix to
have a playoff potential is absolutely huge. So the Jets
are going into this game led by boomeris Scias and
at quarterback who they had gotten from the Bengals. Johnny
(04:43):
Johndrian Morrel were the big running backs for them. They
had robbed Moore, Art Monk, people forget Art Monk, all
these guys that I think of in other uniforms. Oh
oh yeah, yeah, every last one of those guys. Because
you say Morrel Cardinals, Cardinals say Boomer Bengal uh and
we had Ronnie Yes, yeah, I mean this is the
(05:04):
Jets team, right, Look Boomer. Boomer was someone who in
the Jets got him. I was thinking, Okay, this is
gonna solve our quarterback issues. And he played pretty well
for the Jets. I mean, we're gonna talk about this
game and he's a big part of it. But I
remember being excited and then I remember thinking, Okay, we
gotta get rid of Boomer, Like it went like from
hey Boomers, how we gotta get rid of Boomer. For
(05:25):
the Dolphins, they come into this game feeling pretty good
because Dan Marino had missed the entire ninety three season
with a torn achilles. It was are most of the
season with a torn achilles You know, uh he comes
back in the Dolphins play well. He throws three touchdowns
to beat the Jets in Week three. I mean they
(05:46):
were rolling. Bernie Parmeli and Terry Kirby were okay enough
at running back. Their wide receivers were Irving Friar, mark
ingram O j McDuffie. They were really solid coming into
this game though they had lost two in a row.
They lost the Bears, they lost the Steelers, so they're
seven and four and they need something to go right
because this is the first place showdown against the Jets.
(06:06):
But still this is a pretty talented Miami Dolphins team. Yeah.
When you go top to bottom and this is where
you still had, you know, the receiving corps getting after
it for Marino. The offense, it's like we talked about
with college football, al Right, You're you're facing an offense
that does things that you're not gonna see a ton
on the schedule. It's still most teams are run predicated. Men.
(06:29):
Look at your Jets numbers with Boomer for the year
played in fourteen games. He had seventeen touchdowns and that
wasn't out of the norm. Right, we talked about the
annual you know, exploits of Hall of famers like like
Troy Aikman and such. They weren't throwing thirty five touchdown passes.
You weren't winging in around and so here's your big
(06:49):
spot and you've got Marino back and everything's recovered. It
was a statue anyway, offenses clicking just needed the defense
to rise up once in a while, you know. And
this is one of the biggest rivalries in the NFL.
The Dolphins and Jets hate each other. Look, when Marino
retired or not. In Marino's final year, they needed the
Jets to win the final game of the regular season,
(07:11):
and they won, and they asked Dan, hey, would you
thank the Jets for a win? He like shook his
head like like you just asked him, hey, can you
loan me five million dollars? Like he didn't you want
to give the Jets any credit. These two teams hated
each other, right, I told you about the Stoyanovitch. It
was actually an extra point the Stoyanovitch. Dnked uh and
Carol makes the choke sign. They can't stand each other,
(07:32):
and for me, I can't stand the Dolphins as a
Jets fan. But I wouldn't have been that upset if
Bernie Parmaly had a big game. So it was my
first year of doing fantasy and I had Bernie on
my team. I mean, he came out of it was
my first year. I'm like, boy, I really want to
win this game. But I wouldn't be upset if Bernie
Parmerly played well. And I'm like, oh boy, you know
(07:52):
something that every fantasy player goes through at some point
when they first started playing. And it's my favorite team
and I have a player playing against him. But I
was so excit used to get an argument with football
players all the time over that stuff. I feel like,
you can't be a real fan and play fantasy. And
I would always use this argument. All Right, I'm from Chicago,
I'm a Bearrass fan. Stipulate to that, Yes, yes, what
(08:15):
do I hope if I'm a fantasy owner? I know
Brett Farve is thrown for three yards and three touchdown passes? Right, Yeah,
so I draft Brett Farve and you know what I
hope happens. They lose the shootout every Sunday, So as
soon as they have a good defense, that's when I
back off my Brett Farve and maybe I've got a
(08:36):
guy that's just on par with him in my rankings
and I go the other way. But it usually diffused things.
Sometimes it would get me an expletive laden response and
they'd storm off. So good times. Uh dude. I I
was so excited cause Bernie Parmley was like the third
running back I needed. And I'm like, oh my god,
he's he ran for almost a thousand yards, came out
of nowhere, he almost had a thousand yards season. I
(08:58):
was like, gay, Bernie part really Bertie Parvately, So I
would have been excited at Bernie Parvaly had a big game.
