2015 NFL HOF

[Blackadar]

Jerome Bettis is in.

Mr. Illini and stevew, here's your big serving of crow. Start eating.

[stevew]

congrats to the Craig Biggio of running backs.

[SnowMan]

Did Bill Leavy and Mike Pereira make sure he got in? Ya, still bitter.

[Blackadar]

Others:

Junior Seau
Will Shields
Tim Brown
Charles Haley

[Julio Riddols]

Bettis did convert 90 out of 132 (68.1%) of his 3rd down runs between 1998 and his retirement.. Trying to find a back that matches or exceeds that percentage since 1998.

[Scoobz0202]

3.9 ypc and 71 ypg lol

Was hoping for Orlando Pace and Marvin Harrison

[Atocep]

I don't have too much of an issue with Bettis getting in. I saw him as a fringe HoF player. It really sucks that Terrell Davis is still waiting (career DYAR: Davis 1,829 Bettis 1,721).

Very happy to see Tim Brown get in before Marvin Harrison though.

[stevew]

Afaik Tim Brown never (felony) murdered anyone, so that's a plus.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

3.9 ypc and 71 ypg lol

Was hoping for Orlando Pace and Marvin Harrison

Don't forget 91 Tds in 13 seasons. What a short yardage monster!

[kingfc22]

Yea. Never thought Bettis to be a hall of famer as he was never a dominant force.

Looking at pro football reference, Corey Dillon, is most similar to Bettis and there is no way Dillon is a HOF'er.

[Abe Sargent]

Happy for Brown to be in, and Will Sheilds too. Totally agree that Seau is an obvious choice.

[Atocep]

Pace not getting in on the first ballot is borderline criminal. Pace was the reason Martz's offenses worked.

[QuikSand]

Tim Brown is my poster child for belonging in the hall of good or very good but never really great albeit for a really long time.

Pace got robbed, I'd have put him in ahead of both Brown and Bettis.

[Grover]

Will Shields getting the love!!

[Grover]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Pace not getting in on the first ballot is borderline criminal. Pace was the reason Martz's offenses worked.

Also, even though he only played six years, it's criminal that Tony Boselli will probably never be a HOFer.

He would have ended up as the 3rd best OT of all time behind Hannah and Munoz.

[CU Tiger]

Any HOF that has room for Bettis but not Pace, is a Hall of Popularity.

Pace was a rare breed. Top 20 of all time at his position.
Bettis was a very good, well liked Top 75? at his position of all time.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Tim Brown is my poster child for belonging in the hall of good or very good but never really great albeit for a really long time.

Pace got robbed, I'd have put him in ahead of both Brown and Bettis.

I disagree with this. Brown put up elite numbers for the time and never really had much at qb

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Grover

Also, even though he only played six years, it's criminal that Tony Boselli will probably never be a HOFer.

He would have ended up as the 3rd best OT of all time behind Hannah and Munoz.

I think there's a chance in 15 years or so Boselli makes it in sot the jaguars will have at least one token guy in the HOF. Depends on how they look then.

[Warhammer]

Pace not getting in is criminal. The two guys on the line that made that offense click were Pace and Timmerman.

Brown finally gets what he deserved. He never had a stud QB throwing to him, and put up strong numbers year after year. He never had a great opposite receiver to prevent the double team covering him. For his era, the only person who had better numbers was Jerry Rice, not a bad person to be second to.

[Julio Riddols]

I wonder if Charles Haley will do his speech naked while telling everyone in the audience he wants to bone their wives.

[Thomkal]

No Kurt Warner

[bhlloy]

I guess it's officially the Hall of Cool Nicknames if Bettis is in. So many more deserving.

[Grover]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

I wonder if Charles Haley will do his speech naked while telling everyone in the audience he wants to bone their wives.

We can only hope.

[ColtCrazy]

This is where I think voters are getting soft. There's no way you can say Tim Brown deserves to be in over Marvin Harrison. But I've read articles about how voters believed Brown had waited long enough. What? Not saying Brown isn't worthy, but Harrison was the better receiver.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

This is where I think voters are getting soft. There's no way you can say Tim Brown deserves to be in over Marvin Harrison. But I've read articles about how voters believed Brown had waited long enough. What? Not saying Brown isn't worthy, but Harrison was the better receiver.

Actually, you can argue Brown was the better football player.

Tim Brown caught 1,094 balls for 14,934.

Marvin Harrison caught 1,102 balls for 14,580.

In raw stats, they're very close. Harrison's work was done in a shorter time frame and he caught 28tds more than Brown, but Harrison also had arguably the best QB in history throwing him the ball. That's a big factor. Tim brown had Jeff Hostetler, Jay Schroeder and Jeff George throwing him the ball. It wasn't until he was 33 years old that he played with a great QB (Rich Gannon).

Furthermore, Brown returned 326 punts for 3,320 yards and had 4 return tds.

In conclusion, had over 3,500 more yards from scrimmage than Harrison and played with far worse QBs. I'd take Tim Brown over Marvin Harrison every day of the week and twice on Sundays. I'm not "coltcrazy". I don't have a dog in the fight. But I watched both of them play and Brown was just as good of a receiver and a more versatile football player than Harrison was. If Brown had Manning throwing him the ball, he probably would have Jerry Rice-like statistics.

---

And as far as Bettis goes, he's #6 on the All Time rushing list. The closest comparison to the way he was used, his running style and his stats is John Riggins who is already in the Hall of Fame. Riggin had a few more touchdowns, Bettis had over 2,000 more rushing yards. Guys who are in the top 10 don't get overlooked for the HOF.

I've said it before, no runner in the modern day NFL has faced more 8 and 9 man fronts as Bettis did in Pittsburgh with guys like Kordell Stewart, Tommy Maddox and Mike Tomczack under center and with Bill Cowher's "grind the clock out" coaching style. Everyone knew what was coming in the 2nd half if the Steelers were ahead on the scoreboard. It was going to be Bettis between the tackles and defenses simply couldn't stop it. He was amazingly durable and his fumble rate is the 2nd lowest in HOF history. And ultimately, he was just inducted so the HOF committee agrees. Bettis is a true HOF running back.

[Blackadar]

As for some of the others:

Pace probably gets in next year with Favre and TO. I think Will Shields gets in next year and probably Marvin Harrison.

Warner is probably a 2017 inductee. Tomlinson is a lock for that year but the rest of the new class is weak.

2018 is a killer year - Ray Lewis, Randy "overrated" Moss and Brian Urlacher all come up for eligibility.