On this date 18 years ago, Jerry Rice scored this touchdown against the Raiders. It was his 127th touchdown to break the record of legendary running back Jim Brown.
On the first Monday Night Game of the 1994 season, there was an outside chance Jerry Rice could break Jim Brown’s touchdown record of 126. He entered the season with 124 and was in the prime of his career. The San Francisco 49ers were retooling their team to take down their arch nemesis in the Dallas Cowboys who bested them in the last two NFC Championships. At this time fellow Hall of Fame member Michael Irvin was starting to move into the “best receiver in the NFL” talk as well. All of this kept an already certain Hall of Famer Jerry Rice motivated.
In came the Los Angeles Raiders who had been a playoff team the year before. They had a defense that ranked 9th overall in 1993, and fifth against the pass. To bolster their defensive secondary they signed free agent CB Albert Lewis formerly of the Kansas City Chiefs. The Raiders had just lost Howie Long to retirement yet thought this game would show they were still among the league’s elite. Surely with a young Terry McDaniel and Albert Lewis manning the corners they would stop Rice in the season opener…right??
In what was a microcosm of the 1994 season, the 49ers slaughtered the Raiders 44-14 on national television. This was the great 49er team that signed Deion Sanders, who went on to be NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and multiple free agents from the 1993 Pro Bowl. They would coast to a fifth Super Bowl trophy four months later.
Looking back at how great that team was with Sanders, Ricky Jackson, Richard Dent, Steve Young, and Jerry Rice all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame now was the greatest of the 1990s. In fact it was one of the best in history and the man who led by example on this day 18 years ago became the all time touchdown record holder. His record of 208 touchdowns will never be broken.
When I learned that Jerry Kramer was skipped over as a senior nominee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I just had utter contempt for the sportswriters who seem to be the gatekeepers of history. It felt like they were going to work against the groundswell of support for Kramer and the passion from fans talking about his exclusion. I think the selection committee needs to have a few more wrinkles thrown into the mix.
Sure there are personal reasons as to why I would think a player deserves to be in the Hall and is the foremost problem with the voting. There is no way to ignore your own thoughts or feelings about a person’s nomination being put before you. There will be partiality. You’ll remember that last year (______) didn’t vote for my guy so I won’t vote for his this year. That is human nature. So you have to do it by a committee there would be no other way.
When I think of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I think of a treasured museum for everyone who ever played the game, at ANY level, could appreciate. The ongoing history to the greatest sport there is and the telling of that story. Don’t tell me that Emmitt Smith is the greatest if you can’t tell me who Jim Brown was, or OJ Simpson, Ernie Nevers, or who Steve Van Buren was. Someone saying he didn’t see Bronko Nagurski or Red Grange isn’t enough. There are books, the Taylor Blitz Times or more important this incredible museum housing all this history. That’s what makes this building significant.
With it’s enshrinees and special wings to memorable moments, the 92 year history of the NFL, the 10 years of the AFL, and early football pioneers before the NFL, come to life. This is where fathers get to teach sons moments in history… Like the famous “wristband” of Baltimore Colt running back Tom Matte from the 1960s. When injuries to the Colts quarterbacks pressed Matte into service, Don Shula supplied him with a “wristband” with the play calls on it for him to remember. That is how he got through the game as a fill in quarterback.
Not only does that legacy live on to this day with every NFL quarterback wearing one, but right now as you read this…there is a father or mother teaching their son that story and looking at the actual“wristband”. What dreams and goals will that kid aspire to upon learning that and tossing the ball with his father the next day?? What if that kid grows up to be the next Dan Marino or Johnny Unitas??
This is why it is important the players, coaches, innovators, owners and their stories should be here to be told. Its for us to relive moments and future generations to learn how things came to be. The special men who were the embodiment of the very spirit of football.
Which brings us back to The Chancellor’s thoughts on the matter. A few things should be changed which would allow for a smoother selection process. First things first… we couldn’t just turn the vote over to the fans. This would significantly cheapen the situation and dumb it down to just a popularity contest. We would just have Dallas Cowboys or Pittsburgh Steelers enshrined from this point on…so this one gets thrown out yet not entirely…
The first item to be changed is there should be 30 Hall of Fame players involved in the voting. Who would be better at this than those players who played with or against players coming up for nomination?? How has it gone this far without their inclusion?? A Hall of Famer would best know what another Hall of Famer would look like and play like. Here a nominee would need a majority vote. These votes are confidential…
Secondly, scale back the number of non football playing voters to 30, which would include the Chancellor, and these accounts along with enshrined members would be a better panel to debate who is a Hall of Famer than not. Those writers would be able to hear accounts from the inside that they wouldn’t be aware of without hearing from those players peers. Here a nominee would need half of the vote to make it. Not only that…there needs to be new blood in this pool with the advent of successful blog writers and historians in the mix, the terms for limitation to be on this committee should be 7-10 years. These votes aren’t confidential…
Last would be one where the fans would have a vote. A write in candidate with a specific number of write in votes by the fans and former players. That number to be determined and the fans (who are the paying customers) would have a little say. Number to be determined later by a committee.
