Table of contents for Issue 65 in Gridiron

THE BIG PICTURE CHASE THE ACE Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (left) congratulates Ja’Marr Chase after the rookie receiver’s touchdown during Cincinnati’s 41-17 beatdown of Baltimore in Week 7. Former LSU star Chase, who had eight receptions for 201 yards in the resounding win over the Ravens, broke the NFL record for the most receiving yards by any player in his first seven games with a whopping 754 yards.…

THE PLAYBOOK MONEYBALL BREAKING DOWN BRADY: TB12’S REMARKABLE CONSISTENCY TOM KISLINGBURY CONTRIBUTOR We’ve been fortunate to watch the career of the greatest quarterback of all time unfold over the past two decades. In this article we’ll show how Tom Brady has maintained his incredible level, while somehow even improving in some key aspects of the position. Please note that the numbers here include playoff stats. One of the major hallmarks of Brady’s success has been the incredible postseason production that sets him apart from his peers. THE VALUE OF VOLUME The most basic way of showing a passer’s success and production is sheer volume. How many times does he throw the ball, and what yardage does he create as a result of those throws? The chart below shows both of…

TOP DEFENSIVE TACKLES DeForest Buckner is one of the NFL’s best interior defensive linemen, but he is not alone in proving to be an immovable force in the middle. Here are our top terrors in the trenches. AARON DONALD PFF GRADE: 92.2 Not just the best interior defensive lineman, but the best player on that side of the ball full stop. Donald is a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, a sixtime first-team All-Pro and an absolute wrecking ball who destroys offensive game plans on a weekly basis. DEFOREST BUCKNER PFF GRADE: 71.1 Buckner is a man mountain with a non-stop motor who uses his impressive frame and length to swim around, or through, blockers. The 49ers defense has simply not been the same since they traded Buckner to…

THE 2014 LB CLASS Ryan Shazier was one of five linebackers taken in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft. We look at the quintet’s careers. KHALIL MACK (RAIDERS – FIFTH PICK) Mack only had one Division I offer – from the MAC’s Buffalo – but was a sensation at college. He was elite in the NFL too, winning the 2016 Defensive Player of the Year award. In 2018, the Bears gave up two first-rounders to land Mack, who has 76.5 sacks in his career. ANTHONY BARR (VIKINGS – NINTH PICK) Switched to linebacker at UCLA and had 23.5 sacks across two years. Though that kind of production has been lacking at the next level, Barr has made four Pro Bowls. Still with the Vikings after coming close to…

CARLSON’S GOATS CARLSON’S GOATs TOP 10 THANKSGIVING GAMES The Thanksgiving holiday is all about family, food and a feast of football. With this year’s traditional trio of Thursday games rapidly approaching, we asked our football history buff to run through his favourite Turkey Day tussles. MIKE CARLSON CONTRIBUTOR @carlsonsports When I was a kid, the NFL’s Thanksgiving Day game was always Green Bay at Detroit, which it had been since 1951. But Packers head coach Vince Lombardi sent a note to commissioner Pete Rozelle in which he stated “four days is not enough time to get ready for a game”. Lombardi said the Packers wanted extra money if they were going to continue to play. After 1963, Green Bay would not play another Thanksgiving game until 1970, but Rozelle got…

STAR SEMINOLES Bobby Bowden coached some of college football’s finest players during his time at Florida State. DEION SANDERS WITH FLORIDA STATE: 1985-88 Arguably the greatest cornerback ever, and certainly one of the best all-round athletes. Sanders was a two-time unanimous all-American under Bowden and had 14 interceptions with the Noles, and a further three in bowl games. Also played baseball and ran track in college. Sanders is a College and Pro Football Hall of Famer. DERRICK BROOKS WITH FLORIDA STATE: 1991-94 Linebacker Brooks was the heartbeat of the defense which won Florida State’s first National Championship in 1993. A first-round pick of the Buccaneers in 1995, Brooks excelled at the next level too, helping Tampa Bay to Super Bowl XXXVII glory. Brooks also resides in the College and Pro Football Halls…

