The Most Influential People of the NFL

In the 2nd of a 2 part story we present the remaining Top 4 of the NFL's All Time Greatest influences, those that shaped, molded, and drove the NFL to what it is today.

4) Vince Lombardi

Vince Lombardi came to Green Bay almost as an afterthought despite having success at every level where he coached. As a high school football coach he won 6 state titles at the undersized all Catholic school of St. Cecilia’s (New Jersey), and also won a state title coaching basketball, a sport he did not even know. But Lombardi inherently knew how to coach and knew how to lead. He went on to success as an Army assistant and then the NFL title in New York with the Giants. Repeatedly passed over due to the prejudice against his Italian heritage Lombardi, after 20 years of paying his dues, was hired by the Packers in 1959.

By now every Packer fan knows of Lombardi’s success in Green Bay. It is impossible to not know the man was a brilliant motivator and an excellent student of the game. Lombardi’s first occupation was as a teacher, a role he never lost through his ascension to the top of the coaching heap. Lombardi brought with him a blunt, direct and simple approach and literally attacked everything around him and challenged his charges to be the best they could. His conditioning tactics were unparalleled at the time and those that balked or challenged his megalomaniac authority found their way out of Green Bay faster than the ice freezes on the Fox River than runs through it.

All Pro Jim Ringo found out early how vindictive and ruthless Lombardi could be. When negotiating his contract with Lombardi, who also served as the team’s GM, Ringo had the audacity to bring along an agent, a move that infuriated Lombardi and was unheard of in the ‘60’s. After being introduced to the agent Lombardi promptly excused himself from the room and returned a short time later informing  Ringo and his agent he was done negotiating with them, and they were now free to negotiate with the Philadelphia Eagles where Lombardi had just traded him.

Lombardi approached his profession as a teacher, breaking down every element of every position of every player for his players. Lombardi ascribed and succeeded by living to his own credo of “You can’t coach ‘em if you haven’t taught ‘em”. It was Lombardi’s keen insight and understanding of what inspired men to play through pain and beyond their own expectations and extracting every ounce of ability his players had is what permanently sets him apart. While many coaches over the years have copied his thunder, few have also been able to couple it with Lombardi’s genuine love for his players. That Lombardi’s players from those teams of the ‘60’s hold him in some cases as a high a regard as their own fathers, it is a testament that over 40 years since Lombardi last coach his name still reverberates around the NFL.

3) Jim Brown

Jim Brown is not the first black man to excel in the NFL. Before Brown became a Brown in Cleveland Marion Motley was tearing through the NFL. But Brown’s impact both on and off the field along with his on unshakable view of the world is as resounding as the impact he had on any tackler in his way and lands him on the list.

Based on his play alone it is enough right there. While only playing 9 seasons in a 14 game year Brown set the All-time rushing record and held it until Walter Payton and Emmitt Smith broke it. But Brown did it in a much tougher era on fields that resembled slop houses half the time. Brown was the first running back to combine size, power, and speed unseen before him. He was as capable of steamrolling a linebacker as he was outrunning a defensive back. And strong? NFL Films are loaded with clips of Brown in his salad days moving forward with 3, 4, and 5 defenders draped on his massive shoulders, knees churning and still picking up yardage.

Brown was the gold standard of running backs in the ‘60’s when he came out of Syracuse and was bypassed by the bigoted George Marshall in Washington and the Browns Art Modell savvily took him. Known as somewhat of a malcontent at SU in college, Brown became the first black man to speak his mind off the field about the intolerable conditions of black people in America. Using his fame and position Brown was seen as, in the vernacular of the time, as ‘uppity’ and militant. Largely misunderstood Brown’s stoic demeanor did little to open him publicly.

Yet Brown never backed down and maintained his own sense of right and wrong while never letting his play on the field diminish. Modell also drafted Syracuse Heisman trophy winner RB Ernie Davis, a fellow black man Brown helped to recruit, after Marshall again let his prejudices get in the way what was best for his team and traded his first pick in the draft to the Browns for Davis, yet before Davis could pair with Brown in what could have been a truly remarkable backfield he succumbed to leukemia. The pairing of Brown with Davis could have altered the NFL landscape as we know it today.

Brown led Cleveland to its’ last title in ’64 interrupting the Packers Golden Years and retired abruptly at the age of 29 with many good years still left in his legs without explanation or apology or regret.

To this day Brown remains social active and has helped to serve as the conscience for his fellow retirees and mentoring young black players as to life in and out of the NFL. For his contributions both on and off the field and raising the awareness of those around him to a higher social standard, Jim Brown belongs on this list.

2) Red Grange –

Before there was an NFL, there was Harold “Red” Grange. Pro football was primarily a Midwestern curiosity of sorts, and most franchises came from such places as Canton, Ohio, Decatur, Illinois and Green Bay, Wisconsin, not exactly the bright lights and glamour of today’s game. Pro football players were more roustabouts and barnstormers than talented and skilled players. In the ‘20’s Major League Baseball was the undisputed king of sports along with boxing. College football also caught the attention of the nation. Far more so than the pro game.

Grange went to the University of Illinois where he set national records and gained national renown and was signed by George Halas immediately upon his graduation to the Chicago Bears in 1925, where he began an unheard of barnstorming streak to play in 19 games in 67 days. Those 67 days were the birth of the professional game as it is known today. In December 1925 a crowd estimated to be between 65,000 – 73,000 filled the Polo Grounds in New York to see the “Galloping Ghost”. How important was Grange to the NFL today? Without the revenues that followed him into the turnstiles the New York franchise may have been lost.  Without the box office and marquee value of Grange and the dollars that poured in franchises would have been lost and football would have been relegated to a far lesser national prominence.

