The Minnesota Vikings introduced on Tuesday that former defensive lineman Jim Marshall died at 87 following a prolonged hospitalization.
On the record of all-time nice Vikings gamers, Marshall ought to all the time be close to the highest of the record.
He was one of many main gamers on their famed “Purple Individuals Eaters” protection of the Seventies and was a continuing disruptive pressure all through his 20-year profession (19 with the Vikings).
Marshall’s profession was so spectacular that it is shocking he has not but been inducted into the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame.
Just some of his notable accomplishments embody:
- Ranked twenty second on the NFL’s all-time sacks record (although that was an unofficial stat for a lot of his profession).
- Performed in an astonishing 270 consecutive video games and appeared in 4 Tremendous Bowls with the Vikings. After becoming a member of the Minnesota franchise firstly of the 1961 season, he by no means missed a single recreation for the group in 19 years, serving because the group captain for 14 of them.
- Locations thirty second in Professional Soccer Reference’s Approximate Worth (tied with Ronnie Lott and Steve Younger). This stat makes an attempt to measure “a participant’s seasonal worth on a group, primarily based on their efficiency and contribution to the group’s total drive efficiency.”
Of the top-50 gamers in PFR’s Approximate Worth, 37 of them are already within the Corridor of Fame. Of the 13 gamers in that group who will not be in, 5 of them are lively within the NFL, and 5 extra are retired however not but eligible for induction.
The one eligible gamers out of that group that aren’t at the moment inducted are Marshall, former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson.
Together with all of these numbers, his 30 profession fumble recoveries are the second-most amongst defensive gamers in NFL historical past, trailing solely Rod Woodson.
These 30 fumble recoveries additionally occur to incorporate the one participant that has unfairly outlined Marshall’s legacy — A 1964 play towards the San Francisco 49ers when he recovered a fumble and ran 66 yards the improper route, after which threw the soccer away after pondering he had scored a landing. The play resulted in a security and two factors for the 49ers.
For followers who didn’t observe the Vikings, that was the play for which Marshall was mostly identified.
Not the 130 sacks.
Not the 270 consecutive video games or the unrivaled sturdiness.
Not the truth that his total profession stacks up with the NFL’s all-time greats.
Not even the truth that the Vikings nonetheless gained that recreation towards the 49ers, due largely to a fumble later within the recreation that Marshall himself had pressured.
His wrong-way run is part of his story, and it is without doubt one of the extra unforgettable and noteworthy performs in NFL historical past. It needs to be talked about.
Nonetheless, it should not be mentioned merely as a random blooper or psychological gaffe.
It needs to be talked about within the context of how skilled sports activities are, largely, video games of errors.
It needs to be taught that these errors don’t outline gamers, however quite how they reply to and study from them.
In Marshall’s case, he bounced again by serving to to win the sport and placing collectively a Corridor of Fame-worthy profession, no matter whether or not the Corridor of Fame voting committee agrees with that evaluation or not.
