Archive for July, 2010

Hall Worthy? Jacoby and Clark

Joe Jacoby

Argument for enshrinement: He was a 4-time Pro Bowler and 2 time All-Pro. Appeared in 4 Super Bowls winning 3. Member of the 1980’s All Decade team. Left tackle of one of the greatest offensive lines ever and had to face the likes of Reggie White, Lawrence Taylor, Ed “Too Tall” Jones and Harvey Martin twice a year for a decade.

Argument against enshrinement: I’d like to hear one! What more needs to be done? He’s a member of the 80’s All Decade team which means he dominated his position for 10 years and did it against HOF caliber players on a weekly basis. He’s got the Pro Bowls and the rings and more than one player from the HOGS needs to be in the HOF to represent!

Hall of Famer in my opinion? YES! In my mind there’s no question.

Actual chances of making the HOF: Pretty good. I’d put his chances at better than 50%, but it may be another 5-10 years before it happens.

Gary Clark

Argument for enshrinement: 4-time Pro Bowler who appeared in 3 Super Bowls winning 2. Big game player who excelled against division opponents and in playoff and Super Bowl games. 4 seasons of 1,200+ receiving yards. His numbers are very comparable to HOF members James Lofton, Charley Joiner and Michael Irvin. In the cases of Lofton and Joiner, both men played 17 seasons, Clark played just 11.

Argument against enshrinement: Relatively short career for a WR and his stats are behind a lot of guys who are still waiting on their own Hall calls.

Hall of Famer in my opinion? Yes. For years the argument against Monk was that Monk wasn’t the best WR on the Redskins during his career, Clark was. Well, if you spent 10 years keeping Monk out of the HOF with that argument and now Monk is in, doesn’t that make Clark a no-brainer? You again have to look at the era the player played in, and Clark dominated his era. His numbers virtually mirror Irvin’s.

Actual chances of making the HOF: It‘s a slight possibility. I’d put his odds at 33%. However…it will be many years from now, most likely a Veterans Committee selection. The whole WR position is messed up right now because they kept Monk out for so long and put Irvin in before Monk (YES I’m STILL BITTER). A lot of WR’s will be inducted before Gary will have his argument heard.

Cheers and Hail

Hall Worthy? Mann and Theismann

As a Washington Redskins fan, I strongly believe that a lot more players should be in the NFL Hall of Fame. As a franchise we have made strides in the last few years with the additions of Green, Monk and Grimm, but there’s still more players that are deserving of a bust in Canton. Over the next week or so I’m going to take an objective third party look at some of the players that I believe may be HOF worthy.
Next up, Gary Clark and Joe Jacoby.

Charles Mann

Argument for enshrinement: He was a 4-time Pro Bowler and 3-time Super Bowl Champion. Made as many Pro Bowls and had more tackles than perennial HOF finalist Richard Dent, had as many sacks as HOF’er Howie Long.

Argument against enshrinement: 20+ defensive ends who are not in the Hall had more career sacks. Averaged only 7.5 sacks per season.

Hall of Famer in my opinion? No, Manley was better and he’s not in the going to the Hall. Mann was a solid player, but was never a superstar and was never feared by offenses.

Actual chances of making the HOF: Zero.

Joe Theismann

Argument for enshrinement: 1983 MVP and Offensive Player of the Year, 2-time Pro Bowler. Led Redskins to 2 Super Bowls, winning 1. Won 63% of games as a starter. His numbers are very comparable to other HOF QB’s from his era…Namath, Bradshaw, Staubach and Griese.

Argument against enshrinement: Took nearly 7 years to become a full time starter, took 3 years out of college to make it in the NFL. Never led the league in any passing category. Nearly threw as many INT’s as TD’s

Hall of Famer in my opinion? Yes. When judging players for the HOF you must look at similar players from their era, and in JT’s case the #’s are definitely in his favor. His QB rating is better than Griese, Bradshaw and Namath. His winning % is better than Griese and Namath. He won as many Super Bowls as Griese and Namath and had more TD’s than Staubach. He also had more yards than Griese, Namath and Staubach.

Actual chances of making the HOF: Slim, but there’s definitely an argument here. He’s never been close to being a finalist, so maybe he could get in via the Veterans Committee someday.

Cheers and Hail

Hall Worthy? Moseley and Manley

As a Washington Redskins fan, I strongly believe that a lot more players should be in the NFL Hall of Fame. As a franchise we have made strides in the last few years with the additions of Green, Monk and Grimm, but there’s still more players that are deserving of a bust in Canton. Over the next week or so I’m going to take an objective third party look at some of the players that I believe may be HOF worthy. Next up will be Charles Mann and Joe Theismann.

Mark Moseley

Argument for enshrinement: He’s the only kicker to win a MVP award, which he did in 1982 and weighs heavily in my opinion. He led the league in FG’s 4 times and was in the top 10 in scoring 8 different seasons. He also made 2 Pro Bowls and still ranks #22 on the NFL’s all-time scoring list.

Argument against enshrinement: The career #’s are simply average when stacked against other kickers. Also, with the exception of the 82’ season he was not very accurate, making only 65% of his FG attempts for his career.

Hall of Famer in my opinion? No, the numbers simply don’t add up, in fact, they say that he’s far from it. Thanks for 1982 though…and the hair!

Actual chances of making the HOF: Zero point zero.

Dexter Manley

Case for enshrinement: He led all defensive ends in sacks for the entire decade of the 80’s with 91. Ranks 25th on career sack list with 97.5. 2-time Super Bowl champion.

Argument against enshrinement: Career derailed by drugs and off field issues. Only made 1 Pro Bowl and was only in the top 10 in sacks 2 seasons.

