Glad to be ahead of crowd

[JohnTurney]

leader of sorts, I guess

Jan 19
http://nflfootballjournal.blogspot.com/ ... llips.html


Today
https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-wh ... mpaign=nfl



and did these early, also
Jan 11
http://nflfootballjournal.blogspot.com/ ... -wade.html

Jan 24
http://nflfootballjournal.blogspot.com/ ... i-was.html

[jeckle_and_heckle]

Did I somehow miss the 2017 NFL season?

Some folks' idea of predictive prowess is making forecasts that turn out to be reality on the field.

Others, by how well their predictions match other peoples' predictions.

The former crowd is smaller.

[Bryan]

Kind of interesting to read about the rift between Youngblood and Robinson. Youngblood's performance in 1983-1984, being an old undersized 4-3 DE and playing in a 3-4, is a testament to his greatness. I really don't know if Youngblood could have bounced back from his late-season 1984 injury, but Youngblood deserved the opportunity to play every down because as was pointed out, Doug Reed was not a good DE.

I think after the 1987 season Fritz Shurmur completely revamped his 3-4 defense, going from a conservative scheme to a blitzing scheme. I'm not sure if that justified Youngblood's comment that Shurmur's original 3-4 defense was 'unworkable'...the Rams defense from 1983-1986 was pretty good in its own right.

[jeckle_and_heckle]

Here's the other side of that coin:

There's no bigger Jack Youngblood fan than me, but the 1981-1982 seasons were not stellar seasons for Jack. Technique alone saw him manage respectable numbers, but he was hitting the John Barleycorn pretty hard (acknowledged in his autobiography). When Robinson was hired in 1983 he and his good friend John Madden determined the Rams' defense was old and tired. Robinson, looking to instill some youth in their defense, did nothing more with his approach than Bill Belichick would today: get rid of the driftwood. Youngblood, to his credit, displayed his trademark competitiveness and pushed back. They took a flyer on him and, until the 1984 injury, he produced. If you watch the 1983 opener against the Giants, Madden remarked it was the best he'd seen Youngblood play in years. When Youngblood was inducted into the HOF he thanked Robinson for the motivation.

To quote Joe Walsh: I don't know but I've been told there's two sides to every story.

[SixtiesFan]

Why did it take so long for Jack Youngblood to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

[jeckle_and_heckle]

Right wrong or indifferent, the Rams postseason failings probably played a role. And other than the 1975 game vs. St. Louis, he didn't really distinguish himself in the playoffs, and it pains me to say that.

Youngblood himself thinks much of it had to do with his last name starting with "Y." By the time they came around to discussing him, he was an afterthought. Not kidding, he really said that.

[JohnTurney]

I think after the 1987 season Fritz Shurmur completely revamped his 3-4 defense, going from a conservative scheme to a blitzing scheme. I'm not sure if that justified Youngblood's comment that Shurmur's original 3-4 defense was 'unworkable'...the Rams defense from 1983-1986 was pretty good in its own right.

He began to blitz more in 1985, once he felt like he had corners who could cover well in man-2-man. But yes, after 1987 he employed his Eagle/Hawk scheme which I think you are referring to. That's another story in and of itself. I think Youngblood's frustration is 83 and 84 is the good teams, that could put together patient drives would beat Rams pretty handily.

[JohnTurney]

Why did it take so long for Jack Youngblood to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

He was close in 1990, (final 10) I believe and then in 1991 it was that year where there are rumors and 3 of the 4 didn't get the 80% needed, It was ugly fight with Davis and Mackey etc...and voters where cut throats and would, as Dr. Z assassinate other candidates. In 1991 there was room for a bigger class but the in0fighting was ugly. None of those voters remain...retired or dead.

Then he kept getting passed over for years didn't even get the final 15. It's really a long story, but as long as he's in, most people, like those here, who study such things agree that while not one of the top 4 DEs (Gino, Deacon, Reggie, Bruce) he's in the next group.

What is fascinating is watching Youngblood play in 1981 and 1982. When the other players sagged a bit, the attention Youngblood drew was special. Rams coaches graded his 1981 season among his best. On passing downs he drew more double-teams than ever, and in 1982 it was higher still. But in 1981 Youngblood drew 21 penalties from opposing tackles, most of them holding and illegal use of hands. His "production points" as the coaches call it was 41% in both 1981 and 1982 (both higher than 1980 and 1983 and 1984) though as you imagine 1983 and 1984 are different in that we was a de facto defensive tackle. Also his hurries (inlcudes knockdowns, hits, and hurries) went from about 4 a game in 1980 to 6 in 1981 and 6.5 in 1982. In 1980 he had only 10 hits/knockdowns. (definition is hitting or knocking down QB without drawing penalty) but in 1981 he had 39 to go with his sacks. In 1982 he had 18 hits/knockdowns in only 9 games.


But with the team sucking so bad, those years go unnoticed. It shows that team performance does reflect on the perception of players. Had be been a young up and coming DE in 1981 and 1982 he'd have been all the rave, a guy playing hard on a poor team. But since he had an operation on his shoulder due to a blot clot and the LA media fixated on his age, he got some rap about not being up to snuff. But, the film/tapes show the reality. As Giddings says "the eye in the sky does not lie".

Back then, getting to original point, the voters were not like they are now, they were much less willing to look in depth at things. It was all the "I covered the guys and I know a HOF when I see one". One voter from that era said, "Let me tell you about lasrry Csonka" then went on to tell me why he shouldn't be in HOF. I have lots of sotries from theses guys. The Baltimore voter kept Mackey out for years...so, I kind of chuckle when people hate on the current committee. Imperfect as it is, it's light years better than the old boy network it used to be

[jeckle_and_heckle]

Some scientists did an experiment a few years ago. One photograph. Two groups of people.

Group one had twenty looks at the photo, starting with a heavily magnified image, then nineteen other images each a little further back than the prior, until the final look was a normal view of the photograph.

Group two had only five looks at the image.

Which group identified the subject of the photo quicker? Group two!—even though group one had more information to work with.

Conclusion: more information causes people to see things less clearly. Or, put another way, essence beats detail.

Fill up the page with as much minutia you want. It won’t distract from what Youngblood himself said about 1981-1982.

By the way, I thought the “original point” was how far ahead of the crowd you are?

[JohnTurney]

.

Fill up the page with as much minutia you want. It won’t distract from what Youngblood himself said about 1981-1982.

You clearly know more about what Youngblood said about 1981-82 than I do.