Buffalo Bills
Steve Tasker HOF
We all wonder what makes a player eligible to be in the Hall of Fame. Every year the Sports Writers of America vote on players and I often wonder how they decide what the criteria are for entrance. I have my criteria, I’m not sure it fits theirs, but I think it should be discussed to qualify the standards for the public.
The following are my qualifications:
1 You must be a great player that was acknowledged by your peers.
(An example would be the Pro Bowl. MVP, etc.)
2 You must do something that affects the History of the Game of Football.
(An example would be Stats, Super Bowls, Championships, etc.
3 You affected in some way the game planning of your opponents.
(This is important for non-skilled positions.)
4 You become the standard for your position. You were the type of player that scouts look for in evaluating future players.
There could be more but I thought I would keep it simple. The question is do these qualifications meet the standards of what is used by the Sports Writers of America to vote for players to enter the Hall of Fame?
If they do, then former Buffalo Bills WR/ST Steve Tasker meets the requirements.
| Steve Tasker impacted games as much as any offensive lineman that is in the Hall of Fame. There are kickers and punters in the Hall of Fame that meet these requirements, so the argument that he was just a special team player is without merit. Steve Tasker was the first Wes Welker and if his coaches felt that he wasn’t so important on special teams he might have been as impactful on offense as a Receiver.
The amount of plays that Steve Tasker was on the field to impact on special teams, compared to the number of plays a defensive or offensive starting player has to impact is small in comparison and yet Steve’s ability to impact on any given special team play and change the momentum of a game was mind-boggling. Opposing coaches feared Steve Tasker and actually game-played against him in their special team meetings. In spite of this game planning, they couldn’t stop him. He still made at least one impact play in a game and sometimes more. Opposing Coaches wanted their players to study Steve and used his play as teaching moments for their special teams. They also used their failures to control him as a teaching moment after the game also. When Steve was used as a slot receiver in his last few years for the Bills offense he was a matchup nightmare for his opponents and in 1995 averaged 17 yards a catch in a limited but impactful role for the Buffalo Bills famous no-huddle offense. Like I said he was the first Wes Welker. Nobody has been able to Draft another special team player like Steve Tasker because of his unique skills and athletic talent to play on every single type of special team unit and play multiple positions and believe me, they look all the time for someone somewhere in the smallest of colleges. His ability to affect the momentum of a game from the special team aspect to this day has never been equaled as a kick or punt returner and on the kick and punt cover units. Oh yes, there is an occasional play from the gunner position on a punt return that brings some reaction from the crowd, but I can tell you for a fact that when the Bills punted and the crowd saw #89 walk on the field, the anticipation of an exciting play was never in question. I think the most fitting tribute to Steve during his playing days was that every player on both sides of the field stopped and watched to see what Steve Tasker was going to do when he entered the game on special teams. There was no coaching going on, no lineman was sitting down to get some rest, and there were just players and coaches standing and straining on the sidelines to see a possible momentum-changing play. It wasn’t a field goal to win a game. It was just an ordinary punt or kick-off that they knew could be the changing point of the game because of a play Steve would make. Opponents feared going up against the Bills special teams when punting or kicking the ball and that fear was directly related to the fact that Steve Tasker was on the field. NFL teams all over the country knew of his abilities because they had seen the film all week. They had been told by their coach, “Do not let Tasker make a play.” Ask them; see if this is not the truth. Ask every Special Team Coach and Head Coach in the NFL at that time, if they had an answer for Steve Tasker. The ones that thought so before the game started knew differently at the end. Steve Tasker was one of a kind. He was on four Super Bowl teams and six Championship teams and made plays in the biggest of games that changed the course of a game. He was acknowledged by his peers and voted to the Pro Bowl seven times and six times in consecutive years. In 1993 he was the first special teams player named the MVP of the Pro Bowl. Steve Tasker was not just a special teams player, Steve Tasker was a special player who could change the course of a game and was respected by his peers. He played special teams for most of his 14-year career and I don’t remember him ever not having a tackle on special teams all of those years. I would think longevity alone would make Steve one of the top tackling special teamers ever to play the game. He affected the game planning of his opponents and became the standard for his position for all to be measured by. Steve Tasker was special; Steve Tasker will always be a Hall of Famer for me because he impacted EVERY game he played in. Drew Boylhart The Draftnik The Huddle Report.com |
