I told you before--you can talk as much smack as you want, just start your own "football smack talk" thread for it. Then I'll kick you in the nuts over Steve Grogan and Tony Eason all day long.
DON'T YOU EVER - EVER - SAY A BAD WORD ABOUT STEVE GROGAN~!
You think Favre's a tough guy? I'd like to see HIM play in a frickin' neck brace!
Steve Grogan's one of the toughest SOBs you'll ever find.
they left out one important fact....... he sucked.
LOL!
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The person to give props to, actually, is Troy Brown. He's a couple catches away from the Pats all-time record (he's nowhere near the recieving yards mark, though, Stanley Morgan averaged almost 20 yards a catch and currently has both records).
Brown was an eighth-round pick, barely played his first season, got cut before his second, but was brought back. Why I'll always love Troy Brown is that after a decade in the league, he willingly learned to play defensive back a couple years ago, and when injuries decimated the secondary he stepped in AND DID OK. His three intereceptions ought to count toward his reception totals, IMHO. He still plays a little bit on the defensive end. His offensive numbers are down a lot recently, in part because he doesn't get to focus on playing just one side of the ball anymore.
Never a GREAT receiver, but always very good. One of the best at getting open for the short, quick receptions that were a staple of the Pats' offense (especially during the '01 SB run). Phenomenal hands. Not terribly fast, not all that big, but very quick - an exceptional slot receiver.
And, you love him for doing whatever the team needed him to do to win. Catch passes, return kicks, play corner. And, he wasn't BAD as a defensive back - at times he was our third best DB, and while he wouldn't have made it in the league solely playing D, he developed into a respectable player back there (a LOT better than the guys there were bringing in off the street).
So is Tom Brady a product of the system or just a great QB (and could play well in any system)?
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The system has changed, Tom's learned how to throw the deeper ball (not the bombs that Farve unloads) a lot better. They also have a running game now, which they didn't before. When Troy caught 100+ balls, I don't think he ever cracked 1,000 yards because they were all quick throws in leiu of a running game. They don't do that anymore, because they don't really have to limit Brady and because they've got a pair of workhorses.
So, back in 2001, Brady would NOT have succeeded in too many systems, but today - because he's worked his ass off and gotten better - he'd be fine pretty much anywhere (probably not systems geared purely towards vertical attacks, but hardly anybody focused on the deep ball anymore anyway).
Grogan was known for his toughness. He played hard for 16 years despite suffering a variety of injuries that included five knee surgeries, screws in his leg, a cracked fibula, two ruptured disks in his neck (which he played with for over a season), a broken left hand (he instead handed off with his right hand), two separated shoulders on each side, the reattachment of a tendon to his throwing elbow and three concussions.
But the modest Grogan will say he only suffered "a couple" of injuries while in the league. For him it wasn't a matter of being tough it was a matter of going out, earning his job and doing what he loved to do.
"I just loved playing football and I loved the game," he said,. "Also, in the back of my mind I knew if I took too much time off somebody else would come along and scoop up my job and I didn't want that to happen. I played through injuries the best I could when I was hurt. I just had to fight through a lot of things, but it wasn't that difficult."
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