Hall of Fame Names 2012 Senior Nominees

by | Aug 24, 2011 | Hall of Fame

Two players from the NFL’s All-Decade team for the 1950’s have been named the two senior finalists for enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a part of the 2012 class.

Cornerback Jack Butler was an undrafted free agent that signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1951-1959, earning Pro Bowl honors from 1956-59 ad being named first-team All-NFL in the final three seasons of his career.  He recorded 52 interceptions in nine seasons with the Steelers, including a career high 10 during the 1957 season. He retired after suffering a knee injury in 1959. This is his first nomination as a senior candidate for the hall.

Guard Dick Stanfel was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round (19th overall) in the 1951 NFL Draft, which to date has produced four Hall of Fame players (Bill George, Mike McCormack, Jack Christiansen, and Andy Robustelli) and one Hall of Fame coach (Don Shula) from it’s 30 rounds.  Stanfel won two NFL Championships with the Lions in 1952 and 1953, and was chosen as the team’s most valuable player in 1954, before being traded to the Washington Redskins in 1956. He retired following the 1958 season, having earned Pro Bowl honors in all three of his seasons with the Redskins to go along with his two Pro Bowl seasons in 1953 and 1955. He was also named first-team All-NFL four times in his career, twice with the Lions and twice with the Redskins.

Stanfel was the offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints, and was named interim head coach for the final four games in 1980, going 1-3 in preventing the Saints from having the first ever 0-16 season. He was then an offensive line coach for the Chicago Bears from 1981 to 1992, including their Super Bowl win 1986. He was named a senior nominee previously in 1993.

Butler & Stanfel were chosen as the senior nominees from a list of finalists that according to commenter Boardgame included Ken Anderson, Maxie Baughan, Cliff Branch, Roger Brown, Butler, Curly Culp, Mike Curtis, Ray Guy, Cliff Harris, Lester Hayes, Chuck Howley, Claude Humphrey, Alex Karras, Jerry Kramer, Bob Keuchenberg, Eddie Meador, Tommy Nobis, Dave Robinson and Johnny Robinson.

So what say you, Zoneblitz nation–are Butler & Stanfel worthy nominees? Others from the list of finalists that made more sense? Surprise omissions from the finalists (looking at you, Mick Tingelhoff)?  Let us know in the comments.

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Pro Football Hall of Fame Names Class of 2011

by | Feb 5, 2011 | Hall of Fame

As I’m sure most of you have seen or heard, the Hall of Fame officially announced the Class of 2011 tonight.  Making the final cut were:

DB Deion Sanders
RB Marshall Faulk
Contributor Ed Sabol
DE Richard Dent
TE Shannon Sharpe
LB Chris Hanburger (Senior Candidate)
LB Les Richter (Senior Candidate)

So our thoughts on the class?

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@WhitlockJason Is Going to Cry

by | Feb 5, 2011 | Hall of Fame

“http://bit.ly/gnNRyE Compelling argument by @WhitlockJason for W Roaf. Disagree w/ him on Derm. Dawson, but good read”

The above was tweeted earlier tonight–on the Zoneblitz.com account, by my brother Andy. Not the first, and probably not the last, but I’ve got to disagree with my brother on this one–it really wasn’t that good of a read.

Now, before I get too far in, let me preface this by saying that I do agree with Whitlock that Willie Roaf should be (and will be) a Hall of Famer.  I just disagree with some of his arguments around it, and the degree to which he seems to be taking it personally.

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Hanburger, Richter named 2011 Senior HOF Candidates

by | Aug 25, 2010 | Hall of Fame

Former Redskins Linebacker Chris Hanburger and former Rams Linebacker Les Richter were selected from a field of 16 finalists to be the 2011 Senior Candidates for induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

The two will be included in a vote with five other “modern” finalists as determined by the Hall of Fame voting committee in the coming months. Earlier this month, 2010 senior candidates Floyd Little and Dick LaBeau, not considered strong candidates by many Zoneblitz readers, were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Hanburger played his entire fourteen year career with the Washington Redskins, making the pro bowl nine times and being named first team All-Pro four times after being an 18th (final) round selection out of North Carolina in 1965.

Richter, who died earlier this year at 79, was a first round draft choice of the New York Yanks in 1952, but was subsequently traded to the Los Angeles Rams for 11 players, the largest trade ever made for a single player. He played for the Rams for nine seasons, making eight pro bowls and one first team All-Pro selection. Richter also served as a kicker for his first three seasons (and made a couple of later career kicking appearances), making 106 of 109 PAT attempts and 29 of 55 field goals.

After leaving the NFL, Richter went on to become a high-ranking official with NASCAR.

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Florio Offers Scouting Advice

by | Apr 9, 2010 | College Football, NFL Draft

We realize that here at Zoneblitz.com (and at our baseball site) we sometimes rant on particular topics a little too much.  But sometimes, the subjects of our rants make it too easy not to.

Case in point–last week, Andy pointed out that Mike Florio at ProFootballTalk castigated Jim Kelly for saying that he would be comfortable recommending Tim Tebow to his former team, the Buffalo Bills, saying:

“The fact that he was a quarterback doesn’t make him qualified to determine the round in which another quarterback should be drafted. And it especially doesn’t qualify him to assess overall team needs and determine whether Tebow or any other quarterback should be picked instead of the best player available at another position, or the best player available regardless of position.”

Florio thought this was was worthy of a post, despite the fact that:

  • Kelly was answering a question from a reporter, not actually making a recommendation to the Bills in their draft war room (that we know of)
  • Kelly admitted he didn’t have enough information to decide whether he was worthy of a 1st round pick, but that he would be ok as a 2nd round pick
  • Kelly acknowledged that he’s not qualified to make a recommendation as to whether the Bills should use the ninth pick in round one or the ninth pick in round two to get Tebow

Despite this, Florio added:

“If Kelly wanted to recommend players to the Bills, he should have become a scout upon retiring, rolling up his sleeves and grinding away and visiting college campuses and watching film. “

And this:

“Indeed, we doubt that many/any Bills scouts offered Kelly unsolicited advice about playing quarterback during his career.  He would be wise to return the courtesy now.”

Now, five days later, Florio offers up this gem:

“Even if he’s not ready to contribute at the NFL level as a rookie, his long-term potential likely makes him worthy of a selection in the top 20 picks.”

That quote was featured in a short piece about Jason Pierre-Paul, a defensive end prospect considered a “freakish athlete with unlimited potential”, but one that has raised questions about maturity and his readiness for the NFL with “nonsensical answers to fairly basic questions” during team interviews.

Hey Mike, I doubt that any scouts offered you unsolicited advice about how to try cases during your legal career–it might be wise to return that courtesy now.

Otherwise, some other blogs might start wondering just what you’re getting out of hyping a player that has raised legitimate concerns with his behavior during interviews–not to mention the fact that his “huge splash in only one year of major college football” amounted to only 6.5 sacks and only 7 starts (but still 13 games played)–hardly the kind of production that warrants a first round pick.

But hey, maybe you finally found another way to monetize all that traffic your site gets–I would guess that agents would pay pretty heavily to get a recommendation on a site that so many NFL insiders supposedly visit?