NFC West all time players

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Legatron4

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Wes
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...n=fb-nf-sf192338139-sf192338139&sf192338139=1
Los Angeles Rams


1) Deacon Jones, DE (1961-1971)
2) Merlin Olsen, DT (1962-1976)
3) Norm Van Brocklin, QB (1949-1957)
4) Jack Youngblood, DE (1971-1984)
5) Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch, RB/WR (1949-1957)
6) Eric Dickerson, RB (1983-87)
7) Jackie Slater, OT (1976-1994)
8) Orlando Pace, OT (1997-2008)
9) Marshall Faulk, RB (1999-2005)
10) Tom Mack, G (1966-1978)
11) Torry Holt, WR (1999-2008)
Coach: George Allen (1966-1970)


When I was young, my neighbor would often take me to the preseason games. He'd make fun of me because I had a Jack Youngblood shirt that said "Jack the Ripper." Looking back, I would like to meet the marketing genius who put that on a T-shirt for children. But that neighbor loved Deacon Jones and would talk about him at great length. And I really studied his career -- Deacon's, not my neighbor's -- when I started interning for NFL Publishing. I've come to this conclusion: Deacon is one of the top five NFL players of all time. He also coined the term "sack." He said it was akin to sticking an opponent in a burlap sack and beating him into submission. Sacks didn't become an official stat until 1982, but he unofficially retired with 173.5. In an era when they never threw the ball.

I would have had Dickerson higher on this list, but his Rams career was cut short because he was traded away. In fact, I was trick-or-treating in a Dickerson jersey the night he was traded to Indianapolis. Fun times. Dickerson might have gone down as the second-greatest running back in NFL history if he played his entire career with the Rams. Or he didn't waste those years in Indy. And speaking of wasted years in Indy, Marshall Faulk did the reverse: Playing well in Indy, but truly thriving in St. Louis.

My biggest dilemma was at No. 11. Do I go Tom Fears, Isaac Bruce or Holt? Bruce was the first to be eliminated. He once led the NFL in receiving yards. And he's not going to the Hall of Fame -- I mean, he might visit, but not as an inductee. Fears and Holt were both selected to their respective All-Decade Teams and each earned All-Pro Honors once. I won't hold the HOF against Holt, because he might get in. But if Crazy Legs was the 1a for the Rams in the 1950s and Fears was the 1b, I should give the nod to the Rams' 1a of the 2000s, right? Listen, I'd be happy to keep the St. Louis guys out of here and give them their own designation. But I'll be fair and go Holt.
 

den-the-coach

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George Allen? Now I don't want to take away the monumental task that Allen undertook back in 1966 as the Rams had not had a winning record since 1958 and had been through 3 Head Coaches in Sid Gillman, Bob Waterfield & Harland Svare., however, Allen was snake bit in post season being 0-2 with the Rams and his overall record in post season was 2-7.

As tough as it was during Chuck Knox run watching Super Bowl worthy teams come up short, Knox's record in post season with the Rams was 3-5 and his overall post season record was 7-11. IMHO and maybe I'm biased because I started rooting for the Rams back in 73, but I give Knox the edge over Allen. I understand the Rams were in a more difficult division back then under Allen, however, Knox teams were very special and if Knox had a young Roman Gabriel like Allen, I believe the Rams would've won multiple Super Bowls under his watch, but again, JMHO.

Also both Coaches Allen & Knox dealt with difficult owners, Allen with the eccentric Dan Reeves who once said...."I had more fun losing with Harland Svare, then I ever had winning with George Allen." Reeves enjoyed a good time, Allen drank milk. As to Knox, Carroll Rosenbloom was a great owner, but was Jerry Jones before Jerry Jones. CR was really General Manager too, working in concert with Don Klosterman. Knox liked Harris, CR loved Pat Haden, who when throwing the ball 60 yards, had to throw it 30 yards and then pick it up again and toss it for the additional 30.
 

badnews

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Sorry, great job on all that...but...

No Isaac Bruce is a, how do I put this?
Not good.

The guy is a HOFer by any sensible definition, he is our greatest WR ever and he quite literally came back on an underthrown pass and raced downfield to give us our only Super Bowl victory.

Bruce would literally be #3 on my list, after Deacon and barely behind Olsen.
 

den-the-coach

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MIKE PENNER
Allen: Best Coach Rams Ever Fired
January 02, 1991|MIKE PENNER

71412c4a6674ec089300873d98853009--merlin-olsen-george-jones.jpg


The Rams were never quite sure what to make of George Allen. They weren't alone in that department, but the Rams were different from most in that they actually decided to hire him.

