Nominate the Greatest Falcons Secondary of All Time

by Adam Schultz on Aug 25, 2009 10:00 AM EDT

It's that time again, Falcoholics. As the regular season approaches, it's time to finish up our greatest team voting! This week, we nominate and vote on the greatest Falcons secondary players of all time.

ProFootballReference has the following top 5 players in Career INTs:

Rolland Lawrence - 39
Ray Brown - 31
Scott Case - 30
Ray Buchanan - 30
Ken Reaves - 29

Of course, INTs alone will not define this greatest secondary. For instance, I pick Scott Case as my top. Why? 30 INTs, 1 DEF TD, 7.5 SACKS, 946 TKLS in 11 years as a Falcon. That's win, right there.

So the game is: nominate some CBs and S's. Go. Do it now.

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Hmmm

Thought you were talking about “as a unit”…that would be the early 90s crew of Sanders-Case-Jordan-McKyer.

OT – but that team also probably had the best O-Line we ever had Hinton-Fralic-Dukes-Hoover-Kenn

Overall, though – I’d say Buchanan, Case, Sanders, and I can’t think of another safety not named Eugene Robinson…for bitter reasons, he won’t make the list!

by The Gentleman Masher on Aug 25, 2009 12:01 PM EDT reply actions

Definitely Case

by Dave Choate on Aug 25, 2009 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Neon Deion and Ray Buchanan

Those are the only players I can think of for the secondary. The Falcons really don’t have alot to offer in that department, at least that me and my limited knowledge can remember.

In Dimitroff we trust

by Bonhoffer on Aug 25, 2009 12:50 PM EDT reply actions

Seconded

by Dave Choate on Aug 25, 2009 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Jordan was pretty solid

And he played for the Braves, so double points for him!

"This is America, if we can’t self-righteously look down on others and blame them for our faults, the commies win."-----Cormican on Bleeding Green Nation w/r/t fans overreacting to the Eagles signing of Michael Vick

by Jesse28 on Aug 25, 2009 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions

next few years could have some goodies

if Houston lives up to potential… Owens I think can be awesome. And eventually Moore could be the best in the game – and Coleman is very solid. I’m beginning to warm up to Grimes as well.

Say we have those 5 in the secondary – that could be a top notch secondary.

by nathan rothschild on Aug 25, 2009 1:02 PM EDT reply actions

you have some good ones already

Rolland Lawrence was fantastic, I think we probably all remember Scott case… ? He was also great during his prime years as a Falcon. Deion Sanders for sure. Tom Pridemore I think… Cant recall what position he played but I am almost sure he was a safety.

Life is a garden. Dig it!

by Hardcore Falcon on Aug 25, 2009 2:10 PM EDT reply actions

Why is not Deion Sanders in the list?

I know he play just a few years for falcons and most people associate him to dallas, but he was great and a menace. And clearly not big numbers because no qb used to pass in his direction.

by fatiga on Aug 25, 2009 2:32 PM EDT reply actions

Don't worry, we're nominating now

I can’t imagine a list to vote on without Neon Deion, frankly.

by Dave Choate on Aug 25, 2009 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Not Lawrence....please

While Lawrence did yoeman’s work for the Falcons during his career, #22 will be forever linked to the disastrous playoff game with Dallas after the 1980 season that ended the Birds first legitimate shot at a Super Bowl appearance. Danny White to Drew Pearson TWICE in the fourth quarter over Rolland Lawrence’s barely extended arms is a memory I’ve spent 29 years trying to forget. His partner on the other side that year, Kenny Johnson, actually was a much better corner, though his stats and longevity don’t point this out. Honorable mention at best………..

by Mooq on Aug 25, 2009 2:37 PM EDT reply actions

Valuable input

I rec’d it. It’s great to have someone tell those of us who weren’t yet around about players many of us can’t judge accurrately outside of stats.

by Dave Choate on Aug 25, 2009 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah I know

I remember it well myself. I blame it more on the fact that Danny white must have had a majic wand up his keester that day because they guy stunk as a QB up until that point and had never done anything before that game. I am looking at his overall accomplishments, not just that one game. Peaople have bad games once in a while, but the career numbers you cant argue with.

