NFL Hall of Fame Finalists: Junior Seau in, Ty Law out

Ty Law was voted in to the New England Patriots' Hall of Fame last year and made it as far as a semi-finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, but he will not be on the final ballot. The only former Patriot among the fifteen finalists is Junior Seau.

Two other former Patriots - at least during the off-season/training camp - made it to the semis. One advanced (John Lynch) while another joined Law on the sidelines (Torry Holt). Edgerrin James, Isaac Bruce and Kevin Mawae were among those that also missed the final cut.

Here is the list of the fifteen finalists:


With Polian and Dungy making it to the final round, the notorious Competition Committee from a decade ago is in their glory once again.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...arner-among-firstyear-eligible-hall-finalists

http://nesn.com/2015/01/ex-patriot-junior-seau-among-nfl-hall-of-fame-finalists-ty-law-left-out/

Jerome Bettis,Terrell Davis, and Kurt Warner do not belong in the hall of fame. Bettis was solid, but not HOF, Davis was a Denver back when they could put literally anyone back there and get 1000 yards, and Warner was a good QB made to look great by Martz system and great WR. Bruce and Holt deserve it more than he does.

7 inducted last year. If Aeneas Williams is in, Law should be as well. He had 55 picks, Law 53. Both had 6 postseason. Junior should be a lock. Hands down. Orlando Pace jumps out as well. Will Shields, Coryell and Tim Brown also.

I'll puke in my mouth if Dungy, Polian and Warner make it this year.

Kevin Greene....yeah. He was nasty. He should get in at some point. Harrison, well, just make sure you're wearing body armor if he gets denied. Haley. No. Davis. No. Lynch. No. Bettis. Eventually. Jimmy J? Like him, eventually.

Morten Anderson can go in after Vinatieri retires and gets in.

Saint Dungy is a lock to get in, based on public sentiment.

Though the truth is he doesn't deserve it. Absolutely underachieved year after year with one of the best defensive rosters in the history of the NFL in Tampa.

jmt57 said:

Saint Dungy is a lock to get in, based on public sentiment.

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dont have strong feelings about this class

moss better get in on the 1st ballot

league is full of criminals......so what if moss was a bit of a quitter on occasion........transcendent talent

Well we all hate Tony Dungy, so I hope he doesn't get in. Marvin Harrison though, it's hard to argue with the long list of records he holds. Kurt Warner, I hate him more than I hate Dungy, but I also think he's very underrated. He had some of the best regular seasons ever (and would be probably the only 2-time MVP in any of the major sports to not make it to the Hall of Fame), and is arguably the greatest playoff QB ever. Hearing some of the stats almost gives me shivers. From Football Outsiders:

Warner is the last player to win a MVP and a Super Bowl in the same season (1999). He was a Super Bowl MVP with a record 414 passing yards. In fact, Warner still has the three-highest games in passing yardage in Super Bowl history: 414 vs. Tennessee, 377 vs. Pittsburgh and 365 vs. New England.

In the three seasons he started all 16 regular-season games, Warner led his team to the Super Bowl. He got there with three different head coaches (**** Vermeil, Mike Martz and Ken Whisenhunt) and two teams, which has only been matched by

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Peyton Manning. Warner is one of 12 quarterbacks to start at least three Super Bowls. Eight are in the HOF, Manning and Brady are locks, Ben Roethlisberger is on the path, and Warner would make it 12-for-12.

Warner did not make the postseason often, but he made his runs count. Warner is statistically one of the best postseason quarterbacks ever. In 13 games he threw 31 touchdowns to 14 interceptions with a 102.8 passer rating. He has the highest completion percentage (66.5 percent) and passing yards per attempt (8.55) in postseason history. He has the third-most passing DYAR (1,639) since 1989, including the single-highest game ever, regular season or playoffs (380 DYAR vs. 2009 Packers). Against Green Bay, Warner became the only quarterback to ever win a playoff game in which his team allowed 45 points. He threw more touchdowns (five) than incompletions (four) in his final virtuoso performance.

Warner's passing DVOA in the playoffs (42.3%) is the second highest since 1989, trailing only Joe Montana's late-career hot streak.

An argument could be made that Warner has been the best playoff quarterback of his era. His record is 9-4, but he led a valiant comeback effort in three of the defeats. The only game that wasn't competitive was the swan song of his career: a 45-14 loss he left injured in New Orleans in the 2009 NFC Divisional round. Warner's 0.28 win probability added per game (courtesy AdvancedFootballAnalytics.com) is the third highest in the playoffs since 1999.

Warner would have won more games if he played with better defenses. He had a great one when he won the Super Bowl with the 1999 Rams, but Warner also dragged with him two of the worst defenses to ever see the postseason in 2000 and 2008.

Only six teams have made the playoffs after allowing 400 points, and Warner was the primary quarterback for two of them. He was the first to win a playoff game with one of these defenses, and has the only 10-win season on the list (2000 Rams). Technically, Trent Green started five games (2-3 record) that year with Warner injured, but the Rams actually allowed more points -- 30.2 points per game is a pace of just under 483 points -- in Warner's 11 starts. Warner still went 8-3 as a starter.

