“jesse tuggle should be in the hall of fame, if he had not played for the falcons he would have been a superstar”

Um, what’s wrong with this picture? Why are non-superstars getting touted? Tuggle BTW was never a 1st team all pro and made 5 pro bowls — not bad, but these numbers are less than several peer LBs who haven’t gotten a sniff yet and would appear to be more deserving (Rickey Jackson, Kevin Greene, Cornelius Bennett, Sam Mills, etc.).

Regarding Terrell Davis: he may yet get elected, but his short career hurts his HoF chances a lot. Consider that HoF-er Gale Sayers also played seven years, had 5 great years to Davis’s 4, and has stellar KR stats that Davis doesn’t have. And Sayers is the rare exception — very few short career players are in the HoF who played after 1950.

I’m all for Jim Patton being in the HoF (5 time 1st team all pro, 5 pro bowls) as I think he’s deserving, but he’s not the only such DB vying for a slot — so are Johnny Robinson, Abe Woodson, Jack Butler, Bobby Dillon, Cliff Harris, and Lemar Parrish.

Charlie Conerly is arguably the best QB from his era not in the HoF, though that position is probably deeper than any other in the Hall. Other QB contemporaries already in include Norm Van Brocklin, Y.A. Tittle, Bobby Layne, and George Blanda, while guys such as Otto Graham, Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr, and Bob Waterfield overlap either the first half or last half of his career. That may already be perceived as enough QBs from that time — hard to say.

Because of injuries, Namath only played 8 full years with an even shorter peak, though that peak is admittedly excellent, so comparing Stabler to Namath doesn’t wash (it’s like arguing that Ottis Anderson should be in because his stats look better than those of Gale Sayers). Namath appears to be in the HoF primarily for a major intangible reason — he was the QB on the Jets Super Bowl winning team that finally gave the AFL parity with the NFL. While admittedly not an inconsequential accomplishment, one can of course rebut that other standouts from that game, like Matt Snell or Larry Grantham could have the same argument. But as often happens, it’s the QB who reaps the glory.

I can certainly see the argument for Namath not belonging in.

I am wondering two things:

1. where exactly does Stabler rank in all-time completion percentage? And more crucially, how important is this stat when evaluating a QBs Hall worth?

2. what’s the argument saying that he’s more deserving than, let’s say, Ken Anderson? Anderson’s stats look better, if memory serves. And sorry, but I’m not swayed by arguments based on intangibles.