Our choice for first special teams player to go to the Hall of Fame would be Bill Brown.
When Steve Tasker was about to retire from the Buffalo Bills in 1997, many pundits talked about is candidacy for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Aside from former Chiefs kicker Jan Stenerud, no player who played primarily on special teams has made it into the halls of Canton. Everyone thought Steve should be the first along with Pat Tillman and possibly Hank Bauer. However if you ask our CEO who should be the first person to make the Hall of Fame when it comes to special teams players, Bill Brown of the 1960s-1970s Minnesota Vikings would be the first.
Our The Soul of The Game series is about hitting and defense. Its still the essence of the sport. Although Bill Brown was a Full Back, he played special teams through his entire career. Most notably when the Vikings decided to get younger and drafted Full Back Chuck Foreman out of the University of Miami (The [[_]]) in 1973. In most instances an aging player goes to another team or sits the bench quietly. Out of the offensive limelight Brown still crashed on special teams as the Vikings became a Super Bowl team again in 1973 & 1974.
After the Vikings played in Super Bowl IX, a 16-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Brown retired after a 14 year career. He had been a Pro Bowl Full Back 4 times back in the 1960s and finished his career with 5,838 yards rushing and 52 touchdowns. So his career did have real merit.
The only issue is the tackles weren’t being recorded on special teams to further showcase his contributions. However Brown’s career concluded well over a decade before the first Pro Bowl slot for a special teams player was introduced. He did go down and hit as the video will attest. What is sprinkled in the video as well are the many tackles he made after a fumble or an interception against the Vikings offense. Notice how many times he hits a linebacker wearing a 50s series number. Bill Brown was a complete football player and should be the first special teams player to go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a special teams ace.
It’s amazing how often people worry about how running quarterbacks will get injured. The complete truth is there is no safe spot on the football field for a quarterback. Of course a quarterback can slide at the end of the run to protect himself but that is really all that he has. Remember in the 2005 playoffs when Carson Palmer, when he was with the Bengals, was hit by Kimo von Oelhofen?? How about 2008 when Tom Brady was knocked out for the year?? What about when we go back to the first game of 1991 when Randall Cunningham was knocked out for the year after being hit by Green Bay Packer Bryce Paup?? All of these occurred in the pocket.
Or a more vivid picture was when Steve Young, a reckless running quarterback at times, was knocked out in 1999 by a blitzing Aeneas Williams on a Monday Night against the Cardinals. Remember that hit?? That also took place in the passing pocket. It was the concussion that ended Steve Young’s career. Of course the Washington Redskins should still utilize the “Read Option” and exploit the talents of Robert Griffin III. To eliminate that would take away his greatest weapon which right now is his dual threat capabilities.
If he’s making a speedy recovery go with it. It has always bothered our CEO when fans or coaches want to tell a mobile quarterback to not run. A mobile quarterback turns football into 11 on 11 when it comes to a running game. Defenses haven’t accounted for quarterbacks in over 60 years in the NFL. Under normal circumstances they hand the ball off and watch the play. It wasn’t until Brett Favre in the mid 1990s started carrying out a “fake pass” to retard the charge of the Outside Linebacker to the weakside, that returned it to 10 on 10 from a strategic standpoint. Other coaches started to run fake reverses away from the running play to trick defenders into staying home instead of pursuing the ball. This allows greater cut back openings for the running back as well.
Robert Griffin III along with Colin Kaepernick, and Russell Wilson and the Pistol Offense is the next evolution of football. Now the quarterback has to be accounted for on a running play. So let RG III run when he gets back.
It’s amazing how often people worry about how running quarterbacks will get injured. The complete truth is there is no safe spot on the football field for a quarterback. Of course a quarterback can slide at the end of the run to protect himself but that is really all that he has. Remember in the 2005 playoffs when Carson Palmer, when he was with the Bengals, was hit by Kimo von Oelhofen?? How about 2008 when Tom Brady was knocked out for the year?? What about when we go back to the first game of 1991 when Randall Cunningham was knocked out for the year after being hit by Green Bay Packer Bryce Paup?? All of these occurred in the pocket.