Grange became the NFL its’ first star player with star power and he filled the role perfectly. He was an athlete, a salesman and a shrewd businessman. In an era when his counterparts earned roughly $100/ game, Grange was getting a cut of the gate that came to see him and was making a reported $100,000 in the Roaring ‘20’S. His talent and ability to draw fans sold the early version of the game, and Grange, after a falling out with the Bears Halas had the temerity to found a rival league to challenge the one he helped build. After a one season Grange’s team was absorbed into the NFL and he secured his place in history by leading another pioneer trail from the field to film in a series of “Red Grange, All American” jingoistic films. It is no exaggeration to say every high profile player in the NFL owes a debt to the first man in line.

That man was Red Grange.

1) Pete Rozelle

It is with little reserve to say that the NFL itself would not be what it is today without the drive of Pete Rozelle. He dragged, pleaded, cajoled, battled, and brought the NFL literally into every living room in America on Sundays, and has earned a permanent place in history as the most influential man in NFL history. Without  Pete Rozelle, there would not be the shining example of how to build a sports league.

The modern day NFL is the vision that former Commissioner Alvin ‘Pete’ Rozelle had for it when he took office in the ‘60’s. A one-time ad man and marketing guru for the Los Angeles Rams Rozelle oversaw most of the groudsweeping changes of the NFL and steered it, the players, and the owners, to unparalleled popularity and riches.

Rozelle was a true visionary long before his time. He saw how NFL Films had drawn an audience and with Ed Sabol launched the wildly popular NFL Films, a direct off shoot that exists today. When the AFL began bidding wars for college talent Rozelle was instrumental in convincing the owners of the NFL that it would be in their best interests to merge the 2 leagues and streamline revenues. He presented the economic reality that the league could not afford to lose players or overpay for those coming out of college.

Under Rozelle’s plan he proposed a revenue sharing system based on the total income being divided equally among the owners, a plan never seen before. The players unionized and Rozelle helped to settle the labor disputes in a fashion that is still duplicated in keeping the NFL piece and giving the players a fair piece of the NFL’s bloated pie.

Rozelle successfully convinced the owners that rather than lose money the more each team benefitted the stronger the league and more financially viable it would become. Rather than overseeing 28 separate fiefdoms sought to have the NFL brand become a new sports business model, one where television and merchandising rights could be collectively negotiated to ensure prosperity of the Green Bays of the NFL as well as the New York franchise. To this day the Rozelle plan has helped to drive television contracts into the billions of dollars.

The promotions and marketing whiz kid saw opportunity in the Super Bowl and sold the idea as well as air time that has made Super Bowl Sunday an undeclared holiday in the US. He pushed the NFL into Monday nights in regular season prime time and the venture of Monday Night football is still with us. When the NFL’s hold was again challenged in the ‘80’s by the USFL, Rozelle fought a different fight. Sensing the greed and lack of football business sense of such USFL owners as Donald Trump Rozelle resisted the USFL’s attempt to have its marquee teams join the NFL. Sensing that the debt ridden league was looking for NFL dollars to save itself from itself, Rozelle held firm in spite of losing eventual NFL stars such as Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker and Steve Young to the rival league. Once again, Rozelle’s instincts served him and his league well as the USFL eventually collapsed under its own weight after Rozelle had the NFL owners on his side when he stood up to the USFL’s badly overplayed power play.

If a single word is needed to describe Rozelle it would be the word ‘galvanizing’. Rozelle brought the owners and the players and the fans together helped to bring football to the masses that has seen the NFL surpass baseball as the country’s favorite game. When baseball may be the national pastime, thanks to Pete Rozelle football is America’s game.

The Top 10 Most Influential People in the NFL

After the weekends first round playoff matchups we have come to the inescapable conclusion that we don’t know a damn thing about any other team than the Packers. We had predicted an upset; we just fired in the wrong direction. After week 1 we are a putrid, Minnesota Viking-like 1-3. Awful... but we're gonna bet better.

DENVER/ PITTSBURGH:

Quick, everyone who predicted that Tim Tebow would lead an overtime win over Pittsburgh raise your hand. There are probably as many people jumping on the Tebow bandwagon as there are hopping aboard the Packers now. The Steelers were a beat up, banged up lot and were beaten from one end of the field to the other. Only some of the worst officiating in recent playoff history could not undo the Tebow train. With Pittsburgh trailing 20 – 6 in the 3^rd quarter and barely able to sustain a drive let alone get into scoring position one legged QB Ben Roethlisberger threw from his own 19 backwards to his own 18 where a host of Denver Broncos were waiting to jar the ball loose and fall on it.

Denver ball, 1^st and 10 from the Steeler 17. Game over, right?

Wrong.

Once again the refs got in the way of a good game by calling it an incomplete pass, blowing the whistle and the play in one boneheaded motion. To kick the Broncos further in the soft spot the play was unreviewable as it was called an incomplete pass rendering the play dead at the point of the whistle. Naturally the Steelers scored and then caught the Broncos, just another feat of derring-do to escape the clutches of defeat. On to OT under the new rules where the Steelers always prevail.

And Tebow stepped into a nearby phone booth and was transformed from mild mannered Tim Tebow into SuperQuarterback! Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than the Steeler pass rush! Able to score a touchdown and win the game in a single throw!

