Urlacher Lewis, Moss, Owens going to hall
MINNEAPOLIS — Linebackers Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher and wide receivers Randy Moss and Terrell Owens were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame here Saturday as part of an eightmember class with plenty of star power and a good measure of controversy.
Bobby Beathard, the former general manager of the Washington Redskins, also was elected, along with Brian Dawkins, Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile.
Former Redskins left tackle Joe Jacoby was among the modern era finalists passed over by the selection committee, comprised primarily of media members, which met at a Minneapolisarea hotel on the eve of the Super Bowl.
The voting results were announced Saturday night at the taping of the NFL Honors show.
The new Hall of Famers will be officially enshrined at a ceremony in August in Canton, Ohio.
Owens and Moss, considered two of the leading divas among the attention-grabbing wide receivers of their generation, will go into the Hall of Fame together. Is any stage big enough or any spotlight bright enough for both?
They, along with Lewis, the cornerstone of terrific Baltimore Ravens defences, were the headliners of a class with plenty of sizzle.
Lewis, Moss and Urlacher, the former Chicago Bears standout linebacker, were in their first year of Hall of Fame eligibility, while Owens had been rejected twice.
Owens had been upset about his previous snubs by the voters, many of whom had regarded him as a historically productive passcatcher but also a self-centred team-wrecker. Those sentiments softened this year, apparently.
Owens’ production clearly was Hall-worthy. He played 16 seasons for the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals.
He ranks eighth in NFL history in career catches. He’s second, behind only Jerry Rice, in receiving yards and third, behind Rice and Moss, in receiving touchdowns. He stayed out of trouble off the field and competed hard on the field.
He played in a Super Bowl for the Eagles — and played well in a loss to the New England Patriots — after suffering a fractured leg and a severe ankle sprain.
But his disruptive antics — including once being essentially dismissed from the team and sent home — worked against him with the voters, at least until Saturday.
Moss was not made to wait by the selectors despite being viewed as similarly egotistical and accused of giving less than full effort on certain plays during his career. But, like Owens, Moss produced, and he did so in an often-spectacular fashion.