On Tuesday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced that Tom Flores and Drew Pearson were selected as finalists for the Hall of Fame Class of 2021. The former Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders coach, Flores is the coaches finalist. The former Dallas Cowboys receiver, Pearson is the senior finalist. Each will learn their Hall of Fame fate in February on the eve of Super Bowl LV. Seeing as both have waited longer than they deserved and both were considered among the biggest snubs in the Centennial Class, I think that they sail through the voting process and into the Pro Football Hall Fame Class of 2021. But, that's just me.
Leading a team to two Super Bowl titles is often enough for a head coach to earn pretty quick entry into Canton. Flores did that. Yet, he's had to wait 26 years after coaching his final game. Despite a wildly successful coaching career, John Madden waited 28 years. Flores is still only at the finalist stage. It's closer than he's ever been and I think that he makes it but he isn't in the Hall. The voters that have kept him on the outside are still in that room. The knocks on Flores' coaching record have been that he inherited the team that Madden coached, Al Davis ran the Raiders show, and three poor seasons with the Seattle Seahawks to conclude his career. In 12 seasons, Flores coached six teams that won more than they lost. I've wavered on Flores as a Hall of Fame coach much like many of the voters obviously have. Finally, for me, it comes down to this. From 1980-85, Flores molded a ridiculous band of misfits into one of the best teams in the league. Throw out the 1981 season and they might've been the best team during that six-year stretch. They won two Super Bowls. They were serious Super Bowl contenders every year. He pulled Jim Plunkett out of the bust bin and coached him into a quarterback that could win big games. And Flores did this while his boss was giving Pete Rozelle and the league the middle finger and moving the franchise to Los Angeles. Winning two Super Bowls during that shit-show time is Hall of Fame work.
From reports, this was the list of coaching contenders.
Don Coryell
Tom Flores
Mike Holmgren
Buddy Parker
Clark Shaughnessy
Dick Vermeil
Drew Pearson. The only blemish on Drew Pearson's otherwise Hall of Fame career was the shove of Nate Wright in the 1975 playoffs. That illegal play made him and his pedestrian quarterback household names. Just kidding. Maybe. As a Minnesota Vikings fan, Pearson concerned me more than any other receiver in the league. He worried me more than any other player on the Dallas Cowboys not named Roger Staubach. That means that he was a really good football player. He was easily one of the best receivers in the league. His place on the 1970s All-Decade team has been telling the voters that for decades. I was stunned last year when Harold Carmichael was voted to the Centennial Class over Pearson.
If Hall of Fame voters compare the statistics of receivers from Pearson's day to those of today's receivers they should be no longer be Hall of Fame voters.
From reports, this was the list of senior contenders.
Ken Anderson
Cliff Branch
Roger Craig
Randy Gradishar
L.C. Greenwood
Chuck Howley
Joe Klecko
George Kunz
Stanley Morgan
Tommy Nobis
Drew Pearson
Ken Riley
While I agree with the selection of Pearson as well as the above names, I can't help but scream that there are still deserving players from the early decades of the league. Lavvie Dilweg, Ox Emerson, and Al Wistert to name three. Those three should've been inducted decades ago.
The selection of the contributor finalist is next. That decision should be made next week.
Speaking of the contributor finalist, the Hall of Fame's recent decision to add a contributor finalist each year for the next four years at the expense of a second senior finalist is absurd. I've seen some historians speculate that it's a move to get some more owners into the Hall. Maybe adding an owner or two or three will trigger a nice donation or two or three. I hate to think that this beloved institution is possibly dabbling in a little quid pro quo but it appears to track. There's really no other reason to boost the contributor (owner) tally at the expense of the senior players. The pool of deserving senior players is so damn deep. All of this year's senior contenders is more deserving of induction into the Hall of Fame than the next owner.
Congratulations and best of luck to Tom Flores and Drew Pearson.
No comments:
Post a Comment