Brad Oremland is a sportswriter and football historian. What follows is Brad’s latest work, a multi-part series on the greatest players in pro football history.

---

This is the ninth article in a twelve-part series profiling the greatest pro football players of all time. You can find the previous installments below:

111-125
101-110
91-100
81-90
71-80
61-70
51-60
41-50

If you haven’t read those yet, especially the article introducing the series (111-125), I hope you’ll start there.

Best Players of All Time: 31-40

40. Tony Gonzalez
Tight End
Kansas City Chiefs, 1997-2008; Atlanta Falcons, 2009-13
1,325 receptions, 15,127 yards, 111 TD
5 consensus All-Pro, 10 AP All-Pro, 14 Pro Bowls, 2000s All-Decade Team

Tony Gonzalez holds the all-time record for receiving first downs (864). In fact, he leads everyone except Larry Fitzgerald and Jerry Rice by more than 100. That’s the official record, which excludes the first five years of Rice’s career; I estimate that Rice produced 1,092 first downs. But if the top of a leaderboard is you and Jerry Rice, that’s pretty impressive. Especially if you’re a tight end.

Gonzalez played well throughout a long career, but those first downs aren’t reflective of slow-and-steady compiling. At various times in his career, he ranked 2nd, 3rd, and tied for 5th in receiving first downs (2008, 2004, 2000). Jason Witten‘s career-high first downs is 56; Antonio Gates topped out at 61. Gonzalez had more than 61 first downs in a season four times. While we’re at it, Witten’s career-best receiving yardage was 1,145, in 2007. Gates gained 1,157 in his best season. Gonzalez had two 1,200-yard receiving seasons. Gates has a few more TDs (116-111), but Gonzalez leads Witten (68) by almost two-thirds.

I don’t think anyone would claim that Gonzalez was as explosive as Gates, or as sound a blocker as Witten. But he was explosive, and at 250 lbs., he could block players wide receivers couldn’t. Gonzalez ran crisp routes, and unquestionably had the best hands of any tight end in history. I’ve never seen a player, including wide receivers, better at catching the ball away from his body. Gonzalez used his height (6′ 4½”), wingspan, and leaping ability to beat defenders. A college basketball player, he boxed out defensive backs like a rebounder and outleapt them for the pass. His catches didn’t always make it onto the highlight shows, but catching the ball two feet away from your body, and holding on when the defender hits you, is an uncommon skill; Gonzalez was the best at it.

Gonzalez, like Mike Ditka and Kellen Winslow, transformed the tight end position. He was a matchup problem for defenses. Linebackers couldn’t cover Gonzalez. He was too fast, too good a route-runner and receiver. Cornerbacks weren’t big enough to stop him from catching passes, even if they had him covered. And once he got the ball, they couldn’t tackle him without help. Safeties had trouble staying with him in coverage, trouble dealing with his size. And if you put a free safety on him, that left somebody else one-on-one. Gonzalez broke Shannon Sharpe‘s career record for receiving yards by a tight end by 50%. He almost doubled Sharpe’s first down and TD totals, both of which had been records.

Gonzalez was the best tight end in the NFL for at least four years before the rule changes that created the modern passing game. He stayed remarkably healthy over a long career, appearing in 270 games and missing only two. He gained over 600 receiving yards in 16 of his 17 seasons, the exception being his rookie year. He gained over 800 yards in 13 seasons. And he retired when he was still one of the best tight ends in the league, a legitimate All-Pro contender in his final season. Gonzalez was a great athlete, with a tight end’s size but a wide receiver’s ball skills, and he played at a high level for a decade and a half. He is tied for the most Pro Bowls of any player in history, and — for whatever this is worth — I named him All-Pro seven times. In my 16 years naming an All-Pro team (2002-17), that’s two more selections for Gonzalez than anyone else at any position — even though the timeframe excludes three seasons he was a consensus All-Pro. From 2005 onward, I named two tight ends each season, but two-TE formations became pretty common as fullbacks were phased out of the offense. Naming only one TE each year probably undersells what players like Greg Olsen and Zach Ertz, neither of whom has ever been an Associated Press first-team All-Pro, are accomplishing. [continue reading…]

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, and Redskins
AFC North: Steelers, Browns, Ravens
NFC North: Packers, Vikings, Bears

When it comes to the Bengals franchise, Marvin Lewis stands out as the clear best coach in history. He went 131-122-3 as Cincinnati’s head coach: not only is that more than twice as many wins as any other coach, it’s also the most wins over .500 of any Bengals coach. On the flip side, we have David Shula. Cincinnati has mostly been a poor franchise, but even by Bengals standards Shula was a disaster. The son of one of the best head coaches ever, in 71 games, Shula managed to tank the franchise’s all-time winning percentage. Among head coaches to have a winning percentage below 0.270 with one team, Shula coached the most games, followed by Marion Campbell with Atlanta (68 games) and Gus Bradley with the Jaguars (62 games). [continue reading…]

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, and Redskins
AFC North: Steelers, Browns, Ravens
NFC North: Packers, Vikings

When it comes to Chicago football, there’s only one Papa Bear. The Bears have been a successful franchise, winning 56.4% of games over the team’s nearly 100-year history. But under Halas, Chicago won 67.1% of their games; under all other head coaches, Chicago has won just 50.4% of games. Therefore, “games with Halas” has improved the team’s all-time winning percentage by a whopping 6.0%, the fourth most ever behind only Don Shula in Miami, Bill Belichick in New England, and Paul Brown in Cleveland. The second-most successful coach was Da Coach, Mike Ditka, who posted a 0.631 winning percentage over 168 games. On the flip side, John Fox and Dave Wannstedt have harmed the franchise’s winning percentage the most. The full results below: [continue reading…]

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, and Redskins
AFC North: Steelers, Browns
NFC North: Packers, Vikings

The Baltimore Ravens have been one of the more notable franchises in the NFL over the last 20 years, but the team still has a very short history. In fact, the Ravens have still only ever had three coaches: Ted Marchibroda guided the team following its move from Cleveland, Brian Billick replaced him, and John Harbaugh has been the man in charge since 2008.

