dupuyer griz said:
Not against the cats being proud of him, I would be if he played for my team but no kicker belongs in the HOF. Ray Guy is as close as it gets for me and that's debatable.
Jan Stenerude was average for NFL kickers and I can't for the life of me figure out why the hell he is in there.[/quote]
I'm guessing that you must be a lot younger than me, which probably explains such an ignorant comment. When Jan played for MSU, he kicked a 59 yard FG against UM, which at the time set a record for the longest FG in history, at any level, college or pro, and that record stood for 5 years. He was widely acknowledged as the best kicker in the NFL for much of his career, and played in the league for 19 seasons. He also set the record for longest FG in Super Bowl history, and that record stood for 25 years. In general, kickers are much more accurate now than they were in Jan's era, so his stats may not look all that spectacular by today's standards. He made 70% of his FG at a time when the league average was only 53%, plus he probably had more range than any other kicker for most of his career. If any kicker belongs in the HOF, it's Jan Stenerud.