Tag Archives: football

Sterling Sharpe Belongs In The Hall of Fame (via Taylor Blitz Times)

by

0

Sterling Sharpe Belongs In The Hall of Fame 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 Favr … Read More

via Taylor Blitz Times

Sterling Sharpe Belongs In The Hall of Fame (via Taylor Blitz Times)

by

0

Sterling Sharpe Belongs In The Hall of Fame 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 Favr … Read More

via Taylor Blitz Times

New York Giants Powerful 1990 Champion Stronger Than 1986

by

0

New York Giants Super Bowl XXV Ring

In NFL History, there are some stories of some of football’s champions yet some are overshadowed by more romanticized teams. Yet if it’s true that the measure of a team is in who they beat to obtain a championship, where does that put the 1990 New York Giants??

They stopped the San Francisco 49ers bid for a three-peat. Then stopped the best of the Buffalo Bills 4 straight AFC Championship teams. They weren’t given their due by the sporting press in our estimation and their Super Bowl victory hinged on Scott Norwood missing a 47 yard field goal as time expired.  We say “So what?”

Its like this: Super Bowl XXIV had the widest margin of victory in Jan. 1990, when San Francisco defeated the Denver Broncos 55-10. The following year, these New York Giants won by the closest margin defeating the Buffalo Bills in the aforementioned Silver Anniversary 25th edition 20-19. What was the difference?? Nothing.  The Giants received the same amount of money and ring expense as the 49ers the year before.

However when the 80’s Giants are remembered this team is always thought of as the weaker of their 2 championship teams during that era. There is an air of romanticism around the ’86 team becoming Super Bowl Champions, but we at Taylor Blitz Times, believe the teams defeated give a legitimate case for the ’90 version being the stronger team.

In 1986 the Chicago Bears set the record for fewest points in a season with 187. They were the #1 defense in all of pro football and the Giants were #2. In the ’85 playoffs, the Giants were shut out 21-0 by the Bears and by luck (Charles Martin slamming Jim McMahon) didn’t play them in ’86. Then for the first time ever Pete Rozelle came up with the first Monday Night series where the Bears (’85 Champions) took on the Giants (’86 Champions).

The Bears blew them out 34-19 and the Giants only scored once on offense in that game. So it’s a legitimate debate that had they played the Bears in the ’86  playoffs they would have lost. Yet the ’90 version had to march through TWO champions to get their ring. Take a look

SUPER BOWL XXV CHAMPION 1990 NEW YORK GIANTS borrowed from upcoming book: Ring of Champions

1964 NFL Champion Cleveland Browns

by

2

64 Bowns ringDid you know that the NFL had a rotating trophy in the years before the Super Bowl? How do we know this? Well in 1995 when it was determined that Cleveland was to keep the Browns team colors, records, etc., there was no championship trophy for 1964. In fact, in more ways than one, they left it in Green Bay following a loss in the 1965 NFL Championship Game. Following the 1965 season we started the Super Bowl series where teams kept a trophy to commemorate the accomplishment…but there were rings.

Yet the year before the Cleveland Browns hosted the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in the 1964 NFL Title Game. With the Baltimore Colts defense keying on Jim Brown, Frank Ryan hit surprise MVP Gary Collins #86 with 3 TD passes in a 27-0 upset. Collins 3TD receptions in a title game went unmatched until Jerry Rice had 3 in Super Bowl XXIV some 26 years later. OK that isn’t entirely true since today they use the NFC Championship Game as an equivalent to the old NFL Championship Game we have to include Preston Pearson’s 3TDs in the 1975 NFC Championship Game when Dallas beat the Rams 37-7….yet I digress

Jim Brown about to collide with Lenny Lyles during the '64 NFL Title Game.

Jim Brown about to collide with Lenny Lyles during the ’64 NFL Title Game.

This was the last championship won by the lake. So yes Jim Brown did play for an NFL Champion during his career. The team was quarterbacked by Frank Ryan who went on to be a college professor and designed the first electronic voting system for either US Congress or the House of Representatives…the memory escapes me. A uniquely forgotten team amidst the slew of Green Bay Packers championship teams throughout the decade.

