TUESDAY TIDBITS: "The Force of a Rhino, and the Grace of a Cheetah"

By TJ Troup

The final weekend, and still the playoff teams are not finalized, that is the way it should be, and probably always will. 

The tried and true statistic of team pass defense remains significant this year. The Cleveland Browns with a mark of 72.7 have the best defensive passer rating, and they are going to the playoffs. Certainly, Flacco has gotten the attention of one and all, yet Cleveland has limited opponents through the air, and right behind them are the Baltimore Ravens. What a winning combination they have with Mr. Jackson being "perfect", and the secondary allowing opponents a passer rating of 73.0. 

Jim Schwartz - The Browns' Defensive Coordinator

The Black & Gold will journey to Baltimore this coming Saturday afternoon, and yes I will be wearing my Jack Butler jersey in the faint hopes that Mason Rudolph can continue to shred secondaries. Mr. Rudolph is not facing a Seahawk secondary, he is facing a group that plays together. 

Since there are 32 teams in the league who ranks at the bottom of the defensive passer rating you ask? There is competition there also as we have the 'Skins—ooopppsss? the Commanders at 104.1 and the Cardinals at 103.0.

 No doubt these inept defenders will be lost in coverage, blow assignments, and lack the skills to defend against the pass. Notice the overall records of both Washington & Arizona. During the 2022 season, the Eagles posted a defensive passer rating of 81.6 and nailed opposing quarterbacks 70 times, while this season the rating is 97.6 and 41 sacks. Very possible that the Eagles journey to the land of the Pirate ship for the playoffs, and these teams have met before in the playoffs. 

Wild card weekend will be fun, but before discussing the opening round of the playoffs time to discuss the game of the week, and the history of the rivalry between Buffalo and Miami. Watching "This Week in Pro Football" from November of '69 Charlie Jones pointed out that the winner of this game between these two less-than-stellar teams would win their third game of the season. 

No one, repeat no one realized what was about to happen, as the Dolphins went an entire decade of beating Buffalo. Don Shula must have been viewed as the devil himself in Buffalo. Watching the Bills beat Miami on Monday Night Football in 1981 must have been joyful! Since 1980 the rivalry has been dominated by the Bills, and the regular season ends with a game that really does impact the standings. 

Almost every week we take a historical journey and look at games, players, and especially rivalries. December 31st has meaning to all Packer fans, and the distinguished Mr. Eric Goska can detail the Lombardi first championship victory better than I can as the Giants got the hell beat out of them in 1961.

 December 31st, 1972 is also a day all Redskin fans rejoice in as George Allen delivered his promise in just his second year leading the "Braves on the Warpath" to victory over the hated Cowboys. Watched that game that day and rejoiced that my "coaching guru" was able to knock off the defending Super Bowl champions, and how I wished I was there to watch. 

Looks like the Rams may make a sojourn to Detroit to take on the Lions in the wild-card round, and there are a plethora of storylines. 

The title of today's narrative is a quote from a Cosell, no, not Howard, but my friend Greg, as he is the writer for the 1980 NFL Films team highlights of the Detroit Lions. 

While they have been playing against each other since the late '30's this rivalry has had many fascinating games. Shall we take a look at some of the games and the players? 

You have no choice since I am writing the column, here we go—

Thanksgiving 1945 and Bob Waterfield leads the CLEVELAND Rams to the division title as Jim Benton with his long strides and glue-fingered hands sets a league record for yards gained receiving in a game. 

When Buddy Parker becomes head coach you can immediately see the improvement in the Lions, yet they face a daunting task as the Rams entering '52 have been to the title game three straight years and are now defending champions. 

Parker's boys beat the Rams all three times they face each other that year; including the only time they have met in the playoffs. How many teams have beaten a defending champion three times in a season in league history? 

The powerful defending champion Lions of 1952 also win the championship in '53 as they lost only twice! Who beat them that year you ask? The Bears? No, The 49ers? No, why the Rams of '53 still might be the best third-place team of all time. 

Watching film of so many Rams vs. Lions games has been not only joy but educational, as has allowed me to evaluate so many very good, and great players. From October 14th, 1956 through October 31st, 1965 Detroit beat Los Angeles 15 times in the twenty meetings. 

1956 Rams at Lions

Then George Allen arrives and the Rams and Lions truly have some hard-fought games—especially the Monday night clash in 1970, which in essence sealed Allen's fate in Los Angeles. Chuck Knox had served Joe Schmidt well as offensive line coach in Detroit until he embarked on his journey as a head coach.

The Knox teams in Los Angeles in the '70s were so well coached, played their ass off, and had two very strong rivals in Minnesota and Dallas. When you are a team from the Motor City you are not supposed to spin your wheels, but that is exactly what the Lions did for an entire decade. 

September of 1980 and my life is truly on the upswing. 

Have an opportunity to coach football at Mater Dei High School and my team in 1980 still remains one of the two teams I enjoyed coaching most. Recently married, and my father-in-law is a big-time Rams fan but has never seen them play in person, and the Rams are now playing ball just up the road at Angel Stadium. 

Oh boy, can take him to a game, and see the defending NFC Champions play against ... who you ask? Why none other than the moribund Lions coming off a 2-14 season. Enter Billy Sims and playing for a man who knows how to coach the running game in Monte Clark. 

Watching Sims gash, slash, pound, and dash through a strong Ram defense was eye-popping. 

One of my favorite players Nolan Cromwell must have made a dozen tackles, many of which were the hang-on, or drag-down variety. 

Cromwell hangs on to Billy Sims, who had a huge day in the 1980 Lions game vs Rams

Final score Detroit 41 Los Angeles 20. 

That Detroit Lion team should have won the division crown and struggled often during the decade. Very rarely did both of these teams earn a playoff berth in the same season, but in '83 the Rams under Robinson rebounded and the Lions still under Clark did (Rams won the regular season meeting 21-10). 

The early '90s was an era in Lion history that is rejoiced as Barry Sanders led Detroit to the playoffs a few times, while the Rams struggled—that is a kind word for how bad the Rams were, so bad the showgirl moves her team to St. Louis. 

Dick Vermeil

Dick Vermeil and the story of the 1999 Rams is truly magical, and somehow an 8-8 Lion team made the playoffs, and one of those eight wins came at the expense of the soon-to-be champion Rams in a thriller 31-27. 

Lions convert a 4th and 26

These two teams have met 86 times in the regular season, but just once in the playoffs, am sure hoping January of 2024 is the second time. See ya next week.