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The Great Roger Carr


unitaswestand

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It still amazes me that is in 1976, when Bert Jones was the NFL MVP, Roger Carr almost 26 yards a reception and had over 1100 yards receiving.  That is insane!  For younger fans that didn't get to see them play, it was like watching a Bruce Arians team.  Jones would just bomb away and Carr, Doughty, and Chester were there.   Carr was extremely fast, so it was hard to cover him. Just think a taller TY Hilton but white.  6'3", 200 lbs, blazing speed!   

 

And speaking of Jones.  He completed over 60% of his passes that year.  Right now, that would seem not so good.  But in the 70s, that only happened I think twice more in the decade.

 

They were a treat to watch!

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It still amazes me that is in 1976, when Bert Jones was the NFL MVP, Roger Carr almost 26 yards a reception and had over 1100 yards receiving.  That is insane!  For younger fans that didn't get to see them play, it was like watching a Bruce Arians team.  Jones would just bomb away and Carr, Doughty, and Chester were there.   Carr was extremely fast, so it was hard to cover him. Just think a taller TY Hilton but white.  6'3", 200 lbs, blazing speed!   

 

And speaking of Jones.  He completed over 60% of his passes that year.  Right now, that would seem not so good.  But in the 70s, that only happened I think twice more in the decade.

 

They were a treat to watch!

 

 

Remember them all very well. Not sure as I really but Jones may have been my all time favorite Colt. He just had such a flair about him. Saw much of the Unitas years too . Amazing that Colts fans have had those two in addition to Manning and now Luck. Too bad Jones didn't last a bit longer.....

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Remember them all very well. Not sure as I really but Jones may have been my all time favorite Colt. He just had such a flair about him. Saw much of the Unitas years too . Amazing that Colts fans have had those two in addition to Manning and now Luck. Too bad Jones didn't last a bit longer.....

 

Yeah, hard to find a team that can say they have had QBs at the level of Unitas, Jones, Manning, and hopefully what Luck will do.  I heard someone say once the Green Bay Packers.  They had Starr, Favre, and Rodgers.  But I would take Jones over Lynn Dickey or David Whitehurst.

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That was a very good team.  Ironically, they reminded me of some of the Manning lead teams.   Great offense, great pass rushing defense, but probably needed a bit more on the run stopping and secondary.

 

Jones was a madman. I remember a game against the Seahawks when Mike Curtis was on the Seahawks.  He hit Jones and Jones just tore into him.  Jones had no probably running reckless. It cost his his career, but he was tough.

 

Carr.  Wow!  Not too often a guy with that size is that fast and is a quality NFL player.

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That was a very good team.  Ironically, they reminded me of some of the Manning lead teams.   Great offense, great pass rushing defense, but probably needed a bit more on the run stopping and secondary.

 

Jones was a madman. I remember a game against the Seahawks when Mike Curtis was on the Seahawks.  He hit Jones and Jones just tore into him.  Jones had no probably running reckless. It cost his his career, but he was tough.

 

Carr.  Wow!  Not too often a guy with that size is that fast and is a quality NFL player.

 

 

I thought it was totally a secondary issue with that team. We had a monster front four and decent LBs . The CB's were just terrible . I still have nightmares about a "ghost to the post." 

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Yeah, hard to find a team that can say they have had QBs at the level of Unitas, Jones, Manning, and hopefully what Luck will do.  I heard someone say once the Green Bay Packers.  They had Starr, Favre, and Rodgers.  But I would take Jones over Lynn Dickey or David Whitehurst.

 

 

Yea... they have no one to match up with Jones and I also think Unitas and Manning were better than Starr and Farve. We'll have to wait on Rodgers and Luck although at this time the edge has to go to Rodgers. But overall they don't match up.

 

It should be noted that we also went through some brutal Robert Tiger Irsay years . So not all wine and roses

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Don't know if you guys saw this, but placekicker Toni Linhart passed away on May 12th. He was the placekicker who kicked the winning field goal in the fog bowl against the Miami Dolphins 10-7. He was a good team mate of the great Rodger Carr.

