Why Joe Jacoby Should be in the Hall of Fame – and What You Can Do About It, part 4

July 26, 2022

By Steve Thomas

Joe Jacoby is one of the greatest players in the history of the Washington Redskins, and was the original prototype for the modern left tackle.  There’s no question he belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  The fact that he has not yet been selected for induction is a travesty and a direct result of the lack of integrity of the voters, some of whom being northeast-based New Yorkers or Bostonians like Peter King who disrespected the Redskins for years.  The number of offensive tackles who have already been inducted in lieu of Jacoby is insulting.

We originally started writing about Joe’s case for enshrinement back in 2015 after we interviewed him on The Hog Sty Podcast (listen to the interview by clicking here) and have been trying to help ever since then.  I’ve written three prior columns to advocate for Jacoby’s candidacy, the last one being here.

Hall of Fame candidates are not eligible for consideration until 5 years after they retire, at which point they have 20 years to be selected as a “modern era” candidate.  Joe was unfortunately not selected during his “modern era” eligibility, so he moved into the jurisdiction of the Senior Committee in 2019.  He was not selected by the Senior Committee in either 2020 or 2021, but has once again been named one of 25 Senior Committee semi-finalists this year.

The process for selection through the Senior Committee is different than the regular modern era.  This committee, which is comprised of 12 members of the full voting body, holds an entirely separate nomination vote from the rest of the modern era candidates.  The list will be reduced to 12 finalists this week.  Then, up to three players will be selected by the senior committee in late August, as finalists for induction in the class of 2023.  The full panel of voters will then meet during Super Bowl week to vote on the final list of inductees (which requires an 80% vote to be selected).  History suggests that the three selected by the senior committee are essentially a shoo-in at that point.  Therefore, it’s critical for everyone to do their part to advocate for Joe now.  I’ll tell you what you can do later in the column, so keep reading.

One reason why I’m writing another column, other than the obvious, is that Joe’s two daughters, Lauren and Jenna Jacoby, recently started a Twitter page to advocate for their father’s enshrinement, @joejacoby4hof.  Please go follow them.  More importantly, do your part for the cause.

The case for Joe’s candidacy

Washington fans don’t need to be convinced, but in case you need to make a case to a non-believer, here’s my previously-published argument:

What do you think of when you think of Joe Jacoby?  Most likely, The Hogs, rushing excellence, Super Bowls, dirty, grass-stained uniform, right?  All of that is accurate, but there is quite a bit more to his career and place in football history.  The preliminaries are well known: undrafted free agent out of college, 13 years in the NFL (1981 – 1993, all with the Redskins), four Pro Bowl selections, 3 All-Pro selections, and named to the 1980s All-Decade team.  All of those honors, by themselves, should merit his enshrinement.  It is the unquantifiable and intangible, though, that really shows why Joe is a Hall of Fame player and why it is such an oversight for voters to refuse him thusfar.  He was the leader of an offensive line that created one of the most feared running games in the league in the early 1980s, blocking for John Riggins in two Super Bowls and his own Hall of Fame career, then George Rogers to the 1987 Super Bowl, then Timmy Smith – a guy who was otherwise barely an average NFL player – to a record 204 yards in the 1991 Super Bowl.  He was the leader of an offensive line who blocked for three separate Super Bowl winning quarterbacks, something that is unique in NFL history.  All of that is well known, though, and while by itself is reason enough to enshrine Joe, his candidacy is about much more than that.

Please understand that Joe Jacoby holds a special place in the development of the NFL left tackle.  He was one of the very first of a new breed of left tackles who had enormous size as do the tackles of today’s game (which was just flat-out not the case prior to Joe), but was also agile.  A player like Joe was unheard of prior to his arrival.  Michael Lewis, in his 2006 book, The Blind Side (which was made into an Oscar-winning motion picture about the life of current Panthers’ tackle Michael Oher), wrote about Jacoby, stating that the Redskins first gave Joe the left tackle job because, at 6’7” and 315 pounds, plus strength and mobility, he was “more like left tackle of the future” – in other words, he was a singularly unique talent.  Joe was 3-4 inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than the average left tackle of his day (Jackie Slater? 6’4”, 277; Dan Dierdorf? 6’3”, 275; Ron Yary? 255 lbs; Anthony Munoz? 278 lbs.), but moved like a much smaller man.  According to Lewis, the Redskins brought Joe in specifically to stop Lawrence Taylor – yes, the guy known as probably the most feared pass rusher ever.  Incidentally, the most glaring play by Taylor against the Redskins, which was the November 18, 1985, game where Taylor infamously broke Joe Theismann’s leg, took place without Jacoby on the field due to a knee injury; that in and of itself tells you something about Joe’s value.  Joe was the leader of a football revolution that recognized the value of the left tackle, specifically because of what Jacoby, at his size and weight, did against the fearsome, hall of fame pass rushers in the NFC East in Philly, New York, and Dallas like the aforementioned Taylor, Reggie White, Randy White, and Harry Carson.  Joe successfully battled all of those players twice a year every season.  Yes, Joe was that good.  How is that not Hall of Fame-worthy?

