2014 Pro Football Hall of Fame Finalists

I think if you put a gun to the heads of the voters and said, who had the better career, Harrison or Reed, most would have answered Harrison.

I think a lot of them would rather get Reed off the books and vote Harrison in next season or possibly they didn't want to set any kind of precedent by putting Harrison in on the first ballot.

 

Harrison is deserving but his stats are definitely inflated by the pass-45-times-a-game Manning offense.

 

Especially if he's the one holding the gun!

 

Nicely done.

 

Tip your cap and round the bases...

 

I think with the receivers, it becomes an issue of whether the player was a compiler or a truly great receiver. They can be both...

I look at Tim Brown and Isaac Bruce and I see "compilers"

I think Torry Holt was a great recevier and should eventually get in.

Harrison is both. Terrell Owens is both. Randy Moss is both.

 

Fred Taylor is an interesting case.
His career had no definition, just a steady mass of production.
Playing twice a year against very good run defenses.

 

I think James and Taylor are at the head of the class of recently-retired borderline HOF running backs. I tend to think neither will get in.

Edgerrin James
Fred Taylor
Jamal Lewis
Corey Dillon
Eddie George
Shaun Alexander
Warrick Dunn
Thomas Jones
Tiki Barber
Ricky Williams
Clinton Portis
Ahman Green

All of those guys are among the top 35 all-time rushers. I think James (11th all-time) and Taylor (15th all-time) have a small chance, but I don't think any of the others will, unless voters find Alexander's 100 TDs too much to overlook, but I don't see that happening.

 

I wouldn't pick anyone from that group.
I liked James and Taylor and respected their talents, but they just don't have the aura.
As mentioned in passing on this site's latest fucktarded quarterback thread, Manning stole a lot of touchdowns from James with audibles inside the 5.
(There's old video of miked-up Manning and Jeff Saturday on the sideline arguing heatedly about not running on the goal line.)
And James never had the same explosion after the knee injury he suffered just two years into his career.

 

The biggest problem with most of those backs is they all played at roughly the same time and there's not much to distinguish among them. Could you honestly say that you'd rather have any of those backs over the rest? They were each very good, some were more compilers, some had a great, but short, peak. None of them carried their teams to multiple Super Bowl appearances. I think of that whole list there is what, two rings? Of those two championships, one was because of a historic defense (Lewis in 2000) and one was on a team led by Brady (Dillon 2004).

 

Almost all of them also hit the RB wall (or got injured) at roughly the same time...

 

James had five straight 1,000-yard seasons (including two 1,500-yard seasons) after that injury. He had more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage in a season once, and came close to a second, after that injury.

While James wasn't the same in Arizona, he's clearly the most deserving of the RBs Mizzou listed. I'd probably put Dillon second, and Taylor third.