Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

What would be the worst "best player" any team has had on an eleven?

Take the 1972 Patriots defense. In a year with an undefeated team, there must be some poor teams as well. There certainly were. The Oilers and Eagles were bottoming out, and the Saints also had a 2-11-1 record.

The 1972 Patriots had the worst defense of the bunch, though, and it wasn't all that close. Dead last in yards given up, +511 over #25 St. Louis. Dead last in points allowed, +56 over #25 Houston. Dead last in rushing defense in yards, yards per carry, TDs allowed. They only avoided being dead last in passing yards allowed because the run defense was so bad, few teams bothered passing. Still gave up more pass TDs (24) than any other team. Tied for second to last in fewest interceptions (10.) Dead last in yards per attempt.

The recognizable name here is Julius Adams. Adams wound up playing 16 years with the Pats, and starting in SB XX, 13 years later! Here he tied for the team lead in sacks... with three. Team had 15 all told. 3rd on the team in tackles. Might be the best, but he didn't stop the bleeding in that line at all.

There were no first round picks on this defense. Only first round pick starting on the whole team was Plunkett. Poor Plunkett. Adams was a second rounder. So was journeyman Dave Rowe. That's it for the second round. Rowe tied for the lead in sacks with Adams. With three.

By way of comparsion, the 1976 Patriots had seven first round draft picks starting, four on offense, three on defense. In 1985 it was nine, six and three.

If you read the 1973 preview magazines, a big deal is made about a guy named Honor Jackson. He was a safety for this team. Led the team in picks with 4. Hey, that's more than Adams! Honor was on the Dallas taxi squad, then came to the Pats as part of the aborted Duane Thomas trade. Jackson started two games the next season, but was eventually waived to the Giants. Another year as backup with the Giants, a knee injury, and he's done. Despite his 1972 heroics, Topps opted not to include Jackson in its 1973 set. Patriots defensive backs featured were Larry Carwell, Rickie Harris, John Outlaw, and Clarence Scott. Clarence Scott wasn't even the best Clarence Scott in the set. I guess it's better than being the third best Bob Brown.

Speaking of aborted trades, the best player on the 1972 Patriots defense never played with the team. That would be Fred Dryer. Dryer had been, guess what, a #1 DC of the Giants in 1969. In 1972 the Patriots gave up a #1, #2, #6 to get him. Dryer didn't last until training camp. Less than three months later, he was off to LA for Rick Cash and a #1.

Chuck Fairbanks' new regime wound up with three #1 DCs in 1973. Their own, the one for Dryer, and one for Carl Garrett. All of them went to the offense - Hannah, Cunningham, Stingley. They did pick up Ray Hamilton very late.

Is this the defensive platoon with the worst MVP? Oilers had both Bethea and Ken Houston. Eagles had Bill Bradley. Saints had... Joe Federspiel? He was a 10 year starter. A rookie here. Better than the Pats? Hard to say. The overall defense was below average, but nowhere near the 1972 Pats.

I read through that twice (no easy task ) and I'm not sure that anywhere in there you told us the name of the "MVP" of the 1972 Patriots defense...
So it's kind of hard to make a call there.

JuggernautJ wrote:I read through that twice (no easy task ) and I'm not sure that anywhere in there you told us the name of the "MVP" of the 1972 Patriots defense...
So it's kind of hard to make a call there.

Hard to say. The "name" is Adams, in hindsight, but 3 sacks out of 15 for a team giving up 5.0 yards a carry isn't going to win anyone an MVP.

Pint sized linebacker Jim Cheyunski led the team in tackles. He got traded to the Bills before the next season. Then on to the Colts. Played for a couple of good teams, didn't get a lot of respect.

It might have been Jackson, because he was new. "Came on", didn't start at the beginning of the year. 4 INT sounds better than 3 sacks. Good name. If I went by the magazines, it was Jackson. They kind of made a big deal about him. He still got replaced in 1973.

This exercise reminds me of getting a Team Leaders card in my Topps pack, but instead of listing who led the team in interceptions, you got something lame like Keith Moody's kick return yardage.

