Zach Thomas HOF voting

[CF DolFan]

Here are  a few excerpts from what Armando had this to say afterwards.  The article is pretty good.

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article239872813.html

He got closer .... And it will eventually happen.

Now comes the hard part: Why not this year?

The honest answer is selectors decided a cue had formed at the doors of the Hall of Fame in Canton. And Thomas simply wasn’t at the front of the line.

Look at the new inductees.

Atwater and Hutchinson had been finalists three times. Bruce and James had been finalists four times.

Zach? This was his first year as a finalist. And though he is deserving, it simply wasn’t possible for him to tackle the guys ahead of him like he tackled ball carriers 1,734 times during his 13-year career.

So it’s going to take more effort. More time.

[CF DolFan]

Whenever I watched the pre-game for the Bears.  One of the “keys of the game” revolver around BU.  Either the Bears win if Brian has a big game or the key for team X is to contain BU.

With Dolphins JT was always the key never Zach.  As a Patriots fan when we played the Bears I was worried about BU, with the Dolphins it was JT not ZT. 

You may have never worried about Zach but I bet if you ask BB he had to game plan for him every game.

[Tenshot13]

Whenever I watched the pre-game for the Bears.  One of the “keys of the game” revolver around BU.  Either the Bears win if Brian has a big game or the key for team X is to contain BU.

With Dolphins JT was always the key never Zach.  As a Patriots fan when we played the Bears I was worried about BU, with the Dolphins it was JT not ZT. 

Ignorant comment.  Zach would take away a teams running game, and JT would make it difficult for them to pass.  I watched Zach Thomas single highhandedly shut down Eddie George in his prime, and he did that to a lot of elite running backs.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

You may have never worried about Zach but I bet if you ask BB he had to game plan for him every game.

BB loves to complement players so I am sure he said yes.  However if we used that as a standard we would need a hof. at least10x the size of the current one.  Better question would be which player was more disruptive to an offense...Zach or Brian.  And I am sure he would say both were great players but Urlacker was on a different level.

[CF DolFan]

Peter King had this to say about Zach in today's column. He is also a HOF voter.  Zach Thomas. The Miami linebacker gets great support from Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher, peers from his day. I think he’ll get in at some point.

Considering next year’s first-time-eligible players include Peyton Manning, Charles Woodson and Calvin Johnson ... I'm not sure it will be next year.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Peter King had this to say about Zach in today's column. He is also a HOF voter.  Zach Thomas. The Miami linebacker gets great support from Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher, peers from his day. I think he’ll get in at some point.

Considering next year’s first-time-eligible players include Peyton Manning, Charles Woodson and Calvin Johnson ... I'm not sure it will be next year.

He listed four of the five players that didn't make it as being deserving without naming a single of the five that got in that shouldn't have.   So yeah, if you want to lower the standards and double the size of the hall then Zach gets in. 

[CF DolFan]

He listed four of the five players that didn't make it as being deserving without naming a single of the five that got in that shouldn't have.   So yeah, if you want to lower the standards and double the size of the hall then Zach gets in. 

There is no way he calls out anyone as shouldn't have gotten in. That's just stupid.  This was point number three he was making about the whole class and about the group where he addressed the 4 he thought will eventually get in.

3. I think these are four men, I believe, who exit this year’s meeting with momentum for the near future:

• Zach Thomas. The Miami linebacker gets great support from Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher, peers from his day. I think he’ll get in at some point.

• Tony Boselli. When I walked out of the room Saturday, after listening to such positive discussion about Boselli’s 97-game career, I thought he’d make it. We seem to be over the career-length argument (Boselli, six premier seasons; Terrell Davis, four, plus his great playoff history). This year, Hutchinson and Faneca were such formidable competitors, and rightfully so. I do think how he handled the greatest pass-rushers of his day, Bruce Smith and Derrick Thomas, will continue to resonate till he gets in.

• Alan Faneca. Will be stunned if he doesn’t get in the next two or three years.

• John Lynch. There was a good feeling in the room for Lynch. Voters seems to believe Warren Sapp up front, Derrick Brooks in the middle and Lynch in the back were tri-keys to the Bucs having the best sustained defense in the NFC around the turn of the century. What really impresses me: The Bucs were 3-1 versus the Rams at the peak of the Greatest Show on Turf, and Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner—bullish on Lynch’s Hall case—threw four TD passes with 12 interceptions in those four games. Lynch saved two of those three Tampa wins with last-drive, fourth-quarter picks of Warner, both on passes intended for Hall finalist Torry Holt.

[David Fulcher]

Ignorant comment.  Zach would take away a teams running game, and JT would make it difficult for them to pass.  I watched Zach Thomas single highhandedly shut down Eddie George in his prime, and he did that to a lot of elite running backs.

^ This.  I distinctly remember him shutting down Eddie George in that beginning of the '01 season game that was an upset, in Nashville.
Also distinctly remember him being one of the chief members of shutting down (more or less, for his play that season, anyways!) Jamal Lewis in his '03 season of 2,000+ yards and (at the time) 2nd most rushing yards in season in NFL history, with 5.3 ypc.  Yeah, Zach helped limit him to the tune of about 3.5 ypc on 25 carries that day during the '03 game.

These are just a couple of examples, of course.  Dude was a beast most of his carry, and seriously, coming in at his size, as a 5th round pick.
Just awesome....

I know your head might be in the clouds on this one, Hoodie, and I do respect some of your opinions, even being the Pats "Luver" that you are (I get it), but CF hit it on the head.  I'm sure BB worried Plenty about ol' Zach, as well as other HC's/OC's.  Just b/c JT was a beast, doesn't mean you can't have to gameplan and scheme for multiple defenders...and Zach was a headache for others, I'm sure!  (along w/ the "headaches" he put on others--and himself--throughout his career)  Don't get me wrong, I liked Urlacher as well for not being a Bears fan, but to make this giant line-in-the-sand distinction b/t his play and Zach is just not correct and "revisionist history" at best.
Besides the '06 season, when yes, they did go to the SB, but I never thought really stood a chance against the Colts (it was a pretty boring SB, and by far the best part was Prince's halftime show, including "Purple Rain", In the Rain!!     ), *his* Bears' teams only made the playoffs 3 other times in his career, and aside from the '10 season, when they lost to the Pack in the NFCCG in a not-as-close-as-the-scoreboard suggested, they got bounced straight out of the playoffs the first game themselves the other 2 times.


I hate to even bring that up with Urlacher, as he was a talent at LB and deserves his Hall spot as well.  I just can't take your line of demarcation that his and Zach's games were so incomparable.  It's crap, frankly...

[David Fulcher]

For those who enjoy Profootballreference's catalog of all things NFL dating back to the beginning (1920), Mr. ZT's AV is set at 149 total (142 with the 'Phins, and a 7 for his single '08 season w/ Dallas), while Brian Urlacher's (all with Da Bears) is set at 150.
Dang--pretty damn even there, too, if you ask me!!

(JT's is at 158 FWIW--144 for his 13 Miami seasons, 8 for the '10 NYJ ( ) season, and 6 for the '08 WAS season)

[Phishfan]

I love Tho.as and always have. One thing I always remember about his career was the discussion of how much Bowens and Gardner freed him up. Does anyone else remember that and maybe that weighs on the voting?

[hordman]

You may have never worried about Zach but I bet if you ask BB he had to game plan for him every game.

thank you CF DolFan, this is the correct answer