Brian Westbrook, Donovan McNabb, and Eric Allen are among the 17 former Philadelphia Eagles nominated for the 2023 Pro Football Hall of Fame class
The NFL just announced that nine players in their first year of eligibility are among the list of 129 Modern-Era Nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023.
The list of first-time nominees includes running back Chris Johnson, Philadelphia native Jahri Evans, offensive linemen Joe Thomas, defensive lineman Dwight Freeney, linebackers NaVorro Bowman and James Harrison, defensive backs Kam Chancellor and Darrelle Revis, and punter Shane Lechler.
The list of Modern-Era Nominees will be reduced to 25 Semifinalists in November and, from there, to 15 Finalists whose names will be announced in early January.
Here’s the list of 14 former Eagles among the nominees.
5 former Vikings are eligible for the Hall of Fame
The Minnesota Vikings have a storied history. Having been founded in 1961, they have sent 22 players to the Hall of Fame during their history.
From Carl Eller and Alan Page to Randy Moss and Cris Carter, the lineage that these players have woven into history is incredibly impressive on both sides of the football.
On Monday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the 129 modern-era candidates for Hall of Fame class of 2023 and five former Vikings were included on that list.
Quarterback Randall Cunningham
Center Matt Birk
Defensive End Jared Allen
Defensive Tackle Kevin Williams
Kicker Gary Anderson
While none of these players spent their entire careers with the Vikings, all but Cunningham made their names as a Viking.
The list of 129 candidates will be narrowed down to 25 in November and 15 in early January before announcing the 2023 class at the NFL awards ceremony the weekend of the Super Bowl.
A weekly series that examines the history of the Steelers versus their 2020 opponents.
This is the second in a 13-part weekly series examing the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers versus their 2020 opponents.
The second on the Steelers schedule is a matchup versus the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Sept. 20, at Heinz Field. The last time these two met was in Denver in November of 2018, and the Steelers lost 24-17. Since then, the Steelers have most notably lost wide receiver Antonio Brown and tight end, Jesse James. The Broncos are now without quarterback Case Keenum and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders.
Let’s take a look at the history between these two franchises.
Overall, the Broncos lead the series 20-11-1. Of those 32 games, 19 have been hosted at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
Their first-ever matchup was played on Sept. 27, 1970, at Mile High, when the Steelers lost by a field goal, 16-13.
The Broncos reigned victorious the next two contests. Their fourth time meeting ended in their first and only tie, at 35. Pittsburgh finally beat Denver in 1975 at Three Rivers Stadium thanks to two touchdowns by wide receiver Lynn Swann. The final score of 20-9 took the Steelers to 3-1 on the season.
The biggest blowout of the series came in primetime on Monday, Oct. 22, 1979, at Three Rivers. The Steelers crushed the Orange Crush, 42-7. It was a long game for the Broncos as their only points were scored in the first quarter.
There has never been a shutout in Steelers-Broncos history. The closest to it was in 1989 when the Denver beat Pittsburgh 34-7 at Mile High.
The biggest heartbreaker of the series was in 1990 when the Steelers faced the Broncos in Denver for the AFC Championship game. It started out as a defensive battle as Gary Anderson’s field goal were the only points in the first quarter. Running back, Merrill Hodge scored the first Steelers touchdown in the second, and the teams traded scores throughout the game. Anderson added an FG in the third and fourth quarters to give Pittsburgh a six-point lead. Broncos quarterback John Elway then lead his team 71 yards downfield for what would be the game-winning TD. The Steelers had a chance to pull off the win, but quarterback Bubby Brister fumbled the ball, crushing the Steelers hopes for a fifth trip to the Super Bowl.
In the Ben Roethlisberger era, the Steelers have only beaten the Broncos three out of nine times. All but two of those games have been at Mile High.
The last time Pittsburgh hosted Denver was in 2015. WR Antonio Brown was the star of that game hauling in two of Roethlisberger’s passes for TDs as the 8-5 Steelers beat the 10-3 Broncos, 34-27.
This year’s contest will be Roethlisberger’s first game at Heinz Field since his season-ending elbow injury on Sept. 15, 2019.
From one Vikings kicker to another, Morten Andersen understands the pain of Gary Anderson’s 1998 miss.
Many Vikings fans are unfortunately very familiar with the 1998 NFC Championship game, the one where the team collapsed and lost to the Falcons.
Though former NFL kicker Morten Andersen played with the Vikings towards the end of his career, for that game he was on the other sideline.
Andersen watched as Gary Anderson, the Vikings kicker who hadn’t missed a kick all season, did just that on a potential game-winner. The game went into overtime, where Morten Andersen made the game-winning kick for Atlanta.
“I felt bad for him, because I know what a professional he is, I knew what kind of career he had and what kind of season he had,” Andersen said about the Vikings kicker. “It was an amazing season.”
Andersen said it was tough because he’s also been on Anderson’s side of things, having to deal with a tough miss from time to time. Andersen said the two hung out on a couple of cruises when he was with the Saints and Anderson was with the Steelers in the offseason, so he got to know him personally before the 1998 miss.
“I understand the pain it causes. Not only for yourself, but on behalf of everybody you represent,” Andersen said. “You feel like you let people down, even though everybody understands that there are no automatics. But he was as close to automatic as I’ve ever seen.”
Now, Andersen is an ambassador of NJ Online Gambling, a source of information for legal online casinos in New Jersey.
