A Cowboy Life Episode 1: Did I Kill Him? with Jeff Heath

Jeff Heath [00:00:01] When you hit somebody and it's... a lot of times when it's a hard hit ​ ​ you don't even feel it. I remember actually when I hit him it felt way different it just felt like a thud like a huge thud. He felt so heavy when I hit him and I don't know why that was. And I think... when I hit him I was like... like... that didn't feel right. Like that wasn't right. I - something's wrong.

Brady Tinker [00:00:34] According to data collected the average g-force of an NFL special ​ ​ teams hit is akin to hitting a wall in a car at forty-two miles an hour. It is the same amount of force applied when a person falls six stories onto concrete. And sure NFL players do have shoulder pads and helmets. But there are no airbags in football. There are no seat-belts to slow momentum or to tamper speed. And when it comes to the Cowboys, there may be no player who knows this better than safety Jeff Heath. You see something happened that I had to ask him about. It was the second quarter of a 13 to 12 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in a pivotal Week Eight game during the 2015 season. I sat down with Jeff last year after a training camp practice in Oxnard, California and I asked him to tell me about his Cowboy Life.

Brady Tinker [00:01:34] Jeff Heath is the starting strong safety for the Dallas Cowboys. ​ ​ He's been on the team since 2013 when he was signed as an undrafted free agent from a small school in Michigan called Saginaw Valley State. And like any undrafted player when you're trying to make an NFL roster you immediately have to do things in rookie camp to stand out and grab the coach's attention. Jeff didn't have any problem with this because he understood the playbook and he hit like a hammer.

Jeff Heath [00:01:58] You know we were kind of... on a little bit of a losing streak and you ​ ​ know you try not to kind of... Put so much pressure you know we need this game or else or we're done or whatever but you know you can't fall in too big of a hole in the NFL. It's just too hard to get out of.

Brady Tinker [00:02:14] Today's story happened in 2015, just a couple of years into Jeff ​ ​ Heath's tenure as a Dallas Cowboy. It had been an uphill battle for Heath since he joined the team two years earlier. Fans are dismissive of undrafted players, coaches can overlook them since the team didn't use a draft pick to get them, and where did he come from again? And on top of all that, the Cowboys after starting 2-0 were reeling a bit from the loss of their quarterback Tony Romo. That had led to four straight losses, so this particular week was a big one for the Cowboys. And before we go on just a quick note here regarding Jeff Heath's physical stature. Jeff's just over six feet tall and weighs about two hundred and ten pounds and I imagine that's soaking wet. Maybe. And yet, he's physically rocking some of the biggest offensive skill players in the NFL, week in and week out. But now, here come the Seattle Seahawks. A hard nosed bunch that comes at you and comes at you and comes at you for the full 60 minutes. Here's what Jeff had to say about them.

Jeff Heath [00:03:15] We knew we had Seattle coming in, we knew it was gonna be a ​ ​ tough game. Y'know they have a really good defense, really physical team, ran the ball really well, created turnovers... They're just tough like you just hated playing Seattle because you knew what type of game it was going to be and it was... They weren't gonna lay over, you're gonna have to earn everything from them. They're not a dirty team but they just have this reputation of just "ass-kickers." Just guys who are tough, gritty, and just a pain in the ass to play against, so... The whole week preparing, you know you're just ready for that.

Brady Tinker [00:03:43] Before every NFL game, players will watch film of the opposing ​ ​ team. Each player on an individual team knows at some point there's gonna be a particular opponent. Who he'll have to be ready for. On special teams, Jeff Heath knew Seattle's Ricardo Lockette was a stud.

Jeff Heath [00:04:03] When you put on the film with Seattle you just saw this dude run out ​ ​ on kick-off 10 yards in front everybody. Number eighty-three and then... You know on punt just blowing up returners all season and that's just... He was just so fast. I think if you just ask anybody what is his identity or like what's his best thing it's speed. He's just probably one of the fastest players in the league. Big, physical. There's numerous highlights of him just destroying people so he just fit right into their mold of what types of guys they want and really what types of guys you want in the NFL.

