San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Stafford step closer to Hall, but not there yet
Sez Me …
We have become gold medalists at counting chickens while they’re still eggs.
And so, as Hammerstein wrote, nightingales without a song to sing.
After years of quarterbacking on near-bad-to-awful teams in Motown, Matthew Stafford came to L.A., saw, and conquered. With a whole lot of help from his friends, he got by, beating the Bengals, and now is a Super Bowl champion.
And becomes a sure Pro Football Hall of Famer?
That’s the verbal and written question so-called modern experts — who couldn’t get out of Canton Grammar School — immediately spewed before Matthew could guzzle booze at the Rams’ parade as did Bluto when they took the bar in “Animal House.”
But, to be fair, even Steve “HOF Class of 2005” Young joined the chorus, saying Stafford was a Hall of Famer the last four weeks. Not a career, four weeks. And, face it, was his Super Bowl effort really Hallworthy?
There is nothing to debate here. Now.
If he retired (for real; we must be careful) today, he would not be a Hall of Fame quarterback. Once again, to use my dad’s pet phrase: “He has to eat a few beans yet.”
Stafford had a good — not great — Super Bowl. He threw two picks (one was tipped), but he did expertly lead the winning drive — minus Odell Beckham Jr.
However, one Super Bowl ring does not a jewelry store make. Many one-time winners have not been invited to Canton — and more than likely won’t be. Jim Plunkett won two and he’s still at will call waiting for a ticket.
It’s simply too soon to say he’s Hall-worthy. The Rams weren’t the best team, and without No. 1 draft picks available for quite a while, it’s hard to see a dynasty. The Rams are built for now.
Now, if Stafford can win another, the story has a chance for a happy ending. He’s 34, healthy, and has numbers, throwing for nearly 50,000 yards.
The recently announced 2022 Hall class of five modern players — Tony Boselli, Bryant Young, Richard Seymour, Sam Mills and Leroy Butler — is good. All are deserving.
But so many media members (and fans) are far too quick to call someone a Hall of Fame player when they are totally unaware of the difficult voting process. I know. I’ve participated.
I always have liked Stafford. He had no chance in Detroit. But we need more than this. His bean count, as we now dine, isn’t enough for a full meal. …
From Ron Mix: With the addition of Boselli, USC now has five offensive tackles in the Hall — Mix, Boselli, Anthony Muñoz, Ron Yary and Bruce Matthews. No other college has more than three. …
For nearly eight full quarters of Super Bowl football, Rams offensive genius Sean Mcvay rolled up 16 total points. Three touchdowns in 120 minutes isn’t Einsteinesque. …
Oxford Dictionary’s definition of Mcvay: Good at hiring assistants. …
The last 16 QBS who lost their Super Bowl debuts haven’t returned. …
Joe Burrow is a tough guy. So was Sonny Liston .…
Zac Taylor, who at least can say he’s been Bengals head coach longer than his namesake was president, wants us to believe his O-line is OK, that he can fix it with better protection schemes. He couldn’t do it in 21 games. How many more does he need? …
Super Bowl officials swallowed their whistles — until spitting them out with the game on the line. Not bad enough to become Olympic judges, but trying. …
I DVRED NBC’S Super Bowl pregame show. Been watching it for days and I still have a few hours left. …
Stink O’ The Week Sezment: Artificial turf. Twenty-eight percent more non-contact injuries occur on that trash. Banish it from the realm. …
Dak Prescott wants to help the Cowboys make decisions. Is
Jerry Jones selling the team? …
I’m happy for Eric Weddle and Kevin O’connell. Interesting to see what Kevin does with Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, who, since entering The League, is 7-37 vs. teams with winning records. …
Aaron Rodgers isn’t going anywhere. He just brought back QB coach Tom Clements to Green Bay. …
QBS can’t be immature. If
Kyler Murray is that juvenile, he should go back to baseball. …
Kudos to the Steelers, hiring
Brian Flores, who, in effect, is suing the team. It’s not Wade hiring Roe, but it’s beyond noble. …
Carlsbad’s Kallie Humphries wins Olympic gold in the monobob. There is no better practice bobsled run than the one at Legoland. …
Kamila Valieva, the brilliant skater, shouldn’t have been allowed back on the ice. But I think she’s innocent. Fifteenyear-old girls can’t know much about performance-enhancing heart medicines. Her remarkably insensitive/bullying Russian handlers should be banned for life. A tragic sports story. …
American sprinter Sha’carri Richardson was barred from the Tokyo Olympics, testing positive — for pot, which enhances your performance when attempting to open a stubborn bag of Fritos. …
If you are surprised by the recent “revelation” that there have been underhanded shoe deals, then you wear a size zero. …
Trevor Lawrence? First, Jax’s failure at Urban renewal, now QB coach Mysterious Mike Mccoy as quarterbacks coach. …
The Rams’ Super Bowl parade didn’t have much Hollywood box office to it. One Rotten Tomato. …
It’s become obvious over the past few years that a prerequisite for becoming a Super Bowlwinning QB is committing to get stupidly drunk at the parade. …
Stafford, LVI sheets to the wind, turned his back on Rams photographer Kelly Smiley, who fell off the parade stage and damaged her spine. An embarrassment to him, his team, and The League, though he and the Rams later agreed to pay her medical bills. …
Happy 86th to our greatest athlete, Jim Brown. One of my career highlights is Jim telling me: “You ask good questions.” …
At 50, Jacques Villeneuve makes today’s Daytona 500 after a mandatory trip to the DMV for license renewal. …
Anthony Davis has missed dozens of games over the past three seasons. I see all these basketball players going down. Know what kind of physical specimen Kareem was? Despite a billion times up and down courts, he never had his ankles taped. …
If the Lakers make the playoffs, it will be a higher authority’s way of promising us there will be peace in our time and every idiot will be healed. …
The Pringle’s Super Bowl commercial was inspired. …
The College Football Playoffs will remain at four teams through 2025. Disappointingly stupid. But maybe they can hold the three games here, where everything is too small — except me. …
I’m a huge fan of Jim Steeg, but in his Super Bowl op-ed for us, he wrote that the Super Bowl and San Diego grew up after the 1988 game here. The game, maybe — until Jim stopped running it. The city, no chance. Our political culinary school did develop more Ham & Eggers. …
Thursday’s Mlb-union meeting lasted 15 minutes, primarily because the Pledge of Allegiance went long. …
After 80 deaths in Utah last week, Utah Governor/would-be physician Spencer Cox said he could stand for some people to stop taking COVID “so seriously.” Gov., serious starts at 1.…
The woods have been thinned out. But we are not out of them.