The Steelers somewhat arrogantly but correctly defied Tebow and not only challenged but dared him to beat them throwing the ball – and Tebow did just that. The worst rated passer in the NFL since the stat was kept threw for a fitting 316 yards, the obvious inference to Tebow’s devout faith (John/ 3:16). Tebow is a QB that can run like a halfback and is built like a fullback and also had 1 rushing TD and 50 yards carrying the mail. Most importantly is what Tebow does best – 0 turnovers.

Call the Broncos unconventional and their reward is now the New England Patriots. And Bill Belichick will be as warily suspicious of the Broncos attack as a money launderer is of an IRS agent.

HOUSTON/ CINCINNATI:

In the first ever meeting of rookie QB’s in a playoff game little regarded T.J. Yates bested the Bengals Andy Dalton as the Texans won their first ever playoff game. The Texans showed they are for real and can play and win. It helps that the Bengals were much greener in their return to the playoff dance. Arian Foster had a monster game against a D that came in ranked highly against the run. Foster’s ability to break tackles and get to the second level is what separates him from  the other great backs in the game and Foster is now among the NFL’s very best RB’s.

But it was the Texans’ defense that carried and won the game for them. Even without DE Mario Williams the Texans had plenty of toughness. Rookie DE J.J. Watt made one of the most spectacular plays of the defense when he leapt to bat down a Dalton pass but had the presence of mind to hang on to the ball and rumble in for a TD that turned the game completely in Houston’s favor. Given Houston’s run stopping ability and Baltimore’s somewhat suspect passing game the early predictions are for a lot of collisions when Houston travels to Baltimore next week.

NEW ORLEANS/ DETROIT

To no one’s surprise the New Orleans Saints mopped the floor with the Detroit Lions. The Lions held a shocking 14 – 7 lead but once again majored in shooting themselves in the foot. Penalties, missed tackles, blown coverages and dropped picks killed whatever chance the Lions had. Don’t lay this one on Matthew Stafford or Calvin Johnson. No, it was the, Lions horrendous clutch and whiff tackling that did them in.

Yes, Drew Brees had another huge day. But look a little closer and count the number of really bad throws Brees made, balls that could have and should have been intercepted, no less than 3, 2 of which could have gone the other way for a game altering pick 6. The worst of the lot was Chris Houston’s Bill Buckner imitation when a wayward Brees toss that went right through the wickets without so much as Houston getting as finger on the ball.

While the Saints piled up the points they once again looked mighty passive against the pass, and if Brees continues to play Russian Roulette with his passes he may run out of teams that cannot catch the ball. When he runs into a team that has playmakers on defense he may not be as fortunate as he comes into every game with 3 or 4 opportunities he’ll give. The right defense could make him pay, and San Francisco, a defense-first team with a pedestrian passing game is up next. Should the Saints survive that one we know how would be next.

NEW YORK/ ATLANTA:

The scary team this year has to be the New York Giants, a team that is doing a masterful imitation of last year’s Packers. They have gotten hot at the right time and undressed the Falcons in whipping the Birds. The once faltering running game has reemerged as well as the Giants feared pass rush. Eli Manning had plenty of time to find his receivers and he found them wide open against an Atlanta team that vastly overestimated their ability to defend the pass and with so many high picks dealt last year for Julio Jones the draft will be tough this year.

The Giants are playing not only with a confidence but a swagger now. While the same can be said of Denver the Broncos are Mile High as it is unexpected. For the G-Men they are not surprised and will present a difficult task for Aaron Rodgers and co. This is a cold weather team that can run the ball and if their pass rush gets hot it could be the game of the weekend in Green Bay. The Giants have that scary look about them, the same look Green Bay had when they met the Bears and the Falcons last year.

But the Giants have been so inexpicably inconsistent it remains to be seen as to which team shows up. In any event Mike McCarthy knows the Packers cannot afford to be flat or come out soft. After dismissing the Falcons so easily the Giants now believe they can knock off the defending Super Bowl Champs.

THE 10 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE NFL # 6 - 10

As promised we present in the Packers off week the first installment of the 10 Most Influential People in the history of the NFL. This is a look at those that shaped and molded and affected the game of football into what it has become today. These individuals paved the way, set the standards and helped to forge the NFL into the world’s most powerful sports entity. While this is hardly an exact science we nonetheless present the views of Packers Weekly. Enjoy!

10) Al Davis

Rebel. Outsider. Scout. Pioneer. Dinosaur. Coach. Commissioner. Troublemaker. Negotiator. Owner. Iconoclast. Icon. Suspicious. Innovator. Motivator. Heretic. Ruthless. Generous. Visionary. Narrow minded. Selfish. Foolish. Shrewd. Feared. Respected. Hated. Admired.

The adjectives describing Oakland Raider owner Al Davis burst forth like a staccato burst of machine gun fire from the lips in the manner Davis would speak. Born in Brooklyn Davis became one of the NFL’s largest owners, not in size or attendance but in terms of how his presence influenced his ownership brethren.

Davis began in the rogue AFL and was instrumental in driving the price for college talent up to the levels that today’s stars now enjoy. Rather than continue to stay locked in bidding wars the mighty NFL yielded and merged Davis’s AFL into the NFL we know today.

