Tag: Larry Brown (1969-1976)

Commanders season opener in 42 days: Washington’s best No. 42

42 Pro Football Hall of Famer Charley Taylor days away from the Commanders opening the 2023 season.

Commanders Wire continues a countdown to the Commanders season opener for 2023 in 42 days. Who was Washington’s best player wearing number 42?

On June 1, 1978, Washington Redskins receiver Charley Taylor announced his retirement from the NFL.

Since that day, though Taylor’s jersey was never retired, no Washington player has yet to wear No. 42 in a regular season NFL game.

Taylor came to Washington in 1964, a first-round draft choice out of Arizona State. He had played running back for the Sun Devils and continued to play running back his first three seasons in Washington (1964-66).

When Otto Graham, a former Cleveland Browns quarterback, became the Washington head coach (1966-68), Graham made a move that changed NFL history. During the 1966 season, Graham switched Taylor to wide receiver.

Instantly Taylor led the NFL in receptions in his first two seasons at receiver with 72 in 1966 and 70 in 1967. Pairing Taylor and Bobby Mitchell outside with Sonny Jurgensen at quarterback for the Washington offense was exciting.

Taylor had been a Pro Bowler at running back his first two seasons, and Graham thought he could be even better at receiver. Graham was certainly correct, and Taylor became a Pro Bowler again in 1966 and was an All-Pro first-team receiver in 1967.

Taylor’s last largely productive season as a pass catcher was the 1969 season, Vince Lombardi’s lone season as Washington’s head coach. Catching 71 passes for 883 yards and eight receiving touchdowns, Taylor was voted All-Pro second team.

Taylor was off to a great start in 1971 when Washington started 5-0. In the sixth game (at Kansas City), Taylor caught a pass in the first half. However, the tackle in the end zone broke his ankle, and Taylor was lost for the season, having already collected 24 receptions and four touchdowns in 5.5 games.

With George Allen becoming the head coach in 1971, the Redskins offense was much more conservative, with running back Larry Brown becoming the nucleus. Thus, Taylor caught 49, 59, 54 and 53 passes in those seasons (1972-75), still making the Pro Bowl each of those seasons.

A broken shoulder in the 1976 preseason cost Taylor his entire season. At age 36 in 1977, a lingering hamstring problem limited Taylor to only seven starts and 14 receptions, leading to his retirement in June, as he had seriously contemplated a final season in 1978.

When he announced his retirement, Charley Taylor had caught more receptions (649) than any other receiver in NFL history. This despite the fact he was a running back his first two seasons and missed another season entirely (1976).

He concluded his career amassing 9,110 receiving yards and 79 touchdowns. Though Taylor never played in a 16-game regular season, he still remains second in franchise history in receptions (649) and receiving yards (9,110) and has the most receiving touchdowns (79). Taylor also rushed 442 times for 1,488 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Charley Taylor was voted one of the 70 Greatest Redskins in 2002. After all, Taylor had already been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the class of 1984. He was an 8-time Pro Bowler and 4-Time All-Pro selection.

Upon retirement, Taylor worked in the scouting department before becoming wide receivers coach under Joe Gibbs from 1981-1992 and Richie Petitbon in 1993.

Taylor died on Feb. 19, 2022, at the age of 80.

Commanders season opener in 43 days: Washington’s best No. 43

43 Larry Brown days until the Commanders open the 2023 NFL season.

Commanders Wire continues a countdown to the Commanders season opener for 2023 in 43 days. Who was Washington’s best player wearing number 43?

When Larry Brown (1969-76) retired after the 1976 season, no one had worn jersey No. 43 during a regular season game until, for some reason, in 2021 when outside linebacker Nate Orchard donned No. 43 for two games that season.

There is good reason No. 43 has been set aside for 46 of the last 47 seasons. Larry Brown was a Kansas State running back that Vince Lombardi drafted in the 1969 NFL draft at 191 overall.

Brown rushed for 888 yards averaging 4.4 yards per carry, and was a Pro Bowler in his rookie season. In 1970, Brown led the NFL in rushing with 1,125 yards and rushing yards per game with 86.5. He impressively averaged 4.7 yards per carry and was again a Pro Bowler and was voted All-Pro 1st team. 1971 was a third consecutive Pro Bowl as Brown rushed for 948 yards in 13 games.

Brown’s greatest season was 1972, leading Washington to the NFC East title with an 11-3 record, the NFC Championship and Super Bowl VII. Brown rushed for 1,216 yards in only 12 games! Thus, he led the NFL in rushing yards per game at 101.3 and yards from scrimmage with 1,689. As a result, Brown was AP 1st team All-Pro, AP Offensive Player of the Year, and AP Most Valuable Player.

But in 1973, Brown’s knees began to show some wear and tear, limiting Larry to 860 yards. Brown could have retired after that season, but he persevered trying to play. However his final three seasons, Brown was limited to 430, 352 and 56 rushing yards.

Larry Brown had achieved a great accomplishment, rushing for over 5,000 yards in his first five seasons, which were 14-game schedules. Over those five years, with Brown gaining 5,467 rushing yards, he became the third man in NFL history to average more than 1,000 yards per year in his first five seasons. The others were Jim Brown and O.J. Simpson.

