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11 Mar 2010

Merlin Olsen Passes Away

Former Rams defensive end Merlin Olsen, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, passed away on Thursday. Olsen was 69.

Posted by: Bill Barnwell on 11 Mar 2010

20 comments, Last at 13 Mar 2010, 11:48am by Spielman

Comments

1
by bingo762 :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 2:05pm

Probably be a lot of flowers at that funeral

7
by Bobman :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 4:59pm

Good one.

I couldn't make it in person, so I sent mine FTD.

Did I read it right, that he made the pro bowl his first 14 seasons? I know it's hip to say it doesn't mean much (after all, look who played this year) but that's pretty damn impressive.

2
by sundown (not verified) :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 2:27pm

Interesting fact I found that hasn't been mentioned in most of the stories on his death: He'd filed a lawsuit against NBC claiming asbestos used on their sets had caused the rare form of lung cancer he had.

3
by andrew :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 2:28pm

That's what killed Steve McQueen, if memory serves... and Warren Zevon....

4
by Will Allen (not verified) :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 2:42pm

Folks, if you aren't old enough to have seen him in action, lemme assure you; that was one MONSTER of a defensive tackle. My goodness, could he ever play!

More importantly, by all reports, he was a very good man. Condolences to his family and friends.

5
by poboy :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 2:43pm

In "The Thinking Man's Guide...", Dr. Z called Olsen the greatest football player he'd ever seen. I never saw Olsen play, but have no reason to doubt the good Dr.

6
by Yaguar :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 4:45pm

I am too young to see him play, but I know my NFL stats pretty well, and Olsen was just mindboggling.

He made 14 consecutive Pro Bowls to start his career, still the most ever. Perhaps his most impressive season was his 1967 one, where he and Deacon Jones were the building blocks of one of the great defenses in NFL history. The '67 Rams allowed only 3.1 yards per carry and only 6 rushing touchdowns all year, and they led the league in interceptions with 32. The Rams lost only one game in the regular season. The following year, the '68 Rams set the all-time record for fewest yards allowed in a season.

Very few players - probably only Alan Page and Reggie White - can claim to have played defensive line as well as Olsen did.

9
by Bobman :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 5:30pm

I don't remember him well--wrong conference and wrong coast, but if I might pile on, let's review those numbers: 3.1 YPC and 6 rushing TDs in the dead ball era, when running was king! 32 INTs when running was king! I want to know their rate stats on those--quite possibly off the charts. What was a typical run/pass ration back then, 55/45? 60/40? And roughly reversed today? A SWAG says that's probably similar to 4 Rush TDs and 45-50 INTs in today's game.

EDIT: ooh, check that, I forgot that they played just 12 games in those days. So maybe it equates to 7 Rush TDs and 60 INTs!

In-freakin-sane.

10
by tuluse :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 6:35pm

Going by average number of attempts in '67 and '09, it would remain 6 TDs (teams only average 11 more carries now), and 42 interceptions.

I got my attempt numbers from pro-football-reference.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1967/
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2009/

16
by Bobman :: Fri, 03/12/2010 - 4:41am

Tuluse,

I looked up team interception records at NFL.com and was stunned to see when they were recorded: 1951 (41 by NYG), 1942 (43 by GB), and drumroll... 1961, 49 by SD in the pass-happy AFL.

So your projected 42 INTs would be a HUGE total, third highest ever, but still a good measure below the record set 50 years ago!

(relieved to see that my guess of an INT total would have been roughly a record--it sure seemed like a big number)

Looks like a LOT of INT records were set pre-1978... I can't imagine why.

13
by Raiderjoe :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 8:05pm

M Olsen play entire carrere in 14 game era.
NFL had 12 week reg season in 1960.

1961 to 1977: 14 week regualrseason
1978 to now: 16 game seasns

15
by Bobman :: Fri, 03/12/2010 - 4:34am

I bow to your historical knowledge, RJ. You are correct.

17
by Yaguar :: Fri, 03/12/2010 - 6:13am

RJ obviously really knows his football, which makes his tragic blind spot all the more awesome.

18
by Bobman :: Fri, 03/12/2010 - 5:32pm

I literally burst out laughing. Barely kept my snot in.

20
by Spielman :: Sat, 03/13/2010 - 11:48am

People often forget how great the Rams defenses were for many years there in the '60s and '70s. Too often, if you didn't win a Super Bowl you don't get remembered.

8
by Vince Verhei :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 5:04pm

NFL.com has a nice video tribute.

Those old blue-and-white Rams uniforms were great.

12
by Vague (not verified) :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 6:51pm

thanks for posting this

11
by solarjetman (not verified) :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 6:44pm

He and Dick Enberg called The Drive.

14
by Raiderjoe :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 8:06pm

Olsen was friends with ron Burgundy

19
by Anonymous74 (not verified) :: Fri, 03/12/2010 - 6:56pm

Best DTs ever:

1. Merlin Olsen
2. Bob Lilly
3. Joe Greene
4. Alan Page
5. Randy White
6- the rest

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