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Monday Morning Musings 2025 Season Week 4: Young Guns

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Well the first domino to fall in the replacement of a starting quarterback happened in New York this weekend. Jaxson Dart was the exlixir the Giants needed for their 21-18 upset of the undefeated Chargers. He kept a few plays alive with his legs but lets face it the young players were excited and juiced to play with him. His energy along with fellow rookie Cam Scattebo & Malik Nabers had the whole team playing with a swagger missing since the preseason.

Dart was 13 of 20 for 111 yards 1TD while rushing 10 times for 54 yards and New York’s first touchdown. You saw his teammates around him celebrating and sharing in his enthusiasm and it propelled them this Sunday. They played with a confidence and spirit the rest of the game and played like they knew they were going to win.

There will be growing pains as Offensive Coordinator Mike Kafka scaled back playcalling for #6. Its one of the reasons he did take 5 sacks in the game. However you could see clearly he was instructed to go short to his checkdowns once Nabers left injured. Yet this is who “checkdowns” are for… A young quarterback unsure of where to go with the football not a 14 year signal caller gun-shy to take hits who should have the moxie to audible to a better play.

Hopefully this new temperament won’t be quelled with the injury to Malik Nabers but is a clear reminder that players can be inspired to do great things based off emotion and camaraderie. Its a game that goes beyond “x’s & o’s”. Will players rally around their quarterback?? Does the team play together and want their teammates to ball out?  These questions were clearly on display in Gotham & this season now has some optimism for Coach Daboll.

By the way… how many Sundays are we going to keep watching the car wreck that is Cleveland’s offense under Joe Flacco?? Come on… 16, 17, 13, & 10 are the point totals through the 1st 4 games of the season. Averaging 14.75 points per game wouldn’t win you football games if we were back in the 1960’s unless you’re the NFL Champion 1963 Chicago Bears. Yet that team became legendary because of their #1 ranked defense.

Get this Cleveland’s defense is #1 against the run, 4th against the pass and #1 overall having allowed just 890 yards, well they’re 1-3 because Flacco has thrown for just 815 yards. Thats 18th in the league! Joe is 93 of 160 for 815 yards 2TDs and a whopping 6 interceptions. His 58.3% completion percentage ranks him at 31 while the Browns lead the league with 47 punts and have only scored 6TDs. Look Flacco was MVP of the 47th Super Bowl and we’re going to play the 60th edition in February.

He is a shot fighter and Father Time caught up to him 3 years ago and time to turn the reigns to Sheduer Sanders and see what he can do. Dillon Gabriel?? I watched him in the preseason and he is less athletic than “Tiny”Kyler Murray of the Cardinals & Bryce Young with the Carolina Panthers. Both of these guys won Heismans and have played poor enough their jobs are in jeopardy with the biggest reason…*drum roll* …they can’t see over the line with their short statures. Now at 5’11” and they’re being generous with that measurement, doesn’t engender confidence but they will go to him first.

Coach Kevin Stefanski you have an obligation to the other 52 players on the roster sacrificing for the team and you have a small window before you begin to lose that locker room. Especially with a defense that is playing up to a historic level. The team needs to see changes from you which show you’re trying to win now to keep them engaged. Not in your wildest dreams did you figure to have the same record as the loaded Baltimore Ravens but here you’re both 1-3 and your great defense is portable.

Knuckle up and called a scaled back offense like they’re doing in New York and give the ball to super rookie back Quinshon Judkins and play to your defense. You have a better defense and the Giants are the blueprint for what will work in Cleveland.  Time is ticking boss…

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Prime Pass Rushers Tilt The Field

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I forgot where we were having the conversation but I remember explaining to a football fan that nothing changes a team’s fortunes faster than a prime pass rusher. Not only does it improve your defense against the pass but it masks defensive deficiencies in the secondary. Its one of the reasons Taylor Blitz has Green Bay on its way to at least the NFC Championship Game this year with the acquisition of Micah Parsons.

This has been a lesson passed down from days gone by from two defensive terrorists The Chancellor has met that rushed the passer. Fred Dean & Cedrick Hardman. This especially holds true when a pass rusher in his prime is all of a sudden dropped on to a new team in a new division and I needed to elaborate further.

In 5th grade (1980) i remember the Raiders signing veteran Cedrick Hardman to rush the passer #86. He got 9.5 sacks as a designated pass rusher that helped Lester Hayes lead the NFL with 13 interceptions & they won Super Bowl XV.