 

I didn't know that.  What I remember about Toni is his unusual kickoffs.  He would start at the ball go to the side like he was kicking a field goal, and kick it.  Some guys do that now, but at the time it was weird.  He was a very good kicker.

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The Fog Bowl was December 14th, 1975. I can still see the fog rolling in over the row houses near 33rd street. Chuck Thompson and Vince Bagli were calling the game on the radio. Man, those were good days. Linhart's kick gave the Colts the key win of the 1975 season, where they would win the AFC East.

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Don't know if you guys saw this, but placekicker Toni Linhart passed away on May 12th. He was the placekicker who kicked the winning field goal in the fog bowl against the Miami Dolphins 10-7. He was a good team mate of the great Rodger Carr.

Yes, I read the article in the Sun. I didn't know that much about him previously - just thought he was another one of "them-there furn" kickers. Interesting guy. Sad to see him go.

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Yeah, hard to find a team that can say they have had QBs at the level of Unitas, Jones, Manning, and hopefully what Luck will do.  I heard someone say once the Green Bay Packers.  They had Starr, Favre, and Rodgers.  But I would take Jones over Lynn Dickey or David Whitehurst.

Well reading your name I'm sure that you would agree with me that Unitas was head, shoulders (and most of the rest of his body) above Starr. And I know that Manning was equally superior to Favre. And you probably shouldn't mention Jones in the same sentence with Dickey/Whitehurst without emoticons to indicate that it's a joke. The only comparison that's in the Packers favor is Rodgers vs Luck, and obviously it's going to take a few years to see how that plays out. Frankly when I think of the Packers, QB play isn't what comes to mind - certainly not at all until the mid-90s.

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the great announcer is John Facenda.

 

 

John Facenda was a local news anchor in Philadelphia who worked for NFL Films.

 

Interestingly, the stories I've been told were that he didn't know all that much about football.    The writers there would give him the script,  tell him about the film they shot that he'd be reading to, and just let him go...

 

His voice was so great,  that the mail NFL Films would receive was often addressed to.....

 

"The Voice of God"      Really.     Seriously.    That's how lots of mail arrived at NFL Films.     The Voice of God.

 

I'm told he was a great guy...  and I love the fact that he didn't know much about football...  

makes it all even better!    :thmup:

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That was a very good team.  Ironically, they reminded me of some of the Manning lead teams.   Great offense, great pass rushing defense, but probably needed a bit more on the run stopping and secondary.

 

Jones was a madman. I remember a game against the Seahawks when Mike Curtis was on the Seahawks.  He hit Jones and Jones just tore into him.  Jones had no probably running reckless. It cost his his career, but he was tough.

 

Carr.  Wow!  Not too often a guy with that size is that fast and is a quality NFL player.

Stan White was good, but I'm not sure that they had much else going on at LB - particularly outside. The D-line was clearly the strength of that defense. Some of the DB's were there for quite awhile - loved Bruce Laird. Looking at the roster, Ray Oldham and Nelson Munsey pop up as mainstays - just not top players.

 

Speaking about the Colts defense, lets not talk about Mike Curtis playing for the Seahawks!

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I loved Roger Carr, big ears and all. He was a very good receiver for a couple of years.

Always thought he had an amusing resemblance to Johnny Carson. For some reason I used to think that they were born in the same state too, but that doesn't appear to be true. That kind of info was much harder to come by back then of course.

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I love these old Baltimore clips. The narrator has a great voice for old time football.

 

Wow, that brings back memories.

