Word: backed
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Lard. But this is the year of the defense. The mighty Cleveland Browns are as good at stopping touchdowns as making them. Even with its league-leading offense, the champion Baltimore Colts have wallowed badly at times this season because its faltering defense failed to back up the N.F.L.'s most formidable tackle: Gene ("Big Daddy") Lipscomb (6 ft. 6 in., 288 Ibs.), who riffles with heavy hands through enemy backs ("I keep the one with the ball"). Last week, once again tackling hard and low, the Colts hit the San Francisco Forty-Niners so hard that they allowed...
...cheer them on. To get a look at the field, they build platforms out of anything handy-beer cans, stray cartons, or trash baskets. And when the Giant defensive behemoths take over-particularly deep in their own territory, where the tackles are roughest-the mezzanine turns into a howling, back-pounding jungle...
Patterns & Plots. The mind behind the Giants' muscle is Defensive Coach Tom Landry, 35, a sharp-featured, whisper-voiced Texas back who learned his trade in the Giants' defensive backfield (1950-55) under Coach Steve Owen. Using the pro's basic 4-3-4 "umbrella" formation, Landry has plotted a score of basic defense plays, each capable of several variations tailored to the particular enemy's offense. The defense plan is called in a defensive huddle before each play, can be changed on a shouted code word if the offense lines up in an unexpected pattern...
...going and meeting the runner head-on in the hole. From hours of study, he knows what plays may be run from any formation. To discover which one is coming, he searches the offensive players for telltale clues. "If the center has his weight off the ball and is back on his haunches, it's going to be a pass," says Huff, "because he's getting ready to move back fast and pick up the red-dogging linebackers. If the guards have their weight off their hands, it's a run around end. They're already...
...back like Paul Hornung of the Packers, if he's coming straight ahead on a handoff, he'll have more weight on his hand and be more in a sprinter's position, so he can really blow into the line. So if I see that, I cheat over a little bit so that I can be right in front of him when he gets the ball. Ollie Matson, when he's coming straight ahead, he has his feet cocked, and when he's going to the outside, he has both feet even and no weight...