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Landmark trade for a landmark left tackle
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_1873581d-1214-5174-af39-de7f39691b26.html
Out of coaching for 14 years, fresh on the job for the St. Louis Rams, Dick Vermeil jumped right into the pool. Into the deep end, in fact.
“As soon as I got the job I contacted Bill (Parcells),” Vermeil said. “He didn’t want the No. 1 pick. And I said, ‘I do. What will it cost?’ “
That’s how it began, the pre-draft trade in 1997 with the New York Jets for the No. 1 overall pick and the chance to select mammoth offensive tackle Orlando Pace of Ohio State.
It’s a trade that over time has been overshadowed by the deal two years later that brought Marshall Faulk to St. Louis from Indianapolis. But it’s hard to imagine the Greatest Show on Turf being what it was without Pace protecting Kurt Warner’s blind side at left tackle. And nearly 19 years later it’s a trade that has Pace on the doorstep of Canton, Ohio, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Pace is a finalist for football’s highest honor for the second year in a row, with the Class of 2016 selected Saturday in San Francisco, site of Super Bowl 50.
It was Vermeil’s relationship with Parcells, then entering his first season as Jets head coach, that helped make the landmark trade a reality.
“I remember guys teasing me in the organization – John Shaw on down,” Vermeil said. “‘Oh, it’ll never happen. We won’t get it done.’ But when you can communicate with a true football guy that you know as a coach and as a friend, you can get things done without a lot of (bull).
“And (team presidents) John Shaw and Jay Zygmunt, with their knowledge of the league, did the administrative side of it perfectly. It wasn’t one of those three months of negotiation deals.
“We probably did the whole thing in four phone calls — my side of it. Now, I don’t know how many phone calls (Shaw and Zygmunt) were involved in. But it wasn’t a strenuous event.”
The ’97 draft lacked star power at the skill positions. There was no marquee quarterback, with Virginia Tech’s Jim Druckenmiller, at No. 26 overall to San Francisco, the only QB taken in the first round.
Some observers thought Darrell Russell, the defensive tackle from Southern California, might go No. 1. But Vermeil thought otherwise.
“Darrell Russell was a rare physical talent,” Vermeil said. “But he wasn’t a Grant Wistrom in terms of empty the bucket every snap. He had some things in his closet off-the-field, attitude-wise. It didn’t fit my profile for someone that was gonna make that much money. And I wanted a left tackle.”
Vermeil was right when it came to Russell, who lasted only six years in the NFL, was suspended multiple times for violating the league’s substance abuse policy and died in a car wreck in 2005.
Turns out he was right on Pace as well. The trade was finalized April 17, two days before the draft, and Pace came relatively cheaply. Other than the swap of first-round picks — the Rams had the No. 6 overall pick originally — the Rams sent third-, fourth- and seventh-round pick sto the Jets.
Six minutes into the draft, then-minority owner Stan Kroenke phoned in the pick from the Rams Park draft room in Earth City. What was then called the Trans World Dome became the House of Pancakes. And Pace became the first No. 1 overall draft pick in St. Louis sports history.
THE PANCAKE MAN
At a school that produces football legends, Pace was just that. At least as much as is possible for a blocker. In 1994, he became the first offensive lineman in Ohio State history to start the first game of his freshman season.
In 1995, he became the first sophomore to win the Rotary Lombardi Award, which goes to college football’s best lineman or linebacker. He repeated in 1996, becoming the only two-time Lombardi winner, and also won the Outland Trophy – which goes to the best interior lineman – in ’96.
With the help of the Buckeyes’ sports information department, Pace helped popularize the term “pancake block” – blocks in which the defender is knocked to the ground, or “pancaked.”
Pace was credited with 74 pancake blocks during his final season at Ohio State. To help garner support for his Heisman Trophy candidacy — he would finish fourth — pancake-shaped refrigerator magnets were sent out bearing his name. (The dirty little secret: Pace actually preferred French toast.)
During his time out of coaching, Vermeil had become nationally known as a college football television analyst. Those duties frequently took him to Columbus and helped him gain the kind insight into Pace that might have exceeded that of NFL scouts and coaches.