Brady Tinker [00:04:37] At 6 feet 2 inches and 211 pounds Ricardo Lockette of Seattle ​ ​ was nearly a spot-on match in size and stature to our Jeff Heath. And Heath was right. Lockette was fast. In 2008 and 2011 he set records for the 100-meter and 40-yard dash in the NCAA track season. He was also a very good receiver. But he was known to the Cowboys and Jeff Heath for his uncanny ability to get away from double teams at the line of scrimmage and make tackles over and over again on special teams. Preparing for the game it was more than obvious that Heath would have to keep an eye on Lockette.

Jeff Heath [00:05:24] Game Day morning y'know we stayed at the hotel. Get up, head ​ ​ over to the stadium early. Everything felt normal. There's probably a little bit more urgency at that time of the year just based off how the last few weeks had gone and we were kind of falling behind in our division and we weren't playing very well. So I would say there was some urgency that this is a big game.

Brady Tinker [00:05:43] It's November 1st, 2015. Week seven of the NFL season. At 3:25 ​ ​ central time 91,486 six people made their way into AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The temperature didn't matter because the roof was closed on a gray fall day. Remember the Cowboys are coming off a run of tough losses and are now 2-4 after a 2014 season that saw them win 12 games and advance to the divisional playoffs. Meanwhile their opponent, the Seattle Seahawks, are sitting at three wins and four losses. Not where they expected to be either, because they've been the two straight Super Bowls and won one of them. The first half is almost over with Seattle leading 10-6 and a nip and tuck hard-hitting affair as expected. The Seahawks are punting with 21 seconds left in the half when suddenly, the perspective of everyone with eyes on this football game changed. There is a crash in the middle of the field. Two undrafted free agents that are now key players for their teams come together - and it all goes wrong.

Jeff Heath [00:06:40] People don't even know but that was actually- we had a fake - er, ​ ​ not a fake but we had like a trick play on that punt. We were gonna... it's really a throwback. So we double that flyer. Our returner catches it. One of the guys that's doubling him kind of peels off and we were gonna throw it back to him. So Brandon Carr was actually gonna throw it back, so my job is to protect the returner. I don't- whoever is the first guy down I gotta block him so that we have enough time to throw the ball. So it kind of looks like when you watch the play it looks like... he's doubled, he's not seeing me and I'm just like trying to like sneak one on him. But my job on the play is to block the most dangerous guy and knowing who he is and that they were gonna let him release inside he's probably gonna run right to me. So knowing how fast he is, what type of player he is, I was just kind of assuming before the play, 'well I'm probably gonna have to block this guy.'

Brady Tinker [00:07:28] And Jeff Heath did exactly that. As expected, Lockette gets away ​ ​ from a double-team on his way to disrupt the return, and Heath hits him. And Lockette goes down. But this time, on a block that looked pretty much like any other block, something happened.

Game Announcer [00:07:44] Beasley, a fair catch at the thirty. The Cowboys have 13 ​ ​ seconds left. And there's an injured Seahawk on the field.They come sprinting off the Seattle sideline. It's Ricardo Lockette. And he is motionless on his side on top of the star at midfield.

Jeff Heath [00:08:06] When you hit somebody and it's... A lot of times when it's hard hit ​ ​ you don't even feel it because... I don't really know why but it just feels really smooth and clean and it doesn't feel like anything, but I just- I remember actually when I hit him it felt way different it just felt like a thud like a huge thud. And it was like... And you can tell how he fell. He just kind of like, "BOOM" and it was just like just... like -smacks hands together-. It just felt so weird like he felt so heavy when I hit him and I don't know why that was. And I think... It's really hard for me to explain, but the hit did feel different. And I remember kind of like, when I hit him I was like... That didn't feel right. And then I didn't see him- I didn't see I was laying and I hit him and then I kind of ran down and I think we ended up fair catching it and then when I looked back and I saw and I was like... Yeah I knew, like that wasn't right. Something's wrong.

