Not in NFL HOF??

The Game Room
21

I think a case could be made for Tiki ahead of Edge, Watters and LDT. Consider yards per carry, ranking only guys with 10,000+ rushing yards:

5.2 Jim Brown
5.1
5.0 Barry Sanders
4.9 Adrian Peterson
4.8
4.7 OJ Simpson / Tiki Barber
4.6 Fred Taylor
4.5 Frank Gore
4.4 Walter Payton / Eric Dickerson
4.3 LaDainian Tomlinson / Tony Dorsett / Marshall Faulk / Corey Dillon
4.2 Emmit Smith / Thurman Thomas / Jamal Lewis
4.1 Marcus Allen / Franco Harris / Steven Jackson / Warrick Dunn / Ricky Watters / Ricky Williams
4.0 Curtis Martin / Edgerrin James / Thomas Jones / Ottis Anderson
3.9 Jerome Bettis
3.8
3.7
3.6 Eddie George

Only three guys are ahead of Tiki, one is tied with him, and all four are historic greats: Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Adrian Peterson and OJ Simpson. That’s quite a select company to be in.

Filtering out everyone else:

4.7 Tiki Barber
4.6
4.5
4.4
4.3 LaDainian Tomlinson
4.2
4.1 Ricky Watters
4.0 Edgerrin James

Tiki looks better than those other guys to me. Fassel and Coughlin were both believers in having specialist goal line backs, so Tiki lost out on many touchdowns he could have scored. That hurts him, for sure, no argument. But his average per carry over a long career was phenomenal.

He had five 200+ yard rushing games – tied for #2 with LDT, behind only OJ Simpson with six – and his longest run from scrimmage was 95 yards. (!) So not only was he reliable, he was also explosive.

Ancillary aspects include the fact that Tiki was a fantastic pass catcher, one of the best at blitz pickups, and just overall he was a guy you really wanted on the field at all times. Jim Fassel summed it up thusly: “Whenever we’re on offense, and I see Tiki standing next to me on the sideline, I get nervous.”

Total receiving yards for the highlighted group:

5183 Tiki Barber
4772 Ladainian Tomlinson
4248 Ricky Watters
433 Edgerrin James

22

For context, there are only three RBs in NFL history with 10,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving yards: Marshall Faulk, Marcus Allen and Tiki Barber. Though of course receiving is only a secondary attribute.

23

Stats work pretty good for determining how good a baseball player was during his career, I don’t see it so much in football. I think the football HOF has to be more open to taking players with long productive careers who may not have held records. The quality of a football team affects the stats of everyone on that team to a greater degree than baseball does giving a definite advantage to the players from the best teams.

24

I don’t know the exact number, but Edgerrin James had…quite a bit more than 433 receiving yards.

25

Again, Jerry Kramar is criminally not in the HOF.

26

Agreed, though with 11 Lombardi-era Packers in the Hall (plus Lombardi himself), I suspect that there’s some sentiment of “we’ve put enough of them in already.”

27

Edge had 433 receptions for 3364 yards.

And as noted above, Tiki didn’t get a lot of the goal line carries. So not only are his TDs low, but that also impacts his yards/carry, which is noted as being higher than other comparable RBs.

28

Yeah, I thought those receiving yards for Edge seemed really low. heh.

29

But there has to be some kind of Mendoza line for the HOF right? Not everyone can get in and, IMHO, there are far too many people in the Football hall.

I think neither Tiki nor Edge should get in because, other than being good players, they didn’t have that particularly many stand out qualities. You almost hate to say it, but regardless of what the number say, none of them really make the eyball test of “oh man you gotta see him!”.

I doubt many Broncos fans saw a Monday Night Football game between the Giants and the Dolphins and thought “I should watch this because Tiki Barber is running the ball”. Same with (random team’s fan) with the Colts. If you turn the Colts on it’s to see Peyton, Freeny, Harrison, Wayne and then MAYBE Edge (in that order).

30

The energizer bunny of kickers isn’t a bad call and I thought of him. I’d go with Jason Hanson before him though. Hanson “only” played 21 years so his totals are lower but he had a higher career percentage on field goals. Even with that shorter career he also holds the record for 40+ yd field goals made in a career and is tied for the 50+ field goal career record. He also only played for one team, the Lions. That level of futility deserves a little extra credit. :smiley:

31

For the Colts, it was just Peyton and Freeney. Harrison and Wayne weren’t “tune in to see” type players.

I would count Tiki in the “must see” category. He was essentially LDT minus the goal line carries.

32

But by that standard, no offensive lineman should ever be elected. Nobody ever tuned in to see John Hannah, Larry Little, Mike Webster or Orlando Pace throw a block.

33

Different standards for different positions.

The Mendoza for RBs would be handidly different than the Mendoza for an OL, and I am not smart enough to really form the basis of either.

That being said it would be easier for Joe Q. Football Fan (i.e. me) to figure out RB

34

Edgerrin James was the best back in the league for his first two seasons, then shredded his ACL. Even after that, he was among the top three until going to Arizona. I guess it’s hard to campaign for a guy based on what he did over two years but he had very productive seasons afterwards.