If you want to know why Joe Flacco was held in such high regard by the Ravens for so long, a quick look at the history of Baltimore quarterbacks should help explain things. The only other two quarterbacks to start 25+ games with the Ravens both had losing records. Trent Dilfer and Steve McNair both had good records with Baltimore, but both helped their original teams more than they helped the Ravens.

In his prime, Jamal Lewis was the best running back in football. He helped the Ravens win Super Bowl XXXV, and two years after missing an entire season with a torn ACL, Lewis rushed for over 2,000 yards.

At receiver and tight end, the Ravens have had a few stars at the ends of their careers, but never had a truly dominant pass-catching weapon. Derrick Mason was a very good player in Tennessee and continued to succeed in Baltimore, and he’s the best of the bunch here.

That’s it for the Baltimore version of this series. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

Welcome to part four of the series on each division’s all-time team. Chase is off gallivanting with his bride, so you’re still stuck with me. As you may recall, I wrote this while recovering from surgery and am under the influence of narcotics and, of course, though that would be the perfect time to write about the sort of esoteric historical silliness only I (and Chase’s faithful readers) seem to think about. I take very little responsibility for any of this, but this is a reminder of the rules I have established for this series:

1. I write everything before my painkiller prescription runs out,
2. I write it completely off the top of my head and don’t do any research,
3. I don’t have to proofread this when I finish it, and
4. Chase doesn’t edit my nonsense out of the article (so my inane asides and non sequiturs are our shared burden now). ^[1]Roster construction is as follows: 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 2 TE, 2 T, 2 G, 1 C, 2 DE, 2 DT, 2 OLB, 2 MLB/ILB, 3 CB, 2 S, 1 K, 1 P, 1 HC.
5. I maintain modern division designations. If a player played for the Seahawks when the team was in the AFC West, I am counting him in the NFC West. I have neither the time nor the inclination to make this 100% perfect.

Without further ado, here’s the AFC South

Offense

Quarterback – Peyton Manning [continue reading…]

Brad Oremland is a sportswriter and football historian. There are few who have given as much thought to the history of pro football as Brad has over the years. What follows is Brad’s latest work, a multi-part series on the greatest players in pro football history.

---

This is the eighth article in a twelve-part series profiling the greatest pro football players of all time. You can find the previous installments below:

111-125
101-110
91-100
81-90
71-80
61-70
51-60

If you haven’t read those yet, especially the article introducing the series (111-125), I hope you’ll start there. At this point, we’re counting down the very greatest players of all time, the inner circle of the inner circle, the top 50 players in the history of professional football.

Best Players of All Time: 41-50

50. Rob Gronkowski
Tight End
New England Patriots, 2010-18
521 receptions, 7,861 yards, 79 TD
3 consensus All-Pro, 4 AP All-Pro, 5 Pro Bowls

Rob Gronkowski probably had the greatest peak of any TE in history. Gronk was a record-setting receiver, but also one of the finest blocking TEs in recent memory. In this era of specialization, his ability to excel at both blocking and receiving allowed the Patriots to do unique things with their offense. In the all-time 53-man roster that inspired this series, I based my offensive philosophy partly around the 2010-12 Patriots with Aaron Hernandez and Gronkowski.

You all know about Rob Gronkowski, but this entry is a good opportunity to point out that recent and active players have fewer honors listed than older players. Gronkowski will certainly be chosen to the 2010s All-Decade Team, and perhaps the 100th Anniversary All-Time Team, but he hasn’t been eligible for any previous All-Decade or All-Time honors. A similar problem afflicts most of the recent players. It’s also substantially harder to win recognition in a 32-team league than it was in the ’50s and ’60s, when the leagues ranged from 8-16 teams. Contemporary players benefit from the expansion of Pro Bowl rosters and sometimes from the decline in football savviness among All-Pro voters, who tend to overrate “name” players and artificially boost the profile of established stars, but those factors don’t really help a player like Gronkowski, who [1] doesn’t really have borderline Pro Bowl seasons; he has excellent seasons and lost-to-injury seasons, and [2] plays a position at which postseason honors are determined mostly by statistics.

Gronkowski’s statistics are excellent: his four 1,000-yard seasons are tied for the most of any TE, and his five years of double-digit TDs are the most of any TE. But Gronk’s excellence extended beyond the stat sheet, to blocking — a distinction that set him apart from most contemporary Pro Bowl TEs, who tend to be reluctant and/or ineffective blockers. Tony Gonzalez played at a high level for forty-eight years or something, and in my opinion that makes him the greatest tight end of all time, but I believe Rob Gronkowski had the greatest prime of any tight end ever to play. [continue reading…]

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, and Redskins
AFC North: Steelers, Browns
NFC North: Packers

The Vikings have been a really good franchise, winning a division title in 34% of their seasons. Hall of Famer Bud Grant was the star, of course: he guided the team to four Super Bowl appearances. But the late Dennis Green and current head coach Mike Zimmer won about 60% of their regular season games (through 2018) as head coach of the Vikings, even though they each won just 33% of their postseason games. And while Minnesota may not match the Steelers in terms of stability, the Vikings have had just 9 coaches since the team was founded in 1960. [continue reading…]

Brad Oremland is a sportswriter and football historian. There are few who have given as much thought to the history of pro football as Brad has over the years. What follows is Brad’s latest work, a multi-part series on the greatest players in pro football history.

---

This is the seventh article in a twelve-part series profiling the greatest pro football players of all time. You can find the previous installments below:

111-125
101-110
91-100
81-90
71-80
61-70

If you haven’t read those yet, especially the article introducing the series (111-125), I hope you’ll start there.

Best Players of All Time: 51-60

60. Paul Warfield
Wide Receiver
Cleveland Browns, 1964-69, 1976-77; Miami Dolphins, 1970-74
427 receptions, 8,565 yards, 85 TD
1 consensus All-Pro, 4 AP All-Pro, 8 Pro Bowls

Paul Warfield is unique: a Hall of Fame wide receiver who played his whole career on run-oriented offenses. In each of his first 11 seasons, Warfield teamed with an All-Pro running back: Jim Brown, then Leroy Kelly, then Larry Csonka. In Warfield’s 13 NFL seasons, his teams’ running backs made 15 Pro Bowls. His teams were consistently successful; Warfield reached four NFL Championship Games with the Browns and three Super Bowls with the Dolphins, winning titles with both (1964, 1972, and 1973).

