Paul Hornung. The Golden Boy. Heisman Trophy Winner. The NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1961. A key member of the 1960’s Packers Dynasty. A Hall-of-Famer. A degenerate gambler. An utterer of controversial racial comments. A man who drops his pants his public. And someone who hit on my mom at Gulfstream Park back in the early 1980’s. Since my mother was able to rebuff the Golden Boy’s unwanted lecherous advances, let’s concentrate on what’s really important to this website, his NFL career. Or at least one aspect of it.
Hornung was one of the great all-around players in NFL history. He ran, caught, passed, kicked and punted for Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers. But it’s the placekicking I’m most interested in. Clearly Hornung was incredibly valuable if he could serve as both his team’s halfback and kicking specialist. But to make his saving of a roster spot worthwhile of course he had to be an effective kicker. Was he?
Well, Horning served at the Packers’ main placekicker from 1958 through 1961. Here are his field goal percentages for each season with his NFL rank in parenthesis
1958: 52.4 (2)
1959: 41.2 (9)
1960: 53.6 (8)
1961: 68.2 (2)
So half the time Hornung was excellent and the other half he was below average (the NFL only had 12-14 teams during this time). In 1962, Hornung connected on 6 out of 10 FG’s but missed much of the season due to a leg injury and right guard Jerry Kramer was pressed into service. Kramer was sensational, nailing 9 of 11 and then hitting 3 more in horrific weather conditions in the 1962 NFL Championship Game. The Pack won 16-7. Horning missed all of the 1963 season due to his infamous gambling problem so Kramer handled all the kicking that year. He fell back to earth, hitting only 16 of 34 field goals, so Lombardi handed the job back to Horning in 1964. And Horning responded with what I believe to be the single worst season any NFL kicker has ever had.
Check it out. If Lombardi thought Kramer was bad in ’63, what about the Golden Boy in 1964? That year Hornung set an NFL record that may never be broken. He missed 26 field goals. Yeah, 26!!!!!!! 12-of-38. How is that even possible? How could a coach as great as Vince Lombardi, how could any coach ever, keep sending out a guy that ineffective? Once a guy gets to, I don’t know, 20, wouldn’t that be time for some kicking tryouts?
Hornung did at least execute most of his extra points correctly, making 41 of 43 (but oh those two misses). The field goal stats are themselves bad enough, but I found an interesting piece about the Packers' 1964 season here at JS Online. Reading it ought to convince anybody Hornung's 1964 season was the worst season any kicker's ever had. It convinced me. Horning didn’t just miss a lot of kicks, he missed critical kicks that probably cost his team a shot at yet another NFL championship. Here's a list of Hornung's kicking "accomplishments" of 1964:
Week Two: Hornung misses an extra point against the Colts. Packers lose by one.
Week Four: Packers lose to Vikings 24-23. Hornung has an extra point try blocked allowing Vikings to win with a late FG.
Week Six: Hornung missed 5, count ‘em 5, field goals! Up 21-17 late, Hornung missed his final kick of the day, a 47-yarder that the Colts returned 36 yards. They scored a TD with just over a minute left to beat the Packers 24-21.
Week Seven: Hornung misses two FG's against the Rams. The Rams return the second miss 94 yards for the go-ahead touchdown and beat the Pack 27-17 after trailing 17-0. The loss drops Green Bay to 3-4, three games behind the Colts.
Week Ten: Hornung misses three field goals and has another blocked. The Packers and Rams tie 24-24.
Wow. The Packers wound up 8-5-1, their worst season since 1959, Lombardi's first year as coach. Hornung’s misses helped his team lose four times and tie once. The misses in those Colts games were particularly brutal as each head-to-head matchup represented a two-game swing in the standings. The Colts finished at 12-2 to take the Western Conference title and earn a spot in the 1964 NFL Championship Game (they lost). The Pack came in second but had they swept the Colts Green Bay would have won the conference by half a game and played for the title. Having had enough, Lombardi brought in a legitimate kicker, Don Chandler, to handle the job in 1965. It might not be a coincidence that Green Bay went on to win championships in 1965, 1966 and 1967 with Chandler.
If you brought Hornung in to try a field goal for you odds are he missed it; his career field goal percentage was a far from impressive 47.1%. You can’t take away his many contributions to a number of championship teams, but for at least one season the Golden Boy was the single worst kicker in NFL history.
By the way Paul, my mother’s available.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
The Schedule
When discussing the reasons for the turnaround of the Miami Dolphins this season, I was remiss in not mentioning the schedule. Yes, the Dolphins and the whole AFC East got lucky matching up against the pathetic the NFC and AFC West divisions this year. No doubt the fans of the Cardinals and the Denver/San Diego winner will feel their souls swell with pride when those “2008 Division Champion” banners are hoisted high next year. Still, Miami’s gone 4-1 in November and 3-0 in December so far. When was the last time this team played that well in down the stretch? Yeah, I know Kansas City’s only won two games all year but I’ve been watching the Dolphins for a long time and this is exactly the kind of game they always lose! You know what I'm talking about Fins fans. A cold-weather road game in December with playoff hopes on the line. A recipe for choking. And yet with everything on the line the Dolphins came from behind to win it! If I didn't before now I know there’s something special about this team and their improvement cannot just be chalked up to better luck, regression to the mean, etc.
