Ball Security Another Bettis Hallmark

Good morning,

Jerome Bettis was the fifth-leading rusher in NFL history when he retired after the 2005 season. And here he is on his fifth year of eligibility in the finals for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

He should not be in the finals one more year – he should be in the Hall. I cannot tell you why he has not been voted in because despite all the debate that goes on among selectors who meet for about eight hours to discuss and then vote on the next class each year, no one has ever said why they do not vote for him.

But here’s yet another reason for him to get to Canton – he was among the best of the rushers at ball security. .

There are many important things that go into making a great running back and besides gaining yards and scoring touchdowns, I would say not fumbling is one of them. There is no more frustrating thing to a coach than when a back fumbles.

Jerome Bettis did it fewer times by percentage than all but two Hall of Fame backs that I could find. The champ is Curtis Martin, who fumbled only 29 times in 4002 touches (carries, receptions, returns). That’s one in 138 times. Marshall Faulk had 36 fumbles and did it once in 100.

My quick research this morning shows Bettis, with just 41 fumbles, did it once in 90, counting his 3,679 touches. Barry Sanders appears to be next with 3,432 touches and 41 fumbles or one in 84.

Here are some stats regarding some selected Hall of Famers and the number of times they fumbled.

Franco Harris 90, Tony Dorsett 90, Walter Payton 86, Eric Dickerson 78, Marcus Allen 65, Marcus Allen 65, O.J. Simpson 62, Emmitt Smith 61, John Riggins 58, Jim Brown 57.

There are Hall of Fame halfbacks with fewer fumbles: Jim Taylor and Gale Sayers 34 each, Leroy Kelly with 35, Faulk and Bill Dudley each with 36 and Sanders and Lenny Moore tied with Bettis at 41 -- but other than Faulk and Sanders, none of these came close to touching the ball as often as Bettis.

By this quick exercise, Jerome Bettis appears to be the third best back at ball security in NFL history.

--- Onto some stuff:

--- The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its 113 modern day nominees for the Class of 2015. At most, five can make it this year or 4.4 percent.

--- Interesting point on Twitter last evening by Evan Silva, senior football editor for Rotoworld: “I do wonder if all these defenses getting clowned on the ground has resulted from teams building their Ds for ‘nickle and dime subpackages.’”

The Steelers say they ran their sub packages 65 percent of the time last season, which means removing some prime run stoppers for defensive backs. They slipped from No. 2 against the run in 2012 to No. 21 last season.

--- Little known fact about the Pro Football HOF nominations: Anyone can nominate anyone. You want to nominate your uncle Buck, whose career consisted of playing two games as a long snapper for the Cleveland Browns in the 1980s? Place the call to Canton and he will be on the list next year. Thomas Everett, for example, was a good safety for the Steelers but not close to Hall of Fame material. He was nominated.

--- Remember how the NFL pressured ESPN to stop showing the network’s original drama Playmakers in 2003 because the league did not like how it portrayed the fictional players activities off the field? If only the NFL could banish what’s going on in real life around the league today so easily.

--- Some Ask Ed questions:

--- YOU: Hello, Ed! What's the difference between this year's 1-1 team after two games and the '89 Steeler team that went 0-2, losing the first two games by a combined score of 92-10? That team made the playoffs and had a nice run in them.

ED: Like this one, that team had a blend of old and new with older players such as David Little, Bryan Hinkle, Louis Lipps, Tunch Ilkin and Craig Wolfley joining Tim Worley, Greg Lloyd, Rod Woodson, Carnell Lake, etc. The big difference is at quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger vs. Bubby Brister. I also believe they were better at halfback and wide receiver. After a rough start, that young Steelers defense that year played much better later. They hope for the same thing in 2014.

--- YOU: Do you think there is any connection at all between the Steelers' recent, seemingly lower quality drafts and the years that Mean Joe has NOT been a part of the scouting department?

ED: No connection whatsoever. Joe Greene just retired last year anyway. Plus, I don’t agree that they’ve done that poor of a job drafting lately.

--- YOU: Leaving his penalties out of the conversation, has the play of Mike Mitchell been anything outside the 'Average' category?

ED: I think you’d need to see some improvement before we can call his play average.

--- YOU: Hey Ed... with the league becoming a passing league thru and thru..has the 3-4 seen it's day? and possibly Coach L. too? Our front three are a seriously liability so far. I know it's only week three but 8-8 seems optimistic to this point.

ED: What would changing to a 4-3 do, which is what I assume you mean? They have trouble finding three down linemen, who would the fourth be? And do you really want Jason Worilds to be a 4-3 outside linebacker mostly covering receivers? This fascination with moving to the 4-3 and the magic people think it will create does not make sense.

--- YOU: I understand that Shamarko Thomas is technically the back-up for Troy at SS, but do you think they will start to work him in more at FS given Mike Mitchell's poor play?

ED: I hate to say this, but Troy Polamalu is not exactly lighting things up either.

--- YOU: I've read multiple posts on fan sites (I know, 1st mistake) and seen the sentiment that Troy Polamalu is a "first-ballot Hall of Famer". I like Troy, I think he's been an amazing player for the Steelers and in his prime was a game changer. Maybe I'm not drinking enough of the local Kool-Aid, though, because I don't see Troy as a "first-ballot" guy. As an HOF voter, do you believe Troy is a first-ballot guy? As an HOF voter, do you vote Ed Reed in on the first ballot? Lastly, I was wondering what you think Donnie Shell's chances are getting into the Hall through the veterans committee?

ED: I don’t like to render opinions on the HOF chances for current players. It’s one reason they make them wait five years after they are done playing, to give voters time to reflect and for perspective and, yes, I have changed my opinions at times. As I always advise, I would hesitate calling many players “future Hall of Famers” because sometimes that just isn’t so, the way many of us believed Andy Russell would be while he was still playing. Jerome Bettis has been another example.