Instead I get the fake spike. So that's what that's
celebrating Bernie. There we go. So coming up next the
drama that surrounded the fake spike, And there are some
absolute insane things to think about when you look at
the place surrounding the fake spike. What happened before, what
(09:22):
happened after? We got that coming up next right here
on Special Teams. I feel like I wanna fast forward
(09:45):
Mike and and get just get past the fake spike.
And I'm building up to it. We're gonna build up
to it. There's a lot of stalk about it, like, Okay,
we just get to the fake spike already, because I
just cant just get to it, my goodness, because you
know it's there, right, It's it's you love all the
different part a book or a movie, but you know
where the plot turns because you know you gotta get
there and you gotta work through it. And this is
(10:07):
one where I mean, you really gotta work through it, Bunny,
and I know it. It cuts you to the quick.
All these twenty five years later, the Jets actually start
out big in this game, and they race out to
a seventeen nothing lead. Right Brad Baxter runs for a touchdown. Boy,
he was a touchdown vulture for the Jets. Boomera assize
and throws a touchdown past to Johnny Mitchell. This is
back when Johnny Mitchell was gonna be the next great
(10:28):
tight end of the National Football League. They trade touchdowns.
Mark Ingram catches a touchdown from Dan Marino uh and
the score is seventeen to six. Then Mitchell catches another
touchdown from a Siasin. So the Jets are leading six
and the third quarter, Metal Lands is rocking. I'm thinking, oh,
we're gonna be in first place. And then of course
it all falls apart, which is how it works for
(10:50):
the New York Jets. Marino throws another touchdown to mark Ingram.
They get a two point conversion, and this is when
boomeras size And starts giving the bleeping game away. All right,
everything is still fine. See you see my blood boiling
on this I can feel it rising. You're gonna, man,
what the hell is that supposed to mean? Uh? As
(11:12):
Siasin gets picked off, throws his first pick of the
game that leads to the third Marino to mark Ingram touchdown,
which cuts lead one. Alright, Jets still have the lead.
They're driving. Then the size And gets picked off again
for the second time, but the Jets force a fun Okay,
everything is okay, we have the ball lesson three minutes ago.
Everything is fine. As Siasin is picked off again with
(11:35):
two and a half minutes ago in the fourth quarter,
and this begins the Dan Marino drive. He gets the
Jets all the way down to the eight yard line
with thirty eight seconds left in one time out. You've
seen the play a hundred times, he tells the team
clock clock clock. But he throws the touchdown to mark Ingram,
the fourth Marino to Ingram touchdown of the game, lead
(11:58):
in the win. All right, now, there's look at that drive, Smith,
to look at the drive seven of eight eighty four yards.
They go down like like a hot knife through butter.
Uh and just complete, complete, not taking huge chunks here more.
We're talking eighteen four fourteen three eight. Keith Jackson, Uh,
(12:26):
you know was in the mix there as as well
a little bit earlier in the possessions. But Irving Fryar,
I mean that your big chunk yardage was a past
to Mike Williams. No, not Mike Williams, if you're lost
william Not that Mike Williams, nor the former wide receiver
tight end from USC but the big plate twenty two yards. Otherwise,
(12:48):
it was an awful lot of mark Ingram that you're
looking for over and over again. And the ageless Irving
Fryar got that whole thing started seven of eight man
choke choke, yeah, yeah, no, no, I get it, No, no,
I get free. Mcduffe caught a past two yeah no yeah, uh,
(13:09):
little eff it is he would he would then, you know,
step into a bigger role in later years. Um, now
here's here's where this play gets a little bit. I
don't want to say it gets. The Jets get a
worse rap for it than they do. But first of all,
how about this thirty eight seconds left to go in
the game. The Dolphins were on the Jets eight yard line,
(13:31):
and they have a time out, and the Dolphins are
thinking clock. I mean, just think about how it says.
Can you see a team with thirty eight seconds left
to go in a game and they have the ball
on the opposing team's eight yard line, they need they need, uh,
you need to score and they have a time out
and they would think about clocking the ball and giving
away it down. But this is the way the NFL was.
(13:52):
But it wasn't you know, to the precision of hey,
teams can get up to the line of scrimmage and
spike the football in five seconds like they do now,
which is something that Look, that's what Tom Brady and
the Patriots never got as much credit for they were
able to do. Is of all the big things Brady's
done in his career, the way how fast he would
be able to get the Patriots up to line scrimmage
and spiked the football only a couple of seconds coming
(14:14):
off the clock. But this is that everywhere. Okay, let's
all right, thirty eight seconds. Well, let's let's let's let's
let's get some time to figure out the next play.