Brady Tinker [00:09:03] Ricardo Lockette laid on the field at AT&T Stadium for thirty-two ​ ​ minutes. On his side. And for thirty-two minutes, while Arlington Fire and EMS technicians attended to him, he did not move.

John Robertson [00:09:19] We were on the sideline and that's when I thought Heath ​ ​ come across and I mean, he had Lockette... You could hear it.

Brady Tinker [00:09:25] That's John Robertson, an EMS technician in Arlington, Texas. ​ ​ He was a pivotal part of the emergency team tasked with coming to the aid of injured players at AT&T Stadium during the Cowboys 2015 season. Fortunately for Ricardo Lockette, John wasn't just at the game that day. He was on the clock.

John Robertson [00:09:44] It just wasn't your average hit and you could tell by the sound ​ ​ of it when he hit him and he went to the ground and Jeff stood there... We knew at that point that this was not gonna be good.

Brady Tinker [00:09:52] When a player is injured on the field during an NFL game, there's ​ ​ a lot of different systems that need to click into place for everything to go right for that player. Dozens of people have to spring into action, equipment needs to be gathered, broadcast stations have to be notified, and oh yeah- there's ninety-thousand people sitting in the stands who want to know what's happening. Not to mention, somebodies life is on the line. No pressure.

John Robertson [00:10:13] So we got there and he was telling us, "Hey, I don't feel ​ ​ anything." Y'know, "I'm oriented and everything else but I can't feel anything from my neck down." And that's what we knew it was serious from that standpoint. I told Andy to go to the head - Andy Neylan, my other partner - and keep talking to him, communicate with him, let us know if anything changes, and then get everybody else on the same page for what we're gonna do. We're gonna put him on a backboard, put him on a cot, put him on the cart, take him from the the cart out to the ambulance so the ambulance can transport him to Baylor Hospital over in Dallas.

Brady Tinker [00:10:41] Sometimes a different perspective from a teammate who was on ​ ​ the field will help. We talked to safety Byron Jones, Heath's teammate who was actually responsible for detaining Lockette at the line of scrimmage as long as possible.

Byron Jones [00:10:53] He took a hot inside release and Jeff Heath made a good play. It ​ ​ was a clean hit. That's what I thought. It's just one of those things that's a freak- freak accident. You hate to see a guy like that go down because he's one of the most respected special teams guys in the league and... it's just one of those things that happens.

Brady Tinker [00:11:07] Cowboys leader and all-pro linebacker Sean Lee says man, ​ ​ everything stops when a man is laying absolutely motionless on the field.

Sean Lee [00:11:16] You see something like that, you just start praying. You know this is a ​ ​ physical game and we want to come out and hit and play hard but you never want to see anything like that. So that, right then we're like, you know hopefully he's all right. Please get up. And you're praying that long term health he's okay.

Jeff Heath [00:11:32] Oh I just remember thinking that I just wanted him to get up but it's ​ ​ like... I just wanted to kind of... I wanted to just go in the locker room I kind of want to just be away and I knew all these dudes were screaming at me and I was like I don't even care, like I don't care about you. Just... like... I'm just watching him, OK? Is he OK? I'm waiting. Yeah, I'm waiting to hear from our trainers or from anybody and... But I mean he was just down for so long and I was like, "God, what could be...?" I mean it was terrifying.

Brady Tinker [00:12:06] Unbeknownst to Jeff Heath when he returned to the locker room, ​ ​ Lockette had sustained a severe concussion. But that was the least of it. The force of the hit nearly disconnected Ricardo Lockette's skull from his spine. The only thing keeping his head on his shoulders were the ligaments on his neck, and the skin around it. A fair catch by the Cowboys on the play actually probably saved Ricardo Lockette's life. Had he been moved, shifted, fallen on, or even tapped on the helmet by another player, he would have died, right there in the middle of a field at AT&T Stadium.

