Yeah, I gotta chime in with the whole “Why does McNair need to go to the Pro Bowl in order to get to the Hall?” sentiment. The quarterback’s job is to lead his team and McNair does that as consistently as any other in the league. Tennessee, however, has been a traditionally run-heavy team, so his name didn’t, until the past couple of seasons, come up when discussing the great quarterbacks of the NFL. Now that Eddie George has become less effective, Tennessee’s gameplan runs more obviously through McNair (though some would argue that it did all along), and we’re seeing what this guy can do.
Which is sort of another reason to vote McNair for the Hall of Fame. He has never been the type of player who needed to be the marquee player. He seems to have started the league with the kind of ethos that Brett Favre has developed only in the latter years of his career; the only stat that matters to these guys is wins. While Favre has this luxury because he no longer needs to prove anything to anone (notice that no one has disputed his inclusion in the HOF or even put him in their “on the bubble” list), McNair came into the league as a team player and has been such since the start. He never went to pro bowls because he wasn’t a self-aggrandizer and was willing to sacrifice some of his own stats to let someone like Eddie George be the focal point of the offense. However, once George faltered, McNair stepped up in a classic style.
You’re the nutty one if you think two good (or even great) years of football gets you to Canton. Without hesitation, he is not a hall of famer.
Which Ten years was he the top linebacker in Football? I must have been asleep. Don’t get me wrong, He’s been very, very good. He was among the league’s best for a stretch.
To say he is top ten now is laughable. He’s not even top 25 now.
Adjusted yards per pass: 1990-6, 1992-8, 1998-2
* Conclusion
He had an awesome 1988 & 1998. Watching him in the 80’searly90’s when he was interested he was a special QB, who could work magic. He was a good QB later into his career than his contemporaries – & that was after he had been beaten badly for a decade behind a poor Eagle O-line & made living as a “running” QB.
But he was never even good enuff to ride that awesome Eagles D to the Superbowl Dilfer-like – in fact he was a loser in the playoffs. His teammates hated him for most of his career. He was a disruptive force almost as much to his own team, and to the game plan as to the opposition. I think of Randall as a guy who never reached his potential and never helped the very good teams he was playing on to reach thiers and become great (which wasn’t out of the question at times in Philly & in 98-99 MN) and become great. That is the QB RC was to me rather than a HoF’er.
Let’s see how many utterly incorrect things you passed off as fact, shall we?
There are too many quarterbacks compared to other positions in the Hall already.
** The Hall needs a lot more linemen in it, although Dan Dierdorf is probably not one of those who should be in.**
Really?
If you had bothered to take all of two minutes you would have found out that a grand total of 25 quarterbacks have been elected to the Hall of Fame. That includes pre-modern and modern area players.
Putting both defensive and offensive linemen together one finds that there are 67 enshrined in the Hall, with 28 offensive lineman from the Modern era alone.
There are also too many announcers in the Hall whose careers weren’t all that great.
While there are a few announcers who are also in the Hall of Fame, Dan Dierdorf being the only one I can think of at the moment, all of them were elected for their performance on the playing field, not in the announcers booth. The pro football hall of fame doesn’t induct announcers, that is left to the baseball hall of fame.
I think that a player should arguably be the best at his position for at least a five year period to be in the Hall.
Well, guess we’ll have to kick out John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, Gale Sayers, John Riggens, Jackie Smith, Joe Namath, Charley Taylor, Bobby Mitchell, Lee Roy Selmon, Elvin Bethea, George Halas, Doak Walker, Bob Griese, and just for kicks, Larry Csonka.
None of those players were the best player at their position in the entire league for 5 years during the course of their careers, but between them they have 14 Super Bowl rings and 8 Super Bowl Championships, not to mention being a founder of the NFL. (Halas who is in as a player, coach and contributor.)
Your ignorance is shocking, considering that is what this board tries to fight.
As a Colts fan, I should kick myself for forgetting him on my first post, but if Mike Vanderjagt keeps it up, I don’t see how he can be excluded from the Hall of Fame.
I agree that the number of appearances in a Pro Bowl is meaningless. If McNair keeps it up, he should be inducted.
Best cover corner ever, and not so bad kick returner.
anderson and andersen kickers are both in.
As for currents:
Also Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith are no duh.
Also Brett Favre just for starting 180 straight games, including that immortal Monday Night the day after his father’s death.