Let's let's think about clocking the football, because this is
a normal play. Teams would get up, you know, forty
seconds like, let's do all right, hang on, we don't
know what's gonna happen now, so let's make sure we
clocked the ball and give up a down. I mean,
it's in it's crazy to think that's the way it
was back then. Yeah, I mean, whenever you're in those
(14:36):
types of situations and look, we see some crazy stuff
on play calls all the time, you and I Monday
and Thursday nights there, how many times do we just
have this awkward moment of silence, going what is he doing?
And don't understand? And certainly clocking uh is never in
the thought process when you've got that much time left
(14:59):
and you never want leave the extra play right, either
get to the field goal unit, or you've got time
and opportunity with timeouts and others to stop the clock,
that you do it. Uh, And set up your best
play here. Uh it just took everybody by surprise, obviously,
which is what it's intended to do. Thank you, Bernie Kozar.
(15:19):
But for the general football flow, I mean, it's it's
something that I want the master's class on the down
distance and hey, you know what, every once in a while,
you gotta play that wild poker hand and that's what
we saw here. Uh So the Jets kind of get
a bad rap on this play because the way this
(15:40):
play is presented has lived over the years. It's all
look at Marino completely fools the Jets defense. No, watch
the play. Marino fools some of the players, but Marvin
Washington gets his hands up, almost gets his hands in
the way of the past. He's playing the snap right away.
He's not fooled. Paul Frase, defensive lineman, is a half
second and a step away from nailing Marino before he
(16:02):
throws the pass. So it's not like everybody gave up.
The Jets still had half the team to Okay, something's
gonna happen on this play. And Aaron Glenn is in
coverage on mark Ingram. It's not like Ingram just ran
by him, and Aaron Glenn is standing there. Aaron Glenn
just happened to run to cover mark Ingram and he
was wasn't facing back towards the quarterback. And Marino throws
the bullet into the touchdown for Ingram. So it's not
(16:25):
like the Jets all got fooled by this. I mean
another half second, or if Aaron Glenn is a little
bit tighter on coverage, Marino can't throw this pass. He
gets hit, maybe gets sacked against Theri fumbles. Doesn't mean
they wouldn't have want to winning the game anyway. They
probably would have. But still, it's not like the Jets
all got fooled because you watch us and and they
had to execute this pretty fast because the Jets still
had a few players who were jumping on this play.
(16:47):
Well they were actually off sides too, right, A funny
thing in the play as you you've break down every
man and you know we do our account and how
many are on the field and all these other things.
You know, they they defended. Uh, they just get the
good strategy, good execution by Dan Marino. Will give him
credit for this one, right since he's always the at
(17:10):
the head of the list of best and never have one.
Uh sorry, second year ap here yea, thanks, thanks, he
still had a good run. I feel bad on my
heart bleeds. Well, this is now one of his crowning
moments against you. I mean, if you were in a
roll tape on his finest moment, I mean, this could
be it, you know, and Marino you're right, you know,
(17:31):
you're right. This is Marino's I mean, look, forty eight
touchdowns his second year, you know, rookie year in the
leagu's or second year in the league, and then you know,
you had this. It was I mean he threw for
you know, three sixty in this game and four touchdowns
and it was you know, not saying Dan Marino is
in a Hall of Fame quarterback, but I always say, look,
Marino's the top five quarterback, and we say how we
(17:52):
see how great he is and how well he played.
But if he doesn't have this game and doesn't have
this fake spike moment, is he is widely looked at
as Hey, Dan Marino is one of the top five
quarterbacks in the NFL. This game had so much for
his legacy because it was it's the like you said,
it's the moment you look back at you can see
all the passing titles, all the yardage, everything else, but boy,
(18:14):
the fake spike game. In the year he came back
from injury, he won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
Dan Marino was still Dan Marino, still had a few
more really good years left in him. I don't know
without this game, people say, hey, Dann he's one of
the top five quarterbacks of all time. He's a guy
that puts up a lot of yards. But this is
always the highlight you see the first time you see Marino,
(18:35):
it's him doing the fake spike and zipping that touchdown
in I don't know that that's the case without this,
No you mentioned it. It's a lot of yardage. We
talked about empty stats. Pick your sport, right, NBA players
who are just scores, you shrug. NFL quarterbacks now that
passed for five thousand yards, you can or four and
(18:56):
then look at Jameis Winston in the thirty thirty year,
or go through how many other quarterbacks who've gone over
four thousand yards piled up a bunch of stats, but
their team six and ten. NFL record books and the
box scores are full of them. Fantasy football titles for
a few of them, I'm sure guys getting drunk uh
and having big meals because of the success of their
(19:18):
quarterbacks there. But it's a lot of empty stats. And
for Dan Marino, you don't want to go to that
end with it because it's still you still appreciate the
arm and his capacity to move the ball and make plays,
but they didn't get over So you need a play
like this and the veterans savvy or whatever term you
(19:39):
want to throw on it to help build that legacy
and legend now, and just to give you an idea
of Marino's career here for the rest of the way,
his first four years in the league were incredible. Right,
he throws twenty touchdowns when he comes in as a rookie,
and then the next year it's forty eight, thirty and
forty four. Right, Marino looks like he's gonna be unsta poppable. Well,
(20:01):
he threw thirty touchdowns in this year. It was the
only time he had done that since nineteen eighty six.