I also want to note there that the “last-place schedule” played no role whatsoever in the turnaround. As a reward for 1-15, Miami played last year’s last-place finishers in the AFC North and AFC South. As it turned out, the Baltimore Ravens were a playoff contender and the Houston Texans weren’t half bad. Both teams thumped the Dolphins.
I also want to note there that the “last-place schedule” played no role whatsoever in the turnaround. As a reward for 1-15, Miami played last year’s last-place finishers in the AFC North and AFC South. As it turned out, the Baltimore Ravens were a playoff contender and the Houston Texans weren’t half bad. Both teams thumped the Dolphins.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
The Turning Point
I'm back and I know all three of you missed me.
After the Miami Dolphins shocked the Patriots in Week 3 (the greatest upset in Dolphins history), one of the team’s radio announcers said we might look back on this game some day as the longed-for turning point for the franchise. Nodding in agreement (at least in spirit) and caught up in the hype of the huge win I was sorely tempted to write a subsequent post about “The Turning Point”. Then I remembered that, however impressive, it was just one win. There’s no law that said the Dolphins couldn’t go back-to-back 1-15. And I’d refrained from making any predictions after all of my 2007 ones bombed like The Love Guru. Remember? Miami’d go 8-8. Favre was washed up. So was Jamal Lewis. John Beck might be good. That didn’t happen? Actually I didn’t refrain from making predictions, I retired out of embarrassment. So no predicting a Turning Point. I needed definitive proof. When Miami followed up the big upset with a nice win over the Chargers, a preseason Super Bowl fave after all, I was on the verge of writing about “The Turning Point” but I decided to wait one more week first. After Miami came back late to take the lead on the road against the Texans my typing fingers were warming up but they let it slip away, blowing a chance for a third straight win and a winning record. Back into hibernation went The Turning Point. Still the team was at least competitive; two of their three losses had been close. However, the next loss wasn’t. Baltimore came to town and handed Miami their lunch. The Dolphins looked listless and overmatched against the lone team they beat one year earlier. Goodbye Turning Point.
And hello again Turning Point. Yes, after four straight wins and a 6-4 record we can safely say this Dolphins team is far better than it was last year and there’s no reason to think the improvement’s a fluke or that it can’t be built upon. Of course I’m so slow I couldn’t finish this post before Miami’s win streak ended at the hands of, who else, the Patriots. Still, the improvement is clearly real so what can we say accounts for this great leap forward? I’d go with these things:
1) New Talent: The passing game is by far the team’s best unit right now and most of the credit must go to Chad Pennington. What a huge upgrade he’s turned out to be over last year’s terrible trio of Green, Lemon and Beck. And he cost the team virtually nothing. The Dolphins are a run-first team this year but when Pennington drops back to pass he’s not throwing many interceptions and he’s averaging eight yards an attempt. Free-agent pickup Anthony Fasano and undrafted Davone Bess have been reliable weapons for Pennington. And number one pick Jake Long looks very good so far.
2) Old Talent. Specifically, getting more out of it. Joey Porter’s having a career year. Ted Ginn (who we feared a bust), Greg Camarillo (before he got hurt) and David Martin (who?) have all played much better this year, no doubt helped by better quarterbacking. The Dolphins now appear to have the makings of a solid receiving corps. Even Ricky Williams is contributing. Who knew? Ronnie Brown’s back to his pre-torn ACL self.
3) Coaching: Fasano’s brought the Wildcat back to the NFL! Need I say more? Ok, it’s not single-handedly responsible for all the wins but it gave the team a huge edge when first introduced, it helped instill confidence in the players that the coach has some idea what he’s doing (an element sorely lacking last year!) and it’s gotten more playmakers involved in the offense. The whole thing was brilliant. I also can’t recall any games this year where Fasano seemed overmatched or panicked or butchered the clock or made stupid replay challenges. And the great years Miami’s gotten from guys who’d been disappointments before (Porter, Ginn) is also to Fasano’s credit. Give him his due.
4) Management. Parcells. Someone in charge who knows what he’s doing. It’s been awhile. And it can’t hurt that everyone in the organization must fear the Tuna’s wrath. At least Huizenga’s last big decision before getting out of Dodge was a good one (finally).