The next year the idiotic move was San Diego sending a prime Fred Dean to San Francisco and they came out of nowhere to win Super Bowl XVI. It was Hardman, Dean and Lawrence Taylor that taught me the effects of great pass rushers.
To further the notion, the 1980 Chargers with Fred Dean was 6th in total defense & led the league with 60 sacks. Without Dean they gave up 1,500 more yards (4,691 to 6,136 yards allowed) and fell to a ranking of 27th and history misremembers them as Air Coryell & a terrible defense. They had finished 5th in ’79 & 6th in ’80 with Dean on the roster.
Other notables:
  • DE Charles Haley in ’92 – Cowboys were 16th in defense and rose to #1 and won Super Bowl XXVII
  • DE Jevon Kearse in ’99 – Titans had 30 sacks in ’98, they had 54 as Kearse’s Titans made Super Bowl XXXIV
  • OLB Von Miller in ’21 – Added to the #1 defense from ’20 & had 2 sacks in Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles.
  • OLB Haason Reddick in ’22 – Improved from 10th to 3rd in defense & 39 sacks to 770 sacks. Went to Super Bowl LVII.

In Kearse’s case he set the NFL Rookie Record with 13.5 sacks and the Titans became one of the league’s most physical defenses. Reddick was Taylor Blitz Times Defensive Player of the Year with 16.5 sacks and spearheaded one of the NFL’s historic sack totals. We hadn’t seen a sack total like that since the ’89 Vikings with 71 sacks, just 1 off the league record of 72 by Chicago. Both the Bears & Vikings were #1 defensively and the Eagles would have been had they not been in so many blowout victories.

Eagles linebacker Haason Reddick forces a first quarter fumble on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, January 29, 2023 in Philadelphia.

The NFL world is still buzzing with the idiotic trade of Dallas prime pass rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers. Moves like this completely tilt the field when a defense receives a weapon to bolster its lineup. Especially in this division. We all know of the seismic shift that took place when Green Bay signed the late Reggie White back in 1993, but remember the Bears bringing in PFHOF Julius Peppers to the division in 2010?

Chicago went from 17th in defense in 2009 to 4th and made it to the NFC Championship Game where they hosted Green Bay. Peppers was an All Pro for the 6th time in his career & 4th in NFL DPOY voting.

They did it again trading for future PFHoF Khalil Mack in 2018 leaping from 10th in defense to 3rd. They had been #1 for most of the season and Mack made his 5th straight Pro Bowl, 3rd All Pro selection, came in 2nd in voting for NFL DPOY (he won it in 2015) and led the Bears to a 12-4 record and first round bye. Mack was Taylor Blitz Defensive Player of the Year a 2nd time and The Chancellor predicted the carnage he would lay in Green Bay that first game on Monday Night. Why??

Well it was the 2nd coming of what happened when the San Francisco 49ers made the surprise move to pick up PFHoF DE Fred Dean at the start of 1981. Rivals within the division were unable to prepare for this terrorist to be dropped in their lap. They were unable to prepare via the draft or free agent personnel and here comes 4 time All Pro Micah Parsons. They were already the NFL’s 5th best defense in 2024. Yikes!

You could even bring up  PFHoF DeMarcus Ware when he joined Von Miller in Denver to win Super Bowl 50. Yet that was in his 2nd season in Denver and not the surprise element of tilting the field in the 1st.  Same can be said of fellow PFHoF DE Jared Allen. In his 2nd season in Minnesota (2009) he was among the league leaders in sacks (14.5) and led his Vikings to the NFC Championship Game featured here in a “Missing Rings” article.

Same can be said of the late Kevin Greene who tilted the field 3 times aiding 3 teams to either the conference championship or Super Bowl in 4 straight seasons. He led the league in sacks (14) in ’94 leading the Steelers to the AFC Championship then Super Bowl XXX the following season. He then joins the Carolina Panthers in ’96 leading the NFL in sacks again (14.5) and was the impetus in making the NFC Championship Game in their 2nd season of existence. He follows that up going to San Francisco as a designated pass rusher and accumulates another 10.5 sacks as they make the ’97 NFC Championship Game.
Fred Dean, Kevin Greene, Charles Haley, Julius Peppers, Jared Allen, and DeMarcus Ware are all enshrined in Canton. Von Miller will be there one day and with a few more All Pro selections Micah will be there as well. Just understand more than any other position, a prime pass rusher whether from a Defensive End or Outside Linebacker dramatically increases a team’s success more than any other position.
Starting in that 1981 season when I learned the lesson of the importance of the weak side pass rusher. All of a sudden drafting the Left Tackle became a focal point of the offense and many teams lead rebuilds around selecting one in the 1st round. It’s also when you started to see Left Tackle salaries soar. Do you realize in 2025, 23 of the NFL’s 32 teams have their LT in their top 5 highest paid players? If stopping prime pass rushers carries this type of weight what value do the pass rushers have themselves?
Nothing tilts the field for a team’s immediate fortunes like landing a prime pass rusher. Nothing… franchise QBs or all time great running backs don’t get dealt at their zenith.
Again the lessons learned have brought me as a defensive afecionado to writing about these exploits and spreading this with fellow fans. For me it started with Cedrick Hardman & Fred Dean, both of whom I had the chance to meet.
With Cedrick I used to run into him at The White House in Laguna Beach California early 2000s Talked football over many drinks. Same with Fred at the PFHoF hotel in Canton. We’re having a drink at the bar in Canton and I explained the both of them teaching me the lesson of pass rush terrorists and Dean said “Your ass is too young to remember all this zhit” I hit him back… “You know that’s the same muthaphukkin’ thing Cedrick’s ass said.” Great times ….great laughs. I had waited 37 years to shake Dean’s hand and thank him for that lesson.
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2025 NFC North Preview