He had never again hit thirty touchdowns in the year
nineteen eighty six all the way to thirty touchdowns, never
threw for thirty touchdowns again after four never threw for
four thousand yards in a year again, something he had
(20:21):
done five times earlier in his NFL career. So while
he still had pretty good years, they weren't. Boy, look
at Dan Marino is No, he never really approached these
heights again. And look, he played in big playoff games,
he was on TV all the time. Look, as I said,
I think he's a top five quarterback of all time.
He was so high profile. But without this to the
(20:41):
rest of his numbers really jump out. He only made
the Pro Bowl one more time, you know, and ninety
four he made it in You're talking about a guy
that made the Pro Bowl in his career and then
eight three to eighty seven. So clearly the last half
of his career didn't really measure up with the first half. Yeah,
(21:01):
in the end, you don't want to diminish and and
reduce a career to a couple of moments. But we
always ask for those signature plays and signature pieces to
a player's career, particularly when we're putting them on these
goat and Mount Rushmore discussions like we have all the time.
For Dan Marino, you didn't have that right because even
(21:22):
forty eight touchdowns, it's the aggregation of it There's no
singular touchdown pass that really stands out from that year,
at least not to my mind. And that was when
you know, my love of football as a kid and
I was playing and running around and running them uk.
I mean, that was about it as as high as
I ever was as a involved and had to really
(21:45):
I do it for the job now, but as a kid,
that's where the passion was really probably you know, hitting
its peak point where I also knew I wasn't growing
any tall or so my career wasn't going anywhere further
than that slow of foot short not exactly the combination
of success, but like you were eating all that stuff up.
But for Dan Marino, I was like, why I had
(22:07):
another big game and be like, all right, there's a
long throw insert receiver here and away you go. But
here you had this indelible image X to your brain.
That is part of NFL folklore. This was a play
that Bernie Kozar brought to the team. Kozar was the
backup for Marino this year. And then, like you've heard
that story plenty of times, but it was great to
(22:28):
hear Dan Marino talk about it. Following the passing of
Don Shula, earlier this year, and that it was basically
he said, listen, this game, we were down at halftime,
and Shula allowed me to do my thing. So I
don't know if that meant he called all the plays,
but that's why he liked playing for Don Shula, because Shula,
when it came down to it, would let his best
players play. You know, they practiced it all season, they
(22:49):
did everything else. But when it came to put up
a shut up time for this play, yes, Marino did it,
but he didn't do it without Don Shula giving him
the okay to do it. It was Don Shula saying, okay,
this is the time to break got this fake spike
play and it was the perfect opportunity. And you see
the relationship that the two of them had, where no
matter what, you have a guy that throws the football
a ton, and here's Don Shula, who never who came up.
(23:11):
You know, throwing the football is not something he did
all the time, but he knew enough this player is
really really talented, unlike many guys I've seen, I'm gonna
let him do his thing. But in the end, it
was still Marino going, I'm not gonna go crazy and
go completely off topic and ignore the coach. You tell
me this is the time for this play. Okay, we're
gonna do this play. Yeah, because also remember the start
(23:32):
of this game. I mean, you go through the play
by play. He was awful early. They didn't move the
ball for anything. Uh. The Jets dominated, Sorry, buddy, which
is why I'm gonna call them out in a minute. Um.
But yeah, giving him like you're you're the quarterback. You
go and and let's figure this out. And this one
you're holding back right at the annexation of Puerto Rico.
(23:53):
Uh from a little giants. Uh, you wait for that
perfect moment and then you pounce and it's the Jets. Yeah,
it is all right. So you know, I feel better.
I got through that part of it. It It was okay,
it was okay. I think okay, you know, you know,
breaking down the fact that Jets really didn't relax on
the play. I mean, I think that makes me feel
a little bit better, a little bit better. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
(24:15):
tiny bit about it. Find your wins where you can't
even if the little ones. But coming up next, the
staggering things that happened to both of these teams and
some of their stars as the result of this play,
It's special Teams with Jason Smith and Mike Harmon A.
(24:46):
Sciasin gets picked off throws This first interception of the
game leads to another mark Ingram touchdown makes the game one.
