| Continuing his tour of overlooked legends of the gridiron, Sam Monson reports on a linebacker who might have been every bit as good as LT.
NFL Greats
Andre Tippett, New England
by Sam Monson
12/9/2007
 When we think Pass-rushing outside linebackers in the NFL today we think of guys like Shawne Merriman, Joey Porter and Damarcus Ware. Everybody knows that these guys owe their existence to LT and Bill Parcells and that fearsome Giants D of the 80s and 90s. That defense and Lawrence Taylor helped revolutionise the position of outside linebacker in the NFL, and paved the way for the ‘tweener’ athlete from college to find a home in the NFL as a 3-4 Linebacker.
What many people don’t know is these guys owe just as much to Andre Tippett the AFC’s answer to Lawrence Taylor for a decade as they do to Taylor, yet LT is a household name, and Tippett is a forgotten man. Andre Tippett played outside linebacker in the NFL for 11 seasons, all of them with New England. He holds the Patriots’ franchise record for sacks with 100 and co-holds the record for fumble recoveries with 17.
Tippett was a classic ‘tweener’ athlete, having played both DE and OLB for the Iowa Hawkeyes in College. He had previously been to a Junior College and didn’t start at Iowa until his junior season, but from that point, went on to record 141 career tackles, 35 sacks, 3 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries. His 20 tackles for 153 yards in losses topped the Big 10 Conference as a Junior. He was a consensus 1st team All-American In 1981 and led the Hawkeyes to their first winning season, first Big 10 title, and first Rose Bowl in over 2 decades. He was selected by the Patriots, and though he didn’t play much as a rookie in 1982 it wasn’t long before he was dominating at the pro-level, just like he had at the college level.
One man wrecking crew
LT’s dominance is legendary, but in the 2 year span of 1984-85 Andre Tippett recorded 35 sacks, 215 tackles, forced and recovered 3 fumbles, and managed to win a share of the 1985 NEA Defensive Player of the Year. In the year of the fearsome unblockable Bears D, and in the era of Reggie White and Lawrence Taylor, Tippett had a season to eclipse them all, and was a major reason why the Patriots made it to the Superbowl that year.
Tippett, like any truly dominant player, caused opposing teams to change the way they played to account for him. He brought a tenacity and athleticism to the position that had seldom been seen before, and being double or even triple teamed with tight ends and backs he still created havoc in the opponents’ backfield. He was a one man wrecking crew at times, recording double-digit sacks and 100 tackle seasons multiple times. The number of tackles he made becomes even more impressive when you remember this is an edge defender we’re talking about.
Ask any football coach, and they’ll stress to you the importance of using your hands, both as a blocker, and to defeat your blockers, and some NFL players, famously Rams DT D’Marco Farr have trained in other disciplines to try and improve this aspect of their game. Andre Tippett has trained in Martial Arts, most notably Karate, since 1982, and is currently a Godan/5th degree black belt, with Master Instructor license. He’s competed at a regional and national level in martial arts tournaments, and even won a Grand Championship in 1993. The kind of skills he learned during his martial arts training would have been invaluable to him as a pass-rusher in the NFL, allowing him to use his hands to fight his way around much bigger blockers. The thing that separates the good linebackers from the great ones is their ability to shed blocks, to fight their way through or around blockers, and still make the play. Tippett accomplished that for a decade.
Vs. LT
If we consider Lawrence Taylor to be the defining standard of the pass rushing outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme, and it makes sense to since he’s the only outside linebacker who played in the last 20 years to make the Hall of Fame, then Tippett compares pretty well. From the time Tippett made the starting lineup on a full-time basis in 1983 he averaged 10 sacks a year for the next decade, and this is despite a ruptured muscle in his shoulder landing him on Injured Reserve, and wiping out his entire season of 1989. This injury not only cost him a year of production, but it ended his string of consecutive Pro Bowl selections at 5.
Even when compared directly with Lawrence Taylor’s numbers, Tippett doesn’t come off badly. Over his career LT averaged 5.9 tackles a game, Tippett, 5.2. LT averaged 0.77 Sacks per game over his career, Tippett, 0.66. LT was responsible for producing 20 turnovers, Tippett, 18, and each player scored 2 defensive touchdowns. When Tippett retired after the 1993 season, he was ranked 7th on the all-time list for career sacks, trailing only LT among those who played outside linebacker.
Tippett didn’t get overlooked during his career, certainly not by his opponents, who couldn’t afford that, but he has been overlooked for the Hall of Fame, like seemingly so many other great players. He was named to the 1980s NFL All-Decade team, and now he remains the only linebacker from that team not in the Hall of Fame. The other 5 members – Lawrence Taylor, Mike Singletary, Harry Carson, Ted Hendricks, and Jack Lambert demonstrate both the level of play Tippett produced, and the company in which his name should be remembered.
We all have the ability to coach
Today Tippett has replaced the high octane thrills of pro-football with a more sedate pastime golf, and intends on encouraging his kids to take that up, whether they want to pursue other sports or not. “I would like to see my kids become golfers,” says Tippett. “It’s a great activity they can do the rest of their lives.” Tippett remains close to the Patriots to this day, having been Master of Ceremonies at the ‘Football For You’ clinic run by the Patriots and their Alumni association for school-kids in Boston. It was fun working with the kids, especially these kids, because we saw a lot of not only talent, but also discipline and a lot of respect being shown to the staff and the alumni guys, said Tippett. It says a lot about their parents and who they are as young people.
I think all of us as former players we all have the ability to coach and with this opportunity we are able to give back to our community, and help the young people. It’s an awesome opportunity for us to give back to the community in this way.
Andre Tippett was not only a player who earned a place in the Hall of Fame during his career, but he remains loyal to the game in retirement, working to help youngsters enjoy it the way he did, rather than jumping into the limelight of the media like so many other ex-players.
Learn More about past NFL greats in our History Archive
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