Deacon Jones, R.I.P.

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Number Cruncher

Number Cruncher

Time to go.... NOW
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Figured this qualifies for the Football Forum...


Try not to headslap God, okay, Deacon....


R.I.P.
 
Condolences to Chandler Jones (Deacon's grandson) and the entire Jones family.

RIP Deacon. :frown:
 
"Whenever you slap a man upside the head, or a woman, they have a tendency to blink."
 
"Secretary of Defense" Deacon Jones died yesterday at 74.

RIP. Condolences to Chandler & his family.

6'5", 275. 14th round pick of LA Rams in 1961. 7 consecutive Pro Bowls & 5 consecutive All Pro teams plus 3 more as 2nd team All Pro. If you watched him play you saw the birth of the modern DE. Deacon Jones is credited for coining the term 'sack'; (from Wiki) Jones had 26 sacks in 1967 in 14 games. He added 24 more in '68. Imagine that today.

Jones, Merlin Olsen, Rosie Greer and Lamar Lundy made up the Fearsome Foursome. Good memories. Little known fact...he was a singer and sang with the group 'WAR' in the '60's.
 
deacon_jones_1967_10_15.jpg


Fearsome. RIP, Deacon.
 
I hope St. Peter has his chin strap buckled tight.


R.I.P. to not only one of the greatest D-linemen of all time, but one hell of a good story teller. Love watching interviews of Deacon.
 
What a shame.

There is a very nice "A Football Life" I watched recently about the Fearsome Foursome and it brought back memories.

I definitely recall watching Deacon do his thing and he was a wrecking ball for offenses on one of the most aggressive D's ever put together. George Allen was the D Coordinator (I think, or HC) of the Rams and he was smart enough to get out of the way and let loose the dogs of war. Nobody before Deacon had his kind of speed from DE far as I know and he would just kill QBs when he arrived, which was often. Nobody could block the guy. He revolutionized the game in that OTs could no longer be just big, slow guys anymore. Teams had to find better athletes or they couldn't function against guys like him. He changed everything it seemed. The head slap had to be banned and sacks, a term he coined, started to be counted and coveted.

Deacon was always an interesting guy to listen to. He was gangsta back before it was fashionable and had an especially menacing presence. Dressed like a pimp and when he spoke you could sense the hard life he led. Nobody told him what to say or do. Miller Lite was smart to get him as a spokesman because the camera loved him and his celebrity grew from that gig.

He kind of had a heart of gold underneath the cold stare, though. George Allen named one of his kids after him and the family remained close with him throughout his life. A case of opposites attracting, for sure.

I hope NFLnet reruns that piece, because it was well worth watching. The guy was just a beast and I felt sad to read the news of his passing.

All-time starting defensive left end. The best there ever was.
 
Deacon Jones was one of my all time favorite players, (up there with Jim Brown). He was the one who came up with the term, "Sack", and it wasn't until the 80's (?) that the sack became an official NFL statistic. The guy was a terror on the field, but very charismatic and charming off the field. He was one of the main reasons that the Rams were on TV so often on the 4:00 games back then.

Deacon Jones, AKA "The Secretary of Defense" was pretty much like a rock star (or something), in his day. For people who are too young to remember how good he was, maybe this will give some perspective. The only other defensive end in all of football, who was in his league, was Reggie White (although I suppose there may be a few people here who don't remember Reggie White either).

We lost one of the all time greats, but it was a pleasure to have been able to see him terrorize NFL offenses (along with the rest of the fearsome foursome, Merlin Olsen, Lamar Lundy, and Rosey Grier).
 
Rip, Deacon.

Jones & Fearsome Foursome were just a little before my time but I am very familiar with them. As any football fan should be.


This much I know. Those guys couldn't play NFL football today.

They were way too mean & nasty for the candyass brand of ball we see today.
 
One of my favorite Deacon sayings, on never being injured: "14 years in the pros, 4 in college, 3 in high school, not a mark; nothing but a bleeding heart"
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Not only was a he a great football player, he also stood up for Peter Brady when Peter's football friends were giving him shiite for being in glee club.

The man was a decent human being.
 
@ Hawg,

I think that was Allen's daughter Jennifer who named one of her sons Deacon. I think her other son is Roman for Roman Gabriel

Tarkenton was on NFLAM and he said Jones was 6'5" 255.

Greir, Lundy, Jones, Olsen...before my time so I've seen highlights only but I would have loved to watch them.

