I've seen that Joe Montana / John Candy quote on some NFL films a while ago. It's something that I apply to my coaching.

Basically he won the Super Bowl so he's Joe Cool, if they had not made that last minute drive he would have been looked at as A-D-D.

I appreciate that calm, cool demeanor; I have seen many a coach and newspaper writer scorn the same exact action of a player that was less successful.

As far as Montana goes, Bill Walsh was a football genius, Jerry Rice is the hands down greatest WR of all time, Ronnie Lott is in everyone all-time secondary, Steve Young put up better numbers, Roger Craig was "ran out his socks" (insert Madden circles). Teams were just stacked.

No doubt that Bill Walsh was an offensive genius. On top of being a genius at game planning and attacking the other team's weakness, he was also an innovator as one of the first to script plays and perfect what is now called the West Coast Offense. It's hard to argue against Jerry Rice, but if Larry Fitzgerald doesn't get hurt, the hands down part of that statement is going to get more and more difficult to include.

However, while Lott was a great player, I don't see him as alone in the discussion of "All-time" safeties, even if you only include modern era players like John Lynch, Steve Atwater, Ed Reed (though he still needs to add Lott's longevity, his talent and play are worthy of being in the discussion), Adrian Wilson (sucks that he's been on poor teams most of his career), and probably a few others that I can't call off the top of my head this morning. Craig was a very good back, but his offensive line made him look great. Most people neglect to talk about how good that OL really was, but that was one of the keys to the longevity of their success. Add their blocking to the superb lead blocks thrown by Tom Rathman, and you have a formula for an average back to look great.

I agree with your last statement that the whole team was stacked, but I think the greatness of the last two "name" players may be slightly over-stated. I do like the discussion, though, and I think you could make similar arguments for most players that are considered "Great" in football. Football is unique in the fact that one player can not carry a team. Baseball is close, because you need a hitter and at least one pitcher to really "carry" a team, but most other team sports can be carried by one great player and some role players. Pick any championship football team, and I'll show you a host of players that are in the top 5 at their position during their career and a handful that are in the discussion of top 10 "All-time" at the position.

I didn't know what to expect reading this post, but it's a great overall topic to consider on football in general.

JM,

No doubt that it can work both ways, but as stellar as Walter Payton was, I don't think the Bears had more than one Pro Bowl OL during his entire career. The same can be said for Barry Sanders. Of course, there are examples when both are great, but I just feel that Craig, as a runner, is a little over-rated. Again, not that he wasn't very good, but just not in the same place at his position that Jerry Rice, Bill Walsh, and even Ronnie Lott are, imo. I think those three, plus Montana, are in the argument for top at their craft (not a contradiction to my previous point that Lott has a tougher competition in my mind to be on the final list). Craig is just not at that level to be included on the same list with them by comparison to others at the position.

Granted, this may say more about the rich history of great backs in the NFL with names like Walter Payton, Gale Sayers, Eric Dickerson, Herschel Walker, Barry Sanders, Jim Brown, Jim Thorpe, and (I include) LaDanian Tomlinson. Yeah, I know I left off Emmitt Smith, Marcus Allen, OJ Simpson, and some other more than just notable backs, but that just shows how difficult it is to even get on the list of truly great running backs. Maybe I shouldn't penalize him for the talent of others that played his position, but I think that's the stick by which all are measured. Just my opinion, and a fun debate regardless.

aukj99 wrote: However, while Lott was a great player, I don't see him as alone in the discussion of "All-time" safeties, even if you only include modern era players like John Lynch, Steve Atwater, Ed Reed (though he still needs to add Lott's longevity, his talent and play are worthy of being in the discussion), Adrian Wilson (sucks that he's been on poor teams most of his career), and probably a few others that I can't call off the top of my head this morning.

Auk while I heart you big time for mentioning Atwater, (dude was an unBELIEVABLE hitter) Lott and Samuel L Jackson's character in Pulp Fiction share the same wallet.

Also don't forget that in the case of Barry Sanders, the best he ever had at QB was Scott Mitchell and Rodney Peete. It's a shame those teams couldn't have had better QB's and better coaching. They could have made a run. With a better passing game, Sanders wouldn't have gotten all the attention and maybe wouldn't have run for all those negative yards(his style made it so that he would from time to time, but with more room to work with he would have been able to make those moves 5-10 yards downfield instead of in the backfield). And Herman Moore and Brett Perriman were a very underrated WR duo.

Those offenses could have lethal if they could have had a top 10 QB in the league.