Buddy Ryan's Statistical Legacy

LOOKING BACK
By John Turney

Buddy Ryan entered the NFL with a bang, he was the defensive line coach for the New York Jets beginning in 1968 and that year the Jets defeated the Colts in Super Bowl III

He remained with the Jets until 1975, when he left to be the defensive line coach of the Vikings. He was there for a couple of years and from 1978-85 he was the defensive coordinator for the Bear, where he established his legacy with the 1985 Bear defense, thought to be one of the best, if not the best single-season defenses of all time.

His success there led to his head coaching job with the Eagles from 1986-90, when Wade Phillips and Jeff Fisher ran his defense. He was fired after the 1990 season and was out of football for a couple of years and took the job as the defensive coordinator for the Houston Oilers.

That reestablished Ryan's bona fides and he got a second head coaching job in Arizona.

Here is a chart showing the performance of Ryan's defenses/defensive lines year-by-year:

As can be seen, the Jets defensive line was stellar versus the run from 1968-70. Injuries to Gerry Philbin and John Elliott as well as trading away Verlon Biggs cut into their effectiveness after that.

The next time Ryan had a defense that allowed around 100 yards a game or less was 1982 with the Bears. But from then on his teams were excellent at stopping the run and in sacking the quarterback.

Over his career his teams had a sack rate of 8.6%, that is they sack the quarterback on 8.6% of his dropbacks. The 1971-81 run defense totals (years there was little talent to work with in New York and Chicago) skew him towards average, with a 4.0 yards per carry average.

Sack Master Coach—Floyd Peters

LOOKING BACK
By John Turney

Floyd Peters, a.k.a. "Sgt. Rock" (the DC Comic book character) had a fine 12-year career as a defensive tackle in the NFL. He was a three-time Pro Bowler and a leader on his teams, namely for the Philadelphia Eagles.

He began on the cab squad for the Baltimore Colts, learning at the heels of Gino Marchetti. In 1963 he was with the Lions for a year, filling in for the suspended Alex Karras. Then finishing with the Eagles, where he got Pro Bowl notice, and then ended with the Redskins in 1970 where he was a player-coach.

After his playing career, he was a scout, an assistant defensive line coach, a defensive line coach, and a defensive coordinator. From 1971-73 he worked under Bill Arnsparger who was the defensive coordinator for the 2-time Super Bowl champions. Of note is in 1973 Bill Stanfill had a career-high of 18½ sacks under the tutelage of Peters. Yes, defensive line coach Mike Scarry gets most of the credit for the early 1970s Dolphins defensive line success. 

Peters' role was undefined in those years, he was called a scout, but he'd told us he worked with the defensive linemen on their skill sets, techniques, things like that. And even though he was not listed as one of their coaches, in 1974, he was announced by Don Shula as "the leading candidate" to replace Bill Arnsparger as the Dolphins defensive coordinator. 

Arnsparger had taken the head coaching job with the New York Giants. So it was clear Shula knew that Peters had the skills to coach in the NFL whatever his title was in his years with the Dolphins. 

Peters followed Arnsparger to the Giants where he ran the defensive line in 1974 and 1975. In 1975, Jack Gregory, who was an All-Pro in 1972, had 14½ sacks, his highest total since that 1972 season.

In 1976 and 1977 Peters was the defensive line coach for the 49ers and in 1976 the 49ers led the NFL in sacks with 61 and the line was dubbed the "Gold Rush". The 49ers line, for years stuck in a flex defense, were set free and Tommy Hart turned into an All-Pro and had 16 sacks.

In 1977 Peters went to the Detroit Lions where he helped, in 1978, cobble together the "Silver Rush" that had 55 sacks and a rookie phenom, Bubba Baker who led the NFL with 23 sacks. In his five years as the defensive line coach in the Motor City, the Lions were fourth in the NFL in sacks.

Peters finally got a chance to be a defensive coordinator in St. Louis for the Cardinals Jim Hanifan. In 1983 they sacked the QB 59 times, to set a team record. Bubba Baker was a big part of the total as was Curtis Greer who had 16 sacks in 1983 and 14 in 1984.