Ever the outsider Davis was constantly at odds with the NFL and Pete Rozelle over many issues. Davis paved the way for his ownership brethren in his biggest challenge when he defied Rozelle, the NFL, and his fellow owners by moving his team from Oakland to Los Angeles and ultimately back to Oakland, essentially playing one market against the other to reap the largest gain he could for himself and his team. In the aftermath of the millions of dollars it cost to litigate other owners began to use their ownership of a team and it’s place in a city and state as bargaining chips with local and state politicos to secure sweetheart deals in bearing the cost of a franchise with such luxuries as having stadiums built on public dollars. Bob Irsay’s and Art Modell’s moves would not have been possible without Davis challenging and winning the battle over who controlled each franchise.

The new breed of owner in Bob Kraft and Jerry Jones, both hugely influential on the marketing and negotiating of contracts on behalf of the NFL, found both the market and the league more ways to make even more money in the running of their own teams. The terms ‘market share’ and ‘revenue streams’, the lifeblood of the NFL go right back to Davis. For Jones and Kraft and the other owners their path was made considerably easier after Davis plowed the road ahead of them.

9 Joe Namath

In the days of the NFL/ AFL bidding wars the AFL grabbed the prize when they secured Alabama’s Joe Namath for the New York franchise. Namath bolstered not only the credibility but the viability of the AFL. Then Commissioner of the AFL AL Davis was instrumental in a cloak and dagger hiding process, keeping the young college boys literally hidden from the NFL in hotel rooms until a deal could be struck. At $400,000/ year it was a hefty investment in Namath, and in the era of Lombardi stealing Namath away when the NFL players still had to find off season work to make ends meet began the steady spiral upwards of player salaries. Namath was the philosophical antithesis of Lombardi – arrogant, cocky, brash, rebellious, free spirited, long haired, and a true counter culture icon in the changing ‘60’s.

Namath ultimately proved to be more than worth the investment. Pete Rozelle realized that the bidding wars with the AFL would be disastrous to his league and began lobbying his side to merge. Namath became not only the most visible player on the field in the AFL with his iconic white shoes (WHITE shoes??? Who the hell does this guy think he is????) and long hair flapping from under his helmet at a time when crew cuts were the norm, he became the first player of the modern era to achieve rock star status off the field. His highly publicized forays into Manhattan’s night life and celebrated bachelorhood earned him as much notoriety as his lightning strikes to Don Maynard. When Namath appeared in a pantyhose commercial he forever altered how players not only were viewed, but viewed and marketed themselves. There has been an endless parade of “Hey Look At Me” players since but Namath was the first to do it without even trying.

His off field exploits would have been largely forgotten but for two indelible moments. Winning Super Bowl III over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts and also guaranteeing the win one week earlier puts Super Joe, as he came to be known, in the history books right next to David, who felled and equally heavy favorite named Goliath. The guarantee was more a brash statement but it perfectly displayed Namath’s confidence in himself and his team. The Colts played a horrendous game and Namath secured his place in history. The game was representative of the changing climate of the NFL. By Super Bowl III the AFL and NFL had struck a truce and agreed to pit their champions against the others. Lombardi’s Packers manhandled the Chiefs and Raiders, but Namath’s cockiness and swagger disposed of the mighty Colts. The win gave the AFL and Namath immediate credibility and a full merger would be complete within 2 years for the rival teams.

After Namath player’s salaries skyrocketed, hairstyles became longer, everyone sported white shoes, players began to be seen more as individuals and the era of over the top showboating was launched.  Broadway Joe – Modern Day Father of the Rebel Player Era.

8 David “Deacon” Jones –

Reggie White and Bruce Smith lead the official NFL stat books in sacks and are regarded by some as the best at getting to the quarterback and wreaking havoc. Long before Reggie and Bruce an even more menacing beast was striking fear into the hearts and heads of his opponents. David “Deacon” Jones was the template for the modern day pass rushers. Incredibly quick and strong for his size Jones was the most feared of the Los Angeles Rams Fearsome Foursome that included Rosie Grier, Merlin Olsen, Lamar Lundy and Jones in the 60’s – 70’s era. Prior to Jones there were precious few big name defensive players, especially lineman. The Fearsome Foursome was the first nickname to be hung on a line and it spawned an immediate cottage industry behind it with the Purple People Eaters (Minnesota), the Doomsday Defense (Dallas), The Steel Curtain (Pittsburgh), and the No Name Defense (Miami). Jones played with a white hot fury and inflicted pain in any way he could. Jones can be considered the father of the modern day pass rusher.

His famous bell ringing head slap was outlawed; Jones would literally slap the side of a lineman’s helmet at the earhole stunning his opponent to get to the QB. Jones says he can’t even recall how many helmets he had broken in his career. As the NFL moved to limit his injury strewn wake Jones proved he could adapt by developing the ‘swim’ technique in combination with his bull rushes, moves that have been perfected over the years.

Jones was the first player to truly glamorize the down and dirty trench players and pushed the need for teams to draft pass rush specialists. Joe Greene became a first overall of the Steelers in 1970 and followed the path Jones had blazed. Others that followed including White and Smith and Lawrence taylor and Michael Strahan and Mario Williams know who the Big Daddy was – Deacon Jones. Time hasn’t cooled the fire in Deacon’s belly either. He has long maintained that the sack stat is his alone. The NFL never bothered to keep sack stats until the mid 70’s.

And Jones forever changed how defense was played and how Defensive Ends would be used and valued in the NFL.

