Guess the player

[adam]

So I was looking up some stats and found a pretty wild one.

There is one player in NFL history to have 5 INTs, 15 sacks, 20 PDs, and over 300 solo tackles in his first 3 seasons.

He had 6 INTs, 18.5 sacks, 20 PDs, 306 solo tackles, plus 44 TFLs, 4 FF, and 5 FR, and 1 TD in his first 3 years. 

I was honestly shocked that he was the only player to achieve this, and is still the only player to date. 

Since TFLs were not recorded properly until the 2000s, I didn't use that in the search, but that would've made it even more inclusive of a club.

 

Just off the top of your head, who do you think it would be?

 

[Mongo3451]

54

[CrackerDog]

1 hour ago, Mongo3451 said:

54

My guess too. 

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Briggs 

[AZ54]

16 hours ago, CrackerDog said:

My guess too. 

As if you couldn't guess, put me down for 54.    

[adam]

but Ray Lewis was the most dominant LB in that era, how could it possibly be Brian?

[Mongo3451]

Unveil the player please...

 

[adam]

1 hour ago, Mongo3451 said:

Unveil the player please...

 

Brian Urlacher 

 

[adam]

Even wilder, how many players have had 500 solo tackles, 30 sacks, 30 passes defended, 6 INT, and 6 FF in their first 6 seasons? One player. Brian Urlacher.

This also counts Urlacher's shortened 2004 (missed 7 games).

[adam]

To cap it off, how many players have had 700 solo tackles, 35 sacks, 50 passes defended, and 15 INT in their first 8 seasons? One player. Brian Urlacher. 

These are the main defender stats, zero cherry picking. This also counts Urlacher's shortened 2004 (missed 7 games).

[Mongo3451]

Good stuff!

[AZ54]

Yeah, that's some crazy stats.  

[BearFan PHX]

Urlacher was a physical specimen who could do more different things than most linebackers. He was absolutely amazing.

But in terms of taking a team on your back and willing them to victory, it pains me to say it, but Ray Lewis was the better linebacker.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

29 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

Urlacher was a physical specimen who could do more different things than most linebackers. He was absolutely amazing.

But in terms of taking a team on your back and willing them to victory, it pains me to say it, but Ray Lewis was the better linebacker.

I remember the Arizona Denny Green game, Urlacher took over and the entire D followed.  Lewis may have did so more often, but Brian played more so to his responsibility which was taking the center of the field out.

[adam]

57 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

Urlacher was a physical specimen who could do more different things than most linebackers. He was absolutely amazing.

But in terms of taking a team on your back and willing them to victory, it pains me to say it, but Ray Lewis was the better linebacker.

The stats don't back it up though. Lewis was a tackling machine but outside of just tackles, Lewis didn't really do anything out of the ordinary. Take TFLs, in 14 seasons Lewis had 99 TFLs, in 13 seasons Urlacher had 138!  Lewis had 2 seasons where he had 4 or more sacks, Urlacher had 7. 

Lewis played 4 more seasons than Urlacher, so his career totals were going to be obviously higher for an entire career for most categories

You can't count AP teams or Pro Bowls, because they are popularity contests. Urlacher made the PB and AP1 in 2005 and 2006, then in 2007 he made neither, yet put up better numbers than the previous two years. 

Lewis made a 95 tackles, 3 sacks, 0 INT - PB and AP1 (2009)
Urlacher made 93 tackles, 5 sacks, 5 INTs - no PB or AP (2007)

Lewis and Urlacher have the same amount of playoff sacks and INTs (2 each), yet Lewis played in 21 playoff games, Urlacher played in 7. 

Also, Lewis was on some stacked defenses, Urlacher had to carry the Bears for several years on his own. It is much easier to get tackles when the DL were hogging up the OL for Lewis. That is why his impact stats (INT, Sacks, TFLs) are so low because those take more than just filling a hole.

So depending on how you look at it, you could say Lewis was the better Mike, but Urlacher was the better defender. 

[BearFan PHX]

1 hour ago, adam said:

The stats don't back it up though. Lewis was a tackling machine but outside of just tackles, Lewis didn't really do anything out of the ordinary. Take TFLs, in 14 seasons Lewis had 99 TFLs, in 13 seasons Urlacher had 138!  Lewis had 2 seasons where he had 4 or more sacks, Urlacher had 7. 

Lewis played 4 more seasons than Urlacher, so his career totals were going to be obviously higher for an entire career for most categories

You can't count AP teams or Pro Bowls, because they are popularity contests. Urlacher made the PB and AP1 in 2005 and 2006, then in 2007 he made neither, yet put up better numbers than the previous two years. 

Lewis made a 95 tackles, 3 sacks, 0 INT - PB and AP1 (2009)
Urlacher made 93 tackles, 5 sacks, 5 INTs - no PB or AP (2007)

Lewis and Urlacher have the same amount of playoff sacks and INTs (2 each), yet Lewis played in 21 playoff games, Urlacher played in 7. 

