2021-2022 NFL Season

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

His numbers and a ring equals Canton.  I am as sure of this as I was a year ago that the Rams were going to the Super Bowl.

Maybe if he balls out for 7 more years, then we can talk.  But as if today, not a HOFer.

As I said in another post, the Super Bowl is a team accomplishment and not an individual one.  Yesterday had minimal impact on Stafford's HOF chances.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

His numbers and a ring equals Canton.  I am as sure of this as I was a year ago that the Rams were going to the Super Bowl.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has a strange election process in that it relies a lot more on personal persuasion than just outright voting so who knows if he will be lobbied to get in, but if his career ended right now, by this metric for instance, he would be the least deserving quarterback of all time.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/hof/hofm_QB.htm

He's made one Pro Bowl and maybe had a couple seasons where you would have considered him top five in the league. 

[Jockey]

His numbers and a ring equals Canton.  I am as sure of this as I was a year ago that the Rams were going to the Super Bowl.

You are 100% right. I just think he is a very borderline guy.

[Pakuni]

His numbers and a ring equals Canton.  I am as sure of this as I was a year ago that the Rams were going to the Super Bowl.

His numbers relative to his peers are good, but not elite.
And there are plenty of one-ring QBs - and at least one two-ring QB I can think of - on the outside looking in at Canton.
It's close, but he's not a lock at this point. Win another title and you may be on to something.

[CTWarrior]

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has a strange election process in that it relies a lot more on personal persuasion than just outright voting so who knows if he will be lobbied to get in, but if his career ended right now, by this metric for instance, he would be the least deserving quarterback of all time.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/hof/hofm_QB.htm

He's made one Pro Bowl and maybe had a couple seasons where you would have considered him top five in the league.

That's interesting, thanks for posting.  I would have thought hat Joe Namath was the worst.  Look at his career numbers.  He is in solely because he was the winning QB of the most important game leading to the AFL-NFL merger.

[Jockey]

That's interesting, thanks for posting.  I would have thought hat Joe Namath was the worst.  Look at his career numbers.  He is in solely because he was the winning QB of the most important game leading to the AFL-NFL merger.

Bart Starr's stats are not comparable either. These guys had 2 wide receivers - seldom had 3; never had 4. It's a completely different game.

I think Namath's personality certainly helped him too.

[Pakuni]

I think Namath's personality certainly helped him too.

There are definitely players whose influence on the game transcend their production, and Namath is one of those guys. He was the first "rock star/celebrity" professional football player and helped create the TV spectacle that the game has become.

[MU82]

Simply can't compare today's QBs to any who played before, say, 1980 (or maybe even later).

I mean, in winning 2 Super Bowls, Bob Griese threw a TOTAL of 18 passes. And he called his own plays!

Griese was what today would be called a "game manager." But he still was a worthy Hall of Famer.

The game started changing with the likes of Bradshaw and Stabler, but it was Marino, Elway and Kelly in the draft class of 1983 who really ushered in the new era.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Simply can't compare today's QBs to any who played before, say, 1980 (or maybe even later).

I mean, in winning 2 Super Bowls, Bob Griese threw a TOTAL of 18 passes. And he called his own plays!

Griese was what today would be called a "game manager." But he still was a worthy Hall of Famer.

The game started changing with the likes of Bradshaw and Stabler, but it was Marino, Elway and Kelly in the draft class of 1983 who really ushered in the new era.

Right.  Which is why I like Pro Football Reference's page.  It compares players against their contemporaries, and Stafford has never been considered anything better than a notch below his top peers.

[wadesworld]

Right.  Which is why I like Pro Football Reference's page.  It compares players against their contemporaries, and Stafford has never been considered anything better than a notch below his top peers.

Love the name change.

[4everwarriors]

Love the sex change.

[dgies9156]

Bart Starr's stats are not comparable either. These guys had 2 wide receivers - seldom had 3; never had 4. It's a completely different game.

I think Namath's personality certainly helped him too.

Brother Jockey:

Bart Starr is in Canton because he was the field general of the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s. Five NFL Championships and a sixth Conference Championship speak for themselves.

In those days, quarterbacks did not have radio connections with upstairs coaching boxes. Mr. Starr called the plays himself and ran Coach Lombardi's offense.