They drive down deep again and again Boomera Sciasin gets
picked off. This puts the Dolphins in position for their
famed fake spike drive. So now what happened to both
of these teams and some of their big players following
(25:07):
the fake spike game. Well, for the New York Jets,
things did not get any better. Boomeris Sciasin was never
the same after this game. He lasted one more year
and he started twelve games going to and ten and
the Jets moved on, right. I think boomeros Sizens grew
is over at this point, but he winds up back
with Cincinnati three years later, and he starts five games
(25:30):
after Jeff Blake gets hurt. You remember Jeff Blake when
he came in suddenly, boy, Jeff Blake, he threw a
great deep ball that felt like it hung up in
the air forever. You know. Carl Pickens, Oh yeah, dude,
I had Carl Pickens in Fantasy to man, he was
a star. Uh so Blake, who was becoming a star
quarterback out of East Carolina. He gets hurt. Okay A
(25:51):
Sizin comes in and in five games he throws thirteen touchdowns.
Cincinnati's offense was great. They won four out of their
last five. The bank has wanted him back for two
more years. I mean, this is suddenly, here's Boomers, Sciasen's
renaissance and we got Boomer, we got Jeff Blake instead.
He retired. His last play a seventy nine yard touchdown
(26:12):
to darn A Scott to beat the Ravens sixteen to fourteen,
and Boomer retired because he was the first of the
can't miss analysts in the National Football League. Boomer had
done stuff for different networks and some stuff for ESPN
while he was playing, and it was he's the next
can't miss guy, right, He's the next Jason Witten, Tony Romo.
(26:32):
He's gonna be a guy that comes in and is
the next big broadcasting star. It took him a while,
you know, he got fired by ABC. He heard stories
he couldn't get along well with Al Michaels. And now
he's rebounded and now he's been hosting a morning show
in New York for a long time CBS studio analyst.
He's been around and still continues. Is in the midst
of a great broadcasting career, but it took him a
little bit. He wasn't the can't miss kid off the go.
(26:54):
It was Boomer's got a little bit of rough going here.
But he was that first guy, Mike that I remember
talking about that and and seeing that he he was
gonna be a star, gonna go right from the game
into the broadcast booth, and the look when the broadcast
booth wants you, and ABC wanted to I could go
back and play football, maybe start, maybe backup Jeff Blake.
Maybe instead, I'd go right into the booth. I'm gonna
(27:15):
go into the booth, always strong on the mic. Body
had taken a beating, so I mean, there's that right.
I mean, had a good long run, and this was
quarterbacks didn't have long careers like that. I mean, you've
got outliers and certainly guys that played through injuries. But
at some point Boomer said, I'm done physically. Mentally, he'd
(27:39):
been to the mountain, and with that renaissance, he knew
that was lightning in a bottle, and that got a
that U escape man, that Genie was out there. He
did his three wishes and that was it. So and
Boomer was smart enough to see that. I know. I mean,
you have that kind of run, thirteen touchdowns, two picks
and the offense is ring, you're rolling up, get a
(28:01):
couple of forty point games in there. It's like, well,
I'm gonna keep playing a little bit. I still got it.
I mean the Jets thing didn't, but I still got
I can still throw the football. I'm sure he's had
those moments where he always wonders what if right, but
physically mentally may how many times do you talk to guys?
And we see it all the time, the rumors always
thinking about retirement. Alright, then he's already he's already working
(28:22):
that way. And for Boomer, maybe maybe he had that
that epiphany of all right, see what I can do,
take this last run, and then you go in while
you're hot and a name right, because if he goes
back to the to the bangals and he's scuffles and
and now he's relegated to clipboard duty with Jeff Blake
taking over again, I mean, that's it, right. Maybe that
(28:46):
sizzle isn't there and that job doesn't come back. Man,
it's the Jay Cutler Christen Cavalery thing that that's playing
out in me in the press. Man. Uh So that
was it for Boomer. Like I said, he lasted a
little bit longer and then moved on and had that
great run at the end. For the Jets, well, I
had a couple of stories that are so totally Jets
for you. Pete Carroll calls the loss staggering. Right. The
(29:08):
Jets collapse in December for the second straight year. They
didn't win another game. They finished six and ten. They
were six and five, playing for first place. They lose
five games to end the season to goes six and ten.
Pete Carroll gets fired. Wait what are you doing up? Nope.