Or a more vivid picture was when Steve Young, a reckless running quarterback at times, was knocked out in 1999 by a blitzing Aeneas Williams on a Monday Night against the Cardinals. Remember that hit?? That also took place in the passing pocket. It was the concussion that ended Steve Young’s career. Of course the Washington Redskins should still utilize the “Read Option” and exploit the talents of Robert Griffin III. To eliminate that would take away his greatest weapon which right now is his dual threat capabilities.
If he’s making a speedy recovery go with it. It has always bothered our CEO when fans or coaches want to tell a mobile quarterback to not run. A mobile quarterback turns football into 11 on 11 when it comes to a running game. Defenses haven’t accounted for quarterbacks in over 60 years in the NFL. Under normal circumstances they hand the ball off and watch the play. It wasn’t until Brett Favre in the mid 1990s started carrying out a “fake pass” to retard the charge of the Outside Linebacker to the weakside, that returned it to 10 on 10 from a strategic standpoint. Other coaches started to run fake reverses away from the running play to trick defenders into staying home instead of pursuing the ball. This allows greater cut back openings for the running back as well.
Robert Griffin III along with Colin Kaepernick, and Russell Wilson and the Pistol Offense is the next evolution of football. Now the quarterback has to be accounted for on a running play. So let RG III run when he gets back.
Well if the arms race between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks couldn’t get any better, the Niners agree to terms with Namedi Asomugha. After the pass defense’s collapse at the end of last season it was inevitable San Francisco would look for some help. However we don’t know which player is going to show up. Will it be the supposed shut down corner when he was in Oakland or the free agent bust that looked lost in the Eagles secondary??
Time will tell as he agreed to a one year deal for $1.35 million. If he is a pre-season casualty he won’t count that high against the cap if released. The Niners are banking on him being motivated, in-shape and ready to prove he was better than he showed in Philadelphia. He is 31 years old and as a cornerback that is about where they hit the wall. There is the off chance they could move him to Free Safety to replace the departed Dashon Goldson. Stay tuned.
When it comes to the soul of the game, purists like our CEO thinks of games being dominated by fierce and aggressive defense. One player that embodied that spirit was Jack Tatum of the Oakland Raiders.
When his name is brought up it’s hard to not think of the unfortunate paralysis injury suffered by Darryl Stingley in 1978. However he was much more than that. During the 1970’s he made the Oakland Raiders defensive secondary the forceful equivalent of the Pittsburgh Steelers front four.
Jack Tatum, one of the NFL’s hardest hitters ever.
The Raiders weren’t a great defense from a statistical standpoint. In fact their highest ranking against the pass during the 1970’s was 5th in 1975, and 8th in 1973. As a matter of fact the year the Raiders went 13-1, won Super Bowl XI & the Raiders were 22nd against the pass. However for a record 5 straight years (1973-1977) the Raiders made it to the AFC Championship Game and Jack Tatum was a main reason why.
It was his physical style of play the Raiders fed off of and his mentality became that of the Oakland Raiders defense. Even SS George Atkinson, who began his career as a corner with the Raiders in the late 1960s’, had Jack’s playing style rub off and become his style of play. Nowhere in football history were there ever more cases of “alligator arms” than there were going across the middle when Jack Tatum was on patrol. His hits were like car collisions.
One of his most famous hits occurred in what has been called the single greatest touchdown in NFL history, The Immaculate Reception. The famous Franco Harris touchdown with :22 left in the 1972 AFC Divisional Playoff the Steelers won 13-7. Initially on 4th and 10, Terry Bradshaw was trying to complete a pass to John “Frenchy” Fuqua when the ball and Tatum all arrived at the same time.
