Time for Branch to Finally Make HOF
The Senior Committee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, will meet on Aug. 24 to select a player and coach to be considered for induction by the full Selection Committee at a later date.
And it’s time for them to open the door to the HOF for Raiders great wide receiver Cliff Branch.
Branch is the only Seniors candidate to be a semifinalist for 10 consecutive years and in 2018 he missed being a finalist by one vote in a tiebreaker with guard Jerry Kramer of the Green Bay Packers.
The 5-11, 178-pound Branch had career numbers at least as good if not better than HOF receivers Paul Warfield, John Stallworth, Charlie Joiner, Lynn Swann, Charley Taylor, Fred Biletnikoff, Harold Carmichael, and Drew Pearson, but he remains on the outside looking into the Hall of Fame.
“Cliff Branch was the real deal,” said Hall of Fame cornerback Mel Blount of the Pittsburgh Steelers. “He was a threat every time he stepped on the field. You look at what he did and you look at the people in the Hall of Fame and I will tell you this: I’m in the Hall of Fame because of Cliff Branch.
“This is why: in 1974, we were in the AFC Championship Game in Oakland and it was one of the worst games of my career. It was made that way because of Cliff Branch. He scored a few times against me and had nearly 200 yards receiving against me. Cliff embarrassed me so badly that Chuck Noll said something to defensive coordinator Bud Carson and Bud took me out of the game.
“ … I’m in the Hall of Fame and Cliff Branch definitely deserves to be in there.”
Added Hall of Fame defensive back Ronnie Lott of the San Francisco 49ers: “Defenses feared him then and they would now. He’d be one rich free agent nowadays. He gave me a lesson early in my career that I never forgot and he belongs in the Hall of Fame.”
The Raiders selected Branch in the fourth round of the 1972 NFL Draft (No. 98 overall) out of Colorado and he passed up a chance to run the sprints for the United States in the Olympic Games to be with the Raiders at the start of training camp.
In his first year as a full-time starter in 1974 opposite future Hall of Famer Biletnikoff, Branch caught 60 passes for 1,092 yards, an average of 18.2 yards per catch, and 13 touchdowns, in addition to recovering a fumble for another score.
“The way Cliff played overshadows a lot of us,” said Biletnikoff, who ran the most precise pass patterns in the NFL and helped turn Branch from a pure speedster into a player who could make plays all over the field.
During a three-year run as first-team All-Pro from 1974-76, Branch caught 157 passes for 3,096 yards and 34 touchdowns, the highest consecutive three-year total for any receiver during any three-year span in the 1970s, including after 16-game seasons were introduced in1978.
Branch was the only receiver to surpass 1,000 yards receiving twice in a season in the 1970s, but he wasn’t done. During a seven-season stretch from 1974-1980, he led the NFL with 6,047 receiving yards, more than any other HOF receiver who played during that period.
“With him it’s not running, it’s flying,” Raiders owner Al Davis once said.
By the time he retired in 1986, Branch had 501 receptions for 8,685 yards, 67 touchdowns, and an average of 17.3 yards per catch, in addition to being selected first-team All-Pro four times and to three Pro Bowls.
In 1983 at the age of 35. Branch set a Raiders record by catching a pass and taking it 99 yards for a touchdown against the Washington Redskins, as speedy rookie cornerback Darrell Green gave chase but never got close to him.
“In effect, the smallest man on the field was a key to our passing and running attack,” Hall of Fame tight end Dave Casper said.
Significantly, Branch was an even bigger impact in the post-season, when it counts most. He was more productive in the playoffs than any HOF receiver during the era in which he played. He set NFL records with 73 receptions for 1,289 yards, an average of 17.7 yards per catch.
Those post-season records stood for a decade until Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers broke them in his 22nd playoff game, the same number of games Branch played in the postseason.
Oh, and by the way, Branch played key roles as the Raiders won Super Bowls XI, XV, and XVIII. Some forget how much roster turnover there was along the way. Only three other Raiders started with Branch in all three of those Super Bowls—center Dave Dalby and two Hall of Famers, linebacker Ted Hendricks, and punter Ray Guy.
“Cliff made it possible for us to do so many things in not only our passing game but the running game, too, because defenses routinely tried to cover him with two and sometimes three defenders,” quarterback Kenny “Snake,” Stabler said. “And Cliff was still able to get open, with his speed and great moves.
“ … When we broke the huddle, the first thing the defense looked for was where Cliff was lined up. He opened things up for the rest of our offense because they had to pay so much attention to him.”
So it’s time, in fact, it’s long overdue for Branch to join Stabler, Biletnikoff, Casper, and some other Raiders teammates in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“He’s a Hall of Famer,” HOF tight end and coach Mike Ditka said simply.
Added Gil Brandt, HOF executive of the Dallas Cowboys: “(Branch) deserves to be in, stop right there.”
Unfortunately, if and when it happens, Branch won’t be there to enjoy it because he passed away suddenly in 2019 at the age of 71.
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