Jim Covert

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Andy Piascik
Posts: 155
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 11:32 pm

Jim Covert

Post by Andy Piascik »

This may go under the category of beating a dead horse but … Apparently much was made of Lawrence Taylor's praise for Jim Covert in the recent Centennial Committee meeting in which Covert was elected to the Hall of Fame. It turns out, Taylor and Covert played against each other exactly three times: once in the regular season and twice in the playoffs. Covert missed three games in 1987 (not counting the three games during the strike) but presumably he played opening day against the Giants. If not, then they only played against each other twice.

Assuming Covert did play in that 1987 game, 3 of the 121 games he played in his career, counting the playoffs, were against the player whose praise went a long way to get him into the HOF. The guy's in and what's done is done but this just seems to get worse and worse.
JohnTurney
Posts: 2220
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2014 1:28 pm

Re: Jim Covert

Post by JohnTurney »

Testimonials---this is a very tricky thing. Previously Bob Carroll wrote about this, and I've discussed it, too, as have others. The question is how to "weight" them,

If it is a teammate of coach of a player it seems to make sense to discount it, at least some. Not all the way, but just recognize bias could exist.

Halas said Ed Sprinkle was the "best pass rusher he ever saw" or something to that effect. I am told that quote was in 1949. Before the great pass rushers, Ford,
Willey, Marchetti and others had made their mark. But that quote, I am told carried a lot of weight.

There is a quote out there of Reggie White saying Ed White was one of the best guys he faced. They played once. And not even over each other. Only way they faced
would have been on a DL stunt. SO, how much weight should that carry and if that were brought up in a HOF meeting how many voters would know they only met once?

So, I like testimonials if they can be vetted to some degree to verify that they are fair and reasonable. They will never be exact, but if they are from a guy who played another guy one time you do have to wonder about how useful it is.
Halas Hall
Posts: 186
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2014 10:00 pm

Re: Jim Covert

Post by Halas Hall »

Part of me that thinks there is not much daylight between Jim Covert's football career and fellow University of Pittsburgh lineman Jim Sweeney - Jets / Seahawks / Steelers.

I think in the third L. Taylor v. Jim Covert meeting (the January 1991 playoff game), the Giants may have come out in a 4--4-3 defense with John Washington as the "new" end. I may be mistaken and they may have quickly gone back to the 3-4-4 alignment.
DukeSlater
Posts: 88
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2014 1:19 pm

Re: Jim Covert

Post by DukeSlater »

I asked what people thought about Covert and nobody responded.
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