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Post by fouts2herbert on Feb 18, 2021 17:05:14 GMT -7
CBS Sports? www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/pro-football-hall-of-fame-best-player-on-each-team-who-deserves-enshrinement-in-canton/This story brought up some old memories about an under appreciated charger great, Leslie O’Neal. I think if he hadn’t blow out his knee his rookie year he’d have gone over 20 sacks. That game when he got 6 sacks against dallas and he came close to getting at least another 5-6 sacks, will forever be burned in my mind although the years do fog the memory a bit but that was one of the most impressive displays I’ve ever seen by a Charger player. I wish his pre-injury rookie games were available on youtube so people could see what monster he was. Considering how devastating his injury was and the less than ideal medical options of that era. Knee surgeries have improved tremendously since 1986. He still managed to put up 132.5 sacks up and on one good leg and was still one of the best DEs in the NFL for over a decade. Leslie was also one of the most league ready DEs I’ve ever seen come out of college, the guy had all the moves, spin moves, rip moves, swim moves, he was as polished a player as you could expect coming out of college and he was smart as heck. Think merriman, same intensity but way smarter, and with perfect technique. |
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Post by joemcrugby on Feb 18, 2021 17:42:34 GMT -7
CBS Sports? www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/pro-football-hall-of-fame-best-player-on-each-team-who-deserves-enshrinement-in-canton/This story brought up some old memories about an under appreciated charger great, Leslie O’Neal. I think if he hadn’t blow out his knee his rookie year he’d have gone over 20 sacks. That game when he got 6 sacks against dallas and he came close to getting at least another 5-6 sacks, will forever be burned in my mind although the years do fog the memory a bit but that was one of the most impressive displays I’ve ever seen by a Charger player. I wish his pre-injury rookie games were available on youtube so people could see what monster he was. Considering how devastating his injury was and the less than ideal medical options of that era. Knee surgeries have improved tremendously since 1986. He still managed to put up 132.5 sacks up and on one good leg and was still one of the best DEs in the NFL for over a decade. Leslie was also one of the most league ready DEs I’ve ever seen come out of college, the guy had all the moves, spin moves, rip moves, swim moves, he was as polished a player as you could expect coming out of college and he was smart as heck. Think merriman, same intensity but way smarter, and with perfect technique. I saw a tweet about it a little while ago. O’Neal was definitely a difference making beast and it would have been scary for offenses around the league had he been able to operate on two healthy knees during his great career. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good look at Leslie’s rookie season as I didn’t follow the Chargers closely until Bobby Ross joined the other Bobby (Beathard) in 1992. I had lived in SoCal for about a decade at that time and decided that the Chargers would be a good AFC team to follow, and I quickly became (and stayed) a fan. I was a lifelong Redskins fan dating to George Allen’s arrival in DC, but walked away after The Daniel fired Marty after one season with the team closing with an 8-3 run. |
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Post by lightsout42 on Feb 19, 2021 10:30:00 GMT -7
CBS Sports? www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/pro-football-hall-of-fame-best-player-on-each-team-who-deserves-enshrinement-in-canton/This story brought up some old memories about an under appreciated charger great, Leslie O’Neal. I think if he hadn’t blow out his knee his rookie year he’d have gone over 20 sacks. That game when he got 6 sacks against dallas and he came close to getting at least another 5-6 sacks, will forever be burned in my mind although the years do fog the memory a bit but that was one of the most impressive displays I’ve ever seen by a Charger player. I wish his pre-injury rookie games were available on youtube so people could see what monster he was. Considering how devastating his injury was and the less than ideal medical options of that era. Knee surgeries have improved tremendously since 1986. He still managed to put up 132.5 sacks up and on one good leg and was still one of the best DEs in the NFL for over a decade. Leslie was also one of the most league ready DEs I’ve ever seen come out of college, the guy had all the moves, spin moves, rip moves, swim moves, he was as polished a player as you could expect coming out of college and he was smart as heck. Think merriman, same intensity but way smarter, and with perfect technique. Thanks for posting this! Leslie O’Neal is one of my favorite Chargers. The guy was a beast and played with that fire and intensity you just had to love. |
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Post by sdc on Feb 19, 2021 13:07:22 GMT -7
CBS Sports? www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/pro-football-hall-of-fame-best-player-on-each-team-who-deserves-enshrinement-in-canton/This story brought up some old memories about an under appreciated charger great, Leslie O’Neal. I think if he hadn’t blow out his knee his rookie year he’d have gone over 20 sacks. That game when he got 6 sacks against dallas and he came close to getting at least another 5-6 sacks, will forever be burned in my mind although the years do fog the memory a bit but that was one of the most impressive displays I’ve ever seen by a Charger player. I wish his pre-injury rookie games were available on youtube so people could see what monster he was. Considering how devastating his injury was and the less than ideal medical options of that era. Knee surgeries have improved tremendously since 1986. He still managed to put up 132.5 sacks up and on one good leg and was still one of the best DEs in the NFL for over a decade. Leslie was also one of the most league ready DEs I’ve ever seen come out of college, the guy had all the moves, spin moves, rip moves, swim moves, he was as polished a player as you could expect coming out of college and he was smart as heck. Think merriman, same intensity but way smarter, and with perfect technique. Thanks for posting this! Leslie O’Neal is one of my favorite Chargers. The guy was a beast and played with that fire and intensity you just had to love. He was also a legend at the strip clubs in San Diego.
