Reed, Tasker semifinalists in fan HOF voting, too

by Brian Galliford on Dec 8, 2009 12:54 PM EST in Buffalo Bills News

About a month ago, I wrote a short piece detailing the JC Penney/Van Heusen Fan's Choice vote, giving NFL fans a chance to cast votes for Hall of Fame candidates. That post was written for two reasons - because JC Penney and Van Heusen sponsored SB Nation's NFL blogs this season, and because several former Buffalo Bills, including Darryl Talley, Kent Hull and Cornelius Bennett, needed a little boost in the voting process.

Now that the Hall of Fame has released its list of 25 semi-finalists - with two former Bills (receiver Andre Reed and special teams ace Steve Tasker) on the list - it seemed like a good time to compare results.

NFL fans voting at www.fanschoice.com currently rank Reed at No. 18 on the voting list. He trails four other receivers on the list - Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, Cris Carter and Cliff Branch. Meanwhile, Tasker comes in at No. 23. If the fan vote is indicative of the real vote, Reed and Tasker don't have good, strong shots at enshrinement next August. Still, it's nice to see that experts and fans alike recognize the quality of play Reed and Tasker provided some of the NFL's best teams of the '90s, and recognized them on each semifinalist list.

Of the 25 semifinalists actually in the running, fans agreed with just 14 of those selections. The mutually exclusive groups are below; the first group are actual semifinalists that were not recognized as such by fans, and the second group is men recognized as semifinalists by fans, but not by the experts.

Semi-finalists: Don Coryell, Roger Craig, Terrell Davis, Dermontti Dawson, Chris Doleman, Russ Grimm, Rickey Jackson, Cortez Kennedy, Art Modell, Paul Tagliabue, Aeneas Williams

Fan semi-finalists: Randall Cunningham, Jim Plunkett, Phil Simms, Joe Theismann, Sterling Sharpe, Todd Christensen, Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Steve Atwater, Tom Flores, Jim Tunney, Otho Davis

The final results of this vote will be announced on NFL Network early next year, just before the official results are announced. Voting is still open, so if you'd like to cast votes for either Andre or Steve to get them recognized on NFL Network, do it quickly over at www.fanschoice.com.

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They should let the fans vote in one player per year

And truly get the fans involed in the process. Plus they’d get a ton of publicity for being the first HOF to do so.

by CanadianBillsFan on Dec 8, 2009 2:33 PM EST reply actions

I feel like Reed really needs to get in this year.

Get it done HOF voters.

by mob16151 on Dec 8, 2009 6:43 PM EST reply actions

He has an uphill battle with Rice and Emmitt locking up spots. Not to mention Shannon SHarpe and Cris Carter being ahead of him probably, though a lot put Reed ahead of those two. Don’t be surprised to see Richard Dent make it this year.

"Play like hell and win." - Perry Fewell
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by MattRichWarren on Dec 8, 2009 8:27 PM EST up reply actions

Went over there and voted for fun.

Voted for Andre Reed, Randall Cunningham, Steve Tasker, and Ed “To Tall” Jones. I find myself curious as to who everyone else voted for.

by mob16151 on Dec 8, 2009 11:24 PM EST reply actions

Fan vote

I have pro’s and con’s about the suggestion of letting the fans vote in a player each year. As Bills fans we would all love to see Reed and Tasker get in the HOF; Reed was outstanding but it seems like he will always be up against strong competition from other WR’s on the list. Tasker to me changed the way special teams had to be planned for.

The NFL Network ran a story about players that deserve to be in the HOF but aren’t and Tasker was one of the players shown an talked about. Teams had to plan their return games around blocking Tasker—-he simply was a game changer and playmaker. Kelly always talked about how no one could cover him in practice. When given the opportunity to play on offense he excelled whether catching the ball or running the inside reverse.

When I watch the Pats Welker play and the routes he runs Steve Tasker would have been perfect for that position.

Good Luck to both Andre and Steve in their quest for the ultimate recognition—-they will always be HOFer’s in the eyes of Buffalo fans!!!

"If you don't have good habits you have bad habits there are no in between habits"

by Goose22 on Dec 9, 2009 9:55 AM EST reply actions

Oops---forgot the con's...

I had to much fun writing about Reed and Tasker that I forgot the biggest negative about the fans voting a player in.

To me it would become like the voting for the MLB’s All-Star game—-with all the New York, Boston, Dallas players etc. etc getting voted in—-the bigger the city the more the ballot boxes would get stuffed with the local players.

"If you don't have good habits you have bad habits there are no in between habits"

by Goose22 on Dec 9, 2009 10:01 AM EST reply actions