Pete Carroll gets fired because of that collapse and is
replaced by rich co Tight, who also turns out to
(29:29):
be one of the worst head coaches in the history
of the NFL. Gave you the gift of co Tight,
and here's here's why things are crazy Alright. Pete Carroll
is replaced by rich Coe Tight, who was the Eagles
head coach, but he was fired, but Leon Hess, Jets
owner hired Rich Coe Tight because he said, I really
start to desire more fun out of my football team,
(29:49):
Like that was the exact quote. So he hires Rich
Code type. Carol would have lost the most games to
end the season at five except for Rich co Tight,
who lost seven straight to end the season as head
coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and then got fired. So
they Pete Carroll lost five games row to end the season.
(30:11):
That was no good. We want the guy that lost
seven games in a row to end the season. Let's
get that guy that coming to be our head coach.
He lasts like two years. He was the absolute worst. Okay,
he comes in. This is the year when they drafted
Kyle Brady over Warren Sap. What are you doing, Jets
fans are screaming for Warren Sap? No, no, no, we're
gonna draft Kyle Brady when they had Johnny Mitchell, who
(30:34):
was still a good tight end. Co Tight wins four
games in two years. He was the absolute worst. At
least there was light at the end of the tunnel
because that's when they hire Bill Parcels after Code Tight
goes one in fifteen, which, oh, by the way, we
featured that season in more detail in a previous episode
of Special Teams, Rich co Tight he was as bad
(30:57):
as things are, as bad as coaches are. O Tight
was the way he was. He was terrible. He was
the worst. He got run out of Philadelphia, and this
is who we're gonna hire to come in. It goes
back to the questions we ask in business, right in
our own personal businesses. Whatever you do out there listening,
and we appreciate you taking the time with us here
(31:18):
on Special Teams, UH and Jason and I on our
work at Fox Sports Radio. Whatever you do. You know
the office politics, you know the games that are played,
and sometimes guys just interview well or there's some conversation
from years before, and you're part of someone's framework of Hey,
if there's ever an opportunity, let's take the shot. And
(31:41):
well that's that's what they did. And the Kyle Brady
pick is the one that that stays there and always
will be, Uh coming out of Penn State. But yes,
he frequently shows up as a top ten pick in
any of the worst tires across the Big four sports.
They're all yelling SAP, SAP, SAP set and all the
(32:01):
Jets fans of screaming sap sap uh tight end Kyle Brady.
It's I mean, really, it goes back to the mel Kiper.
It's clear to me the New York Jets have no
idea what the NFL draft is all about. That sounds
about right now. What about the Miami Dolphins. Well, a
couple of big things coming off this. First of all,
what about Hero mark Ingram. It was his biggest moments
(32:21):
in Super Bowl, very famous play when he gets through
five Buffalo Bills defenders for a big first down in
the Giants touchdown drive to help him win the game.
He retires from the NFL in and now he's known
as mark Ingram's father. However, it wasn't the end of
drama for mark Ingram. In two thousand and eight, he
gets sentenced to seven years in prison for money laundering
(32:43):
and craud. He gets arrested when he doesn't turn up
and turn himself in in Kentucky. Instead, he goes to
the Sugar Bowl to watch his son Alabama play Utah,
the game that Alabama wound up losing. He wound up
getting two extra years and got relieve he's from prison.
A good dad, though, you gonna turn yourself in nope,
(33:03):
going to the game. Okay, move though, turn yourself in
and miss the game, or show support for your son
knowing that you won't see him except on visitors Day
for two more years. Oh that's a tough one, you know.
I gotta say, I don't know that. I'm gonna spend
a lot of time thinking about that. But I think,
no matter what, I would come down to less prison
(33:25):
time being worth whatever it is. On the other side,
I don't know there's anything I would choose more prison
time over. I don't think I would money laundering. Where's
my AMC show on his life? There is star of
Big Time Games, Super Bowls, and he was in the
(33:46):
Fake Spike Game and all these other things. But you know,
and Burman used to always say his name mark Ingram.
He would always do that when he would make when
you make that play, And you know, working at ESPN
as I did in the midnight cause I remember working
on a Spike day and I'm like, great, now, I
gotta live this every day. Everyone's gonna make fun of me,
is you know? He would do the mark ingraman that
(34:06):
was a very big day for it, because you know,
the guy had four touchdowns and you know. The funny
thing is that I never knew where that came from.
And I said, why does he say marking All the
other ones you get it like Tim McDonald has the ball. Yeah,
I get that. I get a lot of but I go,
why mark Ingram? And apparently there was a radio guy
in New York who was legendary for the and I
(34:26):
didn't listen to him. I think he was a talk
guy and his name was Dan Ingram, and he would
always sign on and say this is Dan Ingram. And
so that's where you know, Berman got that from mark Ingram.
All the time. It's like, Okay, I don't get why
he does that. But then I finally figured out why.
