'Tis the season for awards, so we found a statistical Santa to fill the stockings of Bengals fans who know their greatest players, from Isaac Curtis to Geno Atkins, are many of the underrated players in the history of the game.
A self-described "big history nerd," Ryan Michael is a pro football historian and writer with a varied resume who has crunched numbers in league's indoor and out. Among the places he's taken his decimal points are Europe, as an assistant coach in Barcelona, to Canada, as a writer/analyst for the Tiger-Cats, and to Canton as a contributing analyst and writer to the Hall of Fame.
We tracked down Michael to offer some historical gifts for Bengaldom and offered a few of our own. He delivered some stunners about Willie and Ken Anderson, and we even impressed him with a Tim Krumrie shocker.
The Conversation
GH: When you look at these Bengals greats down through the years, what is the most fascinating thing that you've discovered? Your ranking of Willie Anderson as the most dominant AFC right tackle of any era is just one of them.
RM: I feel that the greatest Bengals have been overlooked by history. It took a very long time to get Ken Riley in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Kenny Anderson is a senior finalist this year. (Willie Anderson is a Modern Era finalist for the fifth straight year).
But there are players who have played for the Bengals who are just as good as great Hall of Fame players who have played for franchises in larger media markets. And I think fans would be surprised to know, from a statistical perspective, just how dominant some of the greatest players in their franchise history have been.
GH: One of my favorites, a guy who I've always said is a prototype of the modern NFL receiver, Isaac Curtis.
RM: Absolutely. An interesting stat about Isaac, as you know, a four-time Pro Bowl selection in his first four years as a pro. If you look at that stretch from 1973- 1976, he was second in the NFL in receiving yards, 3,176 below only (Hall-of-Famer) Cliff Branch, who had 3,386, and he was also second in touchdown receptions. Cliff Branch, 37, Isaac Curtis 32. Those are impressive numbers, given that they were achieved during the thick of the dead ball era.
GH: Guys like Chad Johnson and Corey Dillon were just as underrated later.
RM: Corey Dillon, four-time Pro Bowl selection. I think two of the coolest Corey Dillon statistics are in his rookie year in 1997 when he rushed for 246 yards, which broke Jim Brown's rookie single-game rushing record, and then in 2000, of course, he broke Walter Payton's single-game rushing record for any single game in NFL history with 278 yards. The fact Corey broke both Jim Brown's rookie single-game rushing record and the NFL single-game rushing record that belonged to Walter Payton. That's pretty elite company.
GH: My favorite stat for that 2000 season is the Bengals' average pass attempt as a team was 4.9 yards and Corey's yards per rush were 4.6. So they knew what they were going to do.
RM: From '97 to 2002, which was really Corey's prime in Cincinnati, he produced 1,100 rushing yards or more every single season. He produced 1,300 yards or more from scrimmage every single season, and he averaged 4.4 yards per carry during that stretch. That would be an impressive single-game mark. To do that over that long a period of time is truly remarkable, especially to your point, on an offense that didn't have balance. He's unique in the sense that he bridged the gap from the late '90s into the early 2000s. He was dominant when Barry Sanders was dominant. He was also dominant when LaDainian Tomlinson was. That makes him unique because he bridged the gap between those two eras.
GH: And Chad, the first man in the 21st century to lead his conference in receiving yards four straight seasons.
RM: From 2003 to 2007, he led the NFL with 6,870 receiving yards. He led the AFC in receptions with 462, which was below only Tory Holt, who had 499. The difference between what Chad was doing, and you guys had a lot of talented receivers in Cincinnati, but it wasn't exactly the same kind of offense that was being run in St Louis (with Holt). He didn't have Isaac Bruce on the other end of the field to absorb some of that coverage. Maybe the best, route runner I've ever seen.
GH: They always talk about five-year stretches for players as a tool to gauge their greatness. From '03-'07, as you say, he was the NFL's leading receiver, and yet he probably got more ink for his celebrations.
RM: Perhaps no greater entertainer in the history of the National Football League. And I don't know how you weigh that relative to the on-field production, but it definitely made Cincinnati relevant. And he's a fan favorite for a very, very good reason, because the entertainment matched the production on the field.
GH: The guy who went into the Bengals Ring of Honor with Chad, Boomer Esiason, he's got some sneaky numbers.