If this were to be done there would be a better selection process and those voting would be held accountable for their vote. Why have the Hall of Famers votes confidential?? They belong to an exclusive club. Its like the Ray Nitschke luncheon. That is not for us… that is for those players who belong to that club to share in it’s exclusivity about what it means to be there and how they are their brother’s keeper. They don’t have to share who they think should be in and why. They do so with a vote.
My feelings on the selection process has been this way for many years yet I had the chance to see it from the other side. Those of you who have been following this blog know that I have my own nominations for players who should be in the Hall of Fame. One of the first articles I wrote was on Jerry Kramer last year on July 26th. Now I’m not exactly sure as to where it took place but I shared many videos of the 1960’s Green Bay Packers here and on Facebook. I came to know Alicia Kramer who spearheaded a great campaign to help her father get inducted to his rightful place. She asked me to be an administrator to the facebook page Jerry KramerHOF to which I was honored.
Seriously, I read two of his books as a kid including Distant Replay,which is one of the reasons I love and write about Pro Football. The fact that he had read and enjoyed a few of my stories on Facebook were a reciprocal part of the journey and why I share with other fans what is on my mind about football and the history of the game. I contributed as often as I could with videos and such and wrote a letter to “The Hall” pleading for his nomination. I remember uploading the 1968 Green Bay Packers America’s Game to the page. To be right there from the start of that page and watch her work grow to include Hall of Fame members lending their support and passionate fans as well, it is something incredible to be a part of.
When the senior nomination came back without Jerry Kramer’s name on it, I took it personally…and still am. There were countless letters written by enshrinees such as Lem Barney, Jim Kelly, Bob Lilly, Dave Wilcox just to name a few yet Kramer’s nomination comes down to writers over former players?? No way. All the while from my first article to placing it on my Facebook page several times, at least one person would ask “Jerry Kramer is not in the HOF?” every single time.
I also shared an email exchange with Kevin Greene when he didn’t make the finalist round this year. These players who deserve their legacies to be secured earned this right. Those gatekeepers to history need to be guarded more by the enshrinees themselves than writers. That is what I learned from this last year through Alicia’s work. If it were up to them, Kramer wins by a landslide. Yet its time for forward and positive energy. Onward to 2013 and his certain nomination.
Dedicated to the memory of Hall Of Fame Member Steve Van Buren who passed away last week. RIP You were a great running back and a true warrior of the game. Thank you!!
Other articles on who The Chancellor thinks should be in the Hall
Second year wideout Julio Jones skies over a Ravens defensive back for a touchdown in last week’s preseason opener.
As the 2012 regular season beckons, many pundits and fans are looking for the Carolina Panthers to light up this division. There will be several young stars that will come to the fore in the toughest division in football, yet there will be one second year player who should take the league by storm. Oh you thought we meant Cam Newton?? He’ll do well but the player who is about to break out is WR Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons. His play so far in the preseason along with the maturation he showed toward the end of last year. Look out his star is on the rise.
No division in football has been as competitive from top to bottom as the NFC South. Since its inception in 2002, there hasn’t been a repeat division winner and again its the only division to have every team play for the conference championship during that time. Each team can run at you physically, Atlanta with Michael Turner (1,340 yards in 2011), thunderous LeGarrette Blount (1,007 yards in 2010), former Heisman winner in Mark Ingram, and former twin thousand yard rushers DeAngelo Williams and Jonathon Stewart in Carolina. Yet with last year’s emergence of Cam Newton and 2010’s Josh Freeman (25TDs to only 6 ints), each team fields better than average quarterbacks. This is before we get to record setting Super Bowl champion Drew Brees and 3 time playoff participant QB Matt Ryan. This division is stacked on offense…
However there are several questions moving into 2012. How will the Saints fare with the suspension of Head Coach Sean Peyton?? Will their game day adjustments suffer or will the overall gameplan be inferior?? Have the Panthers made enough moves to allow Cam Newton to star again or will he have a sophomore slump?? Which team was the real Tampa Bay Buccaneers?? Was it the 10-6 2010 team that was coming on at the end of that season or last year’s 4-11 debacle that got Head Coach Raheem Morris fired??