And that was the half the battle. For the Dolphins,
the fake spike games save their season. They won two
(34:48):
of their last three to win the a f C East.
Bernie Palmerly scores three touchdowns in Week seventeen, they beat Detroit.
Then they go to the wild card game against the
Kansas City Chiefs. They win the game, but game is
more famous because it was Joe Montana's final game in
the National Football League. Montana threw two touchdowns in the
first half than a chance to win the game late,
(35:10):
but Montana throws a goal line pick in the fourth
quarter when their downtown and Marcus Allen fumbles in Miami
territory later in the fourth quarter. Montana finishes three four
two touchdowns, two picks, doesn't matter. Miami wins the game.
They move on to the divisional playoff, where they lose
to San Diego. That ends their season. But this was Miami. Hey,
(35:31):
things are okay, Marino was good, but that final game,
you know, look Montana and Marino, this big showdown. Montana's
final game in the National Football League, Well they sent
him into retirement. Look at that, sending him away like that.
That that's really brutal and vicious from Montana. Well that's
pretty good though. I mean, he had a good run,
and he took up a lot of my Sunday afternoons
(35:53):
when I wished I was watching other NFL teams. Uh,
he and the Cowboys monopolized all post Bears game him
viewing for a young Mike Harmen. So there's some bitterness
that still lives there. But yeah, I mean, we we
talked about Joe Montana. Those final two years in KSE
far more successful than they'll be remembered because you just
(36:14):
think of the oddity of him not being a forty niner, right,
It's it's one of those reality checks of what happened
to those end term forty nine or stars, is they
all went and played somewhere else, many of them right
across the Bay also, you know, just extended their career
one or two years somewhere else, as opposed to what
(36:36):
was the norm of how you played with one team
if you were the star and then you waved and
went into a representative ambassador role. Nope, Montana off to Casey,
you know, and and he's still this the second year
he had with the Chiefs. He still had a pretty
good year. He threw from it three thousand yards and
this is back when you know you throw for three
(36:56):
thousand yards, that's a big deal. You know, you throwing
for three thousand yards back then is like four thousand
yards now. And you know he was still able to
do it. But he clearly was not the same quarterback either.
A lot of injury difficulties and he retires from the
National Football League after this. You know, people forget, you know,
when you think about the end of Montana, boy, it
(37:18):
was Montana Marino was the final game in the NFL. Yeah,
I feel like I need to now just talk about
where he is now uh in that he does a
lot of things about copper uh, and he's trying to
sew you weed or at least make you understand about
the benefits of marijuana. Hey, everybody's got to find a
way to make money. You know, Montana had big pay days,
(37:38):
but not like some of the guys getting out. No, no, no,
you gotta find and keep that money living. Man. Money's
gotta be working as hard as you are. So that
was the season, and that was the outcome of what
happened because of the fake Spike game for both teams
in the National Football League have a little bit Awhere
are they now? Where are they now? All Right? You
(38:07):
you talked about the firing at Pete Carroll. Man, we'd
be remiss if we didn't talk about the domino effects
of Pete Carroll. Right. You have the USC legend than
the Seattle Seahawks run that continues as you and I
talk here heading into the season, all based on the
disaster that was the fake Spike. I'm gonna and you
(38:31):
and and your boomer assize and torture with two more
data plause from up we're talking about Boomer. I thought
we had to turn the page, No no, no. I Well,
because it's it's the hammer to bring it back. He
got James Saxon. Uh. He's working within the league as
the running back coach for the Cardinals. Bernie Parmerley as
well working for the Atlanta Falcons in the same capacity.
(38:51):
A Rob Moore over with the Titans as a wide
receiver coach. Gotta do that a lot of coaches, uh,
it seems in this mix here Mohammed Oliver. His kid
Isa is playing in Atlanta, So you got him. Aaron Craver.
He doesn't do football, but he does track and field
in Irvine, California. He holds the distinction of being the
(39:13):
only player in NFL history to catch touchdown passes from
Dan Marino and John Elway. Again owing to that guys
that just played one team. Now Elway powdered and was
a petulant child. Uh. Guy said it, uh and got
his way to where he where he wanted in the NFL. Uh.
He gets a pass. He and Eli have gotten pretty
(39:36):
pretty nice passes along the way for strong army. Uh.
And then I wanted to highlight Nick Lowry. He had
been cut eleven times by eight teams before going to
Kansas City UH. In his career UH and extending here,
he was at Dartmouth Grad. UH. He was on Senate
committees for Commerce, Science, and Transportation. That was his parallel
(39:59):
life with ball, was doing governmental work. And he still
loves doing that type of research. So you have fun
with that, alright. Ready for my last boomer assize and
kick to yes, kick to the you pick, just do it, alright.
