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Mr. Brightside

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9 hours ago, Swarley said:

I think we say this every year, but we're almost at the stage of watching players playing Madden.

Even though I haven't bothered with Madden since the mid-90's, I'd still be more inclined to watch that than flag football shite, or active "elite" QB's being absolutely embarrassed in a passing skills competition by a career 3rd stringer who has been retired for about 20 years.

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16 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

Friday night games are great IMO. 

That’s gonna take a hit on viewership. Much like the NFL for years stayed away from Saturdays during College Football Season, this has the High School Football aspect, and that’s a big overlap with the NFL fanbase

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They normally only induct 4-5 players each year, so with Peppers, Gates, Holt, Johnson, Wayne, and Willie Anderson on the ballot, it will be a total joke if Hester gets inducted ahead of any of those guys.

I have no theoretical problem with a K/PR making the HoF, but they shouldn't go ahead of full-time O/D starters no matter how good they were, so IMO Hester should have to wait for an exceptionally "thin" class to have any chance. If Hester is truly HoF worthy, then so are guys like Mel Gray, Dave Meggett, Brian Mitchell, and Eric Metcalf, and none of them even get mentioned. If you are going to induct guys who barely played 6-10 snaps every game, then you also need to go back and look at all the great Kickers, Punters, and even long-snappers who have never got a look in. Why not? LS is still a vital part of a team, and there is a huge difference between the good and bad.

Edited by Boo Khaki
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I disagree. It should be for the elite at each position. Hester is the greatest returner of all time and they changed the return rules, because he was too good.

He should be ahead of WRs that were very good, but not elite. Which includes players like Holt and Andre Johnson.

And absolutely, elite Kickers, Punters, etc, should be Hall of Famers.

Harder to select LS's. You have to look at who didn't do a bad snap in their career I guess.

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2 hours ago, Brummie Clyde said:

I disagree. It should be for the elite at each position. Hester is the greatest returner of all time and they changed the return rules, because he was too good.

He should be ahead of WRs that were very good, but not elite. Which includes players like Holt and Andre Johnson.

And absolutely, elite Kickers, Punters, etc, should be Hall of Famers.

Harder to select LS's. You have to look at who didn't do a bad snap in their career I guess.

I don't think we're really in disagreement as such, because I also think that it should be for the very elite, but then that does not explain the absence of Kickers, Punters, and Long Snappers, which is usually reduced to a "well they only play a handful of snaps" argument... just like returners.

Both Holt and Johnson absolutely were elite WR's. Holt had 8 consecutive 1000+ yard seasons, twice going over 1600, and was 12th all time in Rec Yardage when he retired. He's still 17th all time. Isaac Bruce, his teammate and already a HoF WR, outproduced him in bulk because he played 5 years longer, but Holt's year by year averages are superior. It's not like Holt had a short career himself. Johnson is himself 11th in the All-time list, 5x 1000 yard seasons, broke 1500 yards three times, and the 100 catch mark five times. He was frequently the Texans only real threat, doubled consistently, and still made his plays. If teams were stupid enough to single him he usually ran riot. If neither of those guys were elite, then presumably you are judging them by the standard of Jerry Rice and Calvin Johnson, in which case there should only be a literal handful of WR's in the HoF, yet there are already guys in there who were far less productive and dominant than both TH and AJ. Wayne's numbers and shape of career is similar, in fact, all three produced roughly at the same level as Marvin Harrison. All four players are still firmly inside the top 20 in All Time receiving yardage, so if that is not elite, how precisely are you defining it?

I also do not accept that the league changed the rules because of Hester. Kick-off, and kick coverage rules have been tinkered with continually down the years, both before Hester played and in the time since, and it's not because anyone was "too good" or too productive because there's nothing the NFL loves more than big plays and TD's, and there were plenty of guys prior to Hester's appearance who still lit teams up in the kicking game. They changed KO rules primarily because of concerns over player safety, and not just the recent moving forward of the KO spot to induce more Touchbacks. They outlawed the wedge for much the same reasons not so long back.

Hester was a great returner, inarguably, but he does not deserve to go into the HoF ahead of full-time starters who were dominant players for 10+ year careers, not when they induct a mere handful of players each year and there is already a backlog of deserving cases. If they expand the classes and make it clear that specialists should not be considered less worthy because of limited role, then fine, but putting him in this year and leaving out eligible dominant WR's and OL's would be ridiculous given that none of his dominant, "elite" returner predecessors ever got a look in, and the guys in the HoF who were great returners are there primarily because they were dominant skill position players or DB's.

 

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1 hour ago, Raidernation said:

Still no place for SB MVP and two times winner Jim Plunkett 🤔😡

I don't believe Kurt Warner should be in the HoF, so I'd be a hypocrite if I said I though Plunkett was deserving given that my argument for excluding Warner is that a couple of dominant, or winning seasons do not excuse a career that was mediocre in large parts. I think Plunkett is possibly more deserving because the era he played in was far less conducive to prolonged, consistently productive QB play, but if I'm Eli Manning and I see Warner and Plunkett in the HoF then I'm going to be going to my tailor to get measured up ASAP.

Phil Simms might also be a bit cheesed off, and if you use the argument that "times were hard", then Simms career looks even more impressive.

Edited by Boo Khaki
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On 08/02/2024 at 14:31, Brummie Clyde said:

I disagree. It should be for the elite at each position. Hester is the greatest returner of all time and they changed the return rules, because he was too good.

He should be ahead of WRs that were very good, but not elite. Which includes players like Holt and Andre Johnson.

And absolutely, elite Kickers, Punters, etc, should be Hall of Famers.

Harder to select LS's. You have to look at who didn't do a bad snap in their career I guess.

Hester getting in is a complete piss-take.  

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