Several years ago when I was trashing Buddy Ryan (when he was at Houston) for 
stealing and taking credit for Neill Armstrong's defense, some of Buddy's 
fans all but called me a liar. Well, folks, for the first time Neill has 
spoken out about it and it indeed proves what I've said all along -- Ryan's 
"genius" was limited to taking credit for something that wasn't his and 
having players that were a lot better than he (or his fans) gave them credit. 
Armstrong, 71 and inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame last 
Tuesday, used the defense in Minnesota but mostly on passing downs. Ryan's 
ONLY contribution was to use it as the Bears' basic defense (Even his 
so-called naming of the defense because of the number that one player wore 
was debunked by Armstrong, who said it was called the 46 because of the 
number of down linemen and defensive backs that were employed. Armstrong says 
that the defense was a variation on the defense the Eagles used when he 
played with them in 1948 and 1949).
I'm sure that there are a lot of Ryan fans that will still call me a liar but 
the fact is that when Jimmy Johnson took over the Cowboys, the first thing he 
did was go after Armstrong to help with the defense. Dallas' defense has been 
ahead of the offense since Day 1 and it remains that way because Armstrong is 
still there consulting as needed.
--- TrekEd 1.00
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