Brooks: “You’ll See Very Similar Numbers, Very Similar Impact”
July 14th, 2017
Iconic No. 55 speaks
Derrick Brooks was talking about one of the latest wrongs in the world of professional football recently on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
Joe’s referring to the eye-popping, head-shaker that is ex-Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor becoming a first-ballot Hall of Famer this year while Simeon Rice can’t crack the Final-25 (aka the ballot semifinals) among the esteemed panel of Pro Football Hall of Fame voters.
Co-host Howard Balzer asked Brooks if Rice is a player wrongly overlooked.
“Absolutely,” Brooks said with what he called “the heavy heart of bias.”
“Bias aside, you compare the numbers very closely to this year’s inductee Jason Taylor, you’ll see very similar numbers, very similar impact. Yes, our defense with Warren [Sapp] and myself, we were there a few years before Simeon, but to be honest with you guys, our complete dominance wasn’t fulfilled until we got the presence of Simeon Rice on our football team, and that took us to even a higher level of dominance.”
Joe applauds Brooks for being such a diplomat. Joe can’t be so kind. Taylor in on the first ballot with Rice a 10 miles behind him in the process is ludicrous.
Joe won’t lay out all the numbers, but Rice had eight double-digit-sack seasons and Taylor had six. Rice had 122 sacks in 174 games, plus seven sacks in seven playoff games and a monster Super Bowl performance. Taylor had 139.5 sacks in a whopping 233 games.
“I really hope there’s another sentiment and a big wave of momentum that goes [Rice’s] way because another defensive end has gotten in with very similar numbers,” Brooks continued. “I hope he starts to pick up momentum to gain access to [the semifinals] and eventually gets in.”
Co-host Joe Horrigan, the executive director of the Hall of Fame, noted the old, inevitable and challenging argument about electing Hall of Fame players from a legendary defense. “Were they all great or did they play off one another? That’s a question that happens all the time. This is a team sport, to your very point,” Horrigan said to Brooks.
Brooks added that Rice was clearly exceptional since he was great in Arizona with little help before arriving in Tampa, and then Rice made the Bucs greats better while maintaining his own stunning numbers.
Poor Simeon.
Barring a miracle, he’s got a long road ahead in the very political Hall process that is made even tougher by more players being eligible every year.
July 14th, 2017 at 3:03 pm
It floored me that Jason Taylor made the HOF in his 1st year of eligibility over Lynch who is deserving and had been made to wait his turn. Taylor literally stole Lynch’s spot last year.
Taylor was a good player but he was only “dominant” for 3 or maybe 4 years out of his long career. Hardly 1st ballot worthy.
Simeon Rice by contrast was dominant for 8 of the first 10 years he played in the NFL.
Taylor managed to hang around the league for an extra (mostly ineffective) 4 years longer than Rice did. He got an additional 22 sacks in those 4 years (5.5 average) that put his overall sack #s ahead of Rice.
Taylor had 2 or 3 really big years – but Rice was for sure the more consistently dominant player of the 2 their 1st 10 years in the league when they were both in their prime.
Taylor bypassed Lynch when he wasn’t worthy of it and Rice can’t even get his name into the conversation. That’s like a double gut shot to Buccaneer fans revolving around 1 overrated player.
July 14th, 2017 at 3:24 pm
DB is spot on. That early 2000s D should have 5 HOF’s – Sapp, Brooks, Rice, Lynch and Barber. Unfortunately, the HOF voters have their favorite greats they enjoyed covering more than others and Simeon was not a “media darling”. It’d be great at some point if the HOF went to Heisman Trophy format of allowing previous winners to vote on the current candidates. At least it’ll take some of the media bias off of determining who gets in and who doesn’t.
July 14th, 2017 at 3:56 pm
B.S.
July 14th, 2017 at 3:59 pm
Rice will never get in. Other things being equal, anyone who plays in New York twice a year or more has a significantly better chance of making the Hall than anyone who does not, if the stats are comparable.
The problem for the Bucs is that they have two modern inductees already and three other people on the table being up for the Hall, and they only reached the NFC Championship Game twice, and the Super Bowl once. Yes, that’s on the coach who made the Hall for what he did wearing blue, but it doesn’t matter. The Hall of Loves New York won’t give up five seats in the Hall to any defense that didn’t win at least two Lombardis, unless of course they play in New York twice a year (cough, Bills, cough).