The combination of great running backs and successful teams meant that Warfield’s teams consistently ran more often than they threw, which limited his statistical production. At the same time, the threat he presented to defenses opened up running lanes. Warfield never caught more than 50 passes after his rookie year, and his career-high was 1,067 yards. But he led the league in receiving TDs twice, and he made eight Pro Bowls. His best season was probably 1971: he ranked second in receiving yards (996), led the league in TDs, played in the Super Bowl, and was a consensus All-Pro.

Warfield was distinguished by his athleticism. He was fast and explosive, a champion long jumper, but also graceful and precise. He was also intelligent and studious, a surgical route-runner. He timed his jumps perfectly, which is critical for downfield receivers, since defenders often arrive before the ball does.

Warfield was a game-changing deep threat, who averaged 20.1 yards per reception and scored on 20% of his receptions. Downfield threats dictate coverage, spread the defense vertically, and create opportunities for the team even when they’re not targeted. The late ’60s through the mid ’70s were the golden age of the downfield terrors: Lance Alworth, Cliff Branch, Isaac Curtis, Gary Garrison, John Gilliam, Mel Gray, Bullet Bob Hayes, Harold Jackson, Charlie Joiner, Homer Jones, Don Maynard, Haven Moses, Drew Pearson, Gene Washington, Warren Wells… Paul Warfield was the greatest deep receiver of that era, and to my way of thinking, that makes him the greatest deep threat of all time. Warfield’s career totals are very good, but they don’t do justice to the most dangerous receiver of his era.

Warfield is one of only six Modern-Era receivers to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot, joining Raymond Berry, Lance Alworth, Steve Largent, Jerry Rice, and Randy Moss. [continue reading…]

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles,Giants, and Redskins
AFC North: Steelers
NFC North: Packers

When it comes to the Browns, it starts with the man for whom the team is named: Paul Brown. Cleveland has an all-time record of 452-360-4, but nearly all of their notable success is tied to Brown. Under his watch, the Browns went 257-133-2 in 17 years (including their time in the AAFC). The team’s winning percentage under all other head coaches is just 0.446, but once you include Brown, that mark jumps up 6.5 percentage points to 0.511. On the flip side of things, you have Hue Jackson, who was responsible for just 0.6% of all wins in Cleveland history and 7.3% of the team’s losses. [continue reading…]

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles,Giants, and Redskins
AFC North: Steelers

The Packers have as storied a history as any team in pro football. And it starts at the beginning, with Curly Lambeau. The first coach in Green Bay history guided the team to six titles, and while the Packers have an all-time winning percentage of 0.564, it would be just 0.533 if you removed the Lambeau Years. The tradition continued with the great Vince Lombardi, who posted a remarkable 89-29-4 mark as Packers head coach, while leading the team to 5 titles. And Mike Holmgren and Mike McCarthy continued that tradition: not only did they both win Super Bowls, but each coach improved the franchise’s overall winning percentage by 1%, no easy task given the high baseline of Packers head coach.

The full list below: [continue reading…]

Today, I am getting married to my best friend and the most incredible person I have ever met. I’m so excited to walk into this new chapter of my life with her by my side.

She is a big fan of this blog and my daily writing, but I am going to end things here and spend the rest of the day with her.

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles,Giants, and Redskins

The Steelers have had three coaches that would be regarded as legendary on most franchises. One of them is Hall of Famer Chuck Noll, who led the team to four Super Bowl titles in the 1970s. Noll also ranks third when it comes to improving the Steelers’ all-time winning percentage. While he was an outstanding head coach, he also had 7 seasons (out of 23) with a losing record. Consider that Mike Tomlin has never had a losing record in 12 years as Pittsburgh’s head coach and has won 65% of his games. Bill Cowher had 3 losing seasons in 15 years and won 62% of his games while coaching 48 more games than Tomlin. When it comes to regular season success, you can make a case for all three of these men as the best in Steelers history, but the numbers side with Tomlin: without him, Pittsburgh has a 0.505 winning percentage. Without Cowher, the Steelers franchise winning percentage is 0.506, and without Noll, it’s 0.514. Of course, Tomlin inherited a great team from Cowher, and Cowher inherited a great franchise from Noll. It was Noll who built the Steelers up from nothing, inheriting a 2-win team in 1968 and winning just one game his first year. His four rings make him the clear choice for best coach in Pittsburgh history. [continue reading…]

Brad Oremland is a sportswriter and football historian. There are few who have given as much thought to the history of pro football as Brad has over the years. What follows is Brad’s latest work, a multi-part series on the greatest players in pro football history.

---

This is the sixth article in a twelve-part series profiling the greatest pro football players of all time. You can find the previous installments below:

111-125
101-110
91-100
81-90
71-80

Best Players of All Time: 61-70

70. Jack Lambert
Middle Linebacker
Pittsburgh Steelers, 1974-84
17 FR, 107 yards; 28 INT, 243 yards
2 DPOY, 5 consensus All-Pro, 7 AP All-Pro, 9 Pro Bowls, DROY, 1970s All-Decade Team, 1980s All-Decade Team, 75th Anniversary Team

Beyond any real question, the most intimidating linebacker of his era. At 6-foot-4½, he loomed over opponents with a toothless scowl. The Steelers’ PR department marketed him as “Count Dracula in cleats.” He was nicknamed Madman Jack, he was compared to Darth Vader. Fear of Jack Lambert was practically its own industry.

Lambert was a ruthless tackler, but he was first and foremost a playmaker. At just 220 lbs., he was undersized for a linebacker, but also unusually quick. With the exception of 1984, when he suffered a career-ending injury halfway through the season, Lambert had at least one interception every year of his career, retiring with 28 INTs, top-10 all-time among LBs. He had a genius for diagnosing plays, adjusting the defensive calls, and anticipating the path of the ball.

