We should have our new post about the HOF announcements soon–but in the mean time, there’s additional Hall of Fame talk going on elsewhere…
To start, Corey Dillon was recently interviewed for a story by Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic for a story–and Dillon decided to take the opportunity to make it known that he’s not happy about the fact that he’s not getting more consideration for the Hall of Fame.
“You know the f—ery that’s going on,” he said. “We can shoot this straight. That’s the only way I like it.”
The crux of his argument? Dillon is one of 10 running backs in the Super Bowl era whose career featured 10,000+ total yards, 4.3 yards per carry, and 70 yards rushing per game. Eight are in (or will arguably be first-ballot for, in Adrian Peterson, according to Dehner) the Pro Football Hall of Fame; the others are Dillon and Fred Taylor.
I’ve never really given a lot of thought to Dillon’s HOF credentials–and I would argue that Fred Taylor is another player that is nice, but not over the threshold for me.
What do you guys think–does Dillon have an argument? Will he eventually get some more consideration? Let us know in the comments!
I spent some time looking back at the history of Zoneblitz the last couple of days, partly just out of curiosity and partly because I haven’t looked at the details in quite some time. Looking back at our domain registrar, it shows our ownership date for Zoneblitz.com as 5/30/2007 — but I know we’ve owned the domain since longer than that, as I remember the very first iteration of the site (a colossal failure) back in probably 2001 or so.
The oldest post in this iteration of Zoneblitz dates back to February 29th, 2008, a leap year post celebrating the start of the new (football) year — a post that, according to our Google Analytics (launched in October of 2008) likely just got it’s first visit in the last 14 years today. We stumbled into writing about the Hall of Fame later in 2008 as well. I thought I had written a much more scathing post about Randall McDaniel not making it, but apparently it was just our first ever predictions post. And while we didn’t think anything of it, come January and the announcement of who made the cut, we saw our first spike in traffic — 5,400 total pageviews, almost 3,600 on that single post. In August, with the actual induction, it spiked again. And it began an annual tradition. (more…)
When the NFL schedule maker set out to make the 2022 schedule, clearly they had the same thought that many fans had–the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos looked like two teams that just needed a little help–ideally in the form of quarterback upgrades–to take the next step in challenging for an AFC title. The Broncos only finished 7-10 last year, but played in arguably already the most difficult division in the league–and had a stingy defense that only allowed 322 points against. The Colts finished 9-8 and just missed the playoffs after choking against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 17–a loss (and end of season slide) that many attributed directly to Carson Wentz.
Enter Russell Wilson and Matt Ryan–a matchup that led to the NFL making the week 5 matchup between the Colts & Broncos the prime time, Thursday night matchup. And led to many social media posts like this one, seen on Facebook actually this morning–after the…lackluster performance by both teams: (more…)
So we’re just a few days removed from Matthew Stafford leading riding Cooper Kupp’s coattails in the Lions Rams’ Super Bowl victory, and as with all first-time QB Super Bowl winners, the Hall of Fame questions have started.
Unlike two years ago, when I think it was mostly parody asking about Patrick Mahomes (who may well be on his way, but was only in his second full year as a starter), Stafford actually has a resume built up that can be analyzed:
13 years in the league
49,995 yards passing (12th all-time)
323 touchdowns (12th all-time)
91.1 career rating (21st all-time)
34 comebacks, 42 game-winning drives
1 Super Bowl victory
Of course, he also has a few other career highlights:
One Pro Bowl appearance (which shocks me…even this year he didn’t make it)
Zero All-Pro selections
7 losing seasons (out of 12 years that he started at least 8 games)
Only four playoff appearances, and zero wins before this season
Richard Sherman weighed in on Twitter:
“I’m gonna talk about it on the podcast but the HOF bar is incredibly low now. Like a participation trophy. No all decade team. No All pro. No MVP. 1 Pro bowl. Not even MVP of the SB. Never considered the best in any year he played. At least M Ryan has an MVP.”
“There is no measuring stick that makes Stafford a Hall of Famer other than playing in the most passer happy decade in NFL history. Inflated numbers make ever QB that starts 10+ years a ‘hof.’”
So did Michael Robinson, for what it’s worth:
“Yes he’s a gold jacket, ABSOLUTELY. The ultimate team goal, to win a Lombardi, Matthew Stafford actually has, and he was a huge part of winning this Super Bowl.”
