Mike Curtis vs. Jack Lambert

[JoeZagorski]

All good responses by you guys. I'm a big Curtis fan, and yes, I believe that he should be in the Hall of Fame, especially when one considers that Harry Carson and Chris Hanburger are both HOF players. I feel that Curtis was better than both of those guys. Carson was at best a mediocre MLB until Lawrence Taylor came to New York. To this day, I'm not quite sure why the HOF selection committee decided to enshrine Harry Carson. I remember many instances where Carson was run over by running backs all throughout the league for at least his first five years in pro football.

[BD Sullivan]

Both Curtis and Lambert had their "body slam" moments: Curtis with the fan trying to pick up the ball in 1971, and Lambert with Cliff Harris in Super Bowl X

[JoeZagorski]

In response, although he was body-slammed by Lambert, I believe that Cliff Harris was a very good safety and should be in the HOF. Roger Wehrli is in, so why not Cliff Harris?

[Bryan]

In response, although he was body-slammed by Lambert, I believe that Cliff Harris was a very good safety and should be in the HOF. Roger Wehrli is in, so why not Cliff Harris?

In Wehrli's defense, he had guys like Ron Yankowski and Council Rudolph providing the pass rush for him, while Cliff Harris had Bob Lilly, Harvey Martin, & Randy White. I liked his selection to the HOF, because it kind of showed that INT totals aren't everything. An acquantaince of mine played with Wehrli, and he said that Wehrli was easily the best player he's ever been around, saying that Wehrli could have played any number of positions because he was such a skilled athlete. Thats just anecdotal stuff, but I thought it was kind of interesting.

We had a nice thread on safeties awhile back. I know that Paul Zimmerman was a big fan of Cliff Harris being in the HOF, and I think he even had Harris as the FS on his all-time team. IIRC, TJ Troup liked Harris but not to the extent of Zimmerman, saying that Harris wasn't perfect in coverage. My personal opinion is that Harris would be a fine addition to the HOF, but I probably wouldn't put him in before Johnny Robinson. If I were starting a team, I'd rather have Jake Scott than Cliff Harris, but I'm probably in the minority there.

[JKelly]

All good responses by you guys. I'm a big Curtis fan, and yes, I believe that he should be in the Hall of Fame, especially when one considers that Harry Carson and Chris Hanburger are both HOF players. I feel that Curtis was better than both of those guys. Carson was at best a mediocre MLB until Lawrence Taylor came to New York. To this day, I'm not quite sure why the HOF selection committee decided to enshrine Harry Carson. I remember many instances where Carson was run over by running backs all throughout the league for at least his first five years in pro football.

I would disagree Carson had two Pro Bowl seasons and would have had a third in 1980 had he not gotten hurt. So he was already playing at a high level well before Taylor was drafted. On those bad Giant teams of the late 1970's the LB corp with Carson, Kelley and Van Pelt were often the bright spot. I will concede that he may have been run over but realistically all MLB were run over during there careers multiple times.

So Is Curtis better than Carson, I would say no. At the same level.... maybe. Is he better than Hanburger? I could be convinced that he was. Have to be honest for both Curtis and Hanburger I only saw the ends of their careers from 1974 going forward.

[Gary Najman]

It's interesting that Curtis and Hanburger played for the same 14 seasons and ended as teammates for their final two (Curtis replaced Hanburger in 1977 when he was injured).