Tag Archives: Johnny Unitas

Legends of The Fall: John Constantine Unitas (Johnny Unitas)

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Article Reissue

The name that comes to mind when it comes to quarterback – John Constantine Unitas…or Johnny Unitas.  I can’t remember hearing his complete name for the first time, yes I can, it was when his presenter at the Pro Football Hall of Fame said it, but feel it needs to be brought up for the fans who need to know the greatness of this man. So glad they finished the documentary in 1999 before he passed. An old school hero. The best ever quarterback conversation has this man’s name in it. Not Peyton Manning and Tom Brady where all the rules have been changed to manufacture what looks like greatness.

At the time of Unitas retirement, he held the record for passing yards (40,239) & touchdown passes (290). He was the first NFL quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards in 1960 and once held the record for TD passes in a 12 game season with 32. In an era where the NFL game was rooted in the ground, Unitas took to the air where purists scoffed he was ruining the game. Through it all he raised quarterbacking to an art form by the way he played, his play calling ability, and field generalship in leading the Baltimore Colts. In fact, it was Unitas that invented the 2 minute drill in the most important game in NFL history…. the 1958 NFL Championship.

The ’58 NFL Championship ignited the passion for pro football for the masses as it overtook baseball for America’s heart. Lamar Hunt after this game decided to start the American Football League on the heels of this game’s popularity. A sense of irony between the AFL and Unitas’ would come to the fore later. Yet it was Unitas that became a superstar. Football had been booming with television in the 1950’s and it culminated with his championship heroics.

For an encore, when all eyes were upon him, he had his greatest season in 1959. Johnny U went 193 of 367 (52.6%) for 2,899 yards 32 touchdowns to just 14 interceptions in leading the Colts to a 2nd consecutive championship. By the way for those keeping score, this was in a 12 game season and the yardage and touchdowns were NFL records at the time. At the pace he was on, had it been a 16 game season, he would have thrown for 42 touchdowns. This was in an era where his receivers were hit everywhere on the field not just within a 5 yard contact zone. Legacy cemented.

His 47 straight games with a touchdown pass stood for nearly 50 years. After 40 of those years no one had come within 18 of that record. Drew Bees finally broke it because of all the rule changes…but if you dared to say Brees is in league with Unitas, you and I can’t talk football anymore. A final look back at his jersey retirement at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium in 1977.

In watching the HBO documentary Unitas is where I first learned the plight of former players fighting for benefits from the NFL. When the elbow injury came up I immediately yelled out “1968!” That was the year he tore the tendons that attached the lower and upper arm, causing him to sit out the season and the late Earl Morrall played in his absence. They wound up losing Super Bowl III. Unitas wound up losing the ability to fully use the right hand that made the NFL what it is today. Not only was that a travesty but the anger that swelled in me is why I back all the former player’s groups, Footballer’s Wives, Dignity After Football, and Gridiron Greats to this day.

Sports Illustated cover featuring Johnny U.

Sports Illustated cover featuring Johnny U.

Whenever the mantle of greatness at the quarterback position is cheaply thrown around, as a historian I bristle. What would Unitas accomplish playing in the rules set up today?? How much greater would he have become training all year around like today’s players?? What would his stats look like if he played where he could hardly be hit??  He dwarfs all quarterbacks without the changes. With them he would have left marks that quarterbacks would still be chasing.

In youth as we remember him.

Unitas and his receivers, Lenny Moore, and Raymond Berry all made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The next time someone mentions greatest ever quarterbacks, start with Unitas and work your way down.

hof-unitasJohn Constantine Unitas: May 7, 1933- September 11, 2002

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Top Ten Single Season Defenses in NFL History : #6 1971 Baltimore Colts

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Article Reissue: 29, June 2014

“In this study every season’s #1 defense, record setting defenses, trend setting defenses, and every Super Bowl & NFL championship defenses dating back to 1960. The nod would lend to those post the AFL/NFL merger of 1970. That wasn’t enough as now lets take each defense and cover what they did vs Pro Bowl QBs that season, 1,000 yard rushers, and playoff teams and talk about their effectiveness along with their statistics. Here turnovers forced is a big marker. Nothing watered down so a favorite team can’t be given favor. So The Chancellor of Football took over 200 defenses and boiled it down to this 11 article series and this team was a surprising 6th…”

One of the greatest defensive performances in NFL history happened in 1971. The defending Super Bowl champion Colts had the #1 defense and drug a struggling offense to the AFC Championship Game. They allowed the 2nd fewest yards per game mark in the NFL since 1970 with 203.7 yards. With only 140 points allowed, it would have been an NFL record had the ’69 Vikings not broken the ’68 Colts old scoring record of 144 with 133.