Life is a garden. Dig it!

by Hardcore Falcon on Aug 26, 2009 8:15 AM EDT up reply actions

I can't speak from my memories

Because I didn’t see him play, but to disqualify Rolland Lawrence for a bad game (in the final game of his career, no less) after a very good career seems excessive. Even if he had one of the worst games ever by a Falcon CB, he may have had one of the best seasons.

From Pro-Football-Reference, in a discussion of the best CB’s of the 70’s in their blog:

I can’t leave the discussion of corners in the 1970s without a brief comment on Rolland Lawrence, the owner of the highest single-season AV score since 1950. The 1977 Falcons defense, nicknamed the "Gritz Blitz", allowed fewer points per game than any defense since the 1944 New York Giants. Allowing just 9.2 points per game, you can see why we’d want to give lots of AV points to the Falcons defensive players. The problem? Only one player — Lawrence — was named a first-team All-Pro. Only one other player, DE Claude Humphrey (who made our second-team All-decade roster), even made the Pro Bowl. The unusual combination of exceptional team performance with just one individual star is how Lawrence became the top single season player in AV history (Alan Page on the ‘70 Vikings tied with him; both have 26 points of AV each).

by orang3b on Aug 26, 2009 8:56 AM EDT up reply actions

Deion Sanders and Scott Case

Case was a lifer and never took a play off! The closest thing to Ronnie Lott that Atlanta ever saw. Deion was not just a shut down DB, the opposing teams wouldn’t go near his side of the field.

by UNALions on Aug 25, 2009 2:49 PM EDT reply actions

Agreed on Case

and as much as I hate it, Neon Deion was the best player to play CB in Atlanta by a mile.
Tom Pridemore was a DB on the 1980 Divisional Championship Team.

I disagree on Big Play Ray though. I never liked him and though he was kind of MeAngelo-ish when it came to talk vs. talent.

by skigator93 on Aug 25, 2009 3:45 PM EDT reply actions

Case was always my favorite...

And I liked Pridemore too. Both were hard nosed, hard hitting players. Didn’t Pridemore end up running for political office after his career ended?

And let’s not forget Ken Reaves.

by johnnybacardi on Aug 25, 2009 9:21 PM EDT reply actions

How bout:

Clarence Ellis
Bobby Butler
Deion Sanders
Bruce Pickens
Devin Bush
Michael Booker
DeAngelo Hall

Oh wait, those are wasted 1st round draft picks. Sorry wrong poll.

by Jon Cushman on Aug 26, 2009 2:53 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Harsh!

by Dave Choate on Aug 26, 2009 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Win. Pure win. +1, sir.

You have opinions. Share them.

by Adam Schultz on Aug 26, 2009 12:48 PM EDT up reply actions

secondary

lawrence- sure he got beat by drew pearson 6-2 against Dallas in 80. lawrence was 5-10 and got outreached. I saw it. he also was a major part of us getting to that game

pridemore and glazebrook the 2 hardest hiting db’s ever to wear the unifom

deion – we never had another corner with his abilities just wasn’t hear long enough or would have written recordbook

ray brown honerable mention

by gbmahoney on Aug 26, 2009 6:51 AM EDT reply actions

good stuff

Life is a garden. Dig it!

by Hardcore Falcon on Aug 26, 2009 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Scott Case without a doubt!!!

He was a consistent hardnosed player for over a decade with the falcons. Next would be deion and buchanan cause without a doubt deion was the best ever shutdown corner the falcons ever had, if not the only true shut down corner to wear a falcons uni, and buchanan was a very good player except of course the night before the SB in 1998!! lol
L-DAWG

by ATLsince1972 on Aug 26, 2009 11:46 PM EDT reply actions