DT, HOF, HFCD, and Other Not-So-Annoying Acronyms

Yep. It's NFL Hall of Fame time again, and former Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas has made the finals. Check out this interesting campaing piece over at Arrowhead Addict for the scoop on DT stats, HOF nominations, etc.

The maestro over at Arrowhead Pride has put together a nice little campaign of his own. Check out this diary entry from yesterday and this more all encompassing NFL news/HOF campaing update from today.

Or, just go to DT's website itself. It's pretty rad. If time is of the essence however, feel free to simply check out some quotes from a few gunslingers that faced DT. They're after the jump and well worth it.

San Francisco’s Steve Young

Young faced the Chiefs in two memorable games. The first was in 1994 when San Francisco visited the Chiefs and quarterback Joe Montana, who had been acquired in a trade with the 49ers the year before.

Thomas sacked Young three times, once for a safety, in a 24-17 Chiefs victory.

“I remember leaving quite a bit of body tissue on that field,” Young says now. “There was nothing easy about that ballgame. That sack in the end zone was probably the difference in many ways. When I saw the score of that game recently, I thought it seemed like it was more of a lopsided game than that.”

The lopsided game came in 1997 when the Chiefs smashed San Francisco’s 11-game winning streak with a 44-9 victory. Thomas had one sack of Young in that game.

“Derrick was one of those guys who had tremendous anticipation (of the snap),” Young said. “I ran into the same problem with Rickey Jackson and Pat Swilling in New Orleans or earlier in my career with Lawrence Taylor in New York. You feel a little bit exposed. Derrick had tremendous speed, and he took advantage … and you had to roll away from him. He was faster than anybody who tried to block him.”

Young, like most quarterbacks, feared Thomas’ ability to strip the football while making the sack. Thomas forced 45 fumbles during his career and recovered 19, returning four for touchdowns.

“Most pass rushers get to the quarterback, and they’ve got a single focus,” Young said. “But with Derrick, it was, ‘Why not get the ball turned over and pick it up and run for a touchdown?’ He was never content with the sack, but had the athletic ability to be thinking about those kinds of things.”


Houston’s Warren Moon

Thomas may have sacked Moon three times in regular-season games, but perhaps their most memorable meeting came in a 1993 AFC second-round playoff game at the Astrodome when Thomas sacked Moon twice and caused one fumble.

“He was one of those guys you were told before you played him that week, you can’t give up on him until the whistle blows, because he’s relentless,” Moon said. “He just keeps coming. He was not only a great pass rusher himself, but he had a great impact on the rest of the defense as far as the pass rush was concerned.

“When you have to start accounting for him in your pass protections and making sure he’s blocked with a tight end or with a back, or you’re sliding that way, all that does is get you away from what you really want to do offensively. It gets you out of your philosophy, because you’re so worried about one guy, and it allows other guys to make plays like a Neil Smith on the other side, or a Dan Saleaumua on the inside.”

Dallas’ Troy Aikman

The Chiefs and Cowboys are in different conferences, but Thomas still managed to sack Aikman twice in three games.

“He was a guy a lot like Lawrence Taylor, who we faced a whole bunch early in my career,” Aikman said. “Whenever we would put our game plan in, the first thing we would have to address is how are we going to block this guy? All of our routes began with protections in a variety of ways to make sure he wasn’t disruptive and keeping us from throwing the football.

“Derrick, Lawrence Taylor, Reggie White are the three guys who come to mind from when I was playing that you would say, these guys can literally turn a game around by themselves, and that’s not easy to do for a defensive player.”

Not only did he sack Aikman twice — once in Dallas and once in Kansas City — Thomas also sacked him in the Pro Bowl, which was against the rules.

“He wasn’t supposed to be blitzing, so we didn’t have anybody accounting for him,” Aikman said. “It’s hard enough blocking him when you have two guys on him, but we didn’t have anybody on him that day.

“A lot of defensive players are hoping to get that car they give to the MVP, so there were a lot of things going on in that game that weren’t supposed to be happening.”

Aikman also took an interest in Thomas’ career because they both came out of the 1989 draft. Aikman was the first overall pick, Thomas the fourth.

“Deion Sanders and Barry Sanders were in that class,” Aikman said. “That was a good group. I’m proud of the draft class I was a part of, and Derrick Thomas was one of those. It made me feel good watching his career, even though it was cut a little bit short.”

Denver's Horse-Faced Colts Draft

HFCD was sacked 516 times in his 16-year career, more than any other quarterback in NFL history. And Thomas left an indelible impression, especially in games at Arrowhead Stadium.

“He sacked me more often because he played me more than any of the others,” HFCD said, referring to the other Hall of Fame quarterbacks. “Do you know how many he got in Kansas City and how many he got in Denver?”

Thomas sacked HFCD 14 times at Arrowhead Stadium, where he fed off the crowd noise, and just three times at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

Thomas’ biggest day against HFCD came in the regular-season finale of the 1992 season at Arrowhead. The winner of the game would head for the playoffs; the loser was out. Thomas sacked HFCD three times, forced two fumbles, returned a fumble for a touchdown and hit HFCD as he threw, causing an interception that was returned for a touchdown in the Chiefs’ 42-20 win.

“He was a guy who had great anticipation, was very smart, and when we went to Kansas City, he was great at using the crowd noise to his advantage,” HFCD said.

Thomas also became the 15th player in NFL history to record 100 sacks when he dropped HFCD twice in a 24-22 win in 1997 at Arrowhead.

“We played them so many times, and we had so many good games against each other,” HFCD said, “it’s hard to remember them all.”

(Quarterback verbage and quotes courtesy of the Kansas City Star.)