Off-Topic » Fact: Tommy Nobis’ tackles regularly influenced the Earth’s gr

avitational pull"It’s been nearly fifteen months since the world lost a legend. When Falcons alumnus Tommy “Mr. Falcon” Nobis passed away Youth Calvin Ridley Jersey , I was sad. I was sad because he’s one of the greatest football players to ever wear a Falcons jersey. I was sad because I knew they’d find evidence of CTE in his brain given all the concussions he quietly endured during his playing days. (And they did.) But the fact that Nobis would never get to personally experience his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction? Man, that was the hardest thing to swallow. The Falcons chose Nobis (first overall in the 1966 NFL draft), but Nobis also chose the Falcons, too. You see, he was also drafted by the Houston Oilers, then a member of the now-defunct American Football League. Nobis took a couple weeks and ultimately decided to roll the dice with an unproven expansion team. A newspaper article describing the day he signed referenced “a grinning Rankin Smith.” And come on, if you were Rankin, grinning was the natural response? Nobis was the NFL’s rookie of the year in 1966. (His 294 tackles that season would be an NFL record if the statistic wasn’t considered “unofficial.”) He made the Pro Bowl during his first three years as a pro, then again in 1970 and 1972. He earned All Pro honors twice. At the end of the 1960s Stitched Alex Mack Jersey , the Pro Football Hall of Fame voters named him to their All-Decade team. During Nobis’ 11 years as a professional football player, he racked up 12 interceptions and recovered 13 fumbles. Nobis got injured and missed most of the 1971 season, but he’d only miss 2 other games during his entire career. He started 132 of the 133 NFL games he played in. So why isn’t Nobis in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Six words: Because he played for the Falcons. Nobis played on a lot of bad teams in a fledgling market. I’m sure he had some sense of what he was getting himself into, but that shouldn’t be held against him. Because he’s been out of the league for 25 years, if Nobis were to make it in, he’d have to first get nominated by what is referred to as the Senior Finalists Selection Committee. Of the 18 finalists named each year, either one or two are nominated by that committee. That means Nobis would have to be the non-modern era player or one of two non-modern era players named each season. That doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence going forward, does it? In short, absent a fundamental change in the process or a miracle Youth Alex Mack Jersey , Nobis likely won’t get inducted anytime soon. Maybe we need to start a petition or organize a rally. Or maybe, if I’m being brutally honest, Canton just needs to get their act together. So get your act together, Canton, because this is an injustice you need to address. A role player who shined bright."With the 2018 season mercifully in the rearview mirror, we can look back and reminisce as we wait for the NFL season to greet us once again in September.For the few past few weeks I’ve been counting down the five best offensive players of 2018 for the Falcons. This new series will do the same thing, but focus on what was the weaker side of the ball for the Birds this year — the defense.Devastating injuries to start the campaign weren’t overcome, as Atlanta fielded a putrid 28th-ranked defense in the NFL. Still, even throughout the struggles Stitched Vic Beasley Jersey , contributors stuck out from the crowd, and at least gave Atlanta a chance on the defensive end.This will be a weekly countdown of the Falcons’ five best defensive players of 2018, going in order from fifth to first. You can find No. 5 here and No. 4 here.Here is the third-best defensive player for the Atlanta Falcons from this past season3) Jack CrawfordJack Crawford was mostly an afterthought heading into this past season — he was a low key free agent signing in the 2017 offseason, and then missed most of the 2017 campaign due to injury.In 2018, however, Jack Crawford stepped up in Dan Quinn’s defensive line rotation, and he was one of the big-time pleasant surprises of the year.Crawford was second on the team with 7.0 sacks — just one behind Takk McKinley for the team lead. He was also fourth on the team with 22 QB hurries.Crawford tallied 15 run stops in addition to the sacks to showcase a complete package of contributions along the defensive line. The Penn State alum had the second-highest run defense grade among all of Atlanta’s defenders who played at least 400 snaps, according to PFF.Overall tackling seemed to have been the only thing holding Crawford back in 2018, as his dreadful 29.6 tackling grade was the third-lowest on the team (hello Brooks Reed and Vic Beasley) Youth Vic Beasley Jersey , with seven missed tackles against only 14 total tackles being the reason for such a low mark.The good far outweighed the bad in Crawford’s season, however, as everything other than tackling (and his nine coverage snaps) was completely solid. Crawford’s PFF grade of 71.4 was the third-highest on the defense out of players who played at least 400 snaps.Jack Crawford is looking like a steal at the $3.7 million cap hit he’s registering for the 2019 season, and he’s someone the Falcons should very much consider extending when the time comes. Dan Quinn is a firm believer in a defensive line rotation, and Crawford has proven that he can be a key contributor within said rotation.