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
Bruce Smith	1998	35	BUF	15	15	50	10	0.667
Steve McMichael	1992	35	CHI	16	16	89	10.5	0.656
Rickey Jackson	1993	35	NO	16	16	79	11.5	0.719
Kevin Greene	1997	35	SF	14	4	26	10.5	0.750
Chris Doleman	1996	35	SF	16	16	54	11	0.688
Trace Armstrong	2000	35	MIA	16	0	34	16.5	1.031
John Abraham	2013	35	ARI	16	13	37	11.5	0.719
Reggie White	1997	36	GB	16	16	46	11	0.688
Too Tall Jones	1987	36	DAL	15	14	36	10	0.667
Kevin Greene	1998	36	CAR	15	15	53	15	1.000
Chris Doleman	1997	36	SF	16	16	46	12	0.750
Reggie White	1998	37	GB	16	16	46	16	1.000
Bruce Smith	2000	37	WAS	16	16	58	10	0.625
Kevin Greene	1999	37	CAR	16	16	44	12	0.750
Chris Doleman	1998	37	SF	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!

R.I.P. Doug Atkins, A Bear of a Man.

LOOKING BACK
By John Turney

Atkins with Bears. Colorization by John Turney

A huge man with a huge reputation passed away. Atkins, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, was 6-8 and 270 pounds and could run and leap with skills of a smaller man.

Atkins played in eight Pro Bowls and missed a ninth due to injury. In 1968 Atkins was having a monster year in his second season with the New Orleans Saints with 12-½ sacks when he broke his leg. He had been voted to the Pro Bowl for that season but it was never announced, as injuries are today. Atkins said, "A coach came up to me and said, you were voted to the pro Bowl and they need to know if you are going to play" and Atkins replied "Don't tell them my leg is broke, it will be well by the time the game comes around and I want the paycheck". The injury was worse than Atkins thought and Ben McGee was announced as one of the Pro Bowl ends and Atkins was never credited with that Pro Bowl. He was, however, a consensus Second-team All-Pro that season.

Little film remains from Atkins' season with the Cleveland Browns, but from what there is you can see Atkins leaping over blockers while playing left defensive end in 1953-54. He was traded to the Chicago Bears in 1955 and remained a Bear through the 1966 season and spent three seasons (1967-69) with the Saints.

Atkins with Browns. Colorization by John Turney

Atkins was not a full-time starter right away with the Bears, but by 1957 he was the starting end and began his reign of terror on NFL quarterbacks. That season the Bears threw passers for 495 yards in losses and Atkins was undoubtedly the leader in sacks with a likely season-high of four sacks in Los Angeles versus the Rams.

Based on the number of sacks the Bears defense had, it is very likely, that Atkins was in double digits in sacks from 1957-1963. Pro Football Journal writer/researcher Nick Webster can confirm that from 1959-62 he had at least 9-½ sacks each season with a few games each seasons missing film or play-by-plays. My research shows 12 sacks in 1963, five in 1964, 8-½ in 1965 and 8 in 1966.

With the Saints his totals are 9-½ in 1967, 12-½ in 1968 and 8-½ in 1969, his final season. Sadly, too many missing games will likely never reveal Atkins true sack total, but through our research Webster and I can show 110-½ confirmed sacks, all but a few from 1957 on. Atkins consistency was very notable and part of that he credited to fellow Hall of Fame defensive end Gino Marchetti; said Atkins, "I talked to Gino at a Pro Bowl and was asking him for tips, and the first thing he told me is 'get rid of all that extra equipment'. I had been wearing high top shoes, large pads on my shoulders and in my pants and Gino convinced me to go with less, with less restriction and less for linemen to grab and it really helped my career from that point on".

In a 1996 interview with Merlin Olsen, he told me that if anyone may have challenged Deacon Jones's sack records it would be Atkins, who Olsen and Jones studied on film. Olsen was particularly impressed with how Atkins would throw a tackle to the outside and take an inside route to the quarterback. Atkins told me, "Hell, they were throwing themselves, I would take an outside charge and they'd be on their heels and I'd step inside and throw them with their own backward momentum".

Atkins was also famous for the aforementioned leap, where he'd hurdle a blocker in route to the quarterback.

A Leaping Atkins in 1969. Colorization by John Turney

Atkins was highly honored aside from the Pro Bowls, he was a First-team All-Pro in 1960, 61 and 1963. (In addition, he was First-team All-Pro by the New York Daily News in 1958) and was a 6-time Second-team All-Pro. He was also a recognized on several of the 1960s All-Decade teams.

Rest in Peace, Doug, err . . . , Mr. Atkins.

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