Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Getting back to Bavaro, his injuries in 1989 really affected the team in that playoff loss to the Rams. Simms really missed him, with the game being so close. He missed the entire 1991 season and I believe could have had closer to 7000 yrds receiving had he stayed healthy in his career.

Brian wolf wrote:Getting back to Bavaro, his injuries in 1989 really affected the team in that playoff loss to the Rams. Simms really missed him, with the game being so close. He missed the entire 1991 season and I believe could have had closer to 7000 yrds receiving had he stayed healthy in his career.

Wow, you have a really good memory for this stuff. I remember that Rams team beat both the Giants and Philly on the road in the playoffs which I think is the last time a team has won consecutive playoff games on the road when playing each game three time zones away (or something like that). ('Course, I also remember what happened to that Rams team in its NEXT game! {heh, heh, heh})

Brian wolf wrote:Historically, I wish Weeb Ewbank could have gotten a proven veteran behind Namath but it wasnt like quality QBs grew on trees.

Ewbank's personnel decisions after SB III were dreadful. Terrible drafts, terrible trades, some really low character guys on those teams, too.

Bavaro was one of those players that if you were watching the NFL in that day, and you really knew the context of what was going on and who the most important players were on winning teams, he was a guy that everybody would say was one of the best in the league at what he did during his era. He was a famous TE, and that's not an easy position at which to get famous.

GameBeforeTheMoney wrote:Bavaro was one of those players that if you were watching the NFL in that day, and you really knew the context of what was going on and who the most important players were on winning teams, he was a guy that everybody would say was one of the best in the league at what he did during his era. He was a famous TE, and that's not an easy position at which to get famous.

Bavaro was the "Gronk" of his time, and I agree he should be in the HOVG (if not for his injuries he could have been a HOFamer. I did not select him as one of my five selections, as I know that he will be selected anyway and he deserves to be inducted this year.

Tight End Mark Bavaro had a split career due to a knee injury. During the first part of his career (1985-1990) he played for the New York Giants. During the second half of his career, he played for the Cleveland Browns (1992) and the Philadelphia Eagles (1993-1994).

During the first part of Bavaro's career (1985-1990), he caught 266 passes, considerably fewer than both Mickey Shuler (305) and Steve Jordan (298), neither of whom are in the Hall of Very Good or in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. However, Bavaro did score considerably more touchdowns (28) than Shuler and Jordan (19 apiece), and his yards per reception (14.0) eclipsed both Shuler (10.8 ) and Jordan (13.6). Rodney Holman, who had fewer receptions (235) than Bavaro during this period, had the same number of touchdowns (28) as Bavaro and a higher yards per reception (14.2) than Bavaro. Holman is also neither in the PFRA HOVG or the PFHOF.

During the second portion of Bavaro's career (1992-1994), Bavaro caught only 85 passes, which ranks 15th during that period. He scored 11 touchdowns and is ranked tied for 6th for that measuring stick during this period. He ranks 26th in yards per reception during this span.

Clearly, throughout his career, Bavaro was a "go-to guy" for touchdowns in the red zone but his production beyond the 20 was far less than his peers. His best season was in 1986 when he caught 66 passes for 1,001 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Based on @RyanChristiansen's write-up, its a wonder anyone even mentions him!

I watched a lot of Bavaro in real time and he was pretty memorable to me. Always seemed to get a lot of YAC by breaking tackles, dragging defenders forward, etc. Fun to watch.

Not a HOF career, but I think the HOVG is a good fit. Two seasons with postseason honors and two rings. Ranks 15th on this list: https://nflfootballjournal.blogspot.com ... -time.html

Good write-up on Bavaro RC, yet although Holman, Jordan, Giles and later Jackson and Novachek have HOVG credentials, none of these tight ends could block like Bavaro and only Novachek had as much impact in the postseason, where both helped their teams win multiple championships.
I believe if both Holman and Jordan had more TD receptions, they would have had HOF cases and Novachek's numbers are deceiving because he was Aikman's security blanket and underrated like Holman and Giles as a blocker ...