Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Who is one of the all-timers that doesn't have a ring that you feel the worst for?

Dan Marino is high on my list. Always feel like he deserved to get another shot at a title but Miami generally had terrible defenses during his peak and he was in the same division as the Buffalo Bills. 1985, 1990, 1992, and 1994 feel like the real "missed chances" for him.

-Could he have repeated his performance against the '85 Bears?

-Can the Giants stifle the Dolphins the way they did the Bills?

-Could he have gotten to the Cowboys and avoided the turnovers that doomed the Bills?

-Can he have gotten into a shootout with Steve Young?

Dick "Night Train" Lane---14 seasons with LA, Detroit, and Cards and not a single postseason appearance (well, outside of Pro Bowls and Playoff Bowls). The closest he ever got was his sensational rookie season of 1952, when he was injured in last game of regular season and missed the following week's divisional tie-breaker vs Lions. If he'd been healthy, who knows---the Rams might've won their 4th straight conference crown and gone on to successfully defend their title vs Cleveland.

Dan Fouts ... 78 - 82 deserved a SB but the owner gets rid of Dean, Jefferson, Johnson, Muncie(understable) and Brooks. Kelcher too but past his prime. Washington was considered past his prime and might have been let go of too soon as well ?

Gayle Sayers ... nuff said

Barry Sanders ... Detroit misery

Deacon Jones/Merlin Olsen ... Great tandem

Carl Eller/Alan Page ... NFL Championship doesnt count

Thurman Thomas ... People forget how good he was

Abe Woodson/Jim Johnson ... Shutdown corners

Sonny Jurgensen. He played on some horrid teams but was always among the league's leading passers. He was hurt with a torn Achilles tendon in 1972 when the Redskins made it to Super Bowl VII. Then again George Allen preferred Billy Kilmer as his QB. Maybe that's an indication as to why Allen never won the big one.

RRMarshall wrote:Sonny Jurgensen. He played on some horrid teams but was always among the league's leading passers. He was hurt with a torn Achilles tendon in 1972 when the Redskins made it to Super Bowl VII. Then again George Allen preferred Billy Kilmer as his QB. Maybe that's an indication as to why Allen never won the big one.

Sonny was the back up QB (to Norm Van Brocklin) on the champion 1960 Eagles.
Although I concur he "deserved" a ring of his own...

Sayers and Butkus (both) would've been awesome...

HoFer Ollie Matson... a great player on some awful teams.
Y.A. Title... so close so many times.

Ollie Matson had a stellar 14-year career and only played on two teams with winning records, the 1956 Chicago Cardinals and the 1966 Eagles.

I loved watching John Hannah and Dwight Stephenson maul defenders. Both really deserved a ring ...

Dan Fouts ... 78 - 82 deserved a SB but the owner gets rid of Dean, Jefferson, Johnson, Muncie(understable) and Brooks. Kelcher too but past his prime. Washington was considered past his prime and might have been let go of too soon as well ?

Agreed. It's also too bad that Bill Walsh didn't stay more than one year. Don Coryell was good, but what if Walsh was there to take the job in 1978 instead?

An associate of mine said that Coryell ran country club training camps in San Diego. I don't see Walsh doing that. Maybe he is able to get SD over the hump.

Another player I feel bad for is Randy Gradishar. What if he stayed one more year, and the Broncos somehow get to the SB against the 49ers? That 49er team was good, but they weren't on a roll like the 89 team was.

A tie between anyone who has played for Daniel Snyder.

The YA Tittle segment in the NFL Films Best Ever Quarterbacks video made me tear up as a kid.