In 1986 he became the defensive coordinator for the Vikings and he was instrumental in moving Chris Doleman from strong-side linebacker to defensive end and moving Keith Millard from a 3-4 end to a three-technique. Peters once explained to us, "(early in 1986) Every time were in nickel this big, tall, strong kid (Doleman) was standing next to me. So, to get him on the field we moved him to end".

Millard was the nickel defensive tackle, but when the Vikings went to the 4-3 full-time, they employed the "flop" version of it. That meant one of the defensive tackles was always shaded on the center and the other defensive tackle was always a three-technique, moving from one side or the other defensive on the formation (which side was strong) and what the line call was (an overshift or undershift).

This setup served the Vikings well, as they were one of the best defense in the league and in 1989 Millard was the Defensive Player of the Year and Doleman led the NFL with 21 sacks as the Vikings led the league with 71 sacks—one short of the NFL record.

In 1991 the Buccaneers wanted to convert to a 4-3 and brought Peters in to install it. They had been a 3-4 team since 1977 when they converted from the flop 4-3 that year.

Keith McCants was drafted to be a rushbacker in a 3-4 defense, but dues to injuries and other factors it didn't work out in 1990. In 1991 Peters made him his "Chris Doleman" moving him to right defensive end. McCants didn't have the success Doleman did, but he was better at end than linebacker, but he will likely never overcome the "bust" label since his production didn't match his 4th Overall draft status.

Peters's final job was as the defensive line coach for the Oakland Raiders in 1995 and 1996. He also had a nice conversion story there, too. He moved linebacker Pat Swilling to right defensive end and he had 13 sacks, the most he had since 1991 when he was the 1991 AP  NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

Here is a year-by-year review of the performances of his teams:

In looking back Bill Stanfill, Tommy Hart, Bubba Baker, Curtis Greer, Chris Doleman had their best seasons under Peters and Pat Swilling and Jack Gregory had their second-best seasons under Peters. The 49ers, Lions, Cardinals, and Vikings all set team records in sacks under Peters.

It does beg the question of at what cost did the sacks come? That would mean did the run defense suffer under the "up-the-field" style that Peters coached? Well, they were usually good or at least average, but never great. The Lions in 1980-81 were good and the Vikings were, too, from 1986-89. The Bucs in 1994 were also good. So, yes, the style comes at a cost at times. But Peters felt it was the way to play.

His teams averaged 8.6% sacks over his coaching career. In checking that total against Buddy Ryan's totals it's right there with him. Ryan's similar roles as defensive line coach and coordinator for the Jets, Vikings, Bears, Eagles, Oilers, and Cardinals, they also sacked the quarterback at 8.6% of the dropbacks, same as Peters' teams.

The Pro Football Writers Association has a great award called the Paul "Dr. Z Zimmerman" Award that is presented as a "lifetime achievement as an assistant coach in the NFL".  Eventually, we hope that Coach Peters will be on that list.

Harvey Martin's Amazing 1977 Season

LOOKING BACK
By John Turney

Art credit: Robert Hurst

In 1977 Harvey Martin was on top of the world—He was a Super Bowl champ, a Super Bowl co-MVP, an All-Pro, a Pro Bowler and the NFL and NFC Defensive Player of the Year. A defender cannot do much better than that in s single season. Martin also led the NFL in sacks, though the stat was not official and there has been misleading information about what the total was which we will explore. It's not a huge difference, but we certainly think regardless of the total of sacks it may still be the best season ever by a Dallas Cowboys defender.

Here are his game-by-game tackles, assists, tackles, passes defensed, sacks and fumbles recovered. He had 63 tackles, 19½ or 20 sacks, two passes deflected and a pair of fumbles recovered.

If you count sacks the way they are counted now (where if you share a sack you get credit for a ½ sack and if you do it alone it's a solo sack) then his total was 20.

As the chart notes, according to the semi-official play-by-plays (now called gamebooks) the total was 20 sacks. There is a caveat as noted. The text of the Week 9 Gamebook shows his sack was shared with White, but the tackle chart shows it was a solo tackle. See below. Tackle chart first, text next.

