2013 Pro Football Hall of Fame Finalists

How often do teams leave tight ends in for key blocking roles these days? When you pass 40 downs a game and switch out personnel constantly, blocking from a tight end is devalued. The Chiefs and Chargers both had blocking specialists on the roster for when they needed them to replace or play with Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez. It wasn't very often, and their receiving abilities more than made up for those few plays a game.

 

As noted earlier in this thread, Witten lines up as a fullback at times and serves as a lead blocker on running plays. The Cowboys also keep him in on max-protect situations, which came up quite a bit this season given the shambles their offensive line has become. In fact, I was stunned to notice a number of times in late-season games when Witten stayed in to block on third-down passing situations -- you'd think they'd want him out there as a target. All of which makes his 110-catch season even more impressive.

 

Gale Sayers and Dick Butkus are universally hailed as two of the best players in the history of the game. Their teams sucked. Butkus played from 1965-73, Sayers from '65-71. The Bears went 48-74-2 from 1965-73 and never made the playoffs in that span. They had two winning seasons among those nine -- 9-5 in Sayers and Butkus' rookie year and 7-6-1 two seasons later.

You'd think a team with two of the absolute best ever at their positions would have more success. According to Octave's logic, maybe Sayers and Butkus don't really belong in the Hall. I mean, Sayers' stats mean nothing.

 

I don't fault Gale Sayers for his lack of team success. I fault him for having three good years.

 

What "dozens of guys?" That's twice you've done that without backing it up. I pulled the stats from the past five seasons on 100-catch, 90-catch, 1,000-yard and 900-yard seasons for tight ends. Go back and look at them. They aren't as common as you seem to think. And Witten leads in all of those categories.

Here, just so you don't have to go back a couple of pages, I'll post them again:


In the past five seasons, there have been two 100-catch seasons by a TE -- one by Jason Witten (110 in 2012), the other by Dallas Clark (100 in 2009). In that same span, there have been only eight 90-catch seasons -- no more than two in any season. Jason Witten has three of them, Tony Gonzalez two. No one else has more than one.

In the past five seasons, Witten has three 1,000-yard seasons and two others of 900-plus. No one else has more than one 1,000-yard season in that span. Hell, Jimmy Graham and Gonzalez are the only other TEs with more than one 900-yard season.

 

That's such a ridiculous question. Why does anyone even bother catching the ball for a crappy team? Are you somehow suggesting he pads his stats by catching tons of passes in meaningless blowouts? I don't get the question.

What significance? They make his team better. When he catches a pass, he gains yards, moves the chains and gets them closer to scoring. He does his job better than just about anyone out there and has for years.

What significance do Gates' and Gonzalez's statistics have? I haven't seen them in the Super Bowl.

The thing is, they are all significant. It's what they do.

 

Wow, are you reaching. When you bring Marvin Harrison and T.J. Houshmandzadeh into the discussion, you are comparing apples to kiwi fruit. Plus, Marvin Harrison is a likely Hall of Famer, which would seem to undermine your argument.

Do you have the same questions about Gates and Gonzalez, who also split wide or line up in the slot?

Witten is for the most part a classic tight end. When he lines up at FB, it's not to swing him out for a pass. He leads a running play. He rarely splits wide. Most of the time he is in the TE position.

For the record, I think all three of those guys belong in the Hall.

Whatever. I'm done feeding the troll.

 

Lionel Taylor had 100 catches for a 3-11 team. Charley Hennigan had 101 catches for a 4-10 team. They were the first two to reach 100. You found a few examples, which is nice and all but not particularly telling. And the Bengals going 7-9 is not a bad season.

 

Once again, what happens if Lionel Taylor only catches 70? Maybe the Broncos are 1-15. All positive plays have value. Some have more than others, touchdowns for example, but they are all worth something related to winning.