![]() ![]() What followed was arguably the greatest run of defensive performances in NFL history as the Steel Curtain shut tight and Pittsburgh recorded a remarkable five shutouts in their next nine games, allowing a paltry 3.1 points per game on their way to the playoffs. While four rings in six years is a monumental achievement, the Steel Curtain's finest hour was actually in 1976, a year when the Steelers lost to Oakland in the AFC Championship game.Įarly in the season, the team were as limp as the terrible towels swung by their fans, falling to 1-4 and losing starting quarterback Terry Bradshaw to injury. ![]() A play on the "Iron Curtain" phrase coined by Winston Churchill, the Steel Curtain nickname actually came about as a result of a 1971 radio contest.Īnd as the decade wore on, the impenetrable nature of the Steelers defence justified their rock-hard nickname, led by the equally well-monikered "Mean" Joe Greene! Speaking of the Steelers, the famous "Steel Curtain" defence was the backbone of a Pittsburgh side that won the Super Bowl four times in six years between 19. The Jags defence was so commanding that they were also known as "Sacksonville", a nickname so beautiful in its simplicity that you just have to believe that from the second they were formed in 1993, Jags fans and media were just waiting for the opportunity to utilise it!Īnd that moment finally arose in 2017, as their defence stacked up 55 sacks, second only to the Pittsburgh Steelers in that category and enough to propel the Jags to the AFC Championship game. SacksonvilleĪs strange as it may seem to newer NFL fans, there was once a time when the Jacksonville Jaguars were good, and even more unbelievably, it was as recently as 2017! ![]() Sometimes the nicknames just pick themselves and while this term of endearment for the 1982 Miami Dolphins defence scores 0/10 for imagination, it's certainly 10/10 for practicality!īecause, when six of your defensive starters' surnames begin with the letter B, what on earth else are you going to call them? 8. New Orleans eventually finished 1-15, endured two further losing seasons but their fans never lost the gallows humour that saw them through the difficult times, and when the good times finally rolled the nickname was also rolled out once again, this time with a more positive connotation! 9. Of course many fans duly complied, leading to one of the most unique sights in NFL history, while some really threw themselves into it, writing "the Aints" on their new attire! However, we couldn't resist starting our list with a nickname that is now held in great affection among Saints fans, despite the fact that it emanated from one of the worst periods of their history!ġ980 was a dark time in the Big Easy as the Saints lost their first 14 games, causing an exasperated local Sports Broadcaster to advise New Orleans fans to wear paper bags over their heads at the team's home games! Unsurprisingly, the best NFL nicknames usually apply to successful sides, because quite frankly, no one wants to go to the effort of naming a rubbish team! That nickname doesn't even make our list, which just goes to show how formidable the rest of them are, so sit back and enjoy our trip down memory lane, as we bring you our top ten NFL team nicknames. His best year came in 1989, when he tallied 21 sacks.No other professional sport in the world does nicknames as well as the NFL, for the simple reason that while the Rossoneri, Socceroos and the Indomitable Lions are impressive football monikers, none of them can hold a candle to any league where one of the sides was nicknamed "The Over the Hill Gang"! Doleman played for the Vikings from 1985-1993, and again in 1999. On Pro Football Reference's updated list, Page, Eller and Marshall have joined the ranks.Ĭhris Doleman is highest on Pro Football Reference's list at No.7, with 150.5. In conjunction with the announcement, the site released its own top 25 sacks leaderboard, and with three new additions from the Purple People Eaters, six total Vikings are on the list, more than any other team.Ĭhris Doleman, Jared Allen and John Randle are all already on the NFL's official list, because their careers came after 1982. The site announced this week that it has accounted for a majority of NFL sacks going back to 1960. Stats website Pro Football Reference has rectified that. So, all of the times Alan Page, Jim Marshall, Carl Eller and Gary Larsen took down opposing quarterbacks were technically off the books. ![]() That's because the league only started officially tracking sacks in 1982. MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Despite being known as one of the most fearsome defensive lines of all time, you won't find any members of the Purple People Eaters on the NFL's official sack leaders list. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |