Remembering Mike Munchak

[Vinny]

I was surfing the net and ran across a nice scranton times page on the Muncher. Figured I'd post it. He was the most dominant Guard I have ever seen. He was so good he was picked 8th overall in the first round of the 1982 draft...as a Guard.

http://www.scrantontimestribune.com/...ak/munchak.htm

Hall of Fame bio

[F-minus67]

Him and Matthews were the greatest guard combination in the history of the NFL.

[chicagotexan]

Wheeeww!! For a second I thought he'd passed away. but you're right Mike was a great player. Remember the days of him and Matthews. Those guys were rocks. Thye made me like Olinemen. But not in that way.. not that there's anything wrong with that.

[Double Barrel]

Yeah, I was scared this was a memorial, too! *whew!*

Without Munch and Mathews, the run & shoot would never have put up the numbers it did. Moon was extremely fortunately to have the OL that was the Oilers foundation for their success. It all starts in the trenches.

Great read, thanks Vinny! :

[BattleRedRaider]

Munchak and Matthews:

[Txn_in_Oki]

Geez, don't use a thread title like that again... scare a guy like that.

I thought he was dead or something.

Awesome player though, him and Matthews really tore it up for us.

[Blu]

Don't freak us out like that Vinny.
But, Yes... he was one of the best.

[Hervoyel]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

Without Munch and Mathews, the run & shoot would never have put up the numbers it did.

I don't think this is the case at all. The Run and Shoot, with all other factors being the same (QB, WR's) here in Houston would have put those numbers up had Munch and Mathews not been there. The very nature of that offense means that you don't need great run blockers and you aren't holding on to the ball that long.

No, to my mind the amazing thing about Munch and Mathews isn't that the Run and Shoot did so well because of them. It's that they excelled in whatever system you put them in. They both also dominated at whatever position they played. Need to move one to the other side, no problem. Need Bruce to play center, no problem. Those guys were like offensive linemen gods are something.

The year Mathews retired he could have come here and would have been our best lineman that season. That might have been a stretch but he had creepy longevity. Those two should have had rings like Earl should have had a ring. (rings with derricks on them, not flaming meatballs)

[Bayern]

Remember towards the end of his career when he didn't have any cartilage in his knees left? **** that guy was still stuffing defenders. Then of course he retires and Matthews stays for another 10 years (exaggerating I know).

Too bad Don Maggs sucked so much, Moon would of never been touched with those two holding the fort.

Here's to the Muncher!

[Bayern]

No, to my mind the amazing thing about Munch and Mathews isn't that the Run and Shoot did so well because of them. It's that they excelled in whatever system you put them in. They both also dominated at whatever position they played. Need to move one to the other side, no problem. Need Bruce to play center, no problem. Those guys were like offensive linemen gods are something.

I agree! On a side note, for a team that threw the ball 9 times out of 10 our line sure made Lorenzo White and Gary Brown look like studs. I'll go ahead and give that one to Bruce and Mike too.

[Blu]

Originally Posted by Vinny

I always hated the run and shoot because we had hall of Fame linemen. So in my mind we minimized our basic team strength to run a High School offense that had them backpeddling on every play instead of punishing teams with classic mismatches in the trenches. If we ran a conventional offense we would have wore teams down in the 4th instead of keeping the other teams in games.

Very Good point, never looked at it that way.

[mike moffat]

I have to agree as well. Those two were giants among men. Another name to throw in there is Greg Bingham. Ya know, the Oilers had some pretty darned good players back then.