Talking Football

Here are some quotes about the great game of football and those that made it great.

"The lily white skins of the Redskins, the team representing the nation's capital, had been an ongoing embarrassment to the league. The assertions of crusty George Preston Marshall that "We'll start signing Negroes when the Harlem Globetrotters start signing whites" made sense only if you watched the football through two eye holes cut in a sheet."
-football historian Bob Carroll on the racist views of Redskins owner George Preston Marshall

"Sayers? Sure, I've got a defense against him. I just step out of the way and let Willie Wood hit him. Really, I don't think anybody knows how fast Sayers actually is. Only time I've seen him is in the huddle. Once he tucks the football under his arm he's invisible."
-Packers Hall of Fame defensive tackle Henry Jordan

More talking Sayers:
"He's simply the best damn athlete I've seen since I came into the pros."
-Packers Hall of Fame back Paul Hornung

"Let's get one thing straight. I'm in charge."
-Vince Lombardi

"Could Don Shula win the big one?"
-just about everyone at one time

"Cookie was probably the best athlete we had. He could have been all-pro at guard or linebacker. In fact, he could have played any position outside of wide receiver or quarterback."
-Bills Hall of Fame guard Billy Shaw on terrific running back Cookie Gilchrist

"If he's worth $400,000, I'm worth a million."
-Browns QB Frank Ryan on Joe Namath's historic contract

"Oakland received the kickoff and ran one play. There was 1:05 left. Suddenly, every NBC-tuned TV set east of Denver stopped showing snarling football players on a hundred-yard gridiron and replaced them with a smiling blonde girl in the Swiss Alps. Heidi was here! Yo-de-lay-ee-oh!"
-historian Bob Carroll on the day Heidi trumped football

"Joe believed it. He really thought we were going to beat them. And eventually we all did."
-Jets tackle Dave Herman on Namath's Super Bowl III confidence

"I don't think there's anybody who picked up two worse teams than I did with the Colts in 1954 and the Jets in 1963."
-Weeb Ewbank on his coaching choices

"(Greg) Cook looked like the best quarterback in the league. Better than Lamonica, better than Dawson, better than Namath, Hadl, or Griese. I thought that this kid was going to be better than anyone I had ever seen."
-Hall of Fame coach John Madden on Bengals QB Greg Cook

"When you win, nothing hurts."
-Joe Namath

"When in doubt, punt!"
-John Heisman

"I wouldn't ever set out to hurt anyone deliberately unless it was, you know, important-like a league game or something."
-Dick Butkus

"I don't know whether I prefer Astroturf to grass. I never smoked Astroturf."
-Joe Namath, of course.

"He'd be the boss, answering only to himself and God-so long as God didn't try to call the plays."
-football historian Bob Carroll on Browns and Bengals coach Paul Brown

"The Vikings were a super team."
-Chiefs Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Bell