Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Two men of longevity. Blanda a 4-time AFL All-Star (3 of those as a QB), Vinny a 2-time Pro Bowler - one of them, of course, with '98 Jets but the other with a bad '96 Ravens squad. Vinny's scrambling ability always seems to be forgotten about, pro or college. He did have quite more starting seasons than Blanda whose time as a starting QB was more-less relegated to his time in Houston. At the same time, like Marcus Allen's final years with Raiders, he played for a coach in Chicago who "should have" started him a lot more but didn't. The '50s a big 'what-if' (he played for a different coach or team) decade for the in-his-prime 20-something.

Not that they're the best source, but wiki when mentioning Vinny's retirement in '08 decided to add that 2013 would be his first year of HOF-eligibility. Highly doubt that will, or was ever going to be, a consideration. Or do some of you think otherwise? Blanda had the extra-longevity and was also a stellar kicker. His classic, unforgettable "magical" 1970 season a big help. Could Vinny's lesser longevity and 'just' being a QB still, possibly, make him a consideration anyway? My guess would be a clear no. Thoughts?

74_75_78_79_ wrote:Two men of longevity. Blanda a 4-time AFL All-Star (3 of those as a QB), Vinny a 2-time Pro Bowler - one of them, of course, with '98 Jets but the other with a bad '96 Ravens squad. Vinny's scrambling ability always seems to be forgotten about, pro or college. He did have quite more starting seasons than Blanda whose time as a starting QB was more-less relegated to his time in Houston. At the same time, like Marcus Allen's final years with Raiders, he played for a coach in Chicago who "should have" started him a lot more but didn't. The '50s a big 'what-if' (he played for a different coach or team) decade for the in-his-prime 20-something.

Not that they're the best source, but wiki when mentioning Vinny's retirement in '08 decided to add that 2013 would be his first year of HOF-eligibility. Highly doubt that will, or was ever going to be, a consideration. Or do some of you think otherwise? Blanda had the extra-longevity and was also a stellar kicker. His classic, unforgettable "magical" 1970 season a big help. Could Vinny's lesser longevity and 'just' being a QB still, possibly, make him a consideration anyway? My guess would be a clear no. Thoughts?

Testaverde was a much better passer. Blanda was scatter armed. But Blanda's in the HOF for longevity and for a handful of last-minute heroics. He didn't start much in Chicago because Steve Romanik (who?), Zeke Bratkowski, and Ed Brown all threw the ball better.

None of this is meant to imply that Testaverde is HOF material.

rhickok1109 wrote:....Blanda's in the HOF for longevity and for a handful of last-minute heroics. He didn't start much in Chicago because Steve Romanik (who?), Zeke Bratkowski, and Ed Brown all threw the ball better.

One would think his championships in Houston (AFL 1960 & 61) would've also been taken into account.
His all-AFL year of 1961 is also pretty impressive...

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/p ... anGe00.htm

And not that this should be taken as a disagreement with the previous post.
Vinny was a much better passer... but I'm not sure which guy I'd rather have on my team...

Blanda isn't a HoF level QB (for example, Rasaretnam has him at 91st for best 4 and 81st for best 7 while Chase Stuart ranks him 63rd). But he was also a K of some distinction and was the lifetime leader in points scored from the time of his retirement until 2004 (first to break the 2000 point mark). His adjusted FG accuracy actually isn't that impressive at least in Chase Stuart's rankings (38th) -- Rupert, where do you rank him? And there's no question that longevity plays a big part in his HoF membership. He's a pretty marginal HoF-er.

Vinny Testaverde ranks 48th in Stuart's rankings and 94th (best 4), 76th (best 7), and 46th (best 10) in Rasaretnam's listings -- also not HoF levels. Maybe better than Blanda, maybe not -- depends on how you look at things.

JuggernautJ wrote:

rhickok1109 wrote:....Blanda's in the HOF for longevity and for a handful of last-minute heroics. He didn't start much in Chicago because Steve Romanik (who?), Zeke Bratkowski, and Ed Brown all threw the ball better.

