Weakest secondary to win-it-all

[Bryan]

1970 Colts?

I don't know about that. They had two pretty good players in Jerry Logan and Rick Volk. Each made three Pro Bowls ans neither was over the hill in 1970. The 1970 Colts weren't particularly bad in pass defense. They ranked 21st in yards, but they also faced the most pass attempts of any defense in the league. Still, they ranked 11th in TD passes given up, and 4th in interceptions.

Yeah, I think Logan and Volk were a great pair of safeties, with Logan in particular being very underrated. The next year the Colts had one of the greatest single-season defenses of all-time. I think the presence of Volk and Logan kind of offset the Stukes/Duncan CB duo, and would at the very least elevate the 1970 Colt secondary above teams like the 2011 Giants and 1968 Jets.

[Saban1]

1964 Cleveland Browns. Parrish, Beach, Benz, Franklin, and Fichtner(who was injured for a good part of that season) were not bad players, but the Browns secondary in 1964 did not compare with the Giants of the early 1960's (Patton, Lynch, Barnes, etc.) or Green Bay's (Adderly, Wood, Jeter, etc.) or Chicago's (Rosie Taylor, Petitbon, Whitsell, etc.).

[BD Sullivan]

1964 Cleveland Browns. Parrish, Beach, Benz, Franklin, and Fichtner(who was injured for a good part of that season) were not bad players, but the Browns secondary in 1964 did not compare with the Giants of the early 1960's (Patton, Lynch, Barnes, etc.) or Green Bay's (Adderly, Wood, Jeter, etc.) or Chicago's (Rosie Taylor, Petitbon, Whitsell, etc.).

Fichtner suffered a major concussion, which really had to be bad if they kept him out that long during that era.

[SixtiesFan]

1964 Cleveland Browns. Parrish, Beach, Benz, Franklin, and Fichtner(who was injured for a good part of that season) were not bad players, but the Browns secondary in 1964 did not compare with the Giants of the early 1960's (Patton, Lynch, Barnes, etc.) or Green Bay's (Adderly, Wood, Jeter, etc.) or Chicago's (Rosie Taylor, Petitbon, Whitsell, etc.).

The Browns secondary during the 1961-64 period was often criticized as being inadequate. In his book, Bernie Parrish hotly disputed this and claimed credit for the defensive scheme that shut out the Colts in the 1964 NFL Championship game. Parrish wrote something like "Collier and Modell had set up the secondary as the fall guys if our 1964 season was unsuccessful."

Parrish also declared Modell used his power as an owner to force Beach, Benz, Fichtner, and himself out of the NFL.

[Bryan]

In his book, Bernie Parrish hotly disputed this and claimed credit for the defensive scheme that shut out the Colts in the 1964 NFL Championship game. Parrish wrote something like "Collier and Modell had set up the secondary as the fall guys if our 1964 season was unsuccessful."

Parrish also declared Modell used his power as an owner to force Beach, Benz, Fichtner, and himself out of the NFL.

Parrish's book was interesting, but also a little on the paranoid side. It kind of reminded me of all the books written about the Cowboys of the 1960's-1970's, where each player thinks he is the main reason for the team's success and there is no "espirit de corps". Parrish's commentary was definitely ahead of its time, and probably foreshadowed the NFLPA labor issues of the 70's and 80's.

[BD Sullivan]

1964 Cleveland Browns. Parrish, Beach, Benz, Franklin, and Fichtner(who was injured for a good part of that season) were not bad players, but the Browns secondary in 1964 did not compare with the Giants of the early 1960's (Patton, Lynch, Barnes, etc.) or Green Bay's (Adderly, Wood, Jeter, etc.) or Chicago's (Rosie Taylor, Petitbon, Whitsell, etc.).

The Browns secondary during the 1961-64 period was often criticized as being inadequate. In his book, Bernie Parrish hotly disputed this and claimed credit for the defensive scheme that shut out the Colts in the 1964 NFL Championship game. Parrish wrote something like "Collier and Modell had set up the secondary as the fall guys if our 1964 season was unsuccessful."

Parrish also declared Modell used his power as an owner to force Beach, Benz, Fichtner, and himself out of the NFL.

It's entirely possible that Modell worked to blackball Parrish, considering 20 years later, Modell still talked about how much he despised him. During 1967, Parrish also went out of his way to trash Rozelle, and said that Paul Brown should replace him as commissioner--which is amusing when you consider how little Brown thought of the NFLPA and player rights, in general. However, as far as the others:

Benz was only in the NFL for three years (1963-65) and was sent to Atlanta in the 1966 expansion draft. The basis for including Benz in the "blackballed" group was that he supposedly wanted to play for Dallas, but they chose to sign someone else.

The Saints picked up Roberts in the 1967 expansion draft.

Fichtner (and John Wooten) were sent packing after their 1968 offseason racial blowup.

Parrish also claimed that he had spoken with Ordell Braase (then the NFLPA president) during the week of the 1964 title game and wanted both teams to boycott the game to protest the small contribution to the pension fund after the then-new contract had been signed. They decided not to, according to Parrish, because both teams were ready to play and it would have screwed the fans.

The pension plan must have been bad, since Parrish raved about how the baseball pension had three times as much money put into it every year--and this was before Marvin Miller started hammering owners on a regular basis.

I'm sure Mr. Fix Is In genuflects at the name of Parrish, since he also made claims of games being fixed.

[Saban1]

Evidently, Blanton Collier thought that Larry Benz was expendable in 1966, not protecting him from the Atlanta Falcons expansion draft in 1966. Ernie Kellerman ended up taking Benz's safety position that year. Of course, Cleveland now had Parrish, Beach, Fichtner, Franklin, as well as 2 new Browns in 1965, Erich Barnes and Mike Howell, so the Browns had it covered as far as defensive backs go. Ernie Kellerman was a pleasant surprise as a rookie in 1966 and being good enough to become a starter. With Kellerman and Barnes and Howell in 1966, then Parrish was expendable, at least in Art Modell's plans.

[BD Sullivan]

Evidently, Blanton Collier thought that Larry Benz was expendable in 1966, not protecting him from the Atlanta Falcons expansion draft in 1966. Ernie Kellerman ended up taking Benz's safety position that year. Of course, Cleveland now had Parrish, Beach, Fichtner, Franklin, as well as 2 new Browns in 1965, Erich Barnes and Mike Howell, so the Browns had it covered as far as defensive backs go. Ernie Kellerman was a pleasant surprise as a rookie in 1966 and being good enough to become a starter. With Kellerman and Barnes and Howell in 1966, then Parrish was expendable, at least in Art Modell's plans.

Kellermann, who grew up in the Cleveland area, had been signed by the Cowboys in 1965, making it to the last cut by backing up Cornell Green. The Browns soon picked him up and put him on the cab squad.

Interestingly, Kellermann who was a quarterback at Miami (Ohio) had Bo Schembechler as his his head coach during his last two seasons in 63-64. The guy who was scheduled to replace him behind center was Tom Matte's brother.

Franklin ended up quitting in 1967 to become an assistant under Bud Carson at Georgia Tech. Carson, of course, eventually became the Browns' head coach.