Ironically, the team that bears the name of Paul Brown, won this championship without him. In a power struggle he was removed by new majority owner Art Modell. They were coached by Blanton Collier. More irony can be found in the fact that in Cleveland 4 years later, the Colts got revenge shutting out the Browns 34-0 in the NFL Championship Game on their way to Super Bowl III. Then the obvious irony of losing not only their last NFL Championship appearance to Baltimore, but then lost their original incarnation of the Browns to Baltimore when Art Modell moved them there following the 1995 season.

Gary Collins snares one of his three TD receptions in the '64 NFL Title Game.

Gary Collins snares one of his three TD receptions in the ’64 NFL Title Game.

However in 1964 they were league champions and went on to defend that title in 1965 against Green Bay Packers. This was also the team of the 1950s and is the only team in league history to win an NFL title in their first year in the league.

Further food for thought: What was first IRRESPONSIBLY taught to the masses as the “west coast offense” was the 1950s playbook of Paul Brown’s from Cleveland and taught to Bill Walsh in Cincinnati. In fact the most famous play in “west coast offense” history, the pass to Dwight Clark from Joe Montana in the ’81 NFC Championship Game, was an old Cleveland Brown play called Q-8 option and NOT sprint right option. It started in Ohio….NOT in San Francisco. Know your history kids… Class dismissed

Super Bowl XXIII Champion 1988 San Francisco 49ers

by

0

San Francisco 49er’s Super Bowl XXIII Ring

There are some years when the best team in the NFL in a given year doesn’t win the Super Bowl. There are upsets and strange things that can happen to derail a team like injuries. What goes through the psyche of a team that loses in a monumental upset over the next season, or even two?? This is the story of some of the motivating factors that pushed the San Francisco 49ers into becoming one of the most powerful Super Bowl champions ever.

SUPER BOWL XXIII CHAMPION 1988 SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS <————————CLICK LINK (2007 Word Document)

Ronnie Lott HOF Safety for the San Francisco 49ers

2011 NFL Season After Lockout

by

2

Ahh yes, the NFL lockout.  Fans are tired of hearing about millionaire players fighting with billionaire owners. We understand what the dispute is over, we’re just ready for some football.  Yet with the lockout nearing its end, the question that will arise: What should we expect from the 2011 football season?? Will this lockout benefit the teams that were winners last year more than those that were up and coming??  Will we see more defensive battles with offenses unable to choreograph they’re play through the missed minicamps?? How will it shape up??

For the most part it’s easier to put together a defense than it is an offense. Its one of the reasons a new coach will come in with a conservative approach and play basic ground football and basic defense to stay in ball games.  An offense needs more time to synchronize their mechanics and memorize play selection.  Without the full off-season, expect scaled back playbooks for everyone early as defenses step to the fore. Those teams that struggle running the football traditionally like Chicago will have that deficiency.  Bubble screens, draws and trickery running plays won’t be timed up as well in the early going and defenses will capitalize on the simplified offenses.

Yet all this simplified offense will make adjustments and take advantage of simplified defenses.  Practicing the more exotic and intricate blitz packages will be scaled back as well. Everyone will want to play it close to the vests and by midseason offenses will gain the upper hand. A huge one. Once the teams reach about the midpoint of the season we’ll see defenses start to tire more and offenses will open up.  Defensive endurance is gained during the summer through intense work out and conditioning.  Any coach will tell you that a 4th quarter or 4th down stop in December is attributed to work put in back in July. Offenses will start scoring more by midseason and we’ll be hit with a deluge of points as we come down the stretch against tired defenses.

So we will go through a rough, rusty start to the season but it will look like 1984 with some seriously high scoring games. Especially in the NFC East.  With all the early running there should be more 1,000 yard rushers than last year. We should be in for one serious thrill ride and if you can’t bring an offense this year, you’ll be watching the playoffs.