R.I.P Deacon Jones

[LesBaker]

I wanted to add this.

It's been amazing to see the number of players, former players, local and national talk show and sports casters have weighed in on this. The sentiments are the same across the board. Best ever DE, funny and outgoing, vibrant personality, outspoken and brash and the list goes on.

I can't recall this happening for any athlete other than when Unitas died. Maybe Seau but not to this degree because there isn't a way a case can be made for him being possibly the best ever like Unitas or Deacon.

 

[jap]

The sack master. R.I.P sir.

Too bad I never had the chance to watch you play.

He was 8 years older than me and I did,but like so many things of true greatness you don't actually realize their measure in the moment.

IMO the NFL should have gone back and tabulated his sacks once they decided to count it as a stat.
Lemme add if you have a conversation about the top five players of all time and he isn't in the running,your conversation is flawed.

The NFL would have no problems verifying the Deacon's sack count total---if they really wanted to. Before 1982 when the NFL officially started tracking sacks, teams maintained their own game films. Deacon was paid a bonus for each sack he garnered; so he was certainly financially motivated to get busy on Sundays. Deacon also maintained his own game films. His unofficial record of 26 sacks in a 14-game season is simply outstanding. He followed that feat with 24 more sacks the following season for an unofficial total of 50 sacks in two back-to-back 14-game seasons. And all this was before the NFL truly became the passing league it is today. If he played in this era, he would have even more opportunities to get after the QB's.

 

[RamFan503]

The sack master. R.I.P sir.

Too bad I never had the chance to watch you play.

He was 8 years older than me and I did,but like so many things of true greatness you don't actually realize their measure in the moment.

IMO the NFL should have gone back and tabulated his sacks once they decided to count it as a stat.
Lemme add if you have a conversation about the top five players of all time and he isn't in the running,your conversation is flawed.

The NFL would have no problems verifying the Deacon's sack count total---if they really wanted to. Before 1982 when the NFL officially started tracking sacks, teams maintained their own game films. Deacon was paid a bonus for each sack he garnered; so he was certainly financially motivated to get busy on Sundays. Deacon also maintained his own game films. His unofficial record of 26 sacks in a 14-game season is simply outstanding. He followed that feat with 24 more sacks the following season for an unofficial total of 50 sacks in two back-to-back 14-game seasons. And all this was before the NFL truly became the passing league it is today. If he played in this era, he would have even more opportunities to get after the QB's.

No doubt. Add to that the times he ran down RBs in the backfield. I really have to wonder if there was any player in history to even come close to the number of negative yards he would have by today's stats. The guy was just a massive hunter out there on the grid iron. I have to think the game smear the queer was also named after Deacon.