2014 Semifinalists for the Hall of Fame

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Ladainian Tomlinson will get in. Easily.

When will he be eligible?

Then Bettis will get in as well, because there numbers are nearly identical.

Which means Eddie George will get in, too, right?

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Then Bettis will get in as well, because there numbers are nearly identical.

Which means Eddie George will get in, too, right?

What the hell, Dane? Here I am thinking we've made some progress and there you go saying some stupid shit like that..

Bettis has NO WHERE near the HOF resume LT has and the only number that's "identical" is their career rushing yards totals at 13,684 to 13,662- advantage LT.

LT had more yards on less carries and games played (he averaged nearly a half yard more per carry than Bettis), more than three times as many receiving yards, and 68 more TDs. That's a big one.

LT fumbled the ball, on average, once every 126 touches to Bettis's 89. LT averaged a TD every 23 touches to Bettis's 39.

LT had three seasons of 1,500+ rushing yards to Bettis's one.

LT had three seasons of 2,000+ yards from scrimmage. Bettis never even came close.

LT had a season in which he amassed 1600+ rushing yards AND 100 receptions. That's incredible. Bettis never had a season in which he caught more than 31 passes.

LT broke the single season TD record with 31. Bettis's best season TD-wise was 13.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

What the hell, Dane? Here I am thinking we've made some progress and there you go saying some stupid shit like that..

Bettis has NO WHERE near the HOF resume LT has and the only number that's "identical" is their career rushing yards totals at 13,684 to 13,662- advantage LT.

LT had more yards on less carries and games played (he averaged nearly a half yard more per carry than Bettis), more than three times as many receiving yards, and 68 more TDs. That's a big one.

LT fumbled the ball, on average, once every 126 touches to Bettis's 89. LT averaged a TD every 23 touches to Bettis's 39.

LT had three seasons of 1,500+ rushing yards to Bettis's one.

LT had three seasons of 2,000+ yards from scrimmage. Bettis never even came close.

LT had a season in which he amassed 1600+ rushing yards AND 100 receptions. That's incredible. Bettis never had a season in which he caught more than 31 passes.

LT broke the single season TD record with 31. Bettis's best season TD-wise was 13.

Agree to disagree.

He was a very good running back but he didn't lead his team to the Super Bowl and never won it. And while Barry Sanders didn't win a Super Bowl either, I never confused Tomlinson with Sanders.

I don't think Bettis belongs, either.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Agree to disagree.

He was a very good running back but he didn't lead his team to the Super Bowl and never won it. And while Barry Sanders didn't win a Super Bowl either, I never confused Tomlinson with Sanders.

I don't think Bettis belongs, either.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Besides the fact that you're a ****ing twat, what made LaDanian Tomlinson transcendent?

Why does he deserve to be canonized next to Walter Payton, Tony Dorsett, Marcus Allen, Emmitt Smith and Franco Harris?

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Besides the fact that you're a ****ing twat, what made LaDanian Tomlinson transcendent?

Why does he deserve to be canonized next to Walter Payton, Tony Dorsett, Marcus Allen, Emmitt Smith and Franco Harris?

If Curtis Martin got in, then Tomlinson will most likely as well. Their career numbers are close.

I wouldn't say either player was transcendent though.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

If Curtis Martin got in, then Tomlinson will most likely as well. Their career numbers are close.

I wouldn't say either player was transcendent though.

I'm with you.

I think Martin got in because he was a Patriot and a Jet (read: East Coast Bias).

If he was a Charger or a Jaguar, he would have had no chance.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Besides the fact that you're a ****ing twat, what made LaDanian Tomlinson transcendent?

Why does he deserve to be canonized next to Walter Payton, Tony Dorsett, Marcus Allen, Emmitt Smith and Franco Harris?

He was incredible and had about as impressive an 8-year span as you could imagine.

He had good size and the power and durability to handle 300+ carries a season consistently.

He could run between the tackles, he could beat the LBs to the outside, and he had fantastic vision- as evidenced by his insane TD production.

He was also one of the best dual-threat RBs in league history.

All of that combined in a guy that was good in pass protection and absolutely, incredibly reliable in terms of ball security.

There was no weakness in his game.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

He was incredible and had about as impressive an 8-year span as you could imagine.

He had good size and the power and durability to handle 300+ carries a season consistently.

He could run between the tackles, he could beat the LBs to the outside, and he had fantastic vision- as evidenced by his insane TD production.

He was also one of the best dual-threat RBs in league history.

All of that combined in a guy that was good in pass protection and absolutely, incredibly reliable in terms of ball security.

There was no weakness in his game.

