Tag: Mel Blount

Cowboys News: Goodwin’s Steelers connection, team’s best QB/WR pairings

The latest edition of Cowboys news and notes, including potential top 5 draft options, rookie standouts, a free agency review, and more.

The Dallas Cowboys are entering their Week 10 bye with just a 2-7 record. There comes a time in every team’s season where they need to sit back and strategically analyze every decision they have to make from here on out. Our own K.D. Drummond did just that for Dallas, and he brings you 10 things the Cowboys should change when they return from the bye. Barring a miraculous turnaround, Dallas will be picking rather high in the 2021 NFL Draft; read who draft guru Dane Brugler thinks the Cowboys could target.

Despite the team record, there are a number of positive takeaways Cowboys fans can have from the first half of the season. Their most recent draft class is living up to the hype, with Trevon Diggs, CeeDee Lamb, Neville Gallimore, and Tyler Biadasz all looking like future building blocks for this Dallas roster. Plus, the Cowboys two best players, Zack Martin and DeMarcus Lawrence, are playing their way into potential All-Pro seasons again.

This edition of News and Notes, though, starts with a fantastic profile piece on special teams ace C.J. Goodwin. The star of the Cowboys’ punt return trickery last week against Pittsburgh might not be in the NFL at all if it weren’t for a job shoveling cow manure… and the extra attention shown by a Steelers icon.

Several national NFL writers make the case to enshrine Steelers’ Bill Nunn

With first ballots due next week comes a national urge to induct Steelers’ Bill Nunn into Hall of Fame.

Since early 2020, national pro football writers have made a significant push for former Steelers assistant personnel director and scout to be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. If you Google Bill Nunn and Hall of Fame, you’ll easily find a dozen links from writers who believe it’s beyond time Nunn is recognized for his contribution to the Steelers.

NFL columnist Jim Trotter is the latest to make a case for enshrining Nunn. According to Trotter, the initial ballots for contributors for the 2021 HOF class are due July 31.

Per Ed Bouchette, who has been equally vocal on Nunn’s behalf, a committee is expected to meet virtually in August to vote in one contributor to the 2021 Hall of Fame. If the recent outpouring of interest in Nunn being enshrined is any sign, he could finally be a finalist.

The contributor category was added in 2014 to recognize “outstanding contributions to professional football in capacities other than playing or coaching.”

We whole-heartedly agree that Nunn deserves to be honored with a bronze bust. After all, he was responsible for the scouting and drafting of players, including Mel Blount, Joe Greene, John Stallworth, Lynn Swann and Donnie Shell — each who are Hall of Famers in their own right. It’s hard to believe that the Steelers would be a dynasty today if it weren’t for those legendary players.

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The NFL’s 25 best postseason players from the Super Bowl era

The NFL’s 25 best postseason players from the Super Bowl era

 

The NFL’s 25 best postseason players from the Super Bowl era

Maybe one day Patrick Mahomes or, who knows who else (Joe Burrows even? Heh. Too soon? Too soon?) might join this list, but for now, let’s go with these 25. Some were clear choices while others you might dispute for someone else, but it’s obviously …

Maybe one day Patrick Mahomes or, who knows who else (Joe Burrows even? Heh. Too soon? Too soon?) might join this list, but for now, let’s go with these 25. Some were clear choices while others you might dispute for someone else, but it’s obviously a list full of Super Bowl MVP QBs, so guessing the top 10 or 12 should be easy. The rest are guys you sometimes forget about. With research, marginal recall and experts’ input, here’s the final call.

(Editor’s note: These are not ranked, although the first few are the ones that quickly became clear.)

Tom Brady

(Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)

He’s at the top of the list for reasons: He’s guided the Patriots to nine (!) Super Bowls and six titles and he has four Super Bowl MVP trophies, all NFL records.

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2 Steelers cornerbacks make NFL Top 100 All-Time Team

The Steelers have had two of the greatest cornerbacks of all time on their team.

The NFL Network continued putting out their list of the 100 best players of all time on Friday. They have put out the list by positional unit and the latest groups were the defensive backs. The Pittsburgh Steelers landed two cornerbacks on the list with Mel Blount and Rod Woodson.

Blount spent 14 seasons with the Steelers and was the anchor in the secondary during the great Steelers teams of the 1970s. Blount’s physicality has never been matched by a cornerback and his style forced the league to make rule changes to help protect wide receivers. Blount went into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989.

Woodson was a completely different style of player as opposed to Blount but was truly elite in his own right. Woodson dominated multiple facets of the game including as a cornerback, safety and return man. Woodson spent 10 of his 17 seasons with the Steelers and went into the Hall of Fame in 2009.

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