Curtis McGriff—Run Stopper Par Excellence

 By John Turney 

Curtis McGriff

Only one NFL defensive end has started 70 games and never recorded a single sack. His name is former New York Giants defensive end, Curtis McGriff. 

This goes back not just to 1982 when sacks became official but back to 1960 the point at which Pro Football Reference has unofficial numbers and you can be pretty sure it dates further back than that.

Defensive ends, even 3-4 two-gap ends, are expected to rush the passer at least to some degree. If they don't, they better be very good against the run. 

Curtis McGriff was more than good at stopping the run. He was great.

Just ask Jackie Slater.

In 1995 Slater was asked by USA Today to list the ten toughest opponents he faced in his career. Listed first was Curtis McGriff.

Yes, McGriff. 

He was listed ahead of Reggie White, Howie Long, Too Tall Jones, and others. "At the very top of my list - one of the best run-stoppers to ever play in the NFL", said Slater.

It didn't start out that way, however. It took a little time before McGriff became a roadblock in the way of NFL running backs.

As a rookie, McGriff played both a 4-3 defensive tackle and then a nose tackle in a 3-4 in his rookie year for the New York Giants since the team switched scheme during the season. 

However, he was known for not being a hard worker. "Lazy" is the word his coach Ray Perkins used to describe him in his rookie year. He had plenty of ability but didn't always apply himself. 

At minicamp in 1981 he was over 300 pounds and new defensive coach Bill Parcells thought to himself that McGriff would never play for him. Said McGriff to Vinny DiTrani of the Bergen Record, "I had gotten out of shape because I didn't do anything in the offseason." 

But after that McGriff worked out and by the Summer was down to 268 pounds but retained his base, his low center of gravity that anchored him.

"He's still a load. He's hard to move out against the run", Parcells said concerning the weight loss. And it paid off. McGriff earned the starting left defensive end position - on running downs. He was lifted in likely passing situations and replaced by George Martin who was the designated pass rusher.

It was a fantastic duo for the next five years with McGriff doing the dirty work and Martin averaging 8½ sacks a year over those five seasons. (Martin did start some games to fill in for injured starters but by and large, he was the left defensive end in nickel situations).

It was during those years McGriff built his reputation as one of the best, if not the best run-stuffing defensive end in the NFL.

He was a one-dimensional defensive end, but he was the exact opposite of the usual meaning of that term. That almost always refers to a pass-rushing end, a sack specialist, who cannot or is not willing to play the run - and there have been a lot more of those in league history than the run-stopping specialist types.

Oh tried. He worked on his pass-rushing moves and actually could get some push at times, but a sack never came. You'd think Lawrence Taylor or Leonard Marshall would have pushed one or two his way when an opponent passed on first and ten. 

That eventually caught up to him. 

In 1986 the Giants drafted a couple of defensive linemen who they projected to be the future stud two-gapping ends - Eric Dorsey in the first round and John Washington in the third round. 

About Washington Parcells said, "I think he runs better than Curtis McGriff will ever run." It was clear the Giants wanted to improve the athleticism of their base ends.

As luck would have it McGriff badly pulled a hamstring and was placed on injured reserve so he missed the shot at being a part of the Super Bowl-winning team. 

The next Fall his old bad habits befell him and he was out of shape again and was waived by the Giants. Washington picked him up but he was no help to them so he was cut by them as well.

Playing nose-up on a tackle (four technique), or perhaps slightly outside (tight-five) takes its toll on a player. A defensive end in those pure 3-4 schemes has to play two gaps rather than one, meaning he has to knock the offensive tackle back, read the flow of the play (if it is to the left or to the right) and then fill the appropriate gap. 

Playing in a two-gap scheme like Parcells' and Belichick's is far more physically taxing than a one-gap scheme where a defensive end has a better angle on an offensive tackle and can charge the gap without having to read the flow of the play without having to meet him head-on.

As a result, run-stopping specialists don't have long careers, at least compared to their pass-rushing specialist counterparts, their bodies just break down, though McGriff's helped it along by not being as dedicated to his workouts as he should have.

As for the athletic replacements who were supposed to play the run and also get some pressure, Dorsey and Washington didn't quite deliver as promised.

Dorsey started 57 games in the NFL and recorded just seven sacks. Washington started 53 games and recorded a single sack in his career. And though both were very good run-stoppers they were not great like McGriff was.

If you can only do one thing well, make sure you're great at it, and when a Hall of Fame tackle verifies it then you are a player that is worth remembering.

Career stats—