Category Archives: NFL
The Best NFL Draft Picks in History for Selections 1-10
John Elway Was Actually Drafted By the Baltimore Colts
The NFL Draft begins Thursday, April 25. Pumped?
The draft is usually a hotly followed event. This year though, word is the 2013 talent pool is a bit shallow.
According to CBS, “a high-ranking team executive says this is the ‘worst draft in past 10 years or longer. When we look back at this draft in five or 10 years, we might view it as one of the worst we’ve seen in some time.’”
Whoa. We’ll see about that. Check out all the live NFL Draft coverage and pre- and post-draft analysis over at Bleacher Report.
On to today’s list, then. Fox Sports has put together a nifty slideshow. They went through every first-round selection of every year (since the draft began in 1936) and came up with a list of the best pick ever at every pick (1-32).
Here are the top 10, with some additional info – the teams and years of selection.
The far-left player column is Fox Sports’ selection for best at the pick. It’s very debatable, though, of course. So, alternates are provided.
You can see the whole slideshow (all 32 picks) here.
Is John Elway the best No. 1 pick of all time? What’s your opinion?
By the way, you can see every No. 1 pick in history here.
Follow @VinGetz| PLAYER | POS. | DRAFT TEAM (YEAR) | ALTERNATE | POS. | DRAFT TEAM (YEAR) | |
| 1. | John Elway | QB | Baltimore Colts (1983) | Peyton Manning | QB | Indianapolis Colts (1998) |
| Terry Bradshaw | QB | Pittsburgh Steelers (1970) | ||||
| Bruce Smith | DE | Buffalo Bills (1985) | ||||
| 2. | Lawrence Taylor | LB | New York Giants (1981) | Tony Dorsett | RB | Dallas Cowboys (1977) |
| Marshall Faulk | RB | Indianapolis Colts (1994) | ||||
| 3. | Barry Sanders | RB | Detroit Lions (1989) | Dick Butkus | LB | Chicago Bears (1965) |
| 4. | Walter Payton | RB | Chicago Bears (1975) | Otto Graham | QB-DB | Detroit Lions (1944) |
| 5. | Deion Sanders | DB-WR | Atlanta Falcons (1989) | Ladainian Tomlinson | RB | San Diego Chargers (2001) |
| Len Dawson | QB | Pittsburgh Steelers (1957) | ||||
| Junior Seau | LB | San Diego Chargers (1990) | ||||
| 6. | Jim Brown | FB | Cleveland Browns (1957) | Walter Jones | T | Seattle Seahawks (1997) |
| Torry Holt | WR | St. Louis Rams (1999) | ||||
| 7. | Champ Bailey | DB | Washington Redskins (1999) | Adrian Peterson | RB | Minnesota Vikings (2007) |
| Pat Richter | TE-P | Washington Redskins (1963) | ||||
| 8. | Ronnie Lott | DB | San Francisco 49ers (1991) | Larry Csonka | RB | Miami Dolphins (1968) |
| Lance Alworth | FL-WR | San Francisco 49ers (1962) | ||||
| Willie Roaf | T | New Orleans Saints (1993) | ||||
| 9. | Bruce Matthews | G-C-T | Houston Oilers (1983) | Brian Urlacher | LB | Chicago Bears (2000) |
| Jerome Brown | DT | Philadelphia Eagles (1987) | ||||
| 10. | Marcus Allen | RB | Oakland Raiders (1982) | Rod Woodson | DB | Pittsburgh Steelers (1987) |
| Willie Anderson | T | Cincinnati Bengals (1996) |
Photo: broncosnews.com
NFL: Back-to-Back Super Bowl Champions and Losers
The New England Patriots Are the Last Team to Repeat as Super Bowl Champions
It doesn’t look like the Baltimore Ravens are interested in repeating as Super Bowl Champions. Sure, they signed quarterback Joe Flacco to the largest contract in NFL history, but the Ravens are letting everyone else go it seems.
Wide receiver Anquan Boldin is now a San Francisco 49er. The Ravens let two key linebackers (Dannell Ellerbe, Paul Kruger) and safety Bernard Pollard split. Now it looks as though defensive backs Cary Williams and maybe even Ed Reed are on the way out.
On top of all that, the heart and soul of the franchise for most of the past 17 years, Ray Lewis, has hung it up.
It’s OK. It’s hard enough to win back-to-back Super Bowls – but not as hard as it’s usually made out to be.
In fact, football’s percentage of repeat champions is not far off from the percentages of the other three major sports since the beginning of the Super Bowl era.
How about that one.
There have been repeat winners eight times out of 47 Super Bowls (17%).
During the same period, baseball has had seven repeat winners out of 46 World Series (15%, 1994 cancelled), basketball has had 11 of 47 NBA Titles (23%) and hockey has had 12 of 46 Stanley Cups (26%, 2005 cancelled).
Also take into account that in the cases of basketball and hockey, some teams won three in a row, repeating twice (Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers) or four in a row, repeating three times (Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders).
The Pittsburgh Steelers are the only team to go back-t0-back twice. No team has ever won three Super Bowls in a row.
But one team did lose four in row – the Buffalo Bills of the early 1990s. Ouch. They are the last team to post consecutive Super Bowl losses.
Two others – the Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos – lost two big ones in a row.
By the way, that makes the Broncos the only team to both win and lose back-to-back Super Bowls.
