Atlanta Falcons greatest are among the game greatest of all time

The Atlanta Falcons might just be the most disrespected NFL franchise of all time from both a media standpoint as well as the greatest of all-time players’ standpoint.

Yesterday was from Atlanta Falcons player Jeff Van Note’s birthday. This man spent parts of three decades in the NFL, was elected to six Pro Bowl’s and named to two All-Pro teams during his career. His number 57 hangs in the rafters at Mercedes Benz and yet this man has never sniffed the Hall of Fame.

Jessie Tuggle is the NFL’s ALL-TIME leader in tackles, which is HALF of the game. He had more than 1,800 tackles during his esteemed career. No active player will ever come close to his number and the closest retired player was Ray Lewis and even then he was still more than 400 tackles short. Yet Tuggle has never come close to a Hall of Fame mention let alone a vote.

We all know Tommy Nobis once again got snubbed by the Hall of Fame is still the only player from the Hall of Fame’s own 1960s all-decade team not in the Hall of Fame.

What about All-Pro teams? This award is voted on by the media. Julio Jones has only ever been named an All-Pro receiver twice in his career, 2015 and 2016. Julio has been the best receiver in the league since 2014 and it’s not at all debatable.

Even in 2019 when he had a down year, 93 yards a game and more than 14 yards per catch. Meanwhile, the two All-Pro selections had more catches. Julio has had six straight years of at least 1,300 yards receiving which has never been done in the history of the game.

Sure, the franchise has its issues. The front office is among the worst in football and the coaching staff is a bunch of nice guys who could not game plan an escape from a wet paper bag, but that has nothing to do with the history of players that this franchise has had or the fact that some of the games greatest to ever play don’t get their due because Atlanta is a disrespected sports city with a disrespected franchise.