Teammate Andy Russell, himself a 7-time Pro Bowl linebacker, divined Lambert’s legacy: “Tough, raw-boned, intense. That’s the way he’ll be remembered, but . . . Jack’s a whole lot more. The range he has … His first step is never wrong, his techniques have always been perfect. His greatness has nothing to do with his popular image.” Another linebacking teammate, Hall of Famer Jack Ham, said that what set Lambert apart was his ability to play the pass. The image of the blood-hunting, toothless madman overshadows the savvy of an undersized, cerebral leader who ranks among the finest coverage men ever to play his position. Lambert had relentless drive and toughness, and a natural ability to lead by example, but intelligence and even finesse separated him from other big hitters and hard workers. [continue reading…]

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

Dolphins
Cowboys
Bills
Eagles
Jets
Giants
Patriots

Joe Gibbs is the best coach in Redskins history, and it’s not very close. He went 124-60 as the team’s head coach in the ’80s and early ’90s, and then came back for a second stint at the age of 64. Even then, he wasn’t bad: Washington made the playoffs twice in four years, although his overall record was only 30-34.

But even with that second stint, Gibbs stands out as the best regular season coach the team has ever had (he’s also in the conversation for best playoff coach in NFL history, or at least NFC history). Washington has had an ugly run of football for about 20 years, but the franchise still has an above-.500 record all-time. That’s thanks to Gibbs: with him, the team is at 0.504, and without him, it’s at 0.474. Two other coaches were great for the franchise in shorter doses: George Allen had a great run in the ’70s, and Ray Flaherty had a lot of success with Hall of Fame QB Sammy Baugh. [continue reading…]

Brad Oremland is a sportswriter and football historian. There are few who have given as much thought to the history of pro football as Brad has over the years. What follows is Brad’s latest work, a multi-part series on the greatest players in pro football history.

---

This is the fifth article in a twelve-part series profiling the greatest pro football players of all time. You can find the previous installments below:

111-125
101-110
91-100
81-90

If you haven’t read those yet, especially the one introducing the series (111-125), I hope you’ll start there.

80. Darrelle Revis
Cornerback
New York Jets, 2007-12, 2015-16; Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2013; New England Patriots, 2014; Kansas City Chiefs, 2017
29 INT, 466 yards, 3 TD; 4 FF, 12 FR, 28 yards; 2 sacks
1 DPOY, 3 consensus All-Pro, 4 AP All-Pro, 7 Pro Bowls

“Revis Island” is a dumb nickname for a player. Saying that opposing receivers were stranded on Revis Island, however, was great: it’s an evocative metaphor, one of the few ways to communicate what Revis did to the most outstanding WRs in football. His 2009 season was the best I’ve ever seen from a defensive back. Andre Johnson, 4 catches for 35 yards. Randy Moss, 4 for 24 and 5 for 34. Carolina’s Steve Smith, 1 for 5 yards. Roddy White, 4 for 33. Reggie Wayne, 3 for 33. Revis had a career-high 6 interceptions that season, and his 31 pass deflections are the single-season record, by far, though the stat has only been recorded since 1999. In the 20 seasons the stat has been kept, there have only been 10 individual seasons with at least 25 PD:

1. Darrelle Revis, 2009 — 31
t2. Sheldon Brown, 2005 — 27
t2. Troy Vincent, 2001 — 27
t4. David Amerson, 2015 — 26
t4. Marcus Peters, 2015 — 26
t4. Darius Slay, 2017 — 26
t7. Donnie Abraham, 1999 — 25
t7. Brandon Carr, 2010 — 25
t7. Deltha O’Neal, 2001 — 25
t7. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, 2009 — 25

Revis is all alone. In subsequent seasons, his stats were extremely modest, because opponents rarely threw to his side of the field, but his effect on the team was monumental. The 2009 Jets only allowed 8 pass TDs all season, with an opponents’ passer rating of 58.8, the lowest allowed by any team in the illegal contact era. Quarterbacked by Mark Sanchez, the Jets made back-to-back AFC Championship Games on the strength of their defense, but in particular on the strength of Revis. I’ve never seen a more impactful defender. He almost single-handedly made the Jets a great defense.

Everyone knows about his excellence in coverage, but Revis also played the run well, took on blockers, and didn’t shy away from contact. I remember a game in 2014 in which Revis knocked down a pulling tackle. Early in the second quarter, on a run to the left, Revis took out Colts LT Anthony Castonzo. Revis was listed at 5-11, 198 lbs, Castonzo at 6-7, 311. Revis blew up the running lane, knocked Castonzo on his butt, and the play went for a 3-yard loss. [continue reading…]

This is the third of an eight part installment covering my opinion of each NFL division’s all-time team. When I go through the divisions, I tend to spell “NEWS” in order to keep my thoughts straight. That means today’s post concerns the AFC West (and by that I mean all teams currently in the AFC West, regardless of where those teams were at other points in history). I am writing this series while recovering from back surgery and taking several narcotics. I don’t know how this impacts most people, but I’ve never even had a beer, so my world is effectively a chimerical fever dream right now. It’s precisely because of this I thought it would be fun to try to write a guest series while Chase takes a break.

A quick reminder of the series rules before jumping into the content:

1. I write everything before my painkiller prescription runs out,
2. I write it completely off the top of my head and don’t do any research,
3. I don’t have to proofread this when I finish it, and
4. Chase doesn’t edit my nonsense out of the article (so parts may read like a Raider Joe rant). ^[1]Roster construction is as follows: 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 2 TE, 2 T, 2 G, 1 C, 2 DE, 2 DT, 2 OLB, 2 MLB/ILB, 3 CB, 2 S, 1 K, 1 P, 1 HC.

AFC North
AFC East

Without further ado, here’s the AFC West:

Offense

Quarterback – John Elway [continue reading…]

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

Dolphins
Cowboys
Bills
Eagles
Jets
Giants

We have now reached the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady version of this series, which will yield no surprises. There is nothing to say about those two that has not been said, except perhaps how they have changed the Patriots career winning percentages!

