Robert Brazile was so feared as a linebacker during his career with the Houston Oilers that he earned the nickname Dr. Doom.
In his retirement he found contentment in a vastly different line of work that he believes was even more challenging than chasing down quarterbacks for a living.
”It was more difficult being a teacher Harry Carson Jersey ,” he said. ”I was a middle school special ed teacher and it was a challenge every day to find out something to build the trust, the love and the care for these kids.”
Though he loved football and enjoyed his time in the NFL, the 65-year-old Brazile admits working with children was more fulfilling.
”If I had to choose it all over again, I would love being a teacher more than a football player,” he said.
Though he turned in his Dr. Doom persona decades ago for the role of Mr. Brazile, he’ll revisit the success of his first career on Saturday when he’ll be one of eight men inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Brazile was drafted sixth overall in 1975 out of Jackson State, two picks behind teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Walter Payton, and was voted Defensive Rookie of the Year. He was the anchor of the 3-4 defensive scheme which coach Bum Phillips used and was a Pro Bowl selection in seven straight seasons from 1976-1982. He also earned a spot on the NFL’s All-Decade team of the 1970s.
The 6-foot-4, 241-pound Brazile was one of the first players to rush quarterbacks from the outside linebacker position. Many, including Phillips, believe his work paved the way for the success of other stars at the position such as Lawrence Taylor, who was drafted six seasons after Brazile.
Phillips, who died in 2013, was fond of saying that Brazile was ”Lawrence Taylor before Lawrence Taylor.”
”Robert was the forerunner of the Lawrence Taylor era,” Phillips said in a radio interview before his death. ”They remember Lawrence Taylor, but Robert was a guy that proved that you could do that in the NFL. Everybody said `You can’t run a college defense in pro ball.’ But you can, and we did.”
With running back Earl Campbell and quarterback Dan Pastorini leading the offense, Brazile headlined a defense that helped the Oilers to some of their most successful seasons. Houston reached the AFC championship game in consecutive seasons in 1978-79 before falling to the Pittsburgh Steelers both times.
Brazile fondly remembers the throngs of `Luv Ya Blue’ fans, with most decked out in the team’s signature powder blue duds Caleb Sturgis Jersey , waiting to welcome the team home after those difficult losses. It’s estimated that more than 55,000 fans filled the Astrodome for ”homecoming rallies” after both defeats.
”There are days and times now where I sit in the corner and just think about all the great memories about (those games) and the great turnout of people that supported us,” he said. ”I’ve just always wondered if we would have won … against Pittsburgh, how many people would have been in the Astrodome.”
Brazile’s early years with the Oilers were made special by the presence of Phillips, the cowboy-hat-wearing, folksy-talking Texan, who was fired after the team lost in the wild-card round in 1980.
”Bum was such an organizer of men,” Brazile said. ”He treated us like his boys, but he also treated us like a man. We could go to Bum with any problem, anything that we had on our mind. We trusted in him and he trusted in us, and that’s what made us so unique, that Luv Ya Blue group.”
Brazile spent his entire career with the Oilers, retiring after the 1984 season when he was 31. He is credited with 11 career sacks, but certainly had many more; sacks didn’t become an official statistic until 1982.
Brazile is a senior selection into the Hall of Fame, which honors those whose careers ended at least 25 years ago. After waiting so long to get the nod, Brazile can hardly wait for Saturday’s induction.
”I’ve got a grand speech for the Hall of Fame that I hope everyone enjoys,” he said, ”and I’m going to embrace it all.”
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The Chicago Bears anticipated wide receiver Allen Robinson would need time to assume a role as quarterback Mitchell Trubisky’s No. 1 target.
Considering where the Bears passing game was last season, they expected this wait to be worthwhile.
Robinson continues to work at a slower Robert Quinn Jersey , steadier pace through his first live practices since suffering a torn left anterior cruciate ligament, and hopes to reach a point where he and Trubisky click in the passing offense.
”It’s all about getting back acclimated, running certain routes, getting the small things in football, as far as actually football – route-running, sinking my hips, stuff like that,” Robinson said Tuesday at Bears training camp. ”As far as physically, I feel fine.”
Robinson took off Monday’s practice to rest his knee after his first full practice participation over camp’s first three days. He returned to work Tuesday with no ill effects.
The slow, steady approach isn’t keeping Robinson from learning during meetings.
”He’s asking great questions,” Nagy said. ”He sits in the front of the room. He’s a little introverted, which is fine. That’s what we talk about – everyone is a little different. But he comes to me probably three to four times a practice and asks me certain questions, so we have a good relationship going there.”
Rehab from the injury kept Robinson from doing much in organized team activities and minicamp.
”Man, it’s fun,” Robinson said. ”Being away from the grass for 10-plus months, it feels so good to be back out here running routes, competing, going against defenders, everything like that. It’s exciting.”
Nagy said no receiver has stepped up so far as Trubisky’s top target.
”But in a couple weeks I think if you come back and ask me that question there might be somebody that he starts to develop that bond with Logan Thomas Jersey ,” Nagy said to reporters.
Nagy sees signs Robinson is a bit tentative on routes requiring a cut inside, and expects the fifth-year receiver to overcome this as the knee continues to strengthen.
”I like where he’s at,” Nagy said. ”Allen is doing everything that we’re asking for. There might be a couple routes I think more mentally he’s just trying to get over, that it’s OK to do that. But that’s part of the health part of him.
”Just once you get through that part, then you’re ready to go. So we have the time. That’s the benefit of having five weeks in the preseason and then we get him ready for Week 1.”
Robinson calls his goal a better understanding of the offense rather than simply labeling it a need for receiver and quarterback to build chemistry.
”I think that’s a big misused word,” Robinson said. ”Because at the end of the day you know certain routes and certain things like that, you’ve got to be in the right place at the right time in a way that matches up with your quarterback.”
The Bears last season badly needed a primary target for Trubisky after injuries deprived them of Kevin White and former Bear Cameron Meredith. Chicago finished last in passing yards (2,811) and tied for last in touchdown passes (13).
Despite suffering a season-ending knee injury in Jacksonville’s opener, Robinson signed a three-year, $42 million free agent deal with the Bears. In the process, he left a blossoming AFC championship game qualifier for a team out of the playoffs since the 2010 season.
”You know, looking at the (new) coach, offensively scheme-wise, the quarterback, and things like that, I mean, there’s no doubt at all that this team has all the talent in the world to win games,” Robinson said.
The talent Robinson brings is being able to stretch defenses and make jump-ball catches. Robinson had 22 touchdown catches in his first three seasons.
”Me being a bigger receiver, I think I’m a versatile receiver Eric Fisher Jersey ,” Robinson said. ”I think that’s something that coach Nagy, as far as his offensive scheme, it’s about versatility.
”For me, watching him, the play calls that he had prior to coming here, I knew that’s something that was a big part of his offense is versatility. I knew that he would be able to use me in a very effective way.”
Even if Trubisky has been targeting receivers such as Kevin White, Taylor Gabriel and Anthony Miller just as much or more often at camp, the Bears quarterback said he knows how to use the 6-foot-3 Robinson.
”He goes up, gets the football, creates separation,” Trubisky said. ”He can make those acrobatic catches that we haven’t seen here in the past.
”He can separate with speed, he’s physical, he runs great routes. He’s really a student of the game. That’s something I’ve learned.”
Robinson expects to apply what he’s learned by making Trubisky’s job easier.
”I want Mitch to be able to go out there and just be able to play free,” Robinson said.
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