Legion of Boom = best secondary ever?

[FlyingGreg]

if they were the best secondary ever, we wouldn't have lost to atlanta.

THey'll have this year to make that step though.

Incorrect. That was entirely on the likes of Bruce Irvin and our total lack of pass rush, period. You don't pin that on the secondary.

:141847_bnono:

 

[Smelly McUgly]

They have only all been starting together for a season-and-a-half. More longevity is needed.

But the fact that they play this well in a more pass-happy league than ever will put them in the conversation legitimately if they keep this up.

 

[Hawknballs]

if they were the best secondary ever, we wouldn't have lost to atlanta.

THey'll have this year to make that step though.

Incorrect. That was entirely on the likes of Bruce Irvin and our total lack of pass rush, period. You don't pin that on the secondary.

:141847_bnono:

So the greatest secondary of all time in the NFL can have an asterisk by it?

no thanks.

 

[kearly]

Best ever? I think it is, at least based on the talent across the board, headed by the league's top corner and maybe the league's best safety. How many times in NFL history has the same defense had the top corner tandem and the top safety tandem?

In terms of results, I'd argue yes as well. How many defenses in NFL history finished #1 in scoring with a sack rate below the NFL median and with an average run defense? I'm guessing it's a very short list.

 

[Tical21]

One of the best years of any secondary? I'll kinda buy that. But they've still got a ton to prove before they get any crown.

Mid 90's Cowboys: Deion, Smith, Brock Marion and Darren Woodson

Who remembers this? Mid 80's chiefs--Albert Lewis, Kevin Ross, Deron Cherry and Lloyd Burress

The Ravens with Reed, McCalister, Rolle and Landry

The old Lions team had Lebeau, Night Train Lane, and Lem Barney (Lane and Barney are in the HOF)

 

[Meeker]

The Lions of the mid/late 50s featured 2 HOFers (Jack Christisen and Yale Lary) and a Pro Bowler (Jim David)...nicknamed Chris' Crew

The Lions of the early 60s featured 3 HOFers (Night Train Lane, Yale Lary, and Dick LeBeau)

The Packers of the 60s featured 2 HOFers (Herb Addlery and Willie Wood) as well as other Pro Bowlers/All Pros (Jesse Whittenton and Bob Jeter)

The 70s Steelers featured HOFer Mel Blount, All Pro Donnie Shell (latre 70s), and multiple Pro Bowlers (J.T. Thomas, Mike Wagner, Glen Edwards)...all 4 DBs made the Pro Bowl in 76 (Blount, Thomas, Wagner, and Edwards) and 3 made it in 75 (excluding Thomas).


Theres some stiff competition :lol:

 

[NoChops]

94 niners.

davis, deion, hanks....they won it all, deion wins defensive player of the year..they were the best even though it was just one year.

 

[Sports Hernia]

Honestly, with multiple All-Pro's, and Pro Bowlers at every position, has there ever been a better secondary in the history of the NFL?

I saw it mentioned on PFT in the comments, and I have to agree. Has there ever been a more balanced and potent secondary? We've got multiple hitters and they are perfectly balanced by excellent coverage DBs.

I've been watching football since about the 1970's as well, and I don't remember any secondary that is as good overall as the Legion of Boom. Any of you football history geeks know of any?

I think it's a bit premature to say that. Let win 3 or 4 superbowls, then we can make that claim. But it's nice to dream!

 

[HawkFan72]

Sorry but "GOAT" = shutdown secondary. And allowing the Falcons to drive half the field to score a game winning touchdown in less than 30 seconds ^= "GOAT".

They have time to prove it in the future. But right now, nope.

Technically Bobby Wagner allowed the last reception to Gonzalez. So to blame the whole drive on the secondary is a bit unfair.

And on the first long reception, the Seahawks blitzed and played zone, which was a bad call for the situation anyway. The Legion of Boom was not playing to their strengths and it wasn't their call.

 

[TJH]

They have time to prove it in the future. But right now, nope.

That was primarily the fault of Gus Bradley's scheme for the final drive.

The players still need to make the plays. We also almost had the secondary cost us the Bears game.

 

[The Radish]

Its very difficult to get any consensus on "best" because most of our posters/members aren't old enough to remember some of the really greats from the mid 1950s through the 1960s.

As I remember watching from then the next big defenders burst was the 70s Stillirs. Tho the Black and Blue Division had some really great players at the end of their careers for most football fans here the Damndable Stillirs were the start of a long line of very good defenses.

