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Back in those days they still played on broken legs. Can't find real men like that anymore
Weird still works for me, anyway I'll post the whole thing
Rocky Bleier
Rocky Bleier played one NFL season (1968) before being shipped off to Vietnam in 1969. The battlefield proved to be much more dangerous for Bleier than the football field, and on August 20, 1969, Bleier was shot in the left leg. Moments later, an enemy grenade exploded in his vicinity, sending shrapnel into his right leg while blowing off a portion of his foot.
Bleier was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. Miraculously, neither injury could keep Rocky from returning to the game he loved, and in 1970, after extensive rehab, Bleier suited up for the Steelers. He played with them until his retirement in 1980, winning four Super Bowls in the process.
Deacon Jones
David “Deacon” Jones was largely overlooked by coaches and scouts coming out of college, a mistake all of them would soon come to regret. Over the course of his 14-year NFL career, Deacon Jones got to the quarterback with alarmingly high frequency and coined the term and play us fans love so much today: the sack.
During Jones’ playing days, the NFL didn’t have a separate category for quarterback takedowns, but had Jones’ QB tackles been credited as sacks, he would rank third all time. To get to the QB, Jones used a devastating combination of clubbing and slapping offensive lineman in the head, a move that was banned in 1977.
Chuck Bednarik
They call him “Concrete Charlie” for a reason. Chuck Bednarik, a B-24 gunner who flew on 30 combat missions in WWII, was the last two-way player in the NFL, aka a 60-minute man. In an era defined by physical play and a lack of rules to protect players, Bednarik missed just three games in 14 seasons.
But the man who once knocked out an opposing player from football for over a year and helped preserve the lead on a last-second play in the 1960 NFL Championship is by no means an Eagles fan. Bednarik and Eagles ownership have been at odds with one another after team owner Jeffrey Lurie refused to buy Bednarik’s book and distribute it to players.
Dick Butkus
Another classic name that fits perfectly on one of the game’s most rugged, feared defenders. Butkus set the NFL’s gold standard for the linebacker position. He roamed the field like a predatory animal on the prowl, and as Deacon Jones, a feared defensive player himself, once said, “Every time he hit you, he tried to put you in the cemetery, not the hospital.”
Butkus was selected to eight Pro Bowls and was a six-time First-team All-Pro. A legendary player, Butkus also had a nasty reputation amongst his peers and was oft-accused of poking, biting, and twisting limbs under the piles after the play was over.
Jack Lambert
Arguably the most famous Kent State Golden Flasher to reach the NFL, Jack Lambert was a four-time Super Bowl champion, nine-time Pro Bowler, and two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. However, of all those numbers, four might be the most significant, and not because of the precious rings Lambert won as a member of the famed Pittsburgh “Steel Curtain” defense of the 1970s.
Lambert, a ferocious tackler and leader, is best remembered, at least visually, for his snarl that exposed his four missing upper front teeth. Lambert’s iconic, ominous grin was something that is more commonplace in the NHL, but it would strike fear into the opposition before either team took the field nonetheless.
Jim Brown
In the history of the NFL, there has yet to be a runner more consistent, dominant, and forceful than Jim Brown. Brown ran during the days when virtually every hit, from spearing to helmet-to-helmet, was legal. Despite the onslaught of defenders trying to take him out by any means necessary, Brown plowed forward en route to leading the NFL in rushing eight out of the nine seasons he played.
And while most running backs are on the receiving end of big hits, it was actually Brown who was known for doling out punishing blows. Brown was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971. Brown may have been the browniest Brown of them all.
Joe Greene
“Mean” Joe Greene was the centerpiece of Pittsburgh’s “Steel Curtain” defense that helped established Pittsburgh as the most dominant franchise of the 1970s. Greene was a sack master and explosive defensive tackle who earned a reputation for being a player that would toe the line between fair and foul.
Greene was accused of kicking, punching, and spitting on opponents during and after the play. He would also verbally threaten opponents. Greene would use whatever tactics possible to psyche out the opposition prior to physically dominating them. Greene started 91 consecutive games and played in 181 games out of a possible 190.
Jack Tatum
Nicknamed “The Assassin,” Oakland’s Jack Tatum was the prototype for the modern day safety. He was hard hitting, fast, could cover receivers, stuff the run, and roam the field waiting to make a game-changing play. Tatum was responsible for some of the biggest hits in NFL history, including a potentially dirty hit that made Patriots receiver Darryl Stingley a quadriplegic.
Aside from that memorable, tragic hit, Tatum made a name for himself by striking fear into the hearts of anyone lining up against him, be it a receiver he was covering or an offensive lineman trying to guard him on the blitz.
Bronko Nagurski
Once again, it’s all in the name. Bronko Nagurski, born Bronislau, did it all on the gridiron. Standing at 6-foot-2, 226-pounds, Nagurski was, at the time, one of the largest players on the field, and he used that size to bully opponents on both sides of the ball.
When he lined up at fullback, there was no greater blocker or runner. When he lined up on defense, there was no one who could contain him. In 1993, the Football Writers of Association of America established the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, given annually to the best defensive player in Division I college football.
Larry Csonka
Larry Csonka was an accomplished running back who did just about everything on the field. Besides the bruising touchdown runs and two Super Bowls he won with the Dolphins, Csonka is best remembered as being one of the toughest players to ever run the ball.
As a fullback, Csonka is widely believed to be the first ball carrier in history to be flagged for unnecessary roughness after he delivered a forearm blow that knocked safety John Pitts out of the game. He’s broken his nose more times than he can remember and some would say that when Csonka “goes on a safari, the lions roll up their windows.”
