Did you hear Jack Butler? He played in the 50s, and he said that when he played, a player who went down could get back up and run as long as the play hadn't been blown dead. I've never heard that before.

I guess 99 percent of the time the whistle would be blown pretty much immediately, but it's still odd. Were there times when the ref didn't pay attention back in the 50s? Why would the whistle not be blown immediately?

I've seen footage of those old games. You kind of had to hold the guy down after you tackled him. If a defender collided with the ball carrier forcing him to stumble to the ground, he wasn't really down. He could get back up or crawl along the ground for extra yardage.

Congrats Wille Roaf.

You should have gone in last year, but the NFL is too stupid to properly respect your position and level of play, it's their fault not yours.

You were the greatest Left Tackle I've ever seen in my entire life.

Was the rule that you had to stop the guy from being able to make progress?

I remember reading in the very early days of football that a touchdown wasn't scored until the ball carrier literally touched the ball to the turf, which is why you see in some of the really old films a guy would cross the goal line and then bend at the waist and make the ball kiss the ground. Generally there was a gentleman's agreement to let the guy touch the ball down if he crossed the goal line, but occasionally if a guy bulled his way in there would be a wrestling match as the defender tried to keep the ball carrier from touching the ball. The rule was something like any defender who touched the guy once he was across the goal line could try to keep him from "touching it down". I don't remember if it was in college or the pros, but apparently there was one stalemate where one or two defenders literally kept a runner from touching the ball down for some enormous amount of time, and there was no rule that let the refs stop the play.

Football is a derivative of Rugby. Soccer and Rugby were once known as Association Football and Rugby Football, respectively. American football began as merely another form of football which resembled rugby football.

Touching the ball down past the "try line" is still a rule in rugby today.

Lake Dawson made the HOF????

Willie Roaf makes the HOF
 

Here is the link:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/75...all-fame-class


Another Chief in the Hall!

Probably the best O-Lineman ever to play the game with Shields coming in at top 5. Definitely part of the best O-line ever to take the field, IMO.
Can you all imagine what a true HOF running back like Sanders, Emmitt Smith, L.T. or even Marcus Allen could have done behind them? 2300 yards and 30+ TD's is not unthinkable. Preist was a good running back in his own right, just not like the others mentioned.
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Jim Brown comes to mind immediately.

Did Barry Sanders average more than 100 yards a game?

Just looked it up, and Barry Sanders avereged 99.8 ypg, but Curtis Martin only averaged 83.9.

Am happy for Roaf & he is deserving. Altho I would have been more thrilled if it was Shields getting in. Shields can get in next year.

The thought of Roaf makes me sad. I mean, I'm happy for him and all ... it just reminds me of how good our offense used to be.

FAX

From scrimmage not just rushing.

Curtis Martin's induction is a tribute to his logevity and durability, and the direct result of the fact that he played a skill position.

There's no way in hell he was better at his job than Will Shields was at his.

And the fact is, Chris Carter is far more deserving than Martin.

But then, the HoF voting process has always been a joke.

Agree with all of this.

I also find it annoying that the top X% of QBs get in, but with CBs or safeties you have to be the top (X/5)% or whatever. It should be the same percentage of players at every position.