Debate About Andre Reed's HOF Credentials, and the San Antonio Raiders?

So, it's that time of the year again! 

That's right - the NFL is back! 

Okay, true, it's still only the preseason. Many people consider the preseason as meaningless, although personally, I disagree. The preseason can determine many things about the future for a team. I remember being at the historic opening of the new Metlife Stadium, watching the Giants take on the Jets, who were technically the home team on that occasion. it was indeed a preseason game, and one that many probably assumed was a meaningless game.

But one player stood out on that day, and he made an impression not just on me, but on almost everybody watching the game. He was an unknown wide receiver at the time, and I don't believe he was favored to even make the roster. But after that day, he became everyone's darling, and was assured to be on some NFL roster, even if it was not with the Giants, because he was so impressive on that particular day!

As it turned, he did indeed make the cut to be on the Giants roster, and became a standout receiver. Within a couple of years, he not only won a Super Bowl ring with the Giants, but he had his own celebratory dance moves as his trademark after scoring touchdowns, including the first touchdown scored in Super Bowl XLVI!

Of course, I'm talking about Victor Cruz! Admittedly, I had never heard of him prior to that evening. But for the rest of the preseason, I watched him, and the Giants moves, hoping that they would have the sense to keep him on their roster. Surely, I was not alone. And surely, also, there was a collective sigh of relief from all Giants fans, like me, when he made the cut. 

I think it's safe to say that it worked out for the best for all parties involved, wouldn't you say?

In any case, yes, the preseason is an interesting time for football, with things like that that can greatly affect a team's future fortunes. Sometimes, it's not such good news. A key injury in the preseason is always possible, and has happened. Or some key moves, either picks ups or cuts. Things happen, and teams also try some new things during the preseason. 

It's certainly not always an indicator of what's going to happen during the season, although you do get some games that perhaps are more telling than more preseason games are given credit for. Take, as an example, last year's preseason game between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos. The Broncos were the "sexy pick", using the parlance of our times, during last year's preseason. But they got walloped and physically dominated in Seattle on that day, losing 42-10. So badly were they physically beaten, that John Elway actually expressed his discomfort about it afterwards - even though it was only a preseason game, allegedly. 

Most of the "experts" dismissed it, and claimed that if the two teams met in a "meaningful" game, the game would not be so obviously lopsided. 

Yet, it was an accurate indicator of what would happen, because those two teams obviously did meet again, and this time, in the most meaningful game of them all! And in the Super Bowl, the Seahawks, if anything, dominated Denver even more than they had last August, completely rendering the most explosive offense in NFL history helpless, and making them look like they did not belong on the same field as the Seahawks on that that day! The final score for that game, as everyone remembers, was 43-8! And frankly, Denver can be thankful that it was even that close, because it could easily have been far worse!

So, let's not knock the preseason. It's the first chance that we will get to see our favorite teams on the field, with the changes that they made, and hoping that the moves that they made, and are still in the process of making, will lead to a successful season - even, possibly, to that ultimate success of a Super Bowl championship!

And the preseason is already beginning this weekend, with the Hall of Fame Game, the traditional opener for the preseason each year.

This year, it's the Buffalo Bills taking on my New York Giants, and I, for one, will be glad to see the two New York teams take the field, as all of the questions surrounding the upcoming season at least begin to be answered!

So, I am taking a break from all of those blog entries on the two trips that I recently took to recognize that the NFL is back! And this year, my favorite team happens to be a part of the opening festivities! 

Are you ready for some football?

Controversy Over Andre Reed's Induction Into the Pro Football Hall of Fame

So apparently, some people are less than thrilled with the induction into the NFL Hall of Fame by former Bills wide receiver Andre Reed.

Personally, I don't even see what all the fuss is about.

I mean, Andre Reed was the leading wide receiver on a team that went to four straight Super Bowls! That team is the only one in NFL history to have made it to four straight Super Bowls, or even four straight NFL Championships, in a row, to my knowledge.

In other sports, some teams have managed the feat, but it is rare. The Miami Heat just pulled off the feat, winning two titles, and losing the other two. Yet, I'd be willing to bet that few objections will be raised if any of the so-called "Big Three" get into the Hall of Fame in basketball, even if, arguably, none of those guys win any more championships (I'm not making that prediction, just in case you were wondering). The New York Yankees achieved the feat in the late nineties and into the early 2000's, winning the first three (from 1998 until 2000), before losing the World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks. And in hockey, the Montreal Canadiens pulled off the feat from 1976-1979, followed immediately by the New York Islanders, who did the same from 1980 until 1983. Those teams won all of their Stanley Cup Finals appearances.