Four times.

Four hirings, four firings. The Rams got pretty good at it, pretty creative. They hired him to fire him--once as an assistant, three times as a head coach, twice by Dan Reeves, once by Carroll Rosenbloom, twice after winning seasons, once after two exhibition games.

The Rams fired Allen after going to court to get him. Allen was a prized assistant for George Halas' Chicago Bears in the mid-1960s, and when the Rams came calling for a replacement for Harland Svare in 1966, Halas refused to release Allen from his contract. So the Rams and the Bears played this one out in the trenches--attorney warfare--and in the end, L.A. Law prevailed.

From that point on, it was a classic case of We've Got Him . . . What Have We Done? Reeves, for one, loved the results, but couldn't stand the methodology. What price victory? The Rams went from 4-10 in Svare's last season to 8-6 in Allen's first to 11-1-2 and a Coastal Division championship the next. They also wound up a bunch of old men without any draft choices, led with lawless abandon by this quirky Captain Queeg who regarded anything that stood in the way of winning the enemy--rules, regulations, budgets, the ownership.

The Future Is Now will stand as Allen's epitaph, but with the Rams, and later the Redskins, the subtitle was always, The Future Is For Someone Else To Clean Up. Draft choices were Allen's play money and by swapping these pieces of paper--these promissory notes that promised nothing, really--for real-life flesh-and-blood veterans of NFL battle, Allen figured he was hoodwinking the system. Rookies make rookie mistakes, Allen sneered. Let someone else pay for their education, we'll trade for them later.

Allen's Ram teams were composed of old friends, and the older they became, the friendlier they got. No wonder. Allen prolonged their careers and made them feel useful long after rebuilding teams had cast them aside.

Allen's players loved Allen and when Reeves tried to fire the coach after a 10-3-1 season in 1968, the players revolted. Two weeks later, Reeves recanted and Allen was rehired. The truce lasted two more years--the Rams went 11-3 and 9-4-1--before Reeves decided Lombardi was wrong, winning wasn't everything, and fired Allen again, this time making it stick.

Allen's record under Reeves was 49-17-4. Reeves didn't apologize. He said losing with Svare was more fun than winning with Allen. Seven years later, another Ram owner, Rosenbloom, would justify the dismissal of another coach by saying winning with Chuck Knox was more boring than losing with almost anybody else.

Ram owners, they just want to have fun.

Curiously, Rosenbloom chose Allen to succeed Knox after the 1977 season.

Even more curiously, Rosenbloom fired Allen two games into the 1978 preseason. The future didn't even make it to now.

Rosenbloom fired Allen amid reports of bizarre behavior that, had he known better, was nothing more than customary George Allen behavior. Allen, for instance, chewed out players for failing to properly clap chalkboard erasers and could be distracted from a blocking drill by the sight of crumpled paper cups strewn across the practice field.

Cleanliness was next to godliness, or at least the NFC championship game, Allen believed. If everything has its place and everyone does his job, everyone wins. Allen once reprimanded a waiter who brought him only half of his breakfast order--oatmeal without raisins. "We're out of raisins," the waiter explained. "Well, then," Allen grumbled, "you need a new raisin man."

With Rosenbloom, however, cleanliness was next to the loony bin. He quickly jettisoned Allen in favor of one of his assistants, Ray Malavasi, a plodding thinker who could understand the concept of plain oatmeal.

So, since 1977, three men have served as head coach of the Rams--Allen, Malavasi and John Robinson. Today, only Robinson is still with us. What that says about the job, I'm not sure we want to know.

Allen's tenure will be remembered for some of the highest lights the Rams have ever seen.

Tony Guillory's blocked punt against the Packers in 1967.

The Fearsome Foursome.

The 14 consecutive victories over 1967 and 1968, then a league record.

The 11 consecutive victories that opened 1969.

Dick Bass, Jack Snow, Jack Pardee, Eddie Meador.

Roman Gabriel's MVP season.

It also had its dark side, which only had to figure. Allen's 1969 Rams closed out the season with four consecutive defeats, including a 23-20 playoff loss in Minnesota that set in motion the two decades of Ram postseason despair that were to follow.

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-01-02/sports/sp-6982_1_george-allen
 

snackdaddy

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I don't think there was an "NFC West" yet when some of those players played.

I remember the Coastal Division and Baltimore was in it with the Rams and 49ers. Who the heck thought of putting Baltimore in with LA and SF?
 

den-the-coach

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I remember the Coastal Division and Baltimore was in it with the Rams and 49ers. Who the heck thought of putting Baltimore in with LA and SF?

