CHFF - The Last Old School Team

[Zzj]

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Articles/11_2257_The_Last_Old_School_Team.html

"The Redskins of the early 1980s have always held a special place in the otherwise frigid, empty heart of the Cold, Hard Football Facts.

Perhaps it was because we were still in our pigskin pre-pubescence during their heyday. But even then, when we were budding young, little Trolls still with hopes and dreams, the mighty Hogs, the Diesel and Dave Butz stood out as members of a uniquely charismatic team. Watching the Redskins just felt different than watching any other pro football team of the time, and certainly any other pro football team since.

And we never quite knew why.

But light dawned on Marblehead last week, while watching a 1982 Redskins highlight film on NFL Network. And it suddenly became all so crystal clear, like an icy vodka martini without an olive or a twist. "Please, sir, may we have some more?"

We loved those Redskins teams for primal pigskin reasons. We loved those teams because they were – pay close attention, folks – The Last Old School Team. That’s right, men, Old School Football enjoyed its last sparkling twilight of gridiron glory with the mighty Redskins teams of 1982 and 1983, the early powerhouses of the Joe Gibbs empire.

Now, Old School, of course, means different things to different people. To young kids these days, Dan Marino is Old School. To those like the Cold, Hard Football Facts, with a healthy respect for those who built the Great American Game, Pudge Heffelfinger is Old School.

The 1982 Redskins are hardly Old School by comparison to historic 19th-century gridiron stalwarts like Heffelfinger, the first pro football player.

But, still, those Redskins stood out even in their time, in the early years of the Live Ball Era, the period when offenses first emerged from the ancient oceans and awkwardly learned to walk on the land of, and fly through the air over, a primitive pigskin Pangea. And those Redskins teams definitely stand out today, in the era of cheap offensive air travel.

When we watched those tapes of the Redskins of the early 1980s the other day, they looked much more ancient than a quarter-century old: They looked like historic relics of the mud-and-spittle football of a bygone era, a game of the 1950s when the battle on the field was more important than the image it projected on television. Those Redskins treated us to classic Elvis rockabilly during the era of A Flock of Seagulls. The only thing missing was an introduction by Ed Sullivan.

God, if we had emotion, we’d love it so.

After great review and consideration, here’s why the Redskins of the early 1980s stand unchallenged as The Last Old School Team..."

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Articles/11_2257_The_Last_Old_School_Team.html

Good article from one of my fav football sites.

I won't post the whole thing here b/c it's long, but their main arguments for the Skins as the the "Last Old School Team" are great, featuring:

An ability to win with smash-mouth football

A dependence upon the fullback

The last hurrah of the white running back

The base 4-3

The nicknames

The single-bar facemask

The straight-ahead kicker

So yeah. Good times.

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Articles/11_2257_The_Last_Old_School_Team.html

[MassSkinsFan]

Thanks for sharing that - it was a great read.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Awesome...that's probably very, very accurate!

[gortiz]

awesome read and thanks for reminding of that site and posting this ...

basking in B&G sunlight right now ... :point2sky

[Darth Tater]

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Articles/11_2257_The_Last_Old_School_Team.html

[/size][/b]The base 4-3

[/url]

The Base 4-3 was developed by primarily by Tom Landry (although Greasy Neal as DC for the Eagles and Clark Shaugnessy as defensive consultant for the Bears were major players in the 4-3 development) in the 50s when he was DC for the Giants as a reaction to the timing routes of Paul Brown and the pass-happy offensive style originally implemented by Clark Shaungnessy (same guy as above, Shaugnessy is probably the single most important guy in developing the modern game). The defense the Redskins ran in the 80s was actually a modernization of the work George Allen did (some of his work can be seen in almost every defense today). The OS 4-3 relied on a play-making MIKE, George's 4-3 and 50 defenses did not and neither did Pettibon's. By the way, the smash-mouth running game actually gave way to the long hand off in space. Gibbs' teams were among the last real passing teams and that is what has died in the NFL today.

[HailGreen28]

Two teams to watch: The Jets seemed to be the only team in the playoffs last season that relied on the run, not pass. And the Steelers don't rely on the dink-and-dunk passing game that others do.

I'm hoping we build an O-Line soon, where we can run the ZBS down people's throats.