@rich4eagle said:

Donnie Shell would have probably already made it if he played for another team, and Hollywood Bags as well

Would he? I am not so sure.

If he should go in, then why shouldn't Warren Lahr go in? He had 44 career ints., taking 5 back for TDs and played on 4 championship teams..,..in a career about 3-4 years shorter than Shell.

or how about these other candidates who are arguably better, but not in the HOF:

Ken Riley, Bengals

Dave Brown, Seahawks (Akron, Oh. native)

Pat Fischer, Cardinals

Jack Butler, Steelers

All with better career stats than Shell. The only difference is they didn't play on a SB winner.

Don't get me wrong, Shell was a good player, but perhaps the committee would be better putting Steeler Butler and these others in ahead of Steeler Shell

Cris Carter, WR – 1987-89 Philadelphia Eagles, 1990-2001 Minnesota Vikings, 2002 Miami Dolphins

Charles Haley, DE/LB – 1986-1991, 1999 San Francisco 49ers, 1992-96 Dallas Cowboys

Clay Matthews, LB – 1978-1993 Cleveland Browns, 1994-96 Atlanta Falcons

Bill Parcells, Coach – 1983-1990 New York Giants, 1993-96 New England Patriots, 1997-99 New York Jets, 2003-06 Dallas Cowboys

Andre Reed, WR – 1985-1999 Buffalo Bills, 2000 Washington Redskins

@the-gipper said:

Only the following semifinalists, if inducted could add to the count of the teams in the prior post:

If Roger Craig and Charles Haley were inducted that would bring the 80s 49ers count to 8 HOFers (it seems given the other dynasties in history that the 49ers are "underrepresented")

If Shell were inducted that would give the 70s Steelers 11 and a tie for the most with the Packers

If Dick Stanfel is inducted that would give those 50s Lions 7 HOFers.

Donnie Shell would have probably already made it if he played for another team, and Hollywood Bags as well

@hoorta said:

I'd put Felix Wright in ahead of Shell.

Now you're talking goofy.

I don't disagree on the receivers part, but Shell should already be in the HOF.

I don't like pimping Steelers, but it is what it is: The guy was a great player.

@the-gipper said:

Sure, there is absolutely no doubt about that. Of course, it cuts both ways. The 40s/50s Browns would not have had so many in if they were not as good as they were.

And it applies elsewhere as well. See these stats:

Marty Schottenheimer has a career 200-126-1 record

Bill Parcells has a 172-130-1 record

Both retired in 2006. Yet Parcells with the worse record is a HOF finalist and Marty is not.

The obvious difference is tha Parcells won 2 SBs. Marty's postseason record is 5-13. Parcell's postseason record is 11-8

Everyone with more wins than Marty is in the HOF (Shula, Halas, Landry, Lambeau, Brown)

In fact Chuck Knox has more wins than Parcells with about the same winning pct., but he too, like Marty came up short in postseason. Even one title would have probably put these two guys into the HOF. Without that one, they may never make it.

One last thing- regarding the Steelers. Myron "the Dope" Cope had an an amazing pull with the HOF committee. And I'll use Lynn Swann as exhibit "A". Swann ranks 194th in career yards. Hehe Mac Speedie has more, let's get a big push from the Vet Committee to get him in. There's 24 more ACTIVE players that beat Swann in yards. He's not even in the top 250 in receptions (as low as Pro Football Reference goes), and 94th in TDs big whoop. He was SO acrobatic when he played though.

So I say no, and HELL NO to Shell for HOF. Go put Eric Turner in if you want to marginalize the Hall. If I had a vote, I'd put Felix Wright in ahead of Shell.

@the-gipper said:

Here is the list of Semi-finalist for the PFHOF Class of 2012:

Don Coryell, Coach – 1973-77 St. Louis Cardinals, 1978-1986 San Diego Chargers

Roger Craig, RB – 1983-1990 San Francisco 49ers, 1991 Los Angeles Raiders, 1992-93 Minnesota

Clay Matthews, LB – 1978-1993 Cleveland Browns, 1994-96 Atlanta Falcons

Andre Reed, WR – 1985-1999 Buffalo Bills, 2000 Washington Redskins

These guys get my vote.

Someday, the HOF Committee will realize Hanford Dixon deserves his props. He was a true "shut down" corner in the beginnings of the pass-happy era.

@hoorta said:

Guess what I'm saying Gips is if your team wins a lot of Super Bowls, players gets more consideration than they ought to. Put Swann and Stallworth on other teams- their stats aren't all that great, and I doubt they'd be in. I think my Ham-Matthews comparison backs that up.

Swann's Stats

Stallworth's Stats

Sure, there is absolutely no doubt about that. Of course, it cuts both ways. The 40s/50s Browns would not have had so many in if they were not as good as they were.

And it applies elsewhere as well. See these stats:

Marty Schottenheimer has a career 200-126-1 record

Bill Parcells has a 172-130-1 record

Both retired in 2006. Yet Parcells with the worse record is a HOF finalist and Marty is not.