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The NFL world is still buzzing with the idiotic trade of Dallas prime pass rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers. Moves like this completely tilt the field when a defense receives a weapon to bolster its lineup. Especially in this division. We all know of the seismic shift that took place when Green Bay signed the late Reggie White back in 1993, but remember the Bears bringing in PFHOF Julius Peppers to the division in 2010?

Chicago went from 17th in defense in 2009 to 4th and made it to the NFC Championship Game where they hosted Green Bay. Peppers was an All Pro for the 6th time in his career & 4th in NFL DPOY voting.

They did it again trading for future PFHoF Khalil Mack in 2018 leaping from 10th in defense to 3rd. They had been #1 for most of the season and Mack made his 5th straight Pro Bowl, 3rd All Pro selection, came in 2nd in voting for NFL DPOY (he won it in 2015) and led the Bears to a 12-4 record and first round bye. Mack was Taylor Blitz Defensive Player of the Year a 2nd time and The Chancellor predicted the carnage he would lay in Green Bay that first game on Monday Night. Why??

Well it was the 2nd coming of what happened when the San Francisco 49ers made the surprise move to pick up PFHoF DE Fred Dean at the start of 1981. Rivals within the division were unable to prepare for this terrorist to be dropped in their lap. They were unable to prepare via the draft or free agent personnel and here comes 4 time All Pro Michah Parsons. They were already the NFL’s 5th best defense in 2024. Yikes!

NFC North 2025 Prediction:

  1. Green Bay Packers 14-3 *
  2. Chicago Bears 10-7 @
  3. Detroit Lions 9-8
  4. Minnesota Vikings 6-10

The team best equipped to deal with Micah are the Detroit Lions with Pro Bowl Tackles Pinei Sewell (3rd) & Taylor Decker (1st). However the surprise retirement of 4 time Pro Bowl Center Frank Ragnow along with replacing Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson will bring the Lions back to the pack and may have closed their window.

The best offensive line in football losing their Center is bigger than fans think. Blocking audibles and slide protections aside, he’s being replaced by an older (33 yrs) Graham Glasgow. Some of those holes for Jamyr Gibbs & Montgomery on stretch plays may be missing the 1st part of the season. We know what happens when Jared Goff has pressure up the middle also.

The schdule isnt kind with the Packers, Ravens, and Chiefs out of the gate where a 3-3 record is likely. One game is where they take on their old OC Ben Johnson now with the Bears. At least that game is home where they start in Lambeau and face the Ravens & Chiefs also on the road. Then have back to back road games in Washington & Philadelphia. The two teams that played in last year’s NFC Championship after the Commanders upset Detroit. They could be 5-5 after 10 weeks.

Much like the memo that went out to Packers QB Jordan Love, the same can be said in Chicago. The Bears fortifying their front line trading for Pro Bowl G Joe Thuney & Jonah Jackson and bringing in C Drew Dalman from Atlanta are proof positive the front office has done everything to make you a winner. No excuses.

Williams is set to make the jump 2nd year NFL players experience if by nothing else the talent put around him to win. This new look like with RB D’Andre Swift, WR DJ Moore & Rome Odunze will score more points under HC Ben Johnson. He has to produce and will but not to the degree of winning the division.

The Vikings will take a significant step back with JJ McCarthy taking over for Sam Darnold. Many thought the Vikings overreached for him in the 1st round two years ago coming out of Michigan. Last year he was injured and missed the entire season so this is his true rookie year.

Can he pick up and perform where Sam Darnold left off? No, Darnold was at least going into his 7th season and learned under Kyle Shanahan the season before coming to Coach McConnell. You have to give grace to McCarthy learning on the job and will have his ups and downs. This division is too stout for a 1st year starting QB though.

That Green Bay Packers memo I joked about? Well Jordan Love, last year management gave you workhorse back Josh Jacobs. He responded with 1,329 yards & 15 TDs to keep the pressure off. You might have the best corps of young receivers in all of football in Reed (55 rec. 857 yds 6TDs), Doubs (46 rec. 601 yds 2 TDs), then Watson & Wicks. Who will emerge or will they stay the hungry group fighting to outperform their counterparts?