7 Howard Cosell –

If ever an ego or bombastic voice was needed Howard Cosell was the perfect candidate. A former lawyer turned broadcaster, Cosell’s nasally New York intonations and verbose pontifications became the signature of a bold, new initiative when the NFL launched its expansion outside of Sundays when Monday Night Football debuted in 1970. Seated between Keith Jackson and Don Meredith, the recently retired star of the Dallas Cowboys, Cosell had no athletic credentials of which he could speak. He had never played the game; the era of the jock turned sportscaster had just begun with Tom Brookshier and Meredith and then Frank Gifford. The highly intelligent and highly educated Cosell did not view the athletes in the booth as equals; he saw them as shills, opportunists and he, and he alone, was the last bastion of truth, and vowed to his dying day to “Tell it like it is”.

Cosell’s voice cut thru the airwaves like a foghorn on a blustery sea. Never at a loss for words Cosell’s bluster and the banter between himself, Gifford (who joined MNF in season 2 in 1971), and especially Don Meredith became the first of “must see” NFL games, which was more “must hear” than see. At a time when sports announcers were little more than shills and sycophants for the home team Cosell’s style and brash rants became daily fodder at the water cooler. To this day ESPN’s Chris Berman still employs a poor man’s imitation of the bellicose Cosell in his NFL Blitz highlight show.

Bombastic, arrogant, abrasive, but never contrite Cosell forged a strong bond with the Packers Vince Lombardi, and his encyclopedic knowledge of the Packers initially bought him some room. But with his affiliation with Cassius Clay, who became Muhammad Ali and strong civil rights position and opinionated tirades Cosell became more seen as a curious oddity in a broadcast booth. Part of the popularity of MNF was the dialogue between himself and Meredith, a man for whom Cosell held little regard intellectually. What first began as playful banter became more pointed, especially as MNF moved from the late 70’s into the 80’s and games became blowouts and Meredith would amuse himself after losing interest in games of little consequence. Cosell’s insistence that MNF viewers tuned in because of him was partially true; a 1978 TV Guide poll named him both the MOST liked and LEAST liked broadcaster in sports.

The modern NFL broadcaster owes a tip of the hat to Howard Cosell for paving the way for announcers to become stars in their own right. Cosell was far from  universally beloved; Roone Arledge, the sports visionary at ABC who hired Howard once said “We (MNF) have as many people watching us who hate Howard as the ones who love him… maybe more.” The modern day sportscaster in the NFL has a direct line to Cosell. The beginning of the end for Cosell began when he referring to the Redskins WR Alvin Garrett he said “That little monkey gets loose, doesn’t he?”  Cosell, a staunch civil rights activist refused to apologize insisting he meant nothing derogatory about Garrett, who happened to be black. He resigned from MNF two months later.

Love him or hate him, Howard Cosell was the voice of NFL and helped to spawn the blown dry perfect dulcet tones seen and heard today. Monday Night Football garnered numerous Emmy Awards and has since become the longest running continuous show in television history, a history that began with an announcer, an ex- jock, and an egotistical windbag that kept ’em coming back for more every week until MNF became ingrained into the fabric of our television lives. Cosell is gone now, but somewhere, in the wilderness, chomping a cigar, is a vain, arrogant little man who has forgotten more than they’ll ever know still “Telling it like it is”.

6 Bill Walsh –

Bill Walsh is the architect and father of today’s modern NFL game. While Don Coryell was a master at the vertical downfield heaves of Dan Fouts, Walsh saw the entire field as a chess master sees a board and began to utilize east – west throws to set up a running game and open up the north – south passing lanes. Bright, innovative, he was years ahead of his time in his knowledge of offense and how to move the ball down the field. As a former assistant coach under Paul Brown’s Bengals, Walsh found himself kept out of coaching opportunities and after implementing a new style of football he took his skills to San Diego.

In spite of Brown’s petty efforts to keep him from becoming a head coach, Walsh was hired by the 49ers in 1979 and found himself in over his head when the Niners won but 2 games in his first year. An excellent evaluator of talent he drafted Joe Montana in the 3^rd round his first year and named Montana the starter in his second. After improving to 6 wins San Francisco advanced to and won their first of 3 Super Bowls under Walsh (with one more under Walsh assistant  George Seifert) in 1981. But Walsh’s greatest impact was his “West Coast Offense” he developed years earlier and refined in San Francisco. While in Cincinnati the Bengals had a quick, athletic, but weak armed Virgil Carter at QB. Out of necessity Walsh designed a series of plays designed to stretch the filed laterally to take advantage of Carter’s legs and mask his weaknesses in a vertical passing game. When Ken Anderson took over Walsh returned to a more familiar offense that was successful throughout the 70’s.

But when Walsh was passed over after Brown retired from coaching, Walsh resigned and went to San Diego for 1 season and Stanford for 2 perfecting and developing the nuances of his new system. It wasn’t until Joe Montana became a starter that the West Coast Offense was seen in full bloom.

Like Carter, Montana was athletic but lacked a traditional big arm coveted in a QB. In Montana Walsh found the perfect student for his system and Montana executed it to perfection. Instead of pounding the ball futilely into a line for small gains the 49ers chewed up yardage in 5, 6, and 7 yards chunks with what are referred to now as ‘dink and dunk’ passes. Montana’s throws sometimes went 25 – 30 yards through the air that would result in an 8 – 12 yard net gain. Rather than challenge CB’s and Safeties deep Montana began to isolate WR’s and modernized the back shoulder throw and placing the ball where only his receiver could catch it. The running back become as much of a threat out of the backfield to catch the ball as the receiver split wide across the field.

