David Lavene's 1974 Charicatures Were Not Exactly Flattering to the NFL Coaches

NFL ART
By John Turney

In 1974 in Sports Illustrated's Football Preview Issue artist David Lavene did a sketch of all 26 NFL coaches. And they were great but didn't make the coaches look great. And that is the best art.

Enjoy:

Offensive and Defensive Linemen of the Decades

OPINION
By John Turney

Recently we did a series of posts detailing who we think were the top players in each decade and each mid-decade (beginning and ending in the middle of a decade). They can be found HERE.

Now, and we know you were dying to see them, we present the top linemen of the decades. We start with the offensive linemen and then add separate defensive linemen as the historical record becomes clear enough with the available film and the literature of the day,  et al.

Here are our offensive line picks:

Duke Slater and George Trafton are honorable mentions for the 1920s. It was close but all were solid. We are hoping Slater will be able to be elected to the Hall of Fame next year in the newly announced "Centennial Class" which should bring into the Hall many players who have been overlooked.

Duke Slater

Ox Emerson deserves an honorable mention for the 1930s he was a top, if not the top blocker on a line that set rushing records that lasted until the 1970s. Like Slater, we are hoping the voters for the "Centennial Class" look his way. Hein and Turk Edwards were the top two linemen in our view.

Ox Emerson

Mel Hein is the top blocker for two time frames and Danny Fortmann and Al Wistert are his runners up.

Mel Hein

Rosey Brown was easy for the 1950s and Dick Stanfel was second, edging teammate Lou Creekmur who is an honorable mention. There were other good ones but Brown stands out in our view.

Rosey Brown

Rosey Brown backups up Jim Parker for 1955-65 and Forrest Gregg and Ron Mix take to the slots for the sixties.

Ron Mix

Jim Otto is an honorable mention for the 1960s. For 1965 to 1975 we had a lot of contenders. Jim Tyrer and Gene Hickerson and Gene Upshaw get honorable mentions.

Hannah edged Joe DeLamielleure and Yary, Shell, Langer and others in the 1970s. It was a very competitive decade. Doug Wilkerson and Ed White get honorable mentions for 1975-85.

Munoz and Stephenson just dominate the 1980s. Stephenson has a slightly higher "peak" but Munoz was healthier and kept his ranks high the whole decade. Finding a runner up was difficult but with Jackie Slater having an amazing year in 1980 and then being the NFC Offensive Lineman of the Year in 1983, 1986, 1987, and 1989 help him take the nod over Mike Kenn and Joe Jacoby.

John Hannah

Gary Zimmerman is an honorable mention behind the two Oilers from 1985-95. Larry Allen, who was close to being the runner-up in the 1990s is a runner-up because McDaniel played longer and at a high level, though Allen's peak was higher.

Zach Martin has been in our top 5 every year since 2014 and has been #1 a couple of times and top 3 other years. Smith has had some great years but has been nagged by injuries in a couple of others so the inconsistency put him at the runner-up spot. Marshal Yanda is an honorable mention.

Here are the defensive line picks:

Hewitt was known for his defense as much as offense in his career. "Tarzan" Christensen was part of the good Lions offenses and defenses of the 1930s.

Bruiser Kinard

Bruiser Kinard was a great Hall of Fame two-way tackle who takes our top slot for 1935-45. Paul Zimmerman thought Dick Plasman was worthy of the Hall of Fame. "Dick Plasman, 6'4", 220 pounds, helmetless, ferocious on his blocks, a great pass rusher and a receiver, too. The guy was terrific, a force out there, and then I remembered that Plasman was the last guy to play without a helmet", wrote Zim.  Jim Poole was a fine two-way end and was received post-season honors in four seasons and missed three seasons due to WWII.

Dick Plasman

For the 1940s we depart for form and pick someone who only had three seasons of service in the 1940s. Al Blozis was better than anyone we've seen on film in that era. And since we picked a short-career guy for the top slot we are going with Dick Huffman as the runner up. He also has a short career in the 1940s and then went to Canada. So, the 1940s were our "cop out" decade but we picked the two best linemen of the period.

Al Blozis

We also give Al Wistert an honorable mention for the 1940s. George Allen called him "one of the first great pass rushers". He was quick and used his hands and if we'd gone with longevity over peak, he likely would be one of the top two defensive linemen of the 1940s (he was already the runner-up as an offensive lineman).

