The End of an Era: Tim Bowens considers retiring

By Hugo Guzman  |   Monday, May 23, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

Miami Dolphins
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Can it be true? Is the last active player from the Don Shula era preparing to retire? Say it isn't so. Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Tim Bowens is considering leaving the game of football due to a chronic back ailment.

Drafted in 1994, Tim Bowens has spent all 11 of his NFL seasons plugging the middle of the Miami Dolphins defense and protecting Zach Thomas. The All-Pro middle linebacker would tell people more often about how his defensive tackle is responsible for most of his success, but Tim Bowens won't have it. He has told Thomas on numerous occasions not to boast about him in public.

That's just who Tim Bowens is:

- a guy who plays for the love of the game and not for personal accolades
- a guy who spent his entire career literally busting his back in near anonymity so that teammates like Zach Thomas, Jason Taylor, Sam Madison, and Patrick Surtain could garner all of the fame and publicity.

- a guy whose "pro day" NFL workout session was run on a field that had chickens pecking around on it.

- a guy who at that same workout ran his 40 yard dash in torn and tattered jean shorts and bare feet.

- a guy that you rarely hear about in the media, but ask opposing coaches and players about him and they have plenty to say. In fact, the Denver Broncos, whose offensive lineman are notorious for using cut blocks against opposing defensive lineman do not engage in that technique when they play the Miami Dolphins. Why? Because in their own words, Tim Bowens let them know that he wasn't having it.

- a guy who his own teammates marvel at, respect, and outright fear. When the Miami Herald posed a question to Miami Dolphins players regarding who they would want to have by their side if they were caught in a dark alley, the squad almost unanimously chose Tim Bowens.

Bowens has been one of the most consistent run stopping defensive tackles for over a decade. He deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as other more household names like Sam Adams and Ted Washington. He will never make the Hall of Fame because defensive tackles have a hard time making it in general, and because he hasn't padded his resume with gaudy sack totals or a Warren Sapp-like outgoing personality. However, he does deserve to be in the Miami Dolphins ring of honor. If nothing else he will be remembered fondly in hearts and minds of hardcore Dolphins fans who can appreciate what this soft-spoken giant did for his team and his organization.
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About Hugo Guzman

Trying to bring an objective approach to NFL analysis.
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