...especially with the Saints/Colts match-up coming up, I'm realizing we really are in a new era for football.
Outside of Manning and Brady (who are closing towards the end of their careers in a few years), most of the household quarterback names are all retired, on their way out, or even dead. Brett Favre, Kurt Warner, Jake Plummer, Donovan McNabb, Chad Pennington, Jeff Garcia, Daunte Culpepper, Jake Delhomme, Steve McNair, David Carr, Trent Green, Mark Brunell, Byron Leftwich... I can go on.
Most of those guys had memorable teams and were apart of some great offenses and some great teams overall.
- Trent Green and the Chiefs with Tony Gonzalez, Priest Holmes/Larry Johnson, Eddie Kennison, Johnnie Morton, Dante Hall... he even made Marc Boerigter relevant for a while.
- Donovan McNabb and... name any of his awful receivers before T.O. (Todd Pinkston, Freddie Mitchell, James Thrash (geez...)), Duce Staley/Brian Westbrook... the Eagles' kick returner was freakin' Brian Mitchell! And, of course, that secondary combo of Troy Vincent and Brian Dawkins.
- Kurt Warner and "The Greatest Show on Turf": Issac Bruce, Torry Holt, Az-Hakim, Marshall Faulk. No further introduction on that. Then, he had a "stint" with the Giants before creating TGSOT Pt. II in Arizona.
- Chad Pennington, one of the most accurate guys in the NFL (mostly because his noodle arm couldn't throw more than 10 yards), was the Jets' franchise guy with their franchise running back, Curtis Martin (again, another really consistent guy), and Santana Moss, Laveraneus Coles (funny how those two would be traded back and forth), and Wayne Chrebet. This was right around the time John Abraham almost made his exit and Aaron Glenn was near retirement.
- Peyton and Tom Brady are probably the only long-standing franchise guys on here, but remember their old offenses? Brady had Troy Brown, Kevin Faulk (I think he's still on the team), David Patten, Deon Branch, Antowain Smith... who was then immediately upgraded to Corey Dillon, Bethel Johnson, Benjamin Watson. He was even throwing TDs to Mike Vrabel and freakin' Larry Izzo. The Colts were a bit more consistent with their roster, but they used to have Marvin Harrison and Quady (THE MISSILE!) Ismail. Before Dallas Clark, Manning made the career of Marcus Pollard. Then, once Ismail was out, Stokley and Wayne came in and helped put together what I still think is the greatest season put together by a quarterback in 2004 (Harrison, Stokely, and Wayne each had 60+ receptions/1,000 yards/10 TDs). And before the Colts had running back issues, there was, of course, Edgerrin James.
- Daunte Culpepper had a short lived career, but the guys around him (Randy Moss and Cris Carter, for a while) made his career. They even made us remember names we shouldn't even know: Marcus Robinson, Nate Burleson (eh, I guess he's relevant enough), Moe Williams (no, not the Clipper), Michael Bennett, Ontario Smith. Oh, and who could forget the GOAT on that team... Jim Kleinsasser! A player so memorable, he even has a highlight in Adam Sandler's 50 First Dates (around the 1:20 mark):
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTk2NrIGiZ4"]50 first dates 4 - YouTube[/ame]
- Jeff Garcia... well, he's just Jeff Garcia. I'd go through the offenses he's played on, but none of them are memorable (well, except T.O. in S.F.). That and I'm pretty sure I'd forget one of the however many teams he played on. I will never forget that playoff game where they came back 24 points against the Giants though... fuck that game.
- Just for shits and giggles, Aaron Brooks. The black quarterback who did it right... or wrong. The black quarterback. Oh man, the "Maybe We're Good, Oh No We 'Aints". Ricky Williams... who was then replaced by Deuce McAllister. Jermaine Lewis. Fuckin' Joe Horn and his solid, yet forgotten career. We won't forget this though:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zrcAGkuk_o"]Joe Horn touchdown celebration - YouTube[/ame]
But it doesn't matter, the second I said Aaron Brooks, you immediately thought of this:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHIFLNWZBfA"]Aaron Brooks Backwards Pass - YouTube[/ame]
(Yeah, Tim Dwight came before you, Welker.)
Maybe I'm just being nostalgic, but it seems like the guys that mattered/were franchise guys are all replaced by young guns and I'm witnessing the era change. Outside of Manning and Brady, the only other truly elite quarterback in this league is Aaron Rodgers and he's starting his own legend now. I guess Vick counts as part of the old era (maybe even Brees), but now the names are Rivers, E. Manning, Roethlisberger, Ryan, Sanchez, Newton, Schaub, Romo, Stafford, etc.
Even the game is evolving. Franchise running backs are almost extinct. I remember Jerome Bettis, Eddie George, Marshall Faulk, Curtis Martin, Tiki Barber, Priest Holmes, Shaun Alexander, Warrick Dunn, LaDainian Tomlinson, Brian Westbrook, Clinton Portis, Ahman Green, etc. Nowadays, teams are running two/three running back systems and anyone can be replaced and only exceptional talents are franchise guys (Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson, Steven Jackson, Frank Gore, and maybe Matt Forte). Rookie quarterbacks are coming in and starting like crazy. ELEVEN of the starting quarterbacks in the league are three year pros or less. FOUR of those eleven are rookies. I don't think that's ever happened before in the NFL.
Have I just grown up with these guys and now I'm seeing them go or is anyone else noticing the "drastic change"? (Also, feel free to post any players/teams from the past decade that are memorable to you; I talked mostly offense anyway).
