Who's Your #1 Ram Of All Time?

[ReddingRam]

Left one off the list ... Jackie Slater. 20 yrs with the same org. and was a stalwart t his position.

That said .... the Rams have had SEVERAL players who can be and are deserved not only to be mentioned as great RAMS .. .but greats of ALL TIME. Bruce, Deacon, Youngblood, Dickerson, Faulk, Holt .... many many. That is why I have always been proud to be a Rams fan. We might not win ll the SB's ... but we have seen many players come in and take the league by storm.

 

[Loyal]

The most excellent Rams Great, that you never heard of: Tom Mack

*He never missed a game in his career at LG, spanning 184 games
*11 Pro Bowls in 13 years
*All NFL- 5 times
*All Western Conference -Once
*All NFC- 8 times
*elected to the HOF in 1999.

 

[GabesHorn]

Too many ALL TIME RAMS missing off the list. WARNER,MACK,SLATER,GABRIEL,...

 

[Dieter the Brock]

This thread makes me thankful I didn't grow up in Jacksonville in the mid 90's

The Rams are a legendary organization! No other team has such great history

My vote is for Jack Youngblood cause I never saw Deacon play, and Dickerson broke my heart when he left, Marshall, Isaac, and Kurt are all in the same breath for me

 

[sjm1582002]

The guy who played in the Super Bowl on a broken leg.

 

[Memento]

Picking the best of the favorite is like deciding which of your kids you love best. All these guys were special players. I went nostalgic, but what QB was responsible for our only Superbowl? Kurt Warner deserves some recognition for that. Its all subjective, but fun to reminisce and go back to the days of our youth when remembering the Deacon, Merlin, Jack.

I'll bet everyone picked someone from their own era. What about Van Brocklin, Waterfield and Fears? Before our time but three of the all time greats.

Don't forget Crazy Legs Hirsch.

 

[shaunpinney]

There have been many greats (as listed) there'e also Warner even modern payers like Jackson and Quinn deserve mentions - but the Rams to me is one man, THE player that got me interested in American Football, the one, the only, Eric Dickerson. I don't think we'll see anyone like that again in the NFL.

 

[nighttrain]

I'm not a long time Ram fan so I hesitate to chime in at all but...

Kurt Warner was the best QB the Rams ever had IMO. I'm not sure how you can pick players who didn't play the same position and say they were the best overall. Is the best QB better than the best DE? They would be in today's NFL.

Bob Waterfield, Norm Van Brocklin, Roman Gabriel were all champions, the difference is the Deacon set the standard for DE's, a rule was even made to delete the helmet slap on account of the Deacon's play. ED a very close 2nd
train

 

[Alan]

nighttrain pointing to why I hesitated to chime in:
Bob Waterfield, Norm Van Brocklin, Roman Gabriel were all champions, the difference is the Deacon set the standard for DE's, a rule was even made to delete the helmet slap on account of the Deacon's play. ED a very close 2nd

Which is why I was hesitant to give my 2 cents worth. I didn't see (other than the odd game or two) any of those guys play. What I do think is that none of them had the skills that Warner brought to the table. Their skill set was of the highest caliber for their era but I wouldn't trade Warner for any of those QBs. So much less was required of QBs back then that it's almost like a different position.

I think that Merlin was probably the best DT to ever play the game. So why don't I have the same thoughts about Merlin only being good for his time (like Gabriel)? I'd take a player like Donald over Merlin in a heartbeat right now but that's not because he's better at being a DT than Merlin was. It's all about the skill set for at a position for me. Players are much bigger and stronger now than before but the skills required to play DT haven't changed that much. It's partly why you can't compare players of a different generation to each other. The game and physical attributes have changed dramatically.

I agree with you about what Deacon brought to the game and to the Rams. He was the best ever (in my mind) DE to play the game. The DEs of today are just bigger, stronger and faster but then so is the average guy on the street. My Dad was 5'7" and 5'7 1/4" was the average height of a man back then. Today it's 5'9 1/2".

I think every player on that list was the best player at his position except for Faulk. I don't think Faulk should be on that list, especially in comparison to ED, because many of his best years were with the Colts. 3 really good years with the Rams?

 

[nighttrain]

my first Ram hero was Dick Bass, first Ram running back to reach 1000 yards in a season, and he played on some very poor Ram teams.
train

 

[Alan]

nighttrain with tales of woe:
he played on some very poor Ram teams.

Been there with my Big Red.

 

[snackdaddy]

my first Ram hero was Dick Bass, first Ram running back to reach 1000 yards in a season, and he played on some very poor Ram teams.
train

I vaguely remember him when I first started watching Rams football on that old black and white my our family owned. Color was available but my cheap father used to say color was bad for your eyes. I think Bass was at the tail end of his career then. I remember Les Josephson more.