“I had broadcast so many games with Orlando being the left tackle at Ohio State,” Vermeil said. “And I’d been around him on the practice field, in the locker room. I’d met his mother a few times, his grandmother a few times.
“I knew there were no negatives in Orlando Pace, and I also knew how rare that kind of player was. I always said to myself as I watched the games, if I were an NFL head coach, I’d make sure I’d find a way to draft this guy.”
When Peyton Manning decided to return to school for his final season at Tennessee, Pace knew he had a real chance to become the first offensive lineman drafted No. 1 overall since USC’s Ron Yary in 1968.
“My strength coach at Ohio State, Dave Kennedy, he did a really good job of preparing me,” Pace said. “I really wanted to be the No. 1 pick in the draft. I worked extremely hard preparing myself.”
One of Pace’s training goals with Kennedy, now the strength and conditioning coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was to run a 40-yard dash in under 5 seconds. Amazingly, at more than 330 pounds, Pace was clocked at 4.85 during a pre-draft workout.
So while Manning stayed put, Pace left school a year early.
“And the rest is kinda history,” Pace said.
A SPECIAL TALENT
No matter who you talk to about Pace, the answer always comes to this when discussing his skills: Quick feet.
Pace’s footwork was so special, it reminded Jim Hanifan of watching Muhammad Ali in the boxing ring.
“He could get himself into a problem and then get out of a problem because of his recoverability,” Hanifan said. “He had such great balance.”
A legendary offensive line coach, and one of the game’s true characters, Hanifan knew he was getting a rare talent. On the day of the trade in ’97, in gleefully discussing Pace with reporters, Hanifan made the sign of the cross and said: “Let me bless myself.”
Just about everyone else at Rams Park felt the same way about Pace.
“Unbelievably athletic feet, and superior intelligence,” said former Rams general manager Charley Armey. “If you have those two ingredients you can coach ’em up. It’s incredible how athletic he was, and his quickness. You can make them stronger, but it’s hard to make their feet much quicker.”
Very early in Pace’s NFL career, Hanifan thinks it was the second year, he brought the big left tackle into the offensive line meeting room after practice. Just the two of them.
“OK, I’m gonna tell you something right now that I’ve never said to anybody else in my entire life,” Hanifan recalls telling Pace. “Fifteen, 20 years from now, when you are finished playing, you should be going into the NFL Hall of Fame.
“If you don’t get there – I want you to know something – it’s gonna be your (expletive) fault. I still remember that day. He looked at me, his eyes just got big. I mean really big. He said, ‘Oh yeah. I got it.’”
Pace got it, all right.
In 13 NFL seasons, all but one as a Ram, Pace was a seven-time Pro Bowler and made All-Pro five times. Obviously, even in this age of analytics it’s all but impossible to judge an offensive lineman via statistics.
But the success of those he blocked for and protected speaks volumes. Such as three straight NFL MVPs in Kurt Warner (1999, 2001) and Marshall Faulk (2000); and seven 1,000-yard rushers.
During his 12 seasons with St. Louis (1997-2008) the Rams had more gross passing yards (50,770) than any team in the league. The 2000 Rams passed for a league-record 5,232 yards.
“We could not have had the success we had without Orlando – that’s for sure,” said Mike Martz, the former Rams head coach and offensive coordinator. “When you face great pass-rushers, usually you have to chip ’em or find help for the tackles.
“We never had to do that with Orlando. We just put an ‘X’ on that guy, it didn’t matter who he was.”
As in X-ed out.
“Orlando just dominated,” Martz said. “I think that’s the key with him. He just dominated.”
When he entered the NFL, Pace never dreamed he’d pass block as much he would. In 2000 against San Diego, for example, the Rams opened by attempting passes on 20 of the game’s first 21 plays in what would become a 57-31 victory.
Under Martz, the Rams became a pass-first offense long before it became fashionable. And when it came to pass-blocking, Pace was a natural. He was born to pass-block.
“His pass set was like a work of ballet,” Hanifan said. “I’m not kidding you.”
