THUMPER;1571399 said:
Here's an interesting thought: Landry came up with the 4-3 and the MLB specifically to stop Jim Brown, and he was quite successful with it, which is why it quickly became the standard defense throughout the league. He used Sam Huff to shadow Brown and then shoot to wherever Brown was going.
Paul Brown also created the "umbrella" defense that was used for 20 years until the "zone" defense became the norm (thanks to Bob Hayes).
He experimented with helmet radios for the QB back in the early 50s, we have used them now for many years.
He integrated pro football the year BEFORE Jackie Robinson was signed to play baseball, signing Bill Willis and Marion Motley, both HoFers (the Rams also signed 2 black players in 1946 (but the Browns' players were signed first I believe), Kenny Washington and Woody Strode. Washington had been Jackie Robinson's roommate at UCLA and Woody Strode went on to be an actor).
The play-action, the screen pass, the draw play, and a bunch of other plays that he came up with that are now standard.
The list of innovations that Paul Brown is credited for is enormous. He is the father of modern football and is without a doubt the greatest HC ever.
I think the Umbrella coverage http://www.***BANNED-URL***/s/dws/spe/2000/landryspecial/landrygiants.htm
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Just as he had as a player - when Landry and teammate Emlen Tunnell changed the nature of pass coverage forever as cornerstones of the Giants' vaunted "Umbrella Secondary" - Landry the defensive coordinator was hatching schemes no one had ever seen. As a result, the Giants were the first team in the sport's history to win acclaim for its dominance on the other side of the ball. [/FONT]
was Tom's along with multiple offense to beat his own 4-3...
http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=119
Landry gained a reputation as a great technical innovator, as well as an inspirational leader. He introduced the "flex defense" and "multiple offense" in the 1960s. In the 1970s, he restructured the "shotgun" or "spread" offense and, in the 1980s, he embraced and helped develop the "situation substitution" concept of handling his player talent.
No doubt Paul was a great, great coach and I have only my Cowboy bias to overcome before I would put him on the top... also I still have that picture in my head of the late Paul Brown coaching the Bengals (wasn't pretty)
Tom Landry
Coaching Highlights:
• First head coach of the Dallas Cowboys (1960-1988)
• Set an NFL record with 20 consecutive winning seasons (1966-1985)
• 1966 NFL Coach of the Year
• 1975 NFC Coach of the Year
• Won 13 NFC East titles
• Won five NFC titles
• Won Super Bowl VI and XII
• Introduced the flex defense
• Developed the 4-3 defense
• Revived the shotgun offense
• Introduced motion offenses
• Popularized situational substitutions
• Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1990)
Paul Brown on the other hand
http://www.growlzone.com/content/view/406/63/j
Paul Browns Innovations Include:
- First to employ a year round coaching staff
- First to use notebooks and classroom techniques extensively
- First to set up complete film clip statistical study
- Frst to grade players on individual film clips
- First to keep players at a hotel the night before home games as well as away games
- first to use messenger guards to call plays
- Developed detailed pass pattrens that opened in specific defensive areas
- Invented the face mask/bars on helmets
- First to use intellegence test to get a feel for a players ability to learn
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20041128/ai_n12763446
Brown asked Walsh to help him plan the Bengal's offence around players who were multi-skilled and able to keep possession through a series of short, quick and accurate passes that gradually moved the ball into a scoring position. Walsh went on to perfect this efficient style with his own team, the San Francisco 49ers, winning three Superbowls in the 1980s. Known as the "West Coast Offense
Brown was also an innovator on match day. He was the first coach to send players on to the field to relay messages to the quarterback. Favouring passing over running to move the ball up the field by achieving a "down" (the 10-yard mark required to keep possession), Brown devised two influential concepts. He encouraged his quarterback to move backwards into a protected "pocket" and to achieve this, organised the offensive line (the players who protect the quarterback from onrushing defenders) into a cup shape that forced defenders away from the danger area.
http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Article.php?Page=1302
Who is Paul Brown?
Paul Brown is the deeply rooted trunk of modern football’s most important coaching tree. You know that famous Bill Walsh coaching tree that everybody talks about? Any time you see or hear “Bill Walsh coaching tree,” just think Paul Brown.
