Bryan wrote: ↑Sun Aug 13, 2023 10:06 pm
JohnTurney wrote:Someone else can totally prove me wrong but he was good, very good, but I have seen players without the so-called "alls" who IMO were dominant
and players without the "numbers" who looked dominant ... not a ton of them but I have also seen guys with a good HOF resume--the numbers,
the pro Bowls, but didn't look dominant to me. Jackson is one of them. Meador is another. Isiah Robertson another--to name three Rams.
But i know of a couple Rams who were dominant who had good honors, good numbers but maybe not as good as the others who to me, were better
p;ayers.
That's the conundrum in my mind I have to work out sometimes.
But hay, someone can say they saw the 1973 Cowboys-Rams game and say Jackson was dominant but to me, that was a big outlier...
I agree on all three players. Meador was a smart player, but I think he really benefited from his supporting cast. Had he been on the Eagles instead of the Rams, I think Meador would have been more like Joe Scarpati than a borderline HOF player. Meador isn't spectacular on film. I remember a clip of Gary Garrison catching a pass, stopping, putting on a quick fake and just flying past Meador as if Eddie was in cement.
Jackson was very productive, but was kind of a one-trick pony. To me, Jackson wasn't close to Warfield or Swann (or even Biletnikoff), but he had better numbers than all of those guys. The most remarkable thing to me about Jackson is how long he kept his speed. He didn't have great hands, didn't really come up with the ball in traffic, but he consistently put up 6 TDs and 750 yards well into his 30s. When he left Philly, his production was replaced by Harold Carmichael. When he left LA, Willie Miller came out of nowhere and put up the same numbers as Jackson. It seemed like he was very replaceable...JMO.
Here's the thing about Harold Jackson:
On one hand, he had a playoff career that probably won't raise too many eyebrows. 548 yards on 24 receptions and five receiving touchdowns isn't exactly nothing, but doesn't compare to most of the Hall of Fame receivers of his generation. Though shoutout to his performance in the 1974 NFC Championship Game where he might have come within two yards of appearing in a Super Bowl (he scored his team's only touchdown, and had a 73 yard reception where he was ran out at the two yard line; the latter of which was followed by a goal line pick by his quarterback, and the Rams lost by only four points).
However as mentioned above, Jackson played on the Eagles, Rams, and Patriots for his prime and never played with a prime Hall of Fame quarterback (in Philly, his quarterbacks were Norm Snead, Pete Liske, and John Reaves, in Los Angeles he played with John Hadl for one year, James Harris, Pat Haden, a few games from a young Ron Jaworski, and from Joe Namath at the end of his career, and in New England, his quarterbacks were Steve Grogan, and Matt Kavanaugh).
Even if you think highly of that group of quarterbacks, the only one I named that is currently in Canton is Namath, and he was in the final season of his career with the Rams, and of the others, the only one I see mentioned as anywhere near Canton is Hadl; and Jackson played with him in 1973 and early 74 only (Hadl and Jackson received the only MVP votes that didn't go to O.J. Simpson in his 2,000 yard season on a side note; probably from their own city, but still).
Not to diminish the careers of any Hall of Fame receivers in the 70's at all, but other than Harold Charmichael, just about every other receiver who made the Hall of Fame and who played a significant amount of their career in the 70's had a prime Hall of Fame quarterback throwing to them at some point (Paul Warfield played with Bob Griese for a few years; Lynn Swann and John Stallworth played with Terry Bradshaw; Fred Biletnikoff and Cliff Branch played with Ken Stabler; Drew Pearson played with Roger Staubach and so on).
In addition to the playoff career, Jackson as said up top had the most receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns in the 1970's, ranked second all time in receiving yardage up through 1983 when he retired, and his reception and receiving touchdown totals were both top ten as well, with everyone who had as many of each as he did through his retirement making Canton (except Art Powell who has been nominated).
Jackson also had more receiving yards, receptions, receiving touchdowns, and yards per reception in the regular season than Drew Pearson, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, or Cliff Branch. He had as many touchdowns as Fred Biletnikoff, more total yards and per reception, and only ten fewer receptions, and he had only three fewer touchdowns, and 11 fewer receptions than Harold Charmichael.
So his production in aggregate fits in quite nicely I'd say.
Also, I've heard some people say that due to smashmouth schemes, players who got higher receiving yardage and passing yardage were frowned upon for doing so because it was assumed that the yardage was put up only because the team trailed.
Even so, in Jackson's case, he was the top receiver by yardage for four playoff teams in LA (The Rams of whom had the second best regular season record over 1973-1977 only to the Raiders), and a fifth team in the 79 Patriots who went 9-7, but had the second ranked offense by points and only 15th on defense. Jackson also put up top ten yardage on the 73 and 75 Rams and 79 Patriots.
So even if he has no championships, he proved he could contribute for successful teams, and for a number of successful offenses in addition to his raw stats.
From a Seahawks fan, he may fail the eye test, but at a certain point I would argue that the resume could be viewed as good enough. I say he belongs in Canton, but I can see why he wouldn't have stood out to voters in his regular eligibility (he never played in a Super Bowl after all).