Pick your poison as this team has weapons and I’ve already forwarned how the defense should improve. Its Watson who has to stay healthy and make the plays early in games to give the Packers leads against quality opponents. This was missing last year but was front and center in 2023 when he played his way into the divsional round & contract extension.

With all the talent around him plus the move to add Micah to the defense, management feels this is a Super Bowl push season. Where does Taylor Blitz have Love & the Packers?? At least in the NFC Championship Game.

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

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What has transpired with Shedeur Sanders since the NFL Draft has been a study in contrasts. The debate between fans & media everywhere: “Was this collusion meant to humble a black QB from a proud family? Those wanting to strike a blow to Deion Sanders ego who have laid in wait taking shots at his stint in Colorado & his son at quarterback?” All of the above coalesced into Shedeur dropping to the 5th round and the 2nd QB Cleveland selected behind Dillon Gabriel.

He was the winner of the 2024 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award for his senior season at Colorado. The winner in 2023? A kid by the name of Jayden Daniels, who was runaway rookie of the year taking Washington to last year’s NFC Championship Game. Daniels was the 2nd pick overall v. Sanders at 146. So here we are with a crowded 4 quarterback carousel in training camp in Northeast Ohio. Free agent Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel picked in the 3rd round this year, Sanders and projected starter Joe Flacco.

Who?? Yes…current Brown QB Joe Flacco was Super Bowl XLVII MVP when he was with the Baltimore Ravens. Do you understand how long ago that was?? His teammate Ray Lewis was enshrined in the PFHOF 7 years ago. The MVP of Super Bowl XLVI the season before, Eli Manning, has retired and passed the 5 year mark and is eligible for Canton himself. This is Flacco’s 2nd stint with the Browns after toiling for the Broncos, Jets, and Colts after playing for the Ravens. At 40 years of age this journeyman is going to navigate the Browns to Super Bowl LX?? Uhhhhhh…ok

In camp Sanders has made throws that have made the media rounds showing promise. He has spun the ball well and ESPN Cleveland posted these stats on all 4 quarterbacks performance thus far. He’s thrown for the most TDS and completed the highest percentage but it’s unclear how many have been against the 1st team defense.

Yet the gap between Sanders and Dillon Gabriel, selected ahead of Shedeur is alarming. While putting this article together an episode of FS1’s First Things First was on in the other room. They reported Gabriel going 0 for his first 5 throws in Friday’s live practice and he wasn’t close on any. They showed each one in succession on the air, leaving the panel looking befuddled at how poor each throw was.

Dillon looks completely undersized and overwhelmed and these preseason games will be the truth serum for himself & Shedeur. Yet the Browns aren’t really showing signs of totally being behind Sanders.

What was with Brown’s Owner Jimmy Haslam’s comments in a press conference last week? It didn’t engender confidence & brings to question will he get a legitimate chance to play meaningful football this preseason. He didn’t make it seem as though he even wanted him.

The ESPN Cleveland stats withstanding, the Browns placed Sanders 4th on their starting depth chart. Is this based on performance or draft status? Yes he was behind Dillon who has completed 54% of his throws in camp v 70%. Being drafted in the 3rd round doesn’t justify that. Just keep in mind the Browns have had 40 QBs under center since the Browns came back to the NFL in ’99.

Sanders draft day plummet withstanding, the kid has shown up ready to work and has viewed this opportunity with optimism. Reports have come in he’s mixed well with the veterans and players have gravitated to him. You don’t gain locker room stature from high visibility before joining a team. Yet he appears to be on a short leash and the Browns need to put the best quarterback on the field. Even if he does get on the field he won’t have the chance to have any bad moments in preseason or look poor during the season. The Browns have multiple #1 draft picks coming in 2026 and its been reported Haslam has a relationship with the Manning family.

This installment of “Impatience With Black Quarterbacks” is unique vs the articles on Lamar Jackson & Jalen Hurts yet totally related. It began with the 5th round draft selection and is ongoing midway through training camp. Not only with the depth chart but the owner distancing himself from Sanders selection in the 1st place. Dillon was a 3rd round pick not some highly touted #1 overall pick that would embarrass the franchise if left on the bench. We still haven’t distanced ourselves from the collusion that took place during the 2025 draft to say racial attitude isn’t & wasn’t a factor.

This preseason will be watched with tremendous scrutiny. Shedueur, your mission should you choose to accept it…

Thanks for reading and the previous 2 installments of this series are below:

2018 – The NFL’s Shameful Impatience with Black Quarterbacks: Lamar Jackson

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

Jalen Hurts

Sterling Sharpe Belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

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Originally published May 17, 2011 – Reissued August 2, 2025

As those in and Packerland celebrate the team’s 13th championship in NFL history, the mind travels back to when Green Bay was the desolate outpost that few players wanted to go to.  The team had a celebrated past yet the years after Vince Lombardi’s team won Super Bowl II were lean with very few postseason appearances.

