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Night Train had 14 in 12.
In a non-passing league.
As a rookie.
...in just 10 games.
Might be the best defensive player ever, tbh.
Night Train had 14 in 12.
In a non-passing league.
As a rookie.
Eh, not best ever, by far. There's a guy named LT that you might have heard of... and Deion Sanders says hi too.
LT was a BADASS. Best ever!!!!
One of the greatest cover corners ever...although dude was a matador whenever it came time to tackle somebody
Impressive, I wasn't even thinking about players from the 50's
I wouldn't say by far. Deion was a sick CB and of a ballhawk, but as another poster said he couldn't make a tackle to save his life. You're right about LT tho, he's gotta be the GOAT.
According to Lawrence Taylor's Wikipedia article (which appears to be well sourced and accurate) Sporting News, the NFL Network, and others have ranked him as the best defensive player in history and a top 2-3 player overall.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Taylor
Kinda sucks that he's such an embarrassment to the league off the field.
Even that guy they're trying to put up as the NFL's Hollinger at ESPN fellates him:
http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/insid..._kc&id=3312830
Another article on this topic from a few years where they poll a few NFL players, sportswriters, and one NFL personnel guy (sicko convicted child molester Jeremy Green, but still):
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print...763&type=story
He said numerous times that his shoulders were made for suits and not tacklingImpressive, I wasn't even thinking about players from the 50's
I wouldn't say by far. Deion was a sick CB and of a ballhawk, but as another poster said he couldn't make a tackle to save his life. You're right about LT tho, he's gotta be the GOAT.
bruce smith es.
200 sacks as a 3-4 DE?
Asomugha > Deion
Asomugha can tackle as well as any CB ever, and shut down top tier receivers like Moss, Fitzgerald, Andre Johnson, etc... despite being on a team with no pass rush, giving the offense all day to throw. Deion was great but also was on teams with great all-around defenses and pass rush like the Cowboys and 49ers.
My vote for best (although I think the better words would be "Most Impactful) defender would go to Ray Lewis though.
rofl raiders homer
Oh no. If we're going MLB, then Singletary >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Lewis.
I think Lewis could be a better head coach though.
And while Ray Lewis is better, Andre Tippett was no slouch.
how so?
It's not like they're not even close, they are, but give me Singletary any day. 85 Bears defense >>>>>>>> 2000 Ravens defense.
Also, name another LB on the Bears in the 80's. You can't. I can't. Nobody but Bill Swersky's Super Fans can, because Singletary never had the benefit of fellow LB's as talented as Peter Boulware, Terrell Suggs, Adalius Thomas, or Bart Scott. The guys around him were talented, but he was a one man wrecking crew.
And, non football related, Mike Singletary never helped stab a guy to death.
lol wide right, curbstomping, curbstomping, semi-curbstomping.
85 Bears defense was fantastic, but only for its era. The 46 defense that made their defense so unique was a set that worked great against Run-Heavy teams that focused on passing mainly through play-action and out of I-Form sets. However it would get absolutely shredded by teams that used Shotgun/Spread formations. That is why the Dolphins were the one team to beat them that year (and beat them solidly at that, 38-24) because they had an offense that could run those spread sets that would give the 46 fits. Teams can't run a 46 today on a consistent basis like those Bears teams, because of that exact reason. It would get shredded by offenses like the Colts, Patriots, Eagles, and Saints, and probably a lot more, as offenses have evolved so much, and passing schemes are much more advanced and widely seen since the 80s.
Don't forget that the Bears also had a far superior offense to the Ravens, finishing 2nd in the NFL in points, and 7th in yards, while the Ravens finished 14th in points, and 16th in yards. The Bears defense benefitted greatly from having Walter Payton running over everyone, as their offense pretty much could just milk the clock all game riding his back, with some play action short passes and an occasional deep heave to Willie Gault to keep defenses honest. Statistically, the 2000 Ravens were quite comparable to the 85 Bears defense (slightly superior in some ways, slightly inferior in others, but pretty much even overall), despite not having a talent like Walter Payton to keep the offense flowing and to control the clock to help the defense more fresh and an offense that is actually able to score points, allowing the defense to play more aggressively.
The argument that you "cant name another Bears LB" is pretty pointless. People of a newer generation like us might not be able to name some of those linebackers, but do you think people 20 years from now who didn't grow up watching the Ravens in the 2000's very much, will be able to remember anyone other than Ray Lewis from the Ravens LB core? Strongly doubt it. MAYBE Bart Scott, but that's it, at best. I bet a lot of people even today don't have a strong memory of Adaleus Thomas or Peter Boulware, as they were a couple of guys who had a few nice seasons, but were never consistently great. Both of those guys were also more of Hybrid LBs, as they were constantly switching between OLB, and DE, and were best suited as pass rushers as the Ravens were also constantly going back and forth between 4-3 and 3-4 defensive sets to keep opponents guessing more.
Truth is, that 85 defensive core was obviously pretty loaded, considering 7 guys were either pro-bowlers or 1st-team All-Pro on the defense alone, which is less than the 3 pro-bowl/1st-team All-Pro (Ray Lewis being the lone All-Pro nominee) that the Ravens had. If anything, Ray Lewis was more of a 1 man wrecking crew than Mike Singletary was.
lol has nothing to do with it
Wow, you really have to know jack about football to have never heard of Wilber Marshall.
How long did you look at 85 Bears LB's on pro-football-reference.com before pulling this name at random?
The 85 Bears had the best defense I've ever seen. The funny thing is that I can name the front 7 and safeties, but I have no idea who played corner for them.
And one defense that rarely gets mentioned when these talks come up is the Reggie White/Jerome Brown led Eagles' D of the early 90s.
That front four used to destroy opposing OLs and QBs.
That 2000 Ravens D is still the best imo, but I was only 2 years old during the Bears '85 run, so I'm biased. I just think people forget the dominance displayed by that Baltimore team. Didn't they have a 5-game stretch midseason where their offense didn't score a TD, yet they managed to go 3-2 in that span? They also gave Tennessee their first ever home loss (back when the ans were dominant).
In the playoffs they beat Denver in the WC round 21-3...Denver crossed the 50 yard line ONCE in that game. That's ing insane.
Next game they traveled to Tennessee--and after an opening td drive by the ans--they allowed only 3 points the rest of the game and sealed it with a defensive TD, 24-10 win iirc. In the AFC Championship they dominated Oakland in the black hole, 16-3. The superbowl against the G-men was a laugher...34-7, 5 int's of Kerry Collins. Raven D pitched a shutout. Giants' only points came off a KO return.
That Ravens team relied ENTIRELY on their defense. the team as a whole is fairly weak, but the defense was absolutely ridiculous. its amazing to look at the guys they had on offense, yet somehow they still won a super bowl with those dudes.
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