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.