Secondary stars lead Canton class
Defensive backs Reed, Law, Bailey among impressive 2019 inductees
CANTON, OHIO >> What a defensive backfield in gold jackets: Ed Reed, Ty Law and Champ Bailey.
And what a challenge they had throughout their careers, trying to cover fellow inductee Tony Gonzalez.
All four 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.”
Sort of. But Gonzalez, like Bailey elected in his first eligible year, showed how pro football could be all about the tight end.
A six-time All-Pro, Gonzalez helped revolutionize the position, lining up in traditional tight end spots as well as flanked out or in the backfield — pretty much everywhere on the field. Then he beat many of those defensive backs everywhere on the field in 12 seasons with Kansas City and five with Atlanta. He stands second in receptions with 1,325 only to Jerry Rice.
His final totals included 15,127 yards receiving and 111 touchdowns in the regular season. He made 14 Pro Bowls and the NFL All-Decade Team of the 2000s.
He particularly thanked his 101-year-old grandmother, his wife, who he said doesn’t like football, and the fans in KC. Gonzalez was one of the most popular players in the entire league for those 17 seasons.
“After I was traded, I went back to play a game in Kansas City,” he recalled. “During pregame they introduced me, which I thought was very special. Then something happened, one of the greatest moments of my career: The fans began yelling for me.”
While Gonzalez, now a broadcaster, delivered a smooth speech until his eyes welled up when addressing his mother, Bailey, Reed and Law’s voices frequently broke during theirs.
Law spoke of his family’s support, and his hometown, Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, which also produced his uncle, Tony Dorsett, and Mike Ditka — both Hall of Famers.
“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.”
Law became the first inductee from New England’s standout defense that won three Super Bowls in the early 2000s. One of the most versatile and physical cornerbacks the NFL has seen, Law was selected for five Pro Bowl teams and was a twotime All-Pro. He finished with 53 career interceptions, twice leading the NFL in that category, had more than 800 tackles, 169 passes defensed, five sacks, and scored seven times.
Perhaps Law’s most noteworthy game came in the 2002 Super Bowl, when his hard-hitting style upset Rams receivers and threw off the “Greatest Show on Turf. That was emblematic of his attacking style — and soon after led to rules changes limiting how physical defenders could be against receivers.
Reed was just as big a playmaker for Baltimore, a safety who fellow enshrinee Ray Lewis called “a gift” to the Ravens and himself. He was elected in his first year of eligibility, just as Lewis was last year, and called for unity in America, setting a standard like a team’s — each pushing one another toward an achievement.
“Help each other, encourage each other, lift each other up,” Reed said. “Encourage those around you. Encourage yourself.”
Reed, a five-time All-Pro safety and member of the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team, was the 2004 Defensive Player of the Year and 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 is a league mark. His 13 non-offense TDs rank fifth all time.
In 2013, in his hometown of New Orleans, the Ravens won the Super Bowl.
Bailey played for Washington Member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2019 react after receiving their gold jackets during the gold jacket dinner in Canton, Ohio, Friday. From left are Ed Reed, Ty Law, Champ Bailey, Gil Brandt, Kevin Mawae, Johnny Robinson and Tony Gonzalez. and Denver in his 15-year the plays and the puzzle,” career, and was a force in each Mawae said. “I loved putting on of those seasons. He intercepted my uniform and cleats. I learned 54 passes, including one against to never step on the field without New England he returned for being ready to work.” 100 yards in the 2005 divisional Mawae was an outstanding playoffs. center for three NFL teams,
A 12-time Pro Bowler, a record and a key union force during for the position, and three-time the 2011 lockout of players. His All-Pro who made the NFL’s AllDecade leadership, along with his talent Team of the 2000s, Bailey and determination, made was the seventh overall draft him a three-time All-Pro and pick by the Redskins in 1999. He eight-time Pro Bowler with the was dealt to Denver in 2004 for Seahawks, Jets and Titans, and running back Clinton Portis in the center on the NFL’s All-Decade a steal for the Broncos. Team of the 2000s.
Bailey credited Hall of Fame Offensive lineman rarely cornerbacks Darrell Green and should be judged by statistics, Deion Sanders, mentors with the but consider that Mawae Redskins, for setting his foundation blocked for a 1,000-yard rusher in the pros. Yet he noted he in 13 of his 16 seasons — by five was “consumed by the game” different running backs, capped that “gives a person discipline by the NFL’s sixth 2,000-yard and perseverance,” but it doesn’t rushing performance, by Tennessee’s prepare you for “real life.” Chris Johnson in 2009,
Referring to his fellow African Mawae’s final season. Americans, Bailey asked that everyone Mawae, who was presented listen “when we tell you by his wife, Tracy, is the first about our fears . ... When we tell player of Hawaiian descent and you there are many challenges the second Polynesian member we face because of the color our of the hall, following the late skin, please listen. And please Junior Seau. His speech paid do not get caught up in how the warm tribute to his family and message is delivered. the inspiration and love they
“If we start listening, there is provided him. no limit to the progress we can “I knock on this door and I tell make.” all of you,” he concluded in his
Inducted earlier were Kevin speech, “I am home.” Mawae , Pat Bowlen,Johnny Bowlen’s Denver Broncos Robinson and Gil Brandt . made more Super Bowls (seven,
Mawae never betrayed the lessons winning three) than they had he learned when he first began losing seasons. Under Bowlen’s playing football — flag football, leadership, Denver went 354240-1 no less. from 1984 through last
“I learned to love the preparation, season. He was the first owner in NFL history to oversee a team that won 300 games — including playoffs — in a span of three decades.
On the league level, the highly respected Bowlen, who died in June, worked on several influential committees, including cochairing the NFL Management Council and working on network TV contracts such as the league’s ground-breaking $18 billion deal in 1998.
Bowlen once said the Hall of Fame is where legends go. He’s now there, with his children huddling around the bust on the stage, several of them patting it on the head.
Brandt has been in the NFL so long he scouted Robinson. Brandt was procuring talent for the Dallas Cowboys in their initial season of 1960 when Robinson came out of LSU as a running back and eventually became a star safety.
Finally, in 2019, they are wearing gold jackets.
“After all this time, I thought I had been forgotten,” Robinson said. “To receive that knock on the door ... was surreal to me.”
Brandt paid tribute to his true calling: talent evaluation.
“What you do in securing talent is the lifeblood of football,” he said. “Seeing that player that was something special ... or going to a D-3 campus and finding a diamond in the rough. I want all of you to look at my election into the Hall of Fame as a tip of the cap to you.”
For six decades, Brandt has been involved in the sport at a high level, from personnel director with the Cowboys to league consultant to draft guru to broadcaster.
Brandt, who was enshrined as a contributor, developed the Dallas scouting system that emphasized computers far before most other teams; scouted the historically black colleges and small colleges for talent; made signing undrafted free agents a science; and worked with Hall of Famers Tex Schramm, the team president, and coach Tom Landry, to build a dynasty.
Robinson’s induction makes for a half-dozen members of the great Kansas City Chiefs’ defense of the 1960s who have been enshrined. Robinson joins Willie Lanier, Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan, Emmitt Thomas and Curley Culp.