Tag: Pittsburgh Steelers

Quarterbacks Hall of Fame Chances

The infinite question of whether a QB belongs in the Hall of Great or the Hall of Fame. Below I’ll detail recently retired QBs and whether I think they will make the Hall and whether I think they should make the Hall. There’s a difference.

Matt Ryan

Career Highlights: 4 Pro Bowls, 1x All-Pro, 2016 MVP, 2016 OPOY, 7th in Career Passing Yards, 9th in Career Passing Touchdowns, 0-1 in Super Bowls

Matt Ryan was an amazing player who will unfortunately always be remembered for a bad thing. 28-3 will be his legacy forever. It’s the first thing you think of when you think of him. He put up great numbers and even won an MVP. But not only did he not win a Super Bowl, he chocked it away in magnificent fashion. That, combined with not consistently being a Top 5 QB, will leave him out.

Will he make it: No

Does he deserve to make it: No

Ben Roethlisberger

Career Highlights: 6 Pro Bowls, 5th in Career Passing Yards, 8th in Career Passing Touchdowns, 2-1 in Super Bowls

Big Ben was always one of the most overrated players in the league. He put up numbers and won 2 Super Bowls., however, those Super Bowls were in spite of him, not because of him. His TD-INT ratio was 3-5 in those games and he never won Super Bowl MVP. Plus, he was never an All-Pro and we never thought of him as a guy who was consistently a Top 5 QB in the league.

Will he make it: Yes

Does he deserve to make it: No

Phillip Rivers

Career Highlights: 8 Pro Bowls, 6th in Career Passing Yards and Touchdowns

Another guy who really needed a Super Bowl win to secure his legacy. But unfortunately, he had to deal with Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and other great AFC QBs throughout his career and never even made it. Combine that with no All-Pros and no big awards and he shouldn’t make it.

Will he make it: No

Does he deserve to make it: No

Eli Manning

Career Highlights: 4 Pro Bowls, 10th in Career Passing Yards and Touchdowns, 2-0 in Super Bowls, 2 Super Bowl MVPs

The ultimate underdog. Eli underwhelmed in the regular season, but shined in the playoffs. Unlike, Big Ben, he excelled in the postseason during his 2 Super Bowl runs. The first thing you think of with him is stopping the Pats from going undefeated in 2007. Then he preceded to beat them again in 2011. That’s a guy who deserves a Hall of Fame spot.

Will he make it: Yes

Does he deserve to make it: Yes

Cam Newton

Career Highlights: 3 Pro Bowls, 1x All-Pro, 2015 MVP, 2015 OPOY, 32nd in Career Passing Yards, 57th in Career Passing Touchdowns, 2nd in Career Rushing Yards by a QB, 1st in Career Rushing Touchdowns by a QB, 0-1 in Super Bowls

He was absolutely amazing to watch in his prime. But his style of play that made him so great also led to him taking so many hits and shortened his career. He helped usher in the new style of dual threat QBs and was the greatest rushing QB ever. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a prolific enough passer to warrant being in the Hall of Fame.

Will he make it: No

Does he deserve to make it: No

Andrew Luck

Career Highlights: 4 Pro Bowls, 90th in Career Passing Yards, 72nd in Career Passing Touchdowns

I think Luck is the best QB on this list and if I was starting a team I would pick him over all of these guys. Unfortunately for him and NFL fans, the Colts couldn’t protect him and he retired early. If he played as long as Eli, Rivers, or Big Ben did, he would’ve been in without a doubt. But health is a huge part of football and that was the one thing he didn’t have.

Will he make it: No

Does he deserve to make it: No

Greatest NFL Dynasties of All-Time

What makes an NFL team a dynasty in the Super Bowl Era? You often hear dynasty talk when it comes to the NBA but not as much with the NFL. To me, there are four clear-cut dynasties (in order from best to worst): 1. 2001-2018 New England Patriots 2. 1981-1994 San Fransisco 49ers 3. 1974-1979 Pittsburgh Steelers 4. 1992-1995 Dallas Cowboys.

My loose criteria for a dynasty is at least 3 Super Bowls in a 6-year span, but a dynasty can be longer. For example, given that Brady and Belichick were at the helm for all six Super Bowls and that the fact that the Patriots consistently were contenders and made Super Bowls (never went more than 4 yrs w/o making a Super Bowl) I consider them a dynasty. The 49ers had two different quarterbacks and coaches, but George Seifert took over and won while Joe Montana was still the quarterback and players like Jerry Rice played and won with both coaches and quarterbacks so there’s enough similarity to include that 5th championship in the dynasty. The Steelers and Cowboys make the list because they fit my original criteria.

After those four, the case can be made for some other teams based off one’s personal criteria.

The 1960-1967 Packers won 5 championships in 8 years and made another in that span. However, only the last two were Super Bowls and the other 3 were NFL championships in the pre-Super Bowl era so I didn’t include them.

The 1971-1973 Dolphins won two Super Bowls and made three in a 3-year span. Winning two Super Bowls in a short period of time makes you a great team, but not a dynasty.

The team that comes the closest to a dynasty but is just short is the 1976-1983 Oakland/LA Raiders who won three Super Bowls in eight years. Had they kept the same coach and/or quarterback throughout all of their titles I would be inclined to put them at number 5 on my list. However, there is too little similarity from their first title to their third title for me to include them.

The last team I considered putting on the list was the 1982-1991 Washington Redskins. They won 3 titles and made another in that 10-year span. They have decent similarities with the same coach and few of the same players on all three teams such as Hall of Fame WR Art Monk. However, the fact that all three were so spread out (5 years between the 1st and 2nd title and 4 years between 2nd and 3rd title), they weren’t dominant throughout the entire run (three straight years finishing third in their division from 88-90), and that there was a different quarterback on all three title-winning teams is what keeps them off of my list.

Overall, the definition of a dynasty varies from person to person. Regardless of whether or not the teams above are considered dynasties, they were great teams that will go down in history as some of the best ever.