PICK SIX Liam Blackburn reveals what readers can expect to find inside the latest issue of Gridiron. LIAM BLACKBURN HEAD OF NFL @llamblackburn BIGGING UP BUCKNER DeForest Buckner – the cover star of Issue 65 – certainly stands out. At 6ft 7ins, you can’t escape Buckner’s presence when the Indianapolis Colts defensive lineman puts his hand in the dirt before the snap. He’s been grabbing attention on the field too. Last season he was named a first-team All-Pro for the first time in his career and, after a slower start to 2021, he recorded sacks in three straight games against the Houston Texans, San Francisco 49ers and Tennessee Titans as Indianapolis looked to kickstart their season following a tricky start. The first in-season edition of Hard Knocks begins this month…

MAN-TO-MAN Neil Reynolds’ latest chat is with Brett Gosper, the Head of Europe & UK for the National Football League. The two discuss the future of the London Games and the market in Germany. WITH BRETT GOSPER NEIL REYNOLDS CONTRIBUTOR @neilreynoldsnfl These are exciting times to be an NFL fan in Europe. We are coming off the back of another two successful, sold-out games in London with the promise of more to come in the future. We get to enjoy at least five live contests per week on Sky Sports NFL, as well as a host of additional programming from the UK and the United States, including the award-winning NFL coverage on the BBC and further free-to air coverage on Channel 5. Over in Germany, it is evident that a…

THE PLAYBOOK COACHES’ CORNER XSEOS DIGGING INTO THE DALLAS COWBOYS The Dallas Cowboys had the NFL’s number-one offense for yards and points scored through the first seven weeks of the season. Given the defense has taken a step forward under Dan Quinn too, the Cowboys look like being serious contenders in a stacked NFC. Jeff Reinebold breaks down Dallas’ big improvement on both sides of the ball in 2021. JEFF REINEBOLD CONTRIBUTOR @Jeff_Reinebold What have you made of Dak Prescott’s maturation, from a highly efficient rookie to one of the best signal-callers in the league? I’m a huge fan of this kid. I had an opportunity to go and sit with him when he was a high school kid in Louisiana; we wanted to recruit him as a quarterback at…

THROWBACK THE MAN WHO MADE BILL BELICHICK SMILE Considered by many to be too short for the NFL, quarterback Doug Flutie went north to prove his doubters wrong before literally saving his best for last. INTERVIEW BY WILL GAVIN WORDS BY CRAIG LLEWELLYN CRAIG LLEWELLYN DEPUTY EDITOR WILL GAVIN THE GRIDIRON SHOW HOST @WillGav Anyone doubting that the NFL has an obsession with size need only look at the teams’ monikers. The Giants, Titans, Bears, Lions, Panthers and Jaguars. However, as in any walk of life, there are those with smaller statures who can still make big impacts. Doug Flutie was never destined to be as tall as 6ft 5in Bernie Kosar or 6ft 4in Randall Cunningham – both of whom were taken well ahead of him in the 1985…

THANKSGIVING IN NUMBERS 21 THE LIONS AND PACKERS HAVE PLAYED A RECORD 21 TIMES 1978 DETROIT AND DALLAS HAVE HOSTED GAMES EVERY YEAR SINCE 1978 37–42–2 DETROIT’S RECORD ACROSS 81 GAMES PLAYED ON THANKSGIVING 0 THE JAGUARS HAVE NEVER APPEARED IN A THANKSGIVING GAME 30.3M VIEWERS WHO TUNED IN FOR WASHINGTON-DALLAS IN 2020 40 THE CARDINALS’ ERNIE NEVERS SCORED AN NFL-RECORD 40 POINTS ON THANKSGIVING IN 1929 2,705 MATTHEW STAFFORD HAS THE MOST PASSING YARDS IN THANKSGIVING GAMES 1,178 EMMITT SMITH HAS THE MOST RUSHING YARDS IN THANKSGIVING GAMES 903 JASON WITTEN HAS THE MOST RECEIVING YARDS IN THANKSGIVING GAMES…

