02-02-2016, 01:57 PM
For the sake of discussion, I'll throw Boomer out there. I think people romanticize Boomer because they remember a couple of seasons around the Super Bowl appearance, and those final seven games in '97. Those were a ton of fun, but they account for 4-5 years of a 14 year career. He was pretty forgettable for many of the other years, and pretty bad for the rest...
When I close my eyes, I think immediately think of those fake handoffs that fooled the cameraman, the Super Bowl run, and the magic of those last games of his career. Then I remember that for all that cannon arm could do, he could also miss every throw in the playbook, shank the broad side of a barn from seven yards away, look like a dick instead of a rallying leader, and was legitimately booed at the end of his first tenure with the team... In the end, he got that last shot at glory because the entire rest of the league thought he was a bum by '97. Imagine how low he had to sink to return to the franchise he still dislikes as nothing more than a backup.
Boomer's '88 and '97 were great. His '86 was really fun, too (which really made that stinker of an '87 hurt!)... But I've just never understood the reverence some give him. I think younger guys only saw him play in '97, know he took them to a SB in the 80's, and see him on TV now. They draw the conclusion he was way more than he really was.
When I close my eyes, I think immediately think of those fake handoffs that fooled the cameraman, the Super Bowl run, and the magic of those last games of his career. Then I remember that for all that cannon arm could do, he could also miss every throw in the playbook, shank the broad side of a barn from seven yards away, look like a dick instead of a rallying leader, and was legitimately booed at the end of his first tenure with the team... In the end, he got that last shot at glory because the entire rest of the league thought he was a bum by '97. Imagine how low he had to sink to return to the franchise he still dislikes as nothing more than a backup.
Boomer's '88 and '97 were great. His '86 was really fun, too (which really made that stinker of an '87 hurt!)... But I've just never understood the reverence some give him. I think younger guys only saw him play in '97, know he took them to a SB in the 80's, and see him on TV now. They draw the conclusion he was way more than he really was.