Walsh’s offense depended on receivers running tight, precise routes and a QB who could place the ball in an exact spot. Timing and execution and finesse began to overtake the smashmouth world of the NFL, giving Walsh and the Niners a somewhat undeserved tag of ‘soft’ or ‘a finesse team’. Walsh’s drafting of Ronnie Lott gave the 49ers a toughness and identity, and when little known Jerry Rice was drafted Walsh saw the team on the field he had conceived while languishing helplessly under the autocratic Brown.

In the most sincere form of flattery almost every team in the NFL, from the Packers to the Colts to the Patriots to the Jets run some hybrid version of a West Coast Offense. Walsh never forgot the slights and professional maliciousness of Paul Brown as a Head Coach. The true genius and contribution to today’s game of Bill Walsh is measured in the coaching tree, the number of assistants developed under Walsh who went onto careers as Head Coaches and the coaches they developed. The Packers Mike Holmgren was hired from Walsh’s staff and developed his own significant branch from Walsh’s coaching tree.

5) Ed Sabol –

Ed Sabol isn’t a name the readily comes to mind when discussing the most influential people in the NFL. You may not have heard his name – but you have seen his work. In large part the NFL owes its very image and mystique to Ed Sabol. Ed Sabol is the founder and creator of NFL Films, the man whose vision captured and displayed the game of Pro Football in iconic highlight films that were more movies than mere replays of the games that were played. Sabol’s visionary and groundbreaking techniques set the bar ridiculously high for his network television counterparts but became a style to be copied by ESPN, Fox, and any other cable giant looking to break new ground.

In the ‘60’s an unknown Ed Sabol bid on and secured the rights to the NFL Championship Game in 1962. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle delayed approving Sabol, whose offer was double the amount of the previous film company, until Pete could run a background check on the unknown Philadelphia filmmaker. Within 3 years Sabol proposed to the NFL they have their own film company, and immediately NFL Films was launched, and the mass sale and marketing of the NFL began in earnest.

Sabol’s innovations included the use of slow motion on every shot, the camera zeroing in on the tight spiral of a football as it left the quarterback’s hand until it found its way into the hands of a receiver, the close ups of the hands and feet only of the players as the turf was gouged from under them, the blood-soaked, sweaty faces of the men behind the masks. It was Sabol’s NFL Films that captured the Immaculate Reception in Pittsburgh as well as the image of the Raiders Willie Brown running back a pick for a TD in the Super Bowl focused only on his face, soaked in sweat, helmet bouncing on his head as he focused only on the end zone. While Brown was focused on the end zone, Sabol was focused on Brown and he captured the eyes of Brown, and the imagination of the public with shots like these.

To enhance his visuals Sabol hired conductor Sam Spence to score the music exclusively for his films. The epic sweeping, brass laden sound became definitive and lives today in the EA Sports version of Madden ® Football, introducing today’s youth to them soundtrack of NFL history. The complete picture of NFL Films is the unmistakable voice of the late John Facenda, whose deep, lush baritone described the “… brutal battles found by hardened men on the frozen tundra of Lahm- beaaaauuu Field in bone-chilling temperatures…”, a signature to be imitated but never replicated by any of today’s talking heads.

As the interest in the weekly NFL Films shows grew so grew the popularity of the NFL. Ever image conscious the NFL and Rozelle were vehemently opposed to a Sabol film titled “Football Follies”, a film of the miscues, blunders, slips, trips, falls, fumbles, bumbles, stumbles and mistakes of the game. The NFL marketing people feared that such a film would denigrate their product, but in the end, the visionary stuck to his guns and the Follies stand as one of the most widely watched films of all times. To this day it is still as popular as it was when it was released in 1968.

Every shot, every scene, every camera angle or use of music in today’s NFL traces its roots back to Ed Sabol. Anyone who is a football fan has seen a Sabol piece of work somewhere at some time. Enshrined and rightfully so into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011, Ed Sabol brought the NFL into our living rooms and made it a better game to watch after the contest was done.

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The Top 5 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE NFL

The Predictions

The opening game of the 2011/12 NFL playoffs between the Cincinnati Bengals and Houston Texans  is now officially the “Rookie Bowl”. Rookie QB’s Andy Dalton (Cincy) and T.J. Yates square off. The Bengals have had a rebirth this year, a year that was supposed to be a rebuilding year after franchise QB Carson Palmer pitched a hissy and held his breath until he was traded away and the diva twins – Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco or Johnson or No Lo Contendre or whatever he is known as now were exiled as well. But the Bengals Mike Brown pulled the wool over the eyes of the too eager Raiders and extracted a 1^st and 2^nd rounder over 2 years for a guy not even on the roster, thus earning himself the NFL’s Executive of the Year Award. In the process the Bengals grabbed Dalton and #6 pick WR A.J. Green, a ferocious D and have clawed their way back into contention. The Texans took top spot in the woeful AFC South almost by default. With QB Matt Schaub out, the Texans will depend on a heavily banged up Arian Foster to run the ball with fellow RB Ben Tate. While serviceable Yates has hardly been stellar in his replacement role. All World WR Andre Johnson tore a hammy early has not been the same. Led by Brian Cushing and Connor Barshwin at LB the Texans D his stout. While the D stepped up this year DE Mario Williams is done for the season and CB Jonathon Joseph, a free agent picked up from where else – Cincinnati – won’t be enough. This is the opening round Upset Special. While both teams are in rare air Houston has more gaps than the Bengals.

