RIP Mike Curtis.

How was Tommy Nobis seen? Growing up in Georgia, we were told by TV & newspaper people that he was in the conversation with Butkus, but as a grownup I certainly haven't heard nearly as much about him. Don't know whether to think that was because local journalists were exaggerating or because players on bad expansion teams didn't get as much attention.

 

Curtis will not make the Hall of Fame. When he played middle linebacker was the elite position and as much as he accomplished he was still overshadowed by some other of the other linebackers of the era such as Nitschke, Butkus, Lanier and for that matter, Ted Hendricks.

Curtis will also not get credit for the fact that he was very good in pass coverage. He was fast enough to play fullback his rookie year. Because of his speed Baltimore played a lot of double zone, which was rare in the late 60's. They were able to do this because Curtis could get such deep drops in the middle zones.

Chuck Noll was a defensive coach on the Colts staffs and when he went to Pittsburgh he took that defense to the Steelers and ran it with athletic linebackers like Jack Ham and Jack Lambert.

 

Nobis was a truly great college player, but like Curtis in terms of national perception as a pro I think it was mostly he was excellent, but not dominant.

 

IIRC, the late Furman Bisher pushed Tommy Nobis for the Hall of Fame, but it went nowhere. Which is sayin' something.

 

Nobis was seen as a really great player who blew his knee out. Nobis was All-Pro his first three years and All-League his second year, beating out Butkus and Nitschke, who both played all 14 games. But he only played five games in his fourth year and then he only played his four games his sixth year due to injuries. He played for several more seasons after that and was perceived as a shadow of his former self.

The Falcons are a hard luck franchise. They had Nobis and then William Andrews who had Hall of Fame ability blow out knees early in their careers. Along with Deion Sanders and Julio Jones they are still probably the best players in franchise history though I must be forgetting somebody.

 

Good post, Lancey. Andrews was a stud until ... well, you stated it. What do you think about Mike Kenn, other than the obviously longevity?

 

I think I am old and losing my memory. Kenn probably belongs. I mixed up Kenn with Jeff Van Note, who was even more durable. Van Note made a lot of Pro Bowls but was never All-League so that is why I left him off.

 

The remarkable thing about the Falcons was their inability to string a couple good seasons together. The franchise was founded in 1966 and it was not until 2008-2009 they never strung two winning seasons together. The 1998 Super Bowl team went 14-2. In 1997 the team was 7-9 and in 1999 5-11.

Off the top of my head the only other Super Bowl team to do that was the 1981 49'ers. The 49'ers went 6-10 in 1980 and 3-6 in 1982.

 

I guess were both older than Mr. Moderator playthrough, though, Lancey LOL! I'm ignorant to any previous Van Note reference, but hell, yeah, he deserves consideration, too.

Early in my radio career, Mike Webster was playing for Kansas City. I don't exactly remember the details, but IIRC Webster was going to break Van Note's record for most NFL games without scoring a TD. I called WSB in Atlanta and they put me on the air with him. Van Note was the morning sportscaster. Good times!

 

Claude Humphrey.

 

Noter was a very visible personality in Atlanta sports long after he retired from football.