New England has won 56.1% of games over the course of the franchise’s history, but that’s very Belichick-influenced. Under his watch, New England has won 74.0% of its regular season games; with someone other than Belichick on the sidelines, the Patriots have won just 46.9% of their games. Under Dick MacPherson, the Patriots also went 8-24 in two seasons. In one 7-year stretch from 2006 to 2012, the Patriots also lost 24 games…. but went 88-24.

The most interesting thing to analyze here is Belichick vs. Don Shula. Without Belichick, New England has a 0.469 winning percentage. Without Shula, Miami has a 0.462 winning percentage. Belichick has an insane 0.740 winning percentage but over “only” 304 games. Shula has a 0.658 winning percentage over 392 games. New England has a franchise winning percentage of 0.561, while Miami is at 0.556 — in fact, it wasn’t until October 2018 that the Patriots finally surpassed the Dolphins in franchise winning percentage!

Right now, Shula has the edge. Miami entered the AFL in 1966, which means the Dolphins have fewer non-Shula games, which helps Shula in this regard. Through 2018, Shula has still coached 48% of all games for the Dolphins, while Belichick is only at 34%. But even still, Belichik is getting close: a 12-4 season in 2019 would vault him into #1 in this category. [continue reading…]

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

Dolphins
Cowboys
Bills
Eagles
Jets

The New York Giants have a long history of successful head coaches. Believe it or not, the Giants have a better winning percentage in games not coached by Tom Coughlin (0.537) than in games that Coughlin coached (0.531). Steve Owen, Jim Lee Howell, and Bill Parcells come out as the top three by this methodology, while former Dolphins DC Bill Arnsparger caused the biggest drop to the franchise’s winning percentage. The Giants have won 53.6% of their games, but that number jumps to 54.5% in games coached by anyone other than Arnsparger. [continue reading…]

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

Dolphins
Cowboys
Bills
Eagles

The Jets have not had a storied history when it comes to head coaches. If Adam Gase wins his first game, he will be just the third head coach in Jets history with more wins than losses. Bill Parcells has the best winning percentage in franchise history, and Weeb Ewbank — who led the team to its only Super Bowl — is probably the best head coach in its history. But other than those two Hall of Famers, the pickings are slim in Jets history… and even Ewbank had a losing record! Meanwhile, Rich Kotite appropriately stands out as the worst coach in franchise history. But #2 is Todd Bowles, who went 24-40 with New York over the last four years. [continue reading…]

Brad Oremland is a longtime commenter and a fellow football historian. There are few who have given as much thought to the history of pro football as Brad has over the years. What follows is Brad’s latest work, a multi-part series on the greatest players in pro football history.

---

This is the fourth article in a twelve-part series profiling the greatest pro football players of all time. You can find the previous installments below:

111-125
101-110
91-100

It’s been a couple weeks since I introduced this series, so I’d like to remind readers of the disclaimers from the introduction: making this list at any point is a much higher standard than the Hall of Fame, and indicates that I have extraordinary regard for that player. I would like to write about the players in exclusively positive terms, but since this series is organized as a ranking, some of the comments will highlight weaknesses by way of explaining why the player isn’t even higher. Please don’t misinterpret these explanations as disrespect for the player’s accomplishments.

Best Players of All Time: 81-90

90. Warren Moon
Quarterback
Houston Oilers, 1984-93; Minnesota Vikings, 1994-96; Seattle Seahawks, 1997-98; Kansas City Chiefs, 1999-2000
49,325 yards, 291 TD, 233 INT, 80.9 rating
1 OPOY, 1 AP All-Pro, 9 Pro Bowls

Warren Moon’s statistics are excellent for when he played. He retired as the third-leading passer in NFL history, fourth in touchdowns. He made nine Pro Bowls, led the NFL in passing yards twice, and had back-to-back 4,000-yard seasons twice, for two different teams — the first player to do so. Moon won Offensive Player of the Year in 1990; compared to Associated Press MVP Joe Montana, Moon was ahead in completions, completion percentage, yards, yards per attempt, net yards per attempt, yards per completion, touchdowns, TD percentage, fewer interceptions, INT percentage, passer rating, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, total yards, and total touchdowns. And Moon wasn’t throwing to Jerry Rice. The statistical gulf between them is enormous; one is forced to conclude that Montana was more valuable either because he played on a better team or because of prejudice against Moon.

Moon was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2006, the first undrafted quarterback elected to Canton. He was a successful college player, the MVP of the 1978 Rose Bowl, but was initially prevented from playing in the NFL. He spent six years in the Canadian Football League, winning five straight championships with the Edmonton Eskimos, before joining the Oilers in 1984. When he finally reached the NFL, Moon joined a team that had gone a combined 3-22 the previous two seasons. It took a few years to complete the turnaround — this was before modern free agency — but the Oilers made seven straight playoff appearances from 1987-93. Then Moon went to Minnesota, and the Oilers dropped from 12-4 to 2-14, from 4th in scoring (368) to dead last (226). After seven consecutive playoff seasons with Moon, they missed the playoffs for the next five years.

The Vikings were glad to have him. Moon made the next two Pro Bowls, passed for back-to-back 4,000-yard seasons — at the time, only Dan Fouts, Dan Marino, and Moon himself had ever done so — and facilitated Cris Carter’s single-season receptions record. Moon got hurt in ’96, then went to Seattle and made the Pro Bowl there, too. In February 1998, at age 41, Moon was named Pro Bowl MVP.

Here you’ve got a guy with a 23-year professional career, who could still play at a high level in his 40s. He passed the eye test, ran well and threw maybe the most perfect spiral in history. He has an impressive big-game résumé: Rose Bowl MVP, five Grey Cups, and a higher passer rating in the NFL playoffs (84.9) than in the regular season (80.9). He was the critical player for a team that made seven consecutive postseason appearances, and the team disintegrated without him. Moon didn’t play for the Cowboys or 49ers, but what more do you want from him? [continue reading…]

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

Dolphins
Cowboys
Bills

Over the course of their franchise, Philadelphia has won 49% of its games. But if you removed the games coached by former NFL commissioner Bert Bell, the Eagles actually are above .500 for the rest of their history! The best coach in Philadelphia history is Andy Reid, even if he never won a Super Bowl. He won 58.3% of his games with the team, while all other Eagles head coaches have won just 46.9% of games. Doug Pederson is off to a good start, and so far has a slightly better winning percentage with the Eagles, but he’s got a long way to go before he passes Reid on this list.

