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Strategies & Market Trends : Drillbits & Bottlerockets -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Augustus Gloop who wrote (11228)	5/13/2001 12:16:35 PM
From: Augustus Gloop	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15481

The Depth Chart: Greatest football minds -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Andrea Kremer Special to ESPN.com When analyzing the qualities that bind the NFL's greatest minds, one word comes up: intuition. Instead of falling in love with a player's arm, his time in the 40 or his bench-press strength, a great evaluator of personnel has a feeling about a player's ability to improve, lead and win. User feedback Who do you think are the greatest football minds? Click here to send your list. Just-retired Packers general manager Ron Wolf has told me a number of times he gets a "feeling" about players based on his experience. When asked what he learned from Wolf, Green Bay's new GM, coach Mike Sherman, said he just observed. The NFL offers no how-to guide on judging personnel. The great personnel minds have an idea that certain players will be great, even when other teams have overlooked or bypassed them. Following are the people I believe have been the NFL's greatest evaluators of talent over the last 20 years, listed in alphabetical order: Ron Wolf Wolf When Wolf was with the Jets, he saw Brett Favre. The Falcons drafted Favre, but Wolf kept his eye on him. There was something he knew about Favre. He made arguably one of the best pickups ever, getting Favre from Atlanta. Wolf also pulled off one of the key free-agent moves of the era, luring Reggie White to Green Bay. Before getting to Green Bay, he was a behind-the-scenes personnel man with the Raiders for 10 years, and then was the architect of the Tampa Bay expansion team that ended up going to the NFC championship game in 1979. His glory came with two Super Bowl appearances in Green Bay. Nearly every year, he added a quarterback, whether he needed one or not. And look who the Packers turned out: Favre, Mark Brunell, Ty Detmer, Aaron Brooks and Matt Hasselbeck. Even Kurt Warner was brought to camp and cut in 1994. Wolf said his philosophy was to always grab and develop

To: Augustus Gloop who wrote (11228)	5/14/2001 2:21:45 AM
From: Augustus Gloop	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15481

'62 Packers packed the most punch -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Eddie Epstein Special to ESPN.com Editor's note: Our series on the greatest NFL teams of all time continues with its third installment and a look at the 1962 Packers. The greatest team ever will be revealed on Tuesday, May 15. Halfback Paul Hornung helped the Packers to a 16-7 NFL title game win over the Giants. Of all of Vince Lombardi's championship teams, the 1962 Packers were clearly the best. They also may still be the most famous, Ice Bowl or no Ice Bowl, because of the book "Run to Daylight" by Lombardi and W.C. "Bill" Heinz. The book chronicles the preparation before the first game against the Lions (although neither they nor any of their players are mentioned by name) as well as the game itself. The book has had 23 printings, which is 22 more than most books. The Packers began the season with 10 straight wins, including a 49-0 demolition of the Eagles on November 11 in which they outgained Philadelphia 628 to 54. The NFL Record and Fact Book doesn't have an entry for largest yardage differential in a single game, but I would think that plus-574 yards has got to be right up there. The other 11 great teams discussed here played a total of 164 regular-season games. In only four of those was the yardage differential even as high as plus-300. As David Maraniss points out in his excellent biography of Lombardi, "When Pride Still Mattered," the 1962 Packers had the best per-game point differential of the post-war era (+19.1). Only five teams since 1950, including the '62 Packers, had a per-game point differential of +17 or higher. 1962 Packers Record: 13-1 Points scored/allowed: 415/148 Adjusted power index: +6.68 Opponents' record: 78-98-6 (.445)* Record against teams with winning records: 3-1 Points scored/allowed against teams with winning records: 110/40 *For all of these opponents' records, games against this team are excluded. Maraniss also gives us some insight into Lombardi, ironically enough, by recounting his post-game reaction to the Packers' only loss, a 26-14 defeat to the Lions on Thanksgiving. Bill Heinz was hoping for an undefeated season so that the book would sell better, among other reasons. He was morose after watching the game on TV. Lombardi, however, was actually seen laughing in the dressing room as he told the press after the game, "You didn't think we were going to win them all, did you?" He let the team know that the loss was a great reminder of the importance of teamwork and of not ever being overconfident. In Lombardi's nine seasons as head coach of the Packers, their regular-season record was 89-29-4. Their playoff record was 9-1. In the nine seasons before Lombardi was named head coach, the Packers' record was 32-74-2 with no winning seasons. As my friend Brad Adler likes to say, coaching matters. Eddie Epstein works as a consultant to major league baseball teams. He is the co-author, along with ESPN.com's Rob Neyer, of "Baseball Dynasties: The Greatest Teams of All Time." He has been a regular contributor to ESPN.com's baseball coverage and is a huge football fan.