Which Steelers not in the
Hall of Fame should be there?
Posted: June 2018
Enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is one of the most difficult accomplishments in sports.
A common annual question in Pittsburgh is whether L.C. Greenwood, Andy Russell, Greg Lloyd, Hines Ward, Alan Faneca and Donnie Shell can make the Hall of Fame.
At most, 8 players are chosen in a given year. The Hall of Fame's official description of the process leaves off the most important factor, that the individual making the chief argument for your induction is the current NFL beat writer of your primary team. If that guy is convincing, great; if not, tough break. (Imagine players who have Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton making their case vs. those with Mike Dukakis or Bob Dole.) They try to sell their peers on voting for someone whom they probably saw in no more than 25% of his games.
Stats count, probably too much, but football stats are not nearly as significant as baseball or basketball stats. This is a highly subjective process, comparing, for example, punters or tackles to running backs, as in the case of Ray Guy, a rightful enshrinee.
Being on a great team is a plus and a minus for Hall of Fame contenders. The more HOFers on one's team, the more chance that the votes, and credit, get diluted, and it stands to reason that the writers who vote may get a little tired of hearing again and again from the writers in Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Dallas and San Francisco. On other hand, being on a great team puts a good player on the Hall of Fame radar — would Donnie Shell be getting any support had he played for the Atlanta Falcons?
The biggest Steeler omission in the Hall of Fame is Hines Ward, an undeniable, hands-down Hall of Famer, easily one of the greatest football players of the 21st century and surely among the Steelers' Mt. Rushmore of wide receivers.
Ward's candidacy is much stronger than that of Jerome Bettis, but enormous popularity has already put Bettis in the Hall. Ward was by far a more effective player. But don't stop there.
Ward's candidacy is stronger than even that of Mel Blount and Jack Ham and Mike Webster, 3 HOFers and widely acknowledged among the greatest players in NFL history. Into the 1980s, running backs were the heart and soul of football offenses, players such as Franco Harris, Walter Payton, O.J. Simpson, Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson, Barry Sanders. Since the 1990s, offense revolves around the pass, and there are 2 kings, the football version of "point forwards" — Hines Ward and Michael Irvin. Guys with an edge who put a team on their shoulder. Ward got open like few players in NFL history. He played 6 years with Kordell Stewart and Tommy Maddox. If stats are your thing, check out Ward's playoff numbers and compare with Randy Moss or Terrell Owens. If it takes Ward any longer to get in the Hall of Fame — or longer than Antonio Brown — something's seriously wrong.
L.C. Greenwood belongs in the Hall of Fame. Given his notoriety, it's astonishing he's not already there. He was more effective than HOFers Elvin Bethea, Fred Dean, Chris Doleman and Jack Youngblood, all tremendous and deserving players. Maybe the greatest endorsement of Greenwood is by Roy Blount, the author of About Three Bricks Shy of a Load who proclaimed Greenwood as having the best 1973 season of any Steeler, a roster chock-ful of future HOFers.
Andy Russell, an outstanding player, unfortunately does not have the tape of several of his colleagues. His early and best years occurred before the rise of the Steel Curtain, games mostly lost to history. Greg Lloyd has superb tape, but only for a few short years. He was a poor man's James Harrison who was a bit iffy as a pass rusher and never came close to playing to age 39. (And while Harrison returned a Super Bowl pass 100 yards for a touchdown, Lloyd dropped the Super Bowl pass thrown right into his hands.) Campaigns for Donnie Shell, a wonderful player, simply make no sense. There's a decent argument that he was only the team's 3rd-best safety in the 1970s, behind 1974 team MVP Glen Edwards and occasional Pro Bowler Mike Wagner, whose performance in the 1975 AFC Championship Game is legendary.
Evaluating offensive linemen is almost unfair. It's a stretch to think beat writers are paying close attention to linemen in their own cities, let alone those of other teams. Alan Faneca, a linchpin of a good-but-not-great line for many years, was far better at run blocking than pass blocking. Is he equal or superior to HOFers Russ Grimm and Randall McDaniel? Perhaps, but there are 2 unavoidable arguments against Faneca, 1) Jon Kolb is more deserving and not in, and 2) when Faneca's contract came due in 2008, the Steelers let him go.
Fans critical of the Hall of Fame are often myopic. Consider some of the competition. The 1973 Miami Dolphins were, until the 1978 Steelers arrived, the greatest team in NFL history. As much as the '72 Dolphins irritate folks by annually celebrating their undefeated season, their rep among many observers at the time was not a team of the best talent but a "whole greater than the sum of the parts" operation. This misguided view likely explains why somehow, only one defensive player from those early '70s Dolphins squads is in the Hall of Fame, Nick Buoniconti, who was the well-known captain but likely not even the most deserving candidate. If you don't believe Manny Fernandez was a difference-maker, watch Super Bowl 7 and Super Bowl 8. Dick Anderson and Bill Stanfill are obvious HOFers who apparently didn't play long enough for HOF voters. Jake Scott, Anderson's running mate at safety, also has legitimate Hall credentials, as does Bobby Bryant, an absolute playmaker for the Minnesota Vikings. All of the above deserve Hall entry before Russell, Shell and Lloyd.
How does one arrive at these conclusions? Not from comparing limited stats, which is mildly helpful ... but watching the games.
The Steelers franchise is blessed with numerous all-time NFL greats over the last 5 decades. For the team with the most Super Bowl wins, the rising tide has lifted many fine players into the Hall of Fame conversation. A couple of them deserve a bust in Canton.