R.I.P. Willie Wood

[esoxx]

[QUOTE=texaspackerbacker;1048270]Uh, I forgot, who the fuck is Venice?

QUOTE]

For fuck's sake man, if you don't recall the gridiron exploits of Packer legend Johnny "Freight Train" Venice, then really what kind of a Packer fan are you anyway? Shaking my damn head.

[Cleft Crusty]

It used to be quite longer, wasn't Bart Starr a 17th Round pick?

Everyone knows that Herdis William "Bull" McCrary was added to the Packers' roster out of Georgia for their first championship in 1929, but a little known fact is that his brother Horace Robert "tiny mouse" McCrary was drafted in the 42nd round of the 1929 draft. He never played a down for the Packers but some historians claimed he was their best waterboy ever.

[Patler]

Am I misremembering, or didn't Willie dabble in place-kicking too - in one or two rare injury situations?

I don't remember Wood kicking, but he may have. Jerry Kramer was the backup kicker that I recall.

[Patler]

Isn't Wood the one Kramer wrote about being really scary?

When he tackled, he went low an wrapped up both legs. Runners fell over like a tree cut down, even Jim Brown who was almost as big as o-linemen in those days.

[Patler]

Just so it's not lost to the young one's - the draft used to be 14 rounds as I recall (Patler?).

It was 30 rounds or there about in the '50s, maybe early '60s. Then dropped to 20 for most or all of the '60s. As the league absorbed the AFL and went through further expansion the number of rounds dropped several times in the "70s and '80s until it hit 12, where it stayed for a long time.

when they were drafting 20 or 30 guys for a 40 man roster, when veterans were tied to a team for as long as the team wanted, some low round players wouldn't even show up for camp.

[esoxx]

Isn't Wood the one Kramer wrote about being really scary?

In fairness to Kramer, most white people thought blacks were really scary back then.

[George Cumby]

In fairness to Kramer, most white people thought blacks were really scary back then.

lol

Touche.

[Joemailman]

I don't remember Wood kicking, but he may have. Jerry Kramer was the backup kicker that I recall.

Yep. Jerry did the kicking in the 1962 NFL Title Game. Actually, Hornung was the kicker then, but a knee injury kept him out of several games in 1962.

[texaspackerbacker]

I was close hahahaha. Willie Wood did some kicking off for the Packers - apparently no place-kicking, though.

https://www.packers.com/news/how-jerry-kramer-became-the-packers-kicker-in-1962-19287631

Ain't Google wonderful.

[mraynrand]

I was close hahahaha. Willie Wood did some kicking off for the Packers - apparently no place-kicking, though.

https://www.packers.com/news/how-jerry-kramer-became-the-packers-kicker-in-1962-19287631

Ain't Google wonderful.

Congratulations, you finally got it to work!

[George Cumby]

Congratulations, you finally got it to work!

Roflmao.

[woodbuck27]

A 5 time All Pro and 8 time Pro Bowl selection and a key tracker and Safety for 5 Packer Championships.

RIP Willie Wood.

[woodbuck27]

I enjoyed seeing him play.

[Fritz]

Willie Wood was not only a great tackler, he was a superb athlete and a great jumper. On longer field goal attempts by opponents, Wood would station himself under the crossbar (which was then at the front of the endzone), and at least once that I remember he blocked a kick just before it would have crossed. Several times he returned missed field goal attempts.

Is it still legal to do that? To knock a kick away like that? Seems like that might be worth stationing someone like Davante Adams under the crossbar.

Willie - he really brought the Wood.

[smuggler]

Not only is it against the rules, Fritz, but it's dumb as fuck. Imagine taking away any chance at blocking a field goal or pressuring the kicker to have an imperceptibly small chance to get a hand on it at the crossbar.

Keep in mind that the only kicks you would be able to contest at the crossbar are extremely long field goals with low trajectory - the kicks most likely to be blocked at the LOS.