Do you want a “hall of fame-worthy moment”?  I will give you two.  The first was John Riggins’ famous 43 yard touchdown run on January 30, 1983, that gave the Redskins the lead over Miami in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XVII.  The play call was I-right 70 Chip, and the lead blocker who opened the hole for Riggins was Joe Jacoby.  Watch the play again (Click here), and pay attention to the gigantic hole on the left side of the line – yes, it was #66 who sprang Riggo out to the second level.  The play was the deciding play of the Super Bowl and arguably the most impactful and well-known play in franchise history – it cannot get much bigger than that for an offensive lineman.  The second moment is the 1991 season: does everyone remember that The Hogs surrendered a grand total of just 9 sacks over the 16 game season?  Nine – that’s it.  That is a truly remarkable accomplishment, particularly in the NFC East with an immobile quarterback like Mark Rypien, and it was led by the big tackle who faced every team’s best rusher – from Lawrence Taylor and Reggie White on down the line.  All Redskins fans know, of course, that this offense was one of the most prolific in NFL history.  It is pretty tough for an offensive lineman to have any “moments”, but Joe Jacoby’s career was full of them.

Sixteen offensive tackles who played from 1976 to the present have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame: Larry Allen, Dan Dierdorf, Walter Jones, Bruce Matthews (who was more of a guard who played a little bit of tackle), Anthony Munoz, Jonathan Ogden, Orlando Pace, Willie Roaf, Art Shell, Jackie Slater, Rayfield Wright, Ron Yary, Gary Zimmerman, Tony Boselli, Jimbo Covert, and Winston Hill.  The honest and objective analyst knows that Joe is clearly and easily a leading member of that group of tackles.  How many of these players accomplished more in their careers than Joe?  Is there even one?  How many of these players had Joe’s combination of size and mobility?  Maybe Boselli, but that’s it, and Boselli wasn’t part of an historic line and never won even one Super Bowl, let alone three.  How many of these players can claim to be the leader of a nickname-worthy offensive line known as one of the most accomplished in the history of the game? Zero.  How many of these players were leaders of four Super Bowl teams, including three wins?  Zero.

Here’s the bottom line: in an age where the left tackle was undervalued and undersized, Joe Jacoby ushered in the new breed of tackles who are now heralded as the cornerstones of an offense.  There is a reason why, in today’s game, the left tackle is usually the second-highest paid player on the field – the success of The Hogs showed teams the value of an elite, athletic left tackle who was outstanding in both run and pass blocking.  Joe Jacoby, specifically, was at the forefront of a seismic change in offensive line play.  To me, the test of whether a player is Hall of Fame-worthy is whether the story of the game of professional football can be told without that player.  For Joe Jacoby, the answer is a clear and definitive no: any complete summary of the game must mention Joe’s contributions.  As great as Hall of Famer Russ Grimm is, I am sure that Russ would be the first to tell everyone that Joe was key to the success of The Hogs and those “golden era” Redskins teams.  The Hall is incomplete without Joe’s bust.

Steve, I agree, but what can I do about it?

The only people who ultimately matter are the Senior Committee voters.  I have a major problem with the entire selection process, both modern era and senior; specifically, I disagree with the fact that the vast majority of the selection panel is comprised of writers, with only a handful of people who were actually involved in pro football.  In my view, very few writers, if any, should be involved.  Plus, these voters are like Supreme Court justices – they hang on to their positions until the bitter end, no matter what, long past the time at which they should get gone.  Regardless, this is the process with which we’re stuck.

These writers can be swayed.  Think back to Art Monk’s selection – remember how many years it took for his selection, despite his having the greatest wide receiver stats ever when he retired?  The reason for this was that there was a group of writer-voters who held steadfast in their personal beliefs for years in spite of Art’s obvious worthiness and therefore held up Art’s selection.  For example, noted Washington Redskins hater Peter King spent years insulting and minimizing Monk’s career.  In 2006, he started to change his mind after receiving years of complaints from fans and NFL insiders alike, and ended up supporting Art’s candidacy in 2006.

The 2022 Senior Committee voters are:

Darryl Ledbetter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Twitter: @DOrlandoAJC

Email: dledbetter@ajc.com

Dan Pompei, The Athletic (Chicago Bears voter)

Twitter: @danpompei

Website: https://www.danpompei.net/

Rick Gosselin, Talk of Fame Network (Dallas Cowboys voter)

Twitter: @RickGosselin9

Website: https://mavensports.io/talkoffame/

Jeff Legwold, ESPN/ESPN.com (Denver Broncos voter)

Twitter: @Jeff_Legwold

John McClain, Houston Chronicle (Houston Texans voter)

Twitter: @McClain_on_NFL

contact at: Click here

Frank Cooney, The Sports Xchange, Maven Sports (Las Vegas Raiders voter)

Email: fcooney@sportsxchange.com

Howard Balzer, Sports Illustrated (Los Angeles Rams voter)

Twitter: @Hbalzer721

Ron Borges, Talk of Fame Network (New England Patriots voter)

Twitter: @RonBorges

Bob Glauber, Newsday (New York Giants voter)

Twitter: @BobGlauber

Gary Meyers, author (New York Jets voter)

Twitter: @GaryMyersNY

Ira Kaufman, JoeBucsFan.com (Tampa Bay Buccaneers voter)

Twitter: @IKaufman76

John Czarnecki, Fox Sports (At Large voter)

Contact info unknown – if anyone knows how to contact him, let me know

Contact each voter multiple times, as many as you can.  Since the senior committee is scheduled to release the list of finalists this week and then meet again in late August, time is of the essence.  Please be respectful to the writer; rudeness and snark will not help the cause and will likely get you ignored.  Get started, folks – let’s finally get Joe in this year!!