Denver Broncos | News

**ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- If you've been a regular visitor of this site, you know how we feel about Terrell Davis, his accomplishments and his Hall of Fame candidacy. So I'm not going to belabor the points that have already been made. On Saturday, Davis will be presented to the Hall's Selection Committee as one of 15 finalists for the third time in as many years. Amazingly, it took him until his ninth attempt just to become a finalist for the first time in 2015. Sadly, Davis is used to being in the queue waiting for his bust in Canton. It's a wait that should have ended long ago, and appears only to be extended by the relatively short length of his career -- seven seasons, with just four of those spent in good health. Davis' short career span is the reason most often cited for his exclusion. But no other running back made more of less time than Davis -- and the numbers prove it. Consider these five statistics:1, 1 AND 1* ... as in one MVP award, one Super Bowl MVP trophy and one 2,000-yard season. No one in the NFL's 97-season history has that collection of accomplishments. 7 ... as in one of the numbers that is a coup de grace* for Davis, his total number of 100-yard games in the postseason, including seven in a row during the 1997 and 1998 postseasons. No one has more. Further, every other running back with at least five 100-yard postseason games that is eligible is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Emmitt Smith (7), John Riggins (6), Thurman Thomas (6), Marcus Allen (5) and Larry Csonka (5). Marshawn Lynch has 6 such games, but is not yet eligible. All of those running backs played in more postseason games than Davis; they played in an average of 14.3 playoff games -- Smith (17), Riggins (9), Thomas (21), Allen (16), Csonka (12) and Lynch (11). Davis played in just 8 postseason games. **41** Total 100-yard rushing games, including the postseason. Davis is one of 23 players with at least 40 games of 100 or more rushing yards -- but is the only one to make it to that milestone by playing fewer than 110 games (he played 86), meaning he needed nearly two fewer full seasons to get to 40 100-yard games than anyone else in league history. By breaking the 100-yard mark in 47.7 percent of his total games, Davis has the third-highest mark in league history for anyone with at least 30 100-yard games. Only Barry Sanders and Jim Brown broke the century mark in a higher percentage of games. 10 ... as in the number of regular-season games in which Davis broke 100 yards during each of the 1997 and 1998 seasons. That makes him one of just eight players in NFL history with multiple seasons of 10 or more 100-yard games -- and one of just three to do it in consecutive seasons. The seven others to accomplish this feat include five Hall of Famers -- Jerome Bettis, Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson, Walter Payton and Sanders. One other (Adrian Peterson) is not yet eligible. Larry Johnson -- who played in as many regular-season and playoff games as Davis but finished with 2,492 fewer rushing yards -- rounds out the group. 7,000, 4.5, 60 AND 90 ... as in 7,000 rushing yards, 4.5 yards per carry, 60 rushing touchdowns and 90 rushing yards per game. Only four players in league history have exceeded all four of these standards. One of those four is active: Peterson. The others are Brown, Sanders ... and T.D., of course.

Denver Broncos | News

Five by-the-numbers reasons why Terrell Davis should be in the Hall of Fame