Category Archives: NFL

Tale of two legends: new documentaries examine careers and lives of Barry Sanders, Earl Campbell

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They had two different styles carrying the ball. Barry Sanders ran around people; Earl Campbell ran through them.

They also had two different lives after football. Sanders retired early long before his body burned out; Campbell wasn’t as fortunate. It is stunning to see the one-time beast in a football uniform struggle to walk.

The careers and lives of both legends are examined in two new documentaries. Still Standing: The Earl Campbell Story, produced by Ross Greenburg, airs tonight at 11 p.m. (ET) on NBC Network. Wednesday, Sanders is the latest subject of A Football Life on NFL Network at 8 p.m. ET.

Here’s the rundown on both films. Highly recommended.

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NBC Sports Network presents Still Standing: The Earl Campbell Story, a riveting documentary about one of the greatest running backs in the history of the NFL, and the touching life story that followed his retirement. Still Standing: The Earl Campbell Story, debuts Tuesday, December 4 at 11 p.m. ET/10 p.m. CT/9 p.m. MT/8 p.m. PT on NBC Sports Network.

Born in Tyler, Texas, to a family with 12 children, Earl Campbell began his life working the rose fields and living in a shack, where his brothers joked, ‘you could see the big dipper from your bed at night.’ His father, B.C. Campbell, died of a heart attack at the age of 50, when Earl was 11, leaving his mother, Ann, to raise all 12 Campbell kids.

After winning the Texas State Football Championship in his senior year at John Tyler High School, Campbell went on to the University of Texas, where in his senior year he won the coveted Heisman Trophy (1977). He became the No. 1 pick in the 1978 NFL Draft when the Houston Oilers traded with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the top pick in the draft, and the Oilers immediately chose Campbell.

Campbell’s Hall-of-Fame career was a highlight reel of running over those who would attempt to tackle him. Campbell’s 199-yard, four touchdown performance in a 35-30 win over the Miami Dolphins before a national audience on Monday Night Football in Week 12 of his rookie season is the signature individual performance of his career.

Halfway through the 1984 season, Campbell was traded by the Oilers to the Saints where he rejoined his mentor and coach Bum Phillips. He finished his career in New Orleans, retiring during the 1986 preseason, but he will always be remembered as the best of Bum’s Bunch in Houston.

After his retirement, Campbell battled five spinal surgeries, two knee replacements and an addiction to pain pills and alcohol. He was confined to a wheelchair for six years, but due to a successful spinal surgery performed by Dr. Stan Jones in Houston, and his sons Christian and Tyler convincing him to check into a rehabilitation center for his addictions, Campbell is still standing today. He is walking again, and tossed the coin at a University of Texas game in Austin earlier this season.

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For 10 seasons, Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders electrified the NFL with unbelievable runs while putting up prolific rushing numbers. Yet just before the start of the 1999 NFL season, as one of the league’s biggest stars, he quietly walked away from the game.

 NFL Network’s Emmy-nominated series A Football Life continues Wednesday, December 5 at 8:00 PM ET with a profile of one of the NFL’s greatest players who retired during the prime of his career. Barry Sanders: A Football Life examines Sanders’ incredible Hall of Fame career, his unexpected retirement and the reaction it garnered throughout both the NFL and the city of Detroit, and his relationship with his late father, William.

The one-hour documentary features a sitdown interview with Sanders in which he discusses his fascinating football life. The NFL’s third all-time leading rusher talks about how he was overlooked in high school, his decision to attend Oklahoma State, the unwanted media attention that came as a result of winning the Heisman Trophy award in 1988 and being an NFL superstar, and the lessons he imparts to his children, including his son BJ Sanders, a redshirt freshman running back at Stanford University.

Additional interviews include fellow Hall of Fame running backs Emmitt Smith and Curtis Martin, former teammates Thurman Thomas, Herman Moore, Kevin Glover and Lomas Brown, former Lions head coaches Wayne Fontes and Bobby Ross, and Hall of Fame guard for the Detroit Pistons, Joe Dumars, among others.