Which means that, of those teams that I mentioned, only one team did not manage to win a single title in those finals runs. That team, of course, was the Buffalo Bills, with Andre Reed.

I don't think that there would be any question that Reed would be in the Hall of Fame if the Buffalo Bills, like the Miami Heat, had managed to win two of those titles, or perhaps even one of those titles.

But people call it into question because, in this age where "winning is everything" (or, as Vince Lombardi might say, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing"), people seem intent on continuing to punish the Buffalo Bills of the early to mid-nineties for failing to win any of their four straight Super Bowl appearances. They will always be remembered for blinking at the wrong moments, right? The missed field goal by Scott Norwood that assured that the Bills would not win the Super Bowl in their most dominant season in team history. The blowout losses to Washington and emerging dynasty Dallas in the next two Super Bowls. And then, outplaying heavily favored Dallas in that last Super Bowl through the first half, only to have Thurman Thomas make a crucial mistake early in the second half, and seeing the team largely unravel after that, losing an unprecedented fourth straight Super Bowl.

Still, think of just how rare of a feat it is to have a team even qualify for four straight championships! Those examples that I just gave are the only ones that I can think of in my lifetime. You have to go back to before I was born for examples of teams that achieved that feat, or beyond. The Montreal Canadiens again, back in the sixties, managed to do it. Actually, they qualified for five Stanley Cup Finals in a row, and won four of them! The Canadiens won more titles in a longer span than any other team, winning fourteen Stanley Cup championships in a span of just under a quarter of a century! The Boston Celtics enjoyed similar, unparalleled success in basketball, famously winning eight titles in a row, and taking eleven titles in a thirteen year span! The New York Yankees achieved some similar feats in the early sixties, qualifying for five straight World Series, winning two of them. That came after a similar run by the Yankees in the mid- to late fifties, when they also went to four straight World Series, winning two of those championships, which mean that in a span of ten years, the Yankees qualified for nine World Series, and won four of those! Only in one year, about midway through this run, was their quest to qualify for the World Series interrupted (in 1959, in case you were wondering). And that came shortly after a run of five straight World Series championships by the Yankees, from 1949 to 1953! Which means the Yankees actually qualified for the World Series fourteen times in a sixteen year span!

Yes, the accomplishments of those teams is legendary. But you need to remember that, back then, there were a hell of a lot less teams for those standout teams to survive, and have to deal with. I know, I know, that some people would argue that teams these days are watered down, and on some level, that may be true. But all the more reason to make a big deal when one team truly does stand out and accomplish something undeniably great, like the Miami Heat becoming the first team in many decades to actually qualify for four straight NBA Finals. Again, in my lifetime, that feat of four straight trips to the big show has been achieved only rarely, by the most elite teams. Only one team per sport, with the sole exception being hockey, where both the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Islanders managed to achieve it since the seventies. That bears repeating: only those two teams in hockey, only the Yankees in the late 90's and early 2000's in baseball, and only the Miami Heat the last four years in basketball.

So think about that. Those great Chicago Bulls teams of the nineties? Two three peats, but they failed to reach the NBA Championship four years in a row. Ditto for the Lakers of the eighties, or in the 2000's. Ditto for Red Wings, Devils, or Penguins in the nineties and 2000's, and ditto for any team in baseball.

For that matter, ditto for the Pittsburgh Steelers in football in the seventies, the 49ers in the eighties, or the Dallas Cowboys in the nineties. In fact, despite their unquestioned greatness, none of those teams managed to qualify for, let alone win, the Super Bowl more than two years in a row!

Only two teams in NFL history have managed to reach the Super Bowl three seasons in a row: the Miami Dolphins of the early seventies, and the Buffalo Bills of the early nineties.

For the Dolphins, nobody questions their greatness. They had that perfect season in 1972, a year after getting crushed by Dallas in Super Bowl VI. And then, they followed up that season of perfection with another dominant regular season, and another convincing Super Bowl win.

Which leaves the Buffalo Bills, who dominated the AFC like no team I have seen before or since.

