As Seahawks' Legion of Boom disbands, is it time to anoint i

As Seahawks' Legion of Boom disbands, is it time to anoint it NFL's greatest secondary?

RIP, LOB.

Kam Chancellor's announcement Sunday on Twitter that his neck injury will force him to stop playing football signals the end of an era in Seattle, home of the league's most dominant defensive force over the past half-dozen seasons.

With that in mind, where does the Seahawks' Legion of Boom — or vaunted LOB, if you please — rank among the game's great secondaries?

10. Lions (1960-64): Some good Detroit teams were overshadowed by epic Packers editions in the early '60s. But a pass defense boasting Hall of Famers Dick "Night Train" Lane, Yale Lary and Dick LeBeau for five seasons can't be dismissed.

9. Eagles (1999-2008): This represents Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins' heyday. But he had a lot of help during a period when Philly reached five NFC Championship Games, corners Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor, Lito Sheppard and Asante Samuel among the wingmen.


https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 750058002/

It's hard to disagree with a lot of what's said in that article. I will say that I think a whole hell of a lot of Brian Dawkins era Eagles secondary. Particularly when they had Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor. They played a cover 3 4-3 under base at the time. Bobby Taylor was 6'3 and Troy Vincent was 6'1. Dawkins was the clinicly insane nutjob (on the field) that could basically play any position in the seconday if he so choosed to.

When the Hawks first hired Pete and he gave his address of what he was going to do, I already knew what it was going to look like and was geeked out like a tweeker to hear it, directly because of that secondary. The entire defense was very much the same.

Pete made good on a promise/goal though. Say what you want, but he did it better than anyone ever did it before. It could not have been done without Chancellor though. There was no boom and no one to fear without him in that secondary specifically.

Now I want to see the new Mike Singletary and a dominant pass rush get it done. Pass rush needs work obviously. Running game is likely on its way back.

Four-straight years as the #1 scoring defense (actually, 4.5 years, until Earl Thomas suffered a season-ending injury in 2016) while going against the most sophisticated and prolific passing offenses the game has ever seen. They also helped set NFL records for consistency and competitiveness: most consecutive games without losing by more than 7 points and by 10 points. Pete Carroll’s L.O.B. is in a league of its own.

I anointed them a long time ago and don't think it is really close. They had the best corner, the best FS and the best SS in the game for a while. Nobody else can really get close to saying that. They may, for a time, have had the 3 best DBs in the game on the field together.

Having the numbers they have, it would be hard not to anoint the LoB as the greatest secondary ever. Allowing the fewest points league-wide every year from 2012 through 2015, winning a ring in the midst of that, completety unarming and humiliating the most effective aerial attack ever led by the legendary Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl, and having the swagger and personality that they had.

There have been great individual DBs an great groups, but has there been a team where the whole identity was built through the secondary, of all possible groups, and having success like that? It's the kind of thing that will be always remembered in this sports history among other legendary groups such as The Steel Curtain, The Purple People Eaters and so on. Having a catchy name helps with the status as well.

The pats have won more Super Bowls. Not everyone on their squad saw the whole run. Even the better players were retooled at their peak. Brady is good but doesn’t carry the load entirely.

We have a great defensive minded coach who needs the turnover in the ranks for his yippy skippy message to resonate. We could have honored the player half lives and let a few go last year, but injuries did that for us. Other defenses grew up and took over larger roles in the bully arena.

This year we may not find a Kam, but we should see how this defense grows.

I would trade a less dominant defense to get an offense that doesn’t lull us all into celebrating first downs like other teams celebrate touchdowns and can stay on the field in the first three quarters for more than 12 minutes.

I think we got a balanced team that can earn a wild card if the coaches do their part.


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The only problem I have with that article is it saying the 43-8 win over the Broncos in XLVIII was a massive upset. Upset only in that Denver was favored to win. When I think of upset, I think that the weaker team beat the stronger team. The far and away best team won on that day in NJ. Not an upset. The only thing upset were Broncos fans.

You have to earn a name. This current defense hasn't earned anything. As the LOB disbands, it is time for people to shut up about trying to name a replacement and just honor what was.

Once we have a defense worthy of naming it will happen.

I don't care what they're called. I just want them to be called a good defense :2thumbs:

Sorry but I'm not ready to hand out awards and talk about all time legend status myself. They way the LOB is dismantling itself it's hard to get behind honoring them at the moment IMO. Sherman acting like a turd to the point we had to unload the load, Thomas talking crap and disrespecting the team, Pete and Paul, Browner now exposed what he really is, Kam holding out "like he knew something" and now he's being paid to retire.....ect ect. Right now LOB = Legion of Bitches IMO. Nope....not ready to back them for anything....need more time to process this implosion myself. :|

+1
But, they clearly were among the best the league has ever seen.

SoulfishHawk":sl486z0j said:

+1
But, they clearly were among the best the league has ever seen.

Click to expand...

