Lewis, Moss and Owens joining Hall
Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher terrorized opposing offenses from the middle of the field. Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did the same to defenses on the outside. The two hard-hitting linebackers and two big-play receivers highlighted an eight-person class voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Safety Brian Dawkins also got at least 80% support from the 47 Hall of Fame voters, along with contributor Bobby Beathard and senior nominees Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile.
Lewis, Urlacher and Moss all made it on their first try, while Owens was in his third year on the ballot. He and Moss each played for five teams in the NFL as they often wore out their welcome with their personalities. But both were alldecade picks for the 2000s. “Tears of joy,” Moss said. Moss led the NFL in touchdown catches five times, including his record 23 for New England in 2007, and ranks second all time with 156. Owens ranks second to Jerry Rice with 15,934 yards receiving and is third with 153 touchdown catches.
Lewis won two AP defensive player of the year awards and earned eight AllPro selections. He anchored a dominant defense for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens in a season that ended with him winning Super Bowl MVP, then retired after Baltimore closed his last season with a Super Bowl win in 2013.
Urlacher was the Defen- sive player of the year of 2005 and joined Lewis on the 2000s all-decade team.
Dawkins spent most of his 16-year career in Philadelphia, earning five firstteam All-Pro selections. He became the first player in NFL history with a sack, interception, fumble recovery and touchdown catch in the same game in 2002.
Kramer got passed over 10 times as a finalist before finally getting enough votes as a senior to become the 14th member of the Vince Lombardi Packers to make the Hall. Kramer helped anchor the Green Bay line for 11 seasons, winning six NFL titles.
Brazile was a finalist for the first time after a 10-year career for the Houston Oilers that included five straight All-Pro selections.
Beathard helped build four Super Bowl champions in Miami and Washington and made seven trips to the big game in more than three decades as an executive.
Favre warns Eagles
Brett Favre, a longtime teammate and close friend of Philadelphia coach Doug Pederson, addressed the Eagles on Saturday and warned them to not take their foot off the gas against the “greatest” quarterback and coach in history in Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
“They’re going to play the whole game. Don’t ever say — kinda like last year, ‘We have it won and we’re going to go to the drive-through.’ That’s not a good idea,” Favre told NBC Sports Philadelphia, referring to New England’s comeback victory over Atlanta last year.