Brian Urlacher or Ray Lewis?

[the nature boy]

Apples and oranges comparing an OLB with a MLB. LT was awesome on the outside. He redefined the position with his pass rush and let's not forget how he revolutionized the strip technique. Samuri Mike was unbelievalbe at MLB. He had the stare from hell with his eyeballs bulging out of his head. He was better at coverage than Butkus. Butkus was a beast and the bigger hitter. Tough call between those 2. I'd have to lean towards Butkus as the better of the two though, slightly. Let's not overlook Jack Lambert. The guy played 50lbs heavier than he was. He's right up there with those two and arguably the best at that position.

don't forget singletary. the guy only weighed 220. He was a safety that played MLB.

 

[BigPhysicsBastard]

urlacher covers more ground and is much quicker, but Lewis is better against the run....he can shed OL better. But Urlacher is in his second year, he's going to get stronger with each season.....he could be VERY frightening in a couple of years, like he isn't already!! I think Lewis's deal was that he intimidated the hell out of people......I don't think Eddie George was ever the same after Lewis knocked him stupid. I swear, when the Titans play the Ravens Eddie George becomes a 180lb blocking liability. The guy is 230lbs and almost COWERS when he sees a ravens linebacker coming into the backfield. When I was watching their last meeting, Jamie Sharper tossed Eddie George like he was a kid. Didn't even break stride on his way too McNair, and Eddie was planted and waiting for him......so there was no reason he should have been bitched like that, unless he really is a BITCH!! I lost all respect for Eddie during that game, he just QUIT!! I used to resent Ravens players talking shit about George and how he doesn't want none of them.....well, they're absolutely right, as much as I can't stand the Ravens.

 

[Hannibal]

Apples and oranges comparing an OLB with a MLB. LT was awesome on the outside. He redefined the position with his pass rush and let's not forget how he revolutionized the strip technique. Samuri Mike was unbelievalbe at MLB. He had the stare from hell with his eyeballs bulging out of his head. He was better at coverage than Butkus. Butkus was a beast and the bigger hitter. Tough call between those 2. I'd have to lean towards Butkus as the better of the two though, slightly. Let's not overlook Jack Lambert. The guy played 50lbs heavier than he was. He's right up there with those two and arguably the best at that position.

ABSOLUTELY!! Outside and Inside are two different games. Its like in baseball if you were to compare "infielders"....sure its relatively the same position...you are all on the clay...but that is where the similarity stops.

Good call to remember Lambert. I still have to go with Samuri as far as total package. I mean do you really believe that Butkus was a "smart" football player. He was a freak, a physical specimen, but not the #1 guy I would want leading my team on the field. Besides that...I never actually "saw" the other two play (live). That makes some difference.

However just a side note. I still can remember that video about the Road to the 85 Superbowl. They showed footage from the playoff game against Washington I think. The QB snapped the ball....got to about the 2nd step of his drop and you could already see 4 Bears in the screen. By the time they tackled him there were at least 6 of them in the backfield. Long Live the "46"...and bring back Buddy Ryan!!

 

[Latimer]

Long Live the "46"...and bring back Buddy Ryan!!

Amen.


Cool quotes from or pertaining to Dick Butkus:

Butkus wasn't a Rhodes Scholar at Illinois. "If I was smart enough to be a doctor, I'd be a doctor," he told Sports Illustrated. "I ain't, so I'm a football player. They got me in PE."

"To play this game -- and I've always said this -- you have to have a Neanderthal gene. Butkus had two," says former Chicago Bears teammate Doug Buffone on ESPN Classic's SportsCentury series.

"If I had a choice, I'd sooner go one-on-one with a grizzly bear," former Green Bay Packers running back MacArthur Lane said. "I prayed that I could get up every time Butkus hit me."

"If every college football team had a linebacker like Dick Butkus, all fullbacks would soon be three feet tall and sing soprano," wrote Dan Jenkins in a cover story for Sports Illustrated in October 1964. "Dick Butkus is a special kind of brute whose particular talent is mashing runners into curious shapes. . . . Butkus not only hits, he crushes and squeezes opponents with thick arms that also are extremely long. At any starting point on his build, he is big, well-proportioned, and getting bigger."

Bill George, who had played 13 years for the Bears and was the incumbent middle linebacker on his way to the Hall of Fame, didn't have any doubts. "The second I saw him on the field [at training camp] I knew my playing days were over," George said. "Nobody ever looked that good before or since."

 

[huntmaster]

Just so no one missunderstands me-----I brought up singletary due to the constant jawing about LT and how great he was.

I stated that Singletary was better than LT---He was---At playing linebacker

By no means did I intend to imply that Singletary was better than Butkus.

Butkus is the King-----oh yeah and one more thing------


I will be in attendance for the final regular season game played at Soldier Field on 1/6!!!!!!

 

[Thick dog]

True, it is hard to compare OLB with MLB, and Singletary was the best MLB I saw, although I never saw Butkus, Lambert Nitschke and the older guys, except on tape, so I can't really compare them. Singletary was the most solid, consistant defensive palyer, whereas LT was more of a bigplay maker. That being said, I never saw a defensive player control a game and dictate how an offense playcalled more than LT. He dominated like no other. As far as Singletary and Ray Lewis, Lewis has to play at his current level for about 4-5 more years, and then you can make a good argument for him. At this stage of his career though, he makes more big plays than Singletary did...

 

[fistfullofsteel]

. That being said, I never saw a defensive player control a game and dictate how an offense playcalled more than LT. He dominated like no other.

This is so true as far as I am concerned. I remember when I was a little kid and my father and I would go to games. I remember when the NY Giants needed to come up big and make a stop. I remember how we all started chanting LT, LT, LT. It was like a miracle, the guy would get a sack on a 3rd down play and I would look up at the big screen and would have to make sure it was him because I couldn't believe he did it and the NY Giants would wind up winning the game. He gave us NY Giants fans something to root for because we knew could count on him. Everytime he came up with a big play we still were mesmorized though.