Reed not the only Hall snub

Andre Reed

   The last couple weeks I've burned quite a few hours on YouTube, watching old Bills highlights (early 90's era) and trying to remember what it was like to have a powerhouse team that dominated opponents every Sunday.
   It's truly amazing just how good that team was.  Easily one of the best in NFL history.
   At the same time, It's a horrible shame that those guys are generally looked at (outside of its core fanbase) as losers and choke artists.  All because of four games where they came up short. 
   If the Bills had won even a single Super Bowl, nobody would have that opinion.  If they had pulled off two or three championships, they would easily sit in people's minds alongside the 70's Steelers, 80's 49ers, 90's Cowboys and current Patriots squads.
   All because of four measly games.
   An even a bigger travesty is how the great Bills players from that era have seen their entire legacies trashed, because the team couldn't pull off a Super Bowl win.
   Bills fans all remember the shock when Thurman Thomas, possibly the best all-purpose running back in NFL history, somehow missed out on being a first-ballot Hall of Famer.  We continue to shake our heads in agonizing disbelief as Andre Reed waits at least another year for enshrinement - if he is ever selected at all.
   Watching Reed play (something I'm convinced the Hall voters have never done), there was no questioning his dominance on the field or that he was one of the most dangerous after-the-catch players ever to play the game.  You want stats?  At the time of his retirement, Reed ranked in the top five or top ten of every major receiving category in NFL history.  Big games?  How about three touchdowns in the Greatest Comeback playoff victory, with Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas injured.  He had the Pro Bowls too, racking up seven total appearances during his career.
   So what is missing?
   Well, let's take a look at Michael Irvin, a receiver from the same era as Reed who retired one year earlier and has already been inducted.  Irvin has less catches, less receiving yards, less touchdowns and less Pro Bowls than Reed.  The only thing he has more of is drug arrests and Super Bowl rings.
   The Hall of Fame voters have always had a ridiculous bias towards Super Bowl wins, as evidenced by the list of 70's era Steelers enshrined.  If the Bills were crowned world champions at some point during his career, none of this nonsense would be taking place and Reed would already have a gold jacket and bust in Canton.
   But you know what?  I don't think Reed is the lone Bills player affected by this ignorant prejudice.

Cornelius Bennett

   Examine for a second someone like Cornelius Bennett, who had a spectacular career in Buffalo during the same time period. 
   Like Reed's impact at receiver, Bennett was one of the most feared outside linebackers in the business.  His pass rushing skills were elite, although it didn't always show in the sack numbers because the Bills used him all over the field and because Bruce Smith usually got to the quarterback first.  In the awards department, he racked up five Pro Bowls, three All-Pro appearances and won the Defensive Player of the Year in 1988.
   With even one Lombardi trophy, Bennett is a lock for the Hall.  Without one, he hasn't even been a finalist.
   Then, of course, we have everyone's favorite Hall of Fame snub - seven-time Pro Bowler Steve Tasker.  Considered the best special teams player in NFL history almost unanimously, Tasker has at least been a semi-finalist the last four years.  Yet he also continues to wait.
   Most of his detractors say the same thing: a guy shouldn't make the Hall unless they were dominant on either offense or defense.  To them, special teams supposedly doesn't count.
   But how many voters would change their tune if Tasker had played on the same roster as Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Irvin, instead of Kelly, Thomas and Reed.  What if Tasker was a member of the 70's era Steelers or 80's era 49ers?  I bet his credentials would "miraculously" manage to win those voters over.
   Solid arguments could also be made for linebacker Darryl Talley, who was the heart and soul of that Buffalo defense, and center Kent Hull, who held down the Bills offensive line for over a decade.  
   Both guys were very underappreciated across the league.  With a Super Bowl win or two under their belts, they might have gotten more media attention and more credit for their on-field accomplishments.  In the end, could that have made a difference?
   It's a shame that football's Hall of Fame voters put so much credibility into only a handful of games, especially when a player dominates hundreds of contests throughout his career.  Reed, Bennett and Tasker are only an example from one team during a five to ten year time period.  How many others around the NFL have been brushed over for the same reasons?
   Maybe those voters need to reconsider the credentials for being in the Hall of Fame.  Super Bowl wins are a team accomplishment, not an individual one.  Pro Bowls selections are often a popularity contest.  And statistics don't always tell the whole story.
   If a voter can't sit down and analyze real-life game film of a player, maybe they shouldn't be voting at all.