Real Football - Hall of Fame - Sorting Out Faulk, Bettis and Martin

(Enjoy the gratuitous Barry Sanders highlight video. )

As far as Halls Of Fame go, its Baseball and then everybody else and most of the time anything surrounding them is super boring (unless of course, you count Emmit Smith's inexplicable to anyone who saw him on ESPN transformation for his speech)  Still, every once in a while, one of the other halls rises from the mire and gives us a good story line.  This year, it was the Pro Football Hall of Fame (read: NFL Hall of Fame) and its nomination of three of a generations best running backs for enshrinement (sounds almost spiritual) - Marshall Faulk, Curtis Martin and Jerome Bettis.

Check out the resumes:

Marshall Faulk, Running Back, (1994-2005)

2000 AP NFL MVP - 3-time First-Team All-Pro - Centerpiece of one of the best offenses of all-time - One of only two players with 1,000 yards rushing/receiving in single season (Roger Craig) - Arguably "Best Player In Football" from 99-01 - AP Offensive Player of the Year (3 straight times - 99-01) - Offensive Rookie of the Year - Played in 2 Super Bowls - Drafted 2nd Overall - 10th overall rushing yards - 4th overall total yards from scrimmage (TYS) - 7th All-time in Total TDs (136) - Top 10 rushing (5x) - 1,000+ yards rushing (7x) - 1,300+ yards rushing (4x) - 2,000+ TYS (4x) (Lead league 2x, 1999 had 2,429, second to Chris Johnson) - Lead league in total TDs (2x) (4th highest ever 26) - 80+ receptions (5x).

Curtis Martin, Running Back (1995-2005)

1-time First-Team All-Pro - Offensive Rookie of the Year - 4th all-time rushing yards - 8th all-time TYS - 3rd all-time carries - 12th all-time rushing TDs - 19th all-time total TDs - Lead league in rushing (1x - 1697 yards) (oldest player ever at age 31) - 300+ carries (8x) - 1,000+ yards (10x) - 1,300+ yards (5x) - Missed only 8 games in 11 season - Top 10 rushing (7x) - Top 5 rushing (4x) - Top 10 TYS (8x) - Top 5 TYS (4x) - 5 playoff appareances (over 100 yards 3x) - 1 Super Bowl

Jerome Bettis, Running Back (1994-2005)

1-time First Team All-Pro - Offensive Rookie of the Year - Comback Player of the Year - 5th all-time rushing - 10th all-time rushing TDs - 18th all-time TYS - 4th all-time carries - Top 10 rushing (5x) - Top 3 rushing (3x) - Top 5 TYS (3x) - 1,000+ yards rushing (8x) - 1,300+ rushing (4x) - Career high 1,665 yards rushing - At age 32, started only 6 games, rushed for 941 yards, 13 TDs - 6 Playoff appearances (100+ yards 3x) - 1 Super Bowl

The nomination of these three guys raises 2 big questions for us. 

1.  Are All Three Hall Worthy?

In a word: yes.  And maybe more so then you might think. 

Sure, none of them is the Top 7-type, no-brainer first ballot guy like their contemporaries Emmit Smith and Barry Sanders.  Sure, combined, they only lead the league in rushing once.  And sure, they played in an era that produced an extraordinary amount of rushing yards (19 of the top 30 all-time rushers played the majority of their careers after 1990) inflating their numbers slightly.  And maybe they're names don't immediately come to mind when discussing the best backs ever.  But in a sport like football, playing a position that essentially chews players up and spits them out after 3 years, these guys did what many of their contemporaries couldn't do - they stayed productive for the better part of a decade.  That has to count for something.  

Check out the NFL rushing leaders, in addition to Martin, and you'll see what we mean.  Guys like Terrell Davis, Edgerrin James, Priest Holmes, Ricky Williams, Jamal Lewis, Shaun Alexander were all great, when healthy, but none could do it as long and as consistently as these three.  (It's going to be interesting to see how the hall treats guys like Lewis, James, Barber, Cory Dillon and Fred Taylor who all sit in the Top 30 or so on the rushing list)

(Because we love parentheticals- How does Terrell Davis not get more support? He was the best runner in the league for 3 years, including a 2,000 yard season, as well as the best player on 2 Super Bowl champions, Super Bowl MVP. Plus, despite injuries, finished his career with more yards then HOFers Gale Sayers and Floyd Little.)

