RIP George Blanda

[Tazio]

Pro football Hall of Famer George Blanda, who racked up more than 2,000 points in a record 26-year career, has died at age 83, the Oakland Raiders announced Monday.

A quarterback who doubled as a placekicker, Blanda retired in 1975 at age 48. During stints with the Raiders, the Chicago Bears, Baltimore Colts and the Houston Oilers, he scored a then-record 2,002 points, including 236 touchdown passes.

Blanda died after a brief illness, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced.

Blanda was the NFL Player of the Year in 1970, the season that a string of last-minute touchdown passes or field goals led to a string of Raiders wins and one tie in five straight games. Raiders owner Al Davis, a personal friend, once called him "the greatest clutch player the game of pro football has ever known."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/09/27/obit.blanda/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn


Being a San Diegan I have a couple good reasons to have always despised Al Davis. On this I concur.

[Hondo]

I agree. I always loved it when Blanda got into the game. That old man taught many a young player to respect his elders. There was a time you couldn't tell where the silver of his Raiders helmet stopped and his hair began.

[Tazio]

I agree. I always loved it when Blanda got into the game. That old man taught many a young player to respect his elders. There was a time you couldn't tell where the silver of his Raiders helmet stopped and his hair began.It's funny when you put it that way.
When I watched him play it wasn't from the perspective of a 56 year old man :(
In 1970 when he won that MVP I was in the10th grade. I saw him as a player that had an uncanny ability to come off the bench and take over at QB, score a touchdown, kick the extra point and possibly execute an onside kick and beat you. I understood that at his age he couldn't do it all game every game. But when he came in the chances were better than not that he did so with a serious can of Whip-@$$ :arrows: :champion:

[Easy Drifter]

He was quite a star even in his last few years.

[glauistean]

He was quite a star even in his last few years.
He is watching the Bears right now.

[Tazio]

He is watching the Bears right now.

perfect :up:

[Tazio]

He was quite a star even in his last few years.

It really is a testament to his toughness. Remembering that the excessive rules that protect "skill" position players were not in place when he played, that at 47 and 48 he was not a hanger on!

[Hondo]

Was he the last straight on kicker after everybody else went to the soccer style?

[Tazio]

Mark Moseley was the last full-time straight-ahead place kicker in the NFL, retiring after the 1986 season. Moseley was also among the best kickers of any style, having been the only NFL kicker to ever be named league MVP. Steve Cox kicked the last straight-ahead field goal in the NFL in 1987. Cox was a punter who also kicked off and occasionally kicked long field goalshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_goal_(American_and_Canadian_football)


:s ailor: No

[Mark in Oshawa]

RIP George....I was too young to see him play really....I wasn't watching football when he was still at it, but the man is clearly one of the greatest NFL players of all time just based on versatility and toughness...

[dunes]

RIP
Another forgotten fact about Mr.Blanda was his in and out of the locker room shenanagans. Not the legal type but the ole collage prank types. He also was very fond of helpiing the homeless and veterns of past nfl players welefare.
He is another one that will be missed and probally never replaced.