One would think his championships in Houston (AFL 1960 & 61) would've also been taken into account.
His all-AFL year of 1961 is also pretty impressive...

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/p ... anGe00.htm

And not that this should be taken as a disagreement with the previous post.
Vinny was a much better passer... but I'm not sure which guy I'd rather have on my team...

He was also MVP (or POY) in 1970 for that handful of heroics.

You don't get to play for 27 seasons unless you've had at least one good year...

bachslunch wrote:Blanda isn't a HoF level QB (for example, Rasaretnam has him at 91st for best 4 and 81st for best 7 while Chase Stuart ranks him 63rd). But he was also a K of some distinction and was the lifetime leader in points scored from the time of his retirement until 2004 (first to break the 2000 point mark). His adjusted FG accuracy actually isn't that impressive at least in Chase Stuart's rankings (38th) -- Rupert, where do you rank him? And there's no question that longevity plays a big part in his HoF membership. He's a pretty marginal HoF-er.

Vinny Testaverde ranks 48th in Stuart's rankings and 94th (best 4), 76th (best 7), and 46th (best 10) in Rasaretnam's listings -- also not HoF levels. Maybe better than Blanda, maybe not -- depends on how you look at things.

I think it goes without saying that if he never attempted a kick in his career, he would have been a borderline HOVG type based strictly as a QB, based on his two AFL titles, and his coming off the bench in the 1970 season. As for his kicking career, I have him with a career PAL of 15.54, meaning that over the course of his career his kicking was only worth 15.54 points more than an average kicker from his era would have gotten during the years in question. The 15.54 figure is slightly above average, meaning that in a career of 26 seasons he was about a half point better than average per season. (I haven't updated the top 25 list since the 2013 season, but number 25 on the PAL list had a career PAL of 37 and Nick Lowery topped the list with a career PAL of 131.)

I guess one has to ask, would Blanda have made the HOF if he had never thrown a pass in his career? For one thing, he almost would have played another position during the 1950's in addition to kicking. My guess if that without the passing exploits, Blanda would have had to wait for the Seniors Committee but he would have eventually gotten into Canton.

With the passing, Blanda is a deserving Hall of Famer, and he had a lot of nice bullet points on his resume, including the 2000 points, the 1970 season, the longevity, the two AFL titles as a QB including a couple big passing seasons in Houston, and playing on a lot of playoff teams in Houston and Oakland. No one factor defined his candidacy.

Rupert Patrick wrote:

bachslunch wrote:Blanda isn't a HoF level QB (for example, Rasaretnam has him at 91st for best 4 and 81st for best 7 while Chase Stuart ranks him 63rd). But he was also a K of some distinction and was the lifetime leader in points scored from the time of his retirement until 2004 (first to break the 2000 point mark). His adjusted FG accuracy actually isn't that impressive at least in Chase Stuart's rankings (38th) -- Rupert, where do you rank him? And there's no question that longevity plays a big part in his HoF membership. He's a pretty marginal HoF-er.

Vinny Testaverde ranks 48th in Stuart's rankings and 94th (best 4), 76th (best 7), and 46th (best 10) in Rasaretnam's listings -- also not HoF levels. Maybe better than Blanda, maybe not -- depends on how you look at things.

I think it goes without saying that if he never attempted a kick in his career, he would have been a borderline HOVG type based strictly as a QB, based on his two AFL titles, and his coming off the bench in the 1970 season. As for his kicking career, I have him with a career PAL of 15.54, meaning that over the course of his career his kicking was only worth 15.54 points more than an average kicker from his era would have gotten during the years in question. The 15.54 figure is slightly above average, meaning that in a career of 26 seasons he was about a half point better than average per season. (I haven't updated the top 25 list since the 2013 season, but number 25 on the PAL list had a career PAL of 37 and Nick Lowery topped the list with a career PAL of 131.)

I guess one has to ask, would Blanda have made the HOF if he had never thrown a pass in his career? For one thing, he almost would have played another position during the 1950's in addition to kicking. My guess if that without the passing exploits, Blanda would have had to wait for the Seniors Committee but he would have eventually gotten into Canton.

