Quote Originally Posted by Maxie the Taxi View Post
Starr's greatest attributes were his character, intelligence, patience and confidence. Those qualities made him an incomparable leader. Starr could pick apart a defense, find a weakness and exploit it. You couldn't afford to make a mistake against Starr. He'd take advantage of it. The only way to neutralize Starr was to pass rush the hell out of him, and that's what opponents resorted to. Plus, I truly believe teams (and certain individual players) tried to hurt him, put him out of the game.

Which exemplifies Starr's greatest attribute of all: courage. There were games when Starr's uniform was the only one that wasn't muddied. He stood out like a sore thumb when everyone else on the team was covered with mud. Then again, there were games when Starr was simply pummeled. Teams with great pass rushes, like Chicago, the Lions, Baltimore, the Rams and Dallas gave Packer fans fits. They'd put heavy pressure on Starr, but he wouldn't panic. He'd stand in the pocket and take the sack. Or he would bravely stand tall in the face of an onrushing lineman, toss a pass at the last moment and expose his ribs to punishment. Then, he'd slowly pick himself up off the ground, make his way back to the huddle and do it over again. Starr seemed to have the ability to WILL a win.

We as fans didn't have Bart's patience or courage. Rather than make a mistake, Bart would eat the ball. But in the end, he'd have the last laugh, dumping off a screen to Taylor or Hornung, throwing deep downfield for a TD to Dowler or Dale on 4th and one from his own territory or calling his own number and sneaking into the end zone on the final play of the game to win a championship game. That was a stereotypical Bart Starr moment.

And no matter the beating he took or the criticism, Starr always accepted responsibility. He never threw a teammate under the bus, no matter how bad the screwup. That's why Kramer, Thurston, Gregg and company loved the guy. Never a harsh word. That's why when he did look crosswise at a player in the huddle or call him out, the player listened and responded.

In my book, there will never be another Bart Starr.
That's awesome. Man those guys got beat up back in that day didn't they.