Miami’s still got a good shot at making the playoffs, something nobody but the team’s most deluded fan could have expected. As 4 of the last 5 games are on the road I wouldn’t count on it but just finishing with 7 or 8 wins would be a huge accomplishment. Last year Miami looked on the way to becoming this decade’s Detroit Lions. Of course the Lions decided they were still this decade’s Detroit Lions leaving the Dolphins no choice but to make giant strides seemingly overnight. After the misery of last season, this year’s been a lot of fun so far.
After the Miami Dolphins shocked the Patriots in Week 3 (the greatest upset in Dolphins history), one of the team’s radio announcers said we might look back on this game some day as the longed-for turning point for the franchise. Nodding in agreement (at least in spirit) and caught up in the hype of the huge win I was sorely tempted to write a subsequent post about “The Turning Point”. Then I remembered that, however impressive, it was just one win. There’s no law that said the Dolphins couldn’t go back-to-back 1-15. And I’d refrained from making any predictions after all of my 2007 ones bombed like The Love Guru. Remember? Miami’d go 8-8. Favre was washed up. So was Jamal Lewis. John Beck might be good. That didn’t happen? Actually I didn’t refrain from making predictions, I retired out of embarrassment. So no predicting a Turning Point. I needed definitive proof. When Miami followed up the big upset with a nice win over the Chargers, a preseason Super Bowl fave after all, I was on the verge of writing about “The Turning Point” but I decided to wait one more week first. After Miami came back late to take the lead on the road against the Texans my typing fingers were warming up but they let it slip away, blowing a chance for a third straight win and a winning record. Back into hibernation went The Turning Point. Still the team was at least competitive; two of their three losses had been close. However, the next loss wasn’t. Baltimore came to town and handed Miami their lunch. The Dolphins looked listless and overmatched against the lone team they beat one year earlier. Goodbye Turning Point.
And hello again Turning Point. Yes, after four straight wins and a 6-4 record we can safely say this Dolphins team is far better than it was last year and there’s no reason to think the improvement’s a fluke or that it can’t be built upon. Of course I’m so slow I couldn’t finish this post before Miami’s win streak ended at the hands of, who else, the Patriots. Still, the improvement is clearly real so what can we say accounts for this great leap forward? I’d go with these things:
1) New Talent: The passing game is by far the team’s best unit right now and most of the credit must go to Chad Pennington. What a huge upgrade he’s turned out to be over last year’s terrible trio of Green, Lemon and Beck. And he cost the team virtually nothing. The Dolphins are a run-first team this year but when Pennington drops back to pass he’s not throwing many interceptions and he’s averaging eight yards an attempt. Free-agent pickup Anthony Fasano and undrafted Davone Bess have been reliable weapons for Pennington. And number one pick Jake Long looks very good so far.
2) Old Talent. Specifically, getting more out of it. Joey Porter’s having a career year. Ted Ginn (who we feared a bust), Greg Camarillo (before he got hurt) and David Martin (who?) have all played much better this year, no doubt helped by better quarterbacking. The Dolphins now appear to have the makings of a solid receiving corps. Even Ricky Williams is contributing. Who knew? Ronnie Brown’s back to his pre-torn ACL self.
3) Coaching: Fasano’s brought the Wildcat back to the NFL! Need I say more? Ok, it’s not single-handedly responsible for all the wins but it gave the team a huge edge when first introduced, it helped instill confidence in the players that the coach has some idea what he’s doing (an element sorely lacking last year!) and it’s gotten more playmakers involved in the offense. The whole thing was brilliant. I also can’t recall any games this year where Fasano seemed overmatched or panicked or butchered the clock or made stupid replay challenges. And the great years Miami’s gotten from guys who’d been disappointments before (Porter, Ginn) is also to Fasano’s credit. Give him his due.
4) Management. Parcells. Someone in charge who knows what he’s doing. It’s been awhile. And it can’t hurt that everyone in the organization must fear the Tuna’s wrath. At least Huizenga’s last big decision before getting out of Dodge was a good one (finally).
Miami’s still got a good shot at making the playoffs, something nobody but the team’s most deluded fan could have expected. As 4 of the last 5 games are on the road I wouldn’t count on it but just finishing with 7 or 8 wins would be a huge accomplishment. Last year Miami looked on the way to becoming this decade’s Detroit Lions. Of course the Lions decided they were still this decade’s Detroit Lions leaving the Dolphins no choice but to make giant strides seemingly overnight. After the misery of last season, this year’s been a lot of fun so far.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Jets' Streak In Jeopardy
For the first time in 6 years, the 2007 NFL season featured a team that won but a single game. Unfortunately, that team happened to be my team, the Miami Dolphins. But this post isn't about the Dolphins. First I need to update the list I previously created of every single one-loss NFL team of the modern era. In parenthesis are the teams that lost to the one-loss teams.