Barry Sanders: A Football Life also includes past interviews with his father and Barry reading the statement he released to the Wichita Eagle announcing his retirement for the first time publically.

Thanksgiving flashback: Dallas’ Clint Longley has his one day in the sun

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It’s been almost 40 years, but if you love Thanksgiving Day football, then you definitely know who Clint Longley is. The unknown reserve quarterback, subbing for Roger Staubach, came up big in leading the Cowboys to a dramatic victory against Washington.

Longley would play in only nine games during a short three-year career. But sometimes all it takes is one game to make a mark.

Listen to the great music and voice of John Facenda as NFL Films tells this improbable story.

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Kremer, NFL Network to do four-part series on player health issues

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When the NFL Network signed on Andrea Kremer to become its player health reporter, I thought it was one of the most significant and unique network hires in recent years. The league essentially was bringing in a reporter to cover what could be potentially the most damaging issue to the future of football.

I did a Q/A with Kremer at the time, and asked her to fill me in on future stories. Turns out Kremer has a busy week ahead. Beginning Tuesday, NFL Network kicks off a four-part series, “The Health of the Game”, on Total Access (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, 7-8 p.m. ET), and prior to Thursday’s night game. Kremer handles parts 1, 3, 4, while Steve Cyphers does part 2.

The timing couldn’t be better with three starting quarterbacks, Jay Cutler, Michael Vick and Alex Smith, getting knocked out of games Sunday with concussions.

Here’s the rundown:

Tuesday, Nov. 13: Overview of the Player Health & Safety series

The biggest issue facing the NFL is related to Players’ Health and Safety. In this piece, we put some of the biggest questions surrounding this issue in some perspective.  Reported by Andrea Kremer.

Wednesday, Nov. 14: New Technology – Virginia Tech helmet technology – The “Hit System”

At Virginia Tech and other colleges, football players have chips in their helmets that allow experts on the sidelines to immediately measure the impact of hits to players’ heads during play. Evidence shows fewer head injuries at schools using this system.  Steve Cyphers reports.

Thursday, Nov. 15: Darrelle Revis intro- will air on Thursday Night Football Kickoff show

A month ago, Revis suffered a serious knee injury during play and underwent ACL surgery.  Our exclusive access with Revis shows the physical, mental and emotional strains that a player deals with while rehabbing from this surgery. This is the first in a series of segments on Revis, his knee injury, and the rehab process.  Kremer reports.

Note: Thursday Night Football Kickoff show airs  6 pm ET. Segment will also air during postgame show

Friday, Nov. 16: Youth Football

During a recent Pop Warner game near Boston, five players between the ages of 10 and 12 suffered concussions.  Some experts say younger children should not play football because they are more vulnerable to head injuries.  We talk to these players, parents, coaches and experts.  Kremer reports.

 

 

Jimmy Johnson rips Cowboys on Fox; ESPN analysts agree

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This is a rarity. It isn’t often that the analyst for one NFL pregame show becomes fodder for analysts on another pregame show.

On Fox NFL Sunday, Johnson fingered his old boss for the problems with the Cowboys.

“This is bigger than coaching. Underachievers – that’s what we’ve called them for years. The Cowboys have one playoff win in 16 years regardless of who was coaching. The players answer to Jerry Jones, not the head coach. The players are put up on a pedestal before they ever win a game. As a head coach, it’s a chore to keep these players focused, keep their feet on the ground and keep them hunger because there’s no fear.”

Johnson made a similar comment in a Fox Sports release earlier in the week, saying the Cowboys were “a country club.” It made for good talk for Mike Ditka, Cris Carter and Keyshawn Johnson ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown.

Ditka: You get what you tolerate. I mean, right now they’ve created an atmosphere in Dallas which reminds everybody of a country club. You know, it’s a whole different thing right now. Football… it’s a down-to-earth-sport. I mean, you gotta practice a certain way to play the game the right way. You don’t see any of this anymore. I mean, to me, what Jimmy’s saying is right. Come on. Get tough, guys.

