Feed Me, Seymour

LOOKING AHEAD
By John Turney

When the name Seymour Siwoff is mentioned 99% of current NFL fans would say, "Who?" Yet likely 100% of NFL fans who enjoy things like fantasy football, NFL analytics sites such as Pro Football  Focus, Football Outsiders, or Cold Hard Football Facts and wouldn't be able to do so without the work of Seymour Siwoff. Yes, all of us who love football and who love to count things related to the game it is an absolute fact that Seymour Siwoff has fed us with football statistics for our entire lives.

So who is he? Siwoff was a WWII veteran was received a Purple Heart when he was wounded in Italy. After returning from the war Siwoff, in 1952, after a stint as the company accountant, purchased what was then Elias Bureau and renamed it Elias Sports Bureau and in 1961 he was hired to organize and produce and distribute the statistics for the National Football League which he has done so ever since. Even now, at age 97, he remains the president of  Elias Sports Bureau.

Prior to 1961, the NFL records were a mess (full of errors and omissions), and part of the reason for that was a fire in the Chicago Bears facility where many of the NFL records were stored and were destroyed in the blaze. So when Elias took over it was not only a new job they had in recording the current statistics, the old statistics had to be recreated and checked. Because that task was accomplished we have a rich history of NFL statistics predating Elias.

And early on the sports media noticed Siwoff's work. In 1969 Jerry Kirshenbaum wrote in Sports Illustrated:

"All that aside, the fact is that pro football's upsurge in popularity has been accompanied by a rapid increase in the statistics that surround it, a phenomenon that Siwoff has openly aided and abetted. Until 1966, for example, individual field-goal records were confined largely to the number of goals and total attempts. Siwoff has since amplified those records to reflect the number of field goals and attempts according to distance—one to 19 yards, 20 to 29 yards, etc. Similarly, statistics on punt and kick-off returns were maintained separately until the St. Louis Cardinals' Chuck Latourette had a big and busy season in both last year. After research by Siwoff, two new categories have been added in the 1969 NFL official record book:

Most Combined Kick Returns, Season 74 Charles Latourette, St. Louis, 1968 (28 punts, 46 kickoffs)

Most Yardage, Combined Kick Returns, Season 1,582 Charles Latourette, St. Louis, 1968 (345 punts, 1,237 kickoffs)"

Siwoff also added new stats such as team sacks (then called 'times tackled attempting to pass') in 1963 because he saw the yardage total the league had been using and new there had to be a numerative feature to match with the yardage. He added the individual sack in 1982 (with some prompting from Jet President Jim Kensil).

In addition to all the work/improvement, Seymour contributed to the record book and the standard statistics as well as all the next-level statistics that started under him—Things like red-zone statistics, quarterback W-L records, game-winning drives, average yard line starts, third-down percentages, fourth-down percentages as well as just about all esoteric NFL statistics you've seen in the 1960s-2000s—data that is now used to enhance every NFL telecast all began under Seymour’s direction at Elias.

Add to that the idea of taking statistics and making fun/interesting facts out of them––most career TD passes from one QB to one receiver, most consecutive starts by a QB, oldest player to start a Super Bowl––all these notes that fill every NFL and team PR release before every game days––started with Seymour and his staff. Just go to Pro Football Reference the online statistical site and ask, 'How much of that is NOT the initial work of Elias Sports Bureau?'

We at Pro Football Journal have had our disagreements with Siwoff over the years. He was adamantly against backdating the individual sack statistics, which we have attempted to do, but it's an honest disagreement and we respect his perspective. In fact, we don't think they should be official, just available so there wasn't that much of a disagreement.

Also, we called for Elias to backdate net punting stats from 1960-75 (they are available in the 1950s and became official in 1976 but there is a black hole that we'd love to see filled) but again, it's just a disagreement. It does not take away, in our view, Siwoff's contributions to the game of football. And that net punting average is another added stat that Seymour embraced—the idea that the punter’s statistics shouldn’t suffer if he was good at hitting the coffin corner instead of kicking five years further and having it come out to the 20, which is of course why we want it for the missing years. In our own research (which is incomplete) we show Bobby Joe Green may be the most underrated punter ever because he kicked for a high net average year-in and year-out before it was "cool". But without Siwoff adding it we wouldn't have the basis by which to compare, so even in our small differences we only are at the starting point because of Siwoff so who are we to complain?

