Rams shut out of Hall of Fame again

This year's induction class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame has been named, and once again this year, no former Rams have been selected for the honor. This year's class:

* Larry Allen (first-time nominee)
* Cris Carter (six-time nominee)
* Curley Culp (veterans' committee nominee)
* Jonathan Ogden (first-time nominee)
* Bill Parcells (two-time nominee)
* Dave Robinson (veterans' committee)
* Warren Sapp (first-time nominee)

For the second straight year, Aeneas Williams made the list of the final ten nominees without getting in. Jerome Bettis improved from last year and also made the top ten. The rest: Charles Haley, Andre Reed, Michael Strahan. Unless one of them came in tenth, you would think 2014 will be the year for both Williams and Bettis. Marvin Harrison should be a first-time inductee next year, but the only other possibility is Tony Dungy, and Parcells didn't get in his first time with more career wins and more Super Bowl rings. It better be next year for the players struggling to get in - look who's coming eligible for 2015: Isaac Bruce, Orlando Pace, Kurt Warner, Torry Holt, Walter Jones, Junior Seau, Kevin Mawae and Edgerrin James. Seau, Jones and Warner appear to be locks; Pace and Bruce should be.

Update, and sorry for the bad info: Derrick Brooks and Zach Thomas are also eligible for the HoF in 2014. Brooks is first-team all-Decade 2000s, has a Super Bowl ring and played in 11 Pro Bowls. Um, he's a lock. Seven Pro Bowls for Zach, 2nd-team all-Decade, so he's solidly in the mix, though maybe not a first-timer. On the ex-Rams front, Dante Hall and Le'Roi Glover are also first-time eligibles next year, not that I expect either to make the first cut to semi-finalist. Hope I didn't miss anybody else!

Kevin Greene finished outside the top ten for the second straight year. Also between 11-15: Tim Brown, Will Shields, Art Modell, I believe all for the 2nd straight year at least, and law- and NFL rule-breaker Eddie DeBartolo Jr., who fell out of the top ten from last year iirc.

RamView has no qualms with the seven men who have been nominated. It's about time the Hall voters broke the wide receiver logjam. Strahan's omission was a surprise; he has as many Pro Bowls as Sapp (7) and many more sacks. Of course, Greene has more sacks than either one of them, and Williams has been to more Pro Bowls (8). Speaking during the NFL Network special, voter Rick Gosselin made a big deal out of Sapp and Allen being members of two all-decade teams. I'm not sure how important a criteria that should be, but it appeared to be a tipping point for getting Sapp in.

Congratulations to this year's inductees, and HoF voters, you are officially on notice to put Aeneas Williams and Jerome Bettis in the Hall next year.

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