Patriots Hall of Fame 2008 nominees: Coates, Nance, Morris [mergedx2]

[DefenseRules]

Patriots Hall of Fame - NOMINEES for this year

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/

Patriots Hall of Fame Nominees
Posted by Mike Reiss, Globe Staff
May 1, 2008 09:30 AM

The finalists for this year's induction in the Patriots Hall of Fame have been announced today.

One of the following three finalists will earn induction into the Hall, with the choice made by you -- the fans. Voting begins today on Patriots.com, the official, team-operated site of the Patriots.

The finalists (in alphabetical order):

TE Ben Coates
OL Jon Morris
RB Jim Nance

The finalists were narrowed to three by a panel of media members, former players, and team employees.

More details on the finalists can be found at Patriots.com.

 

[FirstAndGoal]

Re: Patriots Hall of Fame - NOMINEES for this year

Morris is a good choice but maybe Nance this year. Coates will eventually get in but these old-timers are overdue.

 

[PantsB]

Re: Patriots Hall of Fame - NOMINEES for this year

Ben Coates, no hesitation

 

[JoeSixPat]

Re: Patriots Hall of Fame - NOMINEES for this year

The choice for me is between Nance and Morris - Coates will get in someday... I want to prioritize the old timers before everyone forgets what they did... its tough enough already to remember the 70s.

Nance as a FB certainly gets more notice for his accomplishments, even though he was drafted much later in the draft than Morris was...

But OL by definition doesn't get the spotlight or the credit they deserve for the important role they play

I think I'm leaning Morris initially - he was an ironman, playing 128 games and was a consistent all star from 64-70 - I think its good that we as fans recognize unsung heros as much as the guys in the positions that garnish the stats.

Not that Nance isn't deserving - I think he, along with Dillon and Curtis Martin - share a bunch of superlatives in terms of 100 yard games and other rushing marks.

But while Nance is the much more recognizable name I think I'm going to give my support to a deserving underdog in Morris

 

[MosiT]

Re: Patriots Hall of Fame - NOMINEES for this year

Jim Nance without a doubt.

Coates and Morris both will get voted in at some time but right now Nance is the pick, IMO of course.

Strange though, I believe his number (35) has never been retired by the Pats.

Also it is a travesty that Gino Cappelletti has never been voted into the Pro Football of Fame.

 

[castlelong1]

Vote for Patriots hall of fame

http://survey.kraftsportsgroup.com/fillsurvey.php?sid=80

Sorry, see there is another thread about this. If it has the link can a moderator just kill this thread? Thanks

 

[castlelong1]

Re: Patriots Hall of Fame - NOMINEES for this year

Pick depends on one's age. Nance was great, but if you don't remember him...

 

[godef]

Re: Patriots Hall of Fame - NOMINEES for this year

Ben Coates, no hesitation

From someone who probably has no clue who Jon Morris and Jim Nance were.

I think the problem is they've created this Patriotd Hall of Fame perhaps 30 years too late, andf then trying to throw players from all eras in there at once.

I think they need to create two channels toward nomination...

a) like the Pro Football Hall of Fame, players must have been retired from pro ball for 5 years (or wahtever it is)
b) then a classic track for players who have been retired for 25 (or some such number) years.

Perhaps one player can enter the Hall of Fame from each of these two channels each year.

Relatively modern players have two big an advantage in terms of "freshness" of our memories of them, and just downright knowledge of more recent players as opposed to players from the 60s and early 70s who many of us never saw play.

This is similar to when radio stations get listerners to vote on the "100 greatest songs ever" and half of them end up being new songs from the past year.

Certainly Ben Coates was a great tight end for the Patriots, but how many years was this phase, perhaps 4 years tops? I think if one considered this, and then go back and consider the importance of players like Morris and Nance to the early Boston Patriots, and I think how can we not vote for one of these two.

 

[Stop Being A Jerk]

Re: Patriots Hall of Fame - NOMINEES for this year

Ben Coates

 

[drew4008]

Re: Patriots Hall of Fame - NOMINEES for this year

I just don't want to be one of those franchises who has a million ppl in its Hall Of Fame...

 

[Jimke]

Re: Patriots Hall of Fame - NOMINEES for this year

Jim Nance. Nance was the 19th round pick of the Patriots in

1965 and a high pick of the Bears. For some reason the Bears

thought he had committed himself to the Pats and didn't pursue

him very vigorously. The Pats lucked out and got a good player.

