Re: Comparing The NFL Now To When You Played...

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RamFanInPA
Comparing the NFL now to when you played. What is your favorite part of today's game and what is your least favorite part?

I met you at your 2001 Hall Of Fame Induction weekend. It was a thrill, thanks for all those great memories!! You and Merlin are the reason I became a Rams fan all the way back in Pennsylvania. I still put on that #85 jersey proudly many a Sunday!!!! Life long Rams fan. GO RAMS!!!

God Bless

PROBABLY THE BEST PART IS THE ATHLETICISM ON THE PLAYERS. THEY REALLY ARE SOMETHING, ESPECIALLY UP CLOSE. THEY ARE TALL, LONG LIMBED, FAST AND CAN BENCH PRESS THE WORLD.

MY LEAST FAVORITE PART IS THE PLATOON SYSTEM. PLAYERS LIKE CHRIS LONG AND ROBERT QUINN PLAY MAYBE 75% OF THE DOWNS. THEIR NEW YOUNG TACKLE DOESN'T EVEN PLAY OVER 90%, I DON'T THINK. THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN IN MY DAY, DEACON WOULDN'T HAVE DONE IT, MERLIN WOULDN'T HAVE DONE IT. WE CONDITIONED OURSELVES TO PLAY 60-70 PLAYS AND TO GO 100% EVERY PLAY.

WHAT THE MESSAGE TO ME IS THESE WONDERFUL ATHLETES CANNOT CONDITION THEMSELVES FOR AN 8,10,12 PLAY DRIVE. YOU GET 30 SECONDS TO REST IN BETWEEN PLAYS, THEN YOU GO ALL OUT OF 5,6, 7 SECONDS. THEN YOU REST FOR 3O MORE SECONDS. THAT IS ENOUGH TIME TO RECOVER, IF YOU HAVE TRAINED FOR THAT.

WHAT ANGERED ME MOST WHEN I RETIRED WAS THAT MY JOB HAD BEEN GIVEN TO DOUG REED. JOHN ROBINSON SAT ME DOWN AND SAID THEY WERE GOING TO MANAGE MY SNAPS AND HAVE DOUG PLAY IN THE 3-4 AND I WOULD COME IN WHEN HE WENT TO 4 LINEMEN,

I ASKED JOHN 'WHEN DID I LOSE MY STARTING JOB'? HE SAID HE AND FRTIZ AND MARV THOUGHT THAT IF MY DOWNS WERE MANAGED THAT I COULD GO 100% ON EVERY DOWN. I ASKED 'WHEN DIDN'T I GIVE 100% ON EVERY DOWN'? AND JOHN HEMMED AND HAWED. BUT I KNEW I WAS A BETTER TWO-GAPPER THAN DOUG AND A DOUG COULDN'T RUSH THE PASSER TO SAVE HIS LIFE, SO WHAT IF THEY THREW WHEN THE 3 LINEMEN WERE IN? IT MADE NO SENSE TO ME. SO, I HUNG 'EM UP.

I WASN'T EVEN GIVEN THE CHANCE TO COMPETE FOR THE STARTING JOB, IT WAS DECIDED WHEN I WAS REHABBING MY BACK.

HAD I STAYED ON AS A DESIGNATED RUSHER, I COULD HAVE PLAYED UNTIL I WAS FORTY. BUT I WAS TAUGHT THAT YOU PLAYED EVERY DOWN AND IF YOU WERE NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO PLAY THE FULL GAME, YOU WOULD NOT BE GIVING 100%.

BUT, SINCE I WAS NOT GIVEN A SHOT TO COMPETE, I PURSUED OTHER THINGS, EVEN THOUGH I THOUGHT I DID A GOOD JOB IN 1983 AND 1984 FOR THEM IN THE 30 DEFENSE I HATED. THE OUTCOME WAS JOHN SAID 'THIS IS THE DIRECTION WE ARE HEADED, LET US KNOW IF YOU AGREE' I THOUGHT ABOUT IT FOR A MINUTE AND SAID 'HELL, NO' I AM A WHISTLE TO WHISTLE PLAYER AND JOINED THE FRONT OFFICE AND DID RADIO AND SOME ACTING AND SOME COMMERICALS.