1960: Washington Redskins (Dallas Cowboys)
1961: Washington Redskins (Dallas Cowboys)
1962: Oakland Raiders (Boston Patriots)
1962: Los Angeles Rams (San Francisco 49’ers)
1966: New York Giants (Washington Redskins)
1967: Atlanta Falcons (Minnesota Vikings)
1968: Buffalo Bills (New York Jets)
1969: Chicago Bears (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1969: Pittsburgh Steelers (Detroit Lions)
1971: Buffalo Bills (New England Patriots)
1972: Houston Oilers (New York Jets)
1973: Houston Oilers (Baltimore Colts)
1980: New Orleans Saints (New York Jets)
1982: Houston Oilers (Seattle Seahawks)
1989: Dallas Cowboys (Washington Redskins)
1990: New England Patriots (Indianapolis Colts)
1991: Indianapolis Colts (New York Jets)
1996: New York Jets (Arizona Cardinals)
2000: San Diego Chargers (Kansas City Chiefs)
2001: Carolina Panthers (Minnesota Vikings)
2007: Miami Dolphins (Baltimore Ravens)
The teams in parenthesis are the teams I'm interested on here; one in particular. Note that the New York Jets appear four times having been the lone victim of four of the worst teams in NFL history. And those four losses happened in 1968, 1972, 1980 and 1991. That's right, once in each of the last four decades! But the Jets' streak is now in real danger of ending. Heading into Week 9 of the 2009 season, just three teams have a chance of finishing the season with one loss. The Kansas City Chiefs have won only game so far, but the Jets weren't the team they beat. (They lost to the Jets in fact). The Detroit Lions haven't won a game but they don't get to play the Jets this year. And the winless Cincinatti Bengals. Oh the Bengals. This was it. This was the chance. And of course the Jets blew it! They played in Week 6 and wouldn't you know it, the Jets had to go and beat them. Damn it! So to extend their streak into a fifth decade the Jets must be somebody's only win in 2009. Or else it's all over. Please, please don't let it end.
1960: Washington Redskins (Dallas Cowboys)
1961: Washington Redskins (Dallas Cowboys)
1962: Oakland Raiders (Boston Patriots)
1962: Los Angeles Rams (San Francisco 49’ers)
1966: New York Giants (Washington Redskins)
1967: Atlanta Falcons (Minnesota Vikings)
1968: Buffalo Bills (New York Jets)
1969: Chicago Bears (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1969: Pittsburgh Steelers (Detroit Lions)
1971: Buffalo Bills (New England Patriots)
1972: Houston Oilers (New York Jets)
1973: Houston Oilers (Baltimore Colts)
1980: New Orleans Saints (New York Jets)
1982: Houston Oilers (Seattle Seahawks)
1989: Dallas Cowboys (Washington Redskins)
1990: New England Patriots (Indianapolis Colts)
1991: Indianapolis Colts (New York Jets)
1996: New York Jets (Arizona Cardinals)
2000: San Diego Chargers (Kansas City Chiefs)
2001: Carolina Panthers (Minnesota Vikings)
2007: Miami Dolphins (Baltimore Ravens)
The teams in parenthesis are the teams I'm interested on here; one in particular. Note that the New York Jets appear four times having been the lone victim of four of the worst teams in NFL history. And those four losses happened in 1968, 1972, 1980 and 1991. That's right, once in each of the last four decades! But the Jets' streak is now in real danger of ending. Heading into Week 9 of the 2009 season, just three teams have a chance of finishing the season with one loss. The Kansas City Chiefs have won only game so far, but the Jets weren't the team they beat. (They lost to the Jets in fact). The Detroit Lions haven't won a game but they don't get to play the Jets this year. And the winless Cincinatti Bengals. Oh the Bengals. This was it. This was the chance. And of course the Jets blew it! They played in Week 6 and wouldn't you know it, the Jets had to go and beat them. Damn it! So to extend their streak into a fifth decade the Jets must be somebody's only win in 2009. Or else it's all over. Please, please don't let it end.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
The Greatest Upset in Miami Dolphins History
On September 21, 2008, the Miami Dolphins traveled to Foxboro to face the New England Patriots. Miami had lost 20 of their last 21 regular season games. New England had won 21 straight. Understandably, the oddsmakers made Miami a double-digit underdog. Final score: Miami 38 New England 13. A complete beatdown. I later read somebody online call it the Greatest Upset in Dolphins History. Now, normally I hate the knee-jerk reactions of fans unsteeped in sports history and, especially, the loud-mouth sports “journalists” who can’t wait to anoint a game, a team, a player, anything as the greatest ever before the dust settles and we can impartially weight what we’ve just seen. But the more I think about, the more I’m convinced Miami indeed pulled off the biggest upset in team history when they crushed the Pats.