RM: He's a four- time Pro Bowl selection and a league MVP. At the time of his retirement, he was in the top 10 in completions, yards, and touchdown passes. That's a hell of a resume to be a league MVP, a conference champion, and to be top 10 in those three metrics. You have to adjust it for the era, of course, because that number is always going to inflate. But from a historical perspective, the way that I look at it is I look at where did you rank at the time in your time.
GH: How about Lemar Parish, one of the newest Bengals Ring of Honor members?
RM: One of my absolute favorites. I believe he's the only corner to have made eight or more Pro Bowls who's not yet in the Hall of Fame. And I would say one of the most noteworthy things about his resume is after he went to Washington, he arguably had his best years as a first-team All-Pro selection in 1979, a second-team All-Pro selection in 1980, and made the Pro Bowl both of those years. So he was dominant with two different franchises. He had a very long, very dominant career.
GH: Only Jake Scott and Mel Blount had more interceptions from 1970-80.
RM: During an era where they weren't throwing the football all around the field, they didn't get as many opportunities to haul in those interceptions.
GH: Another underrated guy. So underrated he didn't make the final list of 50 this year for the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Defensive tackle Geno Atkins.
RM: My mind is boggled about him. He notched 75.5 sacks. That's the seventh most since 1950 in the history of the NFL at the defensive tackle position. It's the most in the history of the AFC for defensive tackles. And, you'll see I make that distinction a lot because the conferences are different.
I'm not necessarily saying that it's better to be the all-time leader in the AFC than it would be the NFC because Lord knows there are some great defensive tackles in the NFC. But to have the most sacks at your position in the history of the conference, I would think would warrant a little bit more attention.
GH: OK, you got me with Geno. How about Bengals Ring of Honor member Tim Krumrie? According to Pro Football Reference, Krumrie is the all-time leading tackler among interior players with 1,017 tackles.
RM: That's a heck of a stat. I don't mean to speak to the choir, but if there's any franchise that's more underrated or underappreciated than Cincinnati … It's hard to pick one. But I think Cincinnati is as good a choice as any. Not just because of the number of great players, but also the amount of success. Both collectively as a team and individually as players, relative to perception.
GH: Let's get to the Hall of Fame candidates. Two great ones both named Anderson. It's hard for an offensive lineman to have numbers, but Willie has some great ones.
RM: The stat that popped out at me in my research is Pro Football Reference has a wonderful metric called approximate value. I know you're familiar with it, as far as it pertains to quarterbacks, but it basically levels the playing field for all positions. It doesn't give additional points to a quarterback, because that's a more popular position.
And, in the history of the National Football League, Willie Anderson has the third-highest career approximate value for a right tackle. The only two ahead of him are Ron Yary 136, Jackie Slater 129, and Willie Anderson 117. The third-highest career mark for a right tackle, and again, in theme with what I said about Atkins, the highest rated career grade in the history of the AFC for right tackle.
GH: That approximate value. Is there any way to explain that simply to people?
RM: Basically, they've gone to great lengths to try to level the playing field between at all positions so that all positions are weighted equally. No metric is perfect, but it is an incredible resource, especially as it pertains to offensive linemen, because data on that, especially, dating back, is tough to come by.
We look at pressures allowed, we look at sacks allowed. Willie Anderson very famously in 2006, I think, only allowed 11 pressures over the course of an entire season. And that's noteworthy because that's after Carson Palmer came back from the knee injury. So what a way to respond in protecting your franchise quarterback. To allow not 11 sacks, but 11 pressures over the course of an entire season. It's one of the best marks in the history of Pro Football Focus.
GH: I've pointed out that he blanked some of the greatest pass rushers of all time. Guys in the top ten in sacks. Willie was at right tackle just as these monstrous pass rushers were coming of age. They weren't playing just right end and they weren't playing basketball anymore. They were playing left end and outside linebacker.
RM: My framing is that he's the most dominant right tackle in the history of the AFC, not just his era, but the most dominant right tackle in the history of the conference by positive value.
GH: I know you could talk about Kenny Anderson all day, probably.
RM: I definitely could.
GH: We're talking about approximate value, right? You take the first 16 seasons of the NFL merger, 1970-85, and Kenny is at the top. No. 1 on that list. The next quarterback is Dan Fouts at No. 5. The next after that is Bradshaw at No. 9.
RM: That's a remarkable statistic. I would say another statistic that's worth noting: Pro Football Reference has an era adjusted metric referred to as rate plus. You're at no disadvantage for leading the league in 1974 vs. 2004, 2024. It adjusts it for the time period. It levels the playing field, so that way, your rating is relative to the peers of your time. If you look at dead-ball era statistics, there's a huge difference.