I agree, but the title reads "is it time??", and to that I have to say no it's not time. It just ended and there will be plenty of time for that later.

True, and w/the mouth of the south going on and on, it may be a while.

Seymour":3ow96ntp said:

SoulfishHawk":3ow96ntp said:

+1
But, they clearly were among the best the league has ever seen.

Click to expand...

I agree, but the title reads "is it time??", and to that I have to say no it's not time. It just ended and there will be plenty of time for that later.

Click to expand...

Yep.

Any "best of" discussion needs space and time to allow us to digest and analyze the question.

Two of the three members of the LOB are still playing, one's holding out, another is playing for our rival and the third is being forced to retire early. WAY too soon to try and force us to get all nostalgic and sentimental with a "best of" discussion.

Do you know when the time is? It's when the NEXT great defensive backfield is playing together. That's when the talking heads will start comparing the greatest groups, of which the LOB will be mentioned.

the detroit unit had 'night train' though. there hasn't been a better player nickname than that.

Chargers have a pretty fantastic looking secondary so maybe the next frame of reference is closer than we think. In fact, Denver had the no fly zone which was also all time great during their 2015 run - pass rush was a big deal there though.

Sgt. Largent":caqmbwdw said:

Yep.

Any "best of" discussion needs space and time to allow us to digest and analyze the question.

Two of the three members of the LOB are still playing, one's holding out, another is playing for our rival and the third is being forced to retire early. WAY too soon to try and force us to get all nostalgic and sentimental with a "best of" discussion.

Do you know when the time is? It's when the NEXT great defensive backfield is playing together. That's when the talking heads will start comparing the greatest groups, of which the LOB will be mentioned.

Click to expand...

Nope.

There is no need to wait, at least not for those who wish to do the comparisons right now.

Is it not possible to compare their body of work (now complete as a group since disbanding) to previous teams? Sure, a couple of them are still playing, but the question is whether the previous group of 3 (or 4) specific players working together can be rated against previous league secondaries. Without question it's possible to put up individual and team stats during their time, and compare them. That is not disrespecting anyone (like respect for the dead or something), nor moving too quickly.

No more data is yet to come in. The LOB is over. Done. They are a late and exdefensive secondary. Anything they produced up until last season is fair game to compare with any previous team, Seahawk or otherwise.

The conclusions can be reached now.

Why wait?

Ad Hawk":3ownlytk said:

Sgt. Largent":3ownlytk said:

Yep.

Any "best of" discussion needs space and time to allow us to digest and analyze the question.

Two of the three members of the LOB are still playing, one's holding out, another is playing for our rival and the third is being forced to retire early. WAY too soon to try and force us to get all nostalgic and sentimental with a "best of" discussion.

Do you know when the time is? It's when the NEXT great defensive backfield is playing together. That's when the talking heads will start comparing the greatest groups, of which the LOB will be mentioned.

Click to expand...

Nope.

There is no need to wait, at least not for those who wish to do the comparisons right now.

Is it not possible to compare their body of work (now complete as a group since disbanding) to previous teams? Sure, a couple of them are still playing, but the question is whether the previous group of 3 (or 4) specific players working together can be rated against previous league secondaries. Without question it's possible to put up individual and team stats during their time, and compare them. That is not disrespecting anyone (like respect for the dead or something), nor moving too quickly.

No more data is yet to come in. The LOB is over. Done. They are a late and exdefensive secondary. Anything they produced up until last season is fair game to compare with any previous team, Seahawk or otherwise.

The conclusions can be reached now.

Why wait?

Click to expand...

It's a free country, but I'm not exactly in the mood right now with Earl holding out and Sherman on a hated rival to wax poetic about their glory days yet. I and others need a little more time and space before doing a deep dive on this topic.

But go on with your bad self.

Call them what you want, but this feels like it's way too fresh to just ignore the fact that the mouth of the south is still jabbering and can't let it go. We lost Kam (who is still getting paid) and Earl is holding out.

Being able to watch the greatest secondary in NFL history LIVE has to make you feel fortunate.

Some people chirp about what Kam did or what Earl is doing now, but I don't think you can look at the numbers, the way the NFL has ridiculously slanted almost every NFL rule to favor the QB and what the LOB was able to accomplish in spite of that - and not be amazed by their accomplishments.

In addition, it is probably the last of its kind.

Now that we know the cost of these heavy hitting, high impact defensive players (to the players' well being themselves!), I doubt there will be as physical a secondary again. You don't want to say never, but it is very unlikely.

(I still worry about the long-term impact on guys like Kam and Lynch - who took tons of hits and delivered massive amounts themselves).

Not only were the players specimens, Earl with his ridiculous quickness and speed, Kam with his power and size, Browner almost a LB as one of the most physical CBs to have played, and Sherman, who has to be considered a HOF player even without the longevity.

We got really lucky because that secondary was the best part of a defense that you would literally buy tickets just to watch.