The Quiet Giant, A Coach's Dream
I have been a
New England Patriots fan since I first started following the NFL, 40 years ago.
But my favorite football players have always come from other teams, and in the
case of Mark Bavaro, a team I didn’t even like.
A Pats fan
rooting for a New York Giant wasn’t exactly the same as a Bruins fan rooting
for a Montreal Canadien. During the years I was a Guy Lafleur fan, the Bruins
played Montreal dozens of times—including 25 playoff games—as division and
conference rivals. Between 1985 and 1990, the Patriots played the Giants twice
(both loses) as inter-conference foes, so there wasn’t much team-related
conflict this time around. (The Giants did play the Dallas Cowboys—a
team I was a fan of at the time—twelve times, but the Cowboys, who we’ll cover
in a future essay, were in their wilderness years in the late-80s.)
Anyway. Mark
Bavaro.
I’ve always
enjoyed watching towering tight ends; huge, athletic players who can run-block
like tackles and catch passes like wide receivers. You can have Keith Jackson,
Shannon Sharpe and Jimmy Graham, I’ll take Ben Coates Rob Gronkowski and Mark
Bavaro; sure-handed receivers with path-clearing capability; every-down players
whose impact could be felt on each offensive snap. If they were vehicles,
they’d be extended-cab, maximum payload pickups with plows on the front.
As a blocker,
Bavaro helped pave the way for four individual 1,000-yard rushing seasons (Joe
Morris 1985, ‘86, ‘88 and Ottis Anderson 1989). As a receiver, he averaged 14
yards a catch during his six seasons as a Giant, including a 1,001-yard season
in 1986, and 867 yards in the twelve-game, strike-shortened 1987 season (works
out to 1,156 for 16 games). Both seasons ended with Bavaro being named
first-team All-Pro.
Much like Gronkowski today, Bavaro’s exceptional size,
athleticism and unwillingness to be tackled by just one defender exposed him to
many more hits than an average NFL tight end. Despite several debilitating
injuries, including a degenerative knee condition that forced him to sit out
the 1991 season, Bavaro played 126 regular season games in his career, and
another 9 in the playoffs, including 2 Super Bowls. In those Super Bowls—both
Giants victories—Bavaro played a major role with his devastating blocking to go
along with 9 receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown.
If that isn’t
enough to convince you of Bavaro’s greatness, and that Canton is down one tight
end, just go to YouTube and check out his personal highlight reel. Much like
Gale Sayers, Bavaro’s dominance can be appreciated by watching a couple minutes
worth of footage, courtesy of NFL Films. There’s the 1986 game against
New Orleans where he gets his jaw broken, only to return and catch a touchdown
pass with his jaw wired shut. Then there’s the legendary Monday Night
Football catch and stampede against San Francisco, where Bavaro sparks a
17-point Giants comeback by taking a short pass and rumbling another 18 yards
with several 49ers on his back. And there’s the clip where Bill Parcells is wearing
a microphone:
“That
Bavaro, he’s a stoneface. You don’t know what he’s thinking. I’d hate to
have to fight that son-of-a-bitch.”
If you know
anything about Parcells, then you know that’s a compliment, a sign of respect.
And this brings me to the main reason I’m such a huge fan of Mark Bavaro.
To me, more
impressive than any statistic or highlight was how quietly and consistently
Bavaro pleased one of the hardest-to-please figures in NFL history. Bill
Parcells was never known to show affection towards his players, at least not
openly, but he never held back his praise of Mark Bavaro. I played a little
football in high school—very little—and cannot imagine being coached by
a guy like Parcells; gruff, demanding, openly critical, authoritarian (I know,
what the hell was I doing playing football?). But Bill Parcells absolutely
loved Mark Bavaro.
Most Patriots
fans still hold a grudge against Parcells for the way he handled his departure
from New England, and defection to the New York Jets. I wasn’t happy with him either, but have always admired him for possessing one of the greatest football
minds. When he talks about the game, he talks about The Game, not about
statistics and streaks, but about plays and match-ups, not about the player who
scored the touchdown, but about the design or block that allowed him to score.
Mark Bavaro was a Bill Parcells type of player, a player who could throw the
block and score the touchdown.
And there was
loyalty between them as well. Several years ago, when people started comparing
Jeremy Shockey to Mark Bavaro, Parcells said:
"You
want to start comparing him to Bavaro? Put a defensive end in front of him and
tell everybody you're going to run over there, and let's see if he can knock
him back four yards and you can make 12 yards. Then you can compare him to
Bavaro. Till then, I don't want to hear it."
Parcells has
always reminded me of the demanding perfectionist father figure, and Bavaro,
the son who managed to gain his love by quietly doing what comes naturally. I
think most men want that type of acceptance from their father, and I believe
most athletes strive to please their coach in the same manner.
These days, football fans give so much attention to
high-scoring offenses, but in the end, most of those teams fail in the biggest
games. I believe they fail because they don’t have enough players like Mark
Bavaro. They have 100-catch receivers and 2-minute, 80-yard scoring drives.
They win regular season games by 30 and 40 points. But what happens when they
need just one touchdown in January? They fail. They fail because they don’t
have players who are willing to do whatever it takes. They don’t have offensive
players with a defensive player’s mentality, players who prevent the other team
from scoring by holding on to the football and scoring when they have
to. I know this view isn’t popular with the fantasy football community, but I
love the old-school approach to the game; the way Bill Parcells coached it, and
the way Mark Bavaro played it.
Bavaro was
seemingly from a bygone era, a true tough guy who never drew attention to
himself by talking trash or self-promoting. Here’s what he had to say on that
topic in Neil Reynolds’ book Pain Gang: The NFL’s Fifty Toughest Players:
“I was very comfortable with the media spotlight in the
NFL, as long as it wasn’t shining on me. I do feel there is too much attention
given to athletes in our society. Especially since most athletes have little of
value to offer other than a penchant for self-aggrandizement. I found it much
more beneficial to my job to spend my extra time working out, watching film, or
improving other aspects of my game.”
Mark
Bavaro was the type of player you could build your offense around. His
combination of blocking and pass catching skills were the best of his day. But
he would be great in today’s game as well, and would most likely accumulate the
type of numbers to elevate him above the folk hero status he achieved in New
York. But sometimes it’s better to be a folk hero; to be exactly who you are
and do exactly what you do. Bavaro played in the right era, for the right coach
and the right team.
I’m going to
drop one last quote from Coach Parcells. At the end of a short NFL Films feature
on Bavaro, Parcells said of his favorite tight end:
“Any coach
would like to have a player like that. You never forget them. They’re always a
part of you. Forever.”
I was never a
Giants fan, but I admired Mark Bavaro as much as any athlete I’ve ever seen. He
was everything I would’ve wanted to be as a football player.
No comments:
Post a Comment