Cincinnati Bengals' quarterback Ken Anderson is different than some of the players profiled in our weekly "State Your Case" column on this site. Contrary to others, we're not arguing for his inclusion as a modern-era finalist, nor are we pushing him to be one of a handful of senior semifinalists.
He's already been there.
And that's what makes Ken Anderson different.
He was a finalist as a modern candidate in 1996 and 1998, failing both times to survive the first cut. As a senior candidate, he's been a semifinalist multiple times since his modern-era eligibility ran out ... including this year ... but never voted in.
But why?
With a case built largely on statistics -- statistics that were truly ahead of their time -- Anderson never turned enough heads to garner the votes needed for a Gold Jacket. But Gold Jacket or not, those numbers were impressive.
--- Let's start with his league leadership in passer rating four times -- 1974, 1975, 1981 and 1982. Only Hall-of-Famer Steve Young did it more often in the NFL, leading the league six times. And if you go back and apply the passer rating statistic to quarterbacks prior to 1973 (the year the NFL implemented it), Len Dawson would have led the AFL six times.
--- Though there are technicalities involving NFL passing leaders and the various systems the league used over the years, to be its top passer four times is a rare achievement. Only a handful of players have done it, and the only two who aren't in the Hall of Fame are Anderson and the still-active Aaron Rodgers.
--- Anderson led the NFL three times in completion percentage, twice in passing yards and three times in the lowest percentage of passes interceptions.
--- He retired with the ninth-best passer rating of all time, and was still 11th when he became eligible for the Hall of Fame -- or five years after retirement. That was after the NFL got deeper into the post-1978 rules to open up the passing game, and younger quarterbacks were qualified to join the all-time list (they needed 1,500 or more passing attempts).
--- And just so you don't think he could throw deep ... that his completion percentage was based largely on short or intermediate throws ... he twice led the NFL in yards per attempt.
Critics have said Anderson was a "system" quarterback or a dink-and-dunk artist, but they fail to remember that from 1973-76 he was heaving bombs to 4.3 sprinter Isaac Curtis, who averaged 19.9 yards a reception in those four seasons. Curtis was Anderson's top receiver and one of the best in the league. From 1973-76, he ranked second in the NFL in receiving yards and in receiving touchdowns, proof that Ken Anderson not only had a strong arm but could ..., and did ... go deep.
Yes, the so-called West Coast offense began on the banks of the Ohio River with offensive assistant Bill Walsh and was designed for Anderson's predecessor, Virgil Carter. But Carter didn't have a particularly strong arm, so shorter passes became the focus. It was the way Walsh saw a path to victory.
However, the offense expanded under Anderson, who took over for Carter as the Bengals' starting quarterback, and he not only offered a more complete skill set but produced better results. In his first full season as a starter, the Bengals were 8-6. In his second -- 1973 -- they were 10-4 and in the playoffs.
A late-season slump cost them in 1974, but they were back in the Super Bowl hunt a year later in one of the toughest divisions the NFL has seen, with the 12-2 Steelers, the 11-3 Bengals and the upstart 10-4 Houston Oilers. Cincinnati lost in the divisional round of the playoffs, while the Steelers won their second straight Super Bowl.
Then the Bengals went 10-4 in 1976 but just missed the playoffs.
From 1973-76, only Fran Tarkenton passed for more yards than Anderson ... only Ken Stabler threw for more touchdowns ... and only those two had higher passer ratings. And winning? Tarkenton, Stabler and Roger Staubach are the only three quarterbacks who won more as starting quarterbacks in those four seasons.
All are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Elite quarterback play is what Ken Anderson provided. Until he didn't. In the late 1970s, he was banged up, and the Bengals -- as well as his Hall-of-Fame candidacy -- suffered. Where Anderson had led the league in passing, winning games and having MVP-level seasons, he suddenly had trouble finishing in the top 20 in passing.
It wasn't pretty, but it also didn't last.
From 1977-80, Anderson's touchdowns declined (43, including 6 in 1980), his interceptions increased (56, including a career-high 22 in 1978) and he stopped winning more than he lost, with a 20-32 record as a starter. Result: The Bengals finished last in their division three of the four seasons.
But then came an unexpected comeback, and the old Ken Anderson was back -- and then some. In 1981, the Bengals made it to the Super Bowl, Anderson won his first MVP and third passing title and was voted the league's Offensive Player of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year. Plus, at age 32. he set his career high in rushing yards.
He was the best quarterback in the NFL, bar none.
He was just as good the following season, though the Bengals didn't repeat as AFC champions. He set an NFL record with a 70.6 completion percentage -- a mark that stood until 2009 when Drew Brees barely broke it (70.6 percent to Anderson's 70.55). Incredibly, after all this time and all the rule changes that favor the passing game, Anderson's mark set over 40 years ago still stands as eighth-best all-time.
Talk about being ahead of your time. And remember Anderson played much of his career in what many historians call football's "Dead Ball" era-- when running the football was king and passing was considered risky.
"Three things can happen when you pass the football," coaches would warn listeners, "and two of them are bad."
It was Anderson's job to make sure those two bad things (incompletions and interceptions) didn't happen, and he was good at his job. When he threw, good things happened more often than not, even in a run-first era. In all, Anderson was a consensus All-Pro in 1981 and second-team All-Pro in 1974 and 1975 and a four-time Pro Bowler (1975-76, 81-82). That gives him five seasons "above the line -- where he was voted some sort of "all," first-or-second-team All-Pro, All-AFC or Pro Bowl.
Those are roughly the same postseason honors of Kurt Warner, Ken Stabler, Bart Starr and Terry Bradshaw.
Of course, the knock is that he didn't have the Super Bowl win(s) or AFL titles as those Hall of Famers, but there are plenty of Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks who don't have rings -- with Warren Moon, Dan Marino, Fran Tarkenton, Dan Fouts and Jim Kelly among them.
And if the other knock -- namely, the less-than-stellar seasons Anderson had in the middle of his career -- bothers you, remember: There is a precedent for that. Kurt Warner had what Hall-of-Fame voter Peter King called a "donut hole" in the middle of his career, too, yet he was enshrined in his third year of eligibility.
After a less-than-ordinary start in pro football, Warner exploded on the NFL scene and was elite for three years with the St. Louis Rams. But then he was beaten up, benched and eventually released. After struggling for a few years in New York and the Arizona desert, he flourished as a full-time starter for the Cardinals and led them to an NFC championship in 2008.
Sound familiar? That's because his story is not unlike Anderson's, give or take a few details. Maybe viewing it in that context could make a difference for voters.
I don't know what happens when Hall-of-Fame voters meet next summer to decide the Class of 2025, but my guess is that the quarterback from tiny Augustana (Ill.) College will be a senior semifinalist again, have his case discussed as it has been in the past, and, if not elected, will move forward in the queue.
Because he should. He not only has the case to do it; he probably has the strongest one among all quarterbacks not in Canton.
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