By Tom James
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — Mike Barber knows all about playing tight end in the National Football League. A former starter for the Houston Oilers, Los Angeles Rams and Denver Broncos in the middle and late 1970s, Barber is one of many former National Football League who like to keep a watch on how much professional football has progressed, or digressed, in the years since they retired.
Now heading up his own national prison ministry, he’s looking forward to watching two of the league’s best at his former position during Super Bowl XLIV — Indianapolis Colts tight end Dallas Clark and New Orleans Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey.
While their playing styles are decidedly different, and they won’t be squaring off against one another directly, how much production either team gets from the tight end position could very well determine the outcome of today’s game.
“One of the biggest things, how the tight end position is different [from when he played] is that players are so much bigger. In 1976, my first year in the league, I think the tight end averaged 6-1 and 214, 218 [pounds]. And I was considered big. I was 6-3, 235. And today, good night, there’s 6-5-plus, 260, 270 and runs well. You’ve just got an extra [offensive] tackle, but he’s got a receiver’s number,” Barber said earlier this week.
“Seven of my 10 years [in the league] I was honored to help block for the number one rushing guy in the whole league [Houston’s Earl Campbell and Los Angeles’ Eric Dickerson], so we didn’t have all the different formations [that NFL teams use now]. There was a time with the Oilers that they’d split me out back side by myself. In the New England game, during the [1978] playoffs, there were two or three times where we hadn’t done it all year and they put me out wide because I had some speed and had success there. But today, that’s just a normal play.”
Shockey has been bothered by a sore knee during the later stages of the 2009 regular season and in the playoffs, but he is expected to start against Indianapolis. His brash, in-your-face, persona often masks the fact he can be a dangerous offensive threat if used correctly.
“There’s so much more charisma about the game today. But he plays with a chip on his shoulder and I like that,” Barber said, adding that there are other things in the NFL that bother him.
“I like the way the game has progressed. But I don’t like all the ‘me, me, me, me, me.’ Get excited when you get in the end zone. But we used to sit around and talk about free agency, free agency, not in a million years. [Super Bowl XIV] I sat down and talked to the great [former Rams defensive end] Jack Youngblood and we talked about that. [Free agency] not in a million years,” he explained.
“But now it’s happened. I think it’s ruined the game as a whole. I think the fans are left out because it’s all about ‘me’ [in today’s NFL]. I’m very thankful that I played when I did, even though I was the Oilers first pick [No. 20 pick in second round in 1976] and my three-year contract was $35,000, $45,000 and $55,000. I’m honored that I played when I did.”
• Likes Manning, Brees — If there are two players in the current NFL who would fit quite comfortably into Barber’s world, it would be Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and Saints signal caller Drew Brees.
“They have the passion for the game, not the passion of ‘me’. I love to watch those guys [Manning and Brees] play. I think that’s what the game was built on. I still think that’s the foundation of the game. Those are the kind of people to look for, the Peyton’s and Brees,” he said.
“What an athlete. [Drew Brees]. A guy that doesn’t have the height, quote unquote, but he’s got the heart. And that’s what wins ball games. The heart.”
