Walter Jones gets hosed

I had modest hopes for Seahawk representation on The Top 100: The NFL's Greatest Players. No current Seattle players belong on the list, and among retired Seahawks, only Steve Largent and Walter Jones could boast a body of work that merited inclusion in such lofty company.

Both should have been on the list. But, factoring in East Coast media bias, and considering the strength of the competition at the wide receiver position, I assumed that Largent would get left off the list.

However, I thought Jones was a lock.

I was wrong. He did not make the cut. In fact, no Seahawk made the list. (Unless you count Jerry Rice, the #1 finisher, who spent one season in Seattle.)

You can see the whole list for yourself at http://top100.nfl.com/

Here are the offensive linemen who did make the cut:

12. Anthony Munoz (Bengals)
24. John Hannah (Patriots)
32. Jim Parker (Colts)
54. Forrest Gregg (Packers)
56. Gene Upshaw (Raiders)
63. Jim Otto (Raiders)
68. Mike Webster (Steelers)
72. Jonathan Ogden (Ravens)
76. Art Shell (Raiders)
78. Bruce Matthews (Oilers/Titans)
96. Mel Hein (Giants)

It is hard to argue with most of those selections.

However, note the suspiciously high number of Raiders on the list. Since the careers of Upshaw, Otto and Shell overlapped, one would expect Oakland to have been absolutely dominant during the years when all three played. So, how many Super Bowls did the trio win? Zero. (After Otto retired, Upshaw and Shell helped win Super Bowl XI.)

Raider overrepresentation on the list defies logic. The Steeler team that won four Super Bowls has 5 players on the list; Oakland has just as many from that era (5), but won only two NFL championships in that period.

The Raider mystique trumps reason.

Apparently, Jonathan Ogden edged Jones as the representative of the modern left tackle. Certainly, Ogden was a great player, and I would not argue for his exclusion from the list.

Instead, I would argue that the list should have included fewer running backs and quarterbacks to make room for great players at other positions. Members of the offensive backfield comprise more than one-third of the list, with 16 running backs and 18 quarterbacks. One would expect this of fan voting, as it reflects the childlike belief that the person who touches the ball most often is the most important player on the field and the one most responsible for team success. I like to believe that "experts" might possess a deeper understanding of the game.

But the vaunted authorities chose to include marginal greats like Joe Namath and Tony Dorsett at the expense of true greats like Walter Jones and Steve Largent.