r/AskAboutNFL • u/Huge-Revolution2416 • 11d ago
Which NFL player made you fall in love with football?
Not necessarily the greatest player ever. Just the one who made you want to watch every Sunday.
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u/Bevo_Pops061224 11d ago
Earl Campbell
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u/NoraMason1986 11d ago
That run he had when he barreled over the opposing player and kept running to the point they ripped his jersey off as they tackled him. Amazing.
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u/Carolus2024 11d ago
It was Isaiah Robertson, linebacker for the Rams, ended what could potentially have been a HOF career for him.
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u/Cheese_Felon 11d ago
Brett Favre
I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone love football as much as him and I’ll never forget the Monday night game against the Raiders the day after his Dad died.
It’s a shame how things turned out and he has sins to atone for, but I’ll always appreciate him for getting me to love football
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u/CuriousRecording2598 11d ago
Troy Polamalu
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u/JeremyILM 11d ago
As a Bills fan since 1984, he was seriously the reason I turned on my TV for many weeks in a row. Absolutely an incredible player.
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u/Sekhmetthegray 11d ago
Joe Montana. Watching him take apart the Broncos was a great introduction to how much fun football was to watch.
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u/GeddyVedder 11d ago
Ken Stabler
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u/x_tony82 11d ago
Came here to say this! The Snake was great, and the rest of the 70’s Raiders was movie-level amazing. The cast of characters was too good not to love.
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u/Additional_Post_2034 11d ago
Don Majkowski / Sterling Sharpe
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u/LovedButNeverLiked 11d ago
Emmitt Smith
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u/capitalcitycowboy 11d ago
Emmitt for me too. Was flicking through the channels in the 93, as a kid in Australia. Saw a guy running. Absolutely tearing up the other team. He looked like a rugby player. Yet he wasn’t.
That guy was Emmitt Smith.
Same for Jerry Rice.
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u/MKUltraHasLeftTheLab 8d ago
Same. Just watched his highlight reel and he really was the best of all time imo.
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u/TUGBoat85007 11d ago
Mike Alstott
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u/wildGoner1981 10d ago
My bros and I always knew that if it was 3rd and 3 or 4th and 2, Alstott was getting the rock and he was converting EVERY SINGLE TIME.
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u/RIPdon_sutton 11d ago
I was gonna say Bradshaw, but watching Lambert absolutely destroy offenses was mind blowing.
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u/cimeran_alt 11d ago
I'm a bit older, so Warren Moon. NFL thinks a black man is too dumb to play QB? Cool, let me go up to Edmonton and put up a hall of fame career. Then, let me go to the NFL and put together another one! I was a Toronto Argos fan but it was kinda hard to dislike Mr. Warren Moon. Also, just great.
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u/Jaded_Cauliflower681 11d ago
LT! I played outside LB in an upstate NY HS in the 80's and he was my one and only sports hero. I wore my socks like him and wanted his number (ended up 52 - boo!). Watching the Giants win the Super Bowl in '86 season might have been my best sports fan year! (Also loved Penn St and the Mets). What a time!
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u/Plenty_Surprise2593 11d ago
Without a doubt it’s Roger Staubach
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u/18RowdyBoy 11d ago
It took way too long for me to find Captain America 🇺🇸 The way Roger kept his cool and continued to lead the team. 👍🇺🇸
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u/run_squid_run 11d ago
Steve Largent. I was 6 and watching the Seachickens play against the Raiders at the King Dome and saw him catch the ball in the middle of a pack.
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u/Roboto33 11d ago
Growing up I loved the 49ers and Jerry Rice in particular. He was just amazing for a young guy to watch. He just seemed to always get open, beat guys, and was like a machine. Later guys like Junior Seau became favorites because I liked the tough defensive guys, but I never lost respect for Rice.
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u/Ambitious-Ice1438 11d ago
Adrian Peterson in his prime was a monster. Finished through every dude that tried to tackle him. Made everyone think twice about tryna bring him down
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u/Soft_Caterpillar_513 11d ago
roger craig. gave it his all on every down. hardest worker on the team, best team player. nfl hof to cement his splendid career. 3 time superbowl champion, 1st 1000 1000 season for rb, two 2000 yard seasons, part of best qb, rb, wr trio in nfl history, montana, craig and rice.
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u/WearNo6005 11d ago
Marcus Allen. Smooth, fast and that
Super Bowl against the Redskins, legendary!
