Question....Why is Troy Aikman in the HOF, but not Joe Theismann?

[Truant]

Aikman, Emmitt, and Irvin were the key cogs of that run the boys went on. They all are and deserve to be in the HOF. I don't think Theisman had the monumental stats or success to warrant entry, but it'd be cool to see.

[DC9]

I just think Players from their era, should be given the proper respect or consideration deserved for the HOF.

Look at Joe Namath.
1 SB win in 13 seasons played
27,663 yards 173 TD's & 220 INT's.

Dude has 13 more passing TD's & 82 more INT's than Joe.
Yet, Namath is a no-brainer?

We were a run oriented team & Joe imo, put up hall of fame numbers and has 1 SB win in 2 appearances. Also has huge plays for the Skins throughout his career. And his 17 4th Qtr comebacks in a shorter career span @QB is very eye opening to me as well.

Namath was the first AFC Quarterback to win the Super Bowl. He's a novelty in the HOF.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

I think people make the mistake of looking at the baseball HOF and other HOF's in the same light. Baseball has a pretty defined set of accomplishments to get in. It also helps that--minus the era that shall not be named--baseball has essentially been the same for 100 years. Thus numbers are easily compared. Football and basketball are just different. Numbers don't tell as big a story as they do in baseball. And things are always changing. I mean Kobe vs Jordan vs Wilt. You can't compare the #'s. Brady and Manning vs Bart Starr. Can't compare it. It's more of an eye test in those sports.

[Boss_Hogg]

Aikman is worthy of the HOF in my opinion. He has three super bowl rings and carried himself very well as face of the franchise.

[skinsmarydu]

With Joe being my all-time favorite 'Skins player, I agree with the OP.
And, he was the lowest paid QB in the league when he won the Super Bowl.

[S.T.real,lights,out]

dumbest possible criteria. it's a team sport. no one man wins super bowls.

Not saying i like it or agree with it just my answer to the question.

[elkabong82]

Unfortunately the NFL HOF isn't just about stats, it's also about hype. Baseball has that effect to a degree as well, but it's much more apparent in football. Maybe now they have toned it down (though it's still there) with some players still waiting to get in who you'd think wouldn't be waiting, but certainly for a while it was all about popularity. That's why a lot of deserving OL, especially the Hogs, aren't in, yet hyped up players with less than stellar stats, like Namath and Swann, while less heralded players w/ better numbers like Theismann and Gary Clark and Andre Reed, get the cold shoulder. I don't mean to take away from Namath and Swann either, I'm just saying players w/ equal or better accomplishments at the same positions are neglected.

[Missouri_Skins_Fan]

4th Quarter Comebacks by "modern"ALL Hall of Fame QB'S VS Joe Theismann
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Troy Aikman=16
George Blanda=11
Terry Bradshaw=19
Len Dawson=15
John Elway=35
Dan Fouts=24
Otto Graham=1
Bob Griese=16
Sonny Jurgensen=18
Jim Kelly=22
Bobby Layne=4
Dan Marino=36
Joe Montana=31
Warren Moon=26
Joe Namath=16
Bart Starr=19
Roger Staubach=15
Fran Tarkenton=N/A
JOE THEISMANN=17
Y.A. Tittle=6
Johnny Unitas=27
Norm Van Brocklin=6
Bob Waterfield=0
Steve Young=14

There are 23 Modern Hall of Fame QB's inducted.
Only 10 of them, have a better 4th Qtr comeback career numbers than Joe Theismann.

That to me is pretty impressive, when these are the 10 in front of our guy Joe from best-to-Joe
#1)Dan Marino=36
#2)John Elway=35
#3)Joe Montana=31
#4)Johnny Unitas=27
#5)Warren Moon=26
#6)Dan Fouts=24
#7)Jim Kelly=22
#8)Terry Bradshaw=19
#9)Bart Starr=19
#10)Sonny Jurgensen=18
#11)Joe Theismann=17

[scruffylookin]

Joe is an interesting case.

I'm very biased since Joe is 1a (Gary Clark being 1b) as my favorite Redskin ever.

By the end of the 1984 season Theismann was talked about (along with Riggins) as a possible HOF inductee "in the future". No slam dunk by any means but it was there. Then he had that awful awful 1985 season that ended with LT on Monday Night.

I think Joe's window, if it ever was open, closed very quickly for several reasons.