 

[NoCal Patriot]

Jim Nance,John Morris and Ben Coates are all locks for this honor and while I know that many of You aren't old enough to remember two of these guys,they were great players on poor teams and were often looked upon to speak on behalf of their team.
Jim Nance was a bruiser in the old AFL Days and even had a moment in the sun during the first year at Schaeffer Stadium.It was the last game of the opening season and it was a cold day against The hated Miami Dolphins.The patriots took the opening kickoff and behind Jim Plunkett and Jim Nance the Patriots drove the ball down the field against the vaunted Dolphin Defense and Jim Nance slammed it into the endzone which set the tone for the whole day .Bob Griese and Larry Cszonka could never get started and seemed to get colder as the day went on and The Dolphins were never in it.The patriots beat a very good team that day and made them look bad in doing it.We had a little hope which then was rare and it was a great day at the Stadium.
John Morris ,a Holy Cross Guy ,and a 10 year rock at center.He was steady aand set the tone.He only lost his job to Bill Lenkitis when He was injured.He was a great player on some bad teams.Just a very solid guy.
Ben Coates as simply great.I don't think the Patriots have ever had a better pass catching Tight end than Ben Coates.
I say put them all in ! They all deserve their place!

 

[mike100915]

Re: Patriots Hall Of Fame Nominees

I think it's kind of foolish that they only put in one member. Jim Nance is all over due, and Ben Coates is a no-brainer. I don't see the problem in putting them both in. The Patriots have plenty of others who should be in their HOF. Hopefully, they realize they should put more then just one player in each year.

Quick, does Curtis Martin get into the Patriots HOF?

 

[signbabybrady]

Re: Patriots Hall Of Fame Nominees

I think it's kind of foolish that they only put in one member. Jim Nance is all over due, and Ben Coates is a no-brainer. I don't see the problem in putting them both in. The Patriots have plenty of others who should be in their HOF. Hopefully, they realize they should put more then just one player in each year.

Quick, does Curtis Martin get into the Patriots HOF?

Curtis does not get in. no way he was a patriot for a brief moment and will always be a Jet.


I don't think one a year is that bad as I am sure some time will come when we are not producing Patriot Hall of Famers at the clip we are now and eventually they will all get there dues.

I think Maybe they should put the obvious no brainers in though and let us vote the 1 a year of the rest. I mean am I really going to have to vote Brady in some day. Shouldn't he just get in the second he retires?

 

[RayClay]

Re: Patriots Hall Of Fame Nominees

Once again, the writers embarrass themselves. Nance had two 1,000 seasons. Hall of fame seasons, but career?

There's a player who was a six time all star and one of only two (2) Patriots on the AFL display in the NFL Hall in Canton. Not even nominated again.

http://www.profootballhof.com/history/decades/1960s/afl.jsp

 

[MosiT]

Re: Patriots Hall Of Fame Nominees

I think it's kind of foolish that they only put in one member. Jim Nance is all over due, and Ben Coates is a no-brainer. I don't see the problem in putting them both in. The Patriots have plenty of others who should be in their HOF. Hopefully, they realize they should put more then just one player in each year.

Quick, does Curtis Martin get into the Patriots HOF?

That was my thought last year, too. One player a year is really dumb. Some players may wait a lifetime to get in at that rate and the fans of those players, not to mention the players themselves, might be dead and buried a long time before they see them inducted.

Three a year would be more reasonable, IMO.

 

[MosiT]

Re: Patriots Hall Of Fame Nominees

Once again, the writers embarrass themselves. Nance had two 1,000 seasons. Hall of fame seasons, but career?

There's a player who was a six time all star and one of only two (2) Patriots on the AFL display in the NFL Hall in Canton. Not even nominated again.

http://www.profootballhof.com/history/decades/1960s/afl.jsp

You really cant go by the numbers alone. When Jim Nance did his things for the Pats they were badly in need of a superstar. Nance gave it to them, and his rivalries with Cookie Gilchrist of the Bills is a solid AFL story.

Also Nance had the Pats record for most yards in a season for about 30 years before Curtis Martin came along, I believe, and broke it, and then of course Corey Dillon.

That is a long time for a team record to hold up and I would guess that if the Pats had a team HOF before Martin broke the record, Nance would have been in it.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

Re: Patriots Hall of Fame - NOMINEES for this year

I know Coates will get alot of votes... But Nance was a great back for the Pats and deserves some votes..

 

[TimU]

Re: Patriots Hall of Fame - NOMINEES for this year

I'm surprised that Jim Nance isn't already in the Patriots Hall of Fame! I should think he was one of the half dozen or so greatest players the team has ever had, not including those currently active. He led the league in rushing twice. If Jim Nance isn't in the Patriots Hall of Fame who is?

Who deserves it more than Nance? I'll give you Hannah, Tippett, maybe Gino or maybe Stanley Morgan. That's it IMO.

 

[NoCal Patriot]

Re: Patriots Hall of Fame - NOMINEES for this year

I'm surprised that Jim Nance isn't already in the Patriots Hall of Fame! I should think he was one of the half dozen or so greatest players the team has ever had, not including those currently active. He led the league in rushing twice. If Jim Nance isn't in the Patriots Hall of Fame who is?

Who deserves it more than Nance? I'll give you Hannah, Tippett, maybe Gino or maybe Stanley Morgan. That's it IMO.

Tim,I think Julius Adams should be on Your list too.