Hall of Famer in my opinion? No, there’s a long line of defensive ends in front of him with better numbers. 2 seasons when Dexter was playing at his highest level (82 & 87) were cut short by strikes. If those were full seasons and Dexter could have played an additional couple seasons drug-free, he’d have a strong case. But then again, if my aunt had nuts she’d be my uncle.

Actual chances of making the HOF: Zero

Cheers and Hail

The Redskins Were Not So Good in the 2000′s

2010 starts a new decade for the Washington Redskins, hopefully the next 10 years will be better than the previous 10…or 20 years. From 1982-1991 the Redskins were a dynasty, winning 3 Super Bowls. From 1992-2009…not so much. In fact, the Redskins had 2 winning seasons in the 2000’s and have had only 5 winning campaigns in the last 18. Here’s a statistical look at how the 2000’s panned out.

70 Wins 90 Losses
18.1 PPG
Offensive Ranking: PTS = 24th YDS = 19th
Defensive Ranking: PTS = 14th YDS = 11

The Redskins finished 20 games below .500. 2 playoff appearances resulted in a 2-2 record. Spurrier and Zorn were both 12-20, Gibbs went 30-34 and Schottenheimer was 8-8. The offense consistently ranked in the bottom half or bottom third in the league. The defense was better, led by D-coordinators like Gregg Williams and Marvin Lewis. The Redskins haven’t had a top-10 offense since 1999.

Here’s a look at the statistical leaders of the 2000’s:

Rushing Yds

Portis 6,597
Betts 3,176
S. Davis 2,220

Receptions

Moss 349
Cooley 343
Gardner 227

Receiving Yds

Moss 5,027
Cooley 3,789
Gardner 2,997

Passing Yds

Campbell 10,860
Brunnell 6,033
Ramsey 5,649

Passing TD’s

Campbell 55
Brunnell 38
Ramsey 34

Tackles

Fletcher 403
Arrington 397
Washington 380

Sacks

Carter 31.5
B. Smith 29
Arrington 22.5

Int’s

Smoot 18
Bailey 13
S. Taylor 12
Springs 12

Games Played

Albright 144
Samuels 141
Cartwright 123

I’m so looking forward to the next decade…

Cheers and Hail

Redskins of Lore: Dexter Manley

Dexter Manley was one of the most feared defensive ends of the 1980’s and remains the Redskins all-time leader in sacks with 91. He was also one of the games biggest personalities and was a quote machine…he was and is one of my favorite players in Redskins history.

Dexter had more sacks than any other defensive end in the decade of the 80’s. More than Hall of Famers like Bruce Smith, Howie Long, Richard Dent, Reggie White and Lee Roy Selmon…yet he’s never been a finalist or a semi-finalist for the Hall Of Fame. For some reason the Hall has turned their nose at Dexter’s off field problems while other players such as Lawrence Taylor and Michael Irvin have been accepted despite similar issues.

Dexter once totaled his vehicle in the Redskins Park parking lot! Who can forget the “sneeze” against the Saints…it was the turning point in that game. He was arrested once for impersonating an officer, yet on the back of his 83’ Topps football card it states that he’s a Virginia Deputy Sheriff. He hated the Cowboys and wasn’t shy about talking smack against his opponents. He was…awesome.

Thanks Mr. D, there is no doubt that you’ll never be forgotten and may we hope that one day the HOF will open it’s doors to the “Secretary of Defense.”

Cheers and Hail

1991 Redskins = GOAT

Playboy knows how to pick em!

GOAT = Greatest of All-Time. That’s where the 1991 Redskins edition ranks on the list of all-time Redskins teams. This was a topic that was brought up a couple weeks back by ESPN’s NFC East Blog and was followed up by confirmation from Redskins blogger Matt Terl and confirmed by 68% of the fans.

The 1983 team was good, really good. They held the record for points in a season for nearly 15 years and almost went undefeated. That team went 14-2 and each of the 2 losses came by only one point! Unfortunately, the 83’ squad went on to lose the Super Bowl by nearly 30 points and that unfortunate game pushes the 83’ team to second on the list. For me, 82’ comes in 3rd place and the 87’ Super Bowl Champs come in at #4. Rounding out the top 5 would be the 1972 team.

As brought up in the previously mentioned blog posts, the 1991 Redskins were dominating in every aspect of the game. The team had 8 Pro Bowlers, no other Redskins team has had more than 4 since. The Redskins Pro Bowl players came from the offense, defense and special teams:

QB Mark Rypein
RB Earnest Byner
WR Gary Clark
OG Mark Schlereth
OT Jim Lachey
CB Darrel Green
DE Charles Mann
PK Chip Lohmiller

Lohmiller outscored the entire 1991 Indianapolis Colts! It’s hard to tell which side of the ball the Redskins were better on and that’s one of the biggest reasons the 91’ team is the greatest ever. The team ranked near the top of the league in nearly every major statistical category.

Offense

#1 in scoring with 485 pts or 30.3 per game
#1 in rushing TD’s
#1 in yards per pass attempt
#4 in rushing yards per game
#4 in total offense
#5 in passing yards per game
#7 in rushing yards per game

Defense

#1 in points differential
#1 in takeaway/giveaway differential
#2 in interceptions
#2 in total points allowed
#3 in yards allowed per pass play
#3 in total forced turnovers
#3 in total defense
#3 in rushing yards allowed
#3 in sacks

Maybe the defense was better. On special teams Lohmiller led the league in scoring, FG’s and XP’s. Brian Mitchell averaged 13.3 yards per punt return, or approximately 10 yards more than a Randle-El return.

Teams like this come around every 20 years or so….by my estimation we’re due!

Thank you to the 91’ Skins…the GOAT.

Cheers and Hail