Also, I'd argue the single most important game in NFL History -- at least based on my viewing at the Pro Football Hall of Fame -- is the Ice Bowl. Joe Namath, in no small measure, is in Canton to preserve the memory of Super Bowl III. Mr. Starr's enshrinement preserves the Ice Bowl for all time. His leadership in that game was the difference. In the last five minutes, he and Coach Lombardi exuded a quiet confidence that carried the Packers into the Dallas end zone.

Would Mr. Starr have made it if the Packers had lost on December 31, 1967? Probably, but it might not have been a first-year induction and Mr. Starr would have been viewed differently when compared against the great quarterbacks of his time.

You are right, pro football in the 1960s was a very different game. I question whether a quarterback like Bart Starr could make it in today's game. He was an incredibly smart man, but his talents were comparatively mediocre when measured against Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers. Or, for that matter, Tom Brady. I think even he would have admitted that.

I've always said about Aaron Rodgers -- Brett Favre's skills and Bart Starr's mind.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Jockey isn't suggesting that Starr shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame.

[JWags85]

The Ice Bowl is the most important game in NFL history?  Thats an interesting take

[MU82]

The Ice Bowl is the most important game in NFL history?  Thats an interesting take

I've mostly heard that "honor" given to the 1958 NFL title game between the Colts and Giants. For example, this from The American Century:

Although it is impossible to pinpoint a single event or game as the cause of the NFL's ascendance during the second half of the 20th Century, the 1958 championship game was a marquee moment for the league. It placed the league on a national stage for the first time and exposed the pro game to millions of new fans.

On December 28th, 1958 the Baltimore Colts, champions of the NFL's Western Division, traveled north to take on the New York Giants, the victors from the Eastern Division. More than 70,000 fans filled Yankee Stadium for the back and forth affair. Afterwards it would be christened by a Sports Illustrated reporter as "The Greatest Game Ever Played."

The game marked a number of important firsts for the league. First, NBC broadcast the game across the country, the first time an NFL game reached a national broadcast. Second, After the Baltimore Colts had drove the length of the field to tie the game with seven seconds left on a field goal, the first ever overtime period in NFL football was played (regular season games simply ended with a tie score, an outcome that clearly was not satisfactory for a championship game).

In the sudden-death overtime period, Colts running back Alan Ameche scored on a one yard touchdown run to win Baltimore its first ever NFL Championship. By the time Ameche dove across the goalline, another NFL first was achieved as an estimated forty five million viewers were tuned into the battle at Yankee stadium, shattering all previous NFL TV ratings.

In addition to exposing the NFL to millions of potential new fans, the legend of the 1958 game helped propel into stardom some of the league first stars of the television era. Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas seemed a real manifestation of the American dream. The blue-collar quarterback had been cut from the Pittsburgh Steelers before determinedly playing his way onto the Colts roster and eventually into the starting role. Rivaling Unitas' starpower was the Giants' linebacker Sam Huff. Huff, another blue-collar kid who grew up in the West Virginia coalfields, helped push NFL into the mainstream with his presence on the cover of TIME magazine in 1960 and the Walter Cronkite narrated CBS documentary The Violent World of Sam Huff which was produced in the same year. The NFL was beginning to gain national legitimacy.

[dgies9156]

I've mostly heard that "honor" given to the 1958 NFL title game between the Colts and Giants.

Brother MU:

I probably agree with you on this score. The game was close and controversial and had everyone on the edge of their seats.

John Unitas was the all-world quarterback for the Colts and I think Y.A. Tittle was quarterback for the Giants.

On the Giants sideline were key assistants Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi. Over with the Colts was Webb Eubanks, who showed up a decade later as head coach of the New York Jets.

The reason I mentioned the Ice Bowl as the greatest ever is twofold. First, the amount of time and space spent on the game in the HOF is extraordinary. Second, the game itself reflects the spirit of the NFL, tough, talented and battle-hardened players and tough, excited fans. It embodied the philosophy of Vince Lombardi, who, in no small measure, provides the League with its identity.

Or he will until they rename his trophy the Bill Belichick Trophy.

As for Bart Starr, I recognize nobody said he didn't belong. I was merely defining why he is there. Bart Starr was my favorite NFL player growing up. In addition to leading the Packers, he was an incredibly decent human being.

