by Tony | Apr 4, 2017 | 2017 Season, Hall of Fame
With the breaking news that the four-letter network just can’t stop talking about–that Tony Romo is taking his ball and going home…or to the broadcast booth to replace another former NFC East quarterback, the inevitable question has come up multiple times today with said network on as background noise in the office (and with Stephen A. Smith, noise is the operative word):
DALLAS – DEC 14: Taken in Texas Stadium on Sunday, December 14, 2008. Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo on the sideline during a game with the NY Giants speaking with Jason Garrett.
Is Tony Romo a Hall of Fame quarterback?
His resume is impressive–at least for a non-drafted free agent playing the most important position under for the biggest brand in professional sports today. And if I’ve heard right, most of the blowhards have him going into the Hall at some point.
Romo started 127 games in his 13 year career (playing in 156), finishing with a 78-49 regular season record. He completed 65.3% of his passes, threw for 34,183 yards, and had a 248-117 TD to INT ratio. His career QB Rating was 97.1.
Of course, the flip side of things–he was 2-4 in the four playoff appearances he led the Cowboys to. He did throw for 8 TDs to 2 INTs in the playoffs, but his completion % dropped to 61.6%, and his rating dropped to 93.0.
Perhaps even more telling–he had just four Pro Bowl appearances (in an era when some questionable names appeared in the Pro Bowl), and had zero All-Pro selections. Whie his career passer rating ranks as 4th all-time (behind Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Tom Brady), his career numbers also put him at 29th all-time in Yardage and 21st in touchdowns. He averaged less than 10 starts per season in his career (partly due to injury, partly due to not starting until his third season), starting all 16 just four times–and only three times in his career did he lead the team to more than 8 wins (and four more seasons at 8 wins–two of which were injury shortened).
At the end of the day, when you look at the era he played in, it would be my opinion that Romo doesn’t stack up to the competition to make the cut for the Hall–Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are locks, Rodgers almost certainly is, and there is still Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger (multiple time Super Bowl winners), not to mention younger guys like Cam Newton, Russell Wilson and Joe Flacco with a lot of years left to pad their profiles.
Romo had a decent career, that had he not spent a lot of the last few years injured, may have warranted more of a look–but the more I look at it, I’m not even sure why their is as much coverage being devoted to it as their is–at the end of the day, we’re talking about a guy that started fewer games, won fewer playoff games, appeared in fewer Super Bowls and won fewer MVPs than Rich Gannon–so where is the Gannon for Hall of Fame discussion?
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by Andy | Mar 11, 2017 | Hall of Fame
I have made no secret of my lukewarm feelings toward the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2017 class. It enshrines a number of worthy players, but leaves several more decorated contenders on the outside looking in for another year.
That said, the enshrinement of one of those players – Terrell Davis – should be the best thing that ever happened to the case for one of the most dominant, but way too forgotten, dominant wide receivers of the late 1980s and early 1990s: one Sterling Sharpe.
I’ve seen his name come up a couple times in the comments section of our Hall posts. And I think it’s rightfully so. Here’s why:
A few years ago, we did a post looking at the then-stalled candidacies of Tim Brown, Cris Carter and Andre Reed. All three appeared deserving of consideration for the Hall, but their resumes seemed to be canceling each other out.
Now, they all eventually got in. And each of them warranted enshrinement. But in studying that post again and comparing each of their respective cases to the numbers posted by Sharpe during his injury-shortened seven years, I think if Sharpe had stayed healthy, he’d have been the best of the group. (more…)
by Andy | Feb 7, 2017 | Hall of Fame
In recent years, I think the Hall of Fame voters have done a pretty decent job. They haven’t selected every player I would have preferred to see, but their choices have, by and large, been defensible. They’ve cleared some backlogs, notably at the WR position. And they’ve, for the most part, left off fringe borderline guys in order to get some truly qualified players enshrined.
But this 2017 class is the most disappointed I’ve been in several years. It’s not just that they didn’t follow my desired ballot. And it’s not that I think the candidates selected this year were uniformly not qualified for enshrinement in the Hall.