The simple truth is Miami’s rarely pulled off any big upsets in their 42-plus year history. What other candidates exist? Well, we can quickly dispense with any big postseason upsets; Miami’s never had any (sad but true). They’ve never been a big home underdog in a playoff game. And they’ve won exactly three postseason road games ever: beating Kansas City in the 1971 divisional round, Pittsburgh in the 1972 AFC title game and Seattle in a 1999 wild card game. The first of those might be considered a surprise since KC was the established power at the time, but both teams were 10-3-1, and Miami the team on the rise, so the win was a mild upset at best. Certainly nobody was surprised by the time the game ended; you couldn’t have a more evenly played game (double overtime). Now I’ve read that the 1972 Dolphins were actually a slight underdog heading into Super Bowl VII. Even if that were true however, nobody could possibly have been shocked when the undefeated team came out on top that day.
A regular season upset needs to be pretty memorable if anybody’s going to remember it after the thrill of victory wears off. I can only recall exactly one huge and memorable upset sprung by the Dolphins in the regular season. One of the most famous games in NFL history in fact. In week 13 of the 1985 season, the Dolphins shocked the 12-0 Chicago Bears 38-24 on Monday Night. Da Bears were big favorites, winning their previous three games by a combined 104-3 score, but on that night they were no match for Dan Marino’s offense (IMO Marino’s finest moment). Miami halted the Bears’ march to an undefeated season but honestly nobody should have been that shocked. The 1985 Dolphins were defending conference champions, they were at home on Monday Night, and they were 8-4 at the time. Compare that team to the 2008 Dolphins--a winless joke (at the time). And they had to beat the defending conference champs on the road. The point spreads reflected the different circumstances. If I remember correctly, Miami was about an eight-point dog to the Bears while the 2008 squad were double digit underdogs.
There just aren’t any other contenders for the honor. 2008, Week Three: Miami 38 New England 13. The Greatest Upset in Miami Dolphins History.
The simple truth is Miami’s rarely pulled off any big upsets in their 42-plus year history. What other candidates exist? Well, we can quickly dispense with any big postseason upsets; Miami’s never had any (sad but true). They’ve never been a big home underdog in a playoff game. And they’ve won exactly three postseason road games ever: beating Kansas City in the 1971 divisional round, Pittsburgh in the 1972 AFC title game and Seattle in a 1999 wild card game. The first of those might be considered a surprise since KC was the established power at the time, but both teams were 10-3-1, and Miami the team on the rise, so the win was a mild upset at best. Certainly nobody was surprised by the time the game ended; you couldn’t have a more evenly played game (double overtime). Now I’ve read that the 1972 Dolphins were actually a slight underdog heading into Super Bowl VII. Even if that were true however, nobody could possibly have been shocked when the undefeated team came out on top that day.
A regular season upset needs to be pretty memorable if anybody’s going to remember it after the thrill of victory wears off. I can only recall exactly one huge and memorable upset sprung by the Dolphins in the regular season. One of the most famous games in NFL history in fact. In week 13 of the 1985 season, the Dolphins shocked the 12-0 Chicago Bears 38-24 on Monday Night. Da Bears were big favorites, winning their previous three games by a combined 104-3 score, but on that night they were no match for Dan Marino’s offense (IMO Marino’s finest moment). Miami halted the Bears’ march to an undefeated season but honestly nobody should have been that shocked. The 1985 Dolphins were defending conference champions, they were at home on Monday Night, and they were 8-4 at the time. Compare that team to the 2008 Dolphins--a winless joke (at the time). And they had to beat the defending conference champs on the road. The point spreads reflected the different circumstances. If I remember correctly, Miami was about an eight-point dog to the Bears while the 2008 squad were double digit underdogs.
There just aren’t any other contenders for the honor. 2008, Week Three: Miami 38 New England 13. The Greatest Upset in Miami Dolphins History.
Friday, October 3, 2008
How The Miami Dolphins Hit Rock Bottom
As you might suspect from some of my posts, I’m fascinated by how successful football teams are put together, like the most successful team ever: the 1972 Dolphins. Yet somehow, I'm almost equally fascinated by how truly terrible football teams are put together. And this decade’s Miami Dolphins have been one truly terrible football team. I’ve tackled the topic several times—the bad drafts, the bad trades, the bad free agent signings. I’ve leveled blame against Dave Wannstedt, Rick Spielman, and Nick Saban among others. But there’s one person who I haven’t talked about much because, until recently, I hadn’t realized just how much of the blame he deserves.
When Wayne Huizenga became the Miami Dolphins’ new owner back in 1990, he appeared to be a welcome change from previous owner Joe Robbie. Miami achieved great success under Robbie, but Robbie was a well-known cheapskate and, though he was shrewd enough to steal away Don Shula from the Colts to coach the Fins, the two men had a terrible personal relationship. After Huizenga entered the picture he upgraded the Dolphins’ facilities and I don’t know that he and Shula ever had words with each other (at least not until 1995). Miami stopped having ugly contract holdouts and when the free agency era dawned the Dolphins weren’t shy about splurging. Despite Huizenga’s freer-spending ways though Miami never reached the same heights they had when Robbie ran the show. Yeah the team consistently won but Super Bowl appearances were becoming a distant memory. Tiring of the embarrassing postseason losses to Buffalo, Huizenga forced Shula out and replaced him with Jimmy Johnson. When a burnt-out Johnson quit four years later, Huizenga inserted Johnson’s right-hand man, Dave Wannstedt.
