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Lonestar
04-01-2010, 03:49 AM
Paige: Hall of Fame should make room for Elam
By Woody Paige
The Denver Post
POSTED: 04/01/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT



Jason Elam was as dependable as a Waikiki sunset, reliable as Jeeves the butler. He was better than your mom's meatloaf. He had a stronger finishing kick than Usain Bolt. He was on target more than Wyatt Earp.

Jason Elam was money with the game on the line.

Hollywood should make a movie about him titled "My Right Foot."

His right shoe already is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It's the only regulation football shoe to be on the business end of the longest field goal, 63 yards, in NFL history.

Unfortunately, Elam will never get his foot in the door at Canton.

The Hall of Fame selection committee treats kickers and punters as if they are as unnecessary as an appendix.

The list of "pure" kickers and punters in the Hall of Fame includes, uh, Jan Stenerud. That's it. (Tackle Lou Groza and quarterback George Blanda also are enshrined, but their biographies state, as an afterthought, "also kicked.")

The omission of podiatrists (foot specialists) from the Hall of Fame for "foot" ball is absurd, and I know of what I speak here. I was on the selection committee in the 1990s and 2000s. Whenever the name of a kicker or a punter would be advanced, prejudiced elderly gentlemen would spit: "We aren't putting them in there." Those guys must have been asleep on a barroom floor when Stenerud's nomination passed.

Stenerud, one of the first of those "foreigners with the strange soccer-style kicking technique," had some great numbers — 19 seasons, 263 games, 373 field goals on 558 attempts (66.8 percent), 601 extra points (96.5 percent), one Super Bowl championship. He scored 100 points in seven consecutive seasons.

How does Elam compare? He also played in 263 games over 17 seasons and made 436-of-540 field goals — 80.7 percent! — with 673 extra points converted — an amazing 99.4 percent, and two Super Bowl championships. He scored 100 points in 16 consecutive seasons, every one but his last with Atlanta.

Stenerud's longest field goal — against the Broncos — was 55 yards, only 8 yards short of Elam's league record-tying kick in 1998. (He shares the mark with Tom Dempsey, who wore a specially constructed, squared shoe because he was born with a deformed right foot.)

Oh, and Elam had 24 game-saving kicks in the fourth quarter or overtime during his 15 seasons with the Broncos. He played more games than any other Denver player, including that other game-saver — John Elway.

Would seem that Elam is deserving of a bust in the Hall of Fame. Too bad the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Elam didn't play nose tackle too.

Elam retired Wednesday from, appropriately, the Broncos, who made a classy gesture to sign their classy former kicker to a one-day contract.

He will be inducted into the team's Ring of Fame quickly.

Elam never put that famous foot in his mouth. After he had the usual last-second, game-winning kick against Oakland, Kansas City or San Diego — Elam became the only NFL player to score 200 points against three different teams, and guess who they were? — he would quietly stand and smile in the locker room and thank more people than an Oscar recipient. (I didn't realize his pastor also was a special-teams player.)

On Wednesday at Dove Valley he again thanked everyone who came into his life.

The Broncos drafted Elam in the third round in 1993. The Rainbow Warriors already knew he would be a success — from when the Pride of Snellville, Ga., showed up in Oahu, Hawaii, for the 1988 season and, in the opening game, kicked the winning field goal in a major upset over Iowa.
Elam became the greatest kicker in Hawaii history, then in Broncos history.

What I remember most, though, was Mike Shanahan believed Elam's effective max-out range was 50 yards. When the Broncos had to make a decision about a 52- or 55- or 63-yard attempt, Elam would run out in front of the coach and start waving — "Choose me, please choose me." And when Shanahan gave in, Elam connected 61 percent of the time.

Lou "The Toe" Groza made 54.9 percent of his attempts — most from 20 yards or closer, when the goalposts were on the goal line.

Jason "The Foot" Elam made a 51-yard field goal in the Super Bowl, made a 42-yard field goal in the famous "fire drill" to open the 2007 season at Buffalo and an overtime field goal to beat, yes, the Raiders in the "Shanahan deep-freeze timeout" the next week.

A couple of years ago Elam decided he could use idle hands. He co-authored a novel focusing on football, religion and terrorism called "Monday Night Jihad." His fourth in the Riley Covington series is due out this year.

When asked about his writing style, Elam said he partially borrowed it from me. The man is crazy.

At least he didn't borrow his kicking style from me — because Elam wouldn't have become one of the all-time kickers and one of the all-time gentlemen in the NFL.

Jason Elam was a kick.

Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com



Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/premium/broncos/ci_14797265#ixzz0jpuzvosJ

Nomad
04-01-2010, 05:54 AM
the HOF is watered down ! Elam, which I respect and admire, doesn't belong in the HOF even if it's watered down. He does belong in the BRONCOS Ring of Fame right next to Johnny Boy because he was that important to the BRONCOS success.

broncofaninfla
04-01-2010, 08:57 AM
Elam deserve to be mentioned among the greats but we have other players that are more deserving to be in the HOF.

