Why Visit TheLinemen.com?
Jordan M. Renna

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Thinking back to my days as a little boy growing up in the central valley of California, I
can remember football season like it was yesterday.  I can remember snuggling up next to
the fire to watch great players like Dan Marino and John Elway, and I can remember
running out into the back yard at half time and putting on my Bo Jackson football helmet
and my Joe Montana t-shirt.  I would start throwing the football up in the air, catching it
and running it across the yard just like Bo.  I could do the Icky shuffle and catch balls like
Henry Ellard and life was perfect.  Life was so simple at the age of nine. 

I thought that football was an amazing sport that allowed individuals like Brett Favre and
Steve Young to shine like the stars they were.  I can remember watching Emmitt Smith on
Thanksgivings when I was a teenager and thinking he was the greatest running back of all
time.  As I got older I started to realize that there were more than just quarterbacks,
running backs and wide receivers on the field come Sunday afternoon.  I started to realize
that football was more of a team sport than any other game I had watched and I began to
understand how valuable those big guys in the front really were. 

Sure Emmitt Smith was fast, and sure he had good vision, but anyone could have seen those holes that Emmitt was running through.  Even when I was a teenager I had never heard the names of Larry Allen and Nate Newton, yet those men were just as valuable to the Dallas Cowboys as Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith.  Allen, an 8 time All-Pro and 10 time Pro Bowler could bench press 700 pounds and squat 900 pounds.  He is one of only 3 players to have ever played 3 different offensive line positions at the Pro Bowl.  Yet to me, until recently, he was just one of those slow, fat linemen that blocked for Troy and Emmitt.

Now that I am more grown up, I have a job, a family and season tickets to the local NFL
team the Atlanta Falcons.  I have thoroughly enjoyed watching professional football in
person because I get a much better sense of the raw athletic ability all of the players in the
NFL possess.  Thinking back over the past few Falcons seasons, one of the moments that
stands out to me the most was when defensive tackle Warren Sapp did his Pogo Stick
touchdown dance in 2003 after he caught a short pass for a touchdown.  While Sapp may be one of the more polarizing personalities in the NFL, he is another example of how linemen are often over-looked and presumed unathletic.  The 300 pound, 6-2 Sapp lettered in football, track and basketball in high school and was his high school football team’s
punter.  He is one of the biggest men to ever dunk a basketball and probably one of the most athletic people I have ever had the pleasure of watching in person.

It is because of players like Larry Allen and Warren Sapp, players like Steve Hutchinson,
Willie Roaf and Walter Jones that this website was created.  Sure, everyone knows who
Shaun Alexander and Priest Holmes are, but did you know that I just listed some of the Pro
Bowl linemen that block for those two?  Here at TheLinemen.com we are going to
interview linemen and profile them.  We are going to learn why the Falcons front office
was so excited to implore Alex Gibbs’ zone blocking scheme on offense and why they
traded for offensive lineman Wayne Gandy.  The Falcons have two of the best defensive ends in the NFL with newly acquired John Abraham and Falcon veteran Patrick Kerney
and in between those two monsters is Pro Bowl defensive tackle Rod Coleman.  Here at
TheLinemen.com we are going to let you, the reader, get to know these men better over the
next 17 weeks of football so that when your child asks you if you remember watching
Michael Vick play, you can let them know that not only did you watch Michael, but you
watched some of the best linemen in the league block for him too.