NFL rules at the time didn’t permit a pass to be tipped by a receiver then caught by another receiver. Had that occurred the play would be ruled incomplete and penalized for “illegal touching”. The problem was it was so close you couldn’t call what happened from the naked eye.
When the Steelers were awarded the touchdown it touched off a bitter 5 year playoff rivalry and controversy over that play rages to this day. Tatum had another famous hit that you saw in the first video when he knocked Sammy White of the Vikings out in Super Bowl XI. It was the fourth quarter and the Vikings were forced to pass and the Raiders knew it.
However, 11 months later in what would be John Madden’s last playoff game as coach of the Raiders, another Tatum hit was in the middle of another controversy. It was during the 3rd quarter of the 1977 AFC Championship with Oakland trailing the Denver Broncos 7-3. The Raiders had fumbled to put the Broncos in business inside the Raiders 20 yard line. Several plays later when it was 1st and goal with the momentum teetering toward the Denver sideline, Tatum comes through with a thunderous shot…
Another case of the Raiders coming up on the short end of the stick and was one of the reasons they lost 20-17. Although our CEO lived in Denver at the time and was cheering for the Broncos, he believes they were robbed. Rob Lytle clearly fumbled. Had they won they would have gone to Super Bowl XII with a chance to defend their Super Bowl title. They could have beat Dallas and would have been crowned a dynasty had they made it there. Jack Tatum would play two more years with the Raiders before joining the Houston Oilers in 1980.
He and quarterback Ken Stabler were traded to the Oilers to help Bum Phillips “Kick In The Door” which was the slogan used that year. Ironically they didn’t face Pittsburgh in the playoffs, instead they lost in Oakland to the Raiders in the 1980 AFC Wildcard Game 27-7. For his 10 year career, he did intercept 37 passes with a high of 7 in the lone year he played in Houston. Yet it was the fierce way he hit that brought Tatum his notoriety.
Epilogue: However fame and memory of his play has been purposely obscured by NFL Films selectively after the event where Darryl Stingley was paralyzed. For every fearsome defender that has come through the NFL, there are videos of these tough players, many of which we feature here, yet Tatum is a glaring omission. Contrary to popular belief he did try to see Darryl Stingley while he was in the hospital in Oakland but the family turned him away. John Madden chronicles it in one of his books. Former Ohio St teammate John Hicks said Stingley’s paralysis had an affect on Jack Tatum, saying he became a recluse.
Tatum would have looked sick in a black helmet.
He seemed to be be caught between the tough guy persona and the humanity that did lie within. He’s been quoted from his book They Call Me Assassin that “I like to believe that my best hits border on felonious assault.” Trying to capitalize on his bad boy persona since that was what he had to go off of in future years. We don’t know what was said to Jack Tatum by the Stingley family that night in that hospital.
Yet defensive players using hyperbole to describe what they perceive as the perfect hit isn’t anything new. In the Soul of the Game article with Dick Butkus, he describes a scene from Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte.Where he describes how a decapitated head rolls down the stairs and he liked to project those things happening (to his opponent) on the football field.
In other writings and videos we celebrate the over the top intensity and meanness of an Ed Sprinkle, a “Bulldog” Turner, a Wilber Marshall, a Hardy Brown, a Cliff Harris, a “Mean” Joe Greene, a “Mad Dog” Mike Curtis, or what about the comments and actions of a one Jack Lambert?? None of these men were asked to apologize for the way they played nor should they have to.
Well, neither should Jack Tatum. The question remains: Did Jack Tatum handle the whole situation with Darryl Stingley the right way?? In my opinion he could have done more to make amends with him but it’s not up to me to be the complete judge on all that took place. Again we don’t know what was said between the Stingley family to him that fateful night. Understand I’m not trying to make the villain into the victim, but it’s high time that someone says something in Tatum’s defense. Quit treating him like a pariah, almost like he didn’t exist.
