Quite a Hall for defensive backs
Ed Reed, Ty Law and Champ Bailey are among those enshrined in Canton.
CANTON, Ohio — What a defensive backfield in gold jackets: Ed Reed, Ty Law and Champ Bailey.
All three entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday night.
“Fitting to be in here with Mr. Johnny Robinson and Champ and Ty,” Reed said. “My DBs know it was always about us.”
Also inducted were Kevin Mawae, Pat Bowlen, Johnny Robinson and Gil Brandt.
Law spoke of his family’s support, and his hometown, Aliquippa, Pa., which also produced his uncle, Tony Dorsett, and Mike Ditka — both Hall of Famers.
Bailey, Reed and Law’s voices frequently broke during their speeches.
“I know there ain’t no crying in football,” Law joked.
“We are a community built on love, strength, struggle, and that Quiptown pride,” he said. “We did it, Aliquippa. We are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”
Reed, a five-time All-Pro safety and member of the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team, made nine Pro Bowls. He had 64 career interceptions, seventh overall; led the NFL in picks three times; and his 1,590 yards on interception returns are a league mark. His 13 non-offense touchdowns rank fifth all time. In 2013, in his hometown of New Orleans, the Ravens won the Super Bowl.
Bailey played for Washington and Denver in his 15year career, and was a force in each of those seasons. He intercepted 54 passes, including one against New England he returned for 100 yards in the 2005 divisional playoffs.
A 12-time Pro Bowl player, a record for the position, and three-time All-Pro who made the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 2000s, Bailey was the seventh overall draft pick by the Redskins in 1999. He was dealt to Denver in 2004 for running back Clinton Portis.
Bailey credited Hall of Fame cornerbacks Darrell Green and Deion Sanders, mentors with the Redskins, for setting his foundation in the pros. Yet he noted he was “consumed by the game” that “gives a person discipline and perseverance,” but it doesn’t prepare you for “real life.”