No one did it any better.
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_1873581d-1214-5174-af39-de7f39691b26.html
Out of coaching for 14 years, fresh on the job for the St. Louis Rams, Dick Vermeil jumped right into the pool. Into the deep end, in fact.
“As soon as I got the job I contacted Bill (Parcells),” Vermeil said. “He didn’t want the No. 1 pick. And I said, ‘I do. What will it cost?’ “
That’s how it began, the pre-draft trade in 1997 with the New York Jets for the No. 1 overall pick and the chance to select mammoth offensive tackle Orlando Pace of Ohio State.
It’s a trade that over time has been overshadowed by the deal two years later that brought Marshall Faulk to St. Louis from Indianapolis. But it’s hard to imagine the Greatest Show on Turf being what it was without Pace protecting Kurt Warner’s blind side at left tackle. And nearly 19 years later it’s a trade that has Pace on the doorstep of Canton, Ohio, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Pace is a finalist for football’s highest honor for the second year in a row, with the Class of 2016 selected Saturday in San Francisco, site of Super Bowl 50.
It was Vermeil’s relationship with Parcells, then entering his first season as Jets head coach, that helped make the landmark trade a reality.
“I remember guys teasing me in the organization – John Shaw on down,” Vermeil said. “‘Oh, it’ll never happen. We won’t get it done.’ But when you can communicate with a true football guy that you know as a coach and as a friend, you can get things done without a lot of (bull).
“And (team presidents) John Shaw and Jay Zygmunt, with their knowledge of the league, did the administrative side of it perfectly. It wasn’t one of those three months of negotiation deals.
“We probably did the whole thing in four phone calls — my side of it. Now, I don’t know how many phone calls (Shaw and Zygmunt) were involved in. But it wasn’t a strenuous event.”
The ’97 draft lacked star power at the skill positions. There was no marquee quarterback, with Virginia Tech’s Jim Druckenmiller, at No. 26 overall to San Francisco, the only QB taken in the first round.
Some observers thought Darrell Russell, the defensive tackle from Southern California, might go No. 1. But Vermeil thought otherwise.
“Darrell Russell was a rare physical talent,” Vermeil said. “But he wasn’t a Grant Wistrom in terms of empty the bucket every snap. He had some things in his closet off-the-field, attitude-wise. It didn’t fit my profile for someone that was gonna make that much money. And I wanted a left tackle.”
Vermeil was right when it came to Russell, who lasted only six years in the NFL, was suspended multiple times for violating the league’s substance abuse policy and died in a car wreck in 2005.
Turns out he was right on Pace as well. The trade was finalized April 17, two days before the draft, and Pace came relatively cheaply. Other than the swap of first-round picks — the Rams had the No. 6 overall pick originally — the Rams sent third-, fourth- and seventh-round pick sto the Jets.
Six minutes into the draft, then-minority owner Stan Kroenke phoned in the pick from the Rams Park draft room in Earth City. What was then called the Trans World Dome became the House of Pancakes. And Pace became the first No. 1 overall draft pick in St. Louis sports history.
THE PANCAKE MAN
At a school that produces football legends, Pace was just that. At least as much as is possible for a blocker. In 1994, he became the first offensive lineman in Ohio State history to start the first game of his freshman season.
In 1995, he became the first sophomore to win the Rotary Lombardi Award, which goes to college football’s best lineman or linebacker. He repeated in 1996, becoming the only two-time Lombardi winner, and also won the Outland Trophy – which goes to the best interior lineman – in ’96.
With the help of the Buckeyes’ sports information department, Pace helped popularize the term “pancake block” – blocks in which the defender is knocked to the ground, or “pancaked.”
Pace was credited with 74 pancake blocks during his final season at Ohio State. To help garner support for his Heisman Trophy candidacy — he would finish fourth — pancake-shaped refrigerator magnets were sent out bearing his name. (The dirty little secret: Pace actually preferred French toast.)
During his time out of coaching, Vermeil had become nationally known as a college football television analyst. Those duties frequently took him to Columbus and helped him gain the kind insight into Pace that might have exceeded that of NFL scouts and coaches.
