Keep a watch on Dolphins punter Thomas Morstead throughout Sunday’s recreation in opposition to Green Bay. He received’t be arduous to identify. He’ll be the man always working up and down the sideline, 30 or 40 yards at a time, whereas the Dolphins have the ball. Or he’ll be leaping up and down, or stretching, all of the whereas dodging cheerleaders, photographers, recreation officers, TV digital camera operators and different such sideline visitors.
Morstead is consistently in movement as a result of he likes to maintain his coronary heart price between 110 and 130 beats per minute.
“If you were to track my heart rate during the game, it kind of looks like I’m running a marathon,” he mentioned.
The 36-year-old Morstead, who spent his first 12 seasons with New Orleans, is in his first season with the Dolphins after splitting final season between the New York Jets and Atlanta.
Morstead, who received Super Bowl XLIV with the Saints, is an attention-grabbing research.
And as you’ll see, he’ll do all the pieces he can to remain unfastened on the sideline throughout a recreation — besides punting into the web and driving the stationary bicycle, two issues he prefers to not do.
“An idle mind is not an asset to me,” he mentioned. “And so I simply are inclined to have a course of all through the sport. If it’s first down I’m doing ‘X,’ if I’m second down I’m doing this, third down doing this, after which, rapidly, they name punt group and I’m prepared.
“And if we get a first down I just start the process over again until we get into field-goal range or score a touchdown.”
There’s in all probability nobody on the Dolphins’ roster fairly like Morstead.
During the Dolphins’ bye week this 12 months Morstead and his spouse and two sons spent an evening on the road in New Orleans, sleeping on a chunk of cardboard and in a sleeping bag regardless of 39-degree temperatures. It was an occasion sponsored by Covenant House of New Orleans that was designed to lift consciousness and funds for homelessness.
Morstead grew up in Pearland, Texas, a Houston suburb, the place his father was an expert bicycle owner.
“I saw him win a few state championships in Texas when he was in his mid 30s,” Morstead mentioned. “That was fairly cool. And I actually credit score my dad. I realized methods to endure watching him. That was his edge. I bear in mind in highschool I requested him what sort of separated him and he simply mentioned he was prepared to endure greater than different individuals. And I assumed. ‘That’s a fairly twisted mindset.’ “
But it was one thing Morstead finally partially adopted.
Take a have a look at his physique and also you discover that Morstead, at 6-foot-4, and a well-chiseled 225 kilos, retains himself in fine condition. It wasn’t all the time that means.
Morstead punted as a highschool freshman, when he was 5 toes tall and weighed 90 kilos. But he broke his leg as a freshman and didn’t play once more till his senior 12 months.
“Going into my senior year I think I was about 6-4, maybe 175 pounds, and I went to college at 182,” mentioned Morstead, who attended SMU.
“So I basically doubled my weight in high school. I went from 90 to 182, and I grew 16 inches. But it was all skin and bones, regardless of the height, and then I discovered the weight room in college. And that obviously was a very positive thing for me.”
Morstead is so critical about health he wears a Whoop, which is a wristwatch-like instrument that screens issues comparable to coronary heart price and sleep patterns.
“It’s kind of a personal accountability tool because it’ll give you data and it’ll say, ‘Every time that you drink alcohol your recovery is 20% less, or every time that you have caffeine, you need this much more sleep,’ ” he said. “It doesn’t mean you never have alcohol or caffeine, what it means is you understand that there’s a price to pay. And it’s really helped me become very aware of all those things. It’s certainly been a very positive thing for me for my career.”
As for the psychological aspect of issues, earlier than video games Morstead will watch a seven- or eight-minute video of himself making good punts to get right into a constructive mindset.
If he’s not working whereas on the sideline throughout a Dolphins possession, he may be tossing the ball within the air to himself, protecting his arms prepared, staying unfastened, staying within the recreation.
Otherwise, he would possibly merely be chilling on the sideline.
This is the routine Morstead has had since 2015 or 2016, when he stopped doing kickoffs.
“I’ll sit on the bench a little bit when we’re on defense,” he mentioned, “but other than that I’m kind of in my own world. There’s a lot of plays that my family would be like, ‘Hey, did you see that?’ I’m like, ‘No, I didn’t.’ I was just staying in my own lane. Just staying ready.”
Two extra attention-grabbing nuggets about Morstead:
— He’s partially with the Dolphins due to Michael Thomas, the previous Dolphins defensive again, and Keion Crossen, the present Dolphins defensive again and particular groups standout. Morstead, Crossen and Thomas are energetic within the participant’s union. At a gathering in the course of the offseason Thomas remarked to them that the way in which Morstead punts, and the way in which Crossen covers punts, it’d be cool if they may be a part of forces. When Morstead noticed Crossen signed with the Dolphins, it nudged him on this route.
— Morstead’s greatest and worst kicks of his profession got here at Hard Rock Stadium. He had the now-infamous “butt punt” in opposition to Buffalo earlier this season, a play by which he was punting from his personal finish zone and punted into the bottom of large receiver Trent Sherfield. The ball went backward out of the top zone for an important security.
More importantly, he efficiently executed the onside kick that helped New Orleans win the Super Bowl in 2010. Coming out after halftime for the opening kickoff of the third quarter, Saints coach Sean Payton referred to as for a stunning onside kick the Saints recovered, was a landing, and a 13-10 lead. New Orleans went on to win, 31-17.
So once you watch Sunday’s Dolphins-Green Bay recreation and catch a glimpse of a man working up and down the sideline, know that it’s Morstead, and know why he’s doing what he’s doing.
“I hate to compare myself to other football players because I’m obviously in a unique position,” Morstead mentioned, including he doesn’t take the bodily abuse others take. “But in the case of coaching, and the entire each day consistencies which might be required to be on the highest stage on a regular basis, I take satisfaction in that.
“I think quite a few of my teammates probably think I’m a little nuts with some of the things I do. But they also see the oldest guy on the team, hopefully producing at a high level. And that’s one of the ways that I try to lead around here.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com