We’ll answer a few of those later in the article….as for our predictions
2012 NFC South Predictions
Atlanta Falcons 11-5 *
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-7
New Orleans Saints 9-7
Carolina Panthers 6-10
Now that the Saints signed Drew Brees to a long term deal: How will he fare this season without Sean Payton?? Payton and Brees have been lethal these last several years with game plans but they will suffer with game-day adjustments. There should be a drop off this season as Interim Coach Joe Vitt can’t put his stamp on the team. In a single season lame duck situation?? Not going to be good. More important, without their spiritual leader on defense with the suspension of Jonathon Vilma, this defense will give up points by the bushel and will behind in the race to win the south. As evidenced in Saturday night’s preseason game against Houston, this defense struggled in a 34-27 shootout. The Texans marched to two easy touchdowns while the starters were out there. Don’t forget the Saints were at home. How do you think they will fare when they are on the road this year?? http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2012082554/2012/PRE3/texans@saints#tab=recap&menu=highlights
They have a murderous schedule and will lose tie breaker advantages during the weeks of 12-15 where they face San Francisco, who beat them in last year’s playoffs. Then they face a stronger Atlanta Falcons team on the road, then travel to play the World Champion Giants in the cold, then come home to face a resurgent Tampa Bay Buccaneers team. Even though Tampa had a down year in 2011, they only lost 27-16 in New Orleans and defeated the Saints in the Superdome in 2010. At full strength with Coach Peyton, Jonathon Vilma on defense, the Saints would be in good shape against these ball clubs but with a coaching staff trying to keep the ship steady?? These are four losses waiting to happen and all to NFC teams. This is after they would have played the Packers at Lambeau in week 4, and the Philadelphia Eagle in week 9. Too many in conference losses will doom the Saints this year.
Super Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers.
Has there been a more electrifying rookie quarterback in NFL history than Cam Newton?? The Chancellor can only think of one and that was Dan Marino’s 1983 season. Yet a closer look and Newton broke the rookie record in week 1 with 422 yards against the Cardinals, rushed for 706 yards and 14 TDs (another record), while completing 60% of his passes for 4,021 yards (another record) and 21TDs. All as a rookie?? Yikes! That dwarfs Marino’s 20TD passes and didn’t start for Shula’s Dolphins until week 6 and was no threat with only 45 yards rushing. What is he going to do for an encore??
Once upon a time Tim Tebow was given the nod over Newton at the University of Florida. My how the tables have turned as the Panthers defeated Tebow and the Jets 17-12 last night in pre-season action.
The question is did they do enough to move up in the competitive NFC South?? They still have the “Cash & Carry” backfield of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathon Stewart, who just signed an extension last week. Ageless Steve Smith revitalized his career with Newton’s emergence and may have a running partner in WR Louis Murphy who scored in last night’s game. On offense the answer is yes, but on defense they haven’t done enough. They did get LB Thomas Davis back but they have to keep their fingers crossed he doesn’t injure his knee for a fourth time. They need all the help they can get on a defense that was 28th last year and finished 25th against the run. In this division that last stat will be what they need to improve and the draft only brought one lineman in 4th rounder Frank Alexander. New leaders have to emerge for the Panthers to make a move up… that can happen in 2013. The problem is it’s still 2012 so they’ll improve just a few wins on offense as a team.
Former Boise St running back Doug Martin should rush for 1,200 yards for Tampa this season.
Now a team that will be the surprise winner in this division is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Last year this team dropped to 30th in the NFL in rushing and brought unnecessary heat on QB Josh Freeman. Team brass addressed that with 1st round selection RB Doug Martin out of Boise St. With the rushing attack under performing it also kept the Buccaneers defense from resting. In 2011 this was a run first, pass second team that went 10-6. Josh Freeman had the second lowest touchdown to interception ratio, 25TDs to just 6 interceptions, to a record setting Tom Brady. With the acquisition of WR Vincent Jackson from the San Diego Chargers to go along with TE Kellen Winslow Jr, WR Mike Williams and WR Arrelios Benn, this team has some big targets.
Speaking of Tom Brady, the Buccaneer defense made his life miserable in pre-season action Friday night. The Bucs pass rush harassed him all night and made him throw a pick six in a 30-28 win. Brady played into the 3rd quarter (unheard of in pre-season) and New England needed 2 4th quarter touchdowns to make the score close. One of the differences was the efficient play of Freeman and Doug Martin, who rushed for 53 yards on 13 carries and sat out more than half the game. This talent who has been a Taylor Blitz Time favorite https://taylorblitztimes.com/2011/08/02/2011-heisman-campaign-doug-martin-of-boise-st/ will tilt the balance of power for them from a tactical standpoint all year. They should return to form and match the 10-6 record of 2010. They’ll be ready to make a serious move in 2013.
However 2012 will belong to the Atlanta Falcons. They have built for this season for the last four and this is the year for the payoff. TE Tony Gonzalez can’t go forever and RB Michael Turner is about to turn 30. When the Falcons lost in last year’s wildcard to the New York Giants, it marked the second season in a row their season ended at the hands of the eventual Super Bowl champions. As a matter of fact, if you include the 2009 NFC Divisional playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals, 3 of the last 4 seasons has ended at the hands of the eventual NFC Champion. Its time for their maturation and ascend to a Super Bowl themselves. Head Coach Mike Smith and Matt Ryan have to prove they can win a playoff game. They are primed as a team talent wise to make a move.