Take a look at the running backs currently in the Hall of Fame. Outside of Curtis Martin, who at least led his team to the Super Bowl and an AFC Championship Game with the Jets, they were transcendent players.

Tomlinson was a very good player that belongs in the Chargers Hall of Fame.

I would not vote for him on an NFL Hall of Fame ballot.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Besides the fact that you're a ****ing twat, what made LaDanian Tomlinson transcendent?

Why does he deserve to be canonized next to Walter Payton, Tony Dorsett, Marcus Allen, Emmitt Smith and Franco Harris?

Payton. Sure.
Smith. Yeah, can't argue with the numbers, even if his line did most of the work.

Allen - boy, it's getting thin there; I'm not sure I'd consider Allen a clearly more worthy entry to the Hall than Tomlinson.
Dorsett - thinner.
Harris - oh c'mon. Nope, that's where I can't even try to muster an argument. I'd take Tomlinson over Franco Harris 100 times out of 100.

Tomlinson's one of the top 10 rushers in NFL history (#5 by yardage) and was arguably the most dynamic RB out of the backfield in league history.

To use your argument - If Marshall Faulk is a HOFer, so is Tomlinson. And Tomlinson is a hell of a lot closer to Faulk in terms of performance than he is to a guy like Eddie George. I'm not real sure why you keep going to the Eddie George well; he's nowhere near the candidate that guys like Bettis and Tomlinson were, regardless of what metric you want to use. Bettis won a championship and was a more prolific runner (significantly so). Tomlinson never won a championship, but was better in every phase of the game, including the grunt work like blitz pickups.

Yes, Tomlinson absolutely deserves to be enshrined alongside some of the greats you've mentioned.

And ultimately, I'm absolutely confident he will be.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Payton. Sure.
Smith. Yeah, can't argue with the numbers, even if his line did most of the work.

Allen - boy, it's getting thin there; I'm not sure I'd consider Allen a clearly more worthy entry to the Hall than Tomlinson.
Dorsett - thinner.
Harris - oh c'mon. Nope, that's where I can't even try to muster an argument. I'd take Tomlinson over Franco Harris 100 times out of 100.

Tomlinson's one of the top 10 rushers in NFL history (#5 by yardage) and was arguably the most dynamic RB out of the backfield in league history.

To use your argument - If Marshall Faulk is a HOFer, so is Tomlinson. And Tomlinson is a hell of a lot closer to Faulk in terms of performance than he is to a guy like Eddie George. I'm not real sure why you keep going to the Eddie George well; he's nowhere near the candidate that guys like Bettis and Tomlinson were, regardless of what metric you want to use. Bettis won a championship and was a more prolific runner (significantly so). Tomlinson never won a championship, but was better in every phase of the game, including the grunt work like blitz pickups.

Yes, Tomlinson absolutely deserves to be enshrined alongside some of the greats you've mentioned.

And ultimately, I'm absolutely confident he will be.

The difference between Franco Harris, Tony Dorsett, Marcus Allen and Tomlinson is that the former were transcendent players on Super Bowl winning teams.

The Hall of Fame should be about great players that either elevate or transcend and while Tomlinson was very, very good, IMO, he was neither able to elevate the play of his teammates nor transcend the game like a Barry Sanders or even Adrian Peterson (who has a long way to go to be HOF worthy, IMO).

Regardless of whether or not he gets in, I wouldn't vote for him.

That said, keeping a high profile on the NFL Network will certainly help him, as it did Cris Carter at ESPN.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Payton. Sure.
Smith. Yeah, can't argue with the numbers, even if his line did most of the work.

Allen - boy, it's getting thin there; I'm not sure I'd consider Allen a clearly more worthy entry to the Hall than Tomlinson.
Dorsett - thinner.
Harris - oh c'mon. Nope, that's where I can't even try to muster an argument. I'd take Tomlinson over Franco Harris 100 times out of 100.

Tomlinson's one of the top 10 rushers in NFL history (#5 by yardage) and was arguably the most dynamic RB out of the backfield in league history.

To use your argument - If Marshall Faulk is a HOFer, so is Tomlinson. And Tomlinson is a hell of a lot closer to Faulk in terms of performance than he is to a guy like Eddie George. I'm not real sure why you keep going to the Eddie George well; he's nowhere near the candidate that guys like Bettis and Tomlinson were, regardless of what metric you want to use. Bettis won a championship and was a more prolific runner (significantly so). Tomlinson never won a championship, but was better in every phase of the game, including the grunt work like blitz pickups.

Yes, Tomlinson absolutely deserves to be enshrined alongside some of the greats you've mentioned.

And ultimately, I'm absolutely confident he will be.

Sense.

You're making it!