So, at worst, the film may show his total was 19½ for 1977—still a stellar total.

To add to the confusion at the time the Cowboys didn't distinguish the difference and the team released a total of 23. That number appeared in the Cowboys Media Guide though 1989:

In 1990 the Cowboys corrected the record and used the more proper total of 20 in the 1990 iteration of the Media Guide:

That correct total remained in the Media Guide through 2001: 

 But in 2002, the incorrect total of 23 reappeared in the Cowboys media and has remained ever since:

Nonetheless, Martin's season, whether 19½ or 20 sacks (we say 20) and all the other accolades was one of the best seasons by any defender for the decade of the 1970s and is worthy to remember.

Larry Who? Larry Brooks, That's Who

LOOKING BACK
By John Turney

Sometimes a player has a career that may not end with accolades like the Hall of Fame or even the Hall of Very Good but when it is reflected on it may be a result of poor timing or being on the wrong team.

Such may be the case for Larry Brooks. He was part of a very successful defense that didn't win a Super Bowl and he had teammates like Merlin Olsen (Hall of Famer), Jack Youngblood (Hall of Famer), Fred Dryer, Hacksaw Reynolds that had lots of star power.

Now we are not suggesting Brooks's career is Hall of Fame worthy, though, it's not far off. He was a five-time Pro Bowler (1976-80), was a First-team All-Pro in 1977 and 1979 and a Second-team All-Pro in 1974 and 1978 and has other excellent credentials which we will explore.

In his decade as a starter, 1972-81, the Rams defense performed extremely well. In those ten years, the Rams allowed the fewest yards in the NFL, allowed the second fewest rushing yards, sacked the most quarterbacks, allowed the second fewest points, allowed the fewest passing yards, allowed the third-best defensive passer rating, allowed the second-fewest rushing touchdowns and picked off the fifth most passes.

That's a 1st-2nd-1st-2nd-1st-3rd-2nd-and 5th ranking in eight of the most important defensive categories. Extremely well, indeed, especially considering the competition in the NFL that was composed of the Steel Curtain, Doomsday II Defense, the Purple People Eaters, the Orange Crush and other fine defenses like the Raiders and Dolphins.

Sure, all that success was a team effort, but Brooks deserves his share of the credit, too, along with the Youngbloods, Olsen, Dryer, Reynolds, etc., because in that same ten-year period Brooks, per 16 games, he averaged 7½ stuffs, 9 sacks, and 80 tackles.

Those are fine numbers for a defensive tackle for a single season—one that would make him an All-Pro or Pro Bowler, and much more so to average that over a decade.

Here are his complete career statistics.

He led the Rams defensive linemen in tackles every year from 1973 through 1980, with the exception of 1975 when he injured a knee at mid-season.

In 1976, he had a year defensive tackles dream about. He had 74 tackles, 13 were for losses and had 14½ sacks (still the Rams record for a defensive tackle). That total of 27½ plays behind the line of scrimmage in 14 games is quite impressive considering 2017 AP Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald had 17.5 such plays in 2017 (in 14 games) and had a career-high of 24.5 of these plays in 2015 (in 16 games).

Brooks also has a couple of excellent "testimonials". One from John Hannah and another from Gene Upshaw. Upshaw said to the Los Angeles Times that Brooks was "the best defensive tackle I face'.

Hannah was always in for a tough battle against Brooks, both in 1974 and in 1980.

In 1974 Brooks made 8 solo tackles and had two sacks in the Week 3 matchup between the Rams and Patriots. In 1980 they met again and Hannah told Sports Illustrated's Paul Zimmerman only, "Last year I had a rough one against Larry Brooks of the Rams". But here are some still shots of a couple of plays where Brooks and Hannah were matched up. Both ended up with Hannah on his rear end.

Brooks engages Hannah

Brooks initiates and inside club move

He tosses Hannah to the ground

And Brooks continues and sacks Grogan.

"We howled when we saw those plays on film" said Jack Youngblood, referring to the plays both above and below. "Mickey, our film guy, put it and some others on a loop and we'd watch that over and over". "The thing is", added Youngblood, "is Brooksie did that to a lot of guys".