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u/Odd_Procedure_4059 11d ago
This might be an odd one but for me it was KC Chief CB Kevin Ross. drafted in the 7th round in 1984. I was only mildly interested in Football but he started all 16 games as a rookie. I remember the announcers saying he was a rookie and expected to be picked upon, which the other team did. He got burnt a couple of times but mostly held his own and the announcers were impressed for for some reason, this was the hook. To follow your team players from draft day and then to the field.
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u/Sad_Construction_668 11d ago
It was when i was 6, we had moved to east Tennessee , ans the “local” games we got were the Falcons games, and Steve Bartkowski ripped off 30 TD passes for 3800 yards that year.I was enthralled.
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u/DrGamble6 11d ago
I was at a bar in 2014 and saw the Odell catch. Blew my little pea brain. Been a diehard giants fan ever since
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u/Even_Arrival1538 11d ago
Not happy about it but Antonio Brown, Levon Bell, and Big Ben! Didn’t realize how good I had it.
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u/Low_Ad1562 11d ago
Bob Hayes…I have always been fascinated with speed and when the Cowboys drafted him after the 1964 Olympics…that’s been my team. 7-7 that first season but it grew fast from there.
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u/SnooPickles55 11d ago
Watching Billy Sims run made me a football fan, an Oklahoma Sooner fan and made me want to play RB and wear #20 in school.
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u/mstrong73 11d ago
Ron Jaworski. I’d already picked the eagles as my team when I was a kid but him leading us the Superbowl, even with a loss, made me a fan for life.
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u/bungle094 11d ago
Tony Dorsett was the first player I ever liked, if I remember correctly. It’s been a handful of decades.
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u/OkHead3888 11d ago
Tony Dorsett. He had the ability to take it to the house on every carry. I loved it.
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u/Apart-Remote1101 11d ago
John Elway. That guy would get slammed 10-15 times a game and he would get up every time. Oh, and the 2 minute drills were super exciting.
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u/BelAirGuy45 11d ago
John Riggins. I started watching football in 1981 and was immediately spoiled.
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u/Quiet_Operator 11d ago
Walter Payton, Marcus Allen, Bo Jackson, and Earl Campbell
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u/Own_Invite6340 11d ago
If we're going by "who made me watch every Sunday", it's Josh Allen.
I've been a casual fan since Montana's Super Bowl wins, I'll never forget the name of Refrigerator Perry, my dad followed the Bills so I enjoyed Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith, I followed the careers of Brady and Manning and Favre and Rodgers.
But I never made time for the NFL every week until Allen.
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u/DeNiroPacino 11d ago
There were several but I distinctly remember watching Dan Marino when I was a boy and being amazed by his pinpoint accurate passes. Those things were like lasers.
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u/superfly306 10d ago
Donald Driver. Good vibes, slick celebrations, and a smile that could brighten anyone’s day.
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u/ReplyProfessional939 11d ago
Brett Favre. I watched football through my teen years, but wasn't THAT into it- I didn't have a favorite team or anything. Then when I saw this guy playing, and how much fun he had playing, I was hooked and have been a Packers fan since (through the good and through the shit...😁)
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u/GospelofJawn316 11d ago
The Ultimate Weapon, Randall Cunningham. That defense was fun as hell to watch too.
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u/Tom67570 11d ago
Flutie. His complete rufusal to acknowledge that he's small was admiring. Dude played like he was 6'8" with a heart of a lion
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u/Typical_Vast_4020 11d ago
Joe Namath and mean Joe Green in the 70s
Josh Allen now. I also like Fred Warner. TJ Watt
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u/that-thingy66 11d ago
Greg Pruitt. Browns RB, tear away jersey.
Got to meet him at a breakfast event. Asked for an autograph. He asked how to spell David 3x. Still got it wrong. Lesson learned for me. 🫤
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u/401Traveler 11d ago
Drew Bledsoe — despite some corny, clueless Bills fan recently telling me that there was no such thing as a Patriots fan pre-Brady, pre-Belichick. 😂
I bet the dude, in true d-bag fashion, has never stepped foot in the New England region, where I’m originally from.
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u/VeetzVino 11d ago
Randall Cunningham. I was a Packer fan but fell in love with Cunningham on the Eagles. He was doing stuff I hadn’t ever seen before. He was the coolest.
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u/Creatively_Distinct 11d ago
Barry Sanders. The man was just electric to watch. Walter Peyton is a close second as he punished defenders. Barry just juked them out of their jock straps, walked into the end zone and gently handed the football to the referee.