ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The votes were cast this week by the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Board of Selectors. The votes to choose the 15 finalists for the Class of ’15 anyway.
And among the names on the list of 25 players and head coaches to be trimmed to 15 were several Denver Broncos. Karl Mecklenburg was on the list, Steve Atwater was on the list, John Lynch was on the list, and yes, Terrell Davis was on the list.
Among the Broncos’ faithful, Davis’ name evokes plenty of emotion as does the Hall of Fame in general since the franchise has been to seven Super Bowls, yet finds itself with four Hall of Famers (when counting players who were in Denver longer than a late-career cameo). Davis appeared on the nationally-syndicated "Talk of Fame" radio program this week, a show hosted by three members of the Hall’s Board of Selectors -- Clark Judge, Rick Gosselin and Ron Borges -- and had some on-point remarks about his career and the process.
"I accomplished everything that I set out to do in the few years that I did play," Davis said on the program. "I think the only thing that was sort of left on my bucket list would have been to reach 10,000 yards rushing. I think most backs that’s kind of their goal is to hit the 10,000-yard mark, and that’s something that unfortunately, due to injuries, that I just couldn’t quite get to that 10,000-yard mark.
"I play the 'if' game sometimes, but then I look back on my career and say 'you know what, I wouldn’t change anything different about it. I liked the way it happened, it was short and sweet and I accomplished a whole lot."
The Broncos' Ring of Famer also addressed those who say he didn’t play long enough in a career that saw him win a league MVP award, a Super Bowl MVP award and Super Bowl rings from the 1997 and 1998 seasons.
"I’m being judged on, obviously, the numbers now," Davis said. "But sometimes when I look back on my 2,000-yard season, there were times in games I would leave at halftime and didn’t play in the second half. But I was always taught to be a team player. It was all about team. Just try to win games and to be unselfish. But it’s like it’s unfair now when you’re done, people say, 'You know your yards weren’t there,' or 'Your years weren’t there.' Now it’s all about you as an individual. Part of you can’t help but to think and look back, 'I should have been a little more selfish in moments.' But it was just not part of my DNA.
"It’s weird and awkward to talk about yourself and bring up stats and say 'I did this, I did that,' I’m more of a team player and ... beyond the numbers, they’re not going to be all-time numbers, not going to be 'oh he was fifth all time in rushing.' You’re not going to see any of that because I didn’t play long enough. But just look at the big moments -- the playoff games. If the Hall of Fame is about a person who impacted the game and played at the highest level when the stakes were high, I think I checked the box on all of that. If you can raise (your game) and play to the level I was able to play at, during those moments, that speaks for that."