Broadway No: Why an Average Joe Namath Should Be Removed From the Hall of Fame

Joe Namath has long been known as one of the most popular figures in the history of the National Football League. Be it his eccentric nature, fur coats, pantyhose, the first ever 4,000-yard passing season, or his guaranteed victory in Super Bowl III, there are a great many memories that come to mind when you think of "Broadway Joe."

And as we all know, Joe Namath was long ago inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But he shouldn't have been.

Before I go any further, I want the readers to first know that I do not dislike Joe Namath in any way shape or form. As a matter of fact, he is actually one of my favorite quarterbacks to have ever played the game.

I respect Namath, but not so much for his body of work on the field.

What Namath did for the sport of professional football is put it on the map, and then bring it into the limelight in a way that was never seen before.

Suddenly female fans were as attracted to the sport of football as they were to Namath himself.

He was a "larger than life" character who helped give the sport of professional football the same swagger he carried every Sunday.

But when it came down to what he actually did on the field on those great many Sundays, you have to sit back and ask yourself whether or not his performance was of a Hall of Fame caliber.

I do not raise this question out of any ill-will towards Joe Namath.

As I stated before, I happen to like the guy but at the same time that doesn't mean that I can turn a blind eye to the reality of his performance on the field.

When it comes to the Hall of Fame, everyone has their own reservations as to who they feel belongs in and who doesn't.

The issue is that there is no specific criteria which means that no amount of wins, yards, or touchdowns can guarantee anyone a spot.

The lone aspect that I feel most (if not all) people agree upon is the necessity for a Hall of Fame player to have both played at a high level and to have done so for an extended period of time.

So the next logical step would be to establish whether Namath did in-fact play at a very high level, then (if he did) determine how long he was able to do so.

Let’s now take a look at the career production of Joe Namath to get a basis for discussion.

Joe Namath (1965-1977)

1,886 of 3,762 (50.1 percent) for 27,663 yards, 173 touchdowns, and 220 interceptions.

Quarterback Rating: 65.5

*62-63-4 record as a starting quarterback.

*Threw more interceptions than touchdowns in 13 of his 15 seasons.

After viewing his performance over the course of his career, two things jumped out at me.

First of all, he actually had a losing record as a starting quarterback.

That, of course, is as much of a reflection of his entire team as it was of Namath himself so you have to ask yourself "what was Namath's contributions to his team’s chances of winning during that period of time?"

That is why I pointed out the touchdown to interception ratio.

While it is true that the 1960s and 1970s were a very different era from today, it was not acceptable for a quarterback to throw more interceptions than touchdowns on that regular a basis.

It was known to happen more frequently with starting quarterbacks back then in comparison to today but to have done so in 13 of his 15 seasons speaks volumes.

But, of course, to better understand Namath's career, you have to look at two chapters.

There was Joe Namath competing against AFL teams and Joe Namath playing in the merged NFL.

Some are of the belief that the AFL was inferior (yet still a financial threat), and there are others who feel that both leagues were equal.

The NFL has certainly done as much as they could to legitimize the AFL on account of the merger and  have even gone as far as to count AFL statistics as equally as NFL statistics.

So if you are of the belief that the league's were of equal caliber (meaning that Namath was at no statistical advantage for having played five years in the AFL) than it would be logical to assume that his performance would not change after the merger.

But did it?

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