Carter:Success in the NFL is based on winning playoff games. Okay guys, they have won one playoff game, right, in the last 15 years, so they have not been successful. Check this out: the only teams that have not won a playoff game, alright, the Chiefs, the Bengals, Lions, Bills and Browns. Alright. They’ve won zero playoff games over that period of time. So the only teams that they’ve been more successful than are those teams right there. So, for me, they are a soft football team, and they need to get a lot tougher.

Johnson: When you talk about fear, I played in Dallas and I played under Bill Parcells, and I witnessed a heated exchanged between the owner and the head coach before. And Jerry Jones walked away from that exchange with his head down. Wasn’t pleasant at all. In front of the team. And that’s because everybody knew that Bill was in change, so the players act accordingly. And that’s not the case with Jason Garrett.

 

 

 

 

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Aaron Rodgers criticizes 60 Minutes profile of him

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During a 60 Minutes profile on Aaron Rodgers Sunday, his teammates noted that he is very sensitive. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Green Bay quarterback wasn’t thrilled with the piece done by Scott Pelley and his crew.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Rodgers said he was “surprised” at what made the air during his Tuesday radio show on WAUK.

“When you open up your life for four months and allow them to have access to your family and your friends and events, it’s always interesting to see what comes out,” Rodgers said. “I just felt like the editing of the piece could have been done in a way that was maybe a lot more respectful of myself. If I’m sensitive about anything through the whole process it’s – you know they come to the MACC Fund event in May, which is very, very important to me, even more important considering the two boys that we lost this year to cancer. . . . For them to not even show really any of the content from that night, any of the kids, to not say anything about the MACC Fund, what they do for kids with cancer, I think that was the thing that was most disappointing about the piece. They had an opportunity to do some great things and really show some things I am passionate about and didn’t do that.”

I’m sure what set off Rodgers was a segment about his sensitivity to his height, including a quick clip where he rebuked a fan. Obviously, he would have preferred to see something about the MACC Fund instead.

Actually, it was a very positive piece. Guess you can’t please everyone.

 

 

 

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The rise and fall of Eddie DeBartolo: New NFL Network documentary looks at former 49ers owner

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Check out the latest edition for A Football Life on Eddie DeBartolo (NFL Network, 8 p.m. ET). A fascinating look at an owner who had an incredible run. And then it all ended.

Here’s the link to the preview.

NFL Films senior producer Peter Frank talked about the documentary in an interview with Street & Smith’s Sports Business Daily:

Q: Was DeBartolo receptive to the idea of profiling him, or was he hesitant?
Frank: It was hard at first. He and his people were reluctant. I just gather that they’ve been approached by other people about doing his story, too. I think they knew us from his time as an owner and that certainly helped that there are actually people in this building here who know him and who know some of the other 49ers front office folks. We did tell them, “Listen, this is not a whitewash. We have to ask you about all aspects of your life, one of which is why you are no longer the owner of the 49ers.” They said that they were fine with that. There were no stipulations as to what we could or couldn’t ask and Mr. DeBartolo answered every question that we asked to him. He didn’t decline to answer anything.

Q: Was there any pushback from the NFL about profiling DeBartolo, who left as 49ers owner after a highly publicized corruption case involving former L.A. Gov. Edwin Edwards?
Frank: No. All the ideas that get submitted, somebody sees them somewhere and there was actually (no pushback). I did wonder about that at first too, given the way that Eddie D left the league. I didn’t know if there was any problem and apparently it turned out that there’s not. We haven’t had a single problem. [Frank said the league had no editorial input and did not require final approval before the broadcast aired].

 

 

 

Q/A with producer: NFL Network documentary examines complicated life of Steve McNair

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You’re missing out if you’re not watching the A Football Life series on NFL Network. These documentaries, which air every Wednesday night this fall, are among the best ever produced by NFL Films, and you know that’s saying something.

The next A Football Life focuses on the complicated life of Steve McNair (Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET). The former Tennessee Titans quarterback was a valiant warrior on the field, and was considered a role model off the field.

