Ramblin On.....

NFL History

November 16, 1980 Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Doug Williams throws for 486 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-30 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Check out all the stats from his nine year career.

For those of you that know little about me, there isn't much to me except that I love sports. During football season I literally watch sports all weekend long, and yet still maintain a girlfriend. When I hear someone or anyone for that matter talking football, I get goosebumps, feel butterflies, am giddy like a school girl....you get my point. But I just love to talk football from formations, to stats, trends, players, stadiums, all of it.


If you were to ask me what intrigues me about the NFL I would answer back with the QB position as it is related to African Americans. As a tot I was a Washington Redskins fan (not by choice, I didn't know any better). That's where the love started those Redskins teams under the guidance of Joe Gibbs were simply magnificent. They displayed great defensed led by players such as Dexter Manley (my all time favorite), Darrell Green, Charles Mann, Wilbur Marshall, and many other. But as a kid I really didn't care about that too much I was all about the offense and at that time the Redskins had it all with the best WR's the posse (Clark, Monk and Sanders), the best offensive line --The Hogs (Bostic, Joe Jacoby, Russ Grimm, Mark May, and others). I saw running backs like Earnest Byner, Gerald Riggs, and Timmy Smith...talk about smash mouth football. Gibbs had one plan in mind -- Run the ball down the opposing teams throat. Now that I have rambled on. Its time to get to that moment when I first saw "IT".


The 'IT' that I am referring to as the events that took place on the evening of January 31, 1988. I was a 7 year old kid getting ready for Super Bowl XXII. I had spent most of the day in the back yard tossing the football to myself acting as if were Doug Williams trying to lead the Redskins past the Broncos. I quickly realized that I was not Doug when my mom came out and asked "Who are you out here talking to?" And told her to buzz off and that we were down by 6 with 1:30 on the clock, no timeouts inside our own 10, and we had to win the game.


That night I saw something spectacular, I saw sports history. Doug Williams not only became the first black (and only one so far) to hoist the Lombardi trophy, but they way in which he did it really stands out in my mind--throwing 4 TD passes in a single quarter.WOW!!! I had never wanted to be a QB until I first saw Doug Williams play the position on the last regular season game that season when he came in for at the time my boy....JAY SCHROEDER.


From Doug Williams to Warren Moon to Randall Cunningham (awww) to Donovan Mcnabb and Michael Vick the dynamics of the quarterback position has drastically changed from pop Werner football all the way to the NFL.


Man this is a lot. The point I was trying to get across is I love sports, and as I get older I have grown to appreciate all the history with all the leagues, teams, stadiums. Its all just so fascinating to me. It should be a college major or something...



if the (3-6) Falcons beat the division leading (5-4) Buccaneers this weekend to push the win streak to 3, can we start talking playoffs?????