NFL Network: Jimmy Johnson: A Football Life

Source:NFL Network– with a profile of Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins head coach Jimmy Johnson.

“A look at Jimmy Johnson, a former college coach who became one of the most successful NFL coaches in his five seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, only to see his career torn asunder by conflicts with team ownership.”

From NFL Fanzone

To look at Jimmy Johnson’s career you should first look at where the programs that he took over were. When he got there and where they were when he left. And I look at Miami Florida who were a national champion when he took over but what they became after that. Not just a national champion but the best program in college football and then he goes to Dallas where he inherits the worst. Team in football in the Cowboys and what were they when he left which was the best team in the NFL for the 1990s. These things do not happen without Jimmy Johnson because he built those programs not all by himself. Of course he had a great staff and a President in Jerry Jones who spent the money and spent it wisely. But Jimmy was the architect of those Cowboy teams including the 95 Cowboys that won a Super Bowl when Jimmy was no longer there. That was a team that Jimmy put together and drafted those players and made the trades and so forth.

Jimmy Johnson’s football philosophy was very basic. Win all the time, win as much as possible and do whatever it takes, I guess within the rules maybe Jimmy should answer that himself. But do whatever you have to do to win as many games as possible so you can win championships. Which is all about work and getting the players you need to put in the work and will perform and do what it. Takes to be successful in football and his motivation was pretty simple. If you are going to play for me you are going to do the work to be successful and you are going to give me your best all. The time or you can’t play for me. If you aren’t going do everything you can to be successful playing for Jimmy Johnson. Then you aren’t going to play for Jimmy Johnson. If you are Randy White and Ed Jones two great defensive lineman but at the end of their careers when Jimmy got there. You are not going to do the work to be successful for Jimmy so you retire. If you are a borderline NFL football player and you don’t do the work for Jimmy you are going to get cut.

As crazy as Jimmy might of seem as a football coach his madness had a method and there was organization to it. Because it was all about winning and winning as much as possible and doing what it takes to get the best players possible. And then getting everything you can out of those players by simply letting them know that if you are going to be successful. You are going to put in the work and give me everything you have or you can’t play here. He was the ultimate boss, you do the work and the best job you can or you are going to have to find some other place to work. Which is why he was so successful with the college football team of the 80s and the NFL team of the 90s.

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NFL Network: John Riggins: A Football Life

Source:NFL Network– the Washington Diesel.

Source:The Daily Press

“John ‘The Diesel’ Riggins was fearless on the field and a fun-loving showman off it. He knew the power of his talents and achieved the ultimate prize with a Lombardi Trophy and Super Bowl MVP title.

‘John Riggins: A Football Life’ tells the untold story of a small-town Kansas farm kid’s rise from the unknown to being Super Bowl champion to Hall of Famer to actor following his retirement.

John Riggins was truly one of a kind. Known by Redskins fans simply as “Riggo” or “The Diesel,” the man was pure magic on the field.”

From BG8 TV

Former New York Jets running back Emerson Boozer had a great line about John Riggins which is in this video. He says imagine you are driving your car on the highway and going 65-70 miles an hour making good speed and a tractor truck comes up beside you and passes you and you can’t catch up. Great way to describe JR. How does someone that big and strong move that fast?

I guess I’m very lucky as a Redskins fan, because my first year as a Redskin fan and I’m not even seven years old, yet a couple months away from that, was in 1982 the year the Washington Redskins win their first Super Bowl.

I still remember John Riggins touchdown run like I saw it yesterday. Him breaking through that hole, that was designed on purpose to have one free Miami Dolphin defender, who was a safety a guy named Don MacNeil, who may have weighed 200 pounds back then. It was designed this way because Redskins OL coach Joe Bugel tolled JR: “Look, there’s going to be one free Dolphin defender who’ll have a clean shot at you, but there isn’t a DB in football that can tackle you by themselves.”

JR was called the Diesel for a reason, because thats the type of power he had. I think a better comparison would be a horse. Big, tall and strong, who could run like a horse. He would run through you or he could run by you. You try to tackle him, you have a better shot at hurting yourself.

When you think of John Riggins athletically, just don’t think of the Super Bowl champion or the Super Bowl MVP or the Hall of Famer or even all of the records he held at least one point. Think of the athlete, think of the 18 year old who at the time was already 6’2 220 pounds, who was the Kansas state track champion in high school. Think of a fullback with tailback speed, who could out run WR’s and DB’s. And also think of JR from the perspective of a defender: “Even if I do catch this guy, if he’s not at full speed, how am I supposed to bring him down. Maybe I should practice by trying to tackle a horse.”

A couple examples of JR’s greatness, a regular season game against the Dallas Cowboys in December 1979. The winner of the game wins the NFC East and goes to the playoffs. It was the third or fourth quarter, QB Joe Theisman calls a trap play or a run up the middle. The problem is that JR out ran his OL and turns the play into a sweep and bounces outside and takes the play for a sixty yard touchdown run. No Cowboy in sight trying to catch him until the end when a little Cowboy DB makes light stab at him.

Jim Brown is the best RB of all-time, the power back of all time as well, but JR is right behind JB as the best power back of all-time. And if you are number two to JB in anything when it comes to football, you are a Hall of Famer. The only thing was that JR was under utilized for probably half of his career. The New York Jets were awful in the early and mid 1970s and the Redskins tried to make JR a FB in his first two seasons in Washington. So my question would be had JR been a full-time TB for his entire career, how great would he have been.

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