Probably the greatest true defensive tackle in Browns history, Jerry Sherk went to four straight Pro Bowls 40 years ago, following the 1973-76 seasons. I don’t remember which one of those trips it was, but I recall the play as if it were yesterday.
It tells you all you need to know about Sherk, and his competitiveness. And it tells you all you need to know about what the Pro Bowl used to be, but no longer is.
Sherk was stationed next to Pittsburgh Steelers end L.C. Greenwood on the left side of the AFC defensive line as the NFC drove into the red zone. Working off the AFC 7, the NFC ran a big sweeping running play to the other side. Both Sherk and Greenwood got cut at the line of scrimmage and knocked to the ground.
Greenwood laid there. You can’t blame him. Even back then, it was a game that didn’t count, that was played mostly for fun. And for Greenwood, it was more fun to just stay there. It wasn’t as if Browns running back was trying to weave his way through Pittsburgh defenders for a touchdown at Cleveland Stadium in one of those typically rugged AFC Central games of the time.
No disrespect to Greenwood, a great player in his own right, but Sherk was built differently. Whether it was “just for fun” or all the marbles, he didn’t have an “off” switch, or even a “trolling” gear. He had one speed: full-go, 100 percent, all the time.
As such, then, Sherk immediately got up and began running after the ball-carrier as if he had stolen his wallet, or his car. He ran and ran and ran, maneuvering his way through blockers and fellow defenders and finally caught up to the back, dragging him down near the goal line.
Then there was the Pro Bowl at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum following the 1964 season. Baltimore Colts defensive end Gino Marchetti, a Pro Football Hall of Famer who was playing for the West squad, crashed hard into East quarterback Frank Ryan of the Browns as he helped sack him. Ryan suffered a shoulder injury and was never quite the same.
Why would Marchetti do something like that in an exhibition game?
Though he denied it, it was believed – probably rightfully so – that Marchetti was angry at Ryan for allegedly running up the score against the Colts in Cleveland’s 27-0 upset victory in the NFL Championship Game two weeks earlier. Ryan threw three touchdowns to flanker Gary Collins to lead the win, including one in the fourth quarter after the lead was already 20-0.
No one is going to get hurt in Sunday night’s Pro Bowl at the Orlando Citrus Bowl – thst is, unless they pull a rib muscle laughing, joking and clowning around with their teammates on the sideline.
No one is going to go all out.
No one is going to try to settle a score.
Now the game is more like a half-speed touch football affair that you might play with friends and relatives at a summertime picnic.
Jerry Sherk and Gino Marchetti would never have been involved in something so seemingly nonsensical.
But if you tune it to watch, enjoy the game anyway.
