abe would be 80.....

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abe would be 80.....
Started by coach tj troup, Feb 16 2014 01:07 PM

7 replies to this topic

#1 coach tj troup
PFRA Member
Posted 16 February 2014 - 01:07 PM
....with abe woodson passing on, and what would have been his 80th birthday this weekend....takes me to my thoughts on him. an outstanding right corner who was one of the best of his era at man to man coverage, yet this post concerns his kor ability. from 59-63 he returned 123 for 3,754(30.1). for those that want to jump in, who is the best kick-off return men you've seen for a 5 year time span? in '62 the 49er defense allowed 83 points to detroit, thus Abe had plenty of opportunities. he returned 13 for 415 yards. not sure how many players in league history have ever returned kick-offs for over 400 yards against a division opponent in a season?

#2 bachslunch
Forum Visitors
Posted 16 February 2014 - 01:30 PM
I've always thought Woodson would be a good HoF choice. I remember reading an interview with Ray Berry where he cited Woodson as one of the best CBs he played against -- and coach, your observation about his excellence in man coverage doesn't surprise me. Far as I can tell, he was also the premiere KR between Jack Christiansen and Gale Sayers.

Woodson also has postseason honors of 5/5/none, which is excellent. 1st team all pro according to PFR:

1959: AP, UPI
1960: AP, NYDaily News
1961: NYDailyNews
1962: NEA
1963: NEA

as well as some 2nd team appearances in all but 1961. Those were also the five years he went to the Pro Bowl. His career might be seen by some as a little short for the Hall at 9 years, though.

Question -- Jim Johnson, widely regarded as one of the two best cover corners ever (Deion Sanders being the other), was a rookie 49er in 1961. One wonders if he learned some coverage techniques from Woodson. Maybe so.

#3 SixtiesFan
Forum Visitors
Posted 16 February 2014 - 03:57 PM
Abe Woodson was well known as the best kick returner in pro football during the early 1960's. I have a childhood memory of watching a Colt-49er game on TV. The Colts were kicking off and the announcer said Lenny Moore was on the kickoff team playing safety in case Abe Woodson broke loose.

#4 Bryan
Forum Visitors
Posted 17 February 2014 - 11:33 AM
coach tj troup, on 16 Feb 2014 - 1:07 PM, said:
....with abe woodson passing on, and what would have been his 80th birthday this weekend....takes me to my thoughts on him. an outstanding right corner who was one of the best of his era at man to man coverage, yet this post concerns his kor ability. from 59-63 he returned 123 for 3,754(30.1). for those that want to jump in, who is the best kick-off return men you've seen for a 5 year time span? in '62 the 49er defense allowed 83 points to detroit, thus Abe had plenty of opportunities. he returned 13 for 415 yards. not sure how many players in league history have ever returned kick-offs for over 400 yards against a division opponent in a season?

Woodson was definitely an interesting and underrated player. I was trying to think of impressive 5-year kick return guys, and it was much harder than I thought it would be. Josh Cribbs is probably the best of the recent players. Ron Brown of the Rams in the 1980's seemed to have some big kick returns every year. But most of the return guys that immediately came to mind were all punt returners.

One of my favorite kick returners was a guy named Brad Pyatt who played about a year and a half for the Colts in the early 2000's. No moves, no cuts, he'd just catch the ball and run straight ahead at full speed until somebody hit him. I believe he had to retire because of internal organ damage...he took some tremendous shots.

#5 oldecapecod2
PFRA Member
Posted 17 February 2014 - 11:23 PM
The Philadelphia Eagles' Timmy Brown - 8 years, 184 KR, 4781 YDs

Edited to add the years: 1960 - 1967

#6 Teo
PFRA Member
Posted 18 February 2014 - 01:01 AM
Allen Rossum was kind of underrated. He had six 1,000-yard kickoff returns in his first seven seasons in the league.

#7 bachslunch
Forum Visitors
Posted 19 February 2014 - 07:56 AM
oldecapecod2, on 17 Feb 2014 - 11:23 PM, said:
The Philadelphia Eagles' Timmy Brown - 8 years, 184 KR, 4781 YDs
Edited to add the years: 1960 - 1967

Brown was indeed a fine return man, but I think one can definitely argue Woodson was better. Expressed as number/yards/avg/tds:

Woodson (1958-1965)

kickoff returns: 193/5538/28.7/5
punt returns: 123/956/7.8/2

Brown (1960-1967)

kickoff returns: 184/4781/26.0/5
punt returns: 71/639/9.0/1

Brown only beats Woodson in average yards per punt return, but note that Woodson nearly returned double the number of punts Brown did. For kickoffs, Woodson amassed significantly more yardage in nearly the same number of returns as Brown.

#8 rhickok1109
PFRA Member
Posted 19 February 2014 - 09:57 AM
Al Carmichael with the Packers 1953-1958. He averaged 24.7, 26.6, 29.9, 28.1, 22.3, and 24.1 for an overall average of 25.5. After a year out of football, he played for the Denver Broncos in 1960 and averaged 26.4 yards on kickoff returns.