Does the Pro Football Hall of Fame forget football is a team game when the New England Patriots are concerned?
Former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison ripped Hall of Fame voters as biased against any Patriot not named Tom Brady or Bill Belichick on Wednesday in an interview with the Boston Herald’s Karen Guregian. Harrison believes New England’s team-oriented culture not only fosters winning but also dims the spotlight on the excellence of players, who don’t happen to be GOATS like Brady and Belichick.
Here’s Harrison’s full-throated defense of Patriots he played against, and with, during the early years of New England’s dynastic era.
“If you look at the players that came through the Patriots, these players were unbelievable players because they were unselfish, because they were humble and never batted their chest, ‘Look at me, look at me.’ And they fall under the category of that whole team concept. People don’t think we have ballers.
“I’m like, Ty Law (whom the Hall of Fame inducted in his third year of eligibility) was the greatest defensive back I’ve ever played with. He’s one of the best I’ve ever seen. Richard Seymour, Willie McGinest, Troy Brown, Kevin Faulk, these dudes were bad, bad dudes.
The Patriots won three Super Bowls during Harrison’s playing years, and he says the team’s many detractors influence the Hall of Fame voting process to the detriment of New England’s other great players.
“They weren’t just system guys. It’s unfair when people say, ‘As long as you had Tom and Bill,’ well, ‘Dude, Tom and Bill can’t get it done by themselves.’ It takes a lot of really smart, great players.
“It’s just unfortunate. It’s almost a form of discrimination. People don’t want to elevate us, or recognize, or acknowledge how great we are, because they’re such haters. Everywhere I go, people hate on the Patriots. So we don’t get credit. All I hear is Tom and Bill. But that’s such a lazy analysis. They don’t see what the team really is, and that’s really frustrating because a lot of guys get cheated and don’t really get the recognition they deserve.”
Harrison certainly offers food for thought, and we suspect the vast majority of Patriots fans who watched the team in the early 2000s won’t disagree with him.