Brady Tinker [00:12:48] This story is told from Cowboy's safety Jeff Heath's point of view ​ ​ on a terrible day for him. We're going to reach out to Ricardo Lockette and tell the other side of it for A Cowboy Life in the future. But for now, we wanted to read you something that Ricardo wrote in The Players Tribune in 2016 about what he was experiencing laying on the field. Here it is.

Ricardo Lockette [00:13:12] You know what it felt like? Have you ever experienced sleep ​ ​ paralysis? Imagine you wake up from a dream early in the morning and you can hear everybody in your house making breakfast and talking and laughing. But you can't move. No matter how hard you try, you can't actually get up. You're stuck in between being asleep and being awake. So you just lay there. Trapped inside your own body while the world goes on around you. That's exactly what it felt like that day, except I wasn't in bed. I was at the 50-yard line at Cowboy's Stadium laying on the ground surrounded by ninety-thousand fans. And I said to myself, "Lord, just help me. I know that I am here for a reason. If you help me off this ground I'll change lives." It was actually the second time I had ever said that to myself. I've never spoken about this before, but the first time I made that promise was when I was in college. I was talking to a young lady when her boyfriend came up and pulled a gun on me. It was a revolver so I could clearly see the bullets in the chamber. I didn't know whether I was going to live or die. In that moment, when I was looking at the chamber, I said to myself, "Lord, please help me. I promise I'll change lives." The guy put the gun down and we talked it out. At Cowboy's Stadium, I found myself asking God to save me again.

Brady Tinker [00:14:44] Please excuse the ambient noises here but we were in Oxnard, ​ ​ California with the Cowboys for much of this interview with Jeff.

Jeff Heath [00:14:52] ...and actually, and I've never done this other than this one time, but ​ ​ I went into the locker room because that was right before halftime and I actually looked at my phone. I knew my parents were watching the game. I knew they were probably really concerned and I just knew my dad was going to text me to say like, "You're fine, it wasn't that bad, or you're fine." And sure enough you did. So then once I saw that I was kind of... Felt a little better about it. Obviously I still felt the same way about the outcome is... I was sick for him just because he's trying to make a living just like I am. He's got a wife. Just like I do. He's got kids, y'know, all this stuff. And I knew that it was... like potentially really bad.

Jeff Heath [00:15:33] It happened so fast and I knew going into the play, like... I don't think ​ ​ that was dirty, like I- he saw me coming, it was in front, it was everything, but their reaction? I was like, "Man that might have been..." I didn't know what it looked like, y'know? I didn't know if it looked terrible, if it... if I completely blindsided him or whatever so, umm...

John Robertson [00:15:53] He kept communicating with me and letting me know he's OK. ​ ​ And I said, "Man, there's a lot of people out here worried about you right now." I said,"Hey, once you get some indication, let everybody know you're OK." And that's when you see in the picture him rais his arms and sort of let everybody know, "Hey, I'm all right, y'know? I'm doing OK."

Brady Tinker [00:16:13] So Lockette was finally stabilized and carried off the field after ​ ​ John and Andy and the amazing EMS medical staff safely got him onto a flatboard, and then to a gurney, and into an ambulance out of the stadium. As he was carried off the field, he finally managed to muster enough strength to raise his hand and form an "L" shape with his index finger and thumb - a representation of Seattle's "Legion of Boom" - the name the hard-hitting secondary was given in 2010, but one that the entire Seahawks defense eventually adopted as their own. The next day, the Seahawks announced that he'd be undergoing a surgery that hopefully would allow him to walk again, but most certainly would end his NFL career.

Jeff Heath [00:16:51] When something like that happens, you know the- the game, the ​ ​ outcome of the game seems pretty small in the grand scheme of, you know... this is guy's- not only job, but this is his life and- the type, that type of injury, when you don't know... Whether he can play football or not is irrelevant. Whether he can walk or not, whether he can provide for his family in other ways. It's just...