When we say “The Chancellor never sleeps”, we mean there is always football on. Whether we’re talking about the Hall of Fame exhibition game between the Arizona Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints, or a former landmark game, there is always football on in the imagination. Although I’m writing a football book based upon the Super Bowls, my favorite week are those of the AFC and NFC Championship Games.
There you will find the last of the games between passionate fans of the home teams versus the sterile groups that attend the Super Bowl. The season ticket holder who has been cheering and screaming for 4 months… it leads to a contrast that can’t be matched by the corporate Super Bowl ticket holder.
When the home team wins the conference championship the celebration reverberates throughout the stadium. The fans don’t want to leave and in some instances players take a victory lap long after the cameras are gone. On the other hand the silence that can overcome a stadium when the home team goes down can be deafening. It’s almost like something has gone wrong with your ears. How can 80,000 people go that silent?? Yet you remember last January how quiet it got in Candlestick Park when Lawrence Tynes kicked the New York Giants to the Super Bowl.
In 1986, the Championships were two tightly fought games. The New York Giants beat the Washington Redskins 17-0 and did so based upon good field position with a fierce wind in the first quarter. In Cleveland a defensive battle gave way to John Elway coming of age with “The Drive”. From there the Broncos, who had gained 216 total yards throughout the first 54:00 of the game, drove 98 yards to the tying score. Then won it in overtime.
These fiercely contested game made Super Bowl XXI anti-climactic. They had intensity that bordered on the Hatfields and the McCoy’s and all four defenses played terrific football that day. The two games before the Super Bowl are normally better games than the Super Bowl and my love for the conference finals started with these fiercely fought games.
Peyton Manning running no huddle offense during OTAs.
Has there ever been a team that had two totally different quarterbacks to fawn over in NFL history in back to back seasons?? Last year Tebow hysteria reigned supreme as the Broncos had 5 last second come from behind victories. His quarterback legitimacy was debated from coast to coast making Tim a national figure. Now all of a sudden, they have one of the NFL’s most iconic figures in Peyton Manning going under center for them. The Broncos have to be near the top in merchandising right now.
Going into 2012, the questions that arise are: Does Manning have the receivers that will allow him to flourish in the Mile High City?? Is he going to have the same zip on the ball as the season wears on?? Can his teammates rise to the occasion and help Manning become only the second quarterback in league history to win championships with two different teams?? Most of these answers will be of the wait and see variety but Manning didn’t come to Denver just to continue his career. He wants to win another ring and solidify his legacy as one of the all time great quarterbacks. A quarterback winning two championships with two different teams has only happened once before in NFL history (Norm van Brocklin) and hasn’t been achieved in 52 years. Peyton…your mission should you choose to accept it…
Quarterback: Speaking of which, is it me or does this feel a lot like 1993 when Joe Montana joined the Kansas City Chiefs after a year away due to injury?? Of course the skeptics are wondering if Manning has totally healed while others marvel at the thought of him playing like the quarterback of old in a new city. Well from all accounts the zip on his passes in mini-camps has been there. The real question is will those same passes have the zip on them as we head toward the end of the season??
Not out of the question when you remember he sat out an entire season and this will be his 15th. Bouncing back from a neck injury had to retard the throwing of the football to a degree and it may show up as fatigue late in the season. The psychological fallout for an athlete recovering from injury is a delicate thing. What is uncertain is how Manning will take hits this season. Will he be guilty of looking down at the rush once he starts getting hit?? This is one of the tell-tale signs of an aging signal caller also. As we alluded to earlier, the Broncos were 23rd in sacks allowed with 42. https://taylorblitztimes.com/2012/03/19/peyton-manning-sweepstakes-ends-in-denver/ Yet his best asset is his ability to audible out of situations when he knows the blitz is coming. He will also have a running game to aid him when that does happen. In Indianapolis he didn’t have that luxury the last five years. We’ll have to wait and see how he responds.
One of the intriguing early battle lines is the teams that have best defensed Manning will see him this year. The Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, & New England Patriots have shown the penchant to mask their blitzing intentions until the play clock was under :10 seconds, then come after him. Put him in position where he doesn’t have time to audible and then come. It’s proven to disrupt Manning and cause a few misreads. He faces the Steelers in week 1 at home but weeks 5, 9, and 15 he goes on the road to play those Patriots, Cincinnati Bengals, and Baltimore Ravens. On paper he’s still a Super Bowl quarterback and this will be an interesting season.
McGahee was a workhorse for the Broncos last year.
Offensive Backfield: By all accounts this was a really sound rushing attack last season. Willis McGahee resurrected a career rushing for his 4th 1,000 yard season for his 3rd team. In 2011, McGahee ran for 1,199 yards on 249 carries and averaged a gaudy 4.8 yard average. However he’ll be 31 years old in October and his years are few as a featured back. In fact his play came about with the inability of Knowshon Moreno to remain healthy and has become a point of diminishing returns for the Denver Broncos.