Everyone points to the hiring of GM Ron Wolf  or Mike Holmgren, or Reggie White’s free agent signing in 1993, or even Brett Favre being picked up in 1992 as the first step in the team returning to prominence.  Each were significant but weren’t the first step.  That distinction belongs to former All Pro receiver Sterling Sharpe who became the preeminent receiver of his time and was outplaying the legendary Jerry Rice at the time of his forced retirement because of a neck injury.

The Packers selected Sharpe in the ’88 NFL Draft and he played for 7 seasons. During that time he would go on to produce….nope not going to tell the story in that fashion. This was Terrell Owens before Terrell Owens meaning he would run over cornerbacks who tried to jam him or tackle him on slants.  I can still see the touchdown in ’92 when he drug CB Darryl Henley and half the LA Rams secondary into the endzone from the 5 yard line, knocking out Safety Pat Terrell in the process.

In an era where receivers were sleek, run and shoot quick guys like Earnest Givins, Drew Hill, & Andre Rison as the preferred types.  Michael Irvin and Sterling Sharpe were breaking in a new mold later carried on by Detroit’s Herman Moore and Minnesota’s Cris Carter.  The muscular intermediate receiver who were physical with cornerbacks then would slip by them for 40 yard gains later in the game once they beat up on them a bit.

Sterling started rather slow with a 55 catch rookie season where he only scored 1 touchdown and vowed to improve his approach to the game.  He felt the media was harsh in how they treated him and nearly went the rest of his career without granting an interview…well almost.  In 1989 he burst onto the national scene with 90 receptions for 1,423 yards and 12 TDs, earning the first of his 5 Pro Bowl and All Pro appearances.

He teamed with Don Majkowski to power The Pack to a stellar record of 10-6 which included a late season win over the World Champion 49ers in Candlestick.  He became the focal point of Head Coach Lindy Infante’s offense and gave the Packers a legitimate star to help attract Plan B free agents. Sharpe went on to Pro Bowl and All Pro status in the 1990, 1992-1994 seasons.

The greatness of this talent was showcased in 1992, he had to learn a new offense from a new coach in Mike Holmgren and during the third game learn to play with first time starter Brett Favre. How did he perform?

Well he went on to break Art Monk’s all time NFL record of 106 catches in a season, going for 108.  He totaled a career high 1,461 yards and scored another 13 TDs.  Sharpe won the triple crown as he led the NFL in receptions, yards, and touchdowns in 1992 which is amazing considering the coach & quarterback scenario.

Think about it for a sec… Jerry Rice’s most prolific years were 1987 and 1995 where he totaled 22 TDs receiving (87) and 122 catches / 1,808 yards gained in 1995.  These were achieved with league MVPs & Super Bowl MVPs Joe Montana and Steve Young in their 8th and 5th seasons as starters respectively. So naturally he would get better in the ensuing years with a new system in place right?

In 1993, his second year in Holmgren’s system, he broke his previous All Time NFL record of 108 catches going for 112 rec., 1,274 yard and 11TDs.  He also introduced “turf toe” as an injury to the sporting world lexicon which was a dislocated large toe basically.  The painful injury not only kept him from practicing ALL YEAR, he had to wear a shoe 1 1/2 sizes larger on the foot with the injury. What would he have done had he been able to hone his pass routes in practice?

sterling-sharpe-record-glovesThe Packers went 9-7 and made the playoffs as a wild card.  They played their division rival Detroit Lions in the Silverdome and Sharpe electrified with a 5 rec., 101 yd 3TD performance.  His 3TD receptions tied the NFL All-Time Post season record which still stands.  The last of which (pictured above) was a 40 yard TD from Favre with less than a minute to play.  Not bad for his first playoff game huh? It was a day so interesting and exciting that he broke his 5 year boycott of granting interviews and spoke at the post game press conference.

The next week the Packers lost to the world champion Dallas Cowboys 27-17 yet Sharpe caught 6 passes for 128 yards and 1 TD.  He showed he was a prime time performer even in the postseason.  He had led the league in receptions in back to back years and was still improving with a young up and coming quarterback.  What more could the future hold?

Yet 1994 proved to be the last season in the NFL for Sterling Sharpe. A promising career cut short with a serious neck injury that robbed us of viewing the best receiver in the league at the time. Really? Yes really! Sharpe went out with a bang. In ’94 he amassed 94 rec. for 1,119 yards and an astounding 18 touchdowns.

