≡ Menu

2014 Hall of Fame Candidates

Tonight, the newest members of the Class of 2014 will be announced. Here are the 15 finalists:

Rushing Receiving
Rk Name Pos From To AP1 PB St CarAV G Att Yds TD Lng Rec Yds TD Lng
1 Derrick Brooks LB 1995 2008 5 11 14 140 224
2 Marvin Harrison WR 1996 2008 3 8 12 124 190 10 28 0 15 1102 14580 128 80
3 Michael Strahan DE 1993 2007 4 7 14 121 216
4 Will Shields G 1993 2006 2 12 14 113 224 1 4 0 4
5 Aeneas Williams DB 1991 2004 3 8 13 106 211
6 Tim Brown WR 1988 2004 0 9 13 104 255 50 190 1 19 1094 14934 100 80
7 Andre Reed WR 1985 2000 0 7 14 98 234 75 500 1 46 951 13198 87 83
8 Walter Jones T 1997 2008 4 9 12 96 180
9 Kevin Greene LB 1985 1999 2 5 11 94 228
10 John Lynch DB 1993 2007 2 9 13 88 224 1 40 0 40
11 Charles Haley DE 1986 1999 2 5 8 84 169
12 Jerome Bettis RB 1993 2005 2 6 12 79 192 3479 13662 91 71 200 1449 3 34
13 Morten Andersen K 1982 2007 3 7 24 51 382
14 Edward Debartolo, Jr. Owner
15 Tony Dungy coach

[continue reading…]

{ 25 comments }

Thirty years ago, the NFL began officially recording defensive player sacks. Prior to 1982, all teams kept their own individual sack data, but those records (with few exceptions) have never been verified. As a result, it’s an unfortunate reality that for much of NFL history, we simply do not have reliable sack data for individual defensive players.

Three times, Deacon Jones produced 20+ unofficial sacks in the 1960s. [1]According to research done by John Turney. In 1967, Raiders defensive end Ben Davidson Ike Lassiter had 17 sacks [2]Source. in the AFL. Jack Youngblood and Jim Katcavage both led the league in sacks on two different occasions in the pre-1982 era. [3]Source: Turney/Webster Cincinnati Bengal Coy Bacon has been credited with 21.5 unofficial sacks during in 1976. The first team to record 60 sacks in a season was the ’57 Bears, and we can be sure that Doug Atkins recorded more than his fair share of that number. For players like Gino Marchetti, Norm Willey, and Len Ford, even unofficial records weren’t kept during their time, leaving us unsure as to who is the true sack king.

It’s important to remember that just because we don’t have official sack data before 1982 doesn’t mean there were great sack artists before then. But that’s a topic for another today. So while we can’t precisely measure how the forefathers of the game played, we do have official data for the last 30 years. So who has been the best pass rusher of the last three decades?

Brett, are you SURE you're okay?

Using total sacks isn’t a fair method to current players, or to those players who chose to retire instead of sticking around to compile six-sack seasons. So if we want to measure sack dominance, we can’t simply look at total sacks any more than we can grade running backs by looking at career rushing yards. One method I like that I’ve used before is sacks over one-half sack per game. This makes 8 sacks in a 16-game season the bar; a player only gets credit for their production over that level. This means that 12 sacks in a 16-game season brings a value of +4.00, while 16 sacks is twice as valuable at +8.00.There’s no great reason to choose 8 over 6 or 10 or any other number. I chose 8 because it feels right, but I don’t claim that it’s based on anything other than my personal, subjective preference.

[continue reading…]

References

References
1 According to research done by John Turney.
2 Source.
3 Source: Turney/Webster
{ 12 comments }