Outside of Manning and Brady (who are closing towards the end of their careers in a few years), most of the household quarterback names are all retired, on their way out, or even dead. Brett Favre, Kurt Warner, Jake Plummer, Donovan McNabb, Chad Pennington, Jeff Garcia, Daunte Culpepper, Jake Delhomme, Steve McNair, David Carr, Trent Green, Mark Brunell, Byron Leftwich... I can go on.
Most of those guys had memorable teams and were apart of some great offenses and some great teams overall.
- Trent Green and the Chiefs with Tony Gonzalez, Priest Holmes/Larry Johnson, Eddie Kennison, Johnnie Morton, Dante Hall... he even made Marc Boerigter relevant for a while.
- Donovan McNabb and... name any of his awful receivers before T.O. (Todd Pinkston, Freddie Mitchell, James Thrash (geez...)), Duce Staley/Brian Westbrook... the Eagles' kick returner was freakin' Brian Mitchell! And, of course, that secondary combo of Troy Vincent and Brian Dawkins.
- Kurt Warner and "The Greatest Show on Turf": Issac Bruce, Torry Holt, Az-Hakim, Marshall Faulk. No further introduction on that. Then, he had a "stint" with the Giants before creating TGSOT Pt. II in Arizona.
- Chad Pennington, one of the most accurate guys in the NFL (mostly because his noodle arm couldn't throw more than 10 yards), was the Jets' franchise guy with their franchise running back, Curtis Martin (again, another really consistent guy), and Santana Moss, Laveraneus Coles (funny how those two would be traded back and forth), and Wayne Chrebet. This was right around the time John Abraham almost made his exit and Aaron Glenn was near retirement.
- Peyton and Tom Brady are probably the only long-standing franchise guys on here, but remember their old offenses? Brady had Troy Brown, Kevin Faulk (I think he's still on the team), David Patten, Deon Branch, Antowain Smith... who was then immediately upgraded to Corey Dillon, Bethel Johnson, Benjamin Watson. He was even throwing TDs to Mike Vrabel and freakin' Larry Izzo. The Colts were a bit more consistent with their roster, but they used to have Marvin Harrison and Quady (THE MISSILE!) Ismail. Before Dallas Clark, Manning made the career of Marcus Pollard. Then, once Ismail was out, Stokley and Wayne came in and helped put together what I still think is the greatest season put together by a quarterback in 2004 (Harrison, Stokely, and Wayne each had 60+ receptions/1,000 yards/10 TDs). And before the Colts had running back issues, there was, of course, Edgerrin James.
- Daunte Culpepper had a short lived career, but the guys around him (Randy Moss and Cris Carter, for a while) made his career. They even made us remember names we shouldn't even know: Marcus Robinson, Nate Burleson (eh, I guess he's relevant enough), Moe Williams (no, not the Clipper), Michael Bennett, Ontario Smith. Oh, and who could forget the GOAT on that team... Jim Kleinsasser! A player so memorable, he even has a highlight in Adam Sandler's 50 First Dates (around the 1:20 mark):
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTk2NrIGiZ4"]50 first dates 4 - YouTube[/ame]
- Jeff Garcia... well, he's just Jeff Garcia. I'd go through the offenses he's played on, but none of them are memorable (well, except T.O. in S.F.). That and I'm pretty sure I'd forget one of the however many teams he played on. I will never forget that playoff game where they came back 24 points against the Giants though... fuck that game.
- Just for shits and giggles, Aaron Brooks. The black quarterback who did it right... or wrong. The black quarterback. Oh man, the "Maybe We're Good, Oh No We 'Aints". Ricky Williams... who was then replaced by Deuce McAllister. Jermaine Lewis. Fuckin' Joe Horn and his solid, yet forgotten career. We won't forget this though:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zrcAGkuk_o"]Joe Horn touchdown celebration - YouTube[/ame]
But it doesn't matter, the second I said Aaron Brooks, you immediately thought of this:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHIFLNWZBfA"]Aaron Brooks Backwards Pass - YouTube[/ame]
(Yeah, Tim Dwight came before you, Welker.)
Maybe I'm just being nostalgic, but it seems like the guys that mattered/were franchise guys are all replaced by young guns and I'm witnessing the era change. Outside of Manning and Brady, the only other truly elite quarterback in this league is Aaron Rodgers and he's starting his own legend now. I guess Vick counts as part of the old era (maybe even Brees), but now the names are Rivers, E. Manning, Roethlisberger, Ryan, Sanchez, Newton, Schaub, Romo, Stafford, etc.
Even the game is evolving. Franchise running backs are almost extinct. I remember Jerome Bettis, Eddie George, Marshall Faulk, Curtis Martin, Tiki Barber, Priest Holmes, Shaun Alexander, Warrick Dunn, LaDainian Tomlinson, Brian Westbrook, Clinton Portis, Ahman Green, etc. Nowadays, teams are running two/three running back systems and anyone can be replaced and only exceptional talents are franchise guys (Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson, Steven Jackson, Frank Gore, and maybe Matt Forte). Rookie quarterbacks are coming in and starting like crazy. ELEVEN of the starting quarterbacks in the league are three year pros or less. FOUR of those eleven are rookies. I don't think that's ever happened before in the NFL.
Have I just grown up with these guys and now I'm seeing them go or is anyone else noticing the "drastic change"? (Also, feel free to post any players/teams from the past decade that are memorable to you; I talked mostly offense anyway).