1. The bad last impression left by the 1985 season
2. Rocket Screen (I agree with those who say that a 2nd Super Bowl would have made his case much stronger)
3. His career numbers got dwarfed as passing continued to explode in the NFL in the latter half of the 80's through today.
4. John Riggins. Riggins, thanks to one highlight played over and over and over took Joe Theismann's team from him. The 1982-84 run was thanks in large part and mostly to Joe Theismann. He was the leader of that team. He was the key cog that kept everything going. The one player that the Redskins could not lose and expect to continue to win was Joe Theismann. It's not even a debate as far as I'm concerned. But history has not recorded it this way. History has John Riggins being "the man" from that era. Joe Theismann gets reduced to "one of three QBs Joe Gibbs had who won a super bowl". Funny how John Riggins is not referred to the same way.
5. Personality. Joe and his mouth irritated alot of media types back in the day.

I'd love to see Joe get in, but I know it's not happening. What I'd really like to see is the all time leading passer in Redskins history get a hell of alot more respect than he gets by some Redskin "fans". If Redskin fans don't appreciate what Joe Theismann meant to this franchise and the accomplishments he achieved, how the hell can anyone expect the HOF folks to do so?

[Bang]

Theismann's my favorite Redskins QB of all time.. we've never had a better leader (til now, i hope!).
But he's not HOF. He was really really good. Not great. Great in stretches. But not as a career.
If there was a Hall of Giant Brass Balls, Joe would be first ballot.

Aikman is definitely HOF. folks who want to pin it on team have obviously never had to lead exceptional people. It ain't easy. Aikman owned that team, and that means a lot given it's success.



there are better questions, the first few of which i can think of are Raiders, coincidentally.. Jim Plunkett won two Super Bowls.. His career was spotty, so OK.
But Tom Flores also won two Super Bowls and he's never mentioned. every other coach with multiple wins is in, right? Why is Flores not even an afterhought?
I believe he's also the only guy to win a super bowl as head coach for a team he played for in the Super Bowl. (He was a backup QB in SB 2)
And one could argue for Ken Stabler.

~Bang

[HeluCopter29]

The reason that Joe isn't in is the same reason Gary Clark isn't in, and London Fletcher won't get in.

Gary caught 699 passes, 10,856 yards, and 65 TD's

Lynn Swann caught 336 passes, 5,462 yards, and 51 TD's

Swann was on a team where it was him, John Stallworth, Terry Bradshaw, and Franco Harris on offense, and the steel curtain on defense. It's a lot easier to pick out the best players on the Steelers offense in the 70's then it is to pick out the best players on the Redskins offense in the 80's because there were so many more guys. That, and generally the Redskins and the 80's generally gets associated more with running the ball and the Hogs, which is why it took so long for Art to get in.

To some it up, the less guys that have the spotlight the easier it is to get in. Had it not been for LT, Joe may be in the HOF, but he has to share the spotlight with two other QB's.

Aikman, Irvin, and Smith were the guys on offense who lead Dallas to 3 SB's. And that's why they're in.

It isn't fair, but it's true.

[roanoker]

I vote for Joe.

[artmonkforHOF]

Joe is not football HOF worthy IMO. If he gets in, you might as well add Boomer, Brian Sipe and Randall Cunningham & Duante Culpepper while you are at it.

the football HOF is the hardest HOF to get into, and I like it that way.

And as for former Skins, I would put Jerry Smith, or a few of the Hogs (I vote for Jacoby, but I think the HOF is afraid of what his bust might look like) in before I would vote for Joe T.

[Bang]

There's more to it for Swann.

Super Bowl 10, Swann on the sidelines making the first catch of the game, by twisting and turning in ways that seemed impossibile when seen in slow motion.
Super Bowl 10- Swann over Charlie Waters down the middle of the field for a 50 yard bomb, tips the ball up and catches it while diving ahead..
Swann making the winning touchdown in SB 12 vs the Cowboys,, catching it going to his knees and almost knocking over the NFL films camera.

Swann was Mr. Super Bowl. And in the early and mid 70s, the NFL was just getting it's traction on television and as the nation's favorite sport. NFL Films and it's ability to show Super Bowls to us like that really changed things, and those two games, the two Steeler / Cowboy Super Bowls were great games with great performances that helped to really cement the NFL in place so it could grow into what it is now.

I recall SB 9.. Vikings / Steelers... it was a mid-afternoon game. Nothing special beyond it being the Championship. With SB 10 it really became a show, and when the game (and Swann) exploded like it did with the grace and acrobatidcs he displayed... times changed.
That is Hall worthy, by far. And it is fair.

~Bang

[Rocky21]

The fact that Lynn Swann is in the Hall of Fame is a travesty of the highest order. He's in because of 1 ****in catch when a whole lot of people were watching TV. Period.

As far as Joe He was really good in 1982 and 1983. Aikman was really good over a longer period of time. Joey T does have a 6-2 record in the playoffs which is pretty stellar though.