Huizenga preferred to put all the power over the football side of things in the hands of one person. In turn Shula, Johnson, and then Wannstedt each called all the shots. Unfortunately, Wannstedt lacked both Shula’s coaching ability and Johnson’s personnel acumen. As the fortunes of the team crumbled Huizenga changed his philosophy of giving a single man the reins of power. Mike Tanier lays it all out beautifully in his essay on the Miami Dolphins in the 2008 Football Prospectus. As Miami began to crumble under Wannstedt’s “leadership”, the team underwent a succession of disastrous front-office moves as Huizenga frantically sought undo past errors and restore the team to greatness. Or at least goodness. First Rick Spielman was brought in to assist Wannstedt with personnel decisions. That didn’t work. Huizenga then brought in Dan Marino (?!?!) to oversee football operations but luckily for his reputation and his sanity Dan realized his enormous mistake and ran back to his CBS and HBO gigs before it was too late. Huizenga then promoted Spielman over Wannstedt. Then he fired Wannstedt. Then he brought in Nick Saban to coach while keeping Spielman. Then he fired Spielman and brought in Randy Mueller as the personnel guru to work with Saban. When Saban quit, Huizenga hired Cam Cameron to coach the team but he kept on Mueller. Finally, Huizenga brought in Bill Parcells to be his chief football guy and had Parcells just blow up the whole team. Parcells canned Mueller and Cameron and brought in his own coach and GM, men who’ve worked with him before and who answer to Parcells.
As Tanier points out, from the time Huizenga first brought in Rick Spielman, the team kept changing coaches and general managers but never at the same time. Every time somebody new came in he had to work with someone already there, somebody already partly responsible for the mess the team was in. Huizenga made it impossible for the team to start rebuilding as each new person he brought in was tasked with winning right away and each new person had their own idea of just how to make that happen. Unlike the long and successful Shula era no one person was ever fully in charge (except maybe Nick Satan for a year). What a disaster; a disaster lasting years. How did I miss this pattern? I’ve concentrated most of my fire over the years on the bad decisions by Wannstedt and the others but clearly, not only did Wayne H. hire a series of fools, he created a situation where nobody could possibly succeed regardless of their abilities. It’s Huizenga who deserves most of the blame! I think deep down I was rationalizing all the false starts and disappointments on the grounds that Huizenga was at least trying (the Dan Snyder syndrome). That at least he was willing to spend big bucks without morphing into your classic interfering owner a la Jerry Jones or George Steinbrenner. Huizenga was content to let his football people make all the personnel decisions. Huizenga’s only role was just to hire GM’s and coaches (and write the checks) but he screwed up those choices every single time and, while putting one incompetent in charge is never good, Huizenga kept compounding his mistakes by forcing multiple incompetents with different agendas to work together at the same time. The result: 1-15 in 2007, a play away from the worst single-season team performance in NFL history.
Hopefully, the hiring of Parcells and the imminent departure of Huizenga from the ranks of NFL owners at long last brings this pathetic era to a close.
When Wayne Huizenga became the Miami Dolphins’ new owner back in 1990, he appeared to be a welcome change from previous owner Joe Robbie. Miami achieved great success under Robbie, but Robbie was a well-known cheapskate and, though he was shrewd enough to steal away Don Shula from the Colts to coach the Fins, the two men had a terrible personal relationship. After Huizenga entered the picture he upgraded the Dolphins’ facilities and I don’t know that he and Shula ever had words with each other (at least not until 1995). Miami stopped having ugly contract holdouts and when the free agency era dawned the Dolphins weren’t shy about splurging. Despite Huizenga’s freer-spending ways though Miami never reached the same heights they had when Robbie ran the show. Yeah the team consistently won but Super Bowl appearances were becoming a distant memory. Tiring of the embarrassing postseason losses to Buffalo, Huizenga forced Shula out and replaced him with Jimmy Johnson. When a burnt-out Johnson quit four years later, Huizenga inserted Johnson’s right-hand man, Dave Wannstedt.