Nitpick: It’s 205 straight games for Favre, because you have to include his playoff games. Plus, I mean, it’s not like that’s the only reason he’s going to go in first ballot…
Ricky Watters I don’t think makes it. He had some good years and was a solid player, but was he ever really one of the top runners in the league? Or in the top five? I guess I’d have to go back and look at his stats, but offhand, no, he misses. Same with Herschel Walker.
McNair is a shoe in. And he deserves it, but even beyond that the press seems to gave a love affair with this guy that knows no end. ANd it has nothing to do with race. I don't know what it has to do with, but they have tried their best to somehow find a way to give him the MVP award this year. He's had a great season, but he's not the MVP.
Kurt Warner does not make it. Neither does Terrel Davis. As good as they both were, not at the top long enough.
Everyone seems to have forgotten Bruce Smith. Sure to be there despite the mediocrity of his game in the past two seasons and seemingly only sticking it out for the sacks record. Oh, wait, looking back now, someone did mention him.
Bettis is kind of iffy, but I bet he makes it.
Larry Allen is the best guard in the game for the past decade. I don't know about ever, but certainly the best of his generation.
Bledsoe is a wait and see. Career started out good, but then tailed off quickly. He could still recover and make it, but not with more seasons like Buffalo just had. At the other end, a guy like Jake Plummer seems to have a chance now that he is on a decent team. ANd Tom Brady is well on his way, but still too early to say for sure.
Keyshawn?! KeyShawn?! No way. Only HOF he'll make it in is the overrated player HOF. He is a good receiver that does not live up to the hype and, for the last three years, has not even really put up Pro Bowl type numbers, let alone HOF numbers. This year, even before he was cut, he was not even the best receiver on the Bucs. No way he will make it.
I think Cunningham could have made it, but injuries cut short many of his years. Plus his teams always seemed to be underachieving. DId he win a SB ring one year as a Cowboys back up? I know he spent one or two years with the team.
The thing I’ve noticed is how many posters to this thread have said that a player has to be the best at their position for a certain number of years, usually more then 4 before they can even be considered for the Hall of Fame.
The average career of an NFL player is something like 3.5 years.
And lets take the case of Gale Sayers, who didn’t even play 5 full seasons yet was unanimously elected to the Hall.
In his rookie year he scored a total of 22 touchdowns, including the game on December 12, 1965 against the san Francisco 49ers in which he scored a record tying 6 touchdowns.
He led in the league in rushing twice, first in 1966 with 1,231 yards and again in 1969 with 1,032.
His career numbers are far from spectacular, and the arguement has been made, fairly or unfairly that George Halas exerted a good deal of pressure on the Hall of Fame Voting committee when Sayers was eligible for enshrinement.
I’ll admit that I skimmed through some of the second page of this thread, but I don’t think I’ve seen Ahman Green, yet. I would think that by this point in the season people would finally be giving him some respect. He’s been the all around most productive back over the past four years. He runs as hard at the hole (funny expression)as anyone, he’s fast and shifty, he’s smart and patient. Ahman Green has been fanfriggin’ tastic and he has a few years left in him. Statistically, he’s edging his way up with the big dogs in history (beat some long standing team records this year). Ahman Green may not be a lock, but I am quite surprised to see his name not mentioned along side the likes of some other halfbacks mentioned. Also, please, don’t ever mention Alstot alongside the great fullbacks. William Henderson is much more valuable and could catch just as well and score as much but his team doesn’t need him to be a halfback/receiver. They need him to be a fullback.
Ahman Green’s a bit young to know for sure, but if he puts up four more years like his last four, then he’ll be a lock. Problem is running backs don’t age so well - see Davis, Terrell.
Another name that I think is close, but not quite - Jimmy Smith. If he comes back with a couple of more 1000+ yard seasons, which is not impossible (but also not likely) for a receiver his age, he’d be in. He’s already barely in the top 20 in receptions and yards. His relative lack of scoring hurts him. He’s Isaac Bruce without some of the touchdowns (and a couple of years older so less likely to pad his stats).
Another name in the category of too young to know for sure, but got a good chance - Torry Holt. Two of the top ten alltime seasons in receiving yards in his first five years. If he stays at that pace, he’s in, of course.
Corey Dillon’s got an outside chance, if he can get his act together. I’m not holding my breath on that, though.