MIKE BURKE

Allegany Communications Sports

If there is anything as awful as NFL officiating – well, I can think of something that’s actually worse, but we try to shy away from government and politics here – it’s the voting for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which, of course, has reeked of politics from its inception.

Joe Jacoby, the great offensive tackle for the great Washington Redskins teams of the 1980s and early ‘90s was once again denied consideration for the Pro Football Hall of Fame over the weekend when he should have been enshrined a long time ago, which comes from no short of an authority on the matter than Lawrence Taylor, who lined up against “Jake” for over a decade.

Jacoby had again been a senior semifinalist for consideration but did not advance to the final three, who are now Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end L.C. Greenwood, San Francisco 49ers running back Roger Craig and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson (no disrespect, but if Ken Anderson is a Hall of Fame finalist, so is Boomer Esiason).

Look, the Pro Football Hall of Fame voting process is the most insane and crooked form of voting in the history of any type of voting (and we pray it stays that way). Nor is this to question any player, coach or executive who has been selected to be in the Hall of Fame. But have the people who make these decisions actually watched football?

The Redskins of general manager Bobby Beathard and head coach Joe Gibbs signed Jacoby, the undrafted 6-foot-7, 295-pound free agent out of Louisville. He became a founding member of the world famous Hogs, the greatest offensive line in pro football history, but only after Gibbs assumed he was a defensive tackle due to his enormous size, and then tried to cut him.

Fortunately, offensive line coach Joe Bugel loved Jacoby and kept his mouth shut so close to 20 other offensive linemen trying out could get their looks for the then-rebuilding Redskins before being told to turn in their playbook. Once Gibbs decided to cut Jacoby, Bugel and Jacoby both asked the head coach to give him a chance at the position he had played in college – offensive tackle.

Three Super Bowl championships, four NFC titles, four Pro Bowls, two All-Pro seasons later and after being named to the NFL 1980s All-Decade team, Joe Jacoby is still not in the Hall of Fame.

In fact, he remains the only offensive lineman from the 1980s All-Decade Team not enshrined. How can this be?

Sure, he and his buddy Russ Grimm made terrible (and hilarious) Theater Vision commercials, but, c’mon, big screen television was a new thing back then …

From 1982 to 1991, other than Gibbs, the heart of those Redskins teams was the offensive line, aka the Hogs, with Grimm and Jacoby being the constants, with both having the footwork, the speed and the intelligence to play every position on the line whenever the circumstance called for them to.

Along with Mark May, Jeff Bostic, George Starke, Fred Dean, R.C. Thielmann, Jim Lachey and a young Mark Schlereth, the Hogs, under the tutelage of coaches Bugel and Jim Hanifan, convinced millions of kids it was pretty cool to play offensive line and changed the way offensive lines are still viewed and developed today.

There is no counter-trey play in football without Gibbs’ brain, Hall of Fame guard Russ Grimm, Hall of Fame running back John Riggins and tackle Joe Jacoby.

Other Hall of Famers from those great teams are Gibbs, Beathard, cornerback Darrell Green and wide receiver Art Monk. That’s it. And it took forever for them to vote in Monk, who at one time held the NFL records for most receptions in a season and a career.

That Redskins dynasty is easily the most underappreciated team of the modern era with Joe Jacoby likely being the most underappreciated player..

He needs to be in the Hall of Fame. It is a travesty that he hasn’t already been in for years.

Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communicat…ions. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @MikeBurkeMDT