THE END ZONE NEW YORK JETS David Wyatt-Hupton, co-host of the @JetsUKPod and writer for @GangGreenNation, gives Gridiron the lowdown on his love of the J-E-T-S. WHY I SUPPORT MY TEAM I stumbled upon the Jets as a young teen. Not wanting to go to bed on a Sunday night, I came across a Jets-Dolphins game. I was taken in by the running of Curtis Martin and the no-fear play of Wayne Chrebet. When you add in the city of New York, the choice really wasn’t very difficult. FAVOURITE MOMENT AS A FAN The AFC Divisional Round against New England in Foxborough. They had beaten us 45-3 earlier in the season; nobody gave us a chance. Then came the Santonio Holmes catch in the corner, Tom Brady being sacked and…

GRIDIRON TIMES Five Stories of the Month 5 JENKINS’ BURNLEY BUY Our round-up obviously begins with a story involving Premier League side Burnley and two-time Super Bowl winner Malcolm Jenkins... Saints safety Jenkins, who is part of the ALK Capital investment group, became a minority investor in Sean Dyche’s side and used New Orleans’ Week 6 bye to visit East Lancashire and the Clarets’ Turf Moor stadium. The veteran DB, now in his 13th NFL season, even stuck around to witness their 2-0 loss to Manchester City. “Burnley Football Club has a long history of being a blue-collar, tough, well-run organisation, and it has a great manager and a new leadership,” the three-time Pro Bowler explained to the AP Pro Football Podcast. American sports stars owning soccer clubs is nothing…

DEFOREST BUCKNER DEFOREST BUCKNER FLIPPING THE SWITCH DeForest Buckner chats to Gridiron about swapping San Francisco for Indy, H.I.T.s, loafs and an image of Patrick Mahomes which still haunts him today. INTERVIEW BY WILL GAVIN WORDS BY LIAM BLACKBURN LIAM BLACKBURN HEAD OF NFL @liamblackburn WILL GAVIN THE GRIDIRON SHOW HOST @WilIGcv After the Indianapolis Colts blew a 19-point lead in an overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens that dropped Frank Reich’s team to 1-4, owner Jim Irsay addressed a frustrated fanbase on Twitter. “Colts Nation, don’t you worry,” he wrote. “We’re gonna get The Horseshoe at least two Lombardis this decade... as sure as the sun rises and the seasons change, it’s COMING!” That might seem like an unattainable dream in a conference containing young superstar quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes,…

WALKING MIRACLE: THE BOOK Ryan Shazier’s upcoming book, Walking Miracle, tells the inspiring comeback story of how the former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker recovered to walk again. It follows the journey from December 4, 2017, when Shazier was injured playing against the Cincinnati Bengals, to his retirement. For three years, Shazier doggedly pursued a return to professional football. He took small wins as ‘first downs’ on the drive to return to the field: moving his toes, walking, dancing at his wedding, and ultimately running and returning to the team. What Shazier didn’t realise is that along the way he was preparing himself for another purpose – that of father and husband, philanthropist, and football analyst. Walking Miracle – the message on a bracelet given to him by his godmother in hospital…

THE POCKET DYNAMOS They may not have the ‘prototypical build’, but these passers have hit highs despite their height. DREW BREES (6FT 0INS) The NFL’s most prolific passer at the time of his retirement earlier this year. Brees accrued 80,358 yards during a 20-year career with the Chargers and Saints. Like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, Brees was a master at reading defenses and brilliantly executing a game plan. FRAN TARKENTON (6FT 0INS) Now resides in both the College Football and Pro Football Hall of Fames. A scrambling sensation long before it became fashionable, Tarkenton excelled out of the pocket and was named MVP in 1975. A Minnesota Vikings great, he also spent five seasons with the Giants. RUSSELL WILSON (5FT 11INS) Wilson is already a Super Bowl champion and…

COLLEGE CAMPUS THE BOWDEN LETTERS Tributes poured in for Bobby Bowden when the legendary former Florida State head coach died in August. And, though he lived over 4,000 miles away from Tallahassee, Gridiron Lead Feature Writer Simon Clancy was one of those whose lives Bowden touched through the letters the two shared. SIMON CLANCY LEAD FEATURE WRITER @SiClancy The message from Sue Hall is a simple one. Written in thick black ink on light blue paper, carefully folded at the bottom, it reads: “Simon, I am Coach Bowden’s assistant. Will be touring England for 1st time in May ’95 - do you have any brochures on what is very special to see – Only there for 3 days – If you do and can send to me would be greatly…