Quote:I think one key aspect you are leaving off the Madden era team is Dave Casper... back in those years a TE HAD to block and Casper could... if they could catch that was just a bonus...

 

Casper was a Honorable Mention All-American OT for Notre Dame in 1972 before moving to TE... in his early years for Oakland he was more of a blocking TE... more so than being noted for his pass catching abilities... that later changed before Madden retired but Casper could still block and block exceptionally  well...

 

Casper is in the College Football and the Pro Football Hall of Fames...

I in no way mean this as a slight against "the ghost."  Without question he was a complete TE and a great one by any standard.

 

I just question, perhaps to the point of underrating it's influence, the significance of a TE that can block in having a successful running game.

 

There have been numerous dominant rushing attacks over the years that featured TEs that were less than dominant blockers.  Dallas' running game in the early to mid 1990s dominated the league and led them to become team of the 1990s.  However, they featured Jay Novaceck who was nowhere close to a dominant, overpowering blocker.  He was more a seal off guy than someone who would pancake a defender.

 

In the latter half of that same decade, Denver won back to back super bowls to close out Elway's great career.  Though Elway had the best statistical years of his career in that system, they succeeded because of that running game.  Shannon Sharpe was the TE on that team, and he was known more for his receiving prowess  than his blocking.

 

This was repeated in the start of the new decade, as Baltimore rode a dominant running game featuring the same SHannon Sharpe from above.

 

I think it's a lot easier to have a dominant running attack without a dominant run blocking TE than it is to have any sort of credible passing game without a credible receiving threat at TE.

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