The 18 receiving TDs were the second most in NFL history (at that time) tying the old all time record with Mark Clayton (who did it in ’84) and who ironically was Sharpe’s teammate in ’93.  Along the way there was a much ballyhooed showdown on Thanksgiving in Dallas to show the nation Sharpe and the Packers had arrived.  They lost 42-31, but again Sharpe dazzled the nation with a 9 rec. 122 yards and 4 TDs on the league’s #1 defense,  totally outperforming counterpart Michael Irvin.  Both players, along with Andre Rison, battled Jerry Rice in the stat sheets for league supremacy at receiver in the early 90’s.  However Sharpe missed the playoff rematch and retired after the season.

Sterling Sharpe left the game after 7 super productive seasons with 595 rec. for 8,134 yards and 65 TDs which doesn’t truly paint the full picture. In his last 3 years he caught 314 passes for 3,854 yards and 42 TDs averaging 104 receptions per season. At that rate over 3 more seasons he would have crossed 900 catches for almost 12,000 yards and 107 TDs which he easily would have done.  How do we know this? Brett Favre’s next three years in ’95,’96, and ’97, not only was he league MVP all 3 years, he threw for 38, 39 and 35TDs in those seasons.

Those three seasons the Packers lost the NFC Championshp Game in ’95 yet made the Super Bowl the next two years. It’s a shame that the team he led back to NFL prominence would go on to be league champion without him.  Ironically his brother Shannon gave him his first Super Bowl ring when the Broncos defeated the Packers in Super Bowl XXXII, citing Sterling as his greatest male influence.

How do you gauge impact? Well you need to ask yourself a few questions.  In 1992 Mike Holmgren was the hottest coaching commodity when the Vikings, Steelers, and Packers were vying for his services.  Seeing that Holmgren wanted to install his “west coast offense”, don’t you think Green Bay won out by having Sterling Sharpe as his Jerry Rice already in tow to play his “Z” receiver?  What happens if the star receiver wasn’t on hand to aid a nervous young Brett Favre, allowing him to gain confidence?

If he would have struggled, Don Majkowski gets his job back 7 weeks later and we may never have known of Brett… think about it. Favre only became the NFL’s all time quarterback in ….well everything. In fact it was Sharpe who got Favre rolling in his first start against Pittsburgh absolutely scorching Rod Woodson on a stutter-go 76 yard touchdown to settle Favre down.  Without Sterling Sharpe, NFL history and certainly Green Bay Packers history would have been altered drastically.

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This was a talent that blocked in the running game and didn’t dance in the endzone when he did score.  He didn’t jump up signaling first down when he made a catch.  He was the absolute antithesis of the “me” receiver that has overtaken the league over the last 20 years.  After Charlie Hennigan in 1961 ( 101 rec. /AFL’s Houston Oilers), Art Monk in ’84 (106 rec. / Washington Redskins), and ’90 Jerry Rice (100 rec. / San Fran 49ers) it was Sharpe who made the 100 catch season a staple in league totals, going for 108 receptions then 112 the following year.

The fact that he didn’t self promote on every television camera he saw yet isn’t in the Hall of Fame, may give way to why we see receivers that do.  Gale Sayers isn’t the only great player to have his career cut short by injury so Sharpe needs to be more than considered.  His play and on field conduct was a celebration of how and why football is played and loved by millions.

Please lend your thoughts as well by writing in to the Pro Football Hall of Fame to the address below. Please be respectful and positively lend your voice:

Please write & nominate #84
Send letters to:
Pro Football Hall of Fame
Attention: Senior Selection Committee
2121 George Halas Dr NW, Canton, 
OH 44708

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corey harris

1990’s San Francisco 49ers v. Dallas Cowboys: Cowboys Perspective

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Originally written April 15, 2015 -Reissued July 25, 2025

Back on January 10, 1982, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship in what came to be known as “The Catch”. Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, and Michael Irvin were 12, 15, & 15 yrs of age respectively at the time. Over the next decade, a football generation came to know the 49ers as the dominant team in pro football. Yet here they were in January 1993, as men, having conquered the 49ers in the ’92 NFC Championship 30-20 in a true changing of the guard.

The passing of the torch

Joe Montana, an iconic symbol of the old guard, was shaking hands congratulating the young Cowboys. They had vanquished not only the team with the NFC’s best record, 14-2, they toppled the team that epitomized conference excellence over the last decade. Now they were navigating uncharted waters and off to Super Bowl XXVII to take on the Buffalo Bills.

By the time they made it to Pasadena to take on the Bills, they’re confidence was at an all time high. However beating Buffalo was anticlimactic to what had taken place in soggy San Francisco 2 weeks before.

Troy Aikman came of age in the 1992 NFC Championship Game.

Troy Aikman fulfilled the promise of being a #1 overall pick with his 1992 NFC Championship Game performance.