Also, Lewis was on some stacked defenses, Urlacher had to carry the Bears for several years on his own. It is much easier to get tackles when the DL were hogging up the OL for Lewis. That is why his impact stats (INT, Sacks, TFLs) are so low because those take more than just filling a hole.

So depending on how you look at it, you could say Lewis was the better Mike, but Urlacher was the better defender. 

Urlacher did more different things at his position, but Lewis had a rare ability to lead and take a game over.

I do agree with Ashkum that Urlacher did it in the Cardnals game. But it was the only time i saw that from him. It's a great example of what I'm talking about though, I totally agree Ashkum!

But Lewis regularly willed his team to victory. I remember the playoff game against Eddie George and the Titans. George was a monster that year, but all week long Lewis said he was soft and that Lewis would take the ball away from him. Sure enough in the 3rd quarter, George was hit by Lewis, who ripped the ball away from him - didnt strip him, just TOOK it. George might not have crumbled, but Lewis had piled so much meaning on that all during the week, that George had his head in his hands on the sidelines and the Ravens won the game.

That goes beyond playing the linebacker position. That's next level winner stuff.

That's why if i was building a middle linebacker, and i could give him the physical skillset, Id choose Urlacher as a model (hi Tremaine Edmunds!) BUT if i was building an all time defense of players in their prime thru a draft process, I'd pick Lewis waaaay before Id choose Urlacher.

[AZ54]

1 hour ago, adam said:

The stats don't back it up though. Lewis was a tackling machine but outside of just tackles, Lewis didn't really do anything out of the ordinary. Take TFLs, in 14 seasons Lewis had 99 TFLs, in 13 seasons Urlacher had 138!  Lewis had 2 seasons where he had 4 or more sacks, Urlacher had 7. 

Lewis played 4 more seasons than Urlacher, so his career totals were going to be obviously higher for an entire career for most categories

You can't count AP teams or Pro Bowls, because they are popularity contests. Urlacher made the PB and AP1 in 2005 and 2006, then in 2007 he made neither, yet put up better numbers than the previous two years. 

Lewis made a 95 tackles, 3 sacks, 0 INT - PB and AP1 (2009)
Urlacher made 93 tackles, 5 sacks, 5 INTs - no PB or AP (2007)

Lewis and Urlacher have the same amount of playoff sacks and INTs (2 each), yet Lewis played in 21 playoff games, Urlacher played in 7. 

Also, Lewis was on some stacked defenses, Urlacher had to carry the Bears for several years on his own. It is much easier to get tackles when the DL were hogging up the OL for Lewis. That is why his impact stats (INT, Sacks, TFLs) are so low because those take more than just filling a hole.

So depending on how you look at it, you could say Lewis was the better Mike, but Urlacher was the better defender. 

One guy was made for TV and the fans react to that stuff, so does the media.  Urlacher just did his job at the highest level then took his seat on the bench.   He was still the leader on our defense but kept it to his teammates not the flashy stuff.    

[BearFan PHX]

3 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

One guy was made for TV and the fans react to that stuff, so does the media.  Urlacher just did his job at the highest level then took his seat on the bench.   He was still the leader on our defense but kept it to his teammates not the flashy stuff.    

no doubt Lewis was a showman, and im with you on giving no value to that. But Lewis was a winner too. I dont just mean he won games. I mean he led his teams to victory. he had insights into what people would do, how they think, how to fool them. He made the people around him better by inspiring them - sort of like what Deion Sanders did this past week at Colorado. Its not all fluff - it matters.

Ray Lewis was a better LB than Brian Urlacher, but Brian Urlacher had serious LB skills.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

2 hours ago, AZ54 said:

One guy was made for TV and the fans react to that stuff, so does the media.  Urlacher just did his job at the highest level then took his seat on the bench.   He was still the leader on our defense but kept it to his teammates not the flashy stuff.    

Urlacher was so much better. Not a knock on Lewis and I was not always the biggest Urlacher guy, but when I think of Urlacher I think about a falcons bears game with prime Mike Vick. Urlacher made him look slow. He wasn’t as flashy as Lewis was but it was because he made it so easy in terms of how much he took away from the te and how he was able to cover the whole field. Dude was something else.

He did have real good weapons around him. Briggs was a monster most of his career and Colvin/Holdman were pretty good too plus peanut and others….but Urlacher was some kind of special. 

[adam]

Lewis had guys like Ed Reed, other HoFers on the defense with him. Urlacher had Briggs and Tillman, that's it.  Outside of the volume of tackles, what did Lewis do? He was a violent tackler, talked a lot of smack, murdered a few people and got away with it, but that's it. 

It's funny how he is known for his sack dance, yet Urlacher had more in his first 10 years. Lewis just played more years to accumulate the stats. If Urlacher played 4 more years, his stats would've been better than Lewis'.