 

I sadly could only watch them when they played the Jets twice a year or made it to national tv, so I've never even seen most of those clips. Used to be utterly torturous to root for an out-of-town team, but I couldn't help it. Thank goodness for Directv allowing me to enjoy the Manning era properly (not that my parents would have been willing to pay for it if it was available in the 70's. That would have been birthday/christmas and uh,  groundhogs day presents for my entire childhood). :D

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I've made a few responses here, but to the OP, yes, Carr was special. One of my favorites when I was a kid. He could get behind the defense and with Jone's cannon it was bombs away. Even Manning/Harrison rarely played like that. Few players can stretch the defense like that, and few QB's have that kind of arm. And the threat made the endless screen passes to Lydell Mitchell virtually guaranteed to succeed. GREAT offense - it's always annoyed me that that other QB from Louisiana who shall remain nameless has received so many accolades largely because he happened to play with probably the greatest defense of all time. Grossly unfair. Well, he stayed healthier too, but you know what I mean.

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I loved watching that team - but has anyone mentioned Lydell Mitchell? He rushed for over a thousand yards at least a couple of seasons (when they played on 14 games and teams threw less so defenses were geared to stop the run more than the pass), and he usually was one of the top receivers in the league when it came to running backs. He played with Franco Harris at Penn State and Harris got more attention in the pros because he played for the Steelers but Mitchell was one of the best backs of the early to mid 70s.

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I loved watching that team - but has anyone mentioned Lydell Mitchell? He rushed for over a thousand yards at least a couple of seasons (when they played on 14 games and teams threw less so defenses were geared to stop the run more than the pass), and he usually was one of the top receivers in the league when it came to running backs. He played with Franco Harris at Penn State and Harris got more attention in the pros because he played for the Steelers but Mitchell was one of the best backs of the early to mid 70s.

Well I did actually, and thank you for reminding me to add Mitchell to the Steelers comparison - something that I normally do. Two QB's from Louisiana, two RB's from Penn State. I'd chose the Colts side of the comparison (at their peak) in both cases any day, but that's not how history remembers it. Of course longevity was a problem with every aspect of that Colts team. When it went south, it went in every respect. I thought that they were just getting started, and suddenly it was gone. I lot of misery (and a truck ride to Indy) would have been avoided if it hadn't.

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For a few years, Jones, Carr, and Mitchell were one of the earliest versions of "the Triplets". I know it was coined for Dallas, but in reality, one could argue that the Colts early triplets were one of the originals...Also, we had a defense that actually had a nickname...The Sack Pack of Dutton, Barnes, Ehrmann, and Cook.

 

I miss those days of football...

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Well reading your name I'm sure that you would agree with me that Unitas was head, shoulders (and most of the rest of his body) above Starr. And I know that Manning was equally superior to Favre. And you probably shouldn't mention Jones in the same sentence with Dickey/Whitehurst without emoticons to indicate that it's a joke. The only comparison that's in the Packers favor is Rodgers vs Luck, and obviously it's going to take a few years to see how that plays out. Frankly when I think of the Packers, QB play isn't what comes to mind - certainly not at all until the mid-90s.

I think you are undervaluing Bart Starr.  He was and deserved a first ballet HOFer. Two super bowl MVPs.is just a drop in the bucket as to how good he was. 

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I think you are undervaluing Bart Starr.  He was and deserved a first ballet HOFer. Two super bowl MVPs.is just a drop in the bucket as to how good he was. 

To be fair, I haven't seen much game footage. I'm sure he was a fine QB and leader, but we are comparing him to the guy who redefined the QB position, was the face of the league for most of his career, and is generally spoken of as the best player of the first 100 years. Regardless of how good Starr was, he's going to pale in comparison.

 

When I think of the Packers I think of Lombardi, defense, and their power sweep - none of which has a heck of a lot to do with Starr.  I used to maintain that people would remember the "aughts" the same way they remember the 60's. The Packers/Patriots were the better team, and Lombardi/Belichick were HOF coaches, but the Colts had the revolutionary skills of Unitas/Manning. I don't think that Starr every belonged in the conversation, and until he started stepping forward in the second half of his career, I didn't think that Brady did either.

