The Definition of a NFL Hall of Famer is..
"A group of persons judged outstanding, as in a sport or profession."
48 members of the NFL Hall Of Fame Selection Committee are the ones who decide who is deserving of entering the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. How they make these decisions and what they "truly" consider for merits by a player is kinda of unknown. For every inducted member there is another dozen players who fans think got robbed.
Don Coryell has been a finalist but never inducted yet. Why? His offense changed the way the game is played and would lead to the Rams winning the Super Bowl in 2000 using his style of offense. The voters have not graced Coryell into Canton halls to this date. Kevin Acee a writer for the UT didn't even vote for him.
The voters don't want excuses. They want results. Coryell was a head coach for 14 seasons but had only 111 wins by his name. There are coaches with better records and have been to Super Bowls. They have been bypassed by the NFL selection committee. Everson Walls, Leslie O'Neal, Phil Simms, Morton Anderson, Zach Thomas, Priest Holmes, Alan Faneca, Randall Cunningham and Jim Marshall have not received the knock many think is deserving.
If you're a QB, it gets rougher. For every Dan Marino there are 5 QB's bypassed. The 2004 QB class was Ben Roethisberger, Eli Manning and Philip Rivers. Drew Brees will retire soon as will Tom Brady. Stats are numbers but who took their team to another level? Who won games season after season and playoff games as the team leader? Who is a Hall Of Famer?
A debate will be Eli Manning 2 Super Bowl wins vs Philip Rivers record breaking stat career. I don't think either gets in as of today. But if I had to vote it would go to Manning. QB are meant to win games and Hall of Famers win playoff games.
The debate just in regards to these 2 QB were debated in the Sporting News in October of last year.
http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/news/eli-manning-philip-rivers-hall-of-fame-giants-chargers-nfl-draft-trade/pzj8m73actly1wzg8ba8swxdv
They asked 8 of the 64 members who vote how they would vote and what they would consider.
The Hall of Fame considers a wide variety of players that are eligible for the HOF. In the fall they send those ballots in with 25 semi-finalist names. The 25 then become only 15 of the most worthiest players to be considered. The 15 are announced in January and they get debated the day before the Super Bowl in a closed door meeting where the final 15 is represented by a selector to speak on that players success. After that concludes a closed door secret vote is held. The eligible players are reduced from 15 to 10 then another secret vote to get to the maximum of 5 Hall Of Fame players. Each inductee must have 80% of the vote. That is how you reach the Hall Of Fame.
Rivers has broken many records as a QB in the NFL. Here the knock on him. He is has career road losing record. A playoff losing record. He is 106 wins and 86 losses amount to 7 winning seasons, 3 losing seasons and two .500 seasons. A completion rate of 64.2%. He has a postseason record of 4-5.
In 2006, Rivers had 6 Pro Bowlers and a 14-2 season. He didn't even win a playoff game.
In 2007, he courageously lead his team to the AFC Championship Game. no excuses for the NFL HOF. He lost to NE.
In 2009, he had the 4th best offense and 11th best defense in the NFL. He lost at home to Mark Sanchez.
He wouldn't reach the playoffs again until 2013 going 1-1 in the post season.
Now Philip has 2 seasons on his contract. He is not expected to extend that instead going home to Alabama to retire with his family and coach High School Football.
Rivers career been set back by bad coaching, bad ownership, injuries to the roster and pure and out bad luck. The voters don't care about any of that.
In 2018, Rivers has the best chance and maybe the final chance to take his team to the next level. The offensives line could be the best he has ever had. The weapons of Keenan Allen, Hunter Henry, Tyrell Williams and Melvin Gordon are at his exposure.
The defense is a close group of play makers that could take the team to the Super Bowl by their performance alone. The coaches are Anthony Lynn, Ken Whisenhunt and Gus Bradley.
Rivers has it all laid out for him to succeed in 2018. It's up to him now. Does he want to be a stat QB or a Hall of Famer? There are no more excuses. 8 voters have already said they doubt they would cast a vote for him. It's put up or shut up time for Philip Michael Rivers.
Does he want to be just another Carson Palmer and/or Jim Plunkett or wear a yellow jacket in Canton sometime after the 2025 season?
LA has 19 million people and the 2nd biggest TV market in the country. To be the first QB to lead his team to the Super Bowl in LA would be enormous. It would cement his legacy as a Charger and a Hall of Famer. To fail is to fade into the NFL history as a great regular season QB who never could get to a Super Bowl.
2018 has a ton riding on it for the Chargers and the future in LA. Make us proud Philip. It your last best chance!
Quite a wake up call to all of us who love Rivers and even realize he’s a better QB then... cough, cough... Dan Fouts (as a 40 yr fan of the Chargers it hurts to say that, but it’s true). But it’s starting to look to me like one of the hurdles the 2018 Chargers is going to have to overcome is Coach Lynn’s belief that this team needs employ a run first & run often offense. With the signing of TE Virgil Green, a blocking TE, & center Mike Pouncey they may be building the 2018 offense that way. Coach Lynn cost this team the month of September in 2017 before realizing that he had to let the true personality of this Chargers team come out, and that personality is to let Rivers and these pass catchers he’s got throw the ball... it’s a passing offense, not a run & run most, low scoring offense. Look at SB 52... it was video game, not a grind it out on the ground game.
ReplyDelete