Nothing beat Gerry Girard doing the sports report on Ch 11 after the Yankees game. And before the Odd Couple reruns.
Guy, comparing Barry Sanders and Kevin Mawae is absurd. IMO you WAY overrate Mawae's abilities. Are any other "finesse" OL in the HOF? I don't think so. At least I can't think of any. The HOF OL are guys that owned their area of the football field, who were dominant. They didn't have to pull and take on smaller, weaker players to be successful. I clearly remember the Jets rushing attack failing about as often as it succeeded. Do you remember how many times CuMar was stopped for no gain or lost yardage? I can't think another RB who ever had more rushes for no gain or lost yardage. Much of CuMar's yardage occurred on 3rd and long draw plays (3rd and 15 or more, he'd frequently pick up 10+ yards because the defense was willing to give up rushing yards and were keyed to stop the pass). Those were also about the only times he gained yardage going straight up the gut, for the very simple reason that Mawae could not move the opposing NT or DT off the LOS or out of the way. The Jets were most successful rushing the ball off tackle and against teams with losing records whose defenses weren't very disciplined and wouldn't stay in their lanes. CuMar was then able to kill them with cutbacks. In games against top teams, on 3rd and 1 and/or 4th and 1 they'd quite often fail, particularly in crucial moments of games. The simple truth is that they couldn't run the ball when they wanted to or needed to to ice games or keep drives going. Mawae was a great pickup and was a very good player for the Jets, but he had his limitations, and is not HOF worthy. If as an OL you can't move the man in front of you and you had to constantly pull to take on a LB or DB to be effective, then no, you aren't HOF worthy. In large part Mawae's shortcomings were covered by Brandon Moore. IMO his stay with the team last a year or two too long. He was more of a liability during that time than he was a help. I was ecstatic when he was finally traded or allowed to leave (I forget which).
When Bud introduced the 3-4 scheme, it also affected MG, he went from being a DE in a 4-3 to a DE in a 3-4, totally different responsibility and he still ended up with 13.5 sacks the first year of the change. Those are the advantages of being 6'5/ 260 lbs and lighting fast. There is nothing wrong with being a one trick pony, as long as he was great at it and he was. The fans on this board clamor for an OLB that can get to the QB, but criticize one of the best of all time that wore the green and white. Regarding steroids, I think 90% of the NFL back then was using, it's not fair to use it against MG and hail everyone else in that era. JMO
Yu make some good points. But, my comments were about comparing Gastineau to Klecko. In my opinion, Gastineau was not the player Klecko was. Klecko had a large number of sacks, from EVERY DL position. AND he played the run very well and was a leader. Gastineau was all about Gastineau and after he gained a bunch of weight his effectiveness diminished. My personal opinion on the fans on this board clamoring for an OLB that can get to the QB is that: a) I'm not one of these fans. b) I think the Jets already have one: Coples. No, not in the same league as Gastineau, but not asked to be the one-trick pony Gastineau was. Coples plays every aspect of OLB, which diminishes his sacks total. c) Sacks aren't the end all and be all for an OLB or a defense. So, why these fans fixate on sacks when the Jets had 45 of them last year, without a viable secondary, is beyond my understanding. But again, I agree with much of what you said about Gastineau I just feel that Klecko was the better, more complete player and way more of a leader than Gastineau.
That sounds right. I remember Garagiola because he was the color man and he was really good at it. Lots of old time baseball stories in the breaks.
Klecko was an anchor and he made great plays from everywhere. Gastineau was a great end but he had a more singular role. It's really a shame Klecko got hurt. He was always double-teamed and playing at his size made the injuries inevitable.
I wish the rules allowed coaches, because Weeb Ewbank is iconic in Jets history, and IMO should be on such a monument, if there were one. Seeing how Ewbank is not eligible for our Jets Mount Rushmore, I guess I'll go with: Namath Maynard Klecko Lyons
