Deacon Jones 1938-2013

Associated Press

Stan Musial's death earlier this year was a tough blow for St. Louis, Cardinals fans, and sport. We lost a favorite son, a conquering hero, a senior statesman, an immortal among immortals. Baseball's perfect warrior, baseball's perfect knight, as they said.

St. Louis doesn't, and may never, have a football equivalent to The Man, (no, not even Marshall Faulk - it's a high, high bar) but Rams fans and sport have lost football's perfect warrior with the passing of Deacon Jones, announced this morning. There was no such thing as a quarterback sack until the Deacon invented it. He played football with the ferocity and unapologetic violence that always has been and always will be at the root of the game, no matter how loud fans and critics, sportswriters and politicians will wail and gnash their teeth and rend their garments. Stan played baseball at its purest; Deacon played football at its purest.

Too many of us never got to watch Deacon play, though one shouldn't have to in order to recognize him as the dominant defensive player in the history of football. There's a Deacon highlight reel - it'll probably air more than a few times today - that played in the stadium the day his number was retired. On most of it, you'll see his amazing quickness, impressive strength, brutal hitting and unrivaled tenacity. You see a defensive end who would dominate the NFL right now if you could hijack a time machine and scoop him up.

There's a play on that highlight reel where Fran Tarkenton, the RGIII of his day, actually gets away from Deacon, who goes down. Tarkenton tries to throw, but Jack Youngblood leaps and forces him to pull the ball down and scramble toward the sideline. He doesn't get far. All the while, looming in the background, Deacon has gotten back up to track down his prey, closing on him like a cheetah closing on a wounded antelope, and engulfing him roughly the same way. Most defenders in NFL history are done on that kind of play when they hit the ground. For Deacon Jones, it's a signature example of a play ending in the stat he invented.

The word "awesome" is used both too often and not enough these days. That burrito you just had at the food court, tasty though it may have been, was not awesome. Neither was that movie you just streamed, unexpected twist at the end or not. "Awesome" is best used to describe things for their sheer beauty and fearsome power. Their Fearsome power.

The world just got a lot less awesome with the loss of the warrior Deacon Jones.

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