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For a few years, Jones, Carr, and Mitchell were one of the earliest versions of "the Triplets". I know it was coined for Dallas, but in reality, one could argue that the Colts early triplets were one of the originals...Also, we had a defense that actually had a nickname...The Sack Pack of Dutton, Barnes, Ehrmann, and Cook.

 

I miss those days of football...

 

Dutton and Cook were as good as Freeney/Mathis.  In fact, Dutton was a much better run stopping than either.  However, they didn't play that long with the Colts.  Cook reminded me of film I have seen of Deacon Jones when he just flies off the ball.

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Nice topic... I'm one who values the pre-Indy history of the Colts. Jones to Carr in '76 was incredible... Its hard to quantify the numbers with how different the game is today, but that team was offensively dominant...

 

Just to give my :2c: on the subject....The Colts QB club destroys GB, hands down... no contest.

 

Bart Starr is the best QB that GB ever had and he was not as good as Unitas (or Manning). I am biased, but I would say that Unitas and Manning were two of the most influential QBs to ever play...

 

The most remarkable thing about Favre was his longevity... He could be pretty clutch, but I would rather have at least 5 or 6 current QBs under center for my team than Favre in his prime... He couldn't carry Peyton's jock and is a jerk in real life, as well.

 

Rodgers is better now than Favre ever was, but the jury is still out on his greatness. As long as he stays healthy, he will be right up there with the all time greats... If Luck develops into a player the caliber of Rodgers, Colts fans will be able to enjoy AFC South dominance for the foreseeable future...

 

IMO, Green Bay has never had any QB as good as Manning or Unitas... 2 of the top 5 (probably top 3) QBs in the history of football.

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Stan White was good, but I'm not sure that they had much else going on at LB - particularly outside. The D-line was clearly the strength of that defense. Some of the DB's were there for quite awhile - loved Bruce Laird. Looking at the roster, Ray Oldham and Nelson Munsey pop up as mainstays - just not top players.

 

Speaking about the Colts defense, lets not talk about Mike Curtis playing for the Seahawks!

 

Stan White now does sports talk on WBAL radio in Baltimore. Bruce Laird is on Touchdown Baltimore on Comcast Sportsnet on Baltimore Cable TV. Haven't seen Lydell Mitchell around in awhile. He was a heck of a running back. They uses to say, " Hey, diddle diddle, Lydell up the middle, " because that was the main play of Marchibroda. Now they use it with Ray Rice.   

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I loved watching that team - but has anyone mentioned Lydell Mitchell? He rushed for over a thousand yards at least a couple of seasons (when they played on 14 games and teams threw less so defenses were geared to stop the run more than the pass), and he usually was one of the top receivers in the league when it came to running backs. He played with Franco Harris at Penn State and Harris got more attention in the pros because he played for the Steelers but Mitchell was one of the best backs of the early to mid 70s.

 

Something I always wondered...How did Penn State ever lose a game with the backfield of Franco Harris and Lydell Mitchell...I still have my Mitchell Jersey I got when I was younger...He was my favorite player when I was growing up...

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What no love for Berry,Mackey ,Matte,Moore That bunch that played With Unitas.But in all honesty Jones one of my favorite QBs of all time.

 

 

The problem for those 1970's Colts was that the Unitas Colts teams got too much love, and those guys didn't quite get the recoginition they deserved. Those 75,76, and 77 teams were very good, but ran into the Steeler and Raider meat-grinder teams of the mid-1970's. Tom Matte recently co-hosted the Ed Block Courage Awards in Baltimore. Ordell Braase was there, and I met both him, and Tom. Antoinne Bethea was the representative of the Indianapolis Colts.

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Something I always wondered...How did Penn State ever lose a game with the backfield of Franco Harris and Lydell Mitchell...I still have my Mitchell Jersey I got when I was younger...He was my favorite player when I was growing up...

 

The Penn State Quarterback was John Hufnagel. Paterno was never the greatest at turning out top quarterbacks.

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