Post by TheShadow on Aug 6, 2009 15:37:18 GMT -5
www.contracostatimes.com
By Martin Snapp
Congrats to Bob Hayes, Randall McDaniel, Bruce Smith, Derrick Thomas, Rod Woodson and Bills owner Ralph Wilson, who are being inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame this weekend. But how come Ray Guy and Kenny Stabler aren't up there, too
Granted, I'm prejudiced because I'm a Raiders fan. But Stabler and Guy are no-brainers.
Ray Guy was, quite simply, the best punter ever. He kicked 'em long, and he kicked 'em high — so high, in fact, that one time the other team took the ball to the sideline and had it tested for helium. (It was clean.)
At the 1976 Pro Bowl he became the first punter to hit the Louisiana Superdome video screen, forcing officials to raise the screen from 90 to 200 feet.
He not only had power, he had finesse. He was especially adept at landing the ball inside the 20, without it going into the end zone for a touchback.
He did that 210 times, and that's not counting his first three seasons, before the NFL kept track of this statistic.
The bottom line: He punted 1,049 times, and not one was ever run back for a touchdown.
So why isn't he in the hall? Simple: No punter has ever been chosen. The selection committee has a prejudice against such "specialty" players.
But if field position is as important as football coaches say it is, why shouldn't punters be in the hall? Field goal kickers are.
As Hall of Fame historian Joe Horrigan said of Guy, "He's is the first punter you could look at and say, 'He won games.'" That alone should earn him a ticket to Canton.
And the snub is just as outrageous for The Snake. He was Joe Montana before Joe Montana. Maybe his skills were at a slightly lower level, but only slightly.
He was the king of the last-minute comebacks. There was no other quarterback you wanted to have the ball in his hands with time running out and the game on the line.
He didn't have the strongest arm in the world, but he was deadly accurate.
And the bigger the game, the better he played.
I can see him now, standing almost motionless in the pocket, waiting, waiting, waiting for his receivers to get open and then, suddenly, Zap! Like a snake striking, he'd zip the ball to Cliff Branch, Dave Casper or Fred Biletnikoff for another last-second, game-winning TD.
Some of the most famous plays in football history are Stabler touchdowns.
Like the "Holy Roller" game at San Diego in 1978. Trailing by a touchdown with 10 seconds to go at the Chargers 24, he was about to be sacked; so he "fumbled" the ball forward and it rolled and rolled until Casper finally recovered it in the end zone for the game winner.
Or the "Ghost to the Post," a 42-yard beauty to Casper with less than a minute to go, setting up the game-tying field goal in the final seconds of a playoff game against the Colts in 1977, which the Raiders ultimately won in double overtime on another Stabler-to-Casper pass.
Or the "Sea of Hands" playoff game against Miami in 1974. With the seconds running out and Dolphin linebacker Vern Den Herder dragging him down by his legs, Stabler flipped the ball toward the left side of the front of the end zone, where running back Clarence Davis outfought a "sea of hands" of three Dolphin defenders to grab it for a 28-26 victory that knocked Miami out of the playoffs after it had won the last two Super Bowls.
Only The Snake would have dared such a pass. And only The Snake would have made it. He should have been in Canton long ago.
By Martin Snapp
Congrats to Bob Hayes, Randall McDaniel, Bruce Smith, Derrick Thomas, Rod Woodson and Bills owner Ralph Wilson, who are being inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame this weekend. But how come Ray Guy and Kenny Stabler aren't up there, too
Granted, I'm prejudiced because I'm a Raiders fan. But Stabler and Guy are no-brainers.
Ray Guy was, quite simply, the best punter ever. He kicked 'em long, and he kicked 'em high — so high, in fact, that one time the other team took the ball to the sideline and had it tested for helium. (It was clean.)
At the 1976 Pro Bowl he became the first punter to hit the Louisiana Superdome video screen, forcing officials to raise the screen from 90 to 200 feet.
He not only had power, he had finesse. He was especially adept at landing the ball inside the 20, without it going into the end zone for a touchback.
He did that 210 times, and that's not counting his first three seasons, before the NFL kept track of this statistic.
The bottom line: He punted 1,049 times, and not one was ever run back for a touchdown.
So why isn't he in the hall? Simple: No punter has ever been chosen. The selection committee has a prejudice against such "specialty" players.
But if field position is as important as football coaches say it is, why shouldn't punters be in the hall? Field goal kickers are.
As Hall of Fame historian Joe Horrigan said of Guy, "He's is the first punter you could look at and say, 'He won games.'" That alone should earn him a ticket to Canton.
And the snub is just as outrageous for The Snake. He was Joe Montana before Joe Montana. Maybe his skills were at a slightly lower level, but only slightly.
He was the king of the last-minute comebacks. There was no other quarterback you wanted to have the ball in his hands with time running out and the game on the line.
He didn't have the strongest arm in the world, but he was deadly accurate.
And the bigger the game, the better he played.
I can see him now, standing almost motionless in the pocket, waiting, waiting, waiting for his receivers to get open and then, suddenly, Zap! Like a snake striking, he'd zip the ball to Cliff Branch, Dave Casper or Fred Biletnikoff for another last-second, game-winning TD.
Some of the most famous plays in football history are Stabler touchdowns.
Like the "Holy Roller" game at San Diego in 1978. Trailing by a touchdown with 10 seconds to go at the Chargers 24, he was about to be sacked; so he "fumbled" the ball forward and it rolled and rolled until Casper finally recovered it in the end zone for the game winner.
Or the "Ghost to the Post," a 42-yard beauty to Casper with less than a minute to go, setting up the game-tying field goal in the final seconds of a playoff game against the Colts in 1977, which the Raiders ultimately won in double overtime on another Stabler-to-Casper pass.
Or the "Sea of Hands" playoff game against Miami in 1974. With the seconds running out and Dolphin linebacker Vern Den Herder dragging him down by his legs, Stabler flipped the ball toward the left side of the front of the end zone, where running back Clarence Davis outfought a "sea of hands" of three Dolphin defenders to grab it for a 28-26 victory that knocked Miami out of the playoffs after it had won the last two Super Bowls.
Only The Snake would have dared such a pass. And only The Snake would have made it. He should have been in Canton long ago.