Likewise, when it comes to winning regular season games, no quarterback to wear the Eagles uniform could match Donovan McNabb’s success. For quarterbacks in this series, I am only going to go back to 1950. That’s because we don’t have quarterback starts data prior to 1950. That didn’t matter for the first three teams, but it does matter here for the Eagles. Since 1950, Philadelphia has a nearly perfectly average record of 501-499-18. With McNabb as the starter, Philadelphia won 65.1% of their games; overall, the team has won 50.1% of games since ’50, and without McNabb, that number drops to 47.7%.

The Eagles have had a lot of very good running backs in their history, including some borderline Hall of Famers. Ricky Watters led the team in rushing in 88% of his games, Brian Westbrook was an all-purpose threat who led the team in rushing 81 times, and LeSean McCoy is a YPC star who led the Eagles in rushing in more games than Watters and more frequently than Westbrook. But it was late ’70s/early ’80s star Wilbert Montgomery who has led the team in rushing most often. Oh, and you might notice a certain quarterback led the Eagles in rushing 37 times, too.

What about the leaders in receiving in Eagles history? Terrell Owens did so in 68% of his games, but he only suited up with the Eagles 22 times. Hall of Famer Pete Pihos did so in 37 games while being an outstanding defensive player, but it’s 6’8 Harold Carmichael who easily paces the field here.

That’s it for the Philadelphia version of this series. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

Brad Oremland is a longtime commenter and a fellow football historian. There are few who have given as much thought to the history of pro football as Brad has over the years. What follows is Brad’s latest work, a multi-part series on the greatest players in pro football history.

---

This is the third article in a twelve-part series profiling the greatest pro football players of all time. If you haven’t already read part one and part two, I recommend you start there.

Best Players of All Time: 91-100

100. Andy Robustelli
Defensive End
Los Angeles Rams, 1951-55; New York Giants, 1956-64
22 FR, 97 yards, 2 TD; 2 INT, 24 yards, 2 TD
1 consensus All-Pro, 10 AP All-Pro, 7 Pro Bowls

Other than his rookie year and his last two seasons, somebody named Andy Robustelli All-Pro every season of his career. For this series, I don’t treat Maxwell Club as a major organization, but they honored Robustelli with the 1962 Bert Bell Award for league MVP. AP had him second-team All-Pro that season. Maxwell Club was probably closer to the mark; historian and author T.J. Troup has suggested that Robustelli would have been a worthy Defensive Player of the Year candidate, though that award wasn’t offered by major publications until 1966.

Robustelli missed one game his rookie season, then never missed another for the next 13 years, a remarkable feat in the brutal 1950s and ’60s. As a rookie, he started in the 1951 NFL Championship Game, going on to start championship games not only in 1951, but in 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, and 1963. When the Giants traded their first-round draft choice to Los Angeles for Robustelli in 1956, the Rams dropped from the best record in the Western Conference to the worst, and the Giants, who hadn’t made a postseason appearance since 1950, became league champs. Robustelli’s teams had a winning record in each of his first 13 seasons, and he appeared in eight NFL title games, winning championships with both the Rams and Giants. Very few players have such a consistent record of success.

Robustelli’s highlight reel is striking. He was a great pass rusher, and he retired with the most fumble recoveries in history. Robustelli was also a leader, credited (along with rookie Sam Huff) with New York’s defensive renaissance that sparked a title in 1956. In his final three seasons, two of which saw the Giants reach the NFL Championship Game, Robustelli was a player-coach. Following his retirement he worked briefly in television and for many years in the Giants’ front office. Few players in history have amassed such a collection of both individual and team success. [continue reading…]

Friend of the program Bryan Frye is back for another guest series. As regular readers know, Bryan operates his own fantastic site, http://www.thegridfe.com. You can view all of Bryan’s guest posts here, and follow him on twitter @LaverneusDingle.

---

With the NFL’s centennial celebration coming soon, I have been thinking much about “all-time,” “best of,” and “greatest” lists. This time, that list involves an eight part series on each division’s all-time teams. As I stated before, I will be treating all teams as if they are in their current divisions (so Kenny Easley would be eligible for the NFC West squad, not the AFC West to which the Seahawks belonged when he played). Today, we’ll be looking at Tom Brady’s division.

A quick reminder of the series rules before jumping into the content:

1. I write everything before my painkiller prescription runs out (although Chase will publish this later),
2. I write it completely off the top of my head and don’t do any research,
3. I don’t have to proofread this when I finish it, and
4. Chase doesn’t edit my nonsense out of the article (so parts may read like a Raider Joe rant).

Roster construction is as follows: 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 2 TE, 2 T, 2 G, 1 C, 2 DE, 2 DT, 2 OLB, 2 MLB/ILB, 3 CB, 2 S, 1 K, 1 P, 1 HC.

Without further ado, here’s the AFC East

Offense

Quarterback – Tom Brady

Dan Marino may have been the most natural thrower I have ever seen, but this spot was never in doubt. If you like rings, Brady has more than any QB. If you like stats, he has some of the best ever. If you just likes guys with handsome faces, well by golly he has that too.

Running Backs – O.J. Simpson and Curtis Martin

When Simpson became the first back to break the 2,000 yard mark, he set a record for rushing yards per game that still stands. And that probably wasn’t even his best season! Martin didn’t have the highs of some of the inner circle guys, but he was a consistent producer and a respected teammate.

Wide Receivers – Don Maynard, Paul Warfield, and Andre Reed

Maynard is the second best AFL wideout and did amazing things with DESERVING HALL OF FAMER Joe Namath throwing him the ball. Warfield was tough to place because he split his time between Miami and Cleveland, spending much more time in the Midwest. I opted to put him here because his time with the Dolphins was good enough to merit the spot. He’s the greatest deep threat in history and an underrated blocker. Reed put up solid numbers in suboptimal weather, and his work after the catch is the stuff of legend.