Here is the end zone view of the same play:

Here is another play from the same game:

Brooks and Hannah engage

Again, and inside club employed by Brooks

Brooks goes flat on his back.

Brooks can then go freely to the QB

Youngblood added that Brooks was the best he's ever seen at the "butt technique", a "three-point landing—hands on shoulder pads and facemask to facemask". "Larry would just stun the guard" with that three-point landing and he was not tall, maybe 6-3 but built very low, a low center of gavity, and it just stopped all the momentum of the guard. Brooks when then shed the guard by pulling or "jerking" him back and Brooks was free to make tackles.

It was also fascinating to watch Brooks run through the "trash" in pursuit. It was a day and age when offensive linemen would cut people and it left lots of bodies on the ground. Brooks could smoothly go through that trash when the play was away from him. It's part of the reason he made so many tackles—backside pursuits.

Brooks could rush the passer as well. He'd benefit from having two ends like Youngblood and Dryer on the edges and the quarterback having to step up a lot, but he could club, rip, and swim with the best of them.

In 1978 in a fine article in the Los Angeles Times by Ted Green, Brooks mentioned he understood his plight in not getting tons and tons of recognition. But he played for another reason:

From 1972-76, especially from 1973-76 Merlin Olsen was the "cop" of the line, he was the mentor to young players and as it was taught back then, three guys are cut loose and someone has to play along the line and watch for pass actions runs—draws, traps and screens (which is really a run play) and Olsen, though still a Pro Bowl player took on that role. This allowed Brooks to get up the field and if run showed, he'd convert to that three-point butt technique and squash the run and if it was a pass he was free to get there, knowing Olsen had his back.

In 1982 the knee injuries returned and they effectively ended his career. Really, the knee troubles that began in 1975 never left. It was a nagging thing from 1976-80 and in 1981 he hurt it again and in 1982 the third major knee injury felled him. 

After his career, Brooks served as the defensive line coach for the Rams from 1983-91 and the Green Bay Packers from 1994–1998, the Seattle Seahawks from 1999-2002 both under Mike Holmgren, Then to the Chicago Bears in 2003, and was the Detroit Lions defensive line coach from 2004-05. He spent the 2006 season as the defensive line coach for the Arizona Cardinals. From 1992-93 he was both a coach and administrator at his alma mater Virginia Tech.

Is it a Hall of Fame career? Likely not. He's in a big group of excellent defensive tackles who were All-Pro a couple of times and went to maybe a handful of Pro Bowls and there is quite a logjam. You read about the push for Joe Klecko a lot, and he's a worthy player but as can be seen, Brooks's numbers are very similar.

 The trouble is other great defensive tackles are also in the mix, players like Fred Smerlas, Alex Karras, Tom Sestak, Bryant Young (modern candidate) et al. 

So, sometimes maybe being respected by your peers is enough. Maybe that will have to be the Larry Brooks legacy.

Rethinking the 1967 NFL MVP Race

LOOKING BACK
By John Turney

Not that it was much of a race—the 1967 MVP winner, Johnny Unitas won in a landslide:

It was interesting in that the Associated Press vote was taken prior to the final game of the season and there was a great final matchup between the Unitas's Colts who were 11-0-2 and the Los Angeles Rams who were 10-1-2. The AP MVP award was released on December 15, 1967, and the finale was played on December 17, 1967.

Here are Unitas's stats game-by-game (credit Pro Football Reference) and also Roman Gabriel's stats game by game. Also included is season totals as of the 12th, 13th and 14th games to gage what the papers would have shown in the stat columns, though the passer rating would not have been part of that, it was figured differently prior to 1973.

As can be seen it was Unitas's record that separated him from other potential contenders, but also the stats show a late-season slump that was seemingly ignored by the AP Voters.

So, using current rather than 1960s sensibilities in judging these matters and assuming the vote were taken after the season finale, would Unitas have won the award?

