Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

[Mitchy moo]

http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d807481dd

[TheGhostofJimKelly]

Re: Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

[billsburgh]

Re: Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

he's only #4? WTF

[LABillsFan]

Re: Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

Is he dead? Is he dead? He killed boomer.

[Throne Logic]

Re: Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

Who were the top 3? LT wasn't a DE. I'll give you Reggie White. Who were the other two?

[Night Train]

Re: Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

Who were the top 3? LT wasn't a DE. I'll give you Reggie White. Who were the other two?

Deacon Jones better be #1 or that whole thing is a farce.

[Dujek]

Re: Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

The word legend doesn't even begin to do justice to Bruce Smith.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Re: Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

It wasn't limited to DE's. The list was made for the best pass rushers of all time, and LT certainly falls into that category. I'm guessing the other one was Derrick Thomas. The best measure of pass rushing IMHO is sack numbers per season over a career, which means they do it year in and year out. Sacks per season would be a great measure of this and the rankings including Randle would be:
1. Reggie White - 13.1
2. Derrick Thomas - 11.5
3. Kevin Greene - 10.7
4. Bruce Smith -10.5
5. Lawrence Taylor - 10.2
6. John Randle - 9.8

I submit that if I was a coach and I needed a sack and I could only choose one of these guys to put in, I'd flip a coin between Reggie and Bruce.
The most amazing thing is that all the best pass rushers seemed to come into the league at about the same time. You might remember this was about the time they started putting in measures to protect QB's. They were so good, the league had to stack the rules against them! Of course, thay all juiced, though.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Re: Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

Deacon Jones better be #1 or that whole thing is a farce.

He would definitely be one of -if not the best- DE's ever, and you would have to consider Too Tall Jones, too. They don't have pass rush stats that far back and I cannot pretend to know those details.

[Jan Reimers]

Re: Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

I love these kinds of lists which basically ignore anyone who played before 1980.

[ronholm78]

Re: Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

There is no bigger Bruce Smith fan then me......That made my day......78 forever......I can't wait to be in Canton

[Mitchy moo]

Re: Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

Bruucceeeeeeeeeeeee............

[Luisito23]

Re: Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

Way to bump basically all your threads Skooby....

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Re: Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

Deacon Jones better be #1 or that whole thing is a farce.

Without a doubt!

I love these kinds of lists which basically ignore anyone who played before 1980.

Sad, but true.

The top two DEs in my book are Deacon Jones and, then, Reggie White.

I know that Bills fans don't want to hear this name, but one guy whose sack numbers in his prime would earn him some consideration as a pass rushing DE is Mark Gastineau.

Another would be Charles Haley. Also, the DE for the '86 Bears--he was a terror for a couple of years before he got hurt.

If you're going to look at Too Tall Jones, you also have to consider Fred Dryer, Jack Youngblood and Dwight White (who just recently passed away).

And, then, there is Michael Strahan whose sack numbers are right up there with Bruce Smith's.

Personally, I think that it is hard to rank players over time because the game and, in some instances, the rules have changed over the decades. For example, a DE playing today, with the rule changes that have favored the passing game, is going to have more opportunities to get sacks, but the rules protecting the QBs have made some of the things that a DE could do to get a sack in the past a penalty.

When Deacon Jones played, head-slapping the offensive lineman was legal and O-linemen could not use their hands or extend their arms in blocking. And, if he got to the QB, he could try to take the QB's head off. But, on the other hand, a lot of the better teams, following the Green Bay model (and later the Miami model) ran the ball a lot and didn't pass much. How do you compare his stats (or those of Dryer, Youngblood and D.White) to those of Haley or Smith or any of the players playing the game today?

I find that hard to do at a certain point. I just know that the two most consistently dominant DEs--DEs that opposing teams feared and had to game-plan for every time out--that I have ever seen were The Deacon (Jones) and The Minister (R.White).

I also consider pass-rushing OLBs, like LT, D.Thomas, K.Greene, S.Merriman, etc. in an entirely different category than the DEs who played on the line with their hand down on the ground all of the time.

[njsue]

Re: Bruccccccccccccccceeeeee.....

BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I have his original jersey's both home and away. Cost me a lump sum. They are both in frames. The home one is signed by Bruce when I went to Fredonia training camp 1996.


Do you remember this commercial with Dennis Hopper. BAD THINGS MAN!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HU8gvF6WCIk