To that avail the Broncos will go with McGahee’s more physical style and turn to 3rd round draft pick Ronnie Hillman from San Diego State barring any injury. At 5’9, 200 lbs, Hillman is a straight ahead runner with little side to side shiftiness. Reminds The Chancellor of Olandis Gary from a few years back. One cut and go… If Hillman has a good camp Moreno should be cut this preseason. Running back should be of playoff quality in Denver.
Receivers: So here it is, you’re a receiver for the Denver Broncos in the off-season. After your morning yawn and stretch you click on your computer or turn on the television and see your team just signed Peyton Manning to be your quarterback. Would that be the equivalent of Christmas in July?? For Eric Decker and Demaryius Thomas, this off-season must have flown by now that they have one of the league’s best passers in-house. The wideout who stands to be the go to guy will be Decker. He will look to improve on last year’s 44 reception 612 yard season that saw him score 8 times. He grew up in a major way last year amid pedestrian quarterbacking and is the shiftier route runner of the two. Thomas is a big receiver at 6’3, 230 pounds and doesn’t really fit the mold of the receivers Manning has had during his career. We look to a new receiver across from Decker by the time the season begins. Whether it’s another free agent brought in or if Andre Caldwell or Jason Hill can quickly pick up the offense will decide on if this team can take to the air or not.
One receiver that will figure prominently will be TE Jacob Tamme. Where he was a second tight end and third option early in his career, he will become the safety outlet Manning needs. Two years ago in Indy he proved to be valuable with a 67 catch season and should finish with 80 or more in 2012. Until a solid receiver unseats Thomas this position is slightly below average and could force the Broncos to be a running team once again.
Peyton Manning’s new bodyguard Ryan Clady
Offensive Line: Well the ink is just drying on the contract extension that locks up LT Ryan Clady that should allow Manning to remain upright. This Boise St product has proven to be the best young tackle in the game today. Its paramount the line protects better than last year’s performance with 42 sacks allowed. However it was a three-fold issue. Clady didn’t have as a good a year as he had wanted giving up 9 sacks. Once you couple that with Tim Tebow scrambling around and inexperienced receivers not being able to get open and you see why the sacks totals were so high.
The line is relatively young with its most senior member G Chris Kuper entering his 7th season. They will rely on Manning getting rid of the ball quicker to lower the quarterback hits from 68 a year ago also. It was this group that led the Broncos to the #1 ranking when it comes to rushing the football. Every RB posted an average attempt better than 4.2 yards while McGahee and Moreno each averaged a gaudy 4.8. The league average is roughly 4.0 so you can see how effective this group was. This is a Super Bowl quality offensive line yet needs some help at receiver and looks to Manning’s quick decisions to improve their protection stats.
Defensive Line: Last year’s defense was extremely opportunistic while keeping games close. Overall their ranking was 20th yet tied for 10th in sacks with 41, 9.5 of them from Pro Bowl End Elvis Dumervil. They played well enough at the end of games however the first 3 quarters they gave a lot of ground. The Broncos used a hodge podge defensive front of Dumervil (33 tackles/ 9.5 sacks), Robert Ayers (41 tackles /3 sacks) on the ends, and Broderick Bunkley (48 tackles) and Marcus Thomas (46 tackles) who manned the middle. This group gave up a lot of ground at 22nd against the run. To that avail 1st round draft pick Derek Wolfe out of Cincinnati will have a chance to start. Another was used on Malik Jackson from Tennessee in the 5th round. He should see some time opposite Dumervil on pass rushing situations. Right now he may be too green to play immediately as an every down lineman. It should shape up to be a good camp and right now the grade for this group is slightly below average. Let’s see how they come out of the summer.
The Broncos hit a home run with rookie linebacker Von Miller.
Linebackers: The real strength of this defense lies right here. Von Miller made the Pro Bowl as a rookie and had the most impact at his position this division has seen since Derrick Thomas. After a 65 tackle, 11.5 sack, 3 forced fumble season it will be interesting to see what he does for an encore. With Dumervil 100% and a young pass rusher in Malik Jackson this team could form the fiercest rush in the AFC. Only a monster of a rookie season would have us list Miller over the team’s leading tackler. All DJ Williams (The [[_]]) did was make 97 total tackles, 5 sacks while forcing 2 fumbles. Despite missing 3 games. Fast, active and aggressive were fellow linebackers were Wesley Woodyard (90 tackles) and Joe Mays (83 tackles). That was good enough for the top 3 tackling spots and 4 of the top 5.
The only issue is they need to make a few plays while the ball is in the air. Not a single interception from the group and only 11 passes defended between the 4 of them. They’re young enough that they should see some improvement in 2012. This a playoff caliber group and if the play is more instinctive against the pass and there isn’t a sophomore slump from Miller, this group can be Super Bowl caliber.
