Roman Gabriel was a better QB than Joe Namath.

[Buttoneer]

Check the stats.

[Ponietz]

1. Gabriel was my role model

I had a large NFL calendar with his photo on it the year after he won MVP (1970?).
Took me a few months to get my hair like his.

Got a Rams v. Cowboy’s electric football set at Christmas, vandalized the Cowboy players so they’d run in circles.

[JT45242]

2. So was Kenny Anderson....

Broadway Joe does not belong in Canton. Memorabilia from his SB win belongs. But Joe himself, in the pros at least, was pretty mediocre.

Eli Manning may get pushed into the HOF because Strahan and the defense beat the Patriots in two Superbowls. But another mediocre QB, with mediocre numbers for his era, from NY who had media hype is just like Namath.

Neither are worthy of the HOF.

Kenny Anderson was the best statistically of his era. Higher completion percentage, QB rating, better interception percentage, TD to int ratio, etc. but he played on good teams who couldn't get past the great Steelers and Raiders teams. When he got to the SB, the coaches didn't run the best RB they had behind the greatest left tackle on the goal line. But that's another rant

[Xavier Breath]

5. Wish that I could rep this more than once.

Kenny's exclusion from the HoF is criminal, to anyone that knows the game. I'm amazed they finally got around to acknowledging Ken Riley, of course waiting until after he had died to bother doing so. I went there once, and saw a tourist trap not much worth my time. But it means something to the players, so that's why I care.

As to the op: yes, agreed from a numbers standpoint. But, Namath was so much more than a player. He was truly a product of his time, a colossus striding across the football landscape.

[anciano]

3. The sport has evolved over time .....

I have been a pro football fan since the early 1960s and players should be evaluated in the context of the era in which they played, taking into consideration the noncomputational factors as well as the raw statistics. IMO Joe Namath was a historical great QB.

[marble falls]

4. Well, of course.