Pro Football Hall of Fame: Class of 2012 Picks

by | Feb 4, 2012 | Hall of Fame

Announcement day has arrived, we’re less than 12 hours from knowing who has made the cut. I’m not sure if we’ll find out which of the 15 finalists make the cut to 10 in advance of the 5:30 announcement show or not, but hopefully you’ll check back with us here for more discussion around this year’s class.

And, of course, our Class of 2013 predictions, which we promise will be posted a lot sooner than November this time around.

Below are the final 2012 hall of fame class predictions that we’ve been able to scrape from the comments–let me know (tony(at)zoneblitz.com or in the comments section) if you’d like to be added to the list…

Zoneblitz Martin Dawson Roaf Reed Parcells Stanfel Butler
Billy Martin Dawson Carter Reed Haley Stanfel Butler
Brad Martin Dawson Roaf Reed Kennedy Stanfel Butler
Paul Martin Dawson Roaf Reed Kennedy Stanfel Butler
BSLO Martin Dawson Parcells Reed Kennedy Stanfel Butler
Robert Ewing Martin Doleman Roaf Reed Haley Butler
Chris Martin Dawson Doleman Reed Kennedy Stanfel Butler
boknows34 Martin Dawson Roaf Reed Kennedy Stanfel Butler

Nike Prepares to Destroy the NFL Uniform As We Know It

by | Jan 24, 2012 | NFL Uniforms

Interesting post from ProFootballTalk this morning regarding NFL apparel — apparently Nike is taking over production of NFL jerseys & apparel starting in April 2012.  As such, they reportedly have promised they “plan on changing the NFL jersey dramatically just like we’ve done with the college programs, using new thinking and the greatest technology available,” according to Nike Brand President Charlie Denson. “The NFL program hasn’t had the same type of advancement in recent years.”

This is an area that the NFL needs to make sure to police tightly, if you ask us — or risk some backlash from some of the longtime fans that they’ve built up years of support from.

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Pro Football Hall of Fame Names 2012 Finalists

by | Jan 7, 2012 | Hall of Fame

The Pro Football Hall of Fame named its 15 finalists for the Class of 2012, with guard Will Shields and coach Bill Parcells being first time finalists (Parcells was technically a finalist before, when coaches did not have to wait the five years, and is apparently considered a first time candidate again).

Joining Parcells and Shields as finalists from the modern era:

  • Jerome Bettis, RB
  • Tim Brown, WR
  • Cris Carter, WR
  • Dermontti Dawson, C
  • Eddie DeBartolo, Jr., Contributor
  • Chris Doleman, DE
  • Kevin Greene, OLB/DE
  • Charles Haley, DE
  • Cortez Kennedy, DT
  • Curtis Martin, RB
  • Andre Reed, WR
  • Willie Roaf, T
  • Aeneas Williams, CB

    • The only two we missed on were Aeneas Williams (who we had as a finalist last year), and DeBartolo, Jr. In their places we had picked coach Bill Cowher (who wasn’t even a semifinalist, presumably due to the belief he will resume coaching) and RB Terrell Davis.

    All five of our picks for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2012 are still in the running.

    Missing the cut from the 2012 Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalist list were:

  • Steve Atwater
  • Don Coryell
  • Roger Craig
  • Clay Matthews
  • Karl Mecklenburg
  • Donnie Shell
  • Paul Tagliabue
  • Steve Tasker
  • Ron Wolf
  • George Young

    • The list of finalists will be narrowed to 10, and then down to five on the Saturday before the Super Bowl, and those five will be voted on individually for inclusion along with Senior Candidates Jack Butler and Dick Stanfel.

    Follow up in the comments with your thoughts on the finalists…

    Jason Taylor: Hall of Fame Bound

    by | Jan 5, 2012 | Hall of Fame

    Recently in our Hall of Fame coverage we seem to be adding individual posts and polls for individual players that are worthy of conversation for the Hall of Fame (ignoring sure things like Brett Favre).

    Before last week’s game, Dolphins DE/LB Jason Taylor confirmed that he would retire at the end of the season. He finished his career with 139.5 sacks (6th all-time) in 233 games, 6 Pro Bowls and 3 First Team All-Pro selections. He recovered 29 fumbles (25th all-time) for 246 return yards (2nd all-time) and 6 TDs (1st all-time), and added 8 interceptions, of which 3 were returned for TDs.

    The numbers here make me think that it’s less of a question of whether he makes the Hall of Fame, but rather when he makes it–is he a first year guy, or does he have to wait a few years?

    Is Jason Taylor heading to the Hall of Fame?

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    Playoff Fantasy Football

    by | Jan 4, 2012 | 2011 season, Fantasy Football

    Was recently introduced to a style of playoff fantasy football that I had not seen before, and wanted to get some additional opinions on strategy from other readers.

    Basically, you pick a full team (2 QB, 3 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 Kicker, 1 Def/ST, 1 Wild Card), but you must select one (and only one) from each team in the playoffs–and any person in the league can choose the same guy (ie, everyone would presumably want Drew Brees).

    Let’s assume a standard scoring for this (6 pts/TD, 4 pts/passing TD, 1 pt/10 yards rushing/receiving, 1 pt/25 yards passing, etc).

    Here’s the lineup I came up with:

    Green Bay: Rodgers, QB
    San Francisco: Gore, RB
    New Orleans: Brees, QB
    NY Giants: Cruz, WR
    Atlanta: Gonzalez, TE
    Detroit: C. Johnson, WR
    New England: Brady, Wildcard
    Baltimore: Rice, RB
    Houston: Foster, RB
    Denver: Prater, K
    Pittsburgh: Defense/Special Teams
    Cincinnati: AJ Green, WR

    Let us know who you have in the comments…