Tight Ends – Rob Gronkowski and Russ Francis

Gronk is the greatest tight end of all time, in my opinion. Every other great at the position had at least one glaring weakness. Gronk’s only weakness was his health. Francis is like a proto version of Gronk. He didn’t put up gaudy receiving numbers, but he was nonetheless an incredible receiver and arguably an even better athletic specimen. Like Gronk, he was also excelled as a blocker.

Tackles – Leon Gray and Marvin Powell

Gray was a hulking player who could manhandle defenders, and the brevity of his peak may be the only thing keeping him from having a bronze bust in an Ohio museum. Powell was an intelligent player who succeeded despite lacking the aggression of someone like Boomer Brown.

Guards – John Hannah and Joe DeLamielleure

Hannah may be the greatest guard of all time, and he is almost certainly the best run blocker. DeLamielleure possessed sound technique and rarely got himself out of position. I’ve heard some posit that he only made Pro Bowl because he got to block for O.J., but I don’t believe those people actually watched him play.

Center – Dwight Stephenson

Quite simply, Stephenson is the best I have even seen at the center position. He was far more athletic than anyone else, and despite his size was incredibly powerful. Opponents likened taking a hand shot from Stephenson to getting electrocuted.

Defense

Defensive End – Bruce Smith and Jason Taylor

Smith holds the NFL’s career sack record and racked up outlandish numbers without sacrificing run support. Taylor was a gifted athlete who made good use of his long arms to keep free from blockers.

Defensive Tackle – Tom Sestak and Joe Klecko

Sestak could play just about any technique across the line (aside, perhaps, from wide 9) with equal success getting after passers. Klecko is similar, having earned honors as an end and a nose tackle. Honorable mentions to Fred Smerlas and Vince Wilfork, who are two of the best nose tackles I’ve seen.

Outside Linebacker – Andre Tippett and Cornelius Bennett

Lawrence Taylor may be the only reason Tippett isn’t a household name. Known as a rushbacker, he could also force the edge against the run and even cover tight ends with success. Bennett was the epitome of versatility, able to make plays at all levels of the field.

Middle/Inside Linebacker – Nick Buoniconti and Zach Thomas

Buoniconti and Thomas were both undersized backers who tackled well and excelled in coverage. Thomas was a bit better at disengaging from blockers.

Cornerback – Darrelle Revis, Ty Law, and Asante Samuel

Revis and Law were classic, shutdown cornerbacks who you could put on a number one receiver and not worry about for the rest of the game. Samuel was a gambler who is unfortunately remembered just as much for his misses as he is for his numerous big plays.

Safety – Rodney Harrison and Dick Anderson

Most of Harrison’s prime came with the Chargers, but he remained an effective and important member of several successful Patriots squads. The infamous David Tyree play notwithstanding, he was typically consistent in coverage and as an enforcer. Choosing between Anderson and Jake Scott was no mean feat, but I opted for Anderson because I liked his penchant for turning defense into offense.

Special Teams and Head Coach

Kicker – Adam Vinatieri

If we want to get all analytical and look at metrics like points produced over expectation, Garo Yepremian would probably take this spot. But let’s take a moment to pretend we’re humans and not androids and consider that narrative actually does matter. I don’t care if he is statistically the best. No kicker has built a stronger legacy than Vinatieri.

Punter – Reggie Roby

Roby combined the big leg fans love to see with the precision kicking purists look for. Also, I like alliteration.

Head Coach – Bill Belichick

With respect to Don Shula’s 347 victories and absurd 172 games over .500, Belichick is my guy. To succeed consistently in the salary cap era while only holding on to one star player for a significant period of time is incredible. Despite the NFL’s best efforts at increasing parity, Belichick (with Brady) has presided over the greatest dynasty in NFL history.

Parting Shot

We’re done with part two. Brace yourselves for the AFC West article, in which I cry deeply over the sheer number of legendary tight ends I have to leave off my list.

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

Dolphins
Cowboys

The Buffalo Bills have had a lot of disappointing coaches in their history — I’m looking at you, Harvey Johnson — and only a few good ones. Just four have winning records, although that’s not the worst by AFC East standards. In many divisions, Marv Levy would be considered a strong candidate for the best coach in division history. In the AFC East, he’s relegated to third. But when it comes to Bills coaches, nobody can match his record: [continue reading…]

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

Dolphins

For the Cowboys, it’s not hard to figure out who is the best coach in team history. Tom Landry was so good for so long, that he’s really inflated the team’s overall mark. Consider Jason Garrett, who has gone a very respectable 77-59 as head coach of the Cowboys. That’s a 0.566 winning percentage, but that’s actually lower than the team’s overall winning percentage of 0.573. In other words, Dallas has a better career record in games without Garrett than with Garrett, which is a harbinger of things to come in today’s post. Meanwhile, Dave Campo is the only coach in Dallas history who had a losing record. [continue reading…]

This offseason, I’m going to look at team histories in a different way than such data is usually presented. I’ll be looking at coach and quarterback records, along with rushing and receiving milestones. Let’s begin with coaches, and start with the Miami Dolphins.

Don Shula is one of the best coaches in history. He posted a 257-133-2 record in 392 regular season games, a 0.658 winning percentage. Now consider that over the course of its entire history, Miami has played 816 games, producing a 452-360-4 record, a 0.556 winning percentage.

In this series, I will look at how each coach has changed their franchise’s career winning percentages. Here’s what I mean, using Miami as an example. We know that the Dolphins have a 0.556 winning percentage. But in games not coached by Shula, Miami only has a 0.462 winning percentage. That’s a decline of 9.4%! Shula coached nearly half of all Miami games and has well over half of the franchise’s wins. If you perform this calculation for every coach for every team in NFL history — which I did — you will find that Shula has improved his franchise’s overall winning percentage by more than any other coach in history.

