Boomer?

Discuss candidates for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the PFRA's Hall of Very Good
conace21
Posts: 927
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 10:08 am

Re: Boomer?

Post by conace21 »

Boomer was a crafty player, one of the best at play-action passes. I just re-read the autobiography of Fred Smerlas (written in the spring of 1990,) and he raved about Boomer, how cool he was at the line, teasing Smerlas about how he was going to see if he could get the big NT to jump offsides (and he did on more than one occasion.) Smerlas actually called him a cross between Marino and Montana, saying he was calm under pressure like Montana, but with an arm much closer to Marino’s.

However, after the 1990 season, most of Boomer’s career was decidedly mediocre, as the Bengals began their long descent into the NFL cellar in 1991.He certainly had bad teams, and bad luck. My first NFL game was the Bills hosting the Jets in 1995. Tackle Everett McIver flinched ever so slightly, and Bruce Smith took off right before the snap. The officials either didn’t react in time to blow the play dead for the false start, or nobody hear the whistle because of the crowd, but Smith ran full speed into Esiason, and knocked him out with a concussion.



1996 was a strange season, and it’s one of the years I remember most. Boomer began the year as the starter in Arizona, got progressively worse in the first 3 games (culminating in a shutout loss to New England where his passer rating had to be single digits,) and lost his job to Kent Graham. Graham was injured a month later, and Boomer stepped in and threw for 522 yards in an overtime win against Washington. He continued his strong play for a month before fading and getting benched again.

In 1997, Boomer took over for the injured Jeff Blake, in November and it was 1988 all over again. The Bengals were out of the playoff chase, but Boomer led them to a 5-1 finish, and the only loss was a 44-42 shootout to the Bobby Hoying-led Eagles (where Philadelphia kicked a FG as time ran out.) The running game with Corey Dillon was obviously a huge factor in their resurgence, but Esiason was steady and often spectacular, even without the team’s #1 receiver Carl Pickens.

Esiason was open to coming back in 1998, but the team lowballed him in contract negotiations. He walked away and joined the MNF booth. If his 1997 success had carried on for another couple years, then I think he’d have a more viable HOVG case. Of course, the Bengals dropped back into the 3-13/4-12 range after he retired, so it’s probably wishful thinking to imagine that Boomer could have lifted them out of the cellar.
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