Centennial Slate Blue-Ribbon Panel Names 15 enshrinees

Prediction 2020 — Who will make the Hall?

by | Jan 2, 2020 | 2020 season, Hall of Fame

With the announcement of the modern candidates today, we finally have a complete ballot of the finalists who will be voted on for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020.

Now we can have the first-annual Zoneblitz.com PFHOF election prediction contest. The winner of said contest will be declared the Grand Champion and will be able to use that title for the next year when ever posting on this blog.

The contest involves predicting the class of 2020. The winner will be the person who predicts the highest number of those who will be enshrined out of 20. Only one “official prediction” allowed and, if there is a tie, the person with the most correct out of the 15-person centennial class will be declared the victor. All decisions by the judges (site moderators) are final.

Feel free to discuss and debate the candidates and your choices over next few weeks before we have the results (possibly early January for centennial class; evening of Saturday February 1st for the five modern finalists).  Contest results will be officially announced here the week of February 4th.  Deadline for predictions is 10:59 pm CST Monday January 6th — just in case the centennial class is announced next week, since no date for the announcement is currently known.

To refresh your memory, here are the finalists:

Modern (5 elected): Steve Atwater, Tony Boselli, Isaac Bruce, LeRoy Butler, Alan Faneca, Torry Holt, Steve Hutchinson, Edgerrin James, John Lynch, Sam Mills, Troy Polamula, Richard Seymour, Zach Thomas, Reggie Wayne, Bryant Young

Centennial Class:

Players (10 elected): Cliff Branch, Harold Carmichael, Jim Covert, Roger Craig, Bobby Dillon, LaVern Dilweg, Ox Emerson, Randy Gradishar, Cliff Harris, Winston Hill, Cecil Isbell, Alex Karras, Verne Lewellen, Tommy Nobis, Drew Pearson, Donnie Shell, Duke Slater, Mac Speedie, Ed Sprinkle, Al Wistert

Coaches (2 elected): Don Coryell, Bill Cowher, Tom Flores, Mike Holmgren, Jimmy Johnson, Buddy Parker, Dan Reeves, Dick Vermeil

Contributors (3 elected): Bud Adams, Ralph Hay, Frank “Bucko” Kilroy, Art McNally, Art Modell, Clint Murchison, Steve Sabol, Seymour Siwoff, Paul Tagliabue, George Young

Good luck everyone.

Is Eli Manning a Hall of Famer?

Is Eli Manning a Hall of Famer?

by | Sep 26, 2019 | 2019 season, Hall of Fame



With Daniel Jones excelling last Sunday in his debut as the New York Giants starting quarterback, it likely cements – if there was any doubt – that Eli Manning’s days a the organization’s starter have ended.

And they’ve mostly been proud days. Manning has never been the best QB in the league, but he’s probably gone back-and-forth between the second- and third-tier at times, excelling, of course, twice on postseason runs that ended up with New York upsetting New England to win two of its Lombardi trophies.

The question, then, becomes does Eli follow in brother Peyton’s footsteps and try to find another team to hook up with at the end of his career for one or two more runs at postseason glory? Or does he decide that 16 seasons is enough. And, if he chooses the latter, will we be hearing from him again in five or 10 years as he prepares for a speech in Canton?

He’s a little bit of a tough one to assess. Does he have the counting stats? Perhaps. If he retired now, he’d do so as the seventh-ranked QB all-time in passing yardage, though barring injury, Philip Rivers likely will pass him up this season. (more…)

Centennial Slate Blue-Ribbon Panel Names 15 enshrinees

Selecting the class of 2020

by | Sep 25, 2019 | Hall of Fame

First, I would like to thank both Andy and Tony for this opportunity to contribute to the blog, plus all their efforts over the years in creating and maintaining this site. I think it has provided a great forum for discussions related to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and attracted a dedicated (if small) group of active participants.

As a regular, I certainly have appreciated the respectful – even though at times passionate – discussions and disagreements on the wide range of topics and related opinions that have been presented. My aim with these posts is only to keep the discussion fresh and moving forward by providing timely new stories that will follow the key news and events of the selection timeline and process from August to February. Then perhaps in the “offseason” introduce a variety of NFL related posts on topics also of interest to this forum.

(more…)

Centennial Slate Blue-Ribbon Panel Names 15 enshrinees

Robinson, first-timers highlight Hall of Fame Class of 2019

by | Feb 4, 2019 | Hall of Fame

First off an apology to those who are regular readers and contributors to our Hall of Fame content. This last year-and-change has been busy and largely great, but brutal from the perspective of spending time on projects that aren’t A) directly involved with the day-job and B) at least semi-contributing to bank accounts. Thus, as some have noted in comments, we’ve fallen behind in terms of keeping up with some of our content. We have not shut down and we are making some plans that, hopefully, allow for more regular and timely posting. But real-life will, at times, kick in, trumping the fun stuff that we’d rather spend more time on.

Now, with that said, regular readers, presumably, are celebrating this week, as Johnny Robinson, one of the most frequently cited Hall of Fame snubs ever mentioned here, has finally made it in to the Hall. He’ll be 81 this year and he has waited way too long for this honor. Luckily he’s had plenty of accolades to celebrate over the years while he waited, including an interception in Super Bowl IV against my hometown Vikings.

It was a good year for the Chiefs. The team discovered it has a franchise QB in Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs finished just an offsides penalty away from a Super Bowl berth. And, along with Robinson, long-time TE Tony Gonzalez made the cut as well. (more…)

Centennial Slate Blue-Ribbon Panel Names 15 enshrinees

Three First Year Candidates Lead Pro Football Hall of Fame Finalis

by | Jan 4, 2019 | Hall of Fame

Tony Gonzalez, Ed Reed and Champ Bailey headlined the announcement of the 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2019 Thursday night. The list was culled down from a list of 25 semifinalists, named in November.

Joining the trio on the list of finalists are wide receiver Isaac Bruce, running back Edgerrin James, defensive backs Steve Atwater, Ty Law and John Lynch, offensive linemen Tony Boselli, Kevin Mawae, Alan Faneca and Steve Hutchinson, defensive lineman Richard Seymour, and coaches Don Coryell and Tom Flores.

The selection as a finalist marks Hutchinson and Atwater’s second time making the cut (Atwater was first a finalist in 2016, Hutchinson last year), the third time for Boselli, Bruce, James, Law and Mawae, the fourth time for Faneca, and the sixth time for Lynch. Flores and Seymour are first time finalists.

Among those not making the cut were coach Jimmy Johnson, receivers Hines Ward and Torry Holt, linebacker Clay Matthews.  Two finalists from the 2018 class, Everson Walls and Joe Jacoby (who was a three time finalist) ran out of modern era eligibility, and now must wait for a possible seniors nomination.

The fifteen finalists will be cut to 10, and then cut to five before being placed up for a final yes/no vote, along with contributors Pat Bowlen and Gil Brandt and Senior Nominee Johnny Robinson on Saturday, February 2, the day before the Super Bowl.

We realized that we never actually put up an official post this year with our prediction in it, and that a fair number of our regular commentors have already listed their guesses on our thread about Robinson’s nomination–but this year, we’ve put together the form below to submit your choices below, and if a enough people submit guesses, we may come up with some sort of prize (and even if not, we’ll post some sort of adulation to the submission with the most correct).

And for the record, my guess this year would be Faneca, Gonzalez, Lynch, Reed and Coryell, with a yes to Bowlen, Brandt and Robinson.

2019 Hall of Fame Voting