If you look at the 3 decades most of the best defensive teams were the ones that dominated those decades. Packers of the 60s, Stillirs of the 70s, Niners of the 80s. All those teams had great defenses all around.

Please note I'm not saying we couldn't/haven't approached that kind of respect but it takes years of continuous perfection to get that kind of legend.

We are all pretty excited now but in reality our team has done nothing so far except become a better team and again lose the key game that kept us from the hunt. What if we fail to get to the mountain in the next 2-3 years. Do you think anyone will truly believe we had/have the best?

:les:

 

[scutterhawk]

I think Chi-Town and Green Bay both in the olden days had better middle defenses than anything I see now a days. Of course they were allowed to do many more physical things then than is allowed now.

And no one had better over look the Stillirs of the mid 70s. Don't remember if it was 75 or 76 that pitched 5 shutouts and is considered the best team of all time. We have some great players but do they compare with some of the "Black & Blue" divisions best? I'm not sure.

We have lots of hard hitter yes, but that happens once or twice a game. Teams like GB and Chi-Town, and Stillirs of the 70s had hits like that about every other play. Again, rule changes make a big difference.

Let me throw a couple of names at you and see if you think Brandon Browner or anyone else on our team is better or as good.

Dick Butkus Chi-Town

Ray Nitschke Green Bay

:les:

Not asking about stand alone players, but of the whole Secondary.
Butkus wasn't the whole Secondary'
Neither was Seahawks Brown, nor Easley.
Ronnie Lott? who were the other three?
I think the Seahawks are the best over all Secondary that's been fielded for decades now.

 

[scutterhawk]

Sorry but "GOAT" = shutdown secondary. And allowing the Falcons to drive half the field to score a game winning touchdown in less than 30 seconds ^= "GOAT".

They have time to prove it in the future. But right now, nope.

Okay, so, who IS/WAS better AS A GROUP?

 

[Cartire]

Radish is wise in his old age. The black and blue division alone had some amazing talent.

If the LOB plays this well next season AND we are able to resign ET, Sherm and Browner to keep the group together, I predict heavily that they will go down as the GOAT.

 

[Jazzhawk]

Honestly, with multiple All-Pro's, and Pro Bowlers at every position, has there ever been a better secondary in the history of the NFL?

I saw it mentioned on PFT in the comments, and I have to agree. Has there ever been a more balanced and potent secondary? We've got multiple hitters and they are perfectly balanced by excellent coverage DBs.

I've been watching football since about the 1970's as well, and I don't remember any secondary that is as good overall as the Legion of Boom. Any of you football history geeks know of any?

Ok, as a Hawks fan, I loves me some Legion Of Boom and all that goes in it. But, until they win multiple Super Bowls, the old 49ers secondary of mid-80's with Ronnie Lott, Tim McKyer, Carlton Williamson, Don Griffen, Tom Holmoe, Dwight Hicks, othe mid -90's with Neon Deion Sanders, Merton Hanks, Eric Davis, Tim McDonald, Dana Hall and a few others gets my vote.

 

[Jville]

Since the resumption of the NFL Season, the Seattle secondary -- cornerbacks Keith Simpson and Dave Brown and safeties John Harris and Kenny Easley - has drawn rave reviews

Link >>> http://www.beckys-place.com/johnharris.html

We had six interceptions in all – two by Brown, two by Terry Taylor and one each by myself and Kenny Easley. Four of them went for touchdowns, which turned out to be an NFL record.

Link >>>> http://www.heraldnet.com/article/201111 ... /711299999

A Tribute to the 1984 Seahawks: The Greatest Ball-Hawk Defense in NFL History

Link >>> http://bleacherreport.com/articles/3880 ... fl-history

63 defensive turnovers in a season: No. 1 all-time in an NFL season post-‘70 merger.

47 forced fumbles in a season: No. 5 all-time in an NFL season.

25 fumble recoveries: No. 1 in the NFL in 1984.

38 interceptions: No. 1 in the NFL in 1984.

Seven interception returns for TDs in one season: No. 2 all-time in an NFL season post-‘70 merger.

Easley, Brown, and Simpson all had two pick sixes—the only team in NFL history to have three players with multiple pick sixes in the same season.

325 return yards in a game: No. 1 in NFL history for interception return yards in a game.

Yeah the 84 defensive backfield was special.

