Great quote on the Marshall's famous hit on Montana

"EVERYTHING HURTS!"

I thought Marshall killed Montana with that hit..

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that after that hit, his chest and ribs hurt so much that he didn't know his hand was broken......WOW!

So Marshall knew that hitting Montana from behind like that would destroy him. It was a no mercy, kill shot.

Its amazing how much the game has changed. The NFL simply isn't the same league it was in that era, and I doubt it will ever return to that level of intensity.

like that anymore, and maybe that's a good thing but......I remember that play and the one in 86 like the games were played yesterday. I miss that type of defensive play.

But why? It wasn't a blow to the head. It obviously wasn't a late hit. What would Marshall have been flagged for?

leading with his helmet..

no helmet to helmet. No knees. Montana still had the ball, and he didn't unnecesarily drive him into the turf. Was actually a textbook hit.

if I am remembering correctly, Marshall led with his helmet. He didn't strike him with the crown of the helmet, but the face mask did make initial contact with Montana. I think. I could be wrong.

the famous Leonard Marshall hit several times, I didn't know about the Jim Burt hit on Montana nor did I realize that the Giants knocked Joe Montana out of the game in both the 1986 AND the 1990 playoffs.

I also didn't realize that Jim Burt started the Gatorade shower-- I always thought it was Carson.

Looking at this pic, it looks legal to me.

Considering who the QB was, in today’s NFL, I have ZERO doubt in my mind that hit would be a roughing the passer penalty. It’s a shame.

"Hold him up. We want to stroke him."

Holy shit that's a doozy of a quote.

straight line up the middle, fast as a freight train

on a QB. They also don't like it when you try to dislodge the quarterbacks head from his neck. Jim Burts hit might be my favorite one. Just nasty.

a hit like that would get someone arrested!!

He didn't lead with his head, didn't hit Montana in the head, and Montana still had the ball

the discussion is that Marshall would have known the rules and could have adjusted his hit enough so that he led with his shoulder and still created the same effect.

It really doesn't look that bad at full speed. When you see it in slo-mo, that's when you realize what a monster shot it was.

Its not as blatant as some of the hits, as is borderline, be they could call it if they wanted. I agree with someone above though, it would have been pretty easy for Marshall to do the same thing and not lead with his helmet.

Or at least, leading with the crown of the helmet? Marshall didn't do that.

nice pic. Everything about that hit looks legal, but the location of the Marshall's helmet makes me nervous. If he hit him with his shoulder only, I'd feel better about it as a truly legal hit. Still, what a smash! I thought he killed him. :-)

Montana and leopnard shared the same the agent. After the game Leonard actually tried to apologize Joe's wife, Jennifer, because of their professioanl relationship with that same agent.

Leading with the crown of the helmet, which Marshall didn't do. Even in the most picture perfect form tackle, a part of the helmet is likely to contact the ball carrier first.

are overlooking how golden boy QBs (which Montana was in his time) are treated in today's NFL.

Ask Osi what you're allowed to do to Aaron Rodgers.

He didn't lead with the crown of his helmet, which is the crucial component. He led with the facemask, which is legal.

That said, it wouldn't shock me if that same hit today were flagged at times simply because the rules seem to be mistakenly interpreted too often.

I never said it wouldn't...I said it shouldn't be:)

I think it's very likely it would have been called.

That's a fair point, but that has nothing to do with any rules changes. Whether or not it gets flagged for simply being a hit that annihilated a superstar QB is a different topic.

they would flag the one on Montana IMO. Clean hit or not, they don't get more violent than that.

With the crown are as much for the tackler as for the ball carrier - your head almost always goes forward with your chin to your chest, with all your momentum behind you.

hit vs. the Montana hit is that Montana still had the ball.

Plus, fucking Bill Leavy didn't have a whistle in his mouth in SF.

that is still a clean hit. Sure, they could call roughing on it, but it would be a BS call made by a referee who isn't enforcing the rules as written. That's more a comment on the quality of officiating in the games than any rules changes. As far as I know, there is nothing in the rulebook that could lead an official to legitimately enforce a penalty on a hit like that.

One of the big reasons the hit did so much damage was that Montana jumped back into the hit. He was running out of the pocket and stopped suddenly to dodge LT, who was coming up on him. He probably would have been better off just letting LT take him down.

You see Marshall go down, stay with the play and bear down on Montana like a Mack truck.

especially the angle where you can see LM get off the ground in the background, then chasing Montana from his blind side lining up the killshot.

Williams/Young, Arrington/Aikman, Lewis/Bledsoe are legal by today's rules, as well as the rules of the day.

You need more metaphors in that last post:)

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If you think you can hit a superstar QB from behind, with a sligthly lowered head, and sort of leaving your feet, and NOT get a penatly in the new NFL, you are crazy. It would have been an unnecessary roughness penalty, guaranteed.

As soon as I hit "submit", I realized what I'd done there and I was praying no one really read that comment :)

I think even today that is a penalty free hit. The QB had the ball. That makes a huge difference. Most QB hits that are flagged are after they release the ball, or blows to the head. I have seen very few where they call a roughing penalty when the QB has the ball.

The Tuck hit on Romo was the same thing. Only difference was Marshall landed on Montana, Tuck landed on his side

I thought the hit was within today's rules, but probably would still get a flag. The thing I always remember about Marshall staying with the play after he was down and pursuing Montana is that for years, at training camp, line coach Lamar Leachman would constantly yell at his D linemen to stay in the play, no matter what, and pursue the ball. He would yell "Ball, ball ball.." to them, and they would scramble to the ball. In the heat of battle, Marshall, responding to that coaching, did just that! So thank Leonard, but also Lamar Leachman for that play.