“I had broadcast so many games with Orlando being the left tackle at Ohio State,” Vermeil said. “And I’d been around him on the practice field, in the locker room. I’d met his mother a few times, his grandmother a few times.
“I knew there were no negatives in Orlando Pace, and I also knew how rare that kind of player was. I always said to myself as I watched the games, if I were an NFL head coach, I’d make sure I’d find a way to draft this guy.”
When Peyton Manning decided to return to school for his final season at Tennessee, Pace knew he had a real chance to become the first offensive lineman drafted No. 1 overall since USC’s Ron Yary in 1968.
“My strength coach at Ohio State, Dave Kennedy, he did a really good job of preparing me,” Pace said. “I really wanted to be the No. 1 pick in the draft. I worked extremely hard preparing myself.”
One of Pace’s training goals with Kennedy, now the strength and conditioning coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was to run a 40-yard dash in under 5 seconds. Amazingly, at more than 330 pounds, Pace was clocked at 4.85 during a pre-draft workout.
So while Manning stayed put, Pace left school a year early.
“And the rest is kinda history,” Pace said.
A SPECIAL TALENT
No matter who you talk to about Pace, the answer always comes to this when discussing his skills: Quick feet.
Pace’s footwork was so special, it reminded Jim Hanifan of watching Muhammad Ali in the boxing ring.
“He could get himself into a problem and then get out of a problem because of his recoverability,” Hanifan said. “He had such great balance.”
A legendary offensive line coach, and one of the game’s true characters, Hanifan knew he was getting a rare talent. On the day of the trade in ’97, in gleefully discussing Pace with reporters, Hanifan made the sign of the cross and said: “Let me bless myself.”
Just about everyone else at Rams Park felt the same way about Pace.
“Unbelievably athletic feet, and superior intelligence,” said former Rams general manager Charley Armey. “If you have those two ingredients you can coach ’em up. It’s incredible how athletic he was, and his quickness. You can make them stronger, but it’s hard to make their feet much quicker.”
Very early in Pace’s NFL career, Hanifan thinks it was the second year, he brought the big left tackle into the offensive line meeting room after practice. Just the two of them.
“OK, I’m gonna tell you something right now that I’ve never said to anybody else in my entire life,” Hanifan recalls telling Pace. “Fifteen, 20 years from now, when you are finished playing, you should be going into the NFL Hall of Fame.
“If you don’t get there – I want you to know something – it’s gonna be your (expletive) fault. I still remember that day. He looked at me, his eyes just got big. I mean really big. He said, ‘Oh yeah. I got it.’”
Pace got it, all right.
In 13 NFL seasons, all but one as a Ram, Pace was a seven-time Pro Bowler and made All-Pro five times. Obviously, even in this age of analytics it’s all but impossible to judge an offensive lineman via statistics.
But the success of those he blocked for and protected speaks volumes. Such as three straight NFL MVPs in Kurt Warner (1999, 2001) and Marshall Faulk (2000); and seven 1,000-yard rushers.
During his 12 seasons with St. Louis (1997-2008) the Rams had more gross passing yards (50,770) than any team in the league. The 2000 Rams passed for a league-record 5,232 yards.
“We could not have had the success we had without Orlando – that’s for sure,” said Mike Martz, the former Rams head coach and offensive coordinator. “When you face great pass-rushers, usually you have to chip ’em or find help for the tackles.
“We never had to do that with Orlando. We just put an ‘X’ on that guy, it didn’t matter who he was.”
As in X-ed out.
“Orlando just dominated,” Martz said. “I think that’s the key with him. He just dominated.”
When he entered the NFL, Pace never dreamed he’d pass block as much he would. In 2000 against San Diego, for example, the Rams opened by attempting passes on 20 of the game’s first 21 plays in what would become a 57-31 victory.
Under Martz, the Rams became a pass-first offense long before it became fashionable. And when it came to pass-blocking, Pace was a natural. He was born to pass-block.
“His pass set was like a work of ballet,” Hanifan said. “I’m not kidding you.”
No one did it any better.