 

[LymonHawk]

I believe in the early '80s, SF sent four DBs to the pro-bowl. IIRC: Lott, Eric Wright, McKyer(sp?), Dwight Hicks. Not all were starters, though.

 

[HansGruber]

The 1984 Seahawks secondary was pretty damn good. They made Marino look bad in that playoff loss.

I grew up watching the 70's Steelers and Raiders. My dad was a Raiders fan before the Seahawks existed, since he's originally from the Bay Area. I remember watching some sports special where members of the Steelers defense were being interviewed in a restaurant. They were all eating pasta, drinking whiskey and beer, and smoking cigars. Pro football athletes in the 1970's, and especially that Steelers defense, were like a bunch of big blue-collar thugs, but they wouldn't even be competitive as athletes today.

Today's athletes (especially receivers and skill position players) are genetic freaks. They're bigger, faster and stronger than anything those defenses ever saw back in the 1980's and before. I once heard Jerry Rice say in an interview that Calvin Johnson would have absolutely destroyed defenses back in the 1980's, that he is such a freak that he would have eclipsed Rice's numbers easily. I'd agree with that.

You put any of those historical secondaries against the offenses the Seahawks faced this season. Especially Atlanta in the playoffs. They'd have been killed. Can you imagine Julio Jones and Roddy White teaming up on Dick Lebeau and Night Train Lane? That would have been comical. They'd be out there huffing and puffing and getting their asses handed to them on every down. The NFL was different back in the 70's. It was mostly a lot of run game with pretty basic passing schemes. It wasn't until Bill Walsh came into the NFL and invented the WCO that offenses really started throwing the ball much, or using any kind of advanced schemes. Tom Landry, maybe.

But still... the point remains the same. There is no way any defense from the 1970's steps into 2012 and plays competitive. They didn't even understand proper nutrition back then.

Now imagine the Legion of Boom playing back in those days. Being allowed to hit defenseless receivers, hit guys in the helmet, hold as much as they want until the ball leaves the QB's hand. Can you imagine? They'd have killed people. Richard Sherman would have been faster, bigger and stronger than anyone on the field outside of his own secondary. Especially back in the 1960's. It would have been ridiculous. Heck, Kam Chancellor is faster and stronger than any member of the Steel Curtain ever was. I watched those guys play. Yeah, they were big dudes for their day. But they were slow and ridiculously out of shape compared to modern athletes.

And imagine if the Patriots, Packers, Falcons or Saints could play in the 1970's. Ridiculous. It would have been a bloodbath. You'd have seen 700+ yard passing games. Brady would have destroyed that Steelers defense with ease. Aaron Rodgers with average modern WRs would have killed them. Can you imagine Matt Ryan w/ Jones and White going against that defense? Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson? Those are all teams the Seahawks played last season and our secondary shut them down, without any of the advantages those 1970's defenses enjoyed when rules were tilted in their favor. Even playing with 1970's rules, can you imagine Calvin Johnson going against Ronnie Lott? He would have jumped over him with ease, outran him on every down, juked the dude out of his cleats.

Too many people romanticize those older teams. Those guys weren't even athletes by today's standards. Hell, even Kenny Easley would have got his butt handed to him by today's smarter QBs and stronger, faster WRs.

Anyway... just a few thoughts. It is fun to imagine it all though. It would be so cool if you really could match some of those teams up. Mid-80's Niners versus 70's Steelers. Early-90's Cowboys versus Mid-00's Patriots. Ronnie Lott vs Calvin Johnson. Kenny Easley vs Roddy White. That would be awesome.

 

[cesame]

You mean the secondary that gave up game winning and game tying drives multiple times last year?

This is the kind of thread fans of other teams see and think Seahawk fans are ridiculous homers. I would agree with them in this situation.

 

[drdiags]

I think you are giving too much credit to the modern player Hans. I don't share your opinion. Those guys in the 70's, 80's weren't just a bunch of goons, drinking and smoking during and after the game. You may think folks are giving too much credit to past generations. I think you are not giving them enough credit.

Good football players transcend eras. Those QBs, RBs, TEs and WRs weren't just a bunch of stiffs. Your question cannot be answered definitively. It is all just an opinion that cannot be proven one way or the other. Haynes, Blount, Easley, Sanders etc could hold their own in comparison to the LOB.

And BS on Easley getting his butt kicked by today's QBs,TEs and WRs. He played against Elway, Marino, Fouts and other QBs who could more than hold their own with the current crop of NFL QBs. You are really stretching to make your point seem a crystal clear choice. Unreal.