To make it on an NFL team as an undrafted player out of college is no small accomplishment. Heck, it is a big deal to be a scholarship athlete at a Division I school in practically any sport, in my humble opinion, much less a walk-on. Then, what are the chances that in any of these scenarios that said athlete makes the team? I think relatively slim. It’s a numbers game, as they say. The law of averages is just not in your favor no matter how great your level of skill in high school or college. That fate for an athlete can hit someone as early as one’s freshman year in high school. The competition gets stiffer, the number of athletes increases (sometimes greatly), and the athlete who once knew glory on the sandlot football fields, baseball diamonds, and middle school basketball courts is left shaking his or her head and, figuratively, standing out in the cold.
Then there are those fairly rare cases of athletes who beat these aforementioned odds and not only make the team but defy all odds against them. They are the ones that are given the shot and succeed, sometimes in a wildly magnanimous manner. They can tilt their heads back and say “I told you so.” Others can only bow their heads after being told “No, sorry, I wish you luck …. but no.”
With this mind, let’s seriously consider the case of one Joseph Erwin Jacoby, aka “Joe.” This case has been talked and written and bandied about for quite some time and by football fans and experts, and folks, it’s a real head-scratcher.
For starters, interior offensive linemen (centers, guards, and tackles) are like gold to skill players on offense. If, as they say, the game is won in trenches, it’s because of these guys. There is a reason why quarterbacks sometimes say after a game that they will treat their linemen to dinner during the upcoming week: linemen, if they are good, keep their quarterback not only upright but healthy as well. Alternatively, if they are not good, their quarterback is often hurried, sacked, or worse, injured. And unfortunately, that steak dinner with fellow linemen and said happy quarterback is probably not happening.
Joe Jacoby ate well during his NFL career with the Washington Redskins. He helped make the careers of Redskin quarterbacks like Joe Theismann, Doug Williams, and Mark Rypien more successful.
He was not selected in the 1981 NFL draft as an offensive tackle out of the University of Louisville, and was signed as a free agent. Somebody in the Redskins front office was one smart cookie to take a chance on Jacoby.
Check out some of these statistics that Big Joe racked up during his NFL career:
- 3 times a Super Bowl champion with the Washington Redskins
- 4 times an All-Pro (3 times first team)
- 1981 NFL All-Rookie team
- NFL 1980s All-Decade team
- Redskins Ring of Fame
- As a founding member of the Hogs (the Redskins renowned offensive line of the 1980s and early 1990s), he helped the team set Super Bowl rushing records with most yards (276 in Super Bowl XVII vs Miami Dolphins and 280 in Super Bowl XXII vs Denver Broncos). That Washington accomplished this was largely because of Joe Jacoby and his fellow Hogs on the offensive line.
Now get a load of this. It was Joe Jacoby who led interference for John “The Diesel” Riggins on his famed end around, game-winning touchdown against the Miami Dolphins. Watch and listen to the replay of that touchdown run, and you can hear the eighteen-wheeler diesel horn loud and clear. It is synonymous with the Redskins days of lore. 10-4 good buddy!
If you are wondering just how big (6 ft 7 in, 295 lb) and strong he was, NOBODY tossed around defensive lineman Harvey Martin of the Dallas Cowboys the way Jacoby once did.
Now, for the love of God, please, please, will someone help me understand this?
Why has Joe Jacoby not been selected to the National Football League Hall of Fame?!?!
As I understand it, there are about twenty-one offensive tackles in the Hall of Fame. They may have Super Bowl victories under their belt, and they may have any number of Pro Bowl appearances, and they were probably drafted out of college. But I would venture to say that none of them had all of these accolades all wrapped up together like Joe Jacoby. I’d like to know if they have as many fellow teammates or coaches in the Hall as Jacoby.
And then there are the intangibles to consider. As a member of the Hogs, how many blocks did Jacoby make to help spring free Redskins running backs during crucial drives and touchdown runs? How much time did Jacoby allow, as a pass blocker, for his quarterbacks to throw pass completions and touchdowns during crucial drives and two-minute drills at the end of games? On how many successful third-down conversions did he contribute? How many quarterback sneaks did his quarterbacks hit paydirt from the one yard line behind his hulking frame? How many playoff games, NFC championship games, and Super Bowl games and victories did Jacoby play in and help his team win?
And still, Joe Jacoby has not been selected to the NFL Hall of Fame.
Jacoby retired in 1993 and played his whole career with the Redskins. So it has been over thirty years since he has donned the burgundy and gold. Five years must go by before one can be considered for the yellow jacket. That is twenty-five years that the powers-that-be in the Hall of Fame have had to consider and select this guy for the Hall. Or better yet, get their heads checked.
It’s a head-scratcher all right.
Maybe they should ask the likes of Harvey Martin and others (who ironically may be in the Hall as defensive linemen) what it was like to go up against Big Joe.
What does it take?
After all this time, it seems like no more than a snub (and a bold-faced one at that) and an “F You!” to a gentle giant of a man who made his teammates and team better and who seemingly over-achieved in every metric needed to be in the NFL Hall of Fame.
Maybe I’m the one the one who needs to have his head examined, but this seems like a no-brainer to me.
If you agree with me, write to:
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2121 George Halas Drive NW, Canton, OH 44702
I am.