 

[nighttrain]

I vaguely remember him when I first started watching Rams football on that old black and white my our family owned. Color was available but my cheap father used to say color was bad for your eyes. I think Bass was at the tail end of his career then. I remember Les Josephson more.

I think your memory is correct, first Bass then Josephson
train

 

[lockdnram21]

#28 Key Cog in GSOT

 

[DaveFan'51]

The Rams have had " A LOT!" of really Great players over the year, From the days of Waterfield, Hirsch, and Fears, down thru Time thru the GSOT But, again I say Deacon Jones is on Top, No one other player changed the way his position/ the game of Football was played more than Deacon, and set records doing it!
( I could undoubtedly come up with at least 50 "Greats" if I took the time!)

 

[JUMAVA68]

Nolan Cromwell...no explanation needed

 

[blue4]

Which is why I was hesitant to give my 2 cents worth. I didn't see (other than the odd game or two) any of those guys play. What I do think is that none of them had the skills that Warner brought to the table. Their skill set was of the highest caliber for their era but I wouldn't trade Warner for any of those QBs. So much less was required of QBs back then that it's almost like a different position.

I think that Merlin was probably the best DT to ever play the game. So why don't I have the same thoughts about Merlin only being good for his time (like Gabriel)? I'd take a player like Donald over Merlin in a heartbeat right now but that's not because he's better at being a DT than Merlin was. It's all about the skill set for at a position for me. Players are much bigger and stronger now than before but the skills required to play DT haven't changed that much. It's partly why you can't compare players of a different generation to each other. The game and physical attributes have changed dramatically.

I agree with you about what Deacon brought to the game and to the Rams. He was the best ever (in my mind) DE to play the game. The DEs of today are just bigger, stronger and faster but then so is the average guy on the street. My Dad was 5'7" and 5'7 1/4" was the average height of a man back then. Today it's 5'9 1/2".

I think every player on that list was the best player at his position except for Faulk. I don't think Faulk should be on that list, especially in comparison to ED, because many of his best years were with the Colts. 3 really good years with the Rams?

I'm afraid I disagree with you on Faulk. Many people believe that without Warner we don't win the SB. I disagree with that as well. There's no SB without Faulk. There's no GSOT without Faulk. That's why the team always voted him MVP. To me, longevity doesn't factor in. Dickerson is the only player on offense who compares to GSOT era players imo.

The exact opposite is true on defense. Here in STL we've never seen defensive players like what came before. I have hopes that Quinn and Donald are able to make strong cases to be on that list. Unfortunately, I don't see any current offensive players who threaten to make it.

 

[Alan]

@blue4 misreading me:
"I'm afraid I disagree with you on Faulk. Many people believe that without Warner we don't win the SB. I disagree with that as well. There's no SB without Faulk. There's no GSOT without Faulk. That's why the team always voted him MVP. To me, longevity doesn't factor in. Dickerson is the only player on offense who compares to GSOT era players imo."
I agree with you about Faulk's contribution. Where we disagree is here: "To me, longevity doesn't factor in."

"The exact opposite is true on defense. Here in STL we've never seen defensive players like what came before. I have hopes that Quinn and Donald are able to make strong cases to be on that list. Unfortunately, I don't see any current offensive players who threaten to make it."
I don't think I explained myself very well because here's what I said and we don't seem to be disagreeing about the defensive players of yesterday being better than today's crop.
"He (Deacon) was the best ever (in my mind) DE to play the game."
"I think that Merlin was probably the best DT to ever play the game."

 

[blue4]

@blue4 misreading me:
"I'm afraid I disagree with you on Faulk. Many people believe that without Warner we don't win the SB. I disagree with that as well. There's no SB without Faulk. There's no GSOT without Faulk. That's why the team always voted him MVP. To me, longevity doesn't factor in. Dickerson is the only player on offense who compares to GSOT era players imo."
I agree with you about Faulk's contribution. Where we disagree is here: "To me, longevity doesn't factor in."

"The exact opposite is true on defense. Here in STL we've never seen defensive players like what came before. I have hopes that Quinn and Donald are able to make strong cases to be on that list. Unfortunately, I don't see any current offensive players who threaten to make it."
I don't think I explained myself very well because here's what I said and we don't seem to be disagreeing about the defensive players of yesterday being better than today's crop.
"He (Deacon) was the best ever (in my mind) DE to play the game."
"I think that Merlin was probably the best DT to ever play the game."

We only disagree on longevity. I didn't misread you, I just used a long rambling confusing post to agree with you.

 

[Memphis Ram]

There have been many greats (as listed) there'e also Warner even modern payers like Jackson and Quinn deserve mentions - but the Rams to me is one man, THE player that got me interested in American Football, the one, the only, Eric Dickerson. I don't think we'll see anyone like that again in the NFL.

Dickerson was the player that got me interested in the Rams. One of the few players I've watched that made me say WOW. At the same time, I was watching some Adrian Peterson highlights recently and WOW again.