Another interesting aspect of the ’71 Colts was how anemic their once great passing offense had become.  The 38 year old Unitas completed just 52.3% of his passes for 3 TDs and 9 interceptions. Earl Morrall, who was 37, fared no better with an even lower 50.3% with 7 TDs to 12 ints. They were 21st in passing offense and 12th overall making the defense work harder.

Kill, Bubba, Kill!

During the ’71 season the defense held 7 of their 14 opponents to 10 points or less. Including 5 of their first 6. Baltimore’s D recorded 3 shutouts and held their first playoff opponent to 3 points. In facing 5 top ten offenses that year, they were 4-1 and held two of those to 10 points or less. Yet why aren’t they remembered?? The sporting press of that era never forgave the 1968 Colts for losing Super Bowl III and the media tarnished this once great defense in the memory.

Now the media anoints others of that era and obscures this team…lets compare a few:

  • 1971 Baltimore Colts – #1 overall / 203.7 yds all. / 140 points given up / 28 int
  • 1971 Dallas Cowboys – #3 overall / 243.3 yds all. / 222 points given up / 26 int
  • 1972 Miami Dolphins – #1 overall / 235.5 yds all. / 171 points given up / 26 int
  • 1970 Minnesota Vikings – #1 overall / 200.2 yds all. / 143 points given up / 28 int
  • 1975 Pittsburgh Steelers – #4 overall / 261.5 yds all. / 162 points given up / 27 ints

Right now fans of the Doomsday Defense, The No Name Defense, and the Steel Curtain are saying to themselves ‘Its not all about stats”. Which is true until you realize this was a defending Super Bowl champion that made it back to the AFC Championship Game despite its offense. Had they won against Miami, they would have taken on the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl VI. Well that is who they beat in Super Bowl V to become champions in the first place.

Led by Pro Bowlers DE Bubba Smith, MLB Mike Curtis, LB Ted Hendricks, SS Jerry Logan, and FS Rick Volk, its amazing only Hendricks is in the Hall of Fame. Curtis definitely should be but when you think of Hendricks making the Hall that is primarily from his work with the Raiders.

This was the last hurrah for the Colts as everything came apart starting in 1972. That was the year owner Carroll Rosenbloom swapped franchises with Robert Irsay. Head Coach Don McCafferty fired, John Unitas sent to the bench and the run as an NFL elite team ended.

Yet a tremendous performance by the defense in 1971 allowed them to hang on for one more season.

Dedicated to the memories of Don McCafferty, Bubba Smith, & Carroll Rosenbloom

Thank You Taylor Blitz Time Readers!

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Thank you Taylor Blitz Times readers as we had a record month in December that has drawn in more readers than ever before. 30,424 to be exact. To those new readers  who subscribed there are 725 articles covering all the players, teams, and historical articles. So please go to the search bar or subject categories and look for a particular team, player or subject, you’ll be surprised what you’ll find.

This endeavor was started to highlight defensive football and offer an alternative look at the game through the eyes of a historian. Most football shows have deevolved into staring at stats and only talking through the lense of a Walter Mitty type talking about the quarterback position. All the patterned nuance of hitting and visceral football that you and I both grew up playing gets lost. That essence that made us fall in love with the game.

So why The Chancellor of Fooball? Its simple… the love of the game is to cover every single football team and player throughout history, not just my Buffalo Bills. The American Football League and NFL teams before the merger. Writing and talking about your favorite team is too easy to me. It became a challenge to cover every single team with the same fervor than just who you are a fan of. That was my challenge to myself.

The new goal is to see Taylor Blitz Times hit our 1,000,000th read! So yes share the article, comment, agree with points or disagree with points, just be respectful while doing so. I want someone showing their son, nephew, or daughter a player from the past without stumbling across rancor in the comment section. Its not what I built here and as I curate my work its fun seeing articles showing up in places with youngsters because of such. Now you’ll see an occassional cute model for some eye candy but that’s all. Hey if the networks do it why can’t I? But no mudslinging back and forth you see on Twitter, Threads, or Youtube.