In the last game, the Rams thumped the Colts and Roman Gabriel was the AP Offensive Player of the Week, an award he won the previous week in a key win over the eventual Super Bowl champs the Green Bay Packers. After 12 games both Unitas and Gabriel had 19 touchdown passes and by season's end, Gabriel had 25 (Sonny Jurgenson led the NFL with 31 but was on a mediocre team). Unitas won the AP Offensive POW for Week 1 and as mentioned Gabriel got the award for Weeks 13 and 14. Jurgenson got it for Week 10.

Gabriel also rushed for six touchdowns, much like Tom Brady is now, Gabriel was a very good short-yardage and goal line runner and since the Rams didn't have a steady back who was good at that it fell to Gabe to get the 3rd and 1s and 4th and goals.

We think it's possible, with 20/20 hindsight that Gabriel had the better regular season of the two. And the statistical champ would be Jurgensen. But, of course, it cannot be changed but what if Gabriel had been a two-time MVP? Would that have launched him into the HOF?

But we'd need to look at 1969 (when Gabriel was the consensus MVP) the same way as 1967. The Rams rolled to an 11-0 start, then lost the final three games, though there was a bit of resting going in the final two games, and in looking at it, perhaps the best player in the NFL in 1969 was Dick Butkus or even Carl Eller (the best player on the best defense) who was the runner-up in the AP voting in 1969 like Deacon Jones was in 1967.

The late-season slump didn't affect the UPI Player of the Year voters or the NEA (Players) MVP. Both of them, presumably, were voted on after the full 14 games based on when they were released and both chose Unitas by comfortable margins.

So, in the end, it doesn't make much difference, but to us it's always fun to take a look back and ask some questions given how the actions of the voting bodies change and when some of the awards were based on 13, rather than 14 games and perhaps that final game is a big one, as it was in 1967.

Johnny Robinson Should Sail Into the Hall of Fame in February

OPINION
By John Turney

The Seniors Committee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame has chosen Johnny Robinson as the senior nominee for the Class of 2019. it is a pick that cannot be criticized. Robinson is worthy of the Hall of Fame in every way possible. He has a ring, he was All-AFL for the Decade of the 1960s and also a 1960s All-Decade selection, he was a 7-time AFL All-Star/Pro Bowler, had excellent interception stats, played both strong and free safety at a high level. He played hurt and was a leader.

There wasn't anything more that can be asked of a player.

Here is a chart showing where he ranks in post-season honors as compared to Hall of Fame safeties and those who are eligible or soon-to-be-eligible and not yet selected.

Robinson led the NFL/AFL in interceptions twice, was a fine punt returner early in his career, and was a good running back/flanker back then as well. He moved to defense full-time in 1962 and his career went to another level.

Perhaps the only quibble is that Robinson will likely be the sixth defender from the Chiefs 1960s-early 1970s defense that won one Super Bowl with Buck Buchanan, Willie Lanier, Bobby Bell, Curley Culp, Emmitt Thomas already inducted. The Steel Curtain defense, for example, has four—Joe Greene, Mel Blount, Jack Lambert and Jack Ham. But that's a quibble. The Chiefs defense was great, but was it six Hall of Famers deep? Well, regardless, it will be. Bud Grant comment a few years back when asked about the Chiefs upset of the Vikings in Super Bowl IV, "The more Hall of Famers they get, the less of an upset it is" Maybe the mid-1960s through early 1970s Chiefs defense was the best of All-time. Six Hall of Famers will sure make the case.

As can be seen in the above chart, when you look at stats from a seven-year perspective they were great at takeaways, and from 1963-69 they were the top run-stopping team (Thank-you Bell, Buchanan, Lanier, and Culp). But the most impressive to us is the defensive passer rating which they were tops in the NFL from 1964-73, a ten-year span and that is right in Robinson's wheelhouse— efficiently stopping the pass (along with Emmitt Thomas).

Really, Robinson is one of the most glaring omissions who are missing from the Hall of Fame. One wonders what forces prevented him from gaining entry to the Hall in the 1970s or 1980s. We're told he was likely one of the casualties of the AFL-NFL rivalry amongst the Hall of Fame voters in the "bad old days" when many worthy candidates were given the shaft by small blocs of voters.

This year, that will end, in our view. There is no way Robinson should be denied.