‘Tears began to leak from my eyes

Pro Football Reference’s deep mathematical dive has revealed unofficial sack sums on countless bypass columns such as Deacon Jones, Alan Pages, Jack Youngblood and more.

Brown’s 23 sacks, which unexpectedly came incredibly during his campaigns that began in 1978 when he collected the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year, would put him – unofficially – half a sack from Michael Strahan’s 2001 standard of 22.5. While Strahan’s 22.5 sacks have always been officially recognized – and still are – a sign of the No. 1 season in NFL history, it has often been controversial when the record-breaker entered the play. which many will then perceive as a gift to him from Packers quarterback Brett Favre top place.

Baker was one of many.

“The conversations I would have had when people came up to me and said they would talk to me about Michael Strahan’s 22nd and a half sacks. It was a problem for me, a way that went down. A problem,” said Baker, who has been a success in the post-game days. as a restaurant owner in Ohio. “Because Michael had a great year. I see it had nothing to do with my 23-year-old, it just had to do with it, well, why does he have to do that?”

The sacks were not counted as official stats in the NFL until the season 1982. So Strahan’s record performance surpassed the 1984 performance of former Jets star Mark Gastineau’s 224 sacks, much to the regret Gastineau. But now there is an unofficial argument in the statistics that supports the fact that Baker was one better than Gastineau and half a sack in front of Strahan all the time.

Meditating on his patio when he learned of the heavy research in the Pro Football Reference that led to his all-time recognition, Baker’s Zen moment suddenly turned into a lifelong feeling. In his career, which is no longer forgotten, Baker now unofficially has 131 career bags in 13 seasons with the Lions, Cardinals, Browns and Vikings organizations with the official Defensive Rookie of the Year player, three Pro Bowls and All-Pro. selection.

Perhaps the hard work of the Pro Football Reference re-raises Baker’s Hall of Fame argument. Maybe not. But with the offseason days burning through the 2021 NFL season, Baker’s spectacular season of 1978 has realized how truly special it was.

“You say to yourself, move on. And so I did, I just went on with my life,” Baker said.

For so long, recognition avoided Baker because most of the game builders couldn’t. Now he has all these fall later.