This afternoon, the 2010 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees will be announced. Most likely, former Redskins guard Russ Grimm won’t be among them, which would be a travesty. Grimm, a finalist for the Hall of Fame in his 14th year of eligibility, deserves to be in.
The Redskins Appreciation Band, the Dirtbags, played their classic “Peter King is a Queen/Put Art Monk in the Hall of Fame” song before the Skins-Saints game outside FedEx Field in December. They were nice enough to let me make an appearance on drums. Now that Monk is in (see http://www.coachmike.net/artmonk.php), the second half of the song was changed for Russ Grimm to get into the Hall.
Here’s the song:
To see the original version of the Art Monk song, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNCSHC1fsoo.
It’s long overdue for Grimm to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Grimm started on four Super Bowl teams for the Skins, winning three, and also played in four Pro Bowls. He anchored the “Hogs,” one of the greatest offensive lines in NFL history. Joe Jacoby is another worthy candidate, but hey, we can’t be too greedy considering the anti-Redskins bias when it comes to the Hall of Fame.
A lot is made of the fact that the Redskins won three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks, and Joe Gibbs gets a lot of the credit for that. But Grimm and Jacoby, not to mention Jim Lachey, Mark May, Jeff Bostic, Raleigh McKenzie and other offensive linemen deserve a lot of credit, plus tight ends like Don Warren.
The Skins also won three Super Bowls with three different primary running backs during those seasons: John Riggins, George Rogers, and Earnest Byner. People remember Riggins most because of his greatness as well as his outsize personality, but look at how many running backs led the Skins in rushing between 1981 and 1991: Joe Washington, Riggins, Rogers, Kelvin Bryant, Gerald Riggs, and Byner.
The offensive line was the constant (other than Monk). Even Timmy Smith had a 200-yard rushing game in the 1988 Super Bowl rout over the Broncos.
Russ Grimm. Put him in!
By the way, Gary Clark should be in too. Take a look how similar Clark’s stats were to Michael Irvin’s. Plus Irvin played with a HOF QB.
| Catches per Year | Yards per Year | Total TDs | Years | |
| Clark | 64 | 962 | 65 | 11 |
| Irvin | 63 | 992 | 65 | 12 |
Thanks to the Dirtbags for letting me sit in on drums for this song and “Get a Kidney.” See 2009/12/08/dirtbags-perform-get-a-kidney-at-fedex-field-before-redskins-saints-game/ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xls6-uBZSA for that song, and see my website at www.mikeneedsakidney.com.
Also see the Dirtbags site at http://www.ontherac.com/.
Tags: 2010, Art Monk, Dirtbags, Hogs, John Riggins, Peter King, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Redskins, Russ Grimm