“And now … the debate on the HOF? We shouldn’t be talking about the HOF because he isn’t done playing the game yet. If you don’t believe he is a HOFer … I can’t wait for him to prove you wrong in his remaining years … just like he did IN ONE YEAR to everyone who said all the things listed above. So let’s table this talk until he actually retires? Thank you.”
With the announcement of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022 fast approaching on NFL Honors Show, Thursday February 10th, its time to lock in your predictions. For a reminder here is the list of modern candidate finalists that the selection committee voted on during their 7 hour virtual meeting on January 18th:
DE Jared Allen
OT Willie Anderson
DB Ronde Barber
OT Tony Boselli
S LeRoy Butler
PR/KR Devin Hester
WR Torry Holt
WR Andre Johnson
LB Sam Mills
DT Richard Seymour
LB Zack Thomas
LB DeMarcus Ware
WR Reggie Wayne
LB Patrick Willis
DT Bryant Young
We should also note that the committee has also already voted on the separate cases for the senior finalist WR Cliff Branch, coach Dick Vermeil and contributor Art McNally-as per usual we can assume all were elected. So for our predictions we will just consider the aforementioned 15 modern candidates. To save time and effort a few of us here at ZoneBlitz.com will make our predictions below without lengthy justifications. For more detailed discussion and debate on these candidates review our longer thread of posts on the Deciding the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022 topic. Please feel free to comment on ours or make your own, but be sure to do so before the official announcement Thursday February 10th, 9-11pm EST on the NFL Honors Show. Anyone who correctly predicts all five can declare themselves “The Greatest” for the next year when posting here on ZoneBlitz.com.
Paul: Boselli, Butler, Seymour, Thomas, Ware – I am going with four final 10 left over from the 2021 election, in fact both Boselli and Seymour have been in final ten multiple times indicating they have support of the voters and appear primed for election this year. Butler is another candidate with repeated appearances in the final 15 and as voters have addressed the safety position in recent years, he is the next one up. That leaves my prediction of the one and only 2022 first ballot candidate to be elected, Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos LB DeMarcus Ware. Although his first ballot case may not be as strong as others in recent elections, it does compare favorably to Jason Taylor who was first ballot in class of 2017. Some voters have recently become more vocal and critical about the number of first ballot candidates elected, but 2012 is last class without one, so in my view Ware will be that guy this class. It’s really hard to get all five slots predicted correctly as 49 voters usually results in at least one surprise. I am not taking this into consideration with my predictions, but the one of the WRs Holt or Wayne could slip in replacing either Thomas or Ware, if voters collectively decide to address the rapid growing logjam at WR position.
Tony: Boselli, Holt, Seymour, Ware, Wayne – I agree that four of the final 10 from last year make it, but I’ll go off the beaten path and put two WR in. I’d like to see Jared Allen make it, but I think Ware gets the slight edge there and makes it first ballot — although in many years, I think he would be waiting for a season or two as well.
Andy: I think this is going to be the weakest class enshrined in years. I think a lot of these guys are being considered as much because they played for a long time as that they were actually elite players. And I think there are enough guys at similar positions (Johnson, Wayne, Holt vs Willis, Mills, Ware, Thomas vs Anderson, Boselli, etc.) where there is a good chance guys cancel each other out and this ends up being the first class in years to not max out the available HOF spots. I think each of the non-modern era candidates get in. Branch, Vermeil and McNally get in. But this group of finalists stymies me. I like a lot of them. I don’t really love almost any of them. And I find it interesting that one of the guys Paul and Tony both like — Richard Seymour — is on my no list. At three AP First Team All Pro lists, I think he waits. I agree with them on Ware and Boselli. I’m going Holt over Wayne. I think both eventually get in, though I’m not sure either should be a lock. Both had one AP First Team award. One. There were plenty of Pro Bowls amongst them, but the Pro Bowl is such a bad a joke now that people are suggesting as an alternative the worst team in the AFC play the worst team in the NFC for the top pick in the draft. Anyway … I think Zach Thomas is a great story and a solid candidate. And I’m struggling to find a fifth that I am really blown away with. Forced, I’ll go Jared Allen, but he’s not a perfect candidate either.
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