old article on Deacon and the sack record

from Deacon Jones Rests in His Own Class of NFL Sack Masters

Cold, Hard Football Facts for Jun 04, 2013

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By Scott Kacsmar
Cold Hard Football Facts’ Comeback King (@CaptainComeback)

The passing of NFL legend David “Deacon” Jones is an especially tough one for football fans.

The Washington Redskins posted Jones’ obituary on Monday night. Though he was 74, his death due to natural causes still feels like another master of the sack has left us too soon.

For a man with such bravado and a sharp tongue, it is hard to believe he has left us quietly. Not only could Jones talk the talk, but he backed it up with his play like few ever have. Jones’ nickname as the “Secretary of Defense” is most fitting.

Jones is even credited as being the man to coin the term “sack” for football. His legacy is secure as one of the greatest players in NFL history.

Playing defensive end for the Rams (1961-71), Chargers (1972-73) and Redskins (1974), Jones only missed five games in his career.

He made eight Pro Bowls and was a first-team All-Pro five times. He was the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1967 and 1968. He was on the All-Decade Team for the 1960s, a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1980, and is a member of the NFL’s prestigious 75th Anniversary All-Time Team.

What’s even more amazing is Jones had this career as a 14th-round pick out of Mississippi Valley State taken by the Los Angeles Rams in the 1961 draft. That makes him one of the greatest draft steals ever.

Jones combined with Merlin Olsen, Lamar Lundy and Rosey Grier to form the “Fearsome Foursome” for the Rams, which is widely considered one of the greatest defensive lines in NFL history.

Jones will be sorely missed.

Jones Was the NFL’s Original Sack Master

With NFL news so vapid this time of year, we basically pass the weeks by doing statistical studies. One of those planned studies was to look at the annual league leaders in sacks.

It would have been impossible to do that without some scolding on the scarcity of historic sack data, which has a significant impact on Jones’ career.

The NFL did not make sacks an official statistic until 1982, which was a full eight seasons after Jones retired. Therefore, Jones’ official NFL sack total reads as zero.

But the old game tapes do not lie, nor does the research of historian John Turney, who has documented pre-1982 sacks to create an unofficial list of the true sack leaders. Think of Turney doing for sacks what Captain Comeback has done for fourth-quarter comebacks and game-winning drives, except Turney has been given a cold shoulder from the Elias Sports Bureau for a longer period of time.

The Rams agree with Turney in that Jones had 173.5 sacks in his 191-game career, which would have meant he retired as the all-time sack leader. He has since only been passed by Reggie White (198.0 sacks in 232 games) and Bruce Smith (200.0 in 279 games). Jones’ per-game sack total is higher than both.

It also means Jones would hold the single-season sack record, collecting a stunning 26.0 sacks in 14 games in 1967. Mark Gastineau set the record with 22.0 sacks for the Jets in 1984, until it was Michael Strahan getting that dive from Brett Favre in 2001 to finish with a record 22.5 sacks.

But Jones had 26.0 in a shorter season in a league not as hell-bent on passing the ball. It’s a shame that it’s not officially going to count.

While there are some old, preposterous tales of a player having 17 sacks in one game – keeping in mind the post-1982 record for a single game is 7.0 sacks by Derrick Thomas in 1990 – this is real research that should not be taken lightly. It’s not that hard to tell when there was a sack.

Just like how Johnny Unitas will never get his due for being the original comeback king, Jones will never officially be the first sack master thanks to poor record-keeping habits.