From THE Ohio State University, Jack Tatum!! RIP
Ronnie Lott, Kenny Easley, Todd Bell, Dennis Smith, Dennis Thurman, Leonard Smith and the generation of NFL Safeties that came onto the scene as he was retiring patterned much of their game after his. On July 27, 2010, Jack Tatum passed away, but the way he played lives on as the generation who saw him play share memories of him with grandchildren like a Paul Bunyan type. There isn’t a lot of footage on him so the stories have to be told of how he was such a hitter. Well he was an intimidating performer and definitely a Soul of the Game defender.
Dedicated to the memory of Jack Tatum (November 18, 1948 – July 27, 2010)
RIP Darryl Stingley (September 18, 1951 – April 5, 2007)
RIP Rob Lytle (November 12, 1954 – November 20, 2010)
When the final gun went off at the end of Super Bowl XLVII, the first item up for business for the Baltimore Ravens was to work out the long term deal for Joe Flacco. General Manager Ozzie Newsome inked his quarterback to a lucrative 6 year $120.6 million deal. With that in mind, the Green Bay Packers are on the verge of an even bigger contract for Aaron . Which brings up the question: Are these huge quarterback salaries worth it?? Have they translated into Super Bowl wins??
When we’re talking about these over the top contracts we’re not talking about the contract where a back-up or a player is trying to resurrect their career like Drew Brees was in 2005. We’re talking about the $80 – 100 million plus contract extensions to lock up a quarterback long-term. Every GM beams with the quarterback in the photo-op, but are they crippling their own franchises??
Peyton Manning was an icon in Indy.
The one that comes to mind first is Peyton Manning. He came into the league in 1998. By the end of 2003 he played out his rookie contract and was given the franchise tag in 2004. He then went on to sign a 7 year $98 million contract that made him the highest paid player in 2005 with a cap cost of $17.766 million for 2006. The fall-out?? Say good-bye to franchise all time leading rusher Edgerrin James via free agency that very same year. However the Colts did make it to Super Bowl XLI later that season but one of the issues had been with so much money tied to the offense, they couldn’t sign any key defensive free agents to get to a championship sooner. They weren’t the same type of team when they took on the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV. Gone was a superstar in wideout Marvin Harrison, replaced by lessor talents in Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie. It’s a miracle they made it to that title game.
When you look at the other fall-out they lost several defensive starters in that same 2004 year in Cornerback David Macklin, Cornerback Walt Harris, and Linebacker Marcus Washington. Fortunately they had Cato June and S Bob Sanders who were already on the roster to replace them. However June, the leading tackler on the championship ’06 team, signed a free agent deal with Tampa before 2007 and Sanders career was derailed by injuries.
Yet with another contract looming he was franchised again in 2011. Had a deal not been reached he would have counted $23 million against the cap that year. But a deal was reached on a new 5 year deal worth $90 million that back-loaded money so he only counted $18 million against the cap. Having learned from previous years Manning cited he wanted the Colts to be able to retain other players. By 2010 they were an average team. They were 10-6 only because of his brilliant play. It wasn’t the 20th ranked defense that had given up 388 points (81 more than the AFC Champion ’09 squad). It wasn’t leading rusher Donald Brown (who?) that ran for 497 yards and 2 touchdowns. So when his neck injury hit, the entire house of cards collapsed as they went 2-14 and had to purge the team including Manning.
Brady is a 3 time Super Bowl champion.
Of course you can’t mention Manning without bringing up Tom Brady. In 2008 the Patriots were coming off their 18-1 season where they had lost Super Bowl XLII. They had signed budget priced free agents in Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and Donte Stallworth the year before and became a juggernaut. His contract has been extended multiple times to offer cap space yet he’s still counting nearly $13.8 million against the cap this year where originally he was going to count $16-18 million before. Notice the Patriots have signed only middle of the road free agents over the last few years. So it was surprising they signed WR Danny Amendola to a $31 million deal.