The obvious difference is tha Parcells won 2 SBs. Marty's postseason record is 5-13. Parcell's postseason record is 11-8

Everyone with more wins than Marty is in the HOF (Shula, Halas, Landry, Lambeau, Brown)

In fact Chuck Knox has more wins than Parcells with about the same winning pct., but he too, like Marty came up short in postseason. Even one title would have probably put these two guys into the HOF. Without that one, they may never make it.

Swann's Stats

Stallworth's Stats

(Hmmm Let's see...."triplets", how would Richardson, Floyd and McCoy sound as a champion "triplet" combination?)

I didn't consciously put those two together like that. I was just going alphabetically.

If Roger Craig and Charles Haley were inducted that would bring the 80s 49ers count to 8 HOFers (it seems given the other dynasties in history that the 49ers are "underrepresented")

If Shell were inducted that would give the 70s Steelers 11 and a tie for the most with the Packers

If Dick Stanfel is inducted that would give those 50s Lions 7 HOFers.

11 HOFers: Packers of the 60s: Adderly, Willie Davis, Gregg, Hornung, Jordan, Lombardi, Nitschke, Ringo, Starr, Taylor, Willie Wood

10 HOFers: Steelers of the 70s: Blount, Bradshaw, Greene, Ham, Harris, Lambert, Noll, Stallworth, Swann, Webster

9 HOFers: Browns of the 40s/50s: Paul Brown, Len Ford, Gatski, Graham, Groza, Lavelli, McCormack, Motley, Willis

9 HOFers: Raiders of the 70s: Biletnikoff, Blanda, Willie Brown, Caspar, Hendricks, Madden, Otto, Shell, Upshaw

8 HOFers: Bears of the 40s: Fortman, Halas, Luckman, McAfee, Musso, Stydahar, Turner, Nagurski

8 HOFers: 50s/60s Colts: Berry, Donovan, Ewbank, Mackey, Marchetti, Moore, Parker, Unitas

8 HOFers: Cowboys of the 70s: Dorsett, Bob Hayes, Landry, Lilly, Mel Renfro, Staubach, Randy White, Rayfield Wright

7 HOFers: 70s Dolphins: Buonticonti, Csonka, Griese, Langer, Little, Shula, Warfield

7 HOFers: 60s/70s Chiefs: Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan, Dawson, Lanier, Stenerud, Stram, Emmit Thomas

6 HOFers: 70s Vikings: Eller, Grant, Krause, Page, Tarkenton, Ron Yary

6 HOFers: 50s Lions: Christianson, Creekmur, Yale Lary, Layne, Schmidt, Walker

6 HOFers: 80s 49ers: Fred Dean, Lott, Montana, Rice, Walsh, Young

Several other teams have had as many as 5 HOFers, like the 60s Browns, 80s Redskins, 50s Rams, 50s/60s Giants, 30s Packers, and maybe 1 or 2 others

@the-gipper said:

Here is the list of Semi-finalist for the PFHOF Class of 2012:

Cris Carter, WR – 1987-89 Philadelphia Eagles, 1990-2001 Minnesota Vikings, 2002 Miami Dolphins

Charles Haley, DE/LB – 1986-1991, 1999 San Francisco 49ers, 1992-96 Dallas Cowboys

Cortez Kennedy, DT – 1990-2000 Seattle Seahawks

Bill Parcells, Coach – 1983-1990 New York Giants, 1993-96 New England Patriots, 1997-99 New York Jets, 2003-06 Dallas Cowboys

Donnie Shell, S – 1974-1987 Pittsburgh Steelers

Those are mine

Zombo said:

Don't remember Clay getting this far before. Maybe the stardom of his boy is shining some light on him. I loved Clay, did everything well every week and played with passion. Named my dog after him.

Z

Yes, this is Clay Mathews first time as a semi-finalist.

@the-gipper said:

Semifinalists from last year include: Doleman, Haley, Cortez Kennedy, Dawson, Roaf, Tim Brown, Carter, Reed, Bettis and Martin. Its possible these guys might have a leg up on getting in.

Chris Carter should have been in on the first try.

Carter Stats

Tim Brown is plenty worthy too.

Brown Stats

I may be a homer too, but if Clay Matthews had played for the Steelers, he'd already be in. I don't think Jack Ham was any better.

Unfortunately for Steeler fans Myron Cope is dead- and he wasn't going to be happy unless he got every player from the 70s SB teams into the HOF. He missed out on Rocky Blier and Frenchy Fuqua.

Chris Carter

Roger Craig

Willie Roaf

Clay Matthews (purely homer vote)

Bill Parcells

There are two other guys that can be elected from the senior committee: Steelers cornerback Jack Butler and Dick Stanfel, OG or the Lions and Redskins. Though I suspect that if a Steeler DB is to be inducted, Donnie Shell would be a better choice than Butler.