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For the historians here...

RHoffman

RHoffman

DOB: Get my Ring!
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this is an off the wall question but I have a reason for asking it.

What is Hugh Green's legacy as a Dolphin? I know the background on him, but I wondered what fans thought. I have a possible article to do and would appreciate some feedback.
 
Shortly after the trade with Tampa there was an article in SI called or titled something like "Green With Envy"... that's what a solid move this was for the Phins organization. And Hugh was leading the NFL in sacks with 4 or 4 and half sacks after only four games when he went down for the season with a major knee injury. It sucked. We were 4-0 at the time, I think, and after that we were punchless on defense... Hugh came back the following year... but was never the same player. It's really sad that between this loss, the death of Overstreet, the lousy drafts of Bosa and Kumerow (or whatever his name was)... the loss of Hugh Green was just one more stroke of "bad luck" during the 80's that kept the Phins, and Dan Marino, from playing in more Super Bowls. Had Green not been injured... who knows... he was like our version of Lawrence Taylor out there... not as good, mind you... but a Phins version... he could take games over... and did. But after the injury... that was it. So sad... so many "what could have beens" with this team. Just goes to show you how special and how hard it is for things to come together so that a team can get to the top and stay there.

For more info:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/featured/8708/index.htm

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/magazine/07/07/where.green/index.html?new_sess=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Green_(American_footballer

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/web/COM1036103/2/index.htm

Hugh Green finished second in the Heisman race in 1980 to George Rogers - wow, go figure... a linebacker finishing 2nd. Amazing.
 
Two of the saddest days of that era were the Green and Stephenson knee injuries.

Two truly great players who had their careers cut short.
 
Green was a good player...but he had issues also;

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/18/sports/sports-people-pro-football-miami-s-green-arrested.html



GreenHugh3-1.jpg
 
-81- McMichael said:
Shortly after the trade with Tampa there was an article in SI called or titled something like "Green With Envy"... that's what a solid move this was for the Phins organization. And Hugh was leading the NFL in sacks with 4 or 4 and half sacks after only four games when he went down for the season with a major knee injury. It sucked. We were 4-0 at the time, I think, and after that we were punchless on defense... Hugh came back the following year... but was never the same player. It's really sad that between this loss, the death of Overstreet, the lousy drafts of Bosa and Kumerow (or whatever his name was)... the loss of Hugh Green was just one more stroke of "bad luck" during the 80's that kept the Phins, and Dan Marino, from playing in more Super Bowls. Had Green not been injured... who knows... he was like our version of Lawrence Taylor out there... not as good, mind you... but a Phins version... he could take games over... and did. But after the injury... that was it. So sad... so many "what could have beens" with this team. Just goes to show you how special and how hard it is for things to come together so that a team can get to the top and stay there.

For more info:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/featured/8708/index.htm

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/magazine/07/07/where.green/index.html?new_sess=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Green_(American_footballer

Hugh Green finished second in the Heisman race in 1980 to George Rogers - wow, go figure... a linebacker finishing 2nd. Amazing.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the untimely deaths of Rusty Chambers (ILB) in a motor vehicle accident and Larry Gordon (OLB) jogging in Arizona in the offseason.
Chambers was one of the top ILB's at the time and Larry Gordon was one of the fastest OLB's with good pass rushing skills. The loss of those 2 LB's forced Shula to trade up for Jackie Shipp (bust) and draft Jay Brophy.
They turned out to be the weak links in the Dolphins defense when they lost to San Fran in the SB. Bill Walsh several yrs later admitted that the gameplan was to attack those 2 LB's with Craig and Tyler out of the backfield. It worked to perfection.
 
Ok, found it. The year after the trade... in his first full season with the Phins, Hugh Green was tearing it up with 4 sacks in 3 games... and then the knee injury - oh well:

http://www.nfl.com/players/hughgreen/profile?id=GRE229104

But we were NOT 3-0 or even 4-0. The defense, on a whole, sucked in a way that cannot be described. That 3rd game against the Jets was especially painfull. Ken O'Brian, I think, threw for like almost 500 yards against us two weeks after Dan Fouts lit us for 50 points. So pathetic... we had NO SECONDARY.
 
-81- McMichael said:
Ok, found it. The year after the trade... in his first full season with the Phins, Hugh Green was tearing it up with 4 sacks in 3 games... and then the knee injury - oh well:

http://www.nfl.com/players/hughgreen/profile?id=GRE229104

But we were NOT 3-0 or even 4-0. The defense, on a whole, sucked in a way that cannot be described. That 3rd game against the Jets was especially painfull. Ken O'Brian, I think, threw for like almost 500 yards against us two weeks after Dan Fouts lit us for 50 points. So pathetic... we had NO SECONDARY.
Click to expand...
It wasn't just the secondary...with the exception of John Offerdahl...we had NO DEFENSE. We had five games that year where we gave up over 200 yards rushing and four games where we gave up over 500 yards in total offense.
 
What was the name of that little scat back we had in the mid 90s that got in trouble with the law? I think he broke into some girl's house or something.
 
CW_McGraw said:
What was the name of that little scat back we had in the mid 90s that got in trouble with the law? I think he broke into some girl's house or something.
Click to expand...
Cecil "Not So Smooth Criminal" Collins.

At 5'10" 210, Jimmy Johnson thought if Collins could stay out of trouble he would be the running back he had been searching for when he first arrived in Miami. Unfortunately Cecil was too much of a criminal to allow that to happen.
 
Geforce said:
Cecil "Not So Smooth Criminal" Collins.

At 5'10" 210, Jimmy Johnson thought if Collins could stay out of trouble he would be the running back he had been searching for when he first arrived in Miami. Unfortunately Cecil was too much of a criminal to allow that to happen.
Click to expand...

Wasn't his original nickname the diesel...and he turned out to be a weasel?
 
Geforce said:
It wasn't just the secondary...with the exception of John Offerdahl...we had NO DEFENSE. We had five games that year where we gave up over 200 yards rushing and four games where we gave up over 500 yards in total offense.
Click to expand...

I remember those years. People called us the "Olphins", because there was no D in Miami.
 
Greyboy said:
Two of the saddest days of that era were the Green and Stephenson knee injuries.

Two truly great players who had their careers cut short.
Click to expand...

Really was upset when each of those guys went down....two of the best players at thier position.
 
Hugh Green was an incredibly disruptive player at Pitt and early NFL. He was somewhat like Derrick Thomas but more fluid and versatile.

He had already declined from that level once the Dolphins got him. Sure he was very talented, but not the player he had been. Then the injuries with Miami took it much further removed.
 
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