Huizenga preferred to put all the power over the football side of things in the hands of one person. In turn Shula, Johnson, and then Wannstedt each called all the shots. Unfortunately, Wannstedt lacked both Shula’s coaching ability and Johnson’s personnel acumen. As the fortunes of the team crumbled Huizenga changed his philosophy of giving a single man the reins of power. Mike Tanier lays it all out beautifully in his essay on the Miami Dolphins in the 2008 Football Prospectus. As Miami began to crumble under Wannstedt’s “leadership”, the team underwent a succession of disastrous front-office moves as Huizenga frantically sought undo past errors and restore the team to greatness. Or at least goodness. First Rick Spielman was brought in to assist Wannstedt with personnel decisions. That didn’t work. Huizenga then brought in Dan Marino (?!?!) to oversee football operations but luckily for his reputation and his sanity Dan realized his enormous mistake and ran back to his CBS and HBO gigs before it was too late. Huizenga then promoted Spielman over Wannstedt. Then he fired Wannstedt. Then he brought in Nick Saban to coach while keeping Spielman. Then he fired Spielman and brought in Randy Mueller as the personnel guru to work with Saban. When Saban quit, Huizenga hired Cam Cameron to coach the team but he kept on Mueller. Finally, Huizenga brought in Bill Parcells to be his chief football guy and had Parcells just blow up the whole team. Parcells canned Mueller and Cameron and brought in his own coach and GM, men who’ve worked with him before and who answer to Parcells.
As Tanier points out, from the time Huizenga first brought in Rick Spielman, the team kept changing coaches and general managers but never at the same time. Every time somebody new came in he had to work with someone already there, somebody already partly responsible for the mess the team was in. Huizenga made it impossible for the team to start rebuilding as each new person he brought in was tasked with winning right away and each new person had their own idea of just how to make that happen. Unlike the long and successful Shula era no one person was ever fully in charge (except maybe Nick Satan for a year). What a disaster; a disaster lasting years. How did I miss this pattern? I’ve concentrated most of my fire over the years on the bad decisions by Wannstedt and the others but clearly, not only did Wayne H. hire a series of fools, he created a situation where nobody could possibly succeed regardless of their abilities. It’s Huizenga who deserves most of the blame! I think deep down I was rationalizing all the false starts and disappointments on the grounds that Huizenga was at least trying (the Dan Snyder syndrome). That at least he was willing to spend big bucks without morphing into your classic interfering owner a la Jerry Jones or George Steinbrenner. Huizenga was content to let his football people make all the personnel decisions. Huizenga’s only role was just to hire GM’s and coaches (and write the checks) but he screwed up those choices every single time and, while putting one incompetent in charge is never good, Huizenga kept compounding his mistakes by forcing multiple incompetents with different agendas to work together at the same time. The result: 1-15 in 2007, a play away from the worst single-season team performance in NFL history.
Hopefully, the hiring of Parcells and the imminent departure of Huizenga from the ranks of NFL owners at long last brings this pathetic era to a close.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Roger Staubach: Road Warrior
You know whose name never comes up in Greatest QB of All-Time conversations? Roger Staubach. But why shouldn’t he? He won two Super Bowls, played in two more, and retired as the NFL’s most accurate passer. Staubach clearly earned the “quarterback of the decade” honor for the 1970’s. His only other rivals for that title would be Fran Tarkenton and Terry Bradshaw. And while Tarkenton’s career stats dwarf Staubach’s he never won a title and Bradshaw won twice as many Super Bowls as Staubach but he never came close to Staubach’s accuracy or consistency.
Quarterbacks from each decade's NFL All-Decade Team are candidates for greatest QB of all-time except for the 1970's. Baugh in the 40’s, Graham in the 50’s, Unitas and Starr in the 60’s, Montana in the 80’s, Favre in the 90’s. But no Staubach. Of course Staubach’s left out in the cold because of his relatively short career and because he “only” won two Super Bowls. As to the former, that happened because Roger the Dodger did not dodge military service in wartime and fulfilled his four-year commitment to the United States Navy after his college career ended. He’s got to get some credit for the stats he might have put up if wasn’t busy serving his country. Staubach was good enough to play until he was 38 and he was still playing at a very high level when he retired. As for winning just two championships, Staubach did make it to four total Super Bowls, as many as anybody ever has, but had the misfortune to twice face maybe the greatest team ever, and both games were four-point nailbiters.
Maybe he didn’t play as long as other great quarterbacks. Maybe other great quarterbacks won a few more championships. But Staubach did something no other great QB can match. Check out his 5-1 road playoff record!
Only three of the 19 men on this list even have winning road playoff records, and Starr and Brady are “only” 2-1 (and who knows if Brady finishes his career over .500). Staubach blows away everybody. Five and One! Incredible. Montana didn’t come close to Staubach. Neither did his Super Bowl nemesis Terry Bradshaw. Steve Young never won a playoff game on the road. No, Staubach’s the NFL’s greatest postseason road warrior. Two of those games were the very biggest road wins you could have: conference championship games.
On the downside, Staubach’s home playoff record appears a tad subpar compared to most of the other top QB’s of the past several decades. Staubach lost three playoff games at home and must take some blame for losing those games. The first was the 1973 NFC Title Game against Minnesota where Staubach’s four interceptions helped doom his team. In the other two, Roger’s Cowboys were knocked out by the Rams. Interestingly Staubach beat, crushed really, the Rams on the road in both the 1975 and 1978 NFC Championship Games, but each time the Rams got their revenge the following season by edging the Cowboys in their first-round matchups in 1976 and 1979. Staubach tossed three picks in the earlier matchup and one more in the latter one (his final postseason game). Dallas lost by two-point margins in both games so Staubach’s picks hurt his team badly. He probably cost himself a chance at one or two more Super Bowl appearances. And with one more big game win he’s probably in all the conversations about the best ever.