For those that are new here I want to encourage you to look around and there were several projects from the past that will be reissued this month. Some are having additional videos or pics loaded up with them to give them a fresher look. Then there are several projects from years gone by you’ll find interesting

Top Ten Single Season Defenses – An 11 article offering where the top 10 received their own article and my list of those that almost made the cut. Criteria? What were they ranked for the season, record vs ProBowl QBs, how many teams held under 10 points in their season and how they did against Top 10 offenses that year. There are 10 more criteria and too much to cover. This link takes you to the “honorable mention” once there go to the bottom and hit next to cycle through the 10 articles.

Where were you when Dwight Clark made “The Catch” to begin the 49ers dynasty of the 1980s? What about the hit in the 1990 NFC Championship that took out Joe Montana for two years? Well you can hear from Giant Leonard Marshall & Mark Collins and their thougts clicking the link. And Joe Montana , I loved seeing him get absolutely decked but this last link is for appreciating the greatest QB in the history of the game? Wouldn’t it be cool to see videos and NFL Films to show you how they were thought of at the time? Click the link… you’ll be right there.

What about The Pro Football Hall of Fame? Well I can tell you my first two subjects Robert Brazile & the late Kevin Greene were written on the same night. Kevin & his lovely wife Tara had me at his 2016 PFHoF induction and I was in attendance for Mr Brazile in 2018. I had the chance to meet him since I had been invited by Jerry Kramer to the induction ceremony in 2018.

With Kevin Greene after the Induction ceremony.

All of this stems from advocating for players and coaches who I believed belong in The Pro Football Hall of Fame. In all 14 of the 22 I’ve written about and sent letters for have been enshrined. I’m still connected with each family and its not lost on me as we head to Super B0wl LX in San Fran not to remember Kevin & Tara learning he had made it in San Francisco before Super Bowl L.

Who did I hear he had made it into Canton? NFL Network? ESPN? No Alicia Kramer, Jerry’s daughter after the disappointment he didn’t get in again. Which made this picture and the trip to Canton in 2018 so special! Very emotional hug right as Rich Eisen was telling everyone to sit down as The Gold Jacket broadcast was seconds from beginning. She was her father’s presenter on Saturday inside the stadium.

What about retrospecives on Ronnie Lott, Jack Tatum, OJ Simpson, Dick Butkus, or the legendary Johnny Unitas? I just gave you 14 links to articles out of 726 or 1.92% of all the articles compiled here with video and personal touch commentary. What other players or stories or conjecture pieces are in the other 712?? Thats for you to go and look for whatever you want to look up. Pay attention to the comment section also you never know what former players have stopped by to leave remarks.

Grab your old man and ask him who Jaguar Jon Arnett was and show him this.RIP he was a friend to Taylor Blitz Times and commented often. As did Chris Burford, do you know who that was? The first ever player signed by Lamar Hunt to play for the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs. Another friend to Taylor Blitz over the years.

Well enjoy and remember: If you enjoy or learn something like sometthing. Comment on it let me know you were here and what you thought. If you do that go ahead and share then subscribe.

Hey….another one of those cute football ladies again.

I’m off to have a dirty Martini with the Mrs. Thanks and I hope you come back and tell your friends to look up Taylor Blitz Times.

 

 

 

The NFL’s Shameful Impatience w/ Black Quarterbacks: Shedeur Sanders Take 3! Killing The Noise!

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One thing has jumped out with Shedeur Sanders play with the Cleveland Browns over the last few weeks, he has been their best quarterback all year. In yesterday’s 31-29 loss to Tennessee, Sanders’ threw for 364 yards 3TDs while rushing 3 times for 29 yards and another score. In doing so became the 2nd rookie QB in the Super Bowl era to throw for more than 350 yards 3TDs while galloping for another score since Joe Burrow in 2020. Thats it, just those two and ironically Burrow’s game came against the Cleveland Browns in a 37-34 shootout with Baker Mayfield.

He has passed the eyeball test and in his 3rd start has shown more than Bo Nix, Drake Maye and Jaxson Dart did in any of their games during their rookie campaigns. Analyzing the Browns, in their last 3 games with Dillon Gabriel the Browns averaged a paltry 148 yards passing. Its risen to 224 yards per game in Sanders 3… and remember Sanders has had 3 weeks of 1st team reps in practice where Gabriel had them in QB Camp, mini camp, preseason and 11 NFL regular season weeks.

