Mandatory Credit: MiamiDolphins.com.
No. 8 – Jon Giesler
Jon Giesler and the Miami Dolphins offensive line of the early 80s were the equivalent of a bouncer outside a nightclub. No one sees the quarterback unless their name was on the list and that list was a short one.
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The 24th overall pick in the 1979 Draft helped to limit opposing defenses to 104 sacks. To put that into perspective, that’s slightly under 15 sacks per season, and Ryan Tannehill has been sacked 133 times in just three seasons.
He started in all 10 of his appearances during the 1980 season after playing the entire slate of games in his rookie campaign. Giesler didn’t miss a contest from 1981 until 1985.
He earned second team All-Conference honors as voted by UPI in both 1984 and 1986 but never appeared in the Pro Bowl. Giesler started in 105 out of his 126 games as left tackle for Miami.
As the Dolphins became more dependent on the passing game due to the abilities of Dan Marino, the left tackle’s importance grew exponentially. The sack total speaks volumes as to how well protected Miami’s quarterbacks were with their blind spots were exposed. Giesler and the offensive line helped to keep Marino upright, so he and the Marks brothers could usher in the greatest offense in team history.
Mandatory Credit: MiamiDolphins.com.
No. 7 – Ed Newman
Ed Newman only got a sniff of being a starting guard for the first five seasons of his career. The 156th overall pick in the 1973 NFL Draft’s sixth round started in just 25 of his first 67 games.
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However when Newman earned a starting guard position in 1979, he would only miss one game for the rest of his career. Newman started out as a left guard that season but would switch to the right side on a permanent basis from 1980 to the end of his career.
As a right guard, Newman earned Pro Bowl honors in his last four seasons as a professional. That means he never made the Pro Bowl while in his 20s instead Newman got all the accolades of his career at a time when most linemen physically break down.
Those accolades not only include four Pro Bowls, but a First Team All-Pro honor and multiple All-Conference and All-NFL honors voted on by the AP, UPI, Pro Football Weekly, and the Newspaper Enterprise Association.
When all was said and done, Newman started in 113 of his 167 games in Miami.
Newman was a rare offensive lineman. The type that seemed to get better with age even after hitting the dreaded 30-year-old milestone.