The comments on Matthews...he's not doing any clobbering now. Can't argue with the top three. I remember Ernest Givens and Haywood Jeffires fondly (and of course Moon, Matthews, Munchak and Childress)...was in elementary/middle school then. I also remember Al Del Greco...but don't have too many good memories of him.
First impression was that no way a guard gets top billing over Moon or Campbell. But I guess there's something to be said about longevity and consistent top performance.
Only problem with the list is that Bruce Matthews looks like he's wearing a Tennessee Oilers uniform. <a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i25.tinypic.com/n2ygcz.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>
If you have access to Showtime, they are running some kind of mini-series called FULL COLOR FOOTBALL. Produced by Steve Sabol. I saw Wednesday night's show. It was about the founding of the AFL. If you love football and especially if you are old enough to have enjoyed the AFL, this is a must-see. One interesting tidbit which I had never heard: on the brink of the AFL's inaugural season, both Lamar Hunt (Dallas) and Bud Adams (Houston) were offered the NFL franchises they had been seeking for years. In a show of solidarity, both said "no thanks" and proceeded with their AFL enterprise. In response, the NFL put a franchise right in Dallas to compete with Hunt's Dallas Texans and stole the Minnesota territory away from them by creating the Viking franchise in expansion for the 1960-61 season. The rivalry between the two Dallas pro football franchises was interesting to follow. Hunt was competing fairly with the Cowboys in that market and probably had the superior football team but moved the franchise to Kansas City for the betterment of the league. Here's a link to more info about the show: http://sports.sho.com/full-color-football.html
My picks in no special order: Dan Pastorini Earl Campbell Curly Culp Elvin Bethea George Blanda Sid Blanks Bruce Matthews Charlie Joiner Mike Munchak Ken Houston
I followed the Oilers in the Warren Moon era so I'd say Bruce M., Warren Moon and Ray Childress but Sean Jones was a beast on the DL as was Al Smith anchoring the Linebackers. Moon going nuts on the Chiefs was a cool moment as was the Bills game where we dismantled them and knocked Kelly and Thomas out of action.(Lets not meantion the next game please!)
Earl has to be the best ever. Some of my favorites were Billy "white shoes" Johnson Dan Pastorini Kenny Stabler Mike Barber Curly Culp Elvin Bethea Bruce Matthews Warren Moon Chris Dishman Ernest Givings
good list. I like Max's addition of Dishman. I was a big Brad Hopkins fan...too bad they left a little early in his career. And Bucky Richardson juuust on the outside of any of these lists!
Labeling Matthews as just "a guard" shows a lack of understanding of the guy's place in Oilers history. Most games by any player, ever (except kickers/punters), 14 (consecutive) pro bowls, 9x first-team All Pro, played every position on the line and a pro bowler at both guard and center. Moon played 10 seasons as an Oiler; Campbell, 6. Not to diminish those guys, who were great Oilers, but Matthews had an outstanding and extremely lengthy career, all with the same franchise.
I agree on Mathews. I once saw Bruce practice punts, as he was the THIRD back up for kickoffs, punts, and field goals every time he played... and as a punter myself in high school, appreciated talking to him about if he wanted to do it again... he said to me: "Heck yeah, it's fun, man!" I will never forget that day. Just reading the name hurts my shoulder pads. I agree. Tony Zendejas deserves to be mentioned.
on the old site, we did an all-time "houston pro football" team, with pretty extensive write-ups of each of the players voted onto the team. if anybody wants, i can dig up the team and start posting them here. my only regret with shutting down the site is that we had an extensive library of old oiler stuff that was, even being involved with its creation, i can unabashedly say was an abolutely awesome resource: a 16-part look at the history of pro football in houston; the all-time team, with write-ups of all... 30+ (iirc) players; an ian howfield meltdown of epic proportions; and my personal favorite, the dream season, where we recounted the best week 1 game in oiler history, the best week 2, etc. all the way thru the first afl championship. one day, i'll crank a site back up that's just a reservoir for all that. on day...
There was a time when the answer was ... George Blanda. The greatest Oiler ever was ... the Tyler Rose ... by a mile.