You want to see Rice in the Hall? Lynch jobbed his way out of the running for a few years and there’s no way Ronde makes it right away, so yes Rice is next. To make it to the semifinals, The Bucs need to go 7-3 or 8-2 in the the first ten games of the season, to push Rice into the finals have a virtual lock on the NFC South title at promotion time, and to get him voted in, be the NFC representative in the Super Bowl. For an illustration of the above, Ricky Williams had deserved a place in the Hall for years but until the Saints made it to the Super Bowl he had to wait.
You want Rice in the Hall? Get the Bucs into the Super Bowl. Fair or not fair that’s how it is.
July 14th, 2017 at 3:59 pm
This whole draft class is crap.
July 14th, 2017 at 4:01 pm
Personally, I don’t think the Bucs will go 8-2, so I don’t think he’ll get in. I hope they do of course.
July 14th, 2017 at 4:06 pm
The problem Rice faces is because he was probably the 5th most recognizable name on that defense (Sapp, Brooks, Ronde, Lynch). Even the 85 Bears don’t have 5 Hall of Famers. Not to mention the defense was already really good without him. It’s totally not fair, but most people outside of Tampa never talked about him, and let’s face it, the Hall of Fame is in large part a popularity contest. I hope he gets in. He deserves to get in. I’d be shocked if he actually does get in.
July 14th, 2017 at 4:07 pm
WOW… by my math it took 59 more games for Taylor to get 17.5 more sacks. That’s like one “awesome” season by an elite DE, but it took Taylor 59 games (3.69 seasons) longer?
July 14th, 2017 at 4:19 pm
this is BS….he’ll get in…reminds me of the Charles Haley situation….I still cant figure out why it took so long for him to get in…..the media may have disliked him, but the hall is about “on field performance”….GO BUCS!!!!
July 14th, 2017 at 4:30 pm
On field performance is relative to what you play and where you play. Sometimes being on a media-friendly team with multiple Lombardis and forcing the Pro Bowl to change its rules to let you in, isn’t enough (Moose Johnston). Other times a really rotten quarterback in the right place (New York) at the right time wins a single Lombardi and gets in. Had Joe Namath been a Lion, you’d never know his name today.
I wish Rice had a better chance too, but I think it will take the Old-Timers committee to get him in one day. But opinions are by definition subjective, you could be right and this is his year to get at least to the finals. I hope you are.
July 14th, 2017 at 5:07 pm
Sorry guys…..but I just couldn’t help this:
It’s obvious…..Rice is a Republican and he faces the same biases of those in Hollywood and the Music industry…..
Please accept my advance apology.
July 14th, 2017 at 5:22 pm
Anyone think Rice is a ring of honor candidate any time soon?
July 14th, 2017 at 5:44 pm
@Locked In – I hope so. He deserves it, but maybe wasn’t here long enough. For the hall maybe Ira has some insight why he’s looked over? It’s not like it was a system DE for the bucs, that dood sacked everyone, everywhere, anytime.
I hate Rice article. I get all the feels. 3rd and long and it was like whos getting there first, Sapp or Rice. All the fear in that QB’s eyes, so much fun. Sniff… Tear…
July 14th, 2017 at 7:19 pm
Bit off topic but I just got back from holidays and noticed there’s no longer any Morning Cup of Joe… Hoping someone can fill in the late comer please 🙂
July 14th, 2017 at 8:57 pm
That is the first thing I looked at when I saw Taylor get in. I immediately thought of Rice and compared their numbers.
I’ve said this before, Lynch absolutely belongs in. Rice and Barber probably do but I don’t think they get in. As you compare them to others in their positions though, they absolutely belong.
This is an example of that and the bias
July 14th, 2017 at 9:24 pm
It’s all a popularity contest. Some of the best gets snub and nobody cares cuz they are not popular or a hot ticket. I don’t care this how I feel…..Mccoy doesn’t belong w the best. He is a good plAyer and a fun guy but come on. In a perfect world he not a “pro bowler” I think Mccoy makes HOF before Rice. Imo. Yall think I’m crazy I just been burnt too many times by NFL voting systems.
This shouldn’t even been a discussion cuz Rice is one of the best right defensive ends in the history of football. But Taylor was way more popular. He gets in not Rice. Sad part is majority of fans of Nfl slightly remember him and really just don’t know how good he was cuz over shadowed by Brooks Sapp and co. It will be after our lifetime before he gets in
July 14th, 2017 at 11:19 pm
McCoy is a top 5 D lineman with a couple of great linebackers behind him and we can’t break 10 sacks. So obviously it’s not always that they play off one another.