Robert Louis Brudzinski (born January 1, 1955) is a former
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
linebacker who played 13 seasons in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL).
Ohio State
Brudzinski was a four-time letter winner and a three-year starter at
defensive end
Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football.
This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...
for the
Ohio State Buckeyes
The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tre ...
. He was a two-time All-
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
selection and as a senior in 1976, he was a consensus
All-America
The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...
choice. In his 43 games for Ohio State he totaled 214 tackles and in 1976 he intercepted four passes, a high number for a defensive end. In 2000 Brudzinski was voted to the
Ohio State Football All-Century Team The Ohio State Football All-Century Team was chosen in early 2000 by the Touchdown Club of Columbus. It was selected to honor the greatest Ohio State Buckeyes football players of the 20th century. No effort was made to distinguish a first team or s ...
.
Los Angeles Rams
The
Los Angeles Rams drafted Brudzinski with the 23rd pick in the first round of the
1977 NFL Draft. The Rams planned moving him to outside linebacker, to match his 4.7 speed and good strength. He started as a rookie because starting middle linebacker
Jack Reynolds held out for the first one-third of the season. While starting left linebacker
Jim Youngblood
Jimmy Lee Youngblood (born February 23, 1950) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins. He played college football at Tennessee Tech and was drafted in the s ...
moved to the middle to fill in for Reynolds, Brudzinski started at left linebacker. He ended up starting seven games and recording 37 tackles, two interceptions, three forced fumbles and one sack. He was voted All-Rookie by UPI and PFWA and FD for his efforts in 1977. In 1978, he became the starter at right outside linebacker in week 10 when
Isiah Robertson
Isiah "Butch" Robertson (August 17, 1949 – December 6, 2018) was an American professional football player who was a linebacker for the Los Angeles Rams (1971–1978) and the Buffalo Bills (1979–1982). He was selected to six Pro Bowls during ...
walked out of camp purported with complaints about his salary. The Rams defense was ranked #1 in the NFL at the time and in the months with Brudzinski starting they never fell from the top status. He ended the year with 43 tackles, intercepted a pass that went for a touchdown and two quarterback sacks.
In 1979 Brudzinski had his best year to date. Making all 16 starts as the RLB and being named 2nd-team All-pro by the
Gannett Wire Service. "Bru" as his teammates called him, amassed 127 tackles, with 7 of those for a loss, plus 5 sacks, he intercepted a pass, forced a fumble, recovered one and broke up 14 passes, either at the line of scrimmage or in coverage. The Rams went through the NFC playoffs beating the
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...
and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before losing
Super Bowl XIV to the
Pittsburgh Steelers.
Two-thirds into the 1980 season Brudzinski walked out and never returned to the Rams. To date, he had made 35 tackles and had 6 passes defensed plus a sack, but felt he was underpaid. He was replaced by
George Andrews.
The Rams were forced to trade Brudzinski and did so in the spring of 1981. The Rams received multiple picks and the top pick was used to draft future star linebacker
Jim Collins. With the Rams Brudzinski totaled 242 tackles, 9 sacks, and over 20 passes broken up in his 55 games (41 starts) with the Rams.
Miami Dolphins
Brudzinski played 125 games with 94 starts for
Don Shula's Dolphins from 1981 though 1989, recording 14 sacks to bring his career total to 23 to go with his nine interceptions.
Brudzinski adapted quickly to the
Bill Arnsbarger-coached defense nicknamed the "Killer-Bs" which propelled the Dolphins to the 1981 playoffs and the 1982 Super Bowl as well as the 1984 Super Bowl.
While with Miami, Brudzinski was voted to the All-Time Dolphins team in the early 2000s.
[ ''Miami Sun-Sentinel''] He was mentioned in articles that ask "Who is the best linebacker never to play in a Pro Bowl?" and Brudzinski's name often comes up since he played well for a long period of time and was never honored by a Pro Bowl selection, even after his stellar 1979 season.
Bru's Room
Founder and owner of
Bru's Room Sports Grill.
Reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brudzinski, Bob
1955 births
Living people
American football linebackers
Los Angeles Rams players
Miami Dolphins players
Ohio State Buckeyes football players
All-American college football players
People from Fremont, Ohio
Players of American football from Ohio