Secondary: How abysmal can an NFL secondary be?? This team could get after the passer and all this group could muster was 9 interceptions?? In fact they are one of only two teams that had more than 40 sacks and single digit interception which tied them for second to last in the NFL. Terrible. The Chancellor has always felt Champ Bailey is overrated. Last year he did make the Pro Bowl with a 40 tackle, 2 interception season with 10 passes defended. Seriously?? The kid corners in New England had better seasons than that. It may also illustrate going into his 14th season, Bailey may no longer be an elite athlete. Keep your eye on his coverage later this season as his play might slip as the bumps and bruises pile up.
Former Saint Tracy Porter signed a one year deal with the Broncos.
Broncos brass really felt the need to do something with their weak play on the corner. They released Andre Goodman in April and signed Drayton Florence. Yet it’s the ghost of Super Bowl XLIV past that will be the starter opposite Bailey in former Saint CB Tracy Porter. You remember him don’t you?? He was the one that sealed Peyton Manning’s fate in the Super Bowl with his 74 yard interception return for a touchdown. He’s only going into his fifth season, runs a 4.37 / 40 and should be the starter for several years to come. We say that because he signed a one year deal and he’s playing for his long-term future. Another intriguing player will be 4th round pick Omar Bolden who will make the team.
After a season where neither safety intercepted a pass it was time to move on with SS Brian Dawkins. A great leader who was tough against the run yet a liability against the pass. Right now they have 5 safeties on the roster and we could see two new safeties back there. Keep your eye on second year safety Rahim Moore #26. Has a lot of range and should have learned a ton from an old pro like Dawkins. As a secondary this group has made enough moves to be average this season.
Overall: Under normal circumstances, Peyton Manning should mean 4-5 more wins this year for the Denver Broncos. However there are too many holes in the receiving corps. Too bad they didn’t keep Brandon Lloyd and Eddie Royal around. These guys would have flourished with Manning. However the Broncos wouldn’t have landed DE Malik Jackson had they not dealt Lloyd. Nevertheless, the other side of the equation is everyone is expecting the Manning of old. If the Broncos try to throw it around like the 2005-2010 Colts, this team could have a losing record in 2012. They will have to play more like the 1999-2004 Colts team that ran the ball more with Egerrin James (The [[_]]) and they can with McGahee (The [[_]]). Use play action and let Manning ease into throwing more moderately than he did in his latter Colt years. This will rest a defense that was thrown into too many bad situations last year. When teams could move on them…they were blown away. The Broncos will struggle on offense early and will hit their stride by midseason. All told this team should be able to move to a record of 9-7 if Manning can hold up the full season. With a murderous start of Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Houston Texans before Manning gets baptized in the Broncos / Raiders rivalry. They will start 2-2 at best.
Coach Mike Holmgren being carried off after winning Super Bowl XXXI.
Originally published 24 July, 2012 w/ Postscript 13, August 2016
Former Packers coach Mike Holmgren was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame and didn’t have his two marquee players there with him. Of course the deceased Reggie White couldn’t attend but Brett Favre’s absence was glaring. It would have been in Favre’s best interest to have taken the high road and gone but the lingering hard feelings are evident. It’s time to mend this broken relationship.
What is disturbing is how fast Packers fans turned on him. How hard would it be to leave a job you loved to do?? Many of us can’t answer that because our professions were something we chose to do for financial reasons not one of passion.
For every “cheesehead” Packer fan: Can you tell me anything about John Brockington or Terdell Middleton?? You remember those guys right?? How about Vince Ferragamo?? He was the quarterback that took the Los Angeles Rams to Super Bowl XIV against the Steelers. You do remember he played for the Packers right?? What number did he wear since #15 was obviously retired for Bart Starr?? For those of us that are 40-45, when we were kids, none of us living outside of Wisconsin could tell you we had met a Packer fan.
After Lombardi, it was 29 years before the Packers played for another NFL title. Green Bay was the place no one wanted to play for. In fact one of the famous quips on NFL Films by Buccaneers former coach John McKay, ” If these guys won’t get back I’ll run ’em to Green Bay.” This was during Tampa’s horrid 0-26 start as a franchise!!
The only Green Bay games of distinction during that 3 decade drought that anyone can remember was the 1982 NFL Divisional Playoff loss to Dallas 38-27 and the 1983 Monday Night win over the World Champion Redskins 48-47. The latter was the highest scoring Monday Night Game in NFL history. The Packers returned to national prominence when WR John Jefferson was traded from the San Diego Chargers for those early 80’s seasons.
Brett Favre made it fashionable to be a Green Bay Packer fan.
The real reason why folks can’t remember the aforementioned names and the two games I stated were many of you weren’t Green Bay Packer fans. It didn’t become fashionable until the era of Brett Favre and Mike Holmgren. You may have been cheering for the Los Angeles Rams, St Louis Cardinals, Dallas, or Oakland, but this nationwide surge of Packer fans is new. You can recall the rich Packers history from the 1960’s but the other years lie somewhere in the abyss.