Arnie Weinmeister

From 1945-55 not only did Bill Willis and Arnie Weinmeister had tons of honors they were the best two players on film that we've seen. Weinmeister, as we've written before, was listed as a tackle and we usually follow suit, but he was more technically a defensive end, or at least that is what he'd be called in today's verbiage. Ed Sprinkle gets an honorable mention for that period.

Gino Marchetti did well enough as a rookie in 1952 (then was offensive linemen in 1953) to warrant honorable mention for the 1950s but the consistency of Nomellini and the peak of Ford make them first and second and Marchetti is the honorable mention. We also give Gene Brito an honorable mention as well.

From 1955-65 two Giant ends Jim Katcavage and Andy Robustelli deserve honorable mention as does Big Daddy Lipscomb. Lipscomb, when motivated could be great but too often, especially early in his career could loaf and it shows on film.

Of course, the top two linemen are Marchetti and Doug Atkins who was just coming into his own around 1957.

Tom Sestak

The AFL's Tom Sestak is an honorable mention for the 1960s. Knee injuries dogged him into an early retirement but at his peak he was great. Willie Davis, Doug Atkins, and Alex Karras would also merit mention in the sixties.

But the top players—Deacon Jones and Bob Lilly were simply a cut above. And Merlin Olsen was the closest to them.

Carl Eller

From 1965-75 Olsen was the top defensive lineman, making Pro Bowls (and deserved them) through 1975. Lilly tailed off in 1973 and 1974 as he was taken out on passing downs. Lilly told us "I don't know why. I was a better pass rusher than run player at that stage of my career". But Tom Landry thought different and was bringing in "wave" rushers Harvey Martin, Bill Gregory and Ed Jones for the starters in that era.

Carl Eller, whose "decade" would be 1966-75 make him an honorable mention in that time frame. He got some sort of postseason honors every year from in that decade and had good years in 1976 and 1977, too.

Jack Youngblood was the top defensive end of the 1970s but Greene and Page edged him out for the top two slots. Like Eller, Youngblood's excellence continued past his "decade". Youngblood was top notch in 1980-81 an then in a 3-4 defense he was a top 10 DE in 1983 and 1984.

We are going to give  Fred Dean an honorable mention for 1975-85. He was a very good end with the Chargers and played All-Pro-type football from 1977-80 with them, then in 1981 he was the NFC Defensive Player of the Year as a designated rusher and he also had a big year in 1983 in that role.

In the 1980s Fred Smerlas, Mark Gastineau and Joe Klecko all are honorable mentions. Smerlas had played more games, started more games, made All-Pro and the Pro Bowl more than any pure 3-4 nose tackle ever. He was the prototype of the position for years. He was great in the early 1980s and then ended excellent as well.

Gastineau caught lots of criticism (deservedly so) for his lack of ability (desire) to play the run but he was a five-time All-Pro and led the decade in sacks with 105½. Klecko was All-Pro as a defensive end in 1981 and was All-Pro in 1985 as a nose tackle. He was not All-Pro as a defensive tackle but he was a Pro Bowler at that spot. However, due to injuries he missed a lot of time and was up and down in other years.

Chris Doleman's 1985-95 was good enough for a mention so was Ray Childress's. In the 1990s, again, Doleman was an honorable mention. Neil Smith, too. Cortez Kennedy and John Randle were honored a lot but both had flaws. However, when all things considered, they get an honorable mention. Warren Sapp is a high honorable mention behind Strahan and Bryant Young.

Justin Smith

For the 2000s we give Jason Taylor an honorable mention. For 2005-15 we will give Jared Allen and Haloti Ngata mention as well. For the current decade, we give an honorable mention to Geno Atkins.

Players of the Decade

REVIEW
By John Turney

Recently we made an effort to name the tops players for each decade and mid-decade going back to pre NFL times. Here is, in list form, our picks for Players of the Decade plus links to each story.

Here is the same chart horizontally
(Click to enlarge)

And here are links to the individual stories
1915-25
1920s
1925-35
1930s
1935-45
1940s
1945-55
1950s
1955-65
1960s
1965-75
1970s
1975-85
1980s
1985-95
1990s
1995-05
2000s
2005-15
2010s

Players of the Decade—2010s Thus Far

OPINION
By John Turney

This is the 18th in a series of picking players of the decades. We began with 1915-25, the 1920s, the 1925-35 period, the 1930s, 1935-45, the 1940s, 1945-55 the 1950s, 1955-65, the 1960s, 1965-75, the 1970s, 1975-85, the 1980s, 1985-95, the 1990s, 1995-05, 2000s, 2005-15, and now the current decade.

