In honor of Bengal Jim's annual assault on the archives, we've come up with our favorite numbers in the campaigns to elect senior candidates Ken Anderson and Ken Riley to the Pro Football Hall of Fame with a few Isaac Curtis digits to mull.
Jim Foster is leading another stripe strike on the Hall Saturday with a three-hour program at the In-Between-Tavern that is all-in on Bengals legends.
After taking his "Jungle to the Hall," last year to the steps of the Canton shrine, Foster stays home to continue to lobby HOF voters to recognize worthy Bengals greats.
The festivities run from 4-7 p.m. downtown at the In-Between, 307 Sycamore St., and features appearances from franchise right tackle Willie Anderson and Bengals broadcasters Dan Hoard and Dave Lapham.
From 4:30-6 is a Legends scavenger hunt through downtown and from 6-7 is a look at the candidacies of Anderson and Riley, as well as Willie Anderson, Corey Dillon, Chad Johnson, Isaac Curtis and Lemar Parrish.
New to the program is a video clip of Hall-of-Famer Mike Haynes extolling the exploits of Riley, a fellow 1970s and 1980s cornerback.
Admission is $10 with Bengals wear and memorabilia as door prizes. All proceeds go to the Ken Anderson Alliance, the Ken Riley Foundation and the Cincinnati Music Accelerator.
Senior candidates, players who retired more than 25 years ago, got a recent boost when the Hall-of-Fame changed the guidelines. Instead of a five-member group nominating one senior player to be a finalist in a freewheeling session, a 12-voter panel chooses three senior finalists from a list of 12 after each candidate has had their case presented by one of the voters.
Those three seniors are announced in August and make it to the finals meeting in January.
Here are some of our favorite Hall numbers:
4 _ NFL passing titles won by Ken Anderson from 1974-86.
2*_ Combined NFL passing titles won by *Hall of Famers Dan Fouts, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Ken Stabler and Bob Griese from 1974-86
2 _ Quarterbacks with more than four passing titles. (Sammy Baugh and Steve Young each with six.)
7 _ Seasons Anderson completed at least 60.4 percent of his passes
8 _ Combined seasons Bradshaw, Dan Fouts, Griese and Hall-of-Famer Roger Staubach completed at least 60.4 of their passes
1 _ Seasons Anderson completed 70 percent of his passes
1 _ Combined seasons Montana, Fouts, Bradshaw, Stabler, Griese and Hall-of-Famer Fran Tarkenton completed 70 percent of their passes
59.3 _ Anderson's career completion percentage.
59.8 _ Stabler's career completion percentage, highest of any quarterback that started his career before 1978. Anderson is second
7.3 _ Anderson's yards per attempt
7.4 – Yards per attempt of Daryle "Mad Bomber," Lamonica
7.3 _ Hall-of-Famer Dan Marino's career yards per attempt
7.2 _ Bradshaw's career yards per attempt
65 _ Ken Riley's career interceptions, second most by a pure cornerback and most for one team
68 _ Night Train Lane's career interceptions
4 _ Players with more career interceptions than Riley,Hall-of-Famers Paul Krause (81), Emlen Tunnell (79), Rod Woodson (71), Night Train Lane (68).**
21 _ Interceptions by Riley after he turned 33
16 _ Interceptions by Lane after he turned 33
6 _ Interceptions by Tunnell after he turned 33
17 _ Interceptions by Krause after he turned 33
65 _ Hall-of-Famer Charles Woodson's career interceptions, second most since Riley retired in 1983
5 _ Quarterbacks who threw at least 500 passes inRiley's** final season of 1983.
15 _ Quarterbacks who threw at least 500 passes in Charles Woodson's final season of 2015.
11 _ Interceptions Charles Woodson had as a safety
24 _ Interceptions Rod Woodson had as a safety
46 _ Patriots and Raiders Hall of Fame cornerback Mike Haynes' career interceptions
200 _ Career games for Steelers Hall of Fame cornerback Mel Blount before retiring with Riley in 1983
207 _ Riley's career games
57 _ Blount's career interceptions
17.1 _ Isaac Curtis' yards per catch
16.3 _ Steelers Hall-of-Famer John Stallworth's yards per catch.
416-53 _ Curtis's career catches and TDs
336-51 _ Steelers Hall-of-Famer Lynn Curtis Swann's career catches and TDs
5 _ Seasons Curtis had at least 18.7 yards per catch
4 _ Combined seasons Hall-of-Famers Jerry Rice, Larry Fitzgerald and Randy Moss had at least 18.7 yards per catch
