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No, Marvin Harrison Didn’t ‘Rob’ Terrell Owens of Hall of Fame This Year

By Luke Schultheis

Marvin Harrison #88 of the Indianapolis Colts runs with the football against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium on January 2, 2000 in Orchard Park, New York. The Bills defeated the Colts 31-6.January 02, 2000| Credit: Joe Robbins
Marvin Harrison #88 of the Indianapolis Colts runs with the football against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium on January 2, 2000 in Orchard Park, New York. The Bills defeated the Colts 31-6.January 02, 2000| Credit: Joe Robbins /
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Contrary to what a select few are saying, former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison didn’t “rob” fellow wideout great Terrell Owens of the Hall of Fame this year after his selection was announced Saturday evening:

Nothing against Owens, who’s had a brilliant career in his own right, and deserves to be in the Hall of Fame some day soon. However, this year was clearly Harrison’s for wide receivers.

After all, Harrison isn’t the reason the Hall of Fame voting system is flawed, as it was already flawed well before him.

Keep in mind that Harrison already had to foolishly “wait his turn” for inferior wideouts such as Andre Reed and Tim Brown to get in during back-to-back years before finally being voted in under his 3rd year as a finalist–despite clearly having first-ballot credentials.

Still for comparison purposes, let’s compare the two wide receivers:

  • Marvin Harrison (1996-2008): 1,102 receptions for 14,580 receiving yards and 128 receiving touchdowns in 13 seasons.
  • Terrell Owens (1996-2010): 1,078 receptions for 15,934 receiving yards and 153 receiving touchdowns in 15 seasons.

Harrison wins in receptions, while Owens takes receiving yards and touchdowns respectively–but also accomplished it with 2 more seasons:

Both wide receivers were truly great players and deciding between the two is simply splitting hairs and a matter of preference:

Keep in mind that some of the elite cornerbacks of both Harrison and Owens’ era such as Champ Bailey, Charles Woodson, and Charles “Peanut” Tillman said that it was Harrison who was the toughest wide receiver to cover–not Owens. Granted, there are probably other great cornerbacks, who would say Owens was the tougher assignment.

The point being that Harrison was great enough where his selection over Owens can’t be considered any form of “robbery” at all–certainly not after he already had to wait two years too long.

Anyone who thinks this is delusional and clearly must’ve not ever seen #88 play.

Fortunately for us, we did.

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