I’ve got a heck of a lot of respect for Art Monk but his career numbers are eclipsed in nearly every sense by Cris Carter’s. Both definitely deserve to be in the Hall, but I’m a bit shocked Carter wasn’t in on the first ballot.
All debates about who was better come down to this gaping chasm in their statistics:
Career Touchdowns:
Art Monk: 68
Cris Carter: 130
You can say Monk was never in a pass-happy system, but when Carter touched the ball, he was more likely to produce points, which is the point of the game.
Sure took him a long time to get in for somebody beloved by the press. I think what hurt him was his lack of flash. He was a guy who went out and played without strutting, just accomplishing. Let’s not forget that when he retired he owned the career record for catches.
I imagine Carter didn’t get in this year because enough voters didn’t think of him as a “first-ballot” kind of Hall of Famer. I thought he’d get in, but I’m almost certain he’ll be elected within the next two years.
I was glad to see Darrell Green get in on the first ballot; I’d seen some speculation that it might take a few years, which would be ridiculous.
Touchdowns are an overrated statistic (for individuals, that is). When Art Monk catches a 12-yard curl on 3rd & 10 from his own 20, he’s probably helping his team about as much as when Cris Carter catches a 5-yard slant on 1st & Goal.
As a Giants fan who saw Art Monk play, all I can say is, it’s about freaking time.
Maybe the press loved Art Monk, but it doesn’t follow that they were eager to put him in the Hall of Fame. He retired as the NFL’s #1 all time leader in receptions, but didn’t get into the Hall of Fame for years.
Indeed, numerous media types sniped at Monk as an unworthy candidate, suggesting that he wasn’t even the best receiver on his own team (Gary Clark was more explosive, but I don’t think he was better).
Mostly, the press just can’t bring themselves to say anything good about the Redskins. Been that way for a very long time.
Monk had, and in fact has more class than the entire NFL could scrape together today.
Clark was great, as well. (There was a play where he returned a kick, caught it sliding in on his knees, and threw a fake, from his knees, and left the defender looking around for him. It never hit the highlights.)
I was gonna say that we Skins fans have not had much to be proud of recently, but Art Monk and Darrell Green being elected to the Hall of Fame are two exceptionally deserving recipients. Monk was the consummate team player and class act, and endured 8 rejections until today.
I’m so happy for these two gentlemen and their families… HAIL!
Are you fucking high? We were burdened with about a decade of Redskin slurping during the Joe Gibbs Era. With the “hogs” and John Riggins. In the 80’s they were the team that could do no wrong. Art Monk and Darrell Green were media darlings and Tommy Smith and Doug Williams are centerpieces in just about every Super Bowl montage over the last 20 years. The media turned the Counter Trey into the stuff of legend and don’t even get me started on Joe fucking Theismann.
Lets not forget that the Redskins and their NFC East brethren get about 14 primetime, nationally televised games every fucking season too.
I’m happy to see Art Monk make it, he very much deserves to be in the Hall. The problem is that there are three more gentlemen that should have easily made it this year. Cris Carter, one of the best and least talked about receivers I have ever seen. Derrick Thomas, one of the best pass rushers of all time and a great guy. Last, but not least, is Ray Guy. Guy may have been a “mere” punter, but he was the best punter to ever play the game. How these three guys didn’t make it is a mystery to me.
So far the reasons given for Cris Carter not getting in this year really only apply to his three-year stint with the Eagles. The fact that he was able to turn his professional and personal life around carries no weight with people, apparently.
That’s utter ridiculousness. The primary goal of the offense in football is to score points. Secondary goals include sustaining long drives to keep the opposition’s offense off the field. For the greater part of his career, Carter was considered a great possession reciever whose unbelievable hands, route running, and body control served his team well in the red zone.
Bear something in mind: voting for the Football Hall of Fame is NOT like voting for the Baseball Hall. It’s not done by “the media” or “the sportswriters,” it’s done by a small committee consisting of a small number of supposedly knowledgeable reprters and football insiders.
So, it’s silly to credit or blame media bias or regional bias when you assess the job done by the voters. NFL Hall of Fame voting is werid, but it’s weird in a very different way from baseball voting.
A few guys, most notably Peter King and Paul Zimmerman, have huge Probably excessive) influence over who gets in and who stays out. For years, King was the main reason Art Monk was out (he admitted last year that Joe Gibbs had explained in detail all the things that Monk contributed, above and beyond his receptions, and that changed King’s mind). And Paul Zimmerman is the one keeping Ray Guy out (he argues, correctly, that while Guy had a powerful leg and could really boom the ball, he didn’t do the coffin corner well, and hence MANY punters have superior net averages).
Moreover, in baseball, writers can pick zero or twenty players each year. In football, they’re limited to six a year. In practical terms, that means each year, there are 1 or 2 brand new nominees who are no brainers. That leaves 4 or 5 spots for players who were overlooked in earlier years. What happens? A lot of arguing and a lot of horse trading. (“I want Randy Gradishar in, you want Chuck Howley in… I votye for your guy if you vote for mine.”)
Scoring points is the offense’s primary goal, of course, but scoring points is a process, not an occurrence. If the QB passes his team 79 yards down the field and then watches the fullback run it in from the 1 on 1st Down, it’s the passing game that has accomplished something meaningful and the RB who’s done something ordinary.
Look, gang, I know this was intended as humourous (and so it is) but it’s still a personal insult and so not permitted.
(This is not an Official Warning, more in the way of a friendly reminder. I understand that no insult was intended. From a moderating point of view, it’s hard to know where to draw the line. I tend to err on the side of “too strict” an interpretation of what’s an insult, on the grounds that it’s easier to relax in certain cases than it is to tighten up in others.)
