Thread: HOF: Atwater, Davis, Lynch, or Mecklenburg

I've got to go with TD, although i wish there was an "All of the Above" option.
Prior to Davis we were 0-4 in our SB appearances, with Davis 2-0 and he was "the"
premier NFL back in football during that run. He was our missing link and since his retirement
we have not been back. What he did in that short career was simply magical.

Originally Posted by Northman

A bit tough but i think that Lynch will go in as a Buc so its kind of irrelevant for Bronco fans really. LOVED LOVED Atwater and highly respected Meck but i think at the end of the day in that list it has to go to Davis.

Pretty much my rationale. I didn't follow Denver till Bud Adams murdered my original team, so if I chose Mecklenburg it would be mainly on reputation (though it says much of him that a teenager who didn't even follow the team knew his name and impact.) Davis being the best playoff back in NFL history clinches it for me: He's the only RB I know of whose production not only rose in the playoffs, but CONTINUALLY rose the DEEPER he went. The tougher the competition, the better HE was, each step of the way to consecutive Super Bowls. That's gotta be worth as much as Sayers romping regular season foes without any playoff games.

Originally Posted by Northman

A bit tough but i think that Lynch will go in as a Buc so its kind of irrelevant for Bronco fans really. LOVED LOVED Atwater and highly respected Meck but i think at the end of the day in that list it has to go to Davis.

Football players don't go in as a member of any one team. I'm sure he would recognize and respect both teams.

They didn't punish Sayers because injuries ended his career early, so the same standards apply to TD. Having 7 100 yard plus rushing over 8 playoff games, when it took Emmit 17. Averaging like 147 yards a game over those 8 games...he defined the word clutch in the post season.

TD is first. . .

and really, but i must have missed it. . . three pages in and no mention of randy gradishar?i think he's the most deserving of our defensive players. . .

Originally Posted by dogfish

TD is first. . .

and really, but i must have missed it. . . three pages in and no mention of randy gradishar?i think he's the most deserving of our defensive players. . .

You're right but these guys are all semifinalists. It sucks, but Randy's not getting in unless he makes it into the old fogeys group, I forget what it's called. He is more deserving than many of the current semi finalists.

I voted for TD, because I believe he truly deserves it the most of the 4 choices. Why? I feel he was the tipping point for getting us over the hump and winning that first SB. He is one of a few to go over 2000 yards rushing in a season. His other many records he holds/held when he played. The biggest thing I take from the time TD played was..................how much he didn't play and still had great numbers. Mike would pull him with a quarter or half a quarter to go. He missed the 2nd quarter of the SB and still was MVP. What more did he have to do? So what he didn't play long........LOOK AT WHAT HE DID IN THAT SHORT TIME!!!

I would love to see Atwater in as he is my all time favorite Broncos player, but just not sure he has the numbers people like to see. IMO.

Of course I would like to see the other 2 and others not on the list get into the HOF. Only time will tell as they say........


PEACE!!!

That's a great point on how much Shanny rested Davis (especially after the crap he got for not pulling RGIII in the playoffs last year.) Without a blinding migraine in that first SB win he probably runs for, like, 250 yds and we put up >40 pts. And his SB record 3 rushing TDs becomes 5 or something, against a pretty darned good Packer defense. Skip a whole quarter and set a SB record; unbelievable.

Originally Posted by Joel

That's a great point on how much Shanny rested Davis (especially after the crap he got for not pulling RGIII in the playoffs last year.) Without a blinding migraine in that first SB win he probably runs for, like, 250 yds and we put up >40 pts. And his SB record 3 rushing TDs becomes 5 or something, against a pretty darned good Packer defense. Skip a whole quarter and set a SB record; unbelievable.

I can appreciate some good homerism Joel, but jeez, 100 yards and 2 TD's in the 2nd quarter?

I've had a lot of anti TD people say that TD was a product of the system and he had Elway so a strong supporting cast.
To that I say that Montana started the west coast offense, wasn't the best player(Jerry) on his side of the ball(in fact Roger Craig is another guy that should be in the HOF... way before Martin). But he made the most of the system. Like TD did to the zone blocking scheme.
But for four years this guy was the best back in football. Better than Barry and better than Emmitt. And in a different league than Martin.
I still will not forgive Greise for the int that TD got hurt on and never recovered from.

Originally Posted by dogfish

TD is first. . .

and really, but i must have missed it. . . three pages in and no mention of randy gradishar?i think he's the most deserving of our defensive players. . .

Read 5 pages before yours (post #30)

Originally Posted by FanInAZ

I'm going with Mecklenberg because he's most over due.

Atwater would be fined half of his salary in todays NFL, but what matters has how he performed playing under the rules of his day.

Davis had his career cut short due to injury, but what a short career he had. Unfortunately, those who say he should get a pass because of his injury didn't give him the opportunity to perform at this leave over the course of a length career have a point. A case in point for their view would be Billy Sims who played for the Lions in the early 80s.

Davis: http://www.pro-football-reference.co...D/DaviTe00.htm
Sims: http://www.pro-football-reference.co...S/SimsBi00.htm

Lynch was an outstanding player, but Gradishar should, imho, be the 4th option on this list. If he was, I'd go with him over Meckenberg.

Since posting this, I've since found out that the 4 Broncos listed by the OP are the 4 that are amongst those who are on the official list of semifinalists for this year.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap200...mes-2014-class

Originally Posted by Al Wilson 4 Mayor

I can appreciate some good homerism Joel, but jeez, 100 yards and 2 TD's in the 2nd quarter?

Hyperbole FTW.

Originally Posted by Salutethis

I've had a lot of anti TD people say that TD was a product of the system and he had Elway so a strong supporting cast.
To that I say that Montana started the west coast offense, wasn't the best player(Jerry) on his side of the ball(in fact Roger Craig is another guy that should be in the HOF... way before Martin). But he made the most of the system. Like TD did to the zone blocking scheme.
But for four years this guy was the best back in football. Better than Barry and better than Emmitt. And in a different league than Martin.
I still will not forgive Greise for the int that TD got hurt on and never recovered from.

Montana didn't start the WCO; Bill Walsh developed it for Virgil Carter in Cincinatti a decade earlier, because Carter's smart as a whip and was accurate as all get out but didn't have much arm strength. He may have influenced the game more than anyone since Jim Thorpe; Carter's also the guy that co-authored "Operations Research in Football" while he was playing, the article that created Expected Points statistically determined from field position based on a seasons worth of drives and starting field positions. Interesting fellow (just an awful QB.)

Calling Davis a product of the system ignores the reality that no Denver back before or after him had anthing like the same productivity. Not Tatum Bell, not Olandis Gary, not Reuben Droughns, not Mike Anderson, not even Clinton Portis; he had 1500 back-to-back, but his career best 1591 was still well below Davis' 1750 in the first SB season, let alone his 2008 in the repeat. The system didn't produce the best career playoff performance of any RB in history; even in the '96 loss Davis averaged almost 6 yds/carry plus a TD, as well as leading the team in receptions (7.) Plus 1538 rushing yards, a figure even Portis only topped once.

Next time someone tells you Davis was just a product of the system, ask them who was Denvers starting RB BEFORE Davis; there were three different ones in as many seasons, none were nearly as productive and I bet even most Denver fans can't name them all. If it were just the system Shanny could've plugged in what Wade left him and done as well; there's a reason he didn't.

I think TD is most deserving, but I think Lynch gets in first.

Poweraddict, do you know Chazoe66?

Originally Posted by AGap

Poweraddict, do you know Chazoe66?

Through Broncos message boards, yes, but not in "real life".