Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Dec 9, 2010 19:21:25 GMT
In which I replay 30 years of NFL history, using RooGames' Second and Ten.
1980 was the first year I heard about American football via one of my Da's friends from the RAF and via the Armed Forces Radio And Television Service, (AFRTS). At the time the NFL had six divisions and 28 teams - the Oilers were still in Houston, the Clots were still in Baltimore, Seattle were still in the AFC and Tampa Bay were still in orange.
In 1982 I saw my first game, on a Sunday afternoon on Channel 4, featuring the Dallas Cowboys and, umm, someone else.
In 1986 I was at Loftus Road attending a training camp with one Daniel Constantine Marino Junior and at one point I was smeared into the plastic pitch by what seemed like a giant - Dwight Stephenson, the Miami Dolphins' Center who actually weighed less than New "York" Giants' Runningback Brandon Jacobs.
To go back to 1980 Stephenson was drafted in the second round with the 48th overall selection and would end up in the hall of fame. Six rounds later the Phish would take the guy who kept Stephenson's arse warm for three years before Marino showed up, David Woodley.
Joining Stephenson in the hall of fame would be Offensive Tackle Anthony Munoz who was taken by Cincinnati with the third overall pick. Picking in front of Cincinnati and showing us exactly why they had such a stellar decade were the New York Jets.
The Jets used the number two overall to pick Wide Receiver Lam Jones. You haven't heard of Lam Jones? He was an Olympic sprinter (Gold medal at the Montreal Olympics), drafted by the Jets for his speed. His Wikipedia entry says "Since Jones was a world class sprinter, he could beat any coverage, but had trouble catching the football."
Luckily catching the football isn't important for Wide Receivers.
Jones finished his career with 13 career touchdown receptions. Munoz caught four and blocked his way to the Hall of Fame.
If the Jets really wanted a receiver over anything else 16 picks later the Redskins picked up a guy called Art Monk, who apparently was half decent.
The good news is that you can always rely on the Bills to make you feel better. In the second round they drafted Quarterback Gene Bradley. Surprisingly Bradley's college career completion percentage of 44% didn't translate well to the NFL and he managed zero NFL snaps.
In round three the Bills drafted Guard John Schmeding who managed zero NFL snaps.
All of this hilarity could be beaten by the New England Patriots though. In round three of the draft the Pats were scratching around for a Defensive Lineman, picked a guy they didn't ultimately like and they let him go as a free agent. That guy was Steve McMichael, he was picked up by the Chicago Bears and went on to crush Tony Eason in Superbowl XX.
Pro-football-reference gives McMichael the second highest "Career Average Value" rating of the 80 draft - 100- behind only Munoz's 104.
The Colts didn't have a winning record from 1978 to 1987, so no one cared what they were up to.
Let's get on withgetting Marino some Superbowls rings the games.
1980 was the first year I heard about American football via one of my Da's friends from the RAF and via the Armed Forces Radio And Television Service, (AFRTS). At the time the NFL had six divisions and 28 teams - the Oilers were still in Houston, the Clots were still in Baltimore, Seattle were still in the AFC and Tampa Bay were still in orange.
In 1982 I saw my first game, on a Sunday afternoon on Channel 4, featuring the Dallas Cowboys and, umm, someone else.
In 1986 I was at Loftus Road attending a training camp with one Daniel Constantine Marino Junior and at one point I was smeared into the plastic pitch by what seemed like a giant - Dwight Stephenson, the Miami Dolphins' Center who actually weighed less than New "York" Giants' Runningback Brandon Jacobs.
To go back to 1980 Stephenson was drafted in the second round with the 48th overall selection and would end up in the hall of fame. Six rounds later the Phish would take the guy who kept Stephenson's arse warm for three years before Marino showed up, David Woodley.
Joining Stephenson in the hall of fame would be Offensive Tackle Anthony Munoz who was taken by Cincinnati with the third overall pick. Picking in front of Cincinnati and showing us exactly why they had such a stellar decade were the New York Jets.
The Jets used the number two overall to pick Wide Receiver Lam Jones. You haven't heard of Lam Jones? He was an Olympic sprinter (Gold medal at the Montreal Olympics), drafted by the Jets for his speed. His Wikipedia entry says "Since Jones was a world class sprinter, he could beat any coverage, but had trouble catching the football."
Luckily catching the football isn't important for Wide Receivers.
Jones finished his career with 13 career touchdown receptions. Munoz caught four and blocked his way to the Hall of Fame.
If the Jets really wanted a receiver over anything else 16 picks later the Redskins picked up a guy called Art Monk, who apparently was half decent.
The good news is that you can always rely on the Bills to make you feel better. In the second round they drafted Quarterback Gene Bradley. Surprisingly Bradley's college career completion percentage of 44% didn't translate well to the NFL and he managed zero NFL snaps.
In round three the Bills drafted Guard John Schmeding who managed zero NFL snaps.
All of this hilarity could be beaten by the New England Patriots though. In round three of the draft the Pats were scratching around for a Defensive Lineman, picked a guy they didn't ultimately like and they let him go as a free agent. That guy was Steve McMichael, he was picked up by the Chicago Bears and went on to crush Tony Eason in Superbowl XX.
Pro-football-reference gives McMichael the second highest "Career Average Value" rating of the 80 draft - 100- behind only Munoz's 104.
The Colts didn't have a winning record from 1978 to 1987, so no one cared what they were up to.
Let's get on with