Size is not the be all and end all. Chuck Noll made a living in the NFL in the late 50's and early 60's as undersized OL and LB for the Browns that used superior technique to overcome much bigger opponents. He then went into coaching and guess who coached these 70's Steelers. They never drafted just for size but coachability and technique. Plus the Steeler trap blocking game called for their OL to be quick and strong not big road graters. They used positioning to block much bigger DLs. Noll didn't mind if you lost a physical battle every now and then but he didn't tolerate mental mistakes and being unprepared or being caught out of position.I'm not picking on those Steeler teams, I am saying every team back then would get crushed.
Using the SB winning 1975 Steelers roster as a reference compared to the defending SB winning Patriots there is an advantage for New England of at least 50 lbs per player on both sides of the line with one exception, Trey Flowers who is quite undersized for a DL at 265lbs. That is a massive advantage. Some of the differences are 70 lbs and one guy on the Pats DL is 100 pounds heavier than the heaviest Steeler O lineman.
This size disparity is league wide too so again I'm not trying to pump up the Patriots or crap on the Steelers. It is just a completely different league size wise at the line of scrimmage today.
40's and 50's, yes. 70's and 80's, no. Paul Brown who coached in the 50's and 60's is credited with developing the modern techniques of how teams train and practice today and run offenses. Nutrition is the big difference. We know a lot more about that now then we did in the past. If you gave past players what we know about nutrition today they'd have no problem applying it and getting the same benefits.
True. Weight training was first started by SD of the AFL in the 60's. Noll took that to the Steelers in the 70's. Giver those players the even more refined regimens of today and they'd be just fine.
There is a reason sports like boxing and wrestling have weight classes.Technique helps but it's like bringing a knife to a gun fight eventually one is going down.
Ha got you. There was no miracle water or avacado ice cream in the 70s
Gracie in early MMA disproves that. He routinely beat much bigger guys when UFC had no weight classes. The weight classes were instituted to avoid much bigger guys from being embarrassed by Gracie (much smaller men).
Now I'm wondering if avocado ic would taste great or horrible??? My wife made sugar free ic flavored with beat juice last week that was very very good. I was doubtful it would be good but it surprised me.Ha got you. There was no miracle water or avacado ice cream in the 70s
As much as times change, there is always someone selling snake oil that will cure all that ails you and grow hair on a bald head too!Ha got you. There was no miracle water or avacado ice cream in the 70s
Yes embarrasment was the reason
Fake News !!!You're a fool if you think aa team from the 70's NFL could compete today.
While football in the mid-80s could be pretty brutally violent, it's worth remembering that these players were, typically, a lot smaller than the NFL behemoths we're so used to today. The chart above—pulled from an interactive visualization created by Reddit user abresler—shows the average weight of each draft class for offensive linemen (black), defensive linemen (green), tight ends (blue), and linebackers (brown). The other positions saw comparatively little change in their weight, but you should go take a look at that data (plus info on height) on the original graphic.
The 34 offensive linemen drafted in 1974 weighed, on average, 255 pounds. By 1999, the 34 drafted offensive linemen weighed an average of 317 pounds, a 62-pound, 24 percent increase. During the same span, rookie defensive linemen gained 34 pounds, tight ends gained 33 pounds, and linebackers gained 19 pounds. These weights seem to have been pretty stable since then, which probably speaks more to the limits of human weight:speed ratios than it does to any sort of commitment by the NFL to its players' health.
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A great example is James Harrison who is quite small for his position but a beast nevertheless.
(btw thank you Pittsburgh!
Life changes. Generations are becoming shorter.
Dupree made himself look like a candy-ass poosay over that BS. You don't talk shit about a future HOFer that has a cemented legacy in that building. Decades from now Harrison's name will still echo those hallways that Dupree currently calls home, regardless of how James' career ends. Dupree's name? At this rate it will be nothing more than a cliffnote on sports articles talking about TJ Watt.