In addition to the fan enjoyment and understanding of the game, NFL coaches use the work of Elias to set goals and maintain quality control. Here is a shot of the 1980 Los Angeles Rams defensive playbook and the 2009 New York Giants defensive playbook. Both used NFL stats to show what the league did overall and what the league averages are in certain key statistics.

The above tables and charts can be found in most NFL Playbooks, at least the scores of playbooks we have collected. So Siwoff and his team not only contributed to the fans enjoyment, but also to the coaches ability to do their jobs. And there it is—contributions. If there is a contributors category for the Pro Football Hall of Fame then shouldn't a person's contributions count? It's pretty plain to see that Siwoff's contributions are tangible and measurable. Just pick up an old NFL Preview Magazine—any of them—Street and Smith's, Sporting News, Sports Illustrated and anytime you see a statistic, any statistic think of Seymour.

Try playing fantasy football without accurate statistics organized and standardized by Seymour. In that vein, Siwoff has contributed more for a longer period of time (and no offense to these good men) than Edward DeBartolo, Jerry Jones, and Pat Bowlen, three recent owners who are or will soon be in the Hall of Fame. They all bought teams and did good things, for the most part. But if three other men had purchased those teams would things have been different?

What if someone less dedicated to accuracy and innovation had been hired to do the NFL stats in 1961? It's pretty clear NFL fans LOVE statistics and in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s those statistics were a part of the game's growth and storyline.

And to us, that is one way how you can measure contributions—how pervasive are they? The work Siwoff pioneered touches nearly every article, almost every Tweet, every book, every blog, and every website that has NFL football as its subject.

And here is the key:  It is so pervasive that it is taken for granted thousands and thousands of times a day, every day. Football fans expect to click on a link or any football site and get meaningful statistics. And those who take the more basic stats and twist and turn them to get a DVOA or N/YPA or anything else starts with the work of Elias. There is no way to do most analytics without them. Siwoff's work became more like a utility than anything, like electricity or running water, we expect it to be there as football fans. That is an impact, that is a contribution.

Again, from Kirshenbaum,"For all that enthusiasm, though, Siwoff knows enough to keep his statistics—and himself—in proper perspective. "There's more to sports than just data," he acknowledges. "You have to look at the broader picture, too. In football, a guy might gain a lot of yards rushing. But it could say more about his blocking or the other team's defense than it does about his own ability. And look at fielding figures in baseball; they tell you tragically little. Even an outfielder's assists don't mean much. If he has a really good arm, he might not have too many assists because they're all afraid to run on him".

So, Seymour gets it. Our motto at PFJ is "Football is art. I like the numbers, and love to count things. But I love the art more," and Siwoffs comments are similar, "There's more to sports than just data,". Amen, brother.

Look, we are in favor of George Young getting into the Hall of Fame as soon as possible. But we also strongly support those outside-the-box contributors like Steve Sabol and yes, Seymour Siwoff. We don't think they served on as many NFL committees as DeBartolo, Modell, Jones, Bowlen or Kraft, but the contributions are great in terms of reach and enjoyment, and growth of the game than any of these modern owners in our view.

Siwoff is a vital character in the NFL's history. Sure, one could write the history of the NFL without him (many have) but when you mention Johnny Unitas's 47-consecutive game streak with a touchdown pass or Eric Dickerson's 2,105 yards rushing you only know that because of Siwoff, and because of that he should be a very serious candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the contributor's category. His contributions are really incalculable.

Nailed It: Bowlen and Brandt

LOOKING BACK
By John Turney

Pat Bowlen and Gil Brandt are indeed the two contributor nominees for the Class of 2019 for the Pro Football Hall of Fame as we predicted two days ago (a week ago if you count our posts on the PFRA chat page).