Follow @VinGetzBACK-TO-BACK SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS
| YEAR (SEASON) | SUPER BOWL | CHAMPION | LOSER | SCORE | |
| 1. | 1967 (1966) | I | Green Bay Packers | Kansas City Chiefs | 35-10 |
| 1968 (1967) | II | Green Bay Packers | Oakland Raiders | 33-13 | |
| 2. | 1973 (1972) | VII | Miami Dolphins | Washington Redskins | 14-7 |
| 1974 (1973) | VIII | Miami Dolphins | Minnesota Vikings | 24-7 | |
| 3. | 1975 (1974) | IX | Pittsburgh Steelers | Minnesota Vikings | 16-6 |
| 1976 (1975) | X | Pittsburgh Steelers | Dallas Cowboys | 21-17 | |
| 4. | 1979 (1978) | XIII | Pittsburgh Steelers | Dallas Cowboys | 35-31 |
| 1980 (1979) | XIV | Pittsburgh Steelers | Los Angeles Rams | 31-19 | |
| 5. | 1989 (1988) | XXIII | San Francisco 49ers | Cincinnati Bengals | 20-16 |
| 1990 (1989) | XXIV | San Francisco 49ers | Denver Broncos | 55-10 | |
| 6. | 1993 (1992) | XXVII | Dallas Cowboys | Buffalo Bills | 52-17 |
| 1994 (1993) | XXVIII | Dallas Cowboys | Buffalo Bills | 30-13 | |
| 7. | 1998 (1997) | XXXII | Denver Broncos | Green Bay Packers | 31-24 |
| 1999 (1998) | XXXIII | Denver Broncos | Atlanta Falcons | 34-19 | |
| 8. | 2004 (2003) | XXXVIII | New England Patriots | Carolina Panthers | 32-29 |
| 2005 (2004) | XXXIX | New England Patriots | Philadelphia Eagles | 24-21 |
BACK-TO-BACK SUPER BOWL LOSERS
| YEAR (SEASON) | SUPER BOWL | CHAMPION | LOSER | SCORE | |
| 1. | 1973 (1972) | VIII | Miami Dolphins | Minnesota Vikings | 24-7 |
| 1974 (1973) | IX | Pittsburgh Steelers | Minnesota Vikings | 16-6 | |
| 2. | 1987 (1986) | XXI | New York Giants | Denver Broncos | 39-20 |
| 1988 (1987) | XXII | Washington Redskins | Denver Broncos | 42-10 | |
| 3. | 1991 (1990) | XXV | New York Giants | Buffalo Bills | 20-19 |
| 1992 (1991) | XXVI | Washington Redskins | Buffalo Bills | 37-24 | |
| 1993 (1992) | XXVII | Dallas Cowboys | Buffalo Bills | 52-17 | |
| 1994 (1993) | XXVIII | Dallas Cowboys | Buffalo Bills | 30-13 |
Photo: discountpostersale.com
Super Bowl: Jacoby Jones and Every Player Who Returned a Kick for a Touchdown
Jacoby Jones Returns For a TD in Super Bowl XLVII
What a Super Bowl that was! Wow. The Baltimore Ravens hold on to defeat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31. It’s the end of two eras – the Ray Lewis-led Ravens and the undefeated Super Bowl Niners (they are now 5-1).
Along the way, Jacoby Jones became the ninth player to return a kickoff for a touchdown in the Super Bowl.
Sounds exciting, returning those kicks, doesn’t it? Well, it appears to be a bad omen. Not this year, obviously, but of the nine times it’s happened, the returner’s team lost six times.
Jones becomes the second Raven to do it. Jermaine Lewis did it for Baltimore in its Super Bowl XXXV win over the New York Giants.
That game is the only Super Bowl to have two kickoffs returned for a touchdown – Ron Dixon returned one for the losing Giants.
Enjoy these while you can? There’s been a lot of talk lately about cancelling kickoffs in an effort to improve player safety. I have to think that would radically change the game itself. Jones’ return was a critical play in this Super Bowl for sure.
Follow @VinGetz| PLAYER | TD | SB | SEASON | TEAM | W/L | RESULT | |
| 1. | Fulton Walker | 1 | XVII | 1982 | Miami Dolphins | L | Redskins 27 – Dolphins |
| 2. | Stanford Jennings | 1 | XXIII | 1988 | Cincinnati Bengals | L | 49ers 20 – Bengals 16 |
| 3. | Andre Coleman | 1 | XXIX | 1994 | San Diego Chargers | L | 49ers 49 – Chargers 26 |
| 4. | Desmond Howard | 1 | XXXI | 1996 | Green Bay Packers | W | Packers 35 – Patriots 21 |
| 5. | Tim Dwight | 1 | XXXIII | 1998 | Atlanta Falcons | L | Broncos 34 – Falcons 19 |
| 6. | Ron Dixon | 1 | XXXV | 2000 | New York Giants | L | Ravens 34 – Giants 7 |
| 7. | Jermaine Lewis | 1 | XXXV | 2000 | Baltimore Ravens | W | Ravens 34 – Giants 7 |
| 8. | Devin Hester | 1 | XLI | 2006 | Chicago Bears | L | Indianapolis Colts 29 – Bears 17 |
| 9. | Jacoby Jones | 1 | XLVII | 2012 | Baltimore Ravens | W | Ravens 34 – 49ers 31 |
Thanks to pro-football-reference.com‘s play index, where I ran this query.
Photo: blogs.kqed.org
