Claude Humphrey, from Hazzard County to the Hall of Fame

CANTON, Ohio  -- Atlanta fans don't get to do this often. There's Deion Sanders, but the team's three other enshrinees -- Eric Dickerson, Chris Doleman, and Tommy McDonald -- played a combined five years in Atlanta. Even Deion played only five, though Falcons fans can fully claim every bit of him without thinking twice.

Humphrey, the imposing former Tennessee State Tiger, played 11 of his 14 seasons in Atlanta. That includes starring on the 1977 Falcons, the lunatic "Grits Blitz" that often blitzed nine of 11 defenders and gave up the fewest points in NFL history.

(That means he also played a major role in changing all of football, as the NFL swung its rules in the offenses' favor the following year. Don't like defense-free shootouts? Blame Claude Humphrey and company for being too good at stopping them.)

And even though he briefly retired mid-career and lobbied for a trade, ending up with theEagles, one cannot be blamed for wanting to leave the pre-Arthur Blank Falcons. "Pre-Arthur Blank" is a really spacious-sounding era and must describe a whole lot of years as being bad years, you say, and you are right. He then helped the Eagles reach Super Bowl XV, where he threw a penalty flag back at a ref.

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