They had come through the gauntlet which was the NFC at the time. A conference that had won the last 8 straight Super Bowls and would ultimately win 13 in a row. The physical nature of the conference was one thing, but they had to beat the mystique of the best organization in San Francisco.

Once the 49ers unseated the Cowboys back in the ’81 NFC Championship Game, they became the gold standard of NFL franchises. Every veteran wanted to play for Eddie Debartolo’s organization. Once Jerry Jones purchased the team in 1989, he traveled to San Francisco to study how the league’s model front office operated.

By the time Jimmy Johnson (the [[_]]) had rebuilt “America’s Team” in a few short years, they were ready to take on a 49er team that was prepared to rule the 1990’s just as they had the 80’s. They were built with a different breed of player. Fast, aggressive and an in your face bravado reminiscent of the Miami Hurricane teams Johnson coached in college. The most indelible image from that ’92 Championship was in the locker room when he boasted “How ’bout them Cowboys!??!” loud enough you could nearly hear it in the 49er locker room.

Terry Bradshaw once said “Once you win a Super Bowl the regular season is boring. All you care about is getting back to the playoffs where it can be fun again.”

Jimmy Johnson on gameday.

Jimmy Johnson on gameday.

Well the boredom Dallas had to endure was losing Defensive Coordinator Dave Wannstedt, Emmitt Smith’s holdout, and the advent of free agency. In time free agency would prove to be the bigger foe, but when the Cowboys started 0-2 without Smith’s services, it was clear what priority one was.

The reality set in these were the two best teams in football. Steve Young had won the last two passing titles but Aikman was thought of as the better quarterback. Troy entered ’93 as a Super Bowl winning QB, something Young had yet to do. Michael Irvin (78 rec. 1,396 yds 7 TDs) was beginning to challenge Jerry Rice (84 rec. 1,201 yds 10 TDs) as to who was the best receiver in the game.

In every way these two team were eyeing each other for another postseason date but first had to get through a regular season affair that offered some answers.

The 26-17 win over the 49ers gave the Cowboys the inside track to Super Bowl XXVIII. In fact when they won homefield advantage for the ’93 playoffs, the only question was the status of Emmitt Smith’s separated shoulder suffered in the clinching finale against the New York Giants. Smith was one of 11 Pro Bowlers that included QB Troy Aikman, FB Darryl Johnston, WR Michael Irvin, linemen Mark Stepnoski, Nate Newton, and Eric Williams. By the time you include TE Jay Novacek, they were 3 starters away from sending every player to the Pro Bowl.

The defense, which ranked 10th in the league sent LB Ken Norton Jr, DT Russell Maryland, and FS Thomas Everett to Honolulu. A far cry from the year before when they ranked #1 defensively and sent 0 players to the Pro Bowl. We’ll talk about the importance of Everett later but this team was riding high after the emotional win vs. New York. They kept their eye out west on the 49ers as they blew out the wildcard Giants 44-3 in the divisional round. Dallas beat Green Bay 27-17 to set up the NFC Championship rematch in Texas Stadium.

As pundits lauded the 49ers lopsided win in Candlestick, it belied the fact they had actually struggled down the stretch losing 3 of their last 4. Sure their defense had put it together in taking down the 1 dimensional Giants, but that is after they had the huge battle in the season finale at Dallas and a hard fought wildcard against the Vikings.

After listening to the experts all week, Jimmy Johnson had had enough and called in to a Dallas Radio show on Friday night and declared “We will win the game! You can put it in 3 inch headline!” There was no easing into it now….this was a street fight in the school yard. They called the laced up shirt and tie corporate 49ers out and how would they respond.

They beat down the 49ers 38-21 and were actually ahead 28-7 in the 2nd quarter. Texas Stadium for the first time ever was raucous. Even in the Tom Landry days crowds in Dallas responded like they were at a play or something. They cheered when it was time to but this felt different. It was boisterous and the tempo of the team and the audience fed off Jimmy Johnson’s bravado and echoed in kind. Who knew it was  going to be Johnson’s last game ever at Texas Stadium??

After beating The Chancellor of Football’s Buffalo Bills for the Super Bowl XXVIII championship, we had Johnson’s departure in the offseason. On March 29th was the press conference where there was a mutual parting of the ways. The shock wave could be felt through the NFL. The youngest team in the league that won back to back Super Bowls was going on without their vocal leader?? Jerry Jones erroneously stated there were 50 coaches who could coach the Dallas Cowboys and hired Barry Switzer to succeed him.

The Cowboys were that talented and headed into 1994 as the best team in football on paper. Or so they thought… the 49ers had retooled and fashioned much of their team and personality based on the bravado that left them whipped in Dallas the preceding January. The Niners had signed away Ken Norton Jr. and 6 defenders to bolster their defense including future Hall of Famers Ricky Jackson, Richard Dent, and Deion Sanders. All off the NFC Pro Bowl roster. Back then the team that lost the conference championship coached the Pro Bowl and San Francisco used this as a recruiting trip.

