Tim Brown, Oakland Raiders Too Good For Canton
Saturday afternoon, the NFL continued to give evidence to those who claim that the NFL hates the Raiders. Tim Brown, who is an all-time top 5 wide receiver, was not voted into the hall of fame. The main reason is likely because he was up against Jerry Rice, a man who leads the NFL in every major receiving category. But just because of Jerry Rice (who certainly deserves to be inducted), why couldn’t Tim Brown also have been inducted. Brown was the 1st WR to win a Heisman trophy in college, he holds NFL records for: rookie-season record for most combined yards gained, with 2,317 yards as a WR and special teams returner in 1988, record for 10 straight seasons with at least 75 catches and he is the oldest player to return a punt for a touchdown, 35. He leads all Raiders WRs in: games played with 240, 104 total TDs–99 receiving, 1,070 catches for 14,734 yards, 19,431 all-purpose yards including 14,924 from scrimmage.
Now that I’m done boring you with stats and big numbers, I will get to my point. Just because Jerry Rice was inducted, doesn’t mean that Brown had to miss out. Imagine on August 7, 2010 the picture of Tim Brown and Jerry Rice being honored on the same night. That would be one of the most legendary ceremonies of all-time. Brown and Rice were the best tandem of Raiders WRs since the old days of Fred Biletnikoff and Cliff Branch. Tim Brown WILL be in the hall of fame some day, so why wait?
This article isn’t just about the Tim Brown denial, Brown joins a group of Raiders who have been neglected the ensrhinement that they deserve. This year Tim Brown went further than any other Raider (I don’t consider Jerry Rice a Raider because of how brief his time was here–2001-04 comapred to his 15 years in S.F.) Other Raiders turned down this year were:
Tom Flores (won 2 Super Bowls) , Lester Hayes (13 INTs in the 1980 championship season still an AFC record…Hayes added 5 INTs in the playoffs) and Jim Plunkett (a great comeback story…from out of the NFl to a 2-time Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl XV MVP). Cliff Branch was also denied this year: he was part of all 3 Raiders Super Bowl Champion teams, and he had 501 catches for 8,685 yards and 67 TDs.
About the Tom Flores denial, how does a coach with 2 titles not get inducted? Even if he wasn’t a 1st ballot, he should be in by now! Lester Hayes was denied because…? Stick’em was perfectly legal while he used it and most of his opponents and teammates have said he didn’t need to use it to catch the ball. He set an AFC record for INTs…that means he is one of the best! He also had 2 rings.
Then there is Jim Plunkett. A Cinderella story career, he was out of the league and then Oakland signed him as a back-up, he entered the starting lineup because of injury. He took over while the Raiders were 2-3 and falling out of playoff contention. The Raiders went 9-2 with Plunkett and earned a wild-card spot. They were the 1st wild-card team to win a Super Bowl. I don’t need to give you stats to prove that he deserves to be in Canton. If you’re wondering: 16 seaons, 1,943 completions with 3,701 attempts, 25,882 yards and 164 TDs with 198 INTs giving him a career rating of 67.5. The stats aren’t pretty but he was the 1980 comeback player of the year, so he had to go down to come back up.
So regardless of what the guys in suits with the ballots say, the Raiders legends are just as good, maybe better, than the players who are in Canton. Jerry Rice is the 19th player with Raider experience to be in Canton, many more belong.
Hard to say the NFL hates the Raiders, though I understand the argument. Problem for Brown is, he’s in a crowded spot. Cris Carter, Andre Reed and Brown can’t ALL go in the Hall together (and not the same year Jerry Rice goes in). HOpefully Brown gets in soon because with Marvin Harrison on the ballot in a few years, and Isaac Bruce, Moss, Owens all due up soon, it’s only going to get tougher.
Brown deserves induction more than T.O. and Randy Moss, Brown has numbers in the same area as them and Brown wasn’t a cry-baby always wanting to be traded because his team wasn’t good enough for him in his mind. And Brown spent many years with a struggling Raiders team in the mid-90s and he stayed course and went to a Super Bowl with them.
