Talk:Tom Landry
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[edit] Well-written, but colorless. And how about a photo of Landry?
The article is well-written, but is sort of colorless. First of all, how about a photograph of Landry? I can't understand why there's no photograph in this article about an American icon.
I think that some mention should be made of the players that played under him, such as "Hollywood" Henderson, Tony Dorsett, "Too Tall" Jones, Roger Staubach, etc.
More mention should be made about Landry's appearance, his fedora which he never took off, and his stoic personality on the field. I don't feel that the reader really gets a feeling of how prominent Landry was in American culture and what an American icon he was. Slater79 05:44, 19 January 2007 (UTC)
- I agree. A photo would definitely improve this article. -- TomLandry 04:32, 11 November 2007 (UTC)
- I see a photo has been added but there's something wrong with the caption: "Tom Landry (center) in ." Apoyon (talk) 07:13, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Landry did not invent the 4-3 defense
The article makes a major historical and factual mistake when it says that Landry invented the 4-3 defense. This is a widespread myth that took root around the time of Landry's death in 2000. I am posting this here, before editing the article, so that readers won't be shocked at the dispelling of this myth.
The truth is that the 4-3 was invented in 1950 by several coaches, most notably Steve Owen, who was the head coach of the NY Giants at the time. In 1950 Landry was just a 26-year old defensive back, and was not an assistant coach. Landry became an assistant coach a few years later, and refined 4-3 coverage schemes, but he didn't invent the defense. The connection of Sam Huff to the invention of the 4-3 is also not correct. He entered the NFL in 1956, long after the 4-3 was invented.
My main source for this information is a comprehensive history of the NFL called "The Game", copywritten 1964, by Tex Maule. A secondary source is an on-line bio of Steve Owen at www.hickocksports.com/biograph/owensteve.shtml.
In a nutshell, this is what happened. When the Cleveland Browns entered the NFL in 1950, they played their opener against the defending world champion Eagles, who used a 5-2 defense with a middle guard (MG) instead of a middle linebacker. Paul Brown, the Browns' coach, split out his offensive linemen and then began trapping the MG, leaving big holes for runners up the middle. This forced teams to move the MG back, turning him into a middle linebacker. This was an immediate change, made by several teams in 1950. That turned the 5-2 into a 4-3.
A second common defense at the time was one used by the Giants, which was a 6-1-4. It had a middle linebacker, but no outside LB's. Against the Browns' spread formation (unusual because it used both a flanker and a split end), Steve Owen moved his defensive ends off the line of scrimmage, turning them into outside linebackers. This made the defense a 4-3. Owen also used an early zone coverage, and his defense was called the "umbrella". Using it, the Giants were the only team that was able to beat the Browns in 1950. So the 4-3 was achieved by two separate paths, both in 1950, and before Landry was even an assistant coach.
For those who don't know, the author of "The Game", Tex Maule, was for many years the senior football writer for Sports Illustrated. When I came of age in the early 60's, the story of how Paul Brown's offense forced both the 5-2 and the 6-1 to morph into the 4-3 in 1950 was common knowledge to those who cared about the x's and o's of pro football. At that time the 4-3 was the universal defense in the NFL, so good fans shared the story of how that came to be. In that book Maule spends some time discussing how respected Landry was as the Giants' defensive coach, and as a young head coach of the Cowboys (which Landry was in 1964), without any mention of Landry being connected to the birth of the 4-3. If Landry was the inventor of the 4-3, this would have been mentioned in a book by that author at that time. Instead, he spent several pages talking about the two routes taken to the 4-3 in 1950 to deal with the Browns' offense, with no mention of Landry in that role.
User: KAC —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.126.38.23 (talk) 20:34, 27 January 2007 (UTC).
[edit] Photo Caption
caption says Landry in 2007. he died in 2000. is that his ghost? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.29.216.190 (talk) 12:25, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
Who's the guy next to him? And what's wrong with him? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.247.244.242 (talk) 18:10, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Education
Why would Landry return to UH to complete a second Bachelor's degree? If he received a Bachelor's in IE in 1949 from UT why would he then proceed to repeat this level of education at a lessor university in 1952? This was probably a Master's degree he received from UH in 1952, not a second Bachelor's. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.60.140.234 (talk) 17:10, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Representative picture
Shouldn't there be a picture that correctly represents Landry in his famous attire on the football field?
