Recently Terry Bradshaw expressed a bit of disappointment on how his legacy was being treated by both the NFL and the modern fan. Despite the fact that he took his team to 4 Super Bowls and won 4 Super Bowls (see a trend there?) the current view is to look at Terry’s statistics and diss his career because they find them wanting compared to modern day statistics.
Terry suffers from the same damned problem that critics of Joe Namath (statically not that exceptional, not that good even) and Gayle Sayers (career way, way too short to be considered for HOF) being in the Hall of Fame. They look at the statistics and compare their statistics to the modern athletes in the same positions. The problems are multiple:
1) Statistics are misleading, especially in a vacuum. Compare their statistics with their contemporaries and you will get a whole new prospective.
2) They think the game of Football is the same. This is not true in the least. The game Terry, Joe, and Gayle played in is very, very different than the game played today. There is absolutely no way that all three of them would not benefited statistically, career, and longevity given the protective rules now in place in the NFL.
3) In the case of Terry, the dude WON 4 Fking Superbowls. Repeat after me 4 Fking Superbowls. As many as Joe Montana, only second to Tom Brady, and at least 2 greater than any other f**king Quarterback in HISTORY. He faced the best in his generation and kicked their asses.
4) This is the most important issue to you statistic wonks on the modern world. I hardly ever play the generation card because it is usually specious, but in this case I am playing it because it is valid. The reason you do not understand the reason Terry, Joe, Gayle, and others are in the HOF is simple:
You Didn’t See Them Play!
Ask anyone who did, even fans of their rivals, and they deserve every damned accolade ever given them. It is a damned shame that statisticians have taken over the game’s legacy. But that was inevitable with the rise of Fantasy Football. Their problem was they existed in the day of FOOTBALL.
