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Steel Curtain: Pioneering The Dominant Defense

admin — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

In 1969, the Pittsburgh Steelers were a struggling franchise at a crossroads. A controversial decision was made to hire a little known assistant coach named Chuck Noll as the new head coach. Noll had previously played in the NFL for the rival Cleveland Browns for six years and had been an assistant with the San Diego Chargers and Baltimore Colts.

Upon taking over the helm, Noll realized that the Steelers needed a defensive approach that could control the line of scrimmage. In his very first draft with the Steelers, Noll sent this message loud and clear by drafting North Texas lineman, Mean Joe Greene with the fourth overall pick.Is this new to you? Catch up here Later, in the tenth round, Noll would find gold again by drafting defensive lineman L.C. Greenwood of Arkansas AM&N. The defensive line was not complete, however, until 1972. In the draft of 1971, Noll used a fourth round pick to take East Texas State lineman Dwight White. Then in 1972, Texas Southern lineman Ernie Holmes was grabbed with an eighth round pick.

In 1972, Greene, Greenwood, White and Holmes would join forces to create the Steel Curtain. In the end possibly the most dominating defense in the history of the NFL.

Packing It In: Lombardi’s Packers Ruled Supreme

admin — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The Green Bay Pakcers under Vince Lombardi were one of the best football dynasties in NFL history. Winners of the first two Super Bowls, Lombardi installed a smash mouth running style and a will to win. Lombardi use to say, “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.”

Lombardi was known for his elaborate play designs. He would have offensive lineman move from one side of the field to to the other in order to create holes for his running backs. Lombardi used his brilliant play designs to help Paul Hornung become one of the best halfbacks of all-time.Confused? Here ‘s a little help .

The Packers were a well run team under Lombardi. They were known for their discipline and execution. Lombardi employed a practice regiment that demanded perfection. He would run plays over and over again until the team ran them properly. This attention to detail gave the Packes a huge advantage on the field. While the opposing teams were sometimes less than precise, the Packers always ran their plays with the utmost confidence.

Vince Lombardi is probably the greatest coach in the history of football. His ability to get the most out of his players led to the most impressive winnng streaks ever.

The Lions And Browns: Dynasties Before The Superbowl

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

To the casual football fan, the Detroit Lions and the Cleveland Browns are two teams that are the jokes of the NFL. They seem to never win and rarely make the playoffs. Both of these teams have never won a Super Bowl. Despite having numerous first round picks, they just don’t seem able to compete.

But there was a time when both of these teams were great. This was before the modern era and the Super Bowl. The Browns joined the National Football League in 1950 and won the title game the same year.Confused? Here ‘s a little help . They would go on to play in many more NFL championship games. The Browns won titles in 1954, 1955 and 1964. They were truly on of the greatest teams of the era before the Super Bowl.

The Detroit Lions won their first championship in 1935. They would go on to win three more in 1952, 1953 and 1957. They beat the Cleveland Browns in a close games for the titles in 1952 and 1953. The score of the game in 1952 was 17-7 and the score of the 1953 game was 17-16.

So as you can see, these two teams weren’t always the laughing stock of the NFL.

Recent College Football Scandals

admin — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

You spend your Saturdays glued to your Direct Star TV channels catching any and every football game you can but there’s no doubt you’ve heard about the rash of recent college scandals going down year after year. Here are a few of the most blatant – it’s against the rules, guys!
Cam Newton: Auburn’s star quarterback was dogged his entire senior year by allegations his father attempted to have several SEC schools pay for his placement. Nothing was proven and the charges were dropped but there’s little doubt someone in Cam’s family was up to no good.
Ohio State: There’s no secret that pay-to-play scandals are the most common the college league but when players at Ohio State traded memorabilia for tattoos and other goods and coach Jim Tressell looked the other way he crossed a line.
Tarheels: North Carolina’s pride has been dogged with allegations of everything from academic scandal to paid players. Enough rumors circulated that the NCAA decided to put 12 players on the sideline for the beginning of last year’s season.

The Story Of The AFL And NFL Merger

admin — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Many people are aware of the National Football League, but few are aware that there used to be an AFL. But back in 1966 the two rival leagues merged to become one. Let’s take a look at the history between the merger of the AFL and the NFL.

The championship game of the National Football League that was played in 1958 attracted 45 million viewers to network television and ushered in the era of football being a form of entertainment that could rival baseball. With the success of the 1958 championship game wealthy businessmen from all over the country wanted in on the action. They tried to get the NFL to expand and allow them to bring in more teams, but the NFL turned down all comers.

Lamar Hunt recruited fellow businessmen from cities that wanted football and started the AFL. When the AFL was formed, it prompted the NFL to introduce two new franchises. The two leagues would compete for the upcoming years. Finally, in 1966 the two leagues decided to merge. The AFL would become the AFC and the NFL would become the NFC. The first Superbowl was played in 1966 and won by the Green Bay Packers of the NFC(NFL).

From Leather Helmets To Modern Rules: The Games’ Changed

admin — Thu, 26 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

When the NFL resumes play, one of the latest rules changes will be readily apparent from the beginning of the first game of the season. The kickoff will be moved forward from the defending team’s thirty yard line to the thirty-five. As with most rules changes a balance has been struck between providing an entertaining game and the safety of the players. The kickoff is the one play where players on both offense and defense are moving at full speed by the time they collide downfield, and while the exciting possibility of a long return is always present, the possibility of injury, perhaps career ending is also present as huge bodies careen into and off of each other.
The rules committee with an eye to not eliminating the return, but in reducing the risk, has determined that moving the kickoff to the thirty five is the best way to achieve this. The reasoning is that more kickoffs will go into or through the end zone resulting in a touchback. This will of course have an effect on both offensive and defensive strategies as teams will need to respond to the variables this new rule change will introduce. The lesson is that football both during an actual game and in it’s rules, is ever adaptable.

The Gridiron Started Through A Variety Of Sports

admin — Thu, 19 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The answer to the start of gridiron is as debatable as to the question ‘which came first the chicken or the egg’. According to some accounts, the first gridiron game called American football started in Canada at McGill and at Harvard in America around 1869. McGill rules only allowed 11 players of the field from each team at any one time. Teddy Roosevelt is credited with influencing the game around 1903 although no further information appears available.

Thomas Edison is credited with instituting the forward pass during the late 1800s which was not in rugby rules. Some say 19th century soccer known as association football was the forerunner of gridiron. Another source maintains ancient Greeks played a game called harpaston using unlimited players in a game of kicking, throwing and running.

Depending on whose opinion or level of expertise is sought, Canada is credited with being the home of American Football. As part of this school of opinion, Americans just modified the rules already used.

Another source credits Willie Tidwell and Walter Camp with the start of gridiron. They combined hitting from rugby with kicking from soccer with the addition of goal posts and the 3 point field goal rule.Want to know more? Go ahead: McGill fined 2M for raising tuition 900 per cent