Free agency had robbed the Cowboys of Norton, DTs Tony Casillas & DT Jimmie Jones, and to the Chancellor the most valuable defender in FS Thomas Everett. Before Everett’s arrival in ’92, the 11-5 Cowboys struggled with Run & Shoot offenses especially, and at times was awful against the pass. Why do you think they drafted CBs Kevin Smith, Clayton Holmes, & S Darren Woodson, and traded for Everett to start 1992??

Not Charles Haley...it was Thomas Everett that pushed the Cowboys over the top back in the early 1990s.

Not just Charles Haley…it was also Thomas Everett that pushed the Cowboys over the top back in the early 1990s.

Dallas had been 1-3 against Run & Shoot teams in 1991. They went 5-0 against those teams including the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII that finished as the #1 defense against the pass in ’92 that year with Everett. It was this end zone interception in Super Bowl XXVII that started the 1990’s reign of the Dallas Cowboys. Otherwise the Bills take a 17-14 lead and the Bills take control of the game. In big games he starred….in each NFC Championship Game against the 49ers he picked off Steve Young. You cannot underscore his importance in gluing a young secondary together and teaching them to be pros by example.

Yet 1994 saw this team try to move on without this defensive firepower and they did go 12-4. DE Charles Haley was healthy and made the Pro Bowl with 12.5 sacks, S Darren Woodson, and Leon Lett came into their own making their first Pro Bowl trips. The offense was as potent as ever with Smith’s 1,461 yards and 21 TDs. Although he battled leg injuries the 2nd half of the season. Did they have enough in the gas tank to get to win a 3rd straight Super Bowl and make it into NFL lore?? All they had to do was take a trip out to beat the 49ers for the right to go to Super Bowl XXIX.

So Dallas had to watch the 49ers go on to win Super Bowl XXIX 49-26 over San Diego. They did return the following year to beat Pittsburgh 27-17 to win their 3rd Super Bowl in 4 years yet the rivalry came to an end for this era. Both teams kept raising the bar on each other and pushed themselves to a height no other team could reach. In each of these seasons they were the best teams in football and won all 4 Super Bowls… yet lingering questions are still being debated to this day…

  • How many Super Bowls would Dallas have won if Johnson coaches the whole decade??
  • Would they have won 3 in a row if Johnson coached them in ’94??
  • Would the 49ers have won in 1994 if they hadn’t built a defense from the ’93 Pro Bowl roster??
  • How would the 1990’s play out for Dallas if there had not been free agency??
  • Why isn’t Jimmy Johnson in the Pro Football Hall of Fame??
  • Would the Cowboys have won in 1994 if T Erik Williams doesn’t get in that car accident??

However one of the indelible moments from the 1994 NFC Championship Game was the near pass interference call in the 4th quarter between Deion Sanders and Michael Irvin. Instead of a 1st and goal where the 49er lead could have been trimmed to 3, an irate Barry Switzer bumps an official in protest incurring a 15 yard penalty. Dallas was forced to punt and never threatened again. In 1995, in a quiet Texas Stadium Courthouse the two Hall of Famers had a hearing to discuss this disputed play which altered the course of football history.d_sanders_950115_640

LMAO “Panicked state of mind!” Thanks for reading and please share the article.

Epilogue: When it came to Jimmy Johnson’s success in Dallas, it was bitter sweet being a Buffalo Bill fan. We lost those two Super Bowls but I was a fan of his back to Herschel Walker and when he first coached the Cowboys. Nope not Dallas…we’re talking the Oklahoma St Cowboys. I first read about Jimmy Johnson during the ’82 season when his running back Earnest “Sparkplug” Anderson became the 5th back to run for 1,000 yards in just the 5th game of the season.

Herschel walker won the Heisman but I kept screaming it was “Sparkplug” Anderson that led college football in rushing! Alas…no blog back in ’82. Yet remember following Johnson and as a tradition would watch the Bluebonnet Bowl played on New Year’s Eve and watched Oklahoma St win that game. When it was announced he was coming to my favorite college team at The [[_]] of Miami, talk about excited… I knew Schnellenberger’s replacement and the rest is history.

I did get to meet Johnson and the Dallas Cowboy coaching staff at Houlihan’s on St Patrick’s Day in 1993 just after the first Super Bowl with Buffalo. I remember having him sign my Golden Nugget /Mirage jacket from Vegas and talked a little football. If only cell phones with cameras, Instagram & Facebook existed then…

Dedicated to the memories of Mark Tuinei, Godfrey Myles, and Joe Avezzano

Next Up: 1990’s San Francisco 49ers v. Dallas Cowboys: 49ers Perspective