However, there is a caveat. We reserve the right to make changes after the 2019 season. These picks assume the chosen players will have good seasons, doing nothing to hurt their legacy. They do NOT assume an MVP or All-Pro season. With nine of the ten seasons in the bag, a good year cannot change much.

But if a player does have a bad year and he has someone close to him (in our view) the honorable mentions could move up. So, if Aaron Rodgers has a bad (for him season) and maybe Aaron Brown has a 130-catch, 1,800-yard, 15-TD season, maybe, just maybe he overtakes Rodgers.

So, with that explained here are the picks for the 2010s

2010s Player of the Decade
Tom Brady

Again, Brady is #1. He was First from 2005-2015 and second in the 2000s.

2010s Defensive Player of the Decade
J.J. Watt

Watt is an easy choice even with two seasons lost to injury. Three Defensive MVPs in a decade make his peak performance unparalleled by any other defender. If Aaron Donald wins his third Defensive MVP and Watt is out again, then we will revisit. But assuming both are good, Watt has this locked. He was just that much better than the field.

2010s Player of the Decade Runner-Up 
Aaron Rodgers

Two MVPs and a ring plus great stats propel Aaron Rogers to the runner-up slot behind Brady. His star has been tarnished a bit in last year or two but he's been money all decade and he's one of the best quarterbacks we've seen, talent wise. He's like a more accurate John Elway in many ways. Big arm, good legs, comebacks, etc.

Rob Gronkowski is an honorable mention, rare production for a tight end. Julio Jones and Antonio Brown are also honorable mentions.

2010s Defensive Player of the Decade Runner-Up
Aaron Donald

Donald has won two NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards in his five seasons and has been named First-team All-Pro four times. The 2019 season will be his sixth season which is our cutoff for our "decade" awards so he just makes it in terms of minimum qualifications.

Von Miller is the top honorable mention for the 2010s and he is followed by Luke Kuechly, Richard Sherman, and BobbyWagner but only Miller was close. Sherman had good 2018 season and he had great seasons in his prime but not to the level of Watt or Donald. Same with the middle linebacker Keuchly and Wagner.

Miller was, as we said, the closest. And the difference is their peak performance—Donald has the hardware but Miller does have the jewelry. Donald is ascending and Miller is holding steady. Miller has yet to win a Defensive Player of the Year Award but he was a runner-up once. It's very close but as of now, we go with Donald but this is the most volatile spot because Miller could move into it. However, we don't foresee anything that could knock Watt out of the top defensive slot.

Players of the Decade—2005-15

OPINION
By John Turney

This is the 18th in a series of picking players of the decades. We began with 1915-25, the 1920s, the 1925-35 period, the 1930s, 1935-45, the 1940s, 1945-55 the 1950s, 1955-65, the 1960s, 1965-75, the 1970s, 1975-85, the 1980s, 1985-95, the 1990s, 1995-05 and also the 2000s.

Here are the 2005-2015 picks:

2005-15 Player of the Decade
Tom Brady

In the 2000s we went with Manning. For 2005-2015, we go with Brady and it's not that close.

2005-15 Defensive Player of the Decade
Patrick Willis

This was a hard time frame to pick a top defender. There were several that were worthy. We went with Patrick Willis who was a five-time First-team All-Pro and a seven-time Pro Bowler. He was a tackling machine and was a linebacker who was in the Ray Lewis/Randy Gradishar/Jack Lambert/Joe Schmidt category as a coverage 'backer. He was solid at closing holes and could scrape with the best of them. His career was cut short, but his 2007-14 seasons fit perfectly into this "decade".

2005-15  Player of the Decade Runner-Up 
Peyton Manning

Manning is the runner-up for this 2005-15 time frame.

Adrian Peterson is the top honorable mention and Calvin Johnson is next.

2005-15  Defensive Player of the Decade Runner-Up
Darrelle Revis

Revis Island was considered for the top spot. He was a four-time First-team All-pro and a seven-time Pro Bowler. He was the best cover corner since Deion Sanders but he did tail off his final couple of seasons.

Troy Polamalu and Patrick Willis are tied as top honorable mentions followed by DeMarcus Ware, Julius Peppers, and Jared Allen.

next up: the 2010s