With the passing, Blanda is a deserving Hall of Famer, and he had a lot of nice bullet points on his resume, including the 2000 points, the 1970 season, the longevity, the two AFL titles as a QB including a couple big passing seasons in Houston, and playing on a lot of playoff teams in Houston and Oakland. No one factor defined his candidacy.

I can understand what you have in mind when you say he would have played another position during the 1950s, by which you must mean another position other than QB, but the fact is that he wasn't even the Bears' backup QB for most of those years. He was usually the third QB and, in at least two of those years, he was essentially their fourth QB. In two other years, he was strictly a kicker so, if he could have played another position, I think he would have. He actually spent of his time on the bench, waiting for a chance to kick, or for the Bears' backup or third-string QB to get hurt. In short, he was pretty much just a kicker with the Bears. In 10 seasons, he started only 23 games at QB and 12 of those were in 1953, when had a 52.3 rating as the Bears' starter.

rhickok1109 wrote:

Rupert Patrick wrote:

bachslunch wrote:Blanda isn't a HoF level QB (for example, Rasaretnam has him at 91st for best 4 and 81st for best 7 while Chase Stuart ranks him 63rd). But he was also a K of some distinction and was the lifetime leader in points scored from the time of his retirement until 2004 (first to break the 2000 point mark). His adjusted FG accuracy actually isn't that impressive at least in Chase Stuart's rankings (38th) -- Rupert, where do you rank him? And there's no question that longevity plays a big part in his HoF membership. He's a pretty marginal HoF-er.

Vinny Testaverde ranks 48th in Stuart's rankings and 94th (best 4), 76th (best 7), and 46th (best 10) in Rasaretnam's listings -- also not HoF levels. Maybe better than Blanda, maybe not -- depends on how you look at things.

I think it goes without saying that if he never attempted a kick in his career, he would have been a borderline HOVG type based strictly as a QB, based on his two AFL titles, and his coming off the bench in the 1970 season. As for his kicking career, I have him with a career PAL of 15.54, meaning that over the course of his career his kicking was only worth 15.54 points more than an average kicker from his era would have gotten during the years in question. The 15.54 figure is slightly above average, meaning that in a career of 26 seasons he was about a half point better than average per season. (I haven't updated the top 25 list since the 2013 season, but number 25 on the PAL list had a career PAL of 37 and Nick Lowery topped the list with a career PAL of 131.)

I guess one has to ask, would Blanda have made the HOF if he had never thrown a pass in his career? For one thing, he almost would have played another position during the 1950's in addition to kicking. My guess if that without the passing exploits, Blanda would have had to wait for the Seniors Committee but he would have eventually gotten into Canton.

With the passing, Blanda is a deserving Hall of Famer, and he had a lot of nice bullet points on his resume, including the 2000 points, the 1970 season, the longevity, the two AFL titles as a QB including a couple big passing seasons in Houston, and playing on a lot of playoff teams in Houston and Oakland. No one factor defined his candidacy.

I can understand what you have in mind when you say he would have played another position during the 1950s, by which you must mean another position other than QB, but the fact is that he wasn't even the Bears' backup QB for most of those years. He was usually the third QB and, in at least two of those years, he was essentially their fourth QB. In two other years, he was strictly a kicker so, if he could have played another position, I think he would have. He actually spent of his time on the bench, waiting for a chance to kick, or for the Bears' backup or third-string QB to get hurt. In short, he was pretty much just a kicker with the Bears. In 10 seasons, he started only 23 games at QB and 12 of those were in 1953, when had a 52.3 rating as the Bears' starter.

I read that he was also a LB in Chicago and intercepted a pass in 1951.

I believe that he is a Hall of Famer because, as many have said, it's not the Hall of Stats, it's the Hall of Fame, and Blanda was the one player I remember who was elected King of the World . But seriously, his longevity was amazing, hopefully Morten Andersen (one of my favorite players and who currently has Blanda former records as the all-time leader in games played and points scored) can join him in Canton.