Vinny Might Get One More Shot For Hall Voters By Greg Cote Miami Herald 10/4/05 The latest phoenix rise of Vinny Testaverde gives new legs - however fragile - to a notion that makes some actual sense yet has always been regarded as a lunatic thought. Not that it has ever even reached the point of honest consideration at all. The Hall of Fame. Take a moment to stop braying laughter and snorting incredulously. Granted, anyone beyond the hardest core of Vinny's fiercest fans, or his direct relatives, might be invited to submit to a Breathalyzer at the mere mention of the possibility. If you are proposing Testaverde for the pro football shrine in Canton, Ohio, the one that just admitted Dan Marino, you might as well be the guy talking up astrology or tarot cards at a convention of scientists. Testaverde, this minute, has zero shot at Canton. Throw around all the career passing stats you like; it wouldn't matter. However, his latest resurrection - signed this week by the injury-wracked New York Jets a month shy of his 42nd birthday - potentially gives Testaverde one last shot with Hall voters. That feels good, too, and right. He has had a long, prolific and in many ways remarkable career since coming out of the University of Miami as the No. 1 overall draft pick. Did he live up to being the top pick? You'd have to say yes. A pretty fair starting point for Hall entry. Bumping up to Hall standards won't happen, of course, if Testaverde never gets to ditch the sideline clipboard and get out from under the Jets ballcap in his hired role as the sage veteran, the insurance policy you hope you never need. It could happen, though, if raw novice Brooks Bollinger isn't up to the onus, and if Testaverde is called on to do the cavalry thing and comes through in a way that becomes a league-wide story. Imagine. Vinny comes off his couch in Long Island for one last hurrah with the team he grew up following. Testaverde's agent, Mike Azzarelli of Tampa, Fla., had told us two weeks ago that his guy was waiting for precisely this type of opportunity. He said "more than one" team had Vinny on a short list of emergency calls. "We didn't want go through training camp and offseason stuff, throwing and throwing and throwing," Azzarelli said. "We wanted to wait and see how the season plays out. Select where you want to go. If it's meant to be, he can pick up anybody's offense real quick and play the next week." Testaverde did it in 1998 in leading the Jets within one game of the Super Bowl. And we thought he was old then. The Jets' quarterbacks coach, Jeremy Bates, is 29. You know when Testaverde first met him? In 1993, with the Browns. When Bates was a ballboy. Consider him. That's all. Just consider him, at least. Testaverde has thrown for 44,475 career yards and 268 touchdowns. These are not Dave Krieg numbers. These are not totals you reach by just managing to hang around. These are numbers that have gotten anybody who's ever had them into the Hall of Fame. Testaverde would be judged a first-ballot lock if pure numbers were nearly as important to football as they are to baseball. He is sixth all-time in passing yards, trailing only Marino, John Elway, Brett Favre, Warren Moon and Fran Tarkenton. He is eighth in TDs, behind those five plus two other guys named, let's see . . . oh yeah: Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana. What was that about being judged by the company you keep? Most quarterbacks currently wearing the mustard Hall jacket have numbers dwarfed by Testaverde's. Jim Kelly, Bob Griese, Steve Young, on and on. The knocks against his Hall candidacy are real. Only two Pro Bowls. No Super Bowls. A career spent with five clubs and mostly losing seasons. And never considered the best QB in the league. The thing is, plenty of other Hall of Fame passers have overcome several of those factors. Did you know that Jay Fiedler's Dolphins QB rating (76.8) was almost identical to Bob Griese's 77.1? Did you know that Hall of Fame icon Joe Namath had a bunch more career interceptions (220) than TDs (173)? There are echelons of Hall induction. The Marinos and Montanas and Favres are above and beyond debate. But some guys just barely get in despite knocks and baggage. Maybe Testaverde should be one of those. Maybe, if this latest reincarnation turns into anything special, he'll at least be considered.