Defensive Game Changers

There always seems to be a greater focus on the game changers that reside on the offensive side of the ball. The quarterbacks, the backs and receivers. The players that score the points. The players that appear on the fantasy stat sheets. There are game changers on the defensive side of the side of the ball. Houston Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt might be the biggest, baddest, and best in the game today. He's two games into his fourth season and he gets better with each game. He's probably the one defensive player today that might be in the argument with the quarterbacks as the best player in the game. He's a game changer even if he doesn't score many points. Although the Texans coaches are putting him in the game on offense for a few snaps. Here are a few of the defensive players that I've watched change games over the years.

Alan Page  DT  Minnesota Vikings
Page was named the league's MVP in 1971. He was the first defensive player to take home that award. There were times when he couldn't be blocked. He took over games.

Joe Greene  DT  Pittsburgh Steelers
In the late 1960s and early 1970s the league was littered with terrific defensive tackles. Page, Greene, Merlin Olsen, Bob Lilly, Curly Culp, Buck Buchanan, Henry Jordan. It was a special time for fans of interior line play. Alan Page changed games with quickness. Greene just took offensive lines apart.

Jack Ham  LB Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers of the 1970s had so much talent on defense that it was difficult for any one player to truly stand out. Joe Greene did. So did Ham. I was just learning the game then but I could tell that Ham was a special football player. He was smart and instinctive. Always around the ball. Always making plays.

Randy White  DT Dallas Cowboys
As a Vikings fan in the late 1970s it was real easy to hate White. He was just so good. He followed that great wave of defensive tackles and carried the torch well. Like Joe Greene, he simply took offensive lines apart.

Lawrence Taylor  LB  New York Giants
There are only a few football players that changed the way that the game is played. Don Hutson, Sammy Baugh, Jim Brown, Jerry Rice. Players that were so different than anyone that had ever come before that the game simply had to change. Taylor was one of those players.

Reggie White  DE  Philadelphia Eagles/Green Bay Packers
One of my greatest/worst memories of White was against the Vikings. For reasons that are still a complete mystery to me, the Vikings had receiver Cris Carter chip White. White simply tossed Carter about a dozen yards. It would have been comical if it wasn't so sad. White threw players that were paid to block him too. Just not as far.

Joey Browner  S  Minnesota Vikings
If Browner's career hadn't been shortened due to injuries, he'd be honored in Canton. He might have been the best defensive player in the league in 1988. He nearly destroyed the Rams offense all by himself in the playoffs that year.

Ronnie Lott  CB/S  San Francisco 49ers
Lott was All-Pro at three different positions. He probably combined pass coverage and run stopping ability better than any player before or since. He was everywhere on the football field.

Deion Sanders  CB  A bunch of teams
His time in the league pretty much brought about the term "shutdown corner." He shut down his side of the field better than any corner that I've seen.

Kenny Easley  S  Seattle Seahawks
Even more than Joey Browner, Easley's career was wrecked by injuries. He played for seven seasons but he really played for four. In those four years, he played the safety position as well as anybody.

Derrick Brooks  LB  Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Jack Ham was the original weak-side linebacker in the cover two. Brooks became the prototype. Like Ham, Brooks was an absolute joy to watch play football. His instincts were unbelievable. His quickness was unbelievable.

Warren Sapp  DT  Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tony Dungy was a teammate of Joe Greene and Jack Ham with the Steelers of the 1970s. As the Buccaneers coach, Dungy must have seen some of the same game changing ability in Sapp and Derrick Brooks. Sapp may have had a bit more quickness than Greene so he did things a little differently but his destruction of offenses was very much the same.

Brian Urlacher  LB  Chicago Bears
Urlacher is another difficult player to appreciate. I wanted to hate him and I often did but he could be so good. He thrashed the Vikings offensive intentions so many times.

Rod Woodson  CB/S  Pittsburgh Steelers
Like Ronnie Lott, Woodson was named All-Pro at three positions. Cornerback, safety, and kick returner. He was one of those athletes that could do just about anything on a football field.

Ed Reed  S  Baltimore Ravens
Reed often seemed to know the intentions of the offense better than the offense. He must have been an absolute nightmare for a quarterback. He rarely did the expected so it was impossible to game plan for him.

Ray Lewis  LB  Baltimore Ravens
It felt like he changed games through sheer force of will. He might not have been the most physically gifted football player on the field but he sure played like he was.