2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class

Your guess is as good as mine as to why he was announced early. I did a double take. It doesn’t appear the others are being done early.

as for the other coach: I still think Parker is the best of the bunch, but wouldn’t be upset to see Johnson or Reeves.

 

Name Cowher early to help "sell" the validity of the rest of the class? He and Johnson are the most (only?) hi-visibility names on the list. A nice moment to see live though - usually the cameras are inside the hotel room when the knock comes during Super Bowl week so you kind of figure. Didn't realize Cowher married Queen V.
I do hope Steve Sabol gets in. I'd imagine if he were still around he'd have already done an NFL Presents about "Getting the Call" - filming candidates sitting in their rooms when they learn it isn't their year after answering questions about it all week.

 

Their relationship was part of the Football Life on Cowher. I'm not sure how public they were before that.

 

It would be better if Rob Riggle walks into the studio with the same red blazer to mess with him.

 

Does Cowher's name finally stop getting attached to coaching vacancies, even though it's been plainly obvious for years that a CBS studio gig is far preferable to the grind of an NFL coach?

 

It's about the only logical explanation for why they did this tonight. Because I'd be super pissed to be Flores, Holmgren, Johnson, Reeves and Vermeil watching Cowher get notified early while the rest of us twist in the wind.

And if it is Johnson, then I weep for what the rest of the class might look like because it means Coryell gets passed over again, showing this whole process wasn't about righting previous wrongs.

 

Will this Centennial class "lower the bar" about what is considered a Hall of Fame career? Not a knock on Cowher, but other coaches have won more titles, innovated more etc. At minimum it establishes a baseline of 140 wins and a .620 winning pct. But there are enough exceptions above and below that metric to only cause more confusion. Mike Tomlin (.640) should pass it next season.

 

It's hard to say without seeing the rest of the class. But Cowher does not have it off to a promising start. Consider this just about the eight coaching candidates: Here are the times they have been a finalist, not counting being a part of this:

Cowher: 0
Don Coryell: 5
Tom Flores: 1
Jimmy Johnson: 1
Mike Holmgren: 0
Buddy Parker: 0
Dan Reeves: 0
Dick Vermeil: 0

How does Cowher jump three guys who have been among the finalists in the normal Hall of Fame Process? And what makes him better than the four others who have never been considered? Cowher couldn't even make the semifinalist list two years ago as a regular candidate, getting beaten out by both Flores and Johnson. Cowher has never been a semifinalist but now he jumps the line to get in and the other two possibly don't (at least one definitely won't)? That doesn't make any sense.

And I'm not arguing he doesn't have a valid case. We have no idea how the voting was conducted among the 25 voters -- was it a simple, top two vote totals are in and with 8 candidates Cowher got in with like 6 votes

 

I’m a diehard Steelers fan and I don’t understand him getting in before Coryell or Jimmy Johnson.

 

Johnson: does he get hurt by so few seasons? The fact that he went to Miami and was just average? No one wants to show up Jerry? I really don’t know. The man created a new version of drafting/evaluation that almost every team in the league copied.

As for Coryell, the reason he gets voted down repeatedly is because he has no titles and no title game experience. He was an innovator who took two terrible franchises into sustained success, but the voters just nail him on that.

IMHO, Holmgren’s issue is he was considered a genius in Green Bay, but then never won another title in Seattle nor had the same amount of success. However, the Seahawks always were contenders until his last season. It’s odd.

Reeves: division titles with three different organizations, Super Bowls with two. However, his teams always got slaughtered in the Super Bowl and he had a lot of losing seasons.

Parker: not sure how a coach who wins back-to back titles with one team and then takes the worst franchise in the league to its first sustained success is not in the Hall.

Vermeil: division titles with three teams; took over two of them as dumpster fires; discovered one of the all time wonder stories in league history in Kurt Warner...is it the gap in his career?

Flores: one of two people to win a Super Bowl as a player, AC and HC. The aura of Al Davis hovers over his Super Bowls and the fact that his tenure in Seattle was a disaster tarnishes him.

 

I hate Dallas more than any sports team, alive or dead. I'd pull for the Red Army against Dallas. Tex Schramm is/was the Antichrist. Pete Gent is God. Kenny Houston said, "Whoa, there, little doggie, you ain't gettin' in my end zone, Walt Garrison." Rafael Septien shoulda done hard time. Deion Sanders is a fuckin' PUNK.

But, have to admit, Jimmy Johnson belongs in Canton. He built that fuckin' team. And it bugs the shit outta Jerrah to this fuckin' day.

I hate Dallas.