We’re also fresh from the Tik Tok controversy of Gabriel’s fiance Zo Caswell claiming “Everyone in the building wants (Dillon) to play.” Oh really? When he had the lowest yards per attempt of every NFL quarterback by a full yard and worst since 1968 in the NFL! That Dillon Gabriel?

Pssst… Sanders has 769 yards on 103 throws for an average of 7.46 yards per attempt. As a measure… every Super Bowl winner has averaged 7-9 yards per attempt or he’d be 10th just behind Matthew Stafford & Dak Prescott with 7.5. Just last week several had Dak in the MVP race…right??Stafford??

This is what this has become as Black America sees Shedeur, one of our own, being dragged, nistreated and to see all the comments stifling black advancement from MAGA types who have made Dillon Gabriel the Anti-Shedeur. Yet have done so with total disregard to the x’s and o’s or onfield performance. Filling post after post about why he should be behind on the bench as the 144th selection completely remiss of football nuance and has been very racist in tone and spirit.

This has been the root of the problem when observing Head Coach Kevin Stefanski as well. Delivering racist tropes “Dillon is like a super computer processing information” which in turn suggests Shedeur doesn’t. It’s all smokescreen b.s. as Gabriel was overthrowing bubble screens and couldn’t produce 1 pass play of 30 yards or greater in all of his games. Neither did Flacco before being traded:

Yet Shedeur had 4 pass plays greater than 30 yards yesterday alone!! Pass plays of 58 to Judkins, 31 to Sampson, 35 to Fannin & the 60 yard TD strike to Jerry Jeudy. So that gives Sanders 8 pass plays over 30 yards and none for the other 2 QBS the Browns have started this entire season?? Then what are they evaluating and if this is what they observed Head Coach Kevin Stefanski should be fired due to incompetence evaluating and inability to coach improvement from any of his quarterbacks. Here is the gamelog of all plays

In Black circles we’ve observed Stefanski’s reluctance from saying Sanders name at earlier press conferences and his paltry post game locker room acknowledgment in Sanders’ first start against the Raiders when it was only their 2nd win in 7 weeks. Did you hear former Browns legend Hanford Dixon’s angry outburst on radio covering the team after that game??

His disregard has become apparent and he is having a hard time hiding behind a facade where many believe he has been sabotaging Sheduer Sanders. We know prejudice when we see it as we’ve all experienced it within our own personal working circles. We know exactly how it feels when dealing with a non-relatable boss at work. Especially from a cultural standpoint. When the one who reminds them of themselves are given favor or benefit of the doubt vs black contemporaries. All of us have lived it

So in reward for completing 23 of 42 for a career best 364 yds and throwing his 3rd TD with 1:03 to go what did Sanders get?? Replaced on a failed 2 point conversion that would have tied the game. Completely deflating everyone in the stadium. Diluting the excitement of the end of the game when their rookie showed he could play full dimention NFL quarterback.

By the way Sanders did this missing 40% of his starting offensive linemen as well. Were you aware of that?? Mmmhmm… No more moving the goal post as this is your quarterback going forward and just needs the reps. Playing in the NFL at quarterback is the ability to get the job done on the field and infuse belief in your team. He’s done this at Jackson State then proved it at Colorado and yesterday made a league full of believers. If you don’t think so ask other teams if they would trade for him this offseason…

By the way…where was Dillon Gabriel & his “super computer processing” after his sixth college football season when Shedeur was accepting the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award??

Exactly…. GTFOH Time to draft some receivers… and fire that idiot coach Kevin Stefanski

 

The NFL’s Shameful Impatience w Black Quarterbacks Vol 1 -Lamar Jackson 2018 NFL Draft

2020 NFL Draft: Wither Jalen Hurts – Shameful Impatience w Black QBs Take Two!

The NFL’s Shameful Impatience w Black Quarterbacks: The Odyssey of Shedeur Sanders

The NFL’s Shameful Impatience w/ Black Quarterbacks: Shedeur Sanders Named Starter v 49ers – Browns Should Fire Stefanski

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Legend of The Fall: Weeb Ewbank

