GALLERY_70sDefense

 

NFL's ALL-DECADE TEAM OF THE 1970s - DEFENSE. Alan Page was born and raised in Canton, Ohio. In fact, one of his summer jobs as a teenager in the early ‘60s was working on a cleanup crew for a construction company that was building the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Bob Lilly was nicknamed “Mr. Cowboy.” He missed just one game, a 1973 playoff game vs. the Vikings, in his entire 14-year career. He was named to 11 Pro Bowls.

A knee injury suffered in 1970 eventually brought a premature end to Dick Butkus’s Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bears. In all, he was named All-NFL six times and voted to the Pro Bowl eight straight seasons.

Cornerback Willie Brown’s most famous play came when he returned an interception for 75 yards in the Raiders Super Bowl XI win. But, that was just one of seven playoff picks to go with his 54 career interceptions during the regular season.

After spending six fine seasons with the Oilers, Ken Houston was traded to the Redskins in 1973. In was in October of that year where he became the center of the limelight during a famous play at the end of game against the Cowboys in front of a national television audience on Monday Night Football. He stopped the Dallas Cowboys’ Walt Garrison just shy of the goal line on a 4th-and-1 with just 16 seconds to play in the game to preserve the Redskins win.