Wait up.
You know the Hall seldom inducts more than one of each position per year, and while I will say that Brown deserves induction, which he’ll probably get induction eventually, he’s NOT - N.O.T. - more deserving than Jerry Rice. No receiver is. I doubt any receiver ever will be.
Well, the NFL Hall of Fame (or Shame?) has done it again; leaving Tom Flores off the finalists’ list to be inducted into that prestigious group of professional football players.
Many of us cannot figure out how a talented, dedicated and inspirational football player and coach like Tom Flores could ever be ignored by the voters. Many people (our fans) say it’s because Tom Flores is a Mexican American, which would require us to say that the voters are racists. But that can’t be true because there have been many black players that have been inducted, such as Marcus Allen, a former Heisman Trophy winner and an MVP of a Super Bowl Game coached by Tom Flores.
What the voters fail to recognize is not only Tom Flores’ glowing individual achievements, but the fact that Tom Flores touched the lives and inspired many players and coaches who are now in the Hall of Fame, including Fred Biletnikoff, Willie Brown, Dave Casper, Mike Haynes, Ted Henricks, Howie Long, Jim Otto, Art Shell and Gene Upshaw. Although Jim Plunkett has not been inducted, all of pro football acknowledges that Tom Flores was responsible for resuscitating Plunkett’s career, who was the Super Bowl MVP in 1984.
Other folks say it’s because the voters don’t give credit to former American Football League players, of which Tom Flores distinguished himself in that league (before the merger), also as the quarterback of the Oakland Raiders in 1960-66, who also played for the Buffalo Bills and was also the back up to Len Dawson of the Kansas City Chiefs when that team won its Super Bowl.
Some folks say that Tom Flores had a so so quarterback career and doesn’t merit induction for his quarterback playing days; but they forget that not only quarterbacks get inducted to the HOF, but so do coaches, league commissioners and owners.
Obviously they are not aware of the fact that Tom Flores has FOUR Super Bowl rings; one as a player, one as an assistant coach and two more as the head coach of the Los Angeles and Oakland Raiders. Plus, he was also the General Manager of the Seattle Seahawks. If one were to check around to find out what individual has impacted pro football as a player for another league, an assistant coach, a head coach and a general manager of a professional football team, and now a radio announcer for a pro football team ~ and vote them into the HOF for impacting that many positions ~ Tom Flores would be voted first before any other individual in the history of professional football.
I don’t have to mention also that Tom Flores did not only impact pro football in so many ways, he has also distinguished himself in his commitment to excellence in the community at large through his relentless dedication to raising funds for our youth through involvement with so many charitable organizations, including the Tom Flores Youth Foundation and his decades involvement with the Boy Scouts of American and a myriad of other community organizations. If nothing else, thousands upon thousands of Latinos in this country and abroad, know that Tom Flores stands shoulders and above as one of the classiest people ever to touch a football and the hearts of football fans as no other person around.
Joe Ortiz, President
The Official Tom Flores Fan Club
To Issac: I am not suggesting that Jerry Rice be removed from the H.O.F. or implying that Tim Brown was better than Jerry. I hate the 49ers but I sure as hell acknowledge they had great players.
What I am asking in this article is why couldn’t Brown and Rice be inducted in the same class? There is no written law that bans 2 players of the same position from being inducted together.
I hate to use the race card but what else could it be? I mean both Tom Flores and Jim Plunkett have done more with less and overcome more adversity in their careers than any of the QB’s even now in the HOF. I guarantee you that Bret Favre, Payton Manning and now probably Drew Brees will get in the 1st time and they have each lost more playoff games than Jim or Tom ever did, and none of them will have more Super Bowl rings at the end of their careers than Jim or Tom. And the numbers excuse won’t hold water because if that is the case than all the current members will have to be removed because what appeared to be a distinctive career in their era is now mediocore by today’s stats,
Shame on the HOF Committee and the Sports Writers, we are not fooled by your cheap analysis and intentional oversight of 2 of the best to ever play in the game.