Deacon Jones is still whipping folks upside the head. The inventor of the
headslap has a book out by the same name and has built a case that he is
the NFL's all-time sack leader. In fact, Jones is credited with adding the
word "sack" to football's lexicon. It helped sportswriters and headline
writers describe the action of a lineman tackling a quarterback behind the
line of scrimmage. Instead of stating that Jones had eight tackles and four
quarterback tackles behind the line of scrimmage - catch your breath -
writers were able to note four sacks. The league started keeping that
statistic in 1982, eight years after Jones retired. Researcher John Tunney
reviewed film of all but five games in which Jones played (196) and
determined that the cornerstone of the Los Angeles Rams' Fearsome Foursome
recorded 180.5 sacks. Jones said he'd even spot the league five games and
he's still be number one. Well, maybe. Officials make no apologies for not
going back to review game fills to record stats based on newly created
statistical areas. And no one has apprised us of a football counterpart to
baseball's SABR. They admit, moreover, that keeping certain defensive
statistics, particularly, are a rather imprecise science. For example, a
sack and a tackle used to be two mutually exclusive events. Today, a player
who records a sack is also credited with a tackle. Also, there is often
considerable gray in determining who gets credited with a full sack and a
half sack.
Deacon Jones is still whipping folks upside the head. The inventor of the
headslap has a book out by the same name and has built a case that he is
the NFL's all-time sack leader. In fact, Jones is credited with adding the
word "sack" to football's lexicon. It helped sportswriters and headline
writers describe the action of a lineman tackling a quarterback behind the
line of scrimmage. Instead of stating that Jones had eight tackles and four
quarterback tackles behind the line of scrimmage - catch your breath -
writers were able to note four sacks. The league started keeping that
statistic in 1982, eight years after Jones retired. Researcher John Tunney
reviewed film of all but five games in which Jones played (196) and
determined that the cornerstone of the Los Angeles Rams' Fearsome Foursome
recorded 180.5 sacks. Jones said he'd even spot the league five games and
he's still be number one. Well, maybe. Officials make no apologies for not
going back to review game fills to record stats based on newly created
statistical areas. And no one has apprised us of a football counterpart to
baseball's SABR. They admit, moreover, that keeping certain defensive
statistics, particularly, are a rather imprecise science. For example, a
sack and a tackle used to be two mutually exclusive events. Today, a player
who records a sack is also credited with a tackle. Also, there is often
considerable gray in determining who gets credited with a full sack and a
half sack.