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Post by joemcrugby on Feb 25, 2021 13:48:03 GMT -7
Speaking of Leslie ... back to the Boss Ross era! 🍺
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Post by chargerfreak on Feb 26, 2021 3:17:02 GMT -7
Speaking of Leslie ... back to the Boss Ross era! 🍺 I like when the announcer says "Harbaugh running for his life !"
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Post by ohioboltfan on Feb 26, 2021 6:57:35 GMT -7
Speaking of Leslie ... back to the Boss Ross era! 🍺 I like when the announcer says "Harbaugh running for his life !" Chargers game has had an announcer say "[Chargers QB] running for his life"!
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Post by totallybolted on Feb 26, 2021 7:37:14 GMT -7
Boom.
Mic drop.
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Post by fouts2herbert on Feb 26, 2021 14:10:07 GMT -7
I went back and did more research on that 1986 Leslie O’Neal sack party. He had 5 sacks NOT 6 like I stated above (i apologize for the mistake) sack number 6 was later attributed to another charger because I’m not sure if they split sacks in those days. I believe the 5 sacks still stands as a team record. ALSO worth noting he stripped the ball on two of those sacks! unfortunately dallas recovered both fumbles. Lee Williams had 4 sacks in that game too! The defense altogether had 12 sacks in the game which I believe is another team record. Williams and O’Neal were both 3-4 DEs on that defense!!! 5 technique getting that many sacks is ridiculous. Leslie was way too small at 6’ 3” 255 to be playing DE in the 3-4, had they lined him up outside he would’ve been way more productive, so the guy produced even when not being used correctly.
Needless to say the dallas guards had a rough game even though they did win the game because fouts and the offense had a very rough game against randy white and ed too tall jones.
Leslie was one of those players that had a knack for forcing fumbles, he did this throughout his career especially in clutch situations.
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Post by fouts2herbert on Feb 26, 2021 14:16:49 GMT -7
That clip you posted of Leslie forcing that fumble is impressive considering that the switched to a 4-3 to get the most out of junior seau and leslie still thrived. He bulked up from 255 from his rookie year to a wopping 263 pounds XD, juniour seau was bigger than him but leslie was a beast at the point of attack, he rarely got moved and routinely bullied guys 40-55 pounds heavier than him thru the use of perfect technique. If I wanted to teach a high school DE how to play the position I would show him Leslie O’Neal film, the guy was truly a master of hand usage.
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Post by fouts2herbert on Aug 11, 2021 2:20:53 GMT -7
Leslie O’Neal back in the news as a must consider finalist for HOF class of 2022!!! chargerswire.usatoday.com/2021/08/09/san-diego-chargers-pro-football-hall-of-fame-candidate/I hope the hall finally pulls their head outta their ass and does the right thing by inducting one of my favorite chargers of all time. I can’t seem to find Leslie O’Neal’s forced fumble numbers anywhere but it wouldn’t surprise me if he has the all time charger record along with his all time charger sack record. |
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