He finished his career with 5,875 rushing yards, 35 rushing touchdowns, 238 receptions out of the backfield, 2,485 receiving yards, averaging 10.4 yards per reception, 20 receiving touchdowns, and 8,360 total yards from scrimmage.

On the day Larry Brown retired, Washington head coach George Allen said, “This is Larry’s day, Larry’s show. “There won’t be many Larry Browns in our lifetime.”

 

Former Washington stars Larry Brown, Joe Jacoby are Hall of Fame semifinalists

Could this be the year for Joe Jacoby and Larry Brown?

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Joe Jacoby has again made the semifinalist list for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

On Wednesday, the Hall announced 60 candidates in the seniors and coaches/contributors categories for the class of 2024, and Jacoby and Larry Brown are the headliners for the Washington Commanders franchise.

Each of those categories has a committee of 12 members. They will now vote to select 12 seniors and 12 coaches/contributors for the next round of the process. On July 27, the committee will reveal those 24 names.

One of the original “Hogs,” Jacoby (1981-93) was voted to the 1980s All-Decade team and was an All-Pro twice. He was selected for four Pro Bowls and started for Washington’s three Super Bowl championship teams. The counter trey or counter gap was a tremendously effective play when left tackle Jacoby and left guard Russ Grimm would pull to the right side of the line and the running back would follow behind the powerful duo.

Brown (1969-76) was one of the tougher runners of his era. He rushed for more than 5,000 yards in his first five seasons. He was a four-time Pro Bowler, two-time All-Pro and the 1972 AP Most Valuable Player, leading the Redskins to Super Bowl VII.

Others with Washington ties who made the semifinalist lists are Henry Ellard, Marty Schottenheimer, Mike Shanahan, Carl Banks and Clark Shaughnessy. However, each of these players and coaches made their most significant contributions as part of other NFL franchises.

  • Ellard spent his first 11 seasons with the Los Angeles Rams before coming to Washington for his next five seasons.
  • Schottenheimer coached the Browns to two consecutive AFC championship games and the Chiefs to a 101-58-1 record in 10 seasons before coming to Washington for an 8-8 season in 2001.
  • Shanahan was 138-86 in his 14 seasons with the Broncos, which included two Super Bowl championships. He went 24-40 in his four seasons as Washington head coach.
  • Banks, in his nine seasons with the New York Giants, was a starter on two Super Bowl championship teams. He was also voted to the 1980s All-Decade team, and was a Pro Bowler once and All-Pro once. He played for Washington during the 1993 season.
  • Shaughnessy was with Washington as an offensive consultant in 1947. He then was the Rams head coach for two seasons and spent 12 seasons (1951-62) on the Bears defensive staff.

What if George Allen were the Commanders GM in June 2023?

Remember the Over-the-Hill Gang?

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It’s almost July and the Commanders have not signed a veteran free agent whose stock has lowered following the June 1 annual cuts.

The ownership of the Commanders has not yet been settled officially, which apparently has put the team on hold to make free agent signing move.

When George Allen was head coach and general manager (1971-1977) he would stop at nothing to sign a player whenever he could. He was even worse when it came to trading for aging veterans. But that story is for another day.

Way back in 1976, Allen was anxious in June. You see, Allen’s teams had made the playoffs (only four from the conference qualified in those days) each of his first four seasons in Washington (1971-1974).

But in June of 1976, Allen had much to make him nervous. The 1975 team was his first to not make the playoffs, finishing 8-6. Sonny Jurgensen had retired following the 1974 season and Billy Kilmer was now age 36 and on the decline.

Allen had Joe Theismann who was only age 26, but Allen didn’t like Joe’s style and was content to keep Theismann inexperienced for as long as he could.

Larry Brown who had been one of the few to have rushed for 5,000 yards in five NFL seasons had been run into the ground and so banged up he was not expected back in 1976. Brown did return but only gained 56 yards in 20 carries and retired following the season.

Allen had Mike Thomas who had rushed for 919 yards as a rookie in 1975. But Moses Denson provided little hope for the future. So Allen went out and signed a free agent running back in June.

Allen had it all figured out, as he planned on making the running back his fullback. Allen would use him as a fullback for short yardage gains and also to block for Thomas.This fullback started all 14 games in that 1976 season, carrying the ball only 162 times for 572 yards (3.5 ypa).

But the fullback did block well for the halfback, Thomas. Thomas enjoyed his best career season in 1976 gaining 1,101 yards on 254 carries (4.3 ypa) and 5 touchdowns.

George Allen was a great defensive coach, but sometimes his ideas for the offense left players and coaches scratching their heads. Allen continued to start Billy Kilmer as much as he could in 1976. Kilmer was given 9 starts and struggled so at times that Allen gave Theismann the other five starts.

Yet, amazingly the team finished 10-4 earning a wild card playoff birth.

What’s that?

You say, I forgot to provide you the name of the fullback whom Allen had signed in June?

Oh, sorry about that.

John Riggins.