Think about it: for four straight years, nobody managed to knock them off, and they remained on their perch high above the other AFC teams during that time span. Hell, one AFC team even had a 32-point lead in a playoff game against those Bills, and that was not enough to finish them off! Yes, the Bills famously pulled off the greatest comeback in NFL history to keep their run of AFC Championships intact! They crushed many of their playoff opponents, from the LA Raiders in the first AFC Championship (51-3!) to the Miami Dolphins twice, to the Kansas City Chiefs in the final AFC title game of that epic AFC run by the Bills, knocking out star quarterback Joe Montana in the process!

The Denver Broncos, who enjoyed a run of three AFC titles in a four year span, never dominated the AFC like that!

True, they were not better than the best that the NFC had to offer. But they were right there with those teams. They beat both the Dallas Cowboys (admittedly and notably, without Emmit Smith) and the San Francisco 49ers, the two biggest bullies of the NFC during that era, in the regular season, and did so on the road! That game against the 49ers was a shootout at the old Candlestick Park (which the 49ers just closed out this past season), and it was the first NFL game without any punts, which the Bills managed to win, 34-31! During that era, the Bills beat those two teams, as well as the both Washington and the New York Giants (twice) in regular season meetings, as well as other standout NFC teams, such as the Chicago Bears and the New Orleans Saints. They were almost unbeatable at home for a while, and you kind of got used to teams like the Atlanta Falcons going into Buffalo and getting humiliated, 38-7. That's how good those Buffalo Bills teams were!

And remember, they had that historical comeback, down 35-3 in the AFC Wildcard Game on January of 1993, only to have backup quarterback Frank Reich orchestrate an incredible come from behind win! The Bills qualified for the AFC Championship Game five times in a six year span, losing in the 1988 season to the Cincinnati Bengals, and then returning to the AFC Championship two seasons later, to begin a run of nine straight playoff wins against AFC opponents! You cannot say enough about what they managed to achieve during that era!

But all that people remember is their one vice: losing each Super Bowl that they qualified for. Like the Denver Broncos of the eighties before them, and like the Minnesota Vikings of the seventies before them.

You know what, though? Those were some great teams, with some great accomplishments. And the Bills were the greatest of those teams! Their accomplishments during their runs dwarfed that of both of those other teams, even if it also underscored their failures in not actually winning the championship!

Yes, I know that not winning the Super Bowl is a considerable knock against them. But think of all the great teams, and great players, that failed to even qualify for one Super Bowl! Think of the 1998 Minnesota Vikings, a historically dominant regular season team that did not even reach the Super Bowl! Or the Danny White era Dallas Cowboys, that went to three straight NFC Championships, losing each one. The Cleveland Browns of the mid- to late-eighties, who kept losing to those same Denver Broncos in each the AFC Championship Games. think of some of the great talents in the NFL that never made it to the Super Bowl! Barry Sanders, Dan Fouts, Randall Cunningham, Chris Carter, Doug Flutie (some would debate his credentials), Warren Moon, Ladamian Tomlinson. Or players still playing, but who are in serious risk of never reaching the big game! Guys like Adrian Peterson, Carson Palmer, and Philip Rivers. Teams like the San Diego Chargers of the 2000's, or the 2009 Minnesota Vikings who, like the 1998 Minnesota Vikings, are one of the best single season teams that I have ever seen fail to qualify for the Super Bowl.

Hell! Neither the Cleveland Browns nor the Detroit Lions, two franchises that have been around for many, many decades, and won championships in the fifties, have even been to the Super Bowl one single time yet!

I can understand questioning Reed's entry into the Hall of Fame if the Buffalo Bills qualified for one Super Bowl, lost, and went away. It's a great accomplishment to even get to the Super Bowl, and people too quickly forget that. Even two straight, although that's an even greater accomplishment, would be something that numerous teams have managed to do. But four Super Bowls? Not just four overall, but four years in a row? Whether you liked them or were sick of them by the end of that run, the fact of the matter is that it was a great run, one of the standout runs in recent pro sports memory. That I was able to mention the franchises that have come before that managed to pull off consecutive championship game or series appearances is saying something, and should tell you that what the Bills managed to achieve is, indeed, something unique and historic. They are the only team in football to have so achieved it. Unfortunately, it is hard to overlook that they did not win any of those Super Bowls. But it is a testament to how great that team was that they managed to get their four straight seasons! When's the last time a team lost a Super Bowl and even qualified for the playoffs the next season? It was actually the Buffalo Bills, back in 1993, the last of their four AFC Championship runs. A lot of teams that qualified for the Super Bowl since, both winners and losers of the big game, failed to even qualify for the playoffs the following season, including the Giants and Ravens, the two previous Super Bowl champs before Seattle won it this last time around. Three times since the Bills last lost the Super Bowl, both participants in the Super Bowl ended up not qualifying for the playoffs the next season (XXXIII, XXXVI, XXXVII). In one case, neither teams has qualified for the playoffs since their Super Bowl meeting well over a decade ago, that being the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders, who met in the big game after the 2002 season!

