Vinatieri ribs BB in his HOF speech

[Triumph]

He was 7/10 in Super Bowls and played until 2021, across a couple eras. Don't get me wrong, I think he was very, very good. The kick against the Raiders was the greatest kick in NFL history, but overall he was very good, not great and, I think, based on that kick, was labeled as more "clutch" than lots of other kickers when his record speak otherwise. If we let him in for the Raiders/Rams, does Eli Manning get it as well? I don't think so on either. Not saying I'm right, but I don't think it's a slam dunk.

AV stopped playing after 2019. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/V/vinatada01.htm

AV is 4 - 1 in Super Bowls. If a 4 time Super Bowl winning Kicker doesn't belong in Canton then who on earth does? Especai;lly since it wasnt like AV kicked off and then sat on his axx all game long.

 

[Triumph]

Amen, I am one year form retirement and don't want to "jump the shark" and want to walk away without being pushed. Bill could have walked away and gone right to the Sunday shows without missing a beat..

BB will be back in the NFL.

No way that he walks away this close to Schulas record.

 

[TommyD4207]

Ghost is very under rated imo
arguably better than AdamV and played all games outdoors
better on KO's
better % from 50+

 

[Bill Lee]

Too heavy-handed by far. Such jockish facetiousness (generally asinine anyway, truth be told) has a place, I suppose, but a HOF event is not that place.

As for Bill, anyone who cares about him should worry about him.

Reminds me of the lyrics to The Grateful Dead's Truckin'...

"What in the world ever became of sweet Jane?
She lost her sparkle, you know she isn't the same.
Livin' on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine.
All a friend can say is 'Ain't it a shame.'"

Indeed, all a friend can say is ain't it a shame.

 

[ScottishPatriots]

The more people do this the more Belichick becomes a sympathetic figure, believe it or not this actually helps him long term.

Once he's gone at North Carolina all this girlfriend and bad ending crap washes away and his legacy will stand the test of time, nearly all of these coaches finished disasterously.

Unlike playing, there's no obvious ending for a coach physically so they can go until they actually become terrible at their job but the game passes everyone by nobody stays great at anything forever, you can't go back and re-write history though and say he wasn't great at what did he during his peak years people wouldn't do that for a player who fell off of the cliff at the end.

 

[n1997y]

it's sad
Bill is a national laughingstock

I am sure he cries all the way to the bedroom.

 

[n1997y]

It is sad. He really has not been himself - or what we chose to see him as - for years now, including several as Pats' head coach. There are many unavoidable inflection points in the arc of any life, points at which change and decisions are unavoidable. Retirement is one of them. Bill was for a long time a master of managing football games, but he has proven tragically obtuse and incompetent at managing advancing age and the decisions it imposes.

I retired in my early 70's, which for me and in my line of work - as a huckster for literature and philosophy, a barker for brainy fun - was just about right. My reviews from higher-ups and students were pretty stellar to the end, but I know I had begun cutting a few corners, dropping a few extras, declining a few challenges, feeling angered by change, being unnecessarily peremptory; and I know that if I had gone on much longer, I would have sort of dishonored whatever very modest legacy I might leave. I wish Bill had done the same, for his sake.

At least you didn’t retire from PatsFans. It’s important to keep some outlet for your own health. Don’t ever change, it’ll confuse your legacy!

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

BB will be back in the NFL.

No way that he walks away this close to Schulas record.

If he does come back, I can see it possibly being in Philly. Sirianni (?sp) is considered to be on the hot seat despite 5 straight playoffs, 2 Super Bowls and 1 Lombardi. An early out this year and who knows.......

 

[Thelonious]

Amen, I am one year form retirement and don't want to "jump the shark" and want to walk away without being pushed. Bill could have walked away and gone right to the Sunday shows without missing a beat..

The idea of retiring can be a little daunting. One worries about money , but you will be surprised how your expenses drop when you and likely your spouse don't have to drive off to work every day, buy presentable duds, eat meals away from home, purchase the little indulgences which make a working person's fretful life easier to bear. I worried too about being bored or "just sitting around." Unless you are a congenital couch potato, that won't or need not happen. There's plenty to do, if you choose to do it. I teach one course at a time in the adult ed program at the local college, sometimes a philosophy or literature course, but lately I have been teaching writing courses, journaling, poetry, fiction. The students - blue-haired ladies and older gents in large part - aren't as hilarious as adolescents or young adults, but I have yet to break up a fistfight or dodge a spitball. My point is that my worries over life post-retirement have proven unwarranted. I'm sure yours will as well. It may sound weird to say, but if you liked working - which I certainly did - you are very unlikely to lack the inner resources to make retirement enjoyable as well.

 

[Thelonious]

At least you didn’t retire from PatsFans. It’s important to keep some outlet for your own health. Don’t ever change, it’ll confuse your legacy!

LOL. I notice you did not use a phrase like "your shining legacy." I think that makes a lot of sense. I know I am not everybody's cup of tea.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Retired early @59
* spent 2 days/week raising granddaughter then granddaughters...both grads with STEM degrees today & Pats fans
* wrote many childrens' & teen stories
* learned a bit about rocket engineering
* volunteer middle school math teacher assistant
* regular gym workouts
* local town politics
* used MBA degree to manage my investments
* travelled, a lot
* wasted lots of time on the internet, e.g. Patsfans

 

[Thelonious]

If he does come back, I can see it possibly being in Philly. Sirianni (?sp) is considered to be on the hot seat despite 5 straight playoffs, 2 Super Bowls and 1 Lombardi. An early out this year and who knows.......

I'd love to see him get that number. I am pretty sure Bill was a better coach than Shula, and it'd be right for the numbers to reflect this. I do worry that his odd behavior, as a coach and otherwise, over the last few years of his NFL career and since, have probably made him unemployable in the minds of many owners and GM's. Then there is his age, which, let's be frank, many prospective employers will hold against him. It does not help that many of his character flaws are disturbing congruent with all the adverse traits associated with various cliches about we oldsters. So I don't think it's in the cards, but I'd love to be wrong.

 

[Triumph]

If he does come back, I can see it possibly being in Philly. Sirianni (?sp) is considered to be on the hot seat despite 5 straight playoffs, 2 Super Bowls and 1 Lombardi. An early out this year and who knows.......

Looks the Giants job is filled for awhile so you could be spot on.

I wonder about GM Howie Roseman though.