Kenny's career adjustment is 114. To contextualize that, Patrick Mahomes right now has a career rate plus of 113. Tom Brady is 115. As it pertains to efficiency per drop back by that metric, he's right in between Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady. My implication here isn't that he is as good or better than Brady or Mahomes, but it's a testament to just how efficient he was and just how big of a leap forward the adjusted statistics are relative to the raw data.
GH: That's amazing. Is that your favorite Kenny stat?
RM: I've got another one.
GH: Wait. I can't top that one. But, from the end of World War II to the first year of the Barack Obama Administration, only one guy completed 70% of his passes in a season. Kenny Anderson.
RM: Unbelievable. And Drew Brees topped that number by just a fraction. Kenny was 70.55 and Drew, I believe, was. 70.62
GH: Basically a tie because you would round off Kenny, right?
RM: Yeah, but Kenny's mark was more impressive because he did it in 1982 versus 1982 defenses. And not to take anything away from Drew, but he was throwing in a dome in 2009. Not exactly the same thing.
Here's another history-related nugget just for fun. Kenny Anderson's four passing titles.
Terry Bradshaw won four (Super Bowl) rings, Joe Montana four rings, Troy Aikman three rings, Tom Brady seven rings. Patrick Mahomes three rings. That's 21 rings between those five quarterbacks. They combined for the same number of passing titles that Ken Anderson did by himself. Joe Montana won two. Tom Brady won two, and the rest of the other guys didn't win any.
And that's not to say that Kenny is better than all of those guys. But it's a testament to just how difficult it is to win even one.
GH: I love that term you used with Isaac and Kenny. I'm glad to hear somebody else use it, too. Define football's dead ball era.
RM: I would say the dead ball era is best defined as passing in the National Football League before 1978, when the rules completely opened up the passing game. There were a number of great quarterbacks who benefited from that. Terry Bradshaw being somebody notable. It was very difficult to be productive and efficient during the dead ball era, particularly post-merger, up through 1977, and that's the same time where Kenny Anderson had some of his finest seasons.
GH: The thing about Kenny is that he was as dominant in the dead ball era as he was in the era that opened it up. He had two passing titles before and after '78. Two different games.
RM: Two different worlds. He was putting up efficiency numbers that would have been good in the early 2000s, and he was doing that in the early to mid- 1970s. If you look at the highest rated passing seasons between his first passing title in '74 and his last passing title in 1982, Kenny Anderson accounts for four of the six highest rated passing seasons during that stretch with no other quarterback producing more than one top six season. That's remarkable.
What's particularly noteworthy is just how well Ken Anderson played in the postseason. You would assume, due to the reality of Bradshaw and Ken Stabler having greater postseason success, that Ken Anderson would be the least successful quarterback of the three. But on a per- game basis, the career passer rating for Ken Anderson in the playoffs took a big jump forward from his already impressive regular season mark.
In the postseason, 93.5 for Kenny Anderson, 83.0 for Terry Bradshaw, 84.2 for Kenny Stabler. So all three quarterbacks saw their efficiency ascend during the postseason, but Ken Anderson was the biggest leap forward of the three.
GH: What's the other Kenny stat that you think might stun folks?
RM: At the time of his retirement (just before the 1987 season), he was the highest-rated passer in the history of the AFC. And that's noteworthy because some of the best defenses in the history of the NFL were AFC teams in the early-to mid -1970s.
What I think people would be even more surprised to learn is he was the highest-rated passer in NFL playoff history post- merger at the time of his retirement, a 93.5 rating. He not only had the highest completion percentage in playoff history, but he was the highest-rated passer in the history of post-merger playoff football at the time of his retirement.
I'm always thinking, What can we share that people have never heard before? Take Kenny. For him to be a higher-rated passer in the postseason than Tom Brady, than Bradshaw, than Stabler. People will point to the sample size, and they'll say, 'Well, it's only six games,' and it's a fair enough point.
But it swings both ways. What that means is he had fewer opportunities to screw up, and he still performed total body work in the playoffs at a historically high level. And I think when you're looking at the resumes of these quarterbacks, and you adjust it forever, he's one of the greatest statistical quarterbacks of all time.
GH: We'll have to save some for 2026. Do you have anything on Joe Burrow?
RM: I've got plenty of Burrow.
GH: Happy New Year