To fourth down plays that are very important here. First quarter,
fourth and one from the one Brian Hansen delay of game.
(40:23):
Lowry twenty four yard field goal. Second quarter, second play,
boomer assize and passed to James Thornton, former Bears tight end.
He can't get that yard Smith turnover on down to
no game, the tackle made by Tim Bowens. I mean
there's there's fourteen points. I mean he got the field goal, alright,
(40:43):
so that's eleven points left upon the board. Buddy, No
fake spikes should have ever occurred, I rest my case. Yeah,
but it's the Jets. I think it was inevitable. I
think no matter what, it would have happened. The Universe
inspired what does the Groundhog day? Just keep doing it,
you get little lear learnings, but something still goes wrong. Uh,
you know, And the thing is, look just for a
(41:04):
couple minutes to talk about Pete Carroll because obviously you
see the Hall of Fame career he has crafted, first
building the dynasty at USC and now what he's done
with the Seattle Seahawks. You know, the Jets fire him,
he becomes a defensive coordinator, and you know, he does
pretty well for the next few years, and then the
Patriots hire him as their head coach to succeed Bill Parcels.
He got the Patriots into the playoffs his first year,
(41:26):
but then they had a bad slide and he got
fired at the end of Bob Kraft has gone on
record saying firing Pete Carroll was one of the toughest
decisions he ever had to make since buying the team.
So you know, listen, Pete Carroll still had proven that
I learned my lesson with the with the Jets about
certain things to do not to do, and how to
run a team, picked it up a little bit better
(41:48):
the second time around with the New England Patriots, and
then turns into a dynasty that he winds up building
with USC and suddenly you think he's gonna be there forever.
So again, like Belichick and like some other guys, sometimes
you fail that first job and you really have to
hope you get lucky and get another one, because if
you don't, there could be Hall of Fame careers that
(42:09):
we don't know about because guys started about poorly first
and they never got another chance. Because look, would you
have hired Pete Carroll after one year with the Jets
in a big slide, after being six and five and
losing the fake spike. No, you weren't able to rally
your team. Happen right, You lost your locker room or
at least outside in That's what we would be led
to believe is that after a crushing lost you guys
(42:32):
weren't able to rally and it was your fault. Yeah,
that was all their fault. Was all his fault, buddy.
And then as we know that the wolves were knocking
at the door at USC, and he veiled before that,
came down uh and then headed to Seattle and then
didn't give the ball to mar Shawn Lynch. Otherwise we're
talking about him as the top five coach of all
(42:53):
time about that Jets legend, it's Jets Hall of Famer
Carol Jets All of Famer Pete Carroll. And look, let's
be honest. Remember the reason that the Patriots fired him
is because they realized that Bill Belichick was going to
be available, and hey, we're gonna hire him. And you know,
look what he's done. So you can't say it didn't
(43:14):
turn out well for the Patriots. It was just boy,
Carol did a pretty decent job that second time too,
and then then it really clicked that third time around,
and you know, just for that fake spike, maybe the
Jets go eleven and five that year and Carol wins
the Super Bowl and suddenly he's in his you know,
twenty six year as head coach of the New York Jets. Well,
you know, Bill Parcel, I should say Bill Belichick is
(43:37):
also a Jets Hall of Famer. True, there's lots for
a minute. Oh you know, and anybody that's had spent
any time with the Jets, you earned that Hall of
Fame badge, I'll say, yeah, yeah, you spent your time
with the Jets. Yeah, okay, you're a Jets Hall of
Famer because I was a running joke, same as a jet. Yeah,
that was running joke for years with the Cubs. Right,
(43:58):
is that at some point all these guys passed through Chicago. Uh,
but their fame and fortune and brilliance was somewhere else.
You know, a lot of folks don't remember that Greg
Maddox actually won the cy Young before he left Chicago. Um,
but they'll always just remember him as a brave here.
Bill Belichick at least passed through the car wash that
(44:19):
was the New York Football Jets. So that's not look
back at one of the most famous games and one
of the most famous plays in NFL history, the Fake
Spike Game. I'm Jason Smith. He's Mike Harmon. Our show
has heard Monday through Friday on Fox Sports Radio over
FO affiliates coast to coast at ten pm to two
am on the East Coast, seven to eleven on the
West Coast. You have an idea for a future episode
(44:40):
of Special Teams. It better not involve the Jets unless
they win Twitter at how about a fresca? Mike is
a swollen dome. We'll talk to you next week before
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(45:01):
I heart Radio, i heart Radio apps, Apple, whatever it is,
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will love you forever and ever and ever. Special Teams
(45:23):
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