However a closer look at it and you noticed they haven’t had any other high-priced free agents come in and help him get that fourth Super Bowl win. Even receivers Chad Ochocinco and Brandon Lloyd were marginal free agents at best. The defense has totally been purged and Bill Belichick has a young defense that has had some growing pains. They did make it to Super Bowl XLVI but lost to the Giants and Eli Manning for a second time. They don’t have the cap space to sign quality free agents yet remain close but no championships.
In 2010 he signed a four-year extension worth $72 million to relieve cap space then in February of this year re-worked it to a 3 year $27 million extension. He thought the latest move would keep Welker in town. When it didn’t he was upset about it. Yet it was the back and forth between he and Peyton Manning who would be the highest paid players have crippled their teams in other areas. The real reason they didn’t win it in 2007 and 2010 were pedestrian defenses. They were the Achille’s Heel that showed up in the waning minutes of Super Bowl XLII when Eli Manning started his drive. Let’s face facts , in 2011 when they lost Super Bowl XLVI they were 31st in the NFL in overall defense. Gone were Richard Seymour and Asante Samuel who had made plays for them. In 2007 they were at least 4th in defense but weren’t pressed in games since they were ahead by so many points.
Romo is the newest member of the $100 milion club.
Now wait…wait this just in *Walter Cronkite voice* “The flash making it official, Jerry Jones has just signed quarterback Tony Romo to a 6 year deal worth $108 million.” They get some immediate cap relief but who else have they signed with any merit?? Exactly. Now don’t forget we’re a week or two removed where Aaron Rodgers will notdiscount double check a contract worth $120 million. The sticking point will be how much is guaranteed?? $60-65 million??
You’ll note before last season the New Orleans Saints signed Drew Brees to a 5 year $100 million contract. Yet who have they signed to shore up that porous defense that ranked dead last allowing 440 yards per game and gave up 454 points for the season?? They’re supposed to be competitive in a division that has Tampa improving and Atlanta fresh from a birth in the NFC Championship?? The Chancellor doesn’t think so.
Yet you look around, Manning’s Broncos and Brady’s Patriots seem like the only teams that are favored to be contenders. Over in the NFC it’s the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, and the Atlanta Falcons who are the favorites. The Giants and Eli Manning’s $90 million contract and the aforementioned Aaron Rodgers and the Packers seem to be on a tier below. In fact it was Colin Kaepernick (4 yrs / $5.2 million) and money spent on a better team that ousted Green Bay 45-31 in last year’s divisional round. Now that they’re going to sign Rodgers to his mega deal, they can only keep Clay Matthews yet Charles Woodson and receiver Greg Jennings are now gone.
The league will come to realize this yet it’s hard to see teams not overpay for the best at their positions. The Tony Romo signing is baffing since he has only 1 playoff win in 7 years. Yet when he faced the Redskins and Robert Griffin III (4yrs /$21 million) for the NFC East Title he came up short as he has in big games since ’07. $108 million for a perennial 8-8 quarterback??
What we’re seeing here is a changing of the guard. You have the teams with all their money tied into elite quarterbacks facing young counterparts with smaller contracts on more complete teams. We hadn’t even brought up Andrew Luck and the Colts yet either. Joe Flacco signs his huge deal and watches all his teammates walk out the door as Peyton Manning once did. Each team has to do what is right for them but these contracts are crippling the rest of the roster. The only big money quarterback to win a Super Bowl was Eli Manning and even his Giants have not been in that top-tier of contenders. The NFL is catching on and in another 2-3 more years of watching this, you’ll know who the teams that will be the contenders. Find the team with the young quarterback with money spent on defense. The Atlanta Falcons and Matt Ryan are at that tipping point.
When his name is brought up it’s hard to not think of the unfortunate paralysis injury suffered by Darryl Stingley in 1978. However he was much more than that. During the 1970’s he made the Oakland Raiders defensive secondary the forceful equivalent of the Pittsburgh Steelers front four.
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