Jeff Heath [00:17:25] So all that stuff is going through my mind. And you know I knew... I ​ ​ knew going into- you know once the game is over and we went to locker room I knew I was going to be... I knew I was going to have to answer tons of questions. It's not that I didn't want to answer the questions but I just didn't want to... I didn't want to talk about the play, I just really wanted to hear about him. And then, our trainers told me before we even went into the locker room that he had started moving all his extremities and they had him in the hospital and that he was doing- I wouldn't say he was in good condition but he wasn't in as bad his condition as I thought he might have been in.

Brady Tinker [00:17:59] Jeff Heath was obviously very concerned for Lockette's ​ ​ well-being. But the conundrum is, Jeff is an NFL football player. He knows injuries happen. And he gets reminded- the game never stops.

Jeff Heath [00:18:12] I'm a football player. I knew how he- I know he wasn't mad at me. ​ ​ Well I didn't know that, but I figured, I'm not like, that's type of guy he is. I think he's going to know it wasn't dirty play. I think those guys once they see the play they'll know it wasn't a dirty play it was just a football play. So, I was trying not to be like, "Well I don't really..." I'm being sensitive to the fact that, you know, this guy is severely injured, but at the same time it's like, I mean, that's my job. I was just doing my job. We had so much game left, it happened before halftime, so I talked to our special teams coach, Coach Bisaccia, when everything was happening, when he was still on the field, and when we could see the replays and I guess he saw the replay and... So he was kind of- he comforted me a little bit and just said you know, "Whatever you have to do, I don't know how to tell you- whatever you have to do to get out your head, we still have a whole other half to play and you're gonna be out there so..." The game is going to go on, you know, whether... you know no matter how hurt the guy, is the game's gonna go on.

Brady Tinker [00:19:08] The Cowboy's went on to lose that game to Seattle thirteen to ​ ​ twelve at the very end of the game. But in truth, I don't think Jeff cared. A man's life was attached to a play that he was involved in.

Jeff Heath [00:19:20] I went home and, y'know I was had- answering texts from a lot of ​ ​ family and friends and just kind of... There were all really encouraging and you know I thought about it a little bit more that night. It wasn't- I wouldn't say it was like weighing on me because at that point I knew like yeah he's not dead, he's not paralyzed. He's in- he's in the hospital so he's in good hands. Then I was like, "well crap, now we're two and six..." y'know that- so all that comes in. We have another week, like we got to go to watch film, it's going to be a tough film session, you know. So you're kind of... On to the next and then I remember I went, when we went in the next day and I talked to our trainers and they said he was about to have surgery. So that's when I shot him a text.

Brady Tinker [00:20:11] Believe it or not, it's not unusual for today's players from rival ​ ​ teams to reach out to each other. Between players getting released, and free agency, and trades, and the general business of things, there is no doubt a fraternal bond can form between players- even players on opposing teams. The truth is, nobody understands what really happens during an NFL game on that field, other than the men who strap it on.

Jeff Heath [00:20:37] I just said I'm praying for you. I hope you know it wasn't my intention ​ ​ to hurt you. I hate the way that the play turned out, but I have a ton of respect for you and I'll be thinking about you and, y'know, wished him well, a speedy recovery, and then he just responded and... It was basically along the lines of, I don't expect an apology. You know you were just doing your job, you're a warrior just like I am. He understood. He's a warri- He's a football player. You can just kind of tell by watching the guy play the type of character that people have. So I kind of knew that- that's how he would react.

Brady Tinker [00:21:11] Seattle's Ricardo Lockette underwent nearly twelve hours of ​ ​ surgery the day after the game. He stayed at Baylor Medical Hospital in Dallas for just more than four days before heading back home to Seattle. He survived, and he recovered from his injury enough to be able to walk, stand, run, and hold his children. But he did retire from the NFL shortly after his recovery process began. The writing to everyone was clearly on the wall that he would never and should never play NFL football again.