It’s more that this year’s entrants just feel like a collection of compromise candidates. Among my issues:
- Terrell Davis was a great RB and he may deserve to be in the Hall. But the short tenure of his career, against someone like Terrell Owens, makes Davis a questionable pick.
- Though he is one of the great kickers of all-time, Morten Andersen was on the field for, what, 10 to 12 plays per game most of the time? He belongs in the Hall as one of the League’s all-time highest scorers, but not until voters solve the safety position – which is flush with qualified candidates from first-time-eligible Brian Dawkins to multi-year candidates like Steve Atwater and John Lynch. Let’s sum it up this way: Despite the plethora of qualified candidates, the voters have now selected two special teamers in the last four years (Andersen and Ray Guy in 2014) while not adding a single one of the safeties.
- Kurt Warner was the best QB among modern-era candidates. And he had great moments and he’s a great story, but his was an up-and-down career. He’s waited a few years. But offensive linemen like Joe Jacoby are equally qualified and running out of remaining eligibility. Warner’s resume is not so overwhelming that he couldn’t wait in favor of an equal candidate with fewer years left.
- Owens could not even make it into the final five? We’re talking about a WR some believe to be the second best ever. Even now, seven years removed from the game, Owens is third in receiving TDs with 153, second in yards with 15,934 and eighth in receptions with 1,078. I get that he was a jackwagon at times, that he wasn’t always a model citizen or a great guy. And sure, some will argue that if Tim Brown, Cris Carter and Andre Reed had to wait, Owens can too. But … HE DIDN’T EVEN MAKE THE FINAL 10. To me he’s the second or third strongest candidate in the final 15, but that aside, there is ZERO cogent argument for him not making the final 10.That is purely a vengeful play by writer/voters.
- It’s not getting as much attention as the Owens snub, but the enshrined seven all also will get their gold jackets before Kevin Mawae and Alan Faneca, two guys who easily were nearly peerless during their playing days. Consider this: Both Mawae (eight) and Faneca (nine) played in more Pro Bowls than Davis played seasons. Faneca also had six first-team AP All Pro awards and, in his down years, added two second-team AP awards. Mawae had three firsts and four seconds.
- The non-election of Paul Tagliabue only further illustrates the folly that is alternating years between two seniors and a contributor with two contributors and a senior. I believe Tagliabue is Hall worthy for his ability to maintain labor peace for his entire tenure, after players strikes interrupted play twice in the last seven years of Pete Rozelle’s tenure. But if voters find him borderline, there are better candidates than him and, frankly, Jerry Jones, whose candidacy feels ridiculously rushed when there are guys like Bobby Beathard out there waiting. That said, there are far fewer contributors who are must-have Hall enshrinement candidates than there are senior candidates. Let’s get the Chuck Howleys and Johnny Robinsons and Jerry Kramers and others who actually helped build the game on the field in while they are, for the most part, still around and wait on forcing more questionable contributors onto the annual ballot.
- Some question how Jason Taylor got in on his first try while Michael Strahan had to wait. That I don’t have as much a problem with, as Strahan was a victim of numbers when Warren Sapp, Jonathan Ogden and Larry Allen also were eligible for the first time. Not all first-time warranted candidates are going to get in right away and that class has to rank as one of the most impressive in Hall history. Jason Taylor just happened to retire in the right year.
You tell me which would be the stronger enshrinement class of 2017: (more…)
by Tony | Feb 4, 2017 | Hall of Fame
Word is trickling out on social media about who has officially been voted in as the 2017 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class.
Reports are that Morten Andersen, Kurt Warner, LaDanian Tomlinson, Terrell Davis and Jason Taylor were elected from the modern era. Jerry Jones was elected as a contributor, and former commissioner Paul Tagliabue reportedly missed election by a single vote. Senior candidate Kenny Easley also reportedly was inducted.
Warner and Davis were the only two who made the final 10 in 2016 voting, a noticeable difference from year’s past. Joe Jacoby, John Lynch and Don Coryell were the others in the final 10 from 2016 who missed the cut again this year. Tomlinson and Taylor were both eligible for the first time in 2017.
