Fixing the Hall of Fame, Part 1: Running Backs

[Rain Man]

I would also like to nominate William Andrews, the premier running fullback of the 1980s while playing with Atlanta. Like Gale Sayers before him, albeit with a very different style, Andrews was a dominating running back until a severe knee injury cut short his promising career.

Andrews made four pro bowls in his first five years, and was the second player in NFL history to log two 2,000-total-yard seasons. He averaged 4.6 yards per carry and averaged over 50 catches per season before the injury.

As quoted by wikipedia

"Andrews played professionally with the Atlanta Falcons. After a promising beginning to his career (He was one of the first NFL players with two 2,000 yard rushing/receiving seasons to his credit), he sustained a serious knee injury during the 1984 preseason that sidelined him for two years. He returned in 1986 for one season, largely as a tight end, before retiring. To celebrate his career, his number (31) was retired and hasn't been used by any Atlanta player since."

               |          Rushing         |        Receiving        |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+
| Year  TM |   G |   Att  Yards    Y/A   TD |   Rec  Yards   Y/R   TD |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+
| 1979 atl |  15 |   239   1023    4.3    3 |    39    309   7.9    2 |
| 1980 atl |  16 |   265   1308    4.9    4 |    51    456   8.9    1 |
| 1981 atl |  16 |   289   1301    4.5   10 |    81    735   9.1    2 |
| 1982 atl |   9 |   139    573    4.1    5 |    42    503  12.0    2 |
| 1983 atl |  16 |   331   1567    4.7    7 |    59    609  10.3    4 |
| 1986 atl |  15 |    52    214    4.1    1 |     5     35   7.0    0 |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+
|  TOTAL   |  87 |  1315   5986    4.6   30 |   277   2647   9.6   11 |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+


Seasons among the league's top 10
Rushes: 1980-7, 1981-7, 1983-4 
Rushing yards: 1980-4, 1981-7, 1983-2 
Rushing TDs: 1981-7t, 1982-10t 
Receptions: 1981-4, 1982-8t 
Yards from scrimmage: 1980-4, 1981-1, 1982-2, 1983-2 
Rush/Receive TDs: 1981-9t, 1982-9t 

William Andrews is not in the all-time top 50 in any major category. 


Postseason data
Please read this fine print before using this data or sending questions or corrections. 

 Year  Opp   Result  |  RSH    YD  TD  |  REC    YD  TD
---------------------+-----------------+-----------------
 1980  dal  L,27-30  |   14    43   0  |    2    19   1
 1982  min  L,24-30  |   11    48   0  |    0     0   0
---------------------+-----------------+-----------------
TOTAL                |   25    91   0  |    2    19   1