                            CINCINNATI   23         

                             Houston          17

The scariest team in the NFC for the Packers has to be the New Orleans Saints. Drew Brees set the all-time yardage mark and has almost as many weapons as Aaron Rodgers at his disposal, and he uses them all. The Pack eked out a week 1 win and that won’t be enough to mollify the Green and Gold faithful as the Saints are the hottest team entering the Super Bowl Derby. RB’s Darren Sproles, Chris Ivery and rookie Mark Ingram have led a suddenly potent ground attack, the type that will relentlessly pound away at the inexperienced Detroit Lions. While Brees is an elite QB he does have a tendency to get careless with his throws and has benefited against teams that are not as proficient at yanking a few of those tosses. If the Saints have a weakness it is on the defensive side of the ball. The Saints have few playmakers and depend on outscoring teams and not making a big play. Rookie TE Jimmy Graham has been a welcome surprise and will see a lot of throws over the middle. For the Lions it is the first trip back since ‘99 to the Big Dance. QB Matthew Stafford threw for over 5,000 yards and set Detroit records in the process. Calvin Johnson at WR is as good as they come, but Detroit’s inability to run the ball and their susceptibility to self-implosion on defense is not a good combination. For Detroit it is one and done while the Saints sharpen their edge.

                          NEW ORLEANS 38

                                 Detroit 27

Perhaps the best matchup of the weekend will be the Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants. They come in and look similar on paper. While both teams are rightfully considered quality playoff teams it is the maddening inconsistencies of both that make them so frustrating. The Giants have looked at times like the team that won it all a few scant years ago, and then turn around and look like they couldn’t get past a high school team. Eli Manning had a terrific year and slid past the Lions Matthew Stafford to grab a Pro Bowl slot but he won’t be confused with a model of consistency. The RB’s Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw have been as cold as they have been hot and may struggle against the Falcons D led by John Abdraham, as has the receiving corps led by Mario Manningham and Hakeem Nicks. On D the Giants have struggled inexplicably in putting a consistent pass rush together. But with Justin Tuck healthy and coming on, he may be able to shake the G-Men from their doldrums. QB Matt Ryan has to prove he can win a playoff game. This one is squarely on Ryan’s shoulders and WR Roddy White has to hang on to the ball, a tall order for the NFL’s leader in dropped passes. Rookie Julio Jones and TE Tony Gonzalez are factors, but it will be Ryan and RB Michael Turner who determine this game. This one will go back and forth down to the wire. The Giants may have used their get out of jail free card against Dallas, and Atlanta is a big upgrade from the Slowpokes. It's not an upset.

                                                            ATLANTA  24   

                                 New York 21 

 

If any game looked like a no brainer on paper it is the Steelers against the Denver Broncos. The Steelers have experience while the Broncos are young. The Steelers have QB Ben Roethlisberger and the Broncos it is Tim Tebow. The Steelers were in the Super Bowl last year. The Broncos won the war of attrition and slipped past the very disappointing Chargers, Chiefs and Raiders to make it in. Tebow’s pathetic 41% completion rate would earn him a bus ticket out in most cities. But there is no denying Tebow has the “It” factor when it comes to pulling games out. The biggest mistake the Steelers could make is to play it conservative and look past Denver to a rematch with Baltimore and keep it close. The Broncos young D led by Rookie (of the Year) Von Miller is incredibly underrated and is far more responsible for Denver’s record than Tebow. The D keeps it close so Tebow can ride in after playing awful for 55 minutes. But the Steelers are not the intimidating presence of old. In fact, they ARE old. And banged up. Big Ben along with James Harrison, Troy Polemalu and James Farrior are all nursing injuries. The Steelers have become a passing team this year and RB Rashard Mendenhall’s habit of dropping the rock is as irritating as it is back breaking. It is worth mentioning that the Steelers squeaked past the Cleveland Browns last week 13 – 9. Don’t think that fact has been lost on the Broncos. The Steelers have gotten through a few games on sheer will power and veteran leadership, but that may also work against them if they go to the well once too often. The Steelers also know how to play their best when they need to, and they now need to. Tebow gets a hard lesson in NFL reality this week.

                                                      

                          PITTSBURGH  38 

                              Denver    13  

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The 10 Most Influential People in the NFL

Our Man Flynn

There is a quarterback controversy in Green Bay all of a sudden. Backup QB Matt Flynn had the game of his life on Sunday against Detroit and now Mike McCarthy has 2 weeks to figure out who to start in the playoffs.

Sort of.

Quick, when was the last time you saw someone make somewhere between $25 – 50 million dollars in one game? If you tuned in to watch Green Bay’s Matt Flynn against the Detroit Lions in the NFL regular season finale then you can say that you saw it. Flynn’s transcendent performance in the walk year of his contract has set his stock at an all-time high as he passed for and set Packer team records in the process an incredible 480 yards and 6 TD’s. No one – not Starr, not Dickey, not Favre, not even Aaron Rodgers – can lay claim to that.

With nothing left to play for except the best regular season ever posted by a Packers team Rodgers sat this one out, his MVP securely in his pocket, and Flynn started and tore the Lions up, apart and in every direction and every sense of the word. In a game the Lions played with their playoff roster intact how disheartening was it to lose to Flynn and the rest of the Packers knowing that a huge number of key players didn’t even dress? Charles Woodson, Clay Matthews, Greg Jennings, James Starks, Randall Cobb were among those who got paid to watch in awe as Flynn had a career day.