Northman
04-01-2010, 09:25 AM
Buy a shoe,


Sent via blackberry from Rich Karlis

MileHighCrew
04-01-2010, 10:47 AM
I love Elam and I WANT him in the HOF, but only after Shannon and TD!!!!

Ravage!!!
04-01-2010, 12:31 PM
There is only one kicker in the HoF... and there have been a lot of them that have deserved it. Unfortunately, it won't happen. But he'll always be a remembered figure of our 90's Super Bowl teams

JDL
04-01-2010, 02:35 PM
Ummm ... 80% is NOT that good of a FG rate it puts him in the bottom 1/3 of current FG kickers career-wise and his inside the 50 numbers (as people love to suggest that is the reason for the down numbers) still puts him way down near the bottom of current FG kickers. It is shocking, but how can he be Hall of Fame worthy with career % like that? He doesn't have the big game winning/clutch kicks to hang his hat on either.

Elam had one of the purest most beautiful kicks I've seen, but he still wasn't the best.... the only thing that skews his numbers a little bit is his down year last year, but not enough to make pretty clear he isn't in the discussion.

Notable Names career %

Nate Kaeding - 87.2%
Mike Vanderjagt - 86.5%
Robbie Gould - 85.9%
Shayne Graham - 85.2%
Rob Baronas - 84.5%
Ryan Longwell - 83.0%
John Carney - 82.4%
Adam Vinatieri - 82.0%
Jason Hanson - 81.8%
John Kasay - 81.6%
David Akers - 81.6%
Jay Feely - 81.6%
Olindo Mare - 81.2%
Josh Brown - 81.0%
Rian Lindell - 80.9%
Jason Elam - 80.7%
Sebastian Janikowski - 78.4%

I would say a Hall of Fame kicker would make a high % of FGs and be noted for kicking clutch FGs... for awhile unfortunately Elam actually struggled a bit in some clutch situations - the Super Bowl FG helped A LOT to dispel those concerns but he was up and down in that respect. I don't know, definite Ring of Fame guy, but you have to be careful who you pump up as Hall of Fame worthy because when you pump up undeserving players it dilutes the candidacy of deserving players (for instance Steve Atwater and Randy Gradishar need ALL our help for them to rightfully take their place.) It would not be be any great travesty for Elam to not make it or even be highly considered.... Sharpe, Gradishar and Atwater are where the focus should be imo.

Northman
04-01-2010, 02:43 PM
Ummm ... 80% is NOT that good of a FG rate it puts him in the bottom 1/3 of current FG kickers career-wise and his inside the 50 numbers (as people love to suggest that is the reason for the down numbers) still puts him way down near the bottom of current FG kickers. It is shocking, but how can he be Hall of Fame worthy with career % like that? He doesn't have the big game winning/clutch kicks to hang his hat on either.

Elam had one of the purest most beautiful kicks I've seen, but he still wasn't the best.... the only thing that skews his numbers a little bit is his down year last year, but not enough to make pretty clear he isn't in the discussion.

Notable Names career %

Nate Kaeding - 87.2%
Mike Vanderjagt - 86.5%
Robbie Gould - 85.9%
Shayne Graham - 85.2%
Rob Baronas - 84.5%
Ryan Longwell - 83.0%
John Carney - 82.4%
Adam Vinatieri - 82.0%
Jason Hanson - 81.8%
John Kasay - 81.6%
David Akers - 81.6%
Jay Feely - 81.6%
Olindo Mare - 81.2%
Josh Brown - 81.0%
Rian Lindell - 80.9%
Jason Elam - 80.7%
Sebastian Janikowski - 78.4%

I would say a Hall of Fame kicker would make a high % of FGs and be noted for kicking clutch FGs... for awhile unfortunately Elam actually struggled a bit in some clutch situations - the Super Bowl FG helped A LOT to dispel those concerns but he was up and down in that respect. I don't know, definite Ring of Fame guy, but you have to be careful who you pump up as Hall of Fame worthy because when you pump up undeserving players it dilutes the candidacy of deserving players (for instance Steve Atwater and Randy Gradishar need ALL our help for them to rightfully take their place.) It would not be be any great travesty for Elam to not make it or even be highly considered.... Sharpe, Gradishar and Atwater are where the focus should be imo.


Although i get what your saying its also unrealistic to compare him to guys who have had a short career thus far. When your younger generally you are much better so aside from maybe Carney and Vinateri i think he deserves at least a mention. But, the HOF hardly likes Broncos as it is and rarely do they add kickers anyway (pointing to Rav's post) so the likelihood is almost nil of him getting in. But the % comparsion cant be the only determining factor considering a lot of those guys are only a few years into their careers.