Well in 1992 all of that changed. Brett Favre was the backup when Don Majowski fell to injury and an umproven player had to come off the bench. We remember him winning the game with a pass to Kittrick Taylor with :23 left in the game. He ran around like a child after winning his first NFL game. He did it again when he did it with less than :40 to go to win his first playoff game when he hit Sterling Sharpe in 1993. He played with passion and from the hip. He broke Ron Jaworski’s NFL record of consecutive games played at QB (114) the week of Walter Payton’s death in 1999. He was still playing in 2009??
Of course those 1st few years he made great plays and experienced some growing pains as the Packers battled for respectability. They returned to the playoffs in 1993 and ’94 but it was his 1995 season where he won the first of his 3 consecutive MVP awards:
During his 16 years he gave everything he could on the field for the Packers. Other quarterbacks are more revered as “West Coast” quarterbacks yet none of them had better seasons than he did. Do you realize the most TDs Joe Montana threw for in a season was 31 during the strike shortened season of 1987?? Brett threw for 38, 39, and 33 in 1995-1997 alone in that same offense. He won his 3 MVPs in those same years. He gave real Packer fans and NFL fans everywhere for that matter more thrills than any other player. The “go for it” mentality is what endeared him to most fans not his stats. Although he has plenty now that he is the NFL’s all time winningest quarterback and yardage leader with 71,838 yards and 508 TDs. The question The Chancellor has if he didn’t do enough to decide on when he wanted to retire, who did??
The Packers organization decided to go with Aaron Rodgers after the 2007 season when Favre didn’t want to retire. His decision and indecision was well chronicled over the next few seasons yet it was his play that led the Packers to relevancy. Just like last year it was pointed out that the Super Bowl in Indianapolis, and Lucas Oil Stadium itself, wouldn’t be in existence had it not been for Peyton Manning. Lambeau Field has been renovated twice and had a Hall of Fame built inside of it based on the relative wealth this team saw during Favre’s years. The estimated wealth of the Packers rose from less than $200 million to $1.09 Billion last year according to Forbes.
This is good enough for being the 9th richest franchise where they were in the teens in relative worth a decade ago. In fact when you google the relative worth of the Packers organization by year, every time Favre’s name is in the description. You were able to rebuild your team for Aaron Rodgers because of Favre continuing to win for you while the young players developed. You owe your relative wealth and the development of the new Packers to him.
This is the reason I believe the Packers should reach out to him, retire his jersey on a Monday Night, and have a ceremony for him. Do it before long-standing resentment settles in. It would be terrible to see this fractured relationship go on for decades like it did for Terry Bradshaw. By the time he and the Steelers came together, Art Rooney Sr, Mike Webster, and Steeler announcer Myron Cope had all passed on. In fact Three Rivers Stadium was even gone. It was bittersweet.
In a few years he is eligible for the Hall of Fame and the league is going to celebrate him and its in the Packers interest to do it first. If you wait until its within a year of his induction, it will look like an afterthought or at worst a knee jerk reaction to his being brought up nationally. This way the healing can start.
Every player that leaves via free agency has wanted to show their old team they could still do it. Its nothing new. Do you remember the round robin of former Chiefs signing with the Raiders and vice versa in the mid 90s?? There were 10 players that left one team and went to the other. RB Harvey Williams, RB Marcus Allen, CB Albert Lewis to name a few. Even Buffalo Bill great Thurman Thomas even signed with the hated Dolphins.
Yet he, just like LaDainian Tomlinson this year all came back and signed a 1 day contract so they could retire with their original team. You’ve lost that chance but now you need to make sure he attends the next ceremony. Honor him before the rest of football does or you’ll come off as looking petty. After all you showed him the door…now open a new one and honor him in Packer lore. Time to get over it… now when he walks up to the podium and you see the wear and tear he gave on Lambeau’s surface, the memories will come flooding back to you.
Try this one out: This is the moment The Chancellor believes he left his contemporaries behind and made the Hall of Fame.
After the departure of Packer Hall of Fame coach Mike Holmgren and Reggie White’s retirement, the Packers weren’t thought of as an elite team. This was 1999 and Ray Rhodes was the coach and being the only marquee player, the team started off 1-1 and in that lone victory Favre took the Packers to the winning score beginning with 1:51 on the clock.
Their 3rd game was against the Minnesota Vikings who had unseated the Packers the season before as the bully on the NFC Central block. Randy Moss and the Vikings had scorched the Packers a season before and this was a big game. A defensive struggle that saw Moss score the apparent winning touchdown and gave the Packers the football with 1:51 (ironically) to go. Favre drove his team down and this was the finish…on the move with no time outs on 4th down and the clock running with :20 seconds to go. No way he could do it for a second straight week…. could he??
Only two times during John Madden’s career did he make his way down to the locker room to congratulate a player. The first was Emmitt Smith in 1993 when he and the Cowboys beat the Giants 13-10 when he played with a separated shoulder. This was the second. Great players respect great players and you saw Moss come across and greet Favre after the game. A game for the ages that saw him pull off miracle after miracle and had the Rams and Kurt Warner not emerged, could have had his 4th straight MVP.