As Flynn heads to an off season in search of a new contract the long list of potential suitors just became longer, and the price has gone through the roof for his services. It can be safely said that Flynn is now the hottest ticket not currently starting in the NFL, and that includes Andrew Luck and Robert Griffiths. Drafted in the 7^th round as an afterthought after leading LSU to a national championship Flynn was supposed to compete for the 4^th spot on the depth chart as ‘can’t miss’ QB Brian Brohm was taken in the 2^nd. But Brohm burned out quickly while Flynn’s flame grew every year. Flynn got his first step in the spotlight last season against New England when Rodgers was out with a concussion, and now he has emerged as the next backup big deal in the QB driven NFL. Matt Cassell turned his role as Tom Brady’s second banana into a full time gig in Kansas City and now Flynn will demand a king’s ransom.

In this meaningless to Green Bay play it out game Head Coach Mike McCarthy wisely decided to not tempt fate and planked Rodgers along with many other stalwarts upon whom he will depend to defend the Pack’s title. LT Chad Clifton made and early appearance and exit getting roughly 25 snaps in before heading off to the showers. Cliffy was very rusty as to be expected on the opening drive but showed the quick improvement of a vet who simply needs the work. His return will be huge in keeping Rodgers’ jersey clean.

The same can be said for rookie Randall Cobb. With him the Packers have an explosive return game. Without him the kick returners had the air of a ‘Perils of Pauline’ Saturday afternoon cliffhanger thriller that all end badly. Pat Lee played himself onto the team with a monster preseason game against KC and may well have played himself off the team by butchering the opening kick about as badly as it could be done. Jordy Nelson had his own “Oooops!” moment on a punt when he played hot potato on a fair catch, and the special teams were able to file for federal disaster relief after this game.

But on the upside 2^nd year man DE Mike Neal looked much better against the Lions. He maintained a push and was able to collapse the Lions line several times, and the Pack was able to come away with 2 sacks against the Lions #1 unit. LB’s D.J. Smith and Vic So’Oto also looked promising, and Smith continues to resemble a young Sam Mills. His high motor offsets his overall lack of height and size and he could push a few regulars come next season.

The overall pass defense was underwhelming as QB Matthew Stafford threw for 502 yards and 5 TD’s of his own. If your scoring at home that’s almost 1,000 yards and 11 TD’s thru the air for both teams – in one game. No wonder it didn’t end until close to 5pm EST. Any longer and the CBA would have been invoking its curfew clause on the game. Jarrett Bush still makes both the spectacular play and makes the easy play look hard. After being beaten badly on both inside and outside moves Bush still managed to pick off Stafford as well as Charlie Peprah.

One of the most satisfying and refreshing elements to this game was to see the return of the screen pass and Ryan Grant’s brilliant snag of a 6 yard Flynn toss that ended 80 yards later in a TD complete with a 15 yard snow angel penalty. Flynn has obviously benefitted from spending so much time with Rodgers. Jordy Nelson had another monster game and has ably manned the shop in Jennings absence posting 9 grabs, 162 yards and 3 TD’s. Even Mr. Packer Donald Driver got into the act when he yanked down a trademark slant that Flynn audibled into when he picked up a weak side blitz package. Driver’s Lambeau Leap was concluded with a salute to the fans. Was Donald actually bidding adieu? Now that he owns most Packers receiving records and a Super Bowl ring, as he approaches 37 years young if Driver is choosing this moment to say ‘thank you’ to the fans, he will be going out on top, as he should be.

If this game was meaningless to GB imagine Lions Coach Jim Schwartz, whose head looked ready to explode off his shoulders when an apparent TD to Titus Young was ruled incomplete and under the rules Schwartz had already used his challenges and was unable to challenge what appeared to be a Lion score. Things got worse when LB Eric Walden caused a fumble – maybe – on a downed Lion but there was no conclusive video evidence to overturn the call. Those sticklers at the NFL office have turned the rule book into semantics and legalese that are causing poor Jim Schwartz many grey hairs and sleepless nights, and leaving NFL refs’ ears lacerated with his constant screaming.

More disturbing to Schwartz and the Detroit brass has to be the fact that the Lions lost this game to the Green Bay (Almost) Packers. This wasn’t the first squad. Yeah, some of the All-Pros were out there… but not all the big dogs. The fact is the Lions have to be shaking their heads as they limp in Na’wlins for their first playoff game of the new millennium against the equally high octane Saints and Drew Brees. While the Lions can toast their success this year it is certain to be a short lived party.

But Matt Flynn was the story of this game. He sprayed the ball all over the field, used his back and WR’s and TE’s much like Rodgers. The most telling of all was after Flynn hit TE Jermichael Finley on a Rodgers-esque tight jump slant in the end zone to cap off a game winning drive the happiest man for Flynn on the bench was none other than Aaron Rodgers, whose look of “Are you kidding me????” was all the validation Flynn needed for him to know he is a huge part of the Packer machine that is geared up and steaming towards another playoff.

So what will the Packers do? Allow Flynn to leave for nothing in free agency? Can they afford two NFL starters? Slap the franchise tag on him and make a deal for him with a team desperate for a starter? No doubt these days it is good to be Matt Flynn, and next year, after he inks his huge long term deal, he’ll be smiling all the way to the bank. If Flynn leaves Green Bay he will leave with a heavy heart as he loves the Packers and has been quite vocal in his desire to not leave. But the business side of the NFL harkens and Flynn will not be able to ignore the windfall. Until he leaves, he will cause a quarterback controversy in Green Bay.

Sort of.

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The Predictions