In the modern NFL, having a strong pass-catching tight end is no longer a luxury, but rather a necessity for an effective offense. In fact, in some cases, the tight end may actually be one of the team’s top receivers; at certain points in their careers, such was the case for Vernon Davis of the San Francisco 49ers and Greg Olsen of the Carolina Panthers. During the 2000s and 2010s, each tight end was the quarterback’s best friend in his prime and had a long career highlighted by a peak in which he was one of the league’s elite tight ends, thus prompting the question:
Outside of the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers, the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Islanders were arguably the two most successful franchises of the 1970s and 1980s with two and four Stanley Cup titles, respectively. While each team had its share of great forwards and defensemen, both also had Hall of Fame goalies in Bernie Parent (Flyers) and Billy Smith (Islanders); in their primes, each goalie was a Vezina Trophy and Conn Smythe winner who elevated his game in the postseason – as two of the best netminders of this era, it is a natural comparison to ask the question:
Every season, both the AL and NL honor their league’s most outstanding player with the MVP award – as you might expect, legends like Barry Bonds (7x), Albert Pujols (3x), Mickey Mantle (3x), Joe DiMaggio (3x), and Stan Musial (3x), just to name a few, grace the all-time leaderboards for most career MVPs won. However, not every MVP winner is even a Hall of Famer, as some players are dominant for a relatively brief period of time – case in point, George Foster of the Cincinnati Reds and Dale Murphy of the Atlanta Braves were MVP winners and two of the elite players of the late 1970s and 1980s, respectively, though both have fallen short of Cooperstown. Nevertheless, the pair were both highly productive players in their primes with similar career trajectories and totals, thus prompting the question:
In an October 2018 Monday Night Football game vs. the then-Washington Redskins, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw a 62-yard touchdown pass to to Tre’Quan Smith to surpass Peyton Manning’s then-record of 71,940 career passing yards to sit atop the NFL record books. Though they have both since been surpassed by the incomparable Tom Brady, Brees and Manning remain #2 and #3, respectively, all-time in both passing yards and touchdowns. No doubt two of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, the duo were part of a golden era of passers and faced off against each other numerous times (including in the Super Bowl), so it is only natural to ask:
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