The point is, the Bills accomplished something (even if there seems a measure of futility in getting there and repeatedly losing) that very few teams in all of sports ever achieve! Only the very best dynasties can compare (favorably, admittedly) to what the Bills managed to do! The fact that the Buffalo Bills can be mentioned, with some measure of legitimacy, in such company should tell you something about the significance of what they managed to achieve in those years.

So, to me, there really is no controversy regarding Andre Reed's induction into the Hall of Fame. When a team managed to accomplish so much, they deserve tremendous recognition. I believe that all of the major guys involved with that team - from head coach Marv Levy, to quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, linebacker Bruce Smith, and possibly even Darryl Tally and Cornelius Bennett, could rightfully be in the Hall of Fame. In some cases (Marv Levy, Jim Kelly, James Lofton, Bruce Smith, and Ralph Wilson), some of those guys in fact did make it to the Hall of Fame.

Andre Reed is easily and justly mentioned in that same category, as the leading wide receiver for a great Bills team. It's only fair!

The only argument against it would be the same sour grapes arguments that people had in the last two years or so of that remarkable Bills run, that people were essentially sick and tired of the Bills always reaching the Super Bowl, only to lose. The fact of the matter is that if any team in the AFC had been good enough to knock off the Bills, they would have. The fact that nobody in all of that time managed to do so in the AFC reveals something perhaps about the AFC at that time, but it certainly also tells you something about the quality of the Bills organization at that time, as well. Some people argued, when the Broncos got blown out in all of those Super Bowls in the eighties, that they probably were not even the second or third best team in those seasons. But the same argument is not likely the case with the Buffalo Bills for most of those seasons, particularly the 1990 season and the 1991 season, and frankly, probably the 1992 and 1993 seasons as well.

The Bills were a great team, and it's time to recognize the guys that helped make them so.

Thus, Andre Reed takes his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, as an honored member of that Buffalo Bills team that made history repeatedly!

Two sides to Andre Reed’s ‘call to the Hall’ NFL Preseason 1:21 mins Yahoo Sports’ Frank Schwab looks at Andre Reed’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame:

http://sports.yahoo.com/video/two-sides-andre-reed-call-192622424.html

The San Antonio Raiders?

Now, this rather surprising news from the Raiders: team owner Mark Davis, son of legendary former owner and team founder Al Davis, was in San Antonio, and happened to meet with city officials while there. He did not deny that there were talks about possible relocation to San Antonio from the team's present home in Oakland, but nor did he confirm this.

Is he possibly seriously considering a move by the silver and black to the city who's only other pro sports team also dons silver and black?

Probably not. Here, according to the article on the subject by Frank Schwab:

It's fair to wonder if this is a bluff by Davis, a move to put some heat on Oakland officials to get a new stadium. But it's worth noting that the meeting happened about a week-and-a-half ago, and the story was leaked to a San Antonio newspaper. If the Raiders were really just engaging in a public staredown, using San Antonio as a bargaining chip, part of that process is actually making the meeting public. Unless the Raiders decided to leak it to a media outlet in Texas first, they were very quiet on the situation.

Hmmmm....so, it seems that this is a crafty psychological play by Davis to force Oakland's hand to build the Raiders organization a new stadium, which is probably what he really wants.

You know, let's see what happens. But personally, I'm a bit tired of sports franchises like this threatening relocation if they do not get exactly what they want, especially when what they want is a new stadium, largely at taxpayer expense.

And if you watch the video, it might not even behoove Davis to move the franchise, since it might threaten his majority ownership of the team.

Ah, internal politics.

You know what? Let's just start playing the game again. Are you ready for some football?

Oakland Raiders owner talks to San Antonio about move by Frank Schwab of Shutdown Corner, July 29, 2014:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/oakland-raiders-owner-talks-to-san-antonio-about-move-232336327.html