Deacon was always a great interview, very funny and entertaining. I remember a clip from an NFL Films piece where they asked him something about kickers and he said, "You mean you brought me all the way out here to talk about a lousy kicker?" LOL

RIP, sack daddy.
 
HSanders said:
@ Hawg,

I think that was Allen's daughter Jennifer who named one of her sons Deacon. I think her other son is Roman for Roman Gabriel

Tarkenton was on NFLAM and he said Jones was 6'5" 255.

Greir, Lundy, Jones, Olsen...before my time so I've seen highlights only but I would have loved to watch them.

Deacon was always a great interview, very funny and entertaining. I remember a clip from an NFL Films piece where they asked him something about kickers and he said, "You mean you brought me all the way out here to talk about a lousy kicker?" LOL

RIP, sack daddy.
Click to expand...
All 4 of them were such badasses on the field, and so different (nice) off the field, but Deacon was the baddest one on the field, and the most charismatic one off the field.

I remember a story that Merlin Olsen told about when they were playing against the Cowboys (back in the Tom Landry days). You'd have to remember how the Cowboys o-line (under Landry) had this thing where they'd go to the line, sort of figure out where to line up, then in unison they'd sort of partially stand, and then go down into their stance.

Well I guess Deacon Jones got sick of seeing the Cowboys oline do that all day long, so he got the 4 of them (on one play) to rush and clobber the oline when they started that ritual. The Rams got a 5 yard offsides penalty, but they had a big smile on the next play.

ROFL
 
Nice Dchester!
Yes I remember how they'd do that with the OL in Dallas. That I actually saw at the time.
 
HSanders said:
@ Hawg,

I think that was Allen's daughter Jennifer who named one of her sons Deacon. I think her other son is Roman for Roman Gabriel

Tarkenton was on NFLAM and he said Jones was 6'5" 255.

Greir, Lundy, Jones, Olsen...before my time so I've seen highlights only but I would have loved to watch them.

Deacon was always a great interview, very funny and entertaining. I remember a clip from an NFL Films piece where they asked him something about kickers and he said, "You mean you brought me all the way out here to talk about a lousy kicker?" LOL

RIP, sack daddy.
Click to expand...

I stand corrected. Jennifer was interviewed extensively for the Football Life piece, but I forgot exactly how it went, just that George's kids and Deacon were close. Thanks.
 
dchester said:
All 4 of them were such badasses on the field, and so different (nice) off the field, but Deacon was the baddest one on the field, and the most charismatic one off the field.

I remember a story that Merlin Olsen told about when they were playing against the Cowboys (back in the Tom Landry days). You'd have to remember how the Cowboys o-line (under Landry) had this thing where they'd go to the line, sort of figure out where to line up, then in unison they'd sort of partially stand, and then go down into their stance.

Well I guess Deacon Jones got sick of seeing the Cowboys oline do that all day long, so he got the 4 of them (on one play) to rush and clobber the oline when they started that ritual. The Rams got a 5 yard offsides penalty, but they had a big smile on the next play.

ROFL
Click to expand...

Good story. Hadn't heard that one.

Rosey Grier is generally credited as one of the foursome, but he had slowed down a bit when I remember watching them and I always thought of Roger Brown as being the DT next to Olsen after they got him from Detroit. THAT guy was a beast and one of the first 300+ pound lineman I had ever heard of. Announcers would mention it in awe and now everybody is 300 plus. Rosey got some ink because he was a cool guy who did needlepoint and was a "gentle giant", but Brown was a much better player, imo.

It was funny hearing in the A Football Life piece about how Deacon played next to Olsen and no two more opposite human beings ever lined up together. Made me wonder what their relationship was like after being discussed as a tandem all those years.
 
Hawg73 said:
Good story. Hadn't heard that one.

Rosey Grier is generally credited as one of the foursome, but he had slowed down a bit when I remember watching them and I always thought of Roger Brown as being the DT next to Olsen after they got him from Detroit. THAT guy was a beast and one of the first 300+ pound lineman I had ever heard of. Announcers would mention it in awe and now everybody is 300 plus. Rosey got some ink because he was a cool guy who did needlepoint and was a "gentle giant", but Brown was a much better player, imo.

It was funny hearing in the A Football Life piece about how Deacon played next to Olsen and no two more opposite human beings ever lined up together. Made me wonder what their relationship was like after being discussed as a tandem all those years.
Click to expand...
I don't really know how much Olsen weighed, but he must have been close to 300. I know he was a lot bigger than Jones, although today Jones might have been a 3-4 OLB, like Lawrence Taylor (he was very fast).
 
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