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NFL's Best O-Lines
Jul 12, 2006, 7:55:19 AM by Bob Gretz
The Chiefs may have the NFL’s best offensive line in the first decade of the 21st Century. But how do they compare with some of the great groups of the past?
Here’s one man’s opinion on the best offensive line groups since the merger of the AFL and NFL in 1970. The criteria for the selections include Hall of Fame inductions, Pro Bowls honors, overall team success and offensive production.
Listed are the major starters in that span along with the number of Pro Bowls they were selected for in that specific time frame. For instance, Raiders center Jim Otto is listed as having three selections to the Pro Bowl. That’s between 1970 and 1974. Over his career, Otto went to the AFL All-Star Game and Pro Bowl a total of 12 times. HOF designates a Hall of Fame inductee.
Oakland Raiders (1970-1974)
LT Art Shell/HOF (1), LG Gene Upshaw/HOF (1), C Jim Otto/HOF (3), RG George Buehler, RT Bob Brown/HOF (1), T Harry Schuh (1), T Ron Mix/HOF. (Shell, Upshaw and Otto all went to the Pro Bowl after the 1972 season.)
It’s probably the only time it has happened in the history of pro football. During the 1971 season, the Oakland Raiders had five offensive linemen on the roster that would eventually earn induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Shell, Upshaw, Otto and Brown were in the starting lineup, and on the bench for that one season was Mix, who played most of his career for the San Diego Chargers. All eventually found their way to Canton.
Otto’s long career ended after the 1974 season, so he ended up playing together with Upshaw and Shell for seven seasons. The five years of our focus came after the merger was completed in 1970.
Overall, the Raiders were 71-20-7 (.760 winning percentage) in that span and 5-6 in the postseason. They had one runner who gained 1,000-plus yards (Marv Hubbard) and four receivers who caught passes for 1,000-plus yards (Warren Wells, Cliff Branch and Fred Biletnikoff.)
Miami Dolphins (1972-78)
LT Wayne Moore (1), LG Bob Kuchenberg (4), C Jim Langer/HOF (6), RG Larry Little/HOF (3), RT Norm Evans (2), T Mike Current, T Doug Crusan. (For the Pro Bowl after the 1974 season, Little, Evans, Langer and Kuchenberg were selected to participate.)
The Super Bowl seasons of the Dolphins, including that perfect 17-0 record in 1972, were built on the “No Name” defense. But Don Shula had one of the best offensive line groups in the history of the game. The core of that group was Kuchenberg-Langer-Little, with a total of 14 career Pro Bowls between them. Kuchenberg was especially valuable, as he played both guard and tackle in his career, making the Pro Bowl at both positions. Langer and Little are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
With this offensive line group, the Dolphins won back-to-back Super Bowls (1972-73 seasons) and had a 6-2 postseason record, with a regular season mark over those seven seasons of 74-26 (.750.) They produced four seasons where running backs gained more than 1,000 yards, including the 1972 season when both Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick went over that total (Delvin Williams also ran for 1,000-plus yards.) They had one season where Bob Griese’s passer rating was 90-plus points.
St. Louis Cardinals (1974-78)
LT Ernie McMillan, LG Bob Young (1), C Tom Banks (4), RG Conrad Dobler (3), RT Dan Dierdorf (5), G-T Roger Finnie, C Tom Brahaney, G-T Keith Wortman. (For four straight years, the Cardinals had three offensive linemen selected for the Pro Bowl: Banks, Dierdorf and Dobler in 1975-76-77 and Banks, Dierdorf and Young in 1978.)
In many ways this Cardinals offensive line from the 1970s maybe the best comparison with the Chiefs of the last five years. Under head coach Don Coryell (Bud Wilkinson was head coach in 1978), line coach Jim Hanifan and with Joe Gibbs working with the offense as the running backs coach, the St. Louis offense pushed the team to a successful regular-season run.
However, St. Louis had no postseason success, as they went 0-2 over these five seasons in the playoffs, while putting together a 44-28 regular season record (.611.) They produced only one rushing season of 1,000-plus yards (Jim Otis.)
Los Angeles Rams (1976-1985)
LT Doug France (2), LG Tom Mack/HOF (2), C Rich Saul (6), RG Dennis Harrah (6), RT Jackie Slater/HOF (2), LG Kent Hill (5), C Doug Smith (2). (Mack, Saul, France and Harrah all made the 1978 Pro Bowl. Slater, Smith, Hill and Harrah all made the 1985 Pro Bowl.)
It’s a streak that unmatched among blockers in NFL history: for 24 consecutive seasons the Los Angeles Rams sent at least one offensive lineman to the Pro Bowl. It began in 1967 with Hall of Fame guard Mack. It ended in 1990 with Hall of Fame tackle Slater. In between were eight other blockers who went to the all-star game. Mack ended up in 11 Pro Bowls.
For this discussion we’ve zeroed in on a 10-season period where the common dominator was Harrah. The earlier nucleus of the Rams blockers was France-Mack-Saul-Harrah. The later group was Hill-Smith-Harrah-Slater.
Sadly for the Rams, there was not a single NFL championship in those 24 years and only one appearance in the Super Bowl (after the 1979 season when they lost to Pittsburgh.) Overall they were 6-8 in the postseason, making the playoffs in eight of the 10 seasons. They were 90-58-1 in the regular season (.607.) They produced seven seasons where rushers gained 1,000-yard plus, including Eric Dickerson’s NFL record 2,105-yard season in 1984 (also Lawrence McCutcheon and Wendell Tyler.)
Washington Redskins/ “The Hogs” (1981-1987)
LT Joe Jacoby (4), LG Russ Grimm (4), C Jeff Bostic (1), RG-RT Mark May (1), RT George Starke, RG R.C. Thielemann, C Rick Donnalley, RG Ken Huff, LG Raliegh McKenzie. (Jacoby, Grimm and Bostic were all chosen as starters for the Pro Bowl after the 1983 season.)
This group will go down as one of the most famous offensive lines in history because of their nickname, bestowed on them by their line coach Joe Bugel. Jacoby-Grimm-Bostic-May-Starke are considered “The Hogs” and they helped lead the Redskins to a Super Bowl title in 1982. By the time the Redskins won the Super Bowl after the 1987 season, Starke was gone, May had moved to tackle and various other faces were filling in along the group.
Over seven seasons where the majority of this group was in place, the Redskins won two Super Bowls, played in three, went 11-3 in the post-season and 74-30 in the regular season (.712.) They produced four seasons where rushers gained 1,000-plus yards (John Riggins and George Rogers), six seasons where receivers gained 1,000-plus yards (Art Monk, Charlie Brown and Gary Clark) and two seasons where a quarterback finished the season with a passer rating of 90-plus (Joe Theismann.)
Continued...