The table below shows this data for every coach in Miami history.  The  coach who has harmed the team’s winning percentage the most is George Wilson, the first coach of the team and Shula’s predecessor. He went 15-39-2 coaching the expansion franchise — hey, no judgment here — and without him, Miami would have a franchise winning percentage of 0.576, which is 2% higher than the team’s actual winning percentage.

For every post in this series, I will post the full results in a table like this, sorted by best to worst in terms of improving his franchise’s overall win percentage. [continue reading…]

Brad Oremland is a longtime commenter and a fellow football historian. There are few who have given as much thought to the history of pro football as Brad has over the years. What follows is Brad’s latest work, a multi-part series on the greatest players in pro football history.

---

Players 125-111

This is the second article in a twelve-part series profiling the greatest pro football players of all time. If you haven’t already read part one, I recommend you start there. Please keep in mind, if a player’s ranking seems low or if I highlight potential negatives to explain why he’s not even higher, that making this list at all essentially puts the player in the top one-third of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Best Players of All Time: 101-110

110. Dutch Clark
Quarterback (Pre-Modern)
Portsmouth Spartans, 1931-32; Detroit Lions, 1934-38
1,507 yards, 11 TD, 26 INT, 40.3 rating; 2,772 rush yards, 4.57 avg, 36 TD
6 All-Pro, 1930s All-Decade Team

Something you’ll notice occasionally in this series are contemporary players from the same position ranked back-to-back. When it’s hard to differentiate players within their own era and position, it seems intellectually dishonest not to rank them together. Benny Friedman (#111), who played in the late 1920s and early 1930s, was the final entry last week, but he’s back-to-back with another Pre-Modern QB, charter Hall of Famer Earl “Dutch” Clark. Friedman was a much, much better passer. Clark’s eyesight was so weak he had trouble seeing his receivers, and Friedman threw six times as many TD passes, despite that his best seasons (unlike most of Clark’s) were before passing was legal anywhere behind the line of scrimmage.

Clark wasn’t a quarterback in any modern understanding of the word. He passed for about half as many yards in his career as Mitchell Trubisky did in 2018. Clark was a pretty good passer for his era, but at that time, QBs weren’t judged on their passing. He led the NFL in rushing touchdowns four times — a telling accomplishment playing at the same time as Bronko Nagurski (1930-37) and Cliff Battles (1932-37) — and he had a famous 40-yard touchdown run in the 1935 NFL Championship Game. Clark was also a talented dropkicker, who led the NFL in scoring three times. He was a six-time All-Pro in seven seasons, and he joined Sammy Baugh as the only signal-callers in the first Hall of Fame class. Clark was particularly renowned for his intelligence and savvy, the best play-caller of his generation, at a time when that was among the QB’s most important duties.

Was he better than Friedman? He was a wildly different player. Friedman was the best passer of his era; Clark was a great runner and kicker. Friedman was a braggart who backed up his talk on the field; Clark was humble, and famously reluctant to call his own number. Friedman never won a championship; Clark was the hero of Detroit’s 1935 championship victory. If I were choosing a quarterback, I’d take Friedman in a heartbeat. Choosing the better overall player, I lean ever so slightly toward Clark. [continue reading…]

Chase is a little preoccupied at the moment. I just had back surgery and have little else to but lay in bed. When Chase mentioned he needed some ideas to keep The Streak alive, I offered to make a series of posts briefly detailing my picks for each division’s all-time team. It’s a pretty straightforward concept that has probably been done before, and I’m fine with that. My version comes with a twist: as I warned Chase, I am on quite a few different medications and may not be functioning at 100%. Thus, my stipulations for writing this series are as follows:

1. that I do it before my prescription runs out,
2. that I write it completely off the top of my head and don’t do any research,
3. that I don’t have to proofread this when I finish it, and
4. that Chase doesn’t edit my nonsense out of the article.

Because I had the idea and made my own rules, I got to set up rosters however I wanted. I landed on the following: one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, two tight ends, two tackles, two guards, one center on offense; and two defensive ends, two defensive tackles, two outside linebackers, two middle/inside linebackers, three cornerbacks, and two safeties on defense. I also went with a kicker and punter, but no return man because I’m lazy and did this for Chase off the top of my head at the eleventh hour.

I also maintained modern division designations. That means if a Packers player from the 1990s makes the team, he does so as part of the NFC North rather than the NFC Central. I don’t have all day, folks. [continue reading…]

Brad Oremland is a longtime commenter and a fellow football historian. There are few who have given as much thought to the history of pro football as Brad has over the years. What follows is Brad’s latest work, a multi-part series on the best players in pro football history.

---

Best Players in Pro Football History: 111-125

I’m in semi-retirement as a football writer and historian, but my passion for pro football history hasn’t diminished even as my willingness to engage the modern game wanes. I recently re-read and admired the all-time pro football roster constructed by Bryan Frye following the 2014 season, and Bryan was gracious enough to offer me a platform for assembling my own all-time roster to challenge his. It was a fun exercise, and it required a lot of thought about the greatest players in history. That, in turn, led me to this project.

Over the next six weeks, I’ll reveal my personal list of the 125 best players in the history of professional football, with brief profiles on all of them. It’s probably the most ambitious sports project I’ve ever undertaken, so I hope you’ll be understanding about any disagreements. Inevitably, there are some heart-breaking omissions in any project like this. If I left off your favorite player, please understand that I didn’t “forget” him; I just had to make some hard choices. There are 280 players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and that doesn’t include active or recently retired players who have already established HOF-worthy legacies. There are historically great, Hall of Fame-caliber players who are not on my list of the top 125 — most of them, in fact. Making this list is a much higher standard than making it to Canton, and missing the list shouldn’t be interpreted as an insult.

Let’s be clear: making this list at any point indicates that I have extraordinary regard for that player. I would like to write about the players in exclusively positive terms, but since this series is organized as a ranking, some of the comments will highlight weaknesses by way of explaining why the player isn’t even higher. I try to anticipate arguments that a player should be ranked higher or lower, and tailor the summaries accordingly, but please don’t misinterpret these justifications as disrespect for the player’s accomplishments. Everyone on the list was (or still is) incredible. [continue reading…]