Davis and Tomlinson being elected together marks the first time since 1977 that two RB were elected together in the modern ballot, when Frank Gifford and Gale Sayers were elected.
Andersen’s election is the first for a full-time kicker since Jan Stenerud was elected in 1991.
The 15 finalists had been announced at the beginning of January. Tony Boselli, Isaac Bruce, Coryell, Brian Dawkins, Alan Faneca, Jacoby, Ty Law, Kevin Mawae, Lynch and Terrell Owens were the 10 finalists not elected.
Lynch, Dawkins, Law, Boselli and Mawae were reportedly the final five eliminated before final voting (thanks to Commenter Rob for the head’s up). This would seemingly put a serious damper on Coryell’s recent push to get in, as well as Jacoby, who was in his 19th year of eligibility.
From our predictions, I managed to get 3 of the 5 modern era candidates (Tomlinson, Davis, Warner). Only 2 of Andy’s predictions (Taylor and Tomlinson) were elected.
Check back for more analysis and commentary.
by Andy | Jan 3, 2017 | Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame voters narrowed the list of contenders for 2017 enshrinement to 15 modern-era candidates Tuesday.
They are:
K Morten Andersen
T Tony Boselli
WR Isaac Bruce
Coach Don Coryell
RB Terrell Davis
S Brian Dawkins
G Alan Faneca
T Joe Jacoby
CB Ty Law
C Kevin Mawae
S John Lynch
WR Terrell Owens
DE Jason Taylor
RB LaDainian Tomlinson
QB Kurt Warner
They join Senior candidate Kenny Easley and Contributor candidates Jerry Jones, who owns the Cowboys, and Paul Tagliabue, who succeeded Pete Rozelle as Commissioner in 1989.
The finalist group includes 12 of the 15 we predicted it would in March. Most surprising to me is the continued strength behind the candidacy of Don Coryell, not because I don’t think he’s deserving, but because he’s been out of the game so long. Fervor for his election has seemed to grow just within the last few years.
While I have no issue with Coryell, I am disappointed that it seems as though his momentum has come at the expense of the case of Cowboys Coach Jimmy Johnson, who I thought should have been elected before Tony Dungy. Johnson did not make the final 15.
Other observations:
- No Edgerrin James – for the time being, it looks like Terrell Davis has more movement for his induction than James does.
- Isaac Bruce is a finalist and Torry Holt is not. Bruce did have more catches (1,024-920), yards (15,208-13,382) and TDs (91-74) than Holt, but it took Bruce 16 years to accumulate his stats while Holt reached his in 11. Plus, Holt had seven Pro Bowls and one first-team Associated All Pro award, along with one second-team AP honor, while Bruce has just four Pro Bowls and he never was named to the AP’s first team. It’s always seemed to me that Holt had the stronger case.
- Two safeties are still alive. While I’m disappointed Steve Atwater’s case has slipped another year or more into the future, Brian Dawkins and John Lynch both have strong cases. There is a logjam awaiting, if the voters can’t start getting stars at this position enshrined.
I think the selections this year are a lot more wide open than they have been in recent years. Tomlinson and Owens seem like no brainers. And I’d really like to see one of the safeties – Dawkins would be my first choice – inducted. Otherwise there are probably eight legit candidates you could see voters deciding to support and none would be a bad choice.
Who would you like to see make the final cut?
by Andy | Nov 16, 2016 | Hall of Fame
Running back LaDainian Tomlinson, WR Hines Ward, Safety Brian Dawkins and Defensive end Jason Taylor are the four first-time eligible candidates for Hall of Fame enshrinement in 2017.
Chris Hinton, who played tackle and guard, was a first-time semifinalist, though he has been eligible for several years.
Hall of Fame voters named 26 semifinalists Wednesday night. The deepest positions are running back and safety, where four candidates remain from the initial group of 94 total nominees. There also were six offensive linemen, four of whom played most their careers at tackle.
Strong returning semifinalists include Terrell Owens, the controversial wide receiver who bounced around to several teams due to character issues, and Kurt Warner, who was great several years and less so others.
Warner, Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt represent the “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams that won the Super Bowl after the 1999 season. (more…)
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