Here is an interesting article on what happened with the voting, from Hall of Fame voter Clark Judge.
Recap: Pulling back the curtain on the Hall of Fame's Class of 2015
A few takeaways:
MOST POPULAR DECISION
Tough to determine, but my guess is it’s Jerome Bettis making it. “The Bus” had been stuck in traffic for years, but the Steelers … and presenter Ed Bouchette from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette … made a compelling argument when they pointed out that 77 of his 91 touchdowns were inside the 10-yard line. “Those are the toughest 10 yards in football,” former GM Ernie Accorsi once told me. “Those are the yards that win championships.”
That's a nice sound bite, but isn't it stating the obvious? Don't the vast majority of touchdown runs come from inside the ten? I'm disappointed that this factoid would sway Hall of Fame voters.
- Apparently it was an either/or with Tim Brown vs Marvin Harrison. I don't really like that; shouldn't Brown get in versus all the other nominees? Why did there have to be a player at a certain position? On the plus side the voters took into account that Brown mostly had average quarterbacks passing the ball to him, while Harrison was in a dome with Peyton in an era that inflated passing and receiving stats. Harrison was also hurt by this:
In 16 playoff games, Harrison had just two touchdown catches, and you could feel the air go out of the room when that point was made.
- It doesn't look good for Don Corryell ever getting in to the Hall of Fame. I disagree, I think he deserves it as an innovator; voters should look beyond his record and lack of a championship.
15. Coryell suffers because of a 3-6 playoff record and no Super Bowls, but I don’t want to hear it. George Allen is in the Hall with a 2-7 playoff record. I look at Coryell as one of the game’s great innovators, someone who changed the landscape of the league with his imagination and his schemes, but I was in the minority. This was no surprise. Only now I’m virtually certain he never makes it.
- Same holds true for kicker Morten Andersen. How do you keep the all-time leading scorer in NFL history out of the Hall of Fame? Do these voters really believe a good kicker makes no difference?
- And it doesn't look good for John Lynch either. He had the second shortest debate (11:43); the only one that was shorter was for Junior Seau. He is also hurt by his position; maybe the voters are waiting for Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu. The guy was one of the best at safety when he played, and one of three players that defined the best defense of the late 90's/early 2000's.
11. John Lynch gets burned by the position he plays: safety. Yes, he was terrific. He was a nine-time Pro Bowler. But the last safety to be discussed by the Hall was Cliff Harris in 2004. The last to be elected was Paul Krause in 1998. And the last to play was Ken Houston in 1980. No, that doesn’t make it right, but that’s the way it is … for now, at least.
- Regarding Bill Polian, I'm assuming it was no slam dunk. The voters had the longest debate of the 15 finalists on his nomination, at 50:40. If it took that long then there must have been a lot of voters that initially were not going to vote for him, that had to be swayed.
- Kurt Warner had the second longest debate (39:23) and Tony Dungy was next at 32:48. Both Pats haters made it to the final ten, and unfortunately both look like they will get in soon. In my opinion Dungy vastly under achieved with the talent assembled by Rich McKay in Tampa. If Jimmy Johnson and Terrell Davis are kept out for relatively short careers, shouldn't the same reasoning keep Warner - who started 12 games only four times in his career - out of the Hall?
- Just like Tim Brown vs Marvin Harrison at WR, the debate was between Charles Haley and Kevin Greene. Again, why does it have to be one player at this position, one at another? No wonder safeties and kickers have no shot. If both are deserving, put them both in; if others at another position are more deserving, then put neither in.
- The five that made it to the final round but did not get in were Greene, Dungy, Warner, Harrison and Orlando Pace. The good news based on this column is that Pace will get in very soon. The bad news is that it looks like Warner will as well.