[Jockey]

.

As for Bart Starr, I recognize nobody said he didn't belong. I was merely defining why he is there. Bart Starr was my favorite NFL player growing up. In addition to leading the Packers, he was an incredibly decent human being.

As Fluff said, I was NOT saying Starr shouldn't be in the HoF. I was merely pointing out how stats completely change over the course of time.

Starr (along with Herb Adderly) was my fave player as well.

[Herman Cain]

I watched a lot of Joe Namath games . In those days the quarterbacks called their own plays  . Joe threw the deep ball often and was a very exciting player to watch. He had a very quick release on his passes.

Joe was hobbled by knee injuries, early in his pro career, during a time when surgical  techniques were not what they were today.  He could barely run to get out of the way of the rush. He also played on a very lousy Jets team in a stadium that often had heavy offshore breezes flowing through it.

Prior to his injuries', I think Joe's skill sets would have adapted well to the modern style of football. 

[CTWarrior]

I watched a lot of Joe Namath games . In those days the quarterbacks called their own plays  . Joe threw the deep ball often and was a very exciting player to watch. He had a very quick release on his passes.

Joe was hobbled by knee injuries, early in his pro career, during a time when surgical  techniques were not what they were today.  He could barely run to get out of the way of the rush. He also played on a very lousy Jets team in a stadium that often had heavy offshore breezes flowing through it.

Prior to his injuries', I think Joe's skill sets would have adapted well to the modern style of football.

I am a Jets fan and Joe was my guy as a kid.  But that doesn't change the fact that his stats are bad, even for the era in which he was playing.  Losing career record, way more INTs than TDs, etc.

[JWags85]

I am a Jets fan and Joe was my guy as a kid.  But that doesn't change the fact that his stats are bad, even for the era in which he was playing.  Losing career record, way more INTs than TDs, etc.

I never really looked heavily at Namath's stats, but sheesh, injuries or not his numbers in the 70s are ROUGH.  Also, its wild to have a QB in the HOF who, regardless of era, had only 2 out THIRTEEN seasons where he had more TDs than INTs.

[StillAWarrior]

I never really looked heavily at Namath's stats, but sheesh, injuries or not his numbers in the 70s are ROUGH.  Also, its wild to have a QB in the HOF who, regardless of era, had only 2 out THIRTEEN seasons where he had more TDs than INTs.

[Lennys Tap]

Brother MU:

I probably agree with you on this score. The game was close and controversial and had everyone on the edge of their seats.

John Unitas was the all-world quarterback for the Colts and I think Y.A. Tittle was quarterback for the Giants.

On the Giants sideline were key assistants Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi. Over with the Colts was Webb Eubanks, who showed up a decade later as head coach of the New York Jets.

The reason I mentioned the Ice Bowl as the greatest ever is twofold. First, the amount of time and space spent on the game in the HOF is extraordinary. Second, the game itself reflects the spirit of the NFL, tough, talented and battle-hardened players and tough, excited fans. It embodied the philosophy of Vince Lombardi, who, in no small measure, provides the League with its identity.

Or he will until they rename his trophy the Bill Belichick Trophy.

As for Bart Starr, I recognize nobody said he didn't belong. I was merely defining why he is there. Bart Starr was my favorite NFL player growing up. In addition to leading the Packers, he was an incredibly decent human being.

Charlie Connerly was the QB on that Giant team. Y A  Tittle arrived later via a trade with the 49ers. He Quarterbacked the Giants to the title game in 1963 - which they lost at Wrigley Field to the Chicago Bears.

[MU82]

I never really looked heavily at Namath's stats, but sheesh, injuries or not his numbers in the 70s are ROUGH.  Also, its wild to have a QB in the HOF who, regardless of era, had only 2 out THIRTEEN seasons where he had more TDs than INTs.

If the NFL had a Hall voting system similar to MLB, Namath would have never gotten in. For better or worse.

[cheebs09]

In the most important news, Rodgers and Woodley have appeared to split. Maybe he’s not going to Denver after all.

[Uncle Rico]

In the most important news, Rodgers and Woodley have appeared to split. Maybe he’s not going to Denver after all.

Just another ring he won’t get