One of the books I was thinking of is The Complete Handbook Of Pro Football. John Devaney was the publisher on the 1973 version, not Zander Hollander, but it's the same format. Seven players per team are profiled. The defensive players chosen (and their order of appearance within the listed players:)

• Baltimore:
  4. Mike Curtis, 5. Ted Hendricks, 6. Bubba Smith, 7. Rick Volk
  
  Buffalo:
  3. Robert James, 4. Walt Patulski
  
  Cincinnati:
  1. Mike Reid, 7. Lemar Parrish
  
  Cleveland:
  7. "Tom" Darden
  
  Denver:
  2. Paul Smith, 6. Lyle Alzado
  
  Houston:
  1. Ken Houston, 5. Elvin Bethea
  
  Kansas City:
  4. Willie Lanier, 5. Jim Kearney, 7. Bob Bell
  
  Miami:
  2. Nick Buoniconti, 3. Manny Fernandez, 7. Jake Scott
  
  New England:
  1. Honor Jackson, 2. Julius Adams (member of NE front office is quoted as saying Jackson was their best defensive player, so there it is)
  
  New York Jets:
  6. John Elliott
  
  Oakland:
  none
  
  Pittsburgh:
  2. Jack Ham, 5. Joe Greene, 6. Dwight White
  
  San Diego:
  2. Coy Bacon, 6. Joe Beauchamp
  
  Atlanta:
  1. Tommy Nobis, 4. Tom Hayes, 5. Claude Humphrey, 6. Clarence Ellis
  
  Chicago:
  1. Dick Butkus, 4. Doug Buffone, 7. Ron Smith
  
  Dallas:
  2. Lee Roy Jordan, 3. Bob Lilly, 7. Cornell Green
  
  Detroit:
  2. Mike Lucci, 7. Lem Barney
  
  Green Bay:
  3. Ken Ellis, 5. Bob Brown, 7. Fred Carr
  
  Los Angeles:
  2. Jim Nettles, 3. Merlin Olsen
  
  Minnesota:
  2. Carl Eller, 3. Paul Krause
  
  New Orleans:
  none
  
  New York Giants:
  2. Jack Gregory, 6. Carl Lockhart
  
  Philadelphia
  3. Bill Bradley, 6. Al Nelson
  
  St. Louis:
  4. Larry Stallings
  
  San Francisco:
  4. Dave Wilcox
  
  Washington:
  6. Pat Fischer

I don't know if Honor Jackson was the worst player ever to be the "MVP" of a platoon. Must be one of the most obscure.

Maybe Morris Owens as 1976 TB offensive MVP?

Bryan wrote:Maybe Morris Owens as 1976 TB offensive MVP?

That's pretty good. I might have to go for the 1974 Bears.

Here's the Bears line-up

WR - Charlie Wade
LT - Lionel Antoine
LG - Ernie Janet
C - Rich Coady
RG - Bob Newton
RT - Bob Asher
TE - Fred Pagac
WR - Bo Rather
QB - Gary Huff
HB - Ken Grandberry
FB - Perry Williams

Grandberry was the leading rusher. 475 yards, 3.3 a card. He was a rookie. Never played another game in the NFL

Leading receiver was Charlie Wade. 39 catches, 17.5 YPC, 1 TD. Played 7 more NFL games with 2 teams. Never caught another pass.

This was a career high in TD passes for Gary Huff. With 6. 17 picks. He'd wind up in Tampa Bay, the most frequent starter for the putrid 1977 offense.

Also winding up with the Bucs was Fred Pagac. A starter here, and a rookie, along with Wade and Grandberry. Only caught 6 passes despite starting every game. Caught 2 more with the 1976 Bucs.

5 players, Grandberry, Wade, Pagac, Janet, and Williams were in their only NFL seasons as starters. In 1975, new coach Jack Pardee replaced 4/5ths of the offensive line. Everyone else but Lionel Antoine was benched or gone. Pardee kept Bo Rather, Huff, and Antoine as starters. Replaced the other eight.

The 1976 Buccaneers also saw only three of their starters return the next year. Owens, JK McKay, and center Dan Ryczek. I suppose since Owens actually held his job, he's better than anyone on the Bears.

Best offensive player for his career was likely Bob Newton. Eventually started again for the Seahawks for four years. But he was benched in 1975. I'm not picking him. Mirro Roder, the kicker, kicked 9 of 13 field goals. That's pretty good. But he only scored 44 points. Also lost his job the next year, and wound up in Tampa Bay. Where he missed three field goals in two games and was done. Not quite enough.

I suppose I would go with Wade here. I think he was probably worse than Owens. Maybe worse than Honor Jackson.