Does Swann belong in the Hall?
Send a question to Peter
King
Posted: Thu November 6, 1997
I have been a selector for the Hall of Fame for three years
and in that time, the most impassioned debate has centered
around the eligibility of former Pittsburgh receiver Lynn
Swann. Why? It's pretty simple: The guy was a graceful,
big-play, big-time
receiver who was an important cog of the great Steelers
teams.
 So why isn't Swann in the
Hall? That's what Larry Welsh of Pittsburgh asks me in one of
this week's e-mails. My answer: Because he doesn't deserve to
be.
Here's why I vote
No:
Swann played nine years for the Steelers before retiring
after the 1982 season. He caught 336 passes. His
single-season high for receptions was 61 (in 1978). In his
career, Swann caught about two balls per game. He gained
more than 100 receiving yards
in 10 games. I think that's what it comes down to, pure and
simple. He doesn't have the numbers. It's just very hard
for me to justify that a pass receiver with 336 catches in
the modern era—no matter how great an athlete and how
wonderful he was in
several clutch games—belongs in the Hall of
Fame.
Will there be another vote for instant replay in the
offseason?
—Craig Dikken, Carleton Place,
Ontario
When instant replay went down last spring after a
tremendously impassioned debate over a two-day period at
the
NFL meetings, one club executive told me, "That's that for
the next five years." It will be very hard to muster
up support to resuscitate the
replay rule unless there are some disastrous calls over the
next three months that force people to reconsider their
very hard-line
opinions.
If Desmond Howard was still with the Packers, do you think
their record would be better than 7-2? He did give them
great field position all last
year.
—Robert Pendzich,
Milwaukee
That's an excellent question. I was just figuring out the
other day what an incredible nose-dive this guy has taken.
He returned punts for 875 yards last year, an NFL record.
Through nine games this season he was at 124 yards. I do
think he would have
improved
the Packers some, but if you look at the two games they lost, I
think he might have made a big difference in only one. He
might have helped them beat the Eagles but the Packers
looked like lost sheep that day in
Detroit.
Tony Banks is taking a tremendous amount of heat in St.
Louis for the Rams' 2-7 record—is it
justified?
—Alan Zarek, Maryville,
Ill.
I think Banks is doing what a lot of young QBs do in their
first or second year as starters. He often locks onto a
receiver and throws to that guy even if he's got two people
draped on him. But here's the
thing: Every quarterback has to go through a
process where he looks awful before he looks good. As Bucs
coach Tony Dungy said when asked about Trent Dilfer's
struggles, "If the Packers had given up on Brett Favre
in a pretty ugly second year starting, they never would
have allowed a two-time
MVP to
develop."
If you believe in a QB, you have to let him make plenty of
mistakes in the first couple of years. Then you have to
hope that by Year Three, he's learned the hard lessons he
needs to learn in order to become a good player. Banks
needs to be more
dedicated to his craft in the offseason and work to absorb every
ounce of knowhow he can from offensive coordinator Jerry
Rhome. If I'm the Rams, I'm sticking with
him.
If the Colts continue to free-fall toward the No. 1 pick in
the draft, do you think Jim Harbaugh's days are
numbered?
—Scott Gallaugher, Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan
My gut feeling is that if Bill Tobin remains the Indy
draftmeister in 1998, he may very well bypass a QB in the
draft and either trade down or pick for another position.
Tobin tends to stay high on a guy after he's slipped, as
Harbaugh clearly has. I
have a feeling that Tobin likes Harbaugh as the Colts' starter
on opening day 1998. Now, if Tobin is fired along with
coach Lindy Infante, then it's pretty doubtful that
Harbaugh will retain the starting job after the draft.
I am still scratching my head about the Chris Jacke fiasco
in Green Bay during the offseason. Why spend a relatively
high draft pick on Brett Conway? If you were Packers GM Ron
Wolf, would you have cut Jacke and relied on two rookie
kickers?
—Matt Lenburg, Madison,
Wis.
Absolutely. First of all, Jacke didn't even kick off
anymore. The Packers couldn't rely on him to consistently
kick it to the end zone, so they gave the job to Craig
Hentrich. Second, by firing Jacke and picking Conway, Green
Bay saved more than
$500,000. Third, in the last three years Jacke was only a 62%
kicker (20-for-32) from 40 yards and out. I don't care if
you're kicking at the North Pole, no NFL kicker is worth a
huge contract if he only makes 6-of-10 from 40 and
out.
Conway failed because of injury, not because the kid was a
lousy kicker. Granted, he kicked poorly in the preseason
before he got hurt. But he'd shown over four years at Penn
State that he was an excellent foul-weather kicker, and
look, you can't kill a
guy for two bad preseason games. So aside from not
originally inviting Jacke and other former Packers to the
Super Bowl ring ceremony, which was a fiasco, I see nothing
faulty about Green Bay's thought
process.
What is the deal with Leon Lett's application for
reinstatement? Do you think that Paul Tagliabue will bring
him back
early? Or will the commissioner continue to demonstrate his
anti-Jerry Jones
bias?
—Troy A. Saul, Vacherie,
La.
That makes me laugh—the "anti-Jerry Jones bias"
stuff, that is. Jerry gets in enough trouble by himself
without blaming any of it on
Tagliabue.
Tagliabue is simply following the substance-abuse rule to
the letter when he says that Lett can reapply for
reinstatement after one year (it will be one year on Dec.
3). I believe that Lett, who from everything I hear is
keeping his nose clean (no pun
intended) will be reinstated and allowed to play the last
month with the
Cowboys.
When Rodney Hampton had preseason surgery, he was supposed
to be out three-to-four weeks. It's now been over two
months. What's the
deal?
—John Palmerini, Gainesville,
Fla.
I was around the Giants a couple of weeks ago and was told
that Hampton can't even run without chronic knee pain. My
guess is that he'll end up on injured reserve within the
next couple of weeks and be out for the rest of the year.
How bad a signing was
that in the spring of '96? The Giants committed to Hampton
for six years and $16.5 million when he was clearly in the
twilight of his
career.
Do you think that Bobb McKittrick, the 49ers offensive line
coach and owner of five Super Bowl rings, ought to be the
first assistant coach elected to the Hall of
Fame?
—Jay Smalley, Sacramento,
Calif.
Well, he ought to be in the 1997 Hall of Fame. He's done as
good a job as any assistant in football this year in
building a running game behind a wall that looked like it
had plenty of leaks. But an assistant in the Hall? I
suppose it could happen, but
I have a hard time envisioning the selectors taking that one
very
seriously.
If you were starting a team, who would you pick: Jim Brown
or Gale
Sayers?
—Jeff Wolman, Silver Spring,
Md.
Jim Brown. No other man in the 78-year history of the NFL
has run with such power and
speed.
Since the Jags have moved to town, I've found myself
interested in learning the basics of the game, specifically
the positions and their responsibilities. Any
suggestions?
—Mark Eager, Jacksonville,
Fla.
Buy
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Football Like a
Pro, by Joe Theismann. It's available at most major
bookstores. I think it's really terrific because it doesn't
talk down to people and it teaches the game by using very
easy
concepts.
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