Yet the tragic end of his life–murdered by his mistress–muddied the portrait of a man who died too young.

Here’s a link to the trailer.

NFL Films producer Chip Swain does a nice job of showing the strong ties McNair had with his family and friends and their emotions about his shocking death. You see it all through the eyes of his mother, brothers, and former teammates. At the end, there’s even a passage with his children, who requested to be included after the initial production was nearly complete.

The film left me with a feeling of “Yeah, but…” As in, yeah, McNair had many wonderful attributes, but….

I had a chance to talk with Swain yesterday. Here’s my Q/A.

What was your approach to this documentary?

When you’re given an assignment for A Football Life, they say you’re doing a story on Steve McNair, go. You have to figure out his story, how were going to handle his death, who can we get to talk about him. We decided early on this show wasn’t going to be on the details of his death. Ultimately, we found the impact of his life and death and how it affected people was more interesting.

Why did you go in that direction?

Dateline did an hour about the murder and the relationship McNair had with the woman. To try to get where he was psychologically (at the time of his death) would be pure speculation. Nobody knew the truth. That wasn’t what this show was going to be about.

We were going to try to define his impact as a football player. After all, we are NFL Films. We knew (the murder) would have to be put out there, but it wasn’t going to be the basis for the show.

Part of it was we wanted the cooperation of his family, the blessing of his wife, and the people who were closest to him, to help tell the story. If we were going to go at it from a scandalous way, I don’t know if those people would have come on board with that.

How do you expect people will react to the film?

When you look at Steve, he had a model NFL career, and yet the way he died was not consistent with who everyone thought he was.

In the back half of the story, you see people reacting to the news (his death) almost in real time. The way it unfolds in the show, they’re almost processing the thoughts the same way the viewer is processing them. ‘This is not right; this isn’t consistent with the guy we knew.’

One of his friends said, ‘The substance of a man is so important.’ But Steve’s substance didn’t mesh with how he passed away. Exploring that as best we could was an interesting challenge for us.

We’re not trying to pass any judgement, one way or another. We want viewers to take out of it what they want.

McNair’s mother and brothers appeared on the show. However, his wife, Mechelle didn’t.

We contacted her early on, but didn’t hear from her. Eventually, I sat down with her for an hour in mid-August. I told her what we were doing and how it came from a place of respect. She listened, but let me know she wouldn’t do an interview.

How did it come about that McNair’s children appeared in the film?

Just before the film was completed, I sent (Mechelle) a copy. I wanted her to know what was in it. She watched it with her kids. She called us and said, ‘They want to be in the film.’ I said, ‘We can make that happen.’

Mechelle was there when we did the interviews. I asked her, ‘Are you OK with them being interviewed?’ She said she was very appreciative. It meant a lot to me to get her blessing.

 

 

 

 

Remembering Alex Karras with clips from MNF, Paper Lion

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Alex Karras died this morning. The headline in this Chicago Tribune obit read: “Actor, also starred in NFL.”

Obviously, the headline writer was too young to remember what a great player Karras was for the Detroit Lions. He helped define that generation of players in the 60s.

However, when it comes to being an actor, Karras made his debut in Paper Lion, the 1968 film in which George Plimpton attempted to play quarterback for the Lions. Bonus points for knowing Alan Alda played Plimpton.

Here’s a clip. Karras appears at the 18:50 mark. He jokes about being a woman with “big Charlies” and has a couple politically correct jokes about Hitler. It was a long way from Webster.

Besides acting, Karras replaced Don Meredith in ABC’s Monday Night Football booth in 1974.

Here’s a clip. By the way, this Jets team was coached by Lou Holtz.

Are they bailing on Newton in Charlotte? Cartoon seems a bit harsh

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Only three games into the season, the Charlotte Observer is dumping on Cam Newton.

Kevin Siers penned this view of the Carolina quarterback.

Seems a bit harsh, doesn’t it? He was great in the week 2 victory over the Saints, and there’s plenty of season left.

And besides, he’s my fantasy QB. I don’t need him playing like a pussycat.

 

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