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I heard on a few occassions had the Super Bowl trophy not been named after Vince Lombardi it would have been named after Tom Landry. Uhhhhhh… no. Not when George Halas won 7 NFL Championships and then there was this man…. Weeb Ewbank. If you asked who is he don’t ever try to talk football history with authority again.
Weeb won the NFL’s two biggest landmark games in league history. The 1958 NFL Championship 23-17 win when his Baltimore Colts defeated the New York Giants in the 1st overtime championship game. Then returned a decade later to defeat the 13-1 Baltimore Colts 16-7 with the New York Jets in Super Bowl III.
Weeb was fired in Baltimore and replaced by Don Shula as Head Coach. Then he was able to get revenge on his former assistant in the biggest game and upset that solidified the AFL/NFL merger.
Keep in mind his Colts went back to back winning in 58 and 59 when the media scoffed his Colts were ruining the league passing the way they did. Johnny Unitas in 59 threw for a league record 32TDs in a season then another becoming the 1st 3,000 yard passer in 1960. Joe Namath became the first to go over 4,000 yards in 1967 with his Jets. Are you getting the point??
These firsts and 3 NFL championships including a back to back set of titles…
In the annals of Pro Football very few figures held the importance Weeb Ewbank had and very few can top his impact. So the next time someone wants to talk greatest ever coaches, don’t forget the short pudgy guy with the funny hat on the sideline.
The league never would have been where it was without these two significant games. He doesn’t get his due….

Legends of The Fall: John Constantine Unitas (Johnny Unitas)

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The name that comes to mind when it comes to quarterback – John Constantine Unitas…  I can’t remember hearing his complete name for the first time, but feel it needs to be brought up for the fans who need to know the greatness of this man. So glad they finished the documentary in 1999 before he passed. An old school American hero. The best ever quarterback conversation has this man’s name in it. Not Peyton Manning and Tom Brady where all the rules have been changed to manufacture what looks like greatness.

At the time of Unitas retirement, he held the record for passing yards (40,239) & touchdown passes (290). He was the first NFL quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards in 1960 and once held the record for TD passes in a 12 game season with 32. In an era where the NFL game was rooted in the ground, Unitas took to the air where purists scoffed he was ruining the game. Through it all he raised quarterbacking to an art form by the way he played, his play calling ability, and field generalship in leading the Baltimore Colts. In fact, it was Unitas that invented the 2 minute drill in the most important game in NFL history…. the 1958 NFL Championship.

The ’58 NFL Championship ignited the passion for pro football for the masses as it overtook baseball for America’s heart. Lamar Hunt after this game decided to start the American Football League on the heels of this game’s popularity. A sense of irony between the AFL and Unitas’ would come to the fore later. Yet it was Unitas that became a superstar. Football had been booming with television in the 1950’s and it culminated with his championship heroics.

For an encore, when all eyes were upon him, he had his greatest season in 1959. Johnny U went 193 of 367 (52.6%) for 2,899 yards 32 touchdowns to just 14 interceptions in leading the Colts to a 2nd consecutive championship. By the way for those keeping score, this was in a 12 game season and the yardage and touchdowns were NFL records at the time. At the pace he was on, had it been a 16 game season, he would have thrown for 42 touchdowns. This was in an era where his receivers were hit everywhere on the field not just within a 5 yard contact zone. Legacy cemented.

His 47 straight games with a touchdown pass stood for nearly 50 years. After 40 of those years no one had come within 18 of that record. Drew Bees finally broke it because of all the rule changes…but if you dared to say Brees is in league with Unitas, you and I can’t talk football anymore. A final look back at his jersey retirement at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium in 1977.

In watching the HBO documentary Unitas is where I first learned the plight of former players fighting for benefits from the NFL. When the elbow injury came up I immediately yelled out “1968!” That was the year he tore the tendons that attached the lower and upper arm, causing him to sit out the season and the late Earl Morrall played in his absence. They wound up losing Super Bowl III. Unitas wound up losing the ability to fully use the right hand that made the NFL what it is today. Not only was that a travesty but the anger that swelled in me is why I back all the former player’s groups, Footballer’s Wives, Dignity After Football, and Gridiron Greats to this day.

Sports Illustated cover featuring Johnny U.

Sports Illustated cover featuring Johnny U.

Whenever the mantle of greatness at the quarterback position is cheaply thrown around, as a historian I bristle. What would Unitas accomplish playing in the rules set up today?? How much greater would he have become training all year around like today’s players?? What would his stats look like if he played where he could hardly be hit??  He dwarfs all quarterbacks without the changes. With them he would have left marks that quarterbacks would still be chasing.

Unitas! Pictured in Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium one last time.

Unitas and his receivers, Lenny Moore, and Raymond Berry all made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The next time someone mentions greatest ever quarterbacks, start with Unitas and work your way down.

hof-unitasJohn Constantine Unitas: May 7, 1933- September 11, 2002

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