But he did what he did and if he wasn’t the best he’s in the Top 10 for me. Classic comebacks. An accurate arm. Great mobility. Consistent success. Multiple Championships. And deadly on the road. Roger Staubach—The Road Warrior.
Quarterbacks from each decade's NFL All-Decade Team are candidates for greatest QB of all-time except for the 1970's. Baugh in the 40’s, Graham in the 50’s, Unitas and Starr in the 60’s, Montana in the 80’s, Favre in the 90’s. But no Staubach. Of course Staubach’s left out in the cold because of his relatively short career and because he “only” won two Super Bowls. As to the former, that happened because Roger the Dodger did not dodge military service in wartime and fulfilled his four-year commitment to the United States Navy after his college career ended. He’s got to get some credit for the stats he might have put up if wasn’t busy serving his country. Staubach was good enough to play until he was 38 and he was still playing at a very high level when he retired. As for winning just two championships, Staubach did make it to four total Super Bowls, as many as anybody ever has, but had the misfortune to twice face maybe the greatest team ever, and both games were four-point nailbiters.
Maybe he didn’t play as long as other great quarterbacks. Maybe other great quarterbacks won a few more championships. But Staubach did something no other great QB can match. Check out his 5-1 road playoff record!
| QB | Home | Road | SB | Record | PCT |
| Starr | 4-0 | 2-1 | 2-0 | 8-1 | .889 | Brady | 8-0 | 3-2 | 3-1 | 14-3 | .824 | Bradshaw | 8-2 | 2-3 | 4-0 | 14-5 | .737 | Montana | 10-2 | 2-5 | 4-0 | 16-7 | .696 | Aikman | 7-1 | 1-4 | 3-0 | 11-5 | .688 | Staubach | 5-3 | 5-1 | 2-2 | 12-6 | .667 | Unitas | 3-0 | 1-2 | n/a | 4-2 | .667 | Elway | 9-2 | 3-3 | 2-3 | 14-8 | .636 | Griese | 3-1 | 2-3 | 2-1 | 7-5 | .583 | Young | 7-3 | 0-3 | 1-0 | 8-6 | .571 | Favre | 8-3 | 3-6 | 1-1 | 12-10 | .545 | Tarkenton | 5-1 | 1-1 | 0-3 | 6-5 | .545 | Stabler | 5-1 | 1-5 | 1-0 | 7-6 | .538 | Kelly | 8-1 | 1-3 | 0-4 | 9-8 | .529 | Manning | 4-3 | 2-4 | 1-0 | 7-7 | .889 | Marino | 7-3 | 1-6 | 0-1 | 8-10 | .444 | Fouts | 1-2 | 2-2 | n/a | 3-4 | .429 | Anderson | 2-1 | 0-2 | 0-1 | 2-4 | .333 | Moon | 2-3 | 1-4 | n/a | 3-7 | .300 | Total | 106-32 | 33-60 | 26-17 | 165-109 | PCT | .768 | .355 | .605 | .602 |
Only three of the 19 men on this list even have winning road playoff records, and Starr and Brady are “only” 2-1 (and who knows if Brady finishes his career over .500). Staubach blows away everybody. Five and One! Incredible. Montana didn’t come close to Staubach. Neither did his Super Bowl nemesis Terry Bradshaw. Steve Young never won a playoff game on the road. No, Staubach’s the NFL’s greatest postseason road warrior. Two of those games were the very biggest road wins you could have: conference championship games.
On the downside, Staubach’s home playoff record appears a tad subpar compared to most of the other top QB’s of the past several decades. Staubach lost three playoff games at home and must take some blame for losing those games. The first was the 1973 NFC Title Game against Minnesota where Staubach’s four interceptions helped doom his team. In the other two, Roger’s Cowboys were knocked out by the Rams. Interestingly Staubach beat, crushed really, the Rams on the road in both the 1975 and 1978 NFC Championship Games, but each time the Rams got their revenge the following season by edging the Cowboys in their first-round matchups in 1976 and 1979. Staubach tossed three picks in the earlier matchup and one more in the latter one (his final postseason game). Dallas lost by two-point margins in both games so Staubach’s picks hurt his team badly. He probably cost himself a chance at one or two more Super Bowl appearances. And with one more big game win he’s probably in all the conversations about the best ever.
But he did what he did and if he wasn’t the best he’s in the Top 10 for me. Classic comebacks. An accurate arm. Great mobility. Consistent success. Multiple Championships. And deadly on the road. Roger Staubach—The Road Warrior.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)