This was originally published on January 28th, 2006
One of the biggest travesty’s in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is the lack of Redskins from the 1st Joe Gibbs era. Over the 12 years, the team had a winning percentage of over .650 (that would be nearly 10.5 wins over a 16 game season), went to the Super Bowl 4 times and won 3 of them. Yet only John Riggins is the Hall of Fame as a player from that era. Gibbs is in as a coach as well, but the player representation is highly suspect.
Then again the entire Hall of Fame selection process is suspect. The entire basis for entry seems to be based on the memories of a bunch of reporters. You often hear the argument from anti Art Monk voters that he may have had a lot of catches, but I remember watching games and Monk didn’t make big plays or Gary Clark was the more feared receiver.
This memory induced voting process leads to certain prejudices. Obviously everyone has certain games that stand out, and biases towards certain players. Having all the voters sit in a room and listen to reporter’s campaign for their guys is also questionable. Who knows if any potential votes for Monk have been lost because of an impassioned speech by the big name voters in the room, many of whom have been outspoken in their opposition to Monk’s induction.
Unfortunately the process is what it is, and no amount of complaining by fans is going to change the process. What we can influence is the biases of these voters by proving Monk belongs. Statistics can’t lie, and even though the numbers I’ll be present are being adjusted to attempt to put the different eras on a comparable scale, these adjustments aren’t made just to improve Monk’s standing on a historical basis.
Comparisons will be made on three levels: career numbers, peak value, big games. Monk will be compared with modern era hall of famers. The voters often say that so and so doesn’t belong in the Hall, so we shouldn’t compare Monk with Lynn Swann or whoever they determine to be the weakest link. But each of these players has been voted in, so they will be included in the comparison.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame lists the following players as the Modern Era Wide Receivers:
Alworth, Lance (1962-1972)
Berry, Raymond (1955-1967)
Biletnikoff, Fred (1965-1978)
Fears, Tom (1948-1956)
Hirsh, Elroy “Crazylegs” (1946-1956)
Joiner, Charlie (1969-1986)
Largent, Steve (1976-1989)
Lavelli, Dante (1946-1956)
Lofton, James (1978-1993)
McDonald, Tommy (1957-1968)
Mitchell, Bobby (1958-1968)
Pihos, Pete (1947-1955)
Stallworth, John (1974-1987)
Swann, Lynn (1974-1982)
Taylor, Charley (1964-1975, 1977)
Warfield, Paul (1964-1977)
I don’t think you’ll find a better set of articles on why Art Monk should be in the hall of fame anywhere. I’ve completed most of them already and I’m pretty proud of how they are coming out. You’ll see tons of numbers in these articles you won’t find anywhere else. So be sure to check us out early next week. Part one on career numbers will be posted by Monday morning.
Special thanks to Pro-football-reference.com and scruffylookin from Extremeskins for provided me with stats.
[...] CLICK HERE FOR PART ONE [...]
[...] PART ONE PART TWO [...]
[...] PART ONE PART TWO PART THREE [...]
[...] In a huge change of heart, Peter King is saying he will vote for Art Monk to get into the Hall of Fame this year. King has always been the leader of the anti-Monk movement along with his SI cohort Dr. Z. While I’d love to take the credit and say that King must’ve read the four part series we did here, it was actually a discussion with Joe Gibbs that turned the tide. Gibbs pointed out that besides the numbers, Monk was superb blocker and a leader on a team that won multiple championships. [...]
[...] Art Monk and Russ Grimm were among the finalists for this year’s NFL Hall of Fame nominees. I will be updated last year’s Art Monk series as we get closer to the vote (you can read it here in the meantime) [...]
Monk is a great player who deserves to be enshrined in the HOF. Here is a note I sent to Peter King recently for next year’s ballot –
Topic: Art Monk and Cris Carter
Both men deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. Thank you for finally seeing the light re Monk (it takes integrity to seek new info and admit being wrong – although shame on you for taking so long). I write to point out how Cris Carter actually lends support to Art Monk’s candidacy.
One of the (silly) criticisms about Monk was that although he was great, for many years he was not the best receiver on his own team. Cris Carter, similarly, had to share the spotlight with better receivers in Minnesota. At the start, Anthony Carter was the most dangerous receiver on the Vikings. At the end, Randy Moss was the guy other teams worried most about. No one would argue this detracts from Cris’ legacy or Hall of Fame worthiness.
Art Monk shared the spotlight with pro-bowler Charlie Brown early (Monk was the better all-around receiver, Brown the dangerous deep threat) and later with Gary Clark (a guy whose stats for 5-6 years were close to Jerry Rice during his prime). But Monk helped make Brown and Clark the threats they were and was the key posession receiver, blocker, mentor and all-around core guy that made Gibbs’ good teams great. 4 superbowls and 3 Lombardi trophies prove it.
I would note that Marvin Harrison continuing his career with a now superior Reggie Wayne is no shame. In basketball, David Robinson will likely be a Hall of Famer, although Tim Duncan was the dominant big man in the years when Robinson won his NBA championships. The list goes on.
The point is that Monk and Carter are extremely similar receivers in ability, size and character and had a lot in common in their careers. If Carter played a decade earlier on Gibbs’ teams with Brown and Clark and with Joe Gibbs asking him to block and play utility roles at times for the good of the team, he would probably have had a career stat-line like Monk and a few less pro bowls. Had Monk played a decade later in Minnesota’s in-a-dome, pass-heavy offense, he probably would have had the extra catches, pro bowls and TDs that Carter had.
It pains me to see a guy like Monk stuck on the outside waiting for his Hall of Fame day. It pains me more because he is too classy to complain and his coaches and team-mates are too classy to campaign agressively for him. And, my god, what a repulsive message to football fans and young men everywhere seeking role-models for you voters to elect Michael Irvin to the Hall before Monk. A true disgrace for the HOF voters and NFL in every way.
Now that you have joined the good side of the force, I hope this perspective helps. Let’s elect both Monk and Carter on the next ballot.
[...] This was originally published on January 28, 2006 [...]
It’s so draining to keep making this argument. Look at http://www.coachmike.net/artmonk/artmonk.htm and see what you think. Thanks.