Ken Stabler passes away

[Mazeppa]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/former-oakland-raiders-qb-stabler-dead-69-002640704--nfl.html

[dwarthog]

Oh. Man, not "The Snake".

R.I.P.

[jaux]

I remember watching him and the all white Tide team shredding the corn in the '68(?) Sugar Bowl. When I was at Fort Benning we got the radio broadcasts of both Auburn and Alabama. The snake and Eli Gold was quite a duo. I think he was dismissed from that job for DUI. He was a character but a great natural football player. Sad to see him go.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Snake was great. He was being interviewed on The Ticket down her a few years ago, and he was asked, "What does it take to become a successful NFL quarterback?" His answer: "Get you as*s on a good team!"

So true. You look at his career stats versus his fellow Southern QB Archie Manning. Stabler hit the league in 1970, Manning in 1971. Both hung it up in 1984. Back then, it was hand off, hand off, throw - hand off, hand off, throw. Interception percentage, completion percentage...those things didn't matter back then.

Both threw more interceptions than TDs. Stabler had 5.9% of his career passes intercepted, Manning a little better at 4.8%. But, Stabler had better weapons around him and threw TDs on 5.1% of his passes, Manning only 3.1%

Manning threw for 158.4 yards per game for his career; Stabler 151.8. That shows you how far the league has moved away from the run. A QB throwing for 150-170 a game was a great QB back in the day.

The difference, as the Snake said himself, his as*s was on a good team, making the playoffs almost every season with the Raiders and once with the Oilers. Manning's teams never made the playoffs.

And, here's an ironic stat between them, although Snake earned his nickname for his running ability as a young player, he only ran for 93 yards and 4 TDs in his entire NFL career! Manning ran for 2,197 yards and 18 TDs!

Again, probably more evidence of Snake having a better line and better backs than Archie did back in the day. Archie was running for his life! Snake was sacked 281 times for a loss of 2,514 yards; Manning 396 times for 3,092 yards in losses.

Archie led the NFL in being sacked three times. Snake never did. There was a stretch from 1974-1977 that Snake was never sacked more than 19 times a season. In 10 full seasons with the Saints, Archie was only sacked less that 20 times once, 1979.

So, remember young fellas, take the Snake's advice and "get you as*s on a good team" if you want to succeed at QB!

[Sabanball]

Sad news, and In his prime, there was no better qb to have running your two minute drill behind by a touchdown or less, as no opposing lead was ever safe as long as he was in the game. The man had ice water in his veins and was unbelievably tough to rattle. Though he was a left-hander, his passes were some of the prettiest that I've ever seen and his accuracy was amazing--they were nearly always tight spirals and very few wobbly ones, even in bad weather. It's a travesty that he is not in the NFL hall of fame, given the raiders amazing win percentage during his time in Oakland.

[BoulderSooner79]

So, remember young fellas, take the Snake's advice and "get you as*s on a good team" if you want to succeed at QB!

Which usually means don't be the #1 pick in the draft. A team that earns that spot is often not just a bad team, but a bad organization too. Some guys luck out and get a team that has a flukey bad year, but is quickly rebuilding. But it often means a young QB is going to get beat up for a few years and just hopes to survive it.

I remember Stabler making a play that caused the NFL to change the rule book. On 4th and goal in a hopeless situation as he was being sacked, he "fumbled" forward to a teammate that recovered in the endzone for a TD. The play won the game and I think it was even a playoff game. That resulted in the NFL instituting the current rule of bringing the ball back to the point of the fumble unless recovered by the fumbler himself.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Which usually means don't be the #1 pick in the draft. A team that earns that spot is often not just a bad team, but a bad organization too. Some guys luck out and get a team that has a flukey bad year, but is quickly rebuilding. But it often means a young QB is going to get beat up for a few years and just hopes to survive it.

I remember Stabler making a play that caused the NFL to change the rule book. On 4th and goal in a hopeless situation as he was being sacked, he "fumbled" forward to a teammate that recovered in the endzone for a TD. The play won the game and I think it was even a playoff game. That resulted in the NFL instituting the current rule of bringing the ball back to the point of the fumble unless recovered by the fumbler himself.

"The Holy Roller"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTxi_gYWyyI