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Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Doug Atkins – A One of a Kind

LOOKING BACK
By Nick Webster

Atkins, 1969. Colorization by John Turney
When Doug Atkins passed on Wednesday a great football player and all-time personality was lost.  For 17 seasons Atkins devastated the league – and nobody aged like Atkins. In fact, at the age of 38 in 1968 Atkins posted double digit sacks with 12.5 – something no player has done in the 30-plus years since the sack became an official statistic in 1982.  Even more impressive, this was accomplished in just 11 games as Atkins missed the final three games with injury. Below a list of the top aged pass rushers in the Official Sack-era and a comparison to Atkins’ 1968.

Player
Year
Age
Tm
G
GS
Tkl
Sk
SK / GP
1998
35
15
15
50
10
0.667
1992
35
16
16
89
10.5
0.656
1993
35
16
16
79
11.5
0.719
1997
35
14
4
26
10.5
0.750
1996
35
16
16
54
11
0.688
2000
35
16
0
34
16.5
1.031
2013
35
16
13
37
11.5
0.719
1997
36
16
16
46
11
0.688
1987
36
15
14
36
10
0.667
1998
36
15
15
53
15
1.000
1997
36
16
16
46
12
0.750
1998
37
16
16
46
16
1.000
2000
37
16
16
58
10
0.625
1999
37
16
16
44
12
0.750
1998
37
16
16
45
15
0.938
Doug Atkins
1968
38
NO
11
11
44
12.5
1.136

Atkins’ 1.136 sacks per game played projects to 18 in a full 16 game season.  How did he get there?  Based on play-by-play review we can review the Saints’ season game by game. 
1968 NO
Cle
Wsh
StL
@NY
Min
@Pit
@StL
Dal
@Cle
@GB
@Det
Chi
@Phl
Pit
TOT
Doug Atkins
2.0
2.0
1.0
0.5
2.0
1.0
2.0
2.0
Injured
12.5
Dave Rowe
1.0
1.0
0.5
1.0
1.0
1.0
5.5
Fred Whittingham
2.0
2.0
1.0
5.0
Mike Tilleman
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
4.0
Brian Schweda
0.5
0.5
1.5
2.5
Ted Davis
1.0
1.0
2.0
Bill Cody
1.0
0.5
1.5
Lou Cordileone
1.0
1.0
Elbert Kimbrough
1.0
1.0
Earl Leggett













0.5
0.5
Missing
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
2.0
0.0
2.0
TOTAL
2.0
4.0
4.0
1.0
3.0
3.0
0.0
5.0
3.0
5.0
0.0
1.0
2.0
4.0
37.0

Incredible consistency, typically players with high sack seasons accomplish the feat – at least in part – by have one or two big games.  Atkins never had more than two sacks in a game all year, but his 5 games with more than one sack is still tied for the Saints’ team record almost 50 years later.

Atkins with Saints. Colorization by John Turney
Unfortunately for history Atkins’ best seasons have very incomplete sack documentation. In 1957 and 1958 the Bears had a ferocious pass rush, led by a maturing Atkins. However, a review of available records leaves 19 sacks unaccounted for in 1957 and a full 30 are missing attribution in 1958. We have some of the history filled in, however, and what we do have reveals a player who – in his early years – did post some huge sack games. He had 4 in a game out in LA against the Rams in mid-1957. In likely his greatest game he posted 6 sacks for a loss of 72 yards in the Bears’ mid-November tilt with the Detroit Lions in 1960; that’s more yardage than in any game of the official sack era. Unfortunately, again in 1960 many Bear sacks are unaccounted for with 16 lacking attribution; of the 25 that have been attributed Atkins had 10, largely on the back of the huge 6-sack game.

But even if some of Atkins’ statistical record will never be complete, we have the stories, the many many stories about Atkins the character. Atkins was an all-time carouser, often running afoul of the strict George Halas, and boy was he lucky he played in the pre-Goodell era. A highlight: in training camp in 1967 Atkins fired a shotgun down the hallway of the team dormitory, the offense, a teammate was playing the wrong music too loudly for Atkins’ liking. So, maybe the missing record of Atkins is how many suspensions he would have piled up were he playing today!