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**** Kurt Warner, but it would honestly be a travesty if he doesn't make it in.

Peyton Manning's kryptonite=Ty Law=needs to be in hall at some point

OhExaulted1 said:

Kevin Greene....yeah. He was nasty. He should get in at some point. Harrison, well, just make sure you're wearing body armor if he gets denied. Haley. No. Davis. No. Lynch. No. Bettis. Eventually. Jimmy J? Like him, eventually.

Morten Anderson can go in after Vinatieri retires and gets in.

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I think if Andersen doesn't make it in the next 5 years the Vinatieri will struggle to make it in

Ty Law should be on that final list as well.

One guy from that list that deserves to get in is Mick Tingelhoff. He was at minimum one of the two best centers in pro football when he played (Hall of Famer Jim Otto being the other), and arguably the best or alternating back and forth with Otto for that claim during the 60s and 70s.

Tingelhoff started every game of his career; that 240-game streak is the third longest in NFL history. He was a seven straight first team All Pro who constantly took on and beat the league's toughest middle linebackers.

I believe the reason that Tingelhoff hadn't made the HoF previously was that he was a victim of a period of time when there was too much emphasis placed on how many winning Super Bowl teams a player was part of. If your team never won the Lombardi then it was really tough to get in - even more so if you were not a skill position player. Tingelhoff was a far superior center than Mike Webster and Jim Langer, but those guys had SB rings and Tingelhoff didn't.

Haley, Brown, Seau, Shields, Pace should get in. Anderson, Coryell, Greene, Harrison, JJ should as well eventually. Law is just barely borderline but will probably also get in at one point.

Bettis, Warner, TD, Dungy should not make the hall.

Dungy built that Tampa team that won a SB. It's a damn shame gruden came in at the end and took all the credit

A man named Brady said:

Dungy built that Tampa team that won a SB. It's a damn shame gruden came in at the end and took all the credit

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There was absolutely no way that team would ever win a SB with Dungy as their HC.

As far as assembling the team, Rich McKay should be given as much if not more credit than Dungy - thanks in large part to early draft picks leftover from the Hugh Culverhouse era.

Dungy under achieved in Tampa. With the personnel McKay brought in, Dungy had one of the best defenses in NFL history. Year after year they were paper champions, predicted to win the Super Bowl but getting bounced out of the playoffs early. Dungy made Rex Ryan look like an offensive genius - he was so overly conservative it cost that team games, and chances at multiple championships. He was overly loyal to is staff, retaining incompetent offensive coordinators (Clyde Christianson, Mike Shula) who shared his offensive philosophy of two runs up the middle, a pass on 3rd and long, and punt or settle for a long field goal try.

It's not as if Gruden did nothing to win that Super Bowl. He convinced McKay to upgrade the offense, bringing in Keenan McCardell, Michael Pittman and Joe Jurevicius. They were all key players in the 2002 championship season. By that time the key players on defense were starting to decline, and combined with the lack of draft picks to replenish the team (having been traded away to acquire Gruden), the Bucs never got close to winning another SB with that roster. However, they never would have won one without Gruden - and they never would have won one with Dungy.

The oft-repeated 'won it with Dungy's team' line is just part of the Tony Dungy myth.

Batman said:

I think if Andersen doesn't make it in the next 5 years the Vinatieri will struggle to make it in

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Andersen doesn't have two SB-winning kicks on his résumé.

Hael said:

Haley, Brown, Seau, Shields, Pace should get in. Anderson, Coryell, Greene, Harrison, JJ should as well eventually. Law is just barely borderline but will probably also get in at one point.

Bettis, Warner, TD, Dungy should not make the hall.

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If Seau isn't a unanimous choice, whoever doesn't vote for him should lose his/her vote.

I have to think the Hall of Fame is both a business (the museum itself) and a publicity mechanism (the election, ceremony, etc.) first and foremost, beyond some measure of objective football value/performance.

Warner and Bettis have nice stories to them. Warner being shuffled around in Europe to then go to three super bowls. Bettis won the big one in his hometown on the day before retirement. I imagine those feel good stories probably contribute to their candidacy.

(Armchair opinion from stranger on the Internet)

I think John Lynch was a fine player but IMO Rodney Harrison was better. Rodney thinks so too. On his weekend radio show he was asked about the pro bowl and he called it a popularity contest joke. He cited as an example his making the 2003 all pro team but he didn't make the pro bowl. He also cited John Lynch making it and he would look at the numbers and say wait I had more tackles, more tackles for a loss, more sacks, more interception, more passes defended......

Rodney and Ray Lewis are the only players in history with over 30 sacks and interceptions and yet Rodney won't get a whiff because he was viewed as a dirty player. Lewis was every bit as nasty and you throw in his off the field stuff and yet he doesn't have that reputation.

I'd say it would be impossible for Junior Seau not to get in on his first ballot, but Marvin Harrison somehow didn't get in last year so....