We predict both will get the 80% of the necessary votes next February when the entire committee meets to vote on the upcoming class. And with the deck cleared with these two, we expect George Young to emerge as the sole contributor nominee for the Class of 2020. (In even years there are two contributor nominees and in odd years there is one, and the opposite is true for the senior committee nominees). Young, we feel, has some tangible achievements such as being a five-time NFL Executive of the Year winner so we expect that to get recognized next year.

As we've mentioned we don't get too excited for modern owners getting into the Hall of Fame, but it is a necessity (a necessary evil?) given the amount of money the NFL sends to Canton and the fact that NFL Owners are on the Hall of Fame Board of directors.

We also think it's odd that Eddie Debartolo, Jerry Jones, and now Bowlen, the first three owners who are in or will be in the Hall of Fame, all had issues of cheating in terms of the salary cap. DeBartolo had to pay $300,000 and surrender two a 3rd and 5th round pick. Jones didn't lose picks but had to pay $10 million and had to trim his salary cap by $10 million as punishment.

Bowlen got nailed twice—in 2001 and 2004. In 2001 Bowlen had to pay about $1 million in fines and have to forfeit a 3rd round pick. In 2004 he got hit again and had to pay a similar fine and cough up another 3rd rounder.

So, of course, it makes sense to put those three modern owners in first. We are sure Robert Kraft will be the nominee in three to five years to have a really fearsome foursome of questionable ethics in the Hall of Fame.

But, as we said, it's nothing to be excited about, the Hall of Fame does not lack anything if these modern owners are in and it gains nothing in terms of significance if they are in. Plenty of Hall of Fame players are not pleased that the owners get to wear the same jacket they wear and get recognized as football Hall of Famers so they will never be accepted by the rank and file Hall of Famers anyway.

If there were an award for being good businessmen (sitting on this committee or that committee) then the owners would certainly deserve it. But these owners are not the pioneers of the game, taking the league from a rag-tag affair to what it became in the 1970s. These are not Maras, Hunts, Davises, etc., who might be likened to Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak. The modern owners are more like Tim Cook or Satya Nadella (the current CEOs of Apple and Microsoft) who do great work but are riding the wave created by the innovators.

Pro Football Hall of Fame Contributor Nominee Predictions

LOOKING AHEAD
By John Turney

Pat Bowlen and Gil Brandt, our predictions

When one looks back as the articles that have been written about the Contributor nominees over the last several years you can glean who the runners-up were—those who were close but lost out to those who have been inducted.

These are the ones who have been voted in under the contributor category—
Bobby Beathard
Edward DeBartolo, Jr.
Jerry Jones
Bill Polian
Ron Wolf

These are names that have been mentioned in the press as having been close in the voting—
Bucko Kilroy
Gil Brandt
George Young
Pat Bowlen
Art McNally
Steve Sabol
Paul Tagliabue (Was one of the nominees but was rejected by full committee)
John Wooten

And these are a few other names we've read that have been bandied about—
Carrol Rosenbloom
Bud Adams
Dick Steinberg
Joe Thomas
Art Modell
Clint Murchison
Jack Kent Cooke

We'd say the favorites are Bowlen, George Young, Gil Brandt, and Tagliabue. George Young has the most tangible achievments—he was a five-time NFL Executive of the Year and helped build the 1980s and 1990s New York Giants.

However, our prediction for the two nominees is Pat Bowlen and Gil Brandt. Reading the tea leaves yields few other scenarios. Much of the Denver media went ballistic the past few years when others were selected as the contributor nominees. If nothing else, Bowlen becoming one of the nominees this Thursday will finally end that. It shows the squeaky wheel does get the grease.

Brandt is a terrific ambassador of the game and deserves his share of the credit for taking the Rams system that Tex Schramm brought with him to another level and perfected it and computerized it. He did have lots of help with Bucko Kilroy and Ermal Allen in the scouting end of things, many call them the brain trust of the Cowboys system. Yes, Brandt and Schramm did miss on a lot of picks starting in 1978 through 1988 and the wheels kind of came off, opening up the arrival of Jimmy Johnson but the success of the Cowboys from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s should be plenty to put Brandt over the top.

So, there are the picks: Bowlen and Brandt.  And we think George Young will be the sole nominee next year.

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.