Brady Tinker [00:21:49] A note from this story regarding the spirit of Ricardo Lockette. On ​ ​ the fifth day, after the play that ended Ricardo Lockette's NFL career and changed the path of his life, he was finally being driven away from the hospital in Dallas and the people that saved his life. In a car headed to the airport not far from the hospital, he witnessed a very large contingent of homeless people looking forlorn and hungry. He asked the driver if he would mind going to the nearest fast food restaurant where he purchased roughly 100 cheeseburgers. Then he and his father, who was escorting his son home, stopped and passed out those cheeseburgers to those hungry homeless people of Dallas, Texas.

John Robertson [00:22:36] You know I had the chance to meet him up in Seattle. He was ​ ​ the addressing us as angels you know and I really don't see it that way. I just see it as a person I've been trained to do and- listening to him speak saying, y'nkow "angels" and things like that... that just- that just- boy, that really just hit me right there. I mean- and then going up and about to shake his hand and he's like, "no, I ain't shaking your hand, let me give you a hug," you know? It's just amazing. One chapter ends, another begins, you know? And that's what- that's what's happened with him and he's taken it and he's gone leaps and bounds with it, you know? And what he's done and... There's a positive end to everything, you know? That one way or another we'll get- we'll get you back on your feet, and that's what he did. He got back on his feet.

Brady Tinker [00:23:15] In the end, Jeff Heath spent nearly two hours telling us his story. ​ ​ And when it was finished, I had to know if any of this particular incident moved the needle for him. Did it change his life? Did it change his career? What did it all mean after November 1st, 2015? Was Jeff Heath any different?

Jeff Heath [00:23:36] Professionally, I'm a lot different, only because- when you look at ​ ​ your entire life from when you're born to when you pass, the time that you're playing NFL football is very, very small. Playing in the NFL specifically, no one's gonna hold your hand. If you're not cut out for the job, they just will get rid of you because there's so many guys that are qualified, you know? So I had to mature really fast in that way- realize that I personally control whatever is going to happen to me in this line of work. It's all under my control.

Brady Tinker [00:24:09] Ricardo Lockette has gone on to work as an advocate for spinal ​ ​ cord injury research with the Seattle Science Foundation where he's doing great work to this day. He is also one of seven coaches for his eight year old son's pee-wee football team. Jeff Heath is still playing football with the Cowboys and as we told you, in 2018 he recorded a career-best eighty-five tackles after starting all 16 games at strong safety. And he is still one of their best special teams players. Jeff is now a husband, and most recently a father, and he's looking very forward to a promising 2019 season with the Cowboys.

Brady Tinker [00:24:54] Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of A Cowboy Life. A ​ ​ special thank you goes out to Jeff Heath for sitting down with us in Oxnard, California training camp and then again, back in Dallas, in our studios. Also a big thank you to John Robertson and all the staff of the Arlington EMS medical team that's on hand at AT&T Stadium game in and game out. And thank you to the Dallas Cowboy's Sean Lee and Byron Jones, and of course, to the Seahawk's Ricardo Lockette. A Cowboy Life is hosted by me, Brady Tinker and edited by our Chief Editor, Zach Lewis. Additional recordings and production by Jake Tinker. Music for this episode is courtesy of epidemicsound.com. For our full interview with Jeff and some additional content that didn't quite make the final cut for this episode, check out our website at acowboylife.com. To get involved with the show, find us on your favorite social media platform and subscribe to the podcast for more stories like this one every single week. A Cowboy Life is a fan-made podcast, so if you want to help us find players, purchase equipment, or weather any other podcast-related storms or costs, feel free to make a donation at our website to keep the show up and running week in and week out. And if you like what you've heard today, the biggest way you can help us, well, is to leave a rating and review for the show and share our episodes wherever you can so that more people can find us and hear the stories of America's football team told one player at a time one week at a time.

[00:26:18] A cowboy life. ​ ​