NFL Fanhouse, promoting Black History Month by discussing lesser known black athletes who made the NFL great, profiles Buck Buchanan:
“He revolutionized the game,” said John Madden, who was an assistant coach and then the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, who as division rivals played Buchanan and the Chiefs twice annually. “Guys that size usually played on the outside. Buck was the first tall guy to play the inside. When a tall guy with his type of speed is rushing, he takes a couple of steps and then — boom — he would be on the quarterback.”
Added another Hall of Famer, the late Gene Upshaw, who faced him a dozen times:
“I was big, but Buck was bigger and stronger and turned me every which way but loose. When you played Buck, you couldn’t sleep the night before a game. You don’t imagine a guy 6-8, 300 pounds being so quick. You’d go to hit him, and it was like hitting a ghost.”
The Chiefs could use a guy like that now.
There’s gotta be a couple of folks around here who’ve actually seen Buchanan play in real time. Was this guy a badass or what? Who would you compare him to in today’s NFL?
Read the whole piece. Props to author Dave Goldberg and NFL Fanhouse for celebrating Black History Month in this fashion. I was considering something similar, but seeing how I make Conan O’Brien look tan by comparison, I don’t think I carry the gravitas necessary to pull it off…
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there ain’t nobody playing in today’s game to compare him with. a 300 pounder in the sixties was unheard of and he could move. that whole team had exceptional athletes on it. i am glad i was able to experience those times. if you can believe lenny dawson, he said the chiefs should have beaten greenbay and would have if they had been better prepared for the circus atmosphere of the first superbowl.