The Same people who put Kansas City in the West with Denver, Oakland & San Diego and the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East.
 

Legatron4

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  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9
Sorry, great job on all that...but...

No Isaac Bruce is a, how do I put this?
Not good.

The guy is a HOFer by any sensible definition, he is our greatest WR ever and he quite literally came back on an underthrown pass and raced downfield to give us our only Super Bowl victory.

Bruce would literally be #3 on my list, after Deacon and barely behind Olsen.
Don't apologize to me I didn't write this garbage. It's literally a sin to not include Bruce on this list.
 

LARAMSinFeb.

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I remember the Coastal Division and Baltimore was in it with the Rams and 49ers. Who the heck thought of putting Baltimore in with LA and SF?

It's like an intern must have made up the divisions back then. Compare the travel times among Lions, Vikings, Bears, Packers (Central Div) to that of Falcons, 49ers, Colts, and Rams (Coastal Div.)

Wow I had forgotten the Steelers and Browns were NFL and not AFL back then....
 

Prime Time

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My favorite version of the NFC West was Rams/49ers/Falcons/Saints. Those were the days.

I remember the Coastal Division and Baltimore was in it with the Rams and 49ers. Who the heck thought of putting Baltimore in with LA and SF?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFC_West

The division was formed in 1967 as the National Football League Coastal Division, keeping with the theme of having all of the league's divisions starting with the letter "C." The division was so named because its teams were fairly close to the coasts of the United States, although they were on opposite coasts, making for long travel between division rivals.

The NFL Coastal Division had four members: Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Colts, Los Angeles Rams, and San Francisco 49ers. Los Angeles and San Francisco occupied the West Coast, while Baltimore and Atlanta occupied the East Coast.
 

bubbaramfan

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Good topic for the off season. Re-aligning divisions has been done countless times and I've yet to see one that truly satisfies E. W. N. S.
 

Dxmissile

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Yeah once I saw the list without Bruce then hearing his explanation why and the fact that his hate for the St.Louis tenure is painfully obvious I just shook my head.

The LA Rams have a lot of history a lot of Hall of Fame players and all time greats the STL Rams revolutionized the modern passing game and created a historic offense for the ages

What these two have in common is the same name RAMS whether in LA or STL or back to LA they was always Rams every player has a right to be recognized off their talent and contributions on that field regardless of what city they played in
 

Farr Be It

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What cracks me up, in addition to his Bruce blunder, is how he lists Warner on the Cards list but not on the Rams.

I realize all lists are subject to a straight assessment of each team’s all-time roster, and the Rams have a deeper and richer history, but it is still a head shaker.
 

badnews

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Don't apologize to me I didn't write this garbage. It's literally a sin to not include Bruce on this list.

My bad. I didnt even look tbh. I didnt know who wrote it because I assumed it wasnt anybody around here.
 

Farr Be It

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Bruce has a better HOF resume than several current members. He belongs.
Not only that but this TOOL of a writer manages these gratuitous comments about Ike - “he ain’t getting in the Hall unless he buys a ticket”. Yuck yuck.

WTH??!! Bruce earned a ton more respect than to ever have some Obituary writer say something like that about him. Forget about the fact it’s not true. It’s a shot someone might take at a douche like TO. Way out of line.
 

LesBaker

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1) Deacon Jones, DE (1961-1971)
2) Merlin Olsen, DT (1962-1976)
3) Norm Van Brocklin, QB (1949-1957)
4) Jack Youngblood, DE (1971-1984)
5) Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch, RB/WR (1949-1957)
6) Eric Dickerson, RB (1983-87)
7) Jackie Slater, OT (1976-1994)
8) Orlando Pace, OT (1997-2008)
9) Marshall Faulk, RB (1999-2005)
10) Tom Mack, G (1966-1978)
11) Torry Holt, WR (1999-2008)
Coach: George Allen (1966-1970)

No Warner, no Bruce..........NO FUCKING WAY.

I don't think there was an "NFC West" yet when some of those players played.

Good catch @bubbaramfan

The Same people who put Kansas City in the West with Denver, Oakland & San Diego and the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East.

My favorite version of the NFC West was Rams/49ers/Falcons/Saints. Those were the days.

Remember when the Carolina Panthers were in the NFC West??? With the Saints and Falcons!!!

LOL.......every team but the 49ers was east of the Rockies and nowhere near the west.
 

RamFan503

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My favorite version of the NFC West was Rams/49ers/Falcons/Saints. Those were the days.
Yeah... that always made sense to me too. Not enough teams actually west of the Rockies I suppose. But seriously?