Staying healthy and productive is a skill and it allowed these guys, more so Martin and Bettis than Faulk, to climb the rushing list but you can't just discount them entirely.  While nobody in their right mind is contending that these guys are on the level of some of the other Top 10 rushers like Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Emmit Smith, Eric Dickerson (check out his peak year numbers - 5 time, first team All-Pro, lead league in rushing 4x, averaged over 100 ypg 4x.  When we wasn't holding out or injured, we was dominant.), LaDanian Tomlinson, or even O.J. Simpson (18th overall rushing - 5-time 1st Team All-Pro - 5 year peak where he averaged 1500+ yards - 2,000 yards in 14 games - Killed his wife (allegedly!!).)  But, they fit right in the conversation with many of the other Hall of Famers hanging around the Top 20 on the rushing list (guys who might by popular opinion be considered better): 
Tony Dorsett - 8th overall rushing - 1-time 1st team All-Pro - 1,300+ yards rushing (5x, including prorated strike season) - Never lead league in rushing or TYS. 
John Riggins - 16th overall rushing - 1-time 1st Team All-Pro - 1,000+ yards rushing (6x, including prorated strike season) - Never over 1,350 yard rushing - Lead league in TDs (2x) (24 one year) - Career average YPC 3.9 - Super Bowl MVP.

Thurman Thomas - 14th overall rushing - 2-time 1st Team All-Pro - 1,000+ yards rushing (8x) - 1,400+ yard rushing (2x) - Lead league in TYS (4x) - Super Bowl Participant (4x). 

Marcus Allen - 12th overall rushing - 2-time 1st Team All-Pro - 1,000+ yards rushing (4x, including prorated strike season) - 1,700+ yards rushing (1x) - Lead league in rushing (1x) - Lead league in TYS (2x), Rushing TDs (2x), Total TDs (3x) - Super Bowl MVP.

So there's really very little argument you can make against putting the 4th (Martin), 5th (Bettis) and 10th (Faulk) all-time leading rushers in your Hall of Fame.  If you've got one we'd love to hear it.

2.  Will they all get in this year.  If not, who gets in first?

They'll all get in, eventually.  But because of the weird rules that bar any more then 7 players being elected at one time - it's highly unlikely all 3 get in this year.  There's usually at least one guy from the veterans committee and Deion Sanders seems like a no-brainer to us.  Cris Carter also seems to have some momentum (no doubt helped by his constant presence on the WorldWideLeader) and Sharpe has to get in.  So that leaves a maximum of 3 spots these 3 plus guys like Willie Roaf, Andre Reed, Tim Brown, Charles Haley and Dermotti Dawson.  So, in what order do they go in? 

If you ask us, Faulk has to go in first and he should get in this year.  He was a truly unique talent and one of the very best ever all-around backs, even leading his team in receptions 5 times.  To that end, he holds records as the only player ever to have: (1) 12,000/6,000 yards rushing/receiving, (2) 5 games of 250+ TYS; (3) 14 games of 200+ yards TYS; (4) 70+ rushing touchdowns and 30+ receiving touchdowns; and (5) 4 consecutive 2,000+ TYS season.   Plus, you can never overlook his run as the "Best Player in the League" and the real focal point of the revolutionary Rams offense (it never worked as well in any iteration not involving him).  He was also a winner (the only thing the voters love more than a winner is a great player on really bad teams) playing on two Super Bowl teams, making the playoffs 7 times (with 4 10-win teams) and taking a 4-12 Colts team to 8-8 his rookie year (It still amazes us that a 25-year old back coming off a season in which he had the 16th most TYS in history ever got traded.  Hard to argue with the Colts Edge-lead results, though.  It was a rare win-win).  Need more proof?  Check out his career comps - James, Smith, Tomlinson, Thomas, Sanders, Payton, Brown, Dorsett. 

Picking between Martin and Bettis is where is gets more interesting.  While we think Martin was the better player, we think Bettis is more likely to get in first.   The numbers are so damn close (and Bettis might actually get a small bump based on the perception that he would have put up even bigger career numbers had he not been forced to split time with the likes of Amos Zereoue, Duce Staley and Willie Parker), we think it'll come down to a popularity contest.

Sure Martin has more rushing yards, more 1,000 yard seasons, lead the league more times and was remarkably durable while playing in two major, major markets but somehow he still went largely unnoticed.  That won't help his election chances.

Bettis will get the nod simply because he was the much more unique, memorable player.  He was a 5'11", 250 lb halfback with quick feet and a cool nickname - The Bus.  While he didn't play in NY or Boston he might have actually gotten more exposure playing for the most public or public teams - the Pittsburgh Steelers.  He'll also benefit from playing on a bunch of really good Steeler teams (6 10 win teams including 1 13 win and 1 15 win).  Oh yeah, he also won a Super Bowl in his home town in his final game - it we remember correctly that might have been kinda a big story. 


Too bad for Martin.  We think he's actually the better player and maybe the most underrated running back of all time.  His numbers speak for themselves.  He might not have had the huge statistical seasons of some of his peers but 10, 1,000 yard seasons in his first 10 years (a feat previously accomplished only by the great Barry Sanders) is undoubtedly impressive.  He also, despite an absurd amount of carries, averaged a solid 4.0 YPC for his career (better than Bettis) and was THE workhorse on 5 playoff teams and 1 Super Bowl team.  It probably won't be this year but, when he gets there eventually, it will be well deserved.