Quote:No I'm with you. It's just interesting to see who really knows what they are talking about. Most people have no clue that those Detroit teams were good and Barry was the driving force with the production he had. They just think Detroit has sucked their whole existence lol. That is just not the case.



When a player like Barry Sanders is on your team that is impossible to happen and it makes full sense why he is a HOF player. He made either the first team or second team all pro list in all ten years he played. That is amazing. Calvin just did not do anything close to this although he was a very good player. Hell maybe even great. I just don't personally believe he should be HOF. What do you think?

 

  One thing for sure,  those that believe the Lions were always a bad team also have no idea about the team's history in the 1950's when the team won 3 NFL Championships.  It's before I was born but every NFL season counts as part of league history.

 

  Regarding the Lions in the 1990's,  in a relatively recent thread in the AFC South part of the Forum,  there was a discussion about those teams in the following thread about the Texans:

 

  http://jungle.jaguars.com/index.php?/top...uit/page-2

 

  My case for Calvin Johnson deserving to be in the HOF is based on not only the fantastic plays he made in countless games..  One of them that jagherd described in this thread.   But also on the amount of coverage and attention that went Calvin's way.   Opposing Defensive Coordinators often couldn't sleep in the days leading up to a game against the Lions when Calvin Johnson wasn't dealing with one or more injuries that significantly limited him.   Back in the 2011 season when Gregg Williams was the Saints Defensive Coordinator,  he put two defenders on Calvin at the line of scrimmage in the red zone.  I've never seen anything like that against any other Offensive skill player.   

 

  Two other thoughts to consider:

 

  1.   Up until the 2014 season,  in the games that Calvin Johnson missed,   the Lions Offense was basically shutdown in the overwhelming majority of those games.   It was ugly.

 

  2.   Other than when Jahvid Best was relatively healthy in his brief 2 seasons with the Lions back in 2010 and 2011,   the Lions never truly had the RB threat that complimented Calvin in the passing game.   Ameer Abdullah has major upside but doesn't have that ultra breakaway gear that Best had.   On the other hand,  Randy Moss played with Robert Smith or Michael Bennett during his time with the Vikings.   

 

    Like Barry Sanders,  Robert Smith left the NFL in a relatively healthy state with the vast majority of his skills intact.

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