Again, as an organization step up and bring Favre in for a retirement ceremony of #4. He deserves it and it would be best for Packer fans and NFL fans everywhere. Its time.
Postscript August 13, 2016: We fast forward 4 years and last year his return to Lambeau Field was an incredible event. Over 60,000 in Lambeau just for Farve to come on the field and offer a few words before the Packers Hall of Fame celebration. Then the jersey retirement during the season where Bart Starr made it to the game was cathartic for all NFL fans not just those of the Packers. Which brings us to last weekend and his enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Right inside The Pro Football Hall of Fame for th e1st time.
Packer fans traveled far and wide to attend the enshrinement festivities last weekend. Met them from North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, all of Wisconsin and like my new fellow fanatics Ryan VanAcker (from Arizona) and his brother Ronald from Michigan, Favre fans were out in force.
You could feel the excitement emanating from Packer fans as the induction ceremony neared. The pressure building as Packer jerseys outnumbered all other teams represented 20 to 1 easily. Even on the day I toured “The Hall” for the first time I wore an autographed Jerry Kramer jersey I had received from the family a couple weeks before. Finally the emotion and love for Favre exploded in a crescendo of “Go Pack! Go!” right before Chris Berman introduced him:
Although time heals all wounds, there was still the subtle jab of the Favre Viking jersey in the locker display at the Hall of Fame. He said all the right things about “always being remembered as a Green Bay Packer” but you think about it… you can almost see him having a mischievous grin when it came time to decide what to showcase. But that’s Favre… the fun but flawed, every man who happened to become one of the best quarterbacks in history.
Where Brett wasn’t there for Mike Holmgren’s enshrinement into the Packers’s Hall of Fame, coach was in Canton for this one. I had the chance to meet him right after the ceremony at the base of the stage and we talked as we were being led out to the shuttles for the after parties. To be feet away as they shared words words for the first time right after his speech, was to see this come full circle. Especially from the feeling when I wrote the article originally. A great experience.
Favre Hall of Fame Bust
Congratulations Brett Favre… Pro Football Hall of Famer!!
When I think of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I think of a treasured museum for everyone who ever played the game, at ANY level, could appreciate. The ongoing history to the greatest sport there is and the telling of that story. Don’t tell me that Emmitt Smith is the greatest if you can’t tell me who Jim Brown was, or OJ Simpson, Ernie Nevers, or who Steve Van Buren was. Someone saying he didn’t see Bronko Nagurski or Red Grange isn’t enough. There are books, the Taylor Blitz Times or more important this incredible museum housing all this history. That’s what makes this building significant.
With it’s enshrinees and special wings to memorable moments, the 92 year history of the NFL, the 10 years of the AFL, and early football pioneers before the NFL, come to life. This is where fathers get to teach sons moments in history… Like the famous “wristband” of Baltimore Colt running back Tom Matte from the 1960s. When injuries to the Colts quarterbacks pressed Matte into service, Don Shula supplied him with a “wristband” with the play calls on it for him to remember. That is how he got through the game as a fill in quarterback.
This is why it is important the players, coaches, innovators, owners and their stories should be here to be told. Its for us to relive moments and future generations to learn how things came to be. The special men who were the embodiment of the very spirit of football.
Last would be one where the fans would have a vote. A write in candidate with a specific number of write in votes by the fans and former players. That number to be determined and the fans (who are the paying customers) would have a little say. Number to be determined later by a committee.
There you will find the last of the games between passionate fans of the home teams versus the sterile groups that attend the Super Bowl. The season ticket holder who has been cheering and screaming for 4 months… it leads to a contrast that can’t be matched by the corporate Super Bowl ticket holder.
When the home team wins the conference championship the celebration reverberates throughout the stadium. The fans don’t want to leave and in some instances players take a victory lap long after the cameras are gone. On the other hand the silence that can overcome a stadium when the home team goes down can be deafening. It’s almost like something has gone wrong with your ears. How can 80,000 people go that silent?? Yet you remember last January how quiet it got in Candlestick Park when Lawrence Tynes kicked the New York Giants to the Super Bowl.
After Lombardi, it was 29 years before the Packers played for another NFL title. Green Bay was the place no one wanted to play for. In fact one of the famous quips on NFL Films by Buccaneers former coach John McKay, ” If these guys won’t get back I’ll run ’em to Green Bay.” This was during Tampa’s horrid 0-26 start as a franchise!!
Where Brett wasn’t there for Mike Holmgren’s enshrinement into the Packers’s Hall of Fame, coach was in Canton for this one. I had the chance to meet him right after the ceremony at the base of the stage and we talked as we were being led out to the shuttles for the after parties. To be feet away as they shared words words for the first time right after his speech, was to see this come full circle. Especially from the feeling when I wrote the article originally. A great experience.
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