OPINION:
Now that the Pro Football Hall of Fame has inducted a punter, Ray Guy, it’s time for the enshrinement of another legendary kicking specialist; namely, longtime Washington Redskins placekicker Mark Moseley (“Ray Guy’s long wait for Hall of Fame comes to end,” Web, July 30).
Mr. Moseley was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1982, the year Washington won Super Bowl XVII, for his clutch game-winning kicks, NFL record streak of 23 straight field goals made and 95.2 percent success rate. He is the only placekicker so honored.
Over his career, Mr. Moseley kicked 300 field goals, made the Pro Bowl in 1979 and 1982, and led the NFL in field goals made four times. In a game against the New Orleans Saints — a game my dad took me to — in 1980, Mr. Moseley kicked five field goals, tying an NFL record with two of 50 or more yards in one game. He set NFL records for most field goals of 50 or more yards made in a season (four in 1977), longest field goal attempted (74 yards in 1979), and most kick-scoring points in a season (161 in 1983).
In back-to-back weeks in 1981, Mr. Moseley beat the Detroit Lions with a late 44-yard field goal, and then beat the New York Giants with a 49-yard, game-tying kick and 48-yard game-winner in overtime. He started the 1982 championship season in similar fashion, tying the Philadelphia Eagles with a 48-yard field goal and then defeating the Eagles in overtime with a 26-yard kick. Later that year, Mr. Moseley’s record-breaking 21st consecutive field goal beat the Giants 15-14 in the snow. Mr. Moseley also made the game-winning field goal in the 1983 NFC Championship Game against San Francisco that sent Washington to Super Bowl XVIII.
There are many “sons of Washington” who deserve a “call from the Hall,” including Joe Theismann, Pat Fischer, Gary Clark, Dave Butz and Larry Brown, but none deserves it more than Mark Moseley.
STEPHEN A. SILVER
San Francisco
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