Video: Harvey "Too mean" Martin

Flamma said:

I was a kid growing up watching Martin play. Watch some of his highlights, he doesn't look happy. Had 23 sacks in 1977. To me that's the sack record. Even though it wasn't an official stat, if he got 23, and they're all on video, 23 is the record IMO.

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that was the final year of 14 games so he probably would have had 27 or so

Haimerej said:

Nice nickname. Don't think I've heard that before. Came across this video and thought I'd share it here. Martin was before my time and I don't think I've ever really watched him play. Dude looks like he was a beast. I'm rethinking my lists of great Cowboys defenders now.

It's really wild as a kid who grew up with the '90's team to see the stat showing Dallas is still 3rd all time in playoff wins. Those old teams must've been fun to watch.

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At his best Martin was probably among the top 5 pass rushers of all time. Had some personal demons though.

DonaldM said:

Thought I was good til I jumped on a seesaw. Tuck rule infraction.

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Lol

Ta hell with Too Tall or the Big Cat/others...we now have the Vanilla Gorilla. For some reason I don't see that name lasting.

Haimerej said:

Nice nickname. Don't think I've heard that before. Came across this video and thought I'd share it here. Martin was before my time and I don't think I've ever really watched him play. Dude looks like he was a beast. I'm rethinking my lists of great Cowboys defenders now.

It's really wild as a kid who grew up with the '90's team to see the stat showing Dallas is still 3rd all time in playoff wins. Those old teams must've been fun to watch.

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The thing that is impossible to convey to people that aren't old enough to have lived though that time is the aura and mystique of Roger Staubach, and how no matter how bleak things may look late in a game you always had faith as a fan that Staubach could find a way to pull out the win. A lot of his teammates have publicly said that's how they felt too. 10 points down with 4 minutes left in the game you just felt he would find a way to win. Obviously that would take help from defense as well, but it just always felt he was the reason they rose to the occasion.

I always felt Aikman's greatness was that players around him consistently played up to their expectations because he demanded they all do their job precisely and exactly as designed in the offense. Everyone was on the same page and things ran like a well oiled machine.

I always felt Staubach was a different level and that players went above and beyond their expectations, and maybe even beyond what they felt they could do themselves. They were inspired by him. Even somewhat in awe of him. They would run through fire for him because they knew Roger would lead them to victory if they did. Nobody wanted to be the guy that screwed that up.

At least that was my perception, and I know I'm not alone.

acr731 said:

I met Harvey when I was a teenager, December 16, 1979.... it was right after the comeback against the Skins. A night I will never forget. Roger Staubach's career ended in retirement 3 months later. Man, I was so crushed,

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I also met Too Tall and Hollywood Henderson after a game at Texas Stadjum while they were boarding a bus and got to shake hands with both. At that time if I recall they were roommates. They mingled with the crowd behind a waist high fence and the one thing I also remember was Staubach just walked right past the crowd without any acknowledgment and hopped on the bus as fast as he could.

CouchCoach said:

Another Cowboy responsible for a rule change or enforcement, the Harvey “Head Slap” Martin rule.

They also could have added the “No Funeral Wreaths in the Visitor’s Locker Room’ rule for him.

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Deacon Jones made that famous, not Harvey.

conner01 said:

I really think our younger fans need to go watch what football was like in those days. It was a different game.
And they need to see the players who dominated the game back then. One interesting thing is look at the sizes of guys back then. Compared to today, many were not really dig guys

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I agree. Even then when players weren't as big and fast, watch those games. They were more physical. When you go back and watch games from the 70s and 80s you notice one thing. The game was more brutal. It stands out. But most people don't bother to watch those games.

Risen Star said:

You're just now learning you have to have good nicknames to have a good defense?

Where were you during the Marinelli years?

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Those were good nicknames?

Flamma said:

There's actually a video of all 23 sacks. And if you watch the Dallas game against the 49ers in 1977, they display Harvey Martin with 23 sacks across the screen.

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That's not my calculations. It's what Pro Football Reference came up with. I assume they probably counted some sacks as half-sacks, which can be subjective.

I used to love watching Harvey and Too Tall terrorize opposing offenses. There was fear in their eyes, and it was awesome.

Haimerej said:

Nice nickname. Don't think I've heard that before. Came across this video and thought I'd share it here. Martin was before my time and I don't think I've ever really watched him play. Dude looks like he was a beast. I'm rethinking my lists of great Cowboys defenders now.

It's really wild as a kid who grew up with the '90's team to see the stat showing Dallas is still 3rd all time in playoff wins. Those old teams must've been fun to watch.

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They were. It was even like REAL FOOTBALL.

It was so much fun watching these guys

gimmesix said:

Those were good nicknames?

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Golden cock sounded more like a porn star than a football player lol

gimmesix said:

That's not my calculations. It's what Pro Football Reference came up with. I assume they probably counted some sacks as half-sacks, which can be subjective.

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That's a good point. I'll have to watch the video again. Some of the sacks should be counted as 2 sacks going by the way he murdered the QB.

Haimerej said:

Nice nickname. Don't think I've heard that before. Came across this video and thought I'd share it here. Martin was before my time and I don't think I've ever really watched him play. Dude looks like he was a beast. I'm rethinking my lists of great Cowboys defenders now.

It's really wild as a kid who grew up with the '90's team to see the stat showing Dallas is still 3rd all time in playoff wins. Those old teams must've been fun to watch.

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God I miss real football
And the Harvey and Randy show.
Everybody hated us... but they respected us.

Haimerej said:

Nice nickname. Don't think I've heard that before. Came across this video and thought I'd share it here. Martin was before my time and I don't think I've ever really watched him play. Dude looks like he was a beast. I'm rethinking my lists of great Cowboys defenders now.

It's really wild as a kid who grew up with the '90's team to see the stat showing Dallas is still 3rd all time in playoff wins. Those old teams must've been fun to watch.

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Fun doesn’t do it justice Jeremiah. It was the most intense time of my life as not only a Cowboys fan but a sports fan. We had an opportunity almost annually to win it all during that stretch as serous contenders.

It was the greatest time to be a Cowboys fan from 1966-1985 with 20 consecutive winning seasons, 